Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this text.
The cover image has been createdfor this e-book and is placed in the public domain.
MANUAL OF LIBRARY ECONOMY
JAMES DUFF BROWN
MANUAL OF
LIBRARY ECONOMY
BY THE LATE
JAMES DUFF BROWN
CHIEF LIBRARIAN, ISLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARIES
AUTHOR OF
‘SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION,’ ‘LIBRARY CLASSIFICATION AND CATALOGUING,’
‘A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MUSICIANS,’ ETC.
THIRD AND MEMORIAL EDITION
REVISED AND REWRITTEN BY
W. C. BERWICK SAYERS
CHIEF LIBRARIAN, CROYDON PUBLIC LIBRARIES
LECTURER IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON SCHOOL OF LIBRARIANSHIP
AUTHOR OF
‘CANONS OF CLASSIFICATION,’ ‘AN INTRODUCTION TO CLASSIFICATION,’
‘THE CHILDREN’S LIBRARY,’ ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS, FORMS, AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES
GRAFTON & CO.
COPTIC HOUSE, LONDON, W.C.1
1920
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY
OF
JAMES DUFF BROWN
1862-1914
His labours making knowledge free;
He opened every book he knew
For other men to see.
PREFACE
This work was published by the late author in 1903, and asecond, and largely remodelled, edition appeared in 1907. Forsome years past it has been out of print, to the loss of morerecent students. The delay, however, has not been withoutits compensations, as librarianship has made several advanceswhich have been generally accepted, and has made many experiments,the issue of which is not yet decided, in the twelveyears since the publication of the second edition. The workhas been regarded with much justice as the most comprehensivecomplete treatise on library economy, and is the standardto which most British libraries conform in general; indeed,it is not too much to say that the whole modern school oflibrarians here has been moulded by the work. When, therefore,I was asked to prepare a new edition I was faced with the questionof how best to preserve its comprehensive character. I mighthave revised it conservatively, merely touching up the statistics,adding to the bibliographies, and correcting statements whichhave been modified by later experience; but that would haveleft the book partial and incomplete. Rightly or wrongly,I have rewritten almost every chapter, have added sections onquestions touched upon only lightly or not at all in previouseditions, and have omitted sever