ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
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FUNCTIONS OF A LIBRARIAN. 
Nowhere is the difference more marked between the old and new 
conceptions of librarianship, than in the duties of the librarian, his 
attitude towards the library and his attitude towards the public. 
Under the old dispensation the librarian was merely a custodian of 
books. Books were few; readers were fewer; the librarian had very 
little to do, and was estimated accordingly. He was considered to be, 
and as a matter of fact generally was, a comparatively useless member 
of society. One John Durie published a little book, in 1650, “ The 
Reformed Täbrarie-Keeper,” in which he drew a very unflattering 
picture of the librarians of his day. ‘They subordinate,” he says, 
“all the advantages of their places-to purchase mainly two things 
thereby, viz., an easie subsistence, and some credit in comparison 
with others; nor is the last much regarded, if the first may be had.” 
He then proceeds to set forth what he considers the “ proper charge 
of the Honorarie Librarie-keeper,” to wit, “to keep the publick stock 
of learning, which is in Books and Manuscripts, to increas it, and to 
propose to others in the waie which may be most useful unto all”; 
from which one gathers that John Durie was a man several hundred 
years in advance of his age. Among other things, he recommended 
a “ Catalogue of Additionals,” to be printed every three years. 
An English librarian of our own times, Mr. Henry Bradshaw, 
gives in a single sentence an admirable definition of the ideal librarian. 
“A librarian,” he says, “‘is one who earns his living by attending to the 
wants of those for whose use the library under his charge exists; his 
primary duty being, in the widest possible sense of the phrase, to save 
the time of those who seek his services.” And to this might be added 
the qualification suggested by an American librarian, Mrs. M. A. 
Sanders — herself a striking example of the success of her theory — 
“the librarian should meet the reader in the position of a host 
or hostess welcoming a guest.” 
Unfortunately, even in these latter days there are not wanting 
people, and educated people too, whose conception of the librarian 
and his work is a conception that belongs to the seventeenth or 
eighteenth century. According to their idea, his chief duty consists in 
handing books over a counter to the library’s customers. How sur- 
prised they would be to be told that the conscientious librarian—the 
librarian who has the best interests of his library at heart—gives, and 
must give, not an hour or two daily, but his whole waking thoughts, 

1889, 14: 213-14; 1899, 14: 468-9; 1889, 14: 281; 1891, 16: 232; 1891, 16: C51-2; 1891, 16: 
246; 1891, 16: 334-4; 1893, 18: 42. 
