D 



cccnincr, 



1958 



Warrick: Lihrary 



213 



garian, Portugese, Egyptian, South American, 

 anJ Japanese. 



At the present time the library has an 

 exchange arrangement with approximately 

 500 scientific institutions and societies, a 

 large number of which are foreign. 



LIBRARY PERSONNEL 



Provision for the care of the library 

 has been made from the beginning of the 

 Natural History Society to the present 

 time. The person in charge of the library 

 has always had the title librarian and 

 has been a member of the stafif, first of 

 the Natural History Society (Wilber 

 186h/:10) and later a member of the 

 staff of each of the state agencies that fol- 

 lowed, except for a period from 1928 

 (Cunningham 1928:275) to 1943 when 

 the University of Illinois assumed full 

 responsibility for the book collection. 



The first librarian was Ira Moore, 

 instructor in mathematics at Illinois State 

 Normal University (Wilber 186h/:10; 

 Hovey 1859:401). His duties were def- 

 initely stated in the Report of Committee 

 on Library (Wilber 186h/:12): 



It shall be the duty of the Librarian to 

 arrange the books of the Society, to make and 

 keep a catalogue of the same, to keep a rec- 

 ord of the books drawn from the library as 

 directed by the Society, and report to the 

 Society at its annual meeting. 



In a report to the Regent of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois in 1886, Professor 

 Forbes mentioned a librarian among the 

 personnel of the State Laboratory (Bur- 

 rill 1 887^:101). Henry Clinton Forbes 

 served as Librarian and Business Agent 

 of the Laboratory from 1892 to 1902 

 (PiUsburv 1892:284; 1894:135; 1896: 

 [14]; 1898:[15]; 1901:xvii; 1902:xx). 



The policy of appointing professional 

 librarians was started in 1906 with the 

 appointment of Miss Edna Lucv Goss, 

 B.L.S. (Pillsbury 1906:xxii) and has 

 continued to the present. 



FINANCIAL SUPPORT 



Financial support for the library has 

 always been considered of great import- 

 ance. It was considered important even 

 before the Illinois Natural History So- 

 ciety became a chartered organization. In 



the Report of Committee on Library, the 

 following provision for a library was 

 made (Wilber 1861^/: 12) : "That the So- 

 ciety devote all moneys obtained by d(j- 

 nations and memberships to this import- 

 ant object [library], except so much as 

 are necessary for expenses." 



In an early report of the Director of 

 the State Laboratory of Natural History, 

 a plea was made for a public scientific 

 library (Forbes 1878/;: 5-6) : 



A most indispensable requisite for thorough 

 work in any direction is an increase of the 

 Library. Much of the time and money al- 

 ready invested in the Laboratory collections 

 and belongings must lie idle until this im- 

 provement is made. There is not anywhere 

 within reach of our naturalists a scientific 

 library sufficient to assist them to reliable 

 original work in any department of natural 

 history. Nothing which the State could do for 

 science would so stimulate a productive ac- 

 tivity among them as a moderate appropria- 

 tion for a public scientific library; and there 

 is evidently no place where this library may 

 be so properly built up as in connection 

 with the State Laboratory of Natural His- 

 tory. I have therefore included the sum of 

 $2,000 for this purpose in my estimates, and 

 the further sum of $200 for the services of 

 a Librarian, to catalogue and thoroughly or- 

 ganize the accessions on the plan already in 

 use. This plan of organization place[s] the re- 

 sources of the library at the ready command 

 of the investigator, without requiring that com- 

 plete previous acquaintance with the litera- 

 ture of his subject which he can gain only by 

 long use of a large library. It is proposed 

 to use the money which may be voted for 

 library purposes, first of all to procure those 

 books now actually needed by our Illinois 

 naturalists for the successful prosecution of 

 the original investigations upon which they 

 are at present engaged, and to provide for 

 the future only when these present pressing 

 needs have been supplied. 



The state legislature granted part of 

 the appropriation requested by Professor 

 Forbes. In a subsequent report he made 

 a statement concerning the value of the 

 library (Forbes 1880/:9) : 



No expenditure made by the Laboratory 

 during the last two years has been so im- 

 mediately profitable, both to the work of the 

 establishment and to the studies of other 

 naturalists, as that made for new books. 

 While the additions are very few compared 

 with the literature needed, they have cleared 

 the field of difficulties which have blocked the 

 progress of our work for years, and have first 

 made possible to the students of our local 

 natural history, original work of a satisfac- 

 tory character, in a few departments of 

 zoology and botany. 



