the general principles stated, can resolve which policy it is best to follow. On account of its prominence and the numerous opportunities for good work it affords, the lending library deserves the utmost care in its planning and administration, and the simplest and freest methods compatible with reasonable care for the safety of the books are the best. All the considerations we have described as to book-selection and weeding-out, etc., apply with particular force in this department; and a careful study should be made of the various methods of issue described in the next chapter before one is chosen, as a wrong choice may inflict much hardship on readers and later involve changes which will be most expensive; in fact, the converting of a lending library from one system to another is probably the most costly operation in which it can be involved. The staffing of the department requires just as much consideration as that of any other, and the all too frequent and often unavoidable practice of employing the youngest boys and girls at the charging counters or desks is much to be deprecated even when it cannot be altogether avoided. =367. Voucher Forms.=--There are all kinds of voucher forms in use in the municipal libraries of the United Kingdom, ranging in size from foolscap folio to post-card. These vouchers are the forms on which borrowers apply for tickets entitling them to use the library, and they are the basis of the necessary registration of borrowers which all libraries must perform. It is not needful to describe more than one form, because it is gradually being adopted, with variations to suit different localities, as the standard system of the country. The legal questions connected with the validity of certain forms of guarantee are also beyond the scope of this section, because judicial rulings have been obtained on all kinds of forms, and the only point requiring consideration, that of the amount of the guarantor’s liability, has already been discussed. A form of voucher which can be used as a movable card (5 in. by 3 in.) is preferable to a large slip, which requires binding in volumes, or other special means of preservation; and the style of cards given in Figs. 133-136 will be found satisfactory.