The Library Assistant’s Manual By THEODORE W. KOCH Librarian, University of Michigan Provisional Edition LANSING, MICHIGAN STATE BOARD OF LIBRARY COMMISSIONERS 1913 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _Issued on the occasion of the 61st annual meeting of the Michigan State Teachers’ Association, Ann Arbor, October 30-November 1, 1913._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENTS. Page I. The library movement in the United States 7-15 II. Organization of a library 16-19 III. Book selection and buying 20-24 IV. Classification 25-32 V. Cataloging 33-38 VI. Reference work and circulation 39-50 VII. The binding and care of library books 51-53 VIII. Work with children 54-58 IX. The high school library 59-66 X. Suggested readings in the Encyclopaedia Britannica 67-78 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER I. =THE LIBRARY MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.= The forerunner of the American public library of today is found in the subscription or stock company libraries of Philadelphia, Boston and other cities. The oldest of these is the Philadelphia Library Company, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin who later referred to it as “the mother of all subscription libraries in America.” The Rev. Jacob Duché, a director of the Library Company, wrote in 1774: “Literary accomplishments here meet with deserved applause. But such is the taste for books that almost every man is a reader.” The Library Company’s authority on book selection was James Logan (the friend of William Penn) who was esteemed “to be a gentleman of universal learning and the best judge of books in these parts.” In 1783 the Library Committee instructed its London agent that “though not averse to mingling the dulce with the utile, they did not care to have him buy any more novels.”