36 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
spent in browsing around among the books is never lost. As for the 
further objection that Open Access will prove an added temptation 
and opportunity to evil-disposed persons, it need only be stated that a 
reasonable supervision should in any event be kept over rooms where 
books are made freely accessible to the public, and if this is done 
there need be no great fear of book thieves. 
“Remove the barriers,” says Professor Robinson, “and make 
familiarity with well chosen authors as easy as practicable. No habit 
is more uncertain or more capricious than that of a student in a 
library. He wants to thumb the books which he cannot call for by 
name. It is not an idle curiosity. He wants to know, and has a 
right to know, a good deal more about them than can be learned from 
teachers and catalogues. Deny him this, and he turns away disap- 
pointed and discouraged; grant him this, and his interest is awakened, 
his love for books increased, and the habit of reading will most likely 
be formed.” 
OPEN SHELF vs. INDICATOR. 
In England the question has developed into one of Open Shelf 
vs. Indicator. The use of indicators is very widespread in Great 
Britain; but the device is practically unknown in the United States. 
In Australia and in Canada it has found a few adherents. In England 
the rival system of “open access” is steadily gaining ground, and 
there seems reason for believing that it will ultimately displace the 
indicator. 
The Indicator is an arrangement for showing whether or not a 
given book is in or out. There are a number of varieties in use in 
English libraries, but by far the most popular is what is known as 
the “ Cotgreave Indicator,’ from the name of its inventor. This 
indicator is in use in over sixty libraries in London alone, besides many 
in other parts of the Kingdom. The following description is taken 
from Macfarlane’s work on “ Library Administration,” in Dr. Garnett’s 
Library Series :—“It consists of an upright framework of wood or 
metal, fitted with minute zine shelves without ends, which is placed 
in the library so that one side (protected with glass) is visible to the 
public, and the other accessible to the staff. On the shelves are placed 
title-ledgers of blank forms, in metal cases with ends, coloured red and 
blue respectively, and bearing numbers. When a case is inserted so 
that the blue end meets the public eve it is to be understood that the 
‘in’: when the red end is seen it 
is out”. The borrower having found in the catalogue the number 
of the book he requires, and seeing by the colour exhibited on his 
hook hearing the number shown is 
