Library Essays; Papers Related to the Work of Public LibrariesBostwick, Arthur E. (Arthur Elmore)
Science
Library Essays; Papers Related to the Work of Public Libraries
Bostwick, Arthur E. (Arthur Elmore)
Library science; Public libraries
Of course the public library is not the only institution whose
reputation has exposed it to the assaults of advertisers. The Christian
ministry has for years been exposed to this sort of thing, and it is the
belief of Reverend William A. Lee, who writes on the subject in “The
Standard,” a Baptist paper published in Chicago, that in this case also
increased activity is to be noted of late. Persons desire to present the
minister with a picture on condition that he mentions the artist to his
friends; to give him a set of books or a building-lot that his name may
be used to lure other purchasers; they even ask him for mailing-lists of
his parishioners’ names. “I am constantly being besieged,” says Mr. Lee,
“by agents of divers sorts, and of divers degrees of persistency, for
indorsements of patent mops, of ‘wholesome plays,’ of current
periodicals, of so-called religious books, of ‘helps’ almost innumerable
for church-workers and of scores of other things which time has
charitably carried out of memory.”
It is refreshing to find that the kind of library exploitation most to
be feared seems not yet to have been attempted on any considerable scale
or in any objectionable direction. I refer to interference with our
stock and its distribution--an effort to divert either purchases or
circulation into a particular channel. My attention has been called to
the efforts of religious bodies to place their theological or
controversial works on the shelves of public libraries. When the books
are offered as donations, as is usually the case, this is hardly
exploitation in the sense in which we are considering it, unless the
library is so small that other more desirable books are excluded. A
large library welcomes accessions of this kind, just as it does trade
catalogs or railroad literature. Attempts to push circulation are
occasionally made, but usually without success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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