236 Memorial of Gcot'ge Brozvn Goode. 



A handbook is usually intended for the use of the public and should be 

 what its name signifies — a volume which may be carried in the hand by 

 the visitor or general student. 



The handbook also serves to remind the visitor of what he has seen, 

 and enable him to review the teachings of the museum after he has left 

 it. It .supplements and to .some extent replaces the visitor's personal 

 notebook. 



4. The handbook and guidebook should never replace the descriptive 

 label attached to each exhibited object. The practice not uncommon in 

 art galleries and expositions of designating objects by number and describ- 

 ing them only in the guidebook does not seem judicious, although in 

 temporary exhibitions it can not always be avoided. It is a relic of 

 the days when it was thought legitimate by this means to force every 

 visitor to buy a catalogue, and thus contribute to the revenues of the 

 establishment. 



C— READING TABI.KvS. 



1. A certain number of bibliographies, dictionaries, and standard 

 works of reference, directing visitors to the literature of the subject, 

 should be placed in each hall, each table being devoted to the subject 

 illustrated by the collections in the midst of which it stands. • These 

 books may, for safety, be fastened to a reading desk or table. 



2. It is often advantageous to display books within the exhibition cases, 

 with the specimens, to teach visitors what books they should use in carry- 

 ing on the studies suggested by their visit to the museum. 



D. — LIBRARY. 



L. Every well-appointed museum should have a good reference library, 

 which should include the principal books of reference in regard to the 

 various specialties with which it is concerned, and especially the great 

 illustrated works relating to other museums which can not be displayed 

 in the exhibition halls. This library should be freely accessible to vis- 

 itors and provided with comfortable furniture and facilities for taking 

 notes. 



2. The museum library should, if possible, be so situated as to form 

 one of the features of the museum, and the doors so arranged that vis- 

 itors can look in without disturbing those who are reading. The effective- 

 ness of such an arrangement will be appreciated by all who have visited 

 the Musee Guimet in Paris, or the Museo di Ultramar in Madrid: 



3. In addition to the general reference library, special collections of 

 books may advantageously be developed in connection with the several 

 departments of a museum. So long as these are judiciously limited in 

 scope, they can not well be too extensive, since a technical library is 

 always more useful when it is more directly under the influence of a spe- 

 cialist, than when administered as a part of a great general library by 



