282 CHARLES AMMI CUTLER 



due in part no doubt to the ripeness of the time, to the ehmina- 

 tion of the slavery question, to the greater culture of the na- 

 tion, but mainly to the efforts of a small group of men who did 

 not allow their interest to die out. 



The essays by the leading librarians of 1876, published in 

 a thick volume by the national bureau of education, the 

 papers and discussions at the conferences, and the other matter 

 that fills the 13,000 pages of the Library Journal, treat mainly 

 of the five classes of subjects in which there has been the most 

 progress — library estabhshment, the profession, the building, 

 the management, and the methods of reaching the pubhc. 



The trend of opinion is toward libraries established by 

 legislation, supported by taxation, helped as far as possible by 

 private generosity, managed by their own authorities, free to 

 all — the library of the people, by the people, for the people. 

 Such hbraries are coming into existence fast. To assist their 

 establishment seventeen state library commissions have been 

 organized, the first in Massachusetts in 1890. They work 

 differently, according to the different needs of the states, but 

 they all aim to fan library zeal where there are hbraries, to 

 arouse the desire for them where there are none, to distribute 

 public aid to poor towns, and to encourage private giving 

 everywhere. But legislatures should take one step and oblige 

 towns to have and properly maintain hbraries as they already 

 require them to provide schools. 



The old writers on library topics were always prone to en- 

 large upon the qualities needed by the librarian. They would 

 have him in business a hustler, in learning a scholar, in book 

 buying a critic — but a broad minded critic — in memory a 

 Maghabecchi, in languages a Mezzofanti, in tact a Metternich, 

 in administration an organizer and a disciplinarian, in temper 

 an angel, and everywhere an enthusiast, for the librarian who 

 is indifferent is lost. But such prodigies must always have 

 been rare, and even they could not alone have met the demands 

 of a modern library. He needs assistants. It was early seen 

 by the association that the best work could be done only by 

 specially educated persons; that librarians were constantly 

 losing time in training new assistants; that libraries were con- 

 tinually checked in their progress while librarians without 



