LIBRARY ECONOMY AND STATISTICS. 



477 



of card catalogues now in general use, which 

 admit of indefinite growth, and of arrange- 

 ment alphabetically by authors, by titles of 

 books, or by subjects, separately or combined, 

 as in the dictionary catalogue, or according to 

 any scheme of classification that may be 

 adopted. 



Printed catalogues are very useful, but, es- 

 pecially in the case of large libraries, are no 

 sooner done than they fail to show the actual 

 state of the library. They should in all cases 

 be supplemented by full card catalogues of the 

 additions made to the library while printing. 

 Among the most useful printed American 

 catalogues may be named those of the Boston 

 Athenaeum, the Brooklyn Library, the Boston 

 Public Library, with its supplement and anno- 

 tated class lists, the New York State Library, 

 the Milwaukee Public Library, and the two 

 volumes each of the new catalogues of the Li- 

 brary of Congress, of the Peabody Institute, 

 Baltimore, and of the Astor Library. 



A form of catalogue called a "finding-list," 

 made up with short titles of books, has been 



published by some libraries, and has proved 

 very useful and successful, giving an excellent 

 guide to readers at a minimum of expense. To 

 the making of the catalogue, whatever kind 

 may be adopted, only skilled and expert work- 

 ers should be assigned, and their work should 

 be under the immediate supervision and direc- 

 tion of the librarian. To all library work, 

 especially to cataloguing, must be rigidly ap- 

 plied the old maxim of Lord Chesterfield, 

 " Whatever is worth doing at all is worth do- 

 ing well.' 1 



Finally, the librarian himself must be the 

 living catalogue of his own library, familiar 

 with its every part, and prepared at all times 

 to render prompt and courteous but not offi- 

 cious assistance to every seeker after informa- 

 tion. 



Statistics. In 1776 there were twenty-nine 

 public libraries in the thirteen colonies, num- 

 bering altogether 45,623 volumes; in 1800 

 there were forty-nine libraries, and about 80,- 

 000 volumes; from 1800 to 1825, 179 public 

 libraries were formed; from 1825 to 1850, 



PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES-STATISTICAL SUMMARY. 



