[BuRPEE] MODERN PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND THEIR METHODS 43 
to the innumerable problems that confront him from morning till 
night. ‘Trained intelligence, a genuine love for and wide knowledge 
of good literature, business acumen, native courtesy and helpfulness, 
tact and discrimination, a good memory, patience, breadth of view; 
these are some of the essential characteristics of the successful modern 
librarian. The day has happily gone when the office of a librarian 
was merely a refuge for some broken-down politician, unsuccessful 
school-teacher, or man who had made a failure of his profession, 
whatever it might be. Täibrarianship is now an honourable profession, 
the world over. Careful study and preparation is required of those 
who aspire to the position either of a librarian or library assistant; 
and it is even beginning to be recognized by Library Committees that 
a man or a woman possessing the requisite qualifications is entitled to 
a fair remuneration. 
We are merely upon the threshold of a new era in the history of 
public libraries. What the present century may see, in the direction 
of increasing and broadening their mission as factors in the educational 
life of the community, it would be difficult to foretell, but that that 
influence will be deep and lasting, everyone who has studied the recent 
development of public libraries, especially in the United States and 
-England, must feel heartily assured. 
APPENDIX. 
For the benefit of those who might be sufficiently interested in 
the subject of Canadian libraries, the writer prepared a list of ques- 
tions, which were submitted to the librarians of all the more important 
public libraries throughout the Dominion. Through the courtesy of 
these officers, very complete answers have been secured to the several 
questions submitted, the substance of which will be found below. 
No attempt has been made to procure data from all the Ontario 
libraries, of which the last Report of the Minister of Education for 
that Province (1901) records 432 in existence, divided into 303 “ Public 
Libraries” and 129 “Free Libraries,” but a certain number of the 
larger and more representative Ontario libraries were selected, as to 
which somewhat fuller particulars have been procured than are to be 
found in the tables of the Education Report. These latter tables con- 
A series of works that will be found of inestimable advantage to librarians, 
library assistants, and those who may be preparing themselves for the pro- 
fession, is The Library Series, edited by Dr. Richard Garnett, formerly of the 
British Museum. The series is in five volumes, each devoted to a particular 
branch of library work: construction, administration, etc. The books are 
published by George Allen, London, England. 


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