=189. Reference and Lending Books.=--A difficulty is sometimes experienced in deciding for which department books of a certain class are most suitable. About such quick-reference works as encyclopædias, dictionaries, annuals, directories, atlases, large art works, etc., there can be very little doubt, but expensive scientific books, large works of travel, theological and historical works of a certain kind offer a problem much more complicated. As reference libraries are at present constituted and used in many English towns, the plan of putting all expensive books of whatever nature in the reference department simply means that they are seldom used, and might as well not have been bought. In properly conducted open access reference libraries, which are liberally and intelligently conducted, a good deal may be said in favour of placing such books there. They will at least be freely accessible without the formality of readers having to make written application, while the advantage of a reference book being always on the premises is not to be overlooked. No harm can result from placing all kinds of expensive text-books in the lending department, and if they are not on loan they are always available for the use of any reference reader who wants them. The advantage to a student of being able to take a recondite and expensive text-book home with him for comparison with, and as an aid to, his own books is undeniable, and it is the fact that, by co-operation, the citizens of a town can thus procure otherwise unattainable books, which makes the Public Libraries Acts so valuable, and adds force to the plea for placing expensive works within easy reach of the majority of readers. Local circumstances will in most cases modify the conditions under which reference and lending libraries are built up and differentiated. In some places there is no separation, save in the catalogue, between the reference and lending libraries, and in others both departments are not only kept apart, but subdivided into open, special and store collections. All this is very much a matter of administration to be settled by each responsible officer in accordance with his or her knowledge of the particular local conditions. We deal with this question more in detail in the chapters on the Reference Library (Division XII.).