Jan. 1 6, 18/ 9] 



NATURE 



253 



THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY 



WHAT sort of reference library can be provided in 

 connection with the natural history collections 

 when they are moved from the British Museum to South 

 Kensington? is a subject now under consideration. It is 

 stated on good authority that, so far as the building 

 arrangements at Kensington go, no provision whaterer 

 has been made for library space, and that in the Act 

 passed at the end of last session to enable the trustees to 

 move the collections, a reference library seems to have 

 been entirely overlooked. That Act has, however, been 

 the subject of a resolution by the General Committee of 

 the British Association, requesting the Council to take 

 such steps in the matter as they might deem expedient ; 

 and although the resolution had principal reference to the 

 administration of the collections, its force extends equally 

 to such an important matter as a library, should the 

 Council "deem it expedient " to include that subject. 



Whatever may be the decision as to what part of the 

 library can be transferred to Kensington, or what ought 

 to be transferred, it is only the works relating to biologi- 

 cal studies that will be essential there, and it is only 

 these, therefore, that are likely to be the subject of 

 inquiry. But it might, perhaps, lead to changes of great 

 value to those who use the British Museum Library for 

 the purposes of referring to the literature of science in its 

 other branches as well, if the inquirj- could be extended 

 to include the question of the actual state of this litera- 

 ture, which is available for use at the Museum. Whether 

 it should be expected that the national library should 

 contain as complete a collection as possible of scientific 

 publications, or whether those who wish to consult them 

 ought to belong to several of the incorporated learned 

 societies, and use their libraries, is a separate question. 

 When this question is considered, if it has to be con- 

 sidered at all, it must not be forgotten that no one society 

 has anything like a comprehensive collection of scientific 

 "works, each society aiming at completeness in its own 

 subjects ; that to belong to several societies is not within 

 the means of every student; and that, as one of the 

 advantages of these societies is that members may take 

 hooks away, no one can be sure of finding on the shelves 

 what they may wish to consult. 



But quite apart from such a question as this it would 

 be of great use, with a prospect of effecting changes, to 

 know what is the actual state of the British Museum 

 library as regards scientific literature. 



Only those who have had occasion to work at the 

 library can have any idea how incomplete it is in this 

 department, or what a wearisome toil it is, in conse- 

 quence of the system of cataloguing adopted, to find 

 whether a work they wish to consult is or is not there. 

 If the experiences of those who have had occasion to use 

 the library for such purposes could be collected, the 

 probability is that it would be found that from a third to 

 a half of the works asked for were not obtainable there. 

 This may seem at first sight a very surprising assertion 

 to make, but there is good reason to believe it true. 

 What the Museum does or does not contain can, how- 

 ever, be known only by an inquiry, especially directed 

 to ascertain the facts. A reference to the catalogue, 

 as at present arranged, is quite inadequate to give* an 

 answer. The officials themselves could not tell from it 

 what they have and what they have not. For example : 

 suppose a particular volume of the Reports of the United 

 States Geological Survey of the Territories is wanted, a 

 reference to the catalogue will not tell whether it has 

 been received or not. The catalogue simply gives the 

 information that the series is on a particular shelf. If a 

 ticket for the whole series is filled up according to the 

 requirements of the reading-room regulations with the 

 press mark, the title, and Washington, 1873, &c., 4^ 

 added, then it will be found when the books are brouo-ht 



to the reader's seat, that only volumes two, six, nine, and 

 ten of the whole series are there. This illustration 

 applies to all publications which are issued in a series 

 either by societies or by government departments. To 

 ascertain, therefore, what is the incompleteness of series 

 of which some numbers find a place in the catalogue, it 

 would be requisite, if a reader undertook such an investi- 

 gation, to write tickets for every series separately, to 

 have all the numbers brought, and then to make note of 

 the gaps. Such a work is rather the duty of the officials 

 than of readers, but, as already stated, it would require a 

 special inquiry, whether made by readers or by officials, 

 to ascertain what is really the state of the British Museum 

 library as to the literature of science. 



It must be borne in mind that an important part, per- 

 haps the most important part, of the literature to which 

 a worker in science wants to refer, is that which is in the 

 series of the different societies and government depart- 

 ments, and it is just in this that the British ^luseum is 

 weakest, and in which it might be supposed a remedy 

 might be most easily found. To fill up gaps of old 

 standard works out of print is not ver}' easy. Chances of 

 sales of libraries must be carefully looked out for to effect 

 this, but the current literature of societies and of depart- 

 ments is more easily secured. 



An inquiry into the state of the scientific literature at 

 the Museum, and the facilities for its use, might be 

 advantageously directed under three distinct heads, each 

 of which has an important bearing on meeting the re- 

 quirements of those who wish to consult the collection : — 



1. As to the incompleteness of series. 



2. As to the length of time that elapses between the 

 pubHcation of a number and its being obtainable at the 

 Museum. 



3. As to the method of cataloguing. 



As regards (i) incompleteness of series, there is no 

 reason to believe that it is confined to publications re- 

 ferring to any particular branches of science more than 

 others. For e.xample, to take a few cases at random, 

 there are only three volumes of the reports of the state of 

 the Brussels Observator)- ; there is only one part of the 

 long series of reports on the health of the City of London ; 

 there are three volumes wanting of the Report of the 

 Commissioners on the Sanitary Condition of the Labour- 

 ing Population of Great Britain ; the publications of the 

 Geological Sur\-ey are very incomplete ; there are none of 

 the maps of the Water Supply Commission nor of the Coal 

 Commission ; and so on. To attempt to give a list of 

 what is known to be wanting would not be of much use 

 for the reason stated above, that nothing short of a full 

 inquiry into the matter could make known what is the 

 real state of affairs. When a question is asked as to why 

 certain rolumes are missing, there is always one reply 

 given — the publications of societies, home and foreign, 

 are presented, and cannot be demanded, and as to the 

 publications of Government departments, the Museum 

 has no claim. If they happen to be sent to the Museum 

 they are received, but' if not, it would seem that imder the 

 existing system there is no help for it. 



As regards (2) the length of time before a volume that 

 is sent can be had for reference, it may be safely put at 

 from one to two years. If a question is asked, how it is 

 that such delays occur, a very general answer is that some 

 societies are very irregular in sending their publications, 

 but when such cases as this occur — that at the Museum 

 a reader cannot now have a volume of the Bulletin of the 

 Brussels Academy later than 1876, while at another 

 public museum, the Patent Office Library in Southampton 

 Buildings, he can have it up to June in this year— it seems 

 to point rather to some feature in the administration of 

 the Museum as the cause. Many cases of this kind 

 might be quoted if it were required to establish the 

 fact. It is, no doubt, a wise arrangement that novels 

 and magazines that can be seen at any circulating 



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