Oil, 1 
 
 Bulletin Boards and Special Lists* 
 
 I have been asked to say a few words 
 about the use and value of bulletin 
 boards in a library, and also how far one 
 may go with advantage in the prepara¬ 
 tion of lists of books on special topics. 
 Both subjects come very properly under 
 the head of the indoor advertising of a 
 library; and in these days a librarian, 
 to be successful, must treat his library 
 as he would direct a mercantile enter¬ 
 prise. It will not do to sit behind a 
 desk, waiting for people to suggest im¬ 
 provements and ask for new books; it 
 is not enough to make a reform after 
 the visitor to another town returns with 
 accounts of the management of another 
 library. If the library is to be sup* 
 ported by taxation the taxpayers have 
 a right to expect an experienced, ener¬ 
 getic librarian at its head. 
 
 Periodicals which attemot to cover 
 
 X 
 
 the field of current literature seek means 
 to attract and interest readers^ They 
 give quotations from each new book— 
 a well-told story, an amusing anecdote, 
 a vivid bit of description, with a few 
 
 * Read at Plymouth, Mass., June 26, 1899. 
 
lines of personal comment, biographical 
 details, and a portrait. Why should not 
 the librarian attract th.e citizen by the 
 same devices? A bulletin board, clev¬ 
 erly arranged, requires experience and 
 judgment not unlike that shown by the 
 editor of a paper, or the decorator of a 
 show window. To some librarians this 
 task no doubt proves irksome, or it may 
 be that it runs counter to ideas of good 
 taste and fitness ; but our object is to 
 attract readers, and some method must 
 be found that shall be both effective and 
 suitable for a library. 
 
 Many people do not read a literary 
 paper which lies on the library table. 
 It would be well, therefore, for a board 
 of trustees to allow the librarian to 
 spend, we will say, 15 cents a week for 
 periodicals to be cut up. This would 
 mean for the active months of the win¬ 
 ter about $5, a sum which could be ob¬ 
 tained from some loyal friend of the 
 library if the trustees hesitate to spend 
 public money for such a purpose. With 
 this sum invested in the Bookman, the 
 Critic, an occasional number of the 
 Academy, Harper’s weekly, the Illus¬ 
 trated London news, or one of the 10- 
 cent monthlies, gratifying results should 
 be obtained. The great man of our time, 
 as he passes away, will appear on the 
 
bulletin board, depicted far more truly 
 than is possible in the rapidly printed 
 newspaper. Again he will be called to 
 mind on the anniversary of his birth or 
 death, or with other men who together 
 have shaped great public policies, or 
 have quickened the thought and up¬ 
 raised the standards of their century. 
 
 A new work by a well-known literary 
 man will awaken interest in pictures of 
 his home, his family, his handwriting, 
 and in the caricatures which appear in 
 the comic papers. 
 
 If the librarian is the eye for the com¬ 
 munity he will be able to show pictures 
 of the latest invention, the newest mar¬ 
 vel of mechanism, long before it be¬ 
 comes household property. I would 
 not have the town library a curiosity 
 shop, but a place where thought is 
 stimulated; it should direct him who 
 would read and furnish better subjects of 
 conversation for him who will not study. 
 
 Do not put all your good material up 
 at once. Change it little by little, that 
 the frequent reader will always find 
 something new, and the occasional vis¬ 
 itor will not miss too much. In the 
 choice of subjects do not be too pedantic 
 or too scholarly. Public libraries are 
 maintained not solely to make the 
 learned more erudite; they have a mis- 
 
 3 
 
sion to the rank and file—a mission to 
 rest, cheer, and amuse. The face of 
 Mr Sothern or Maude Adams might be 
 out of place on the bulletin board 51 
 weeks in the year; but if in the fifty- 
 second week one of them puts upon the 
 stage a play based upon a famous novel, 
 the face of D’Artagnan or Babbie might 
 delight many people. To judge of the 
 fitness of an action is the part of a good 
 librarian, and no one can be another’s 
 guide. A librarian who will not venture 
 to try some novel methods for fear of 
 comment will court a greater comment, 
 that which thrives over a decaying ad¬ 
 ministration. A startling headline on 
 a bulletin board will in some commu¬ 
 nities be effective. I read of this head¬ 
 ing for a list of books: Hot? Go to 
 Alaska; and of a list of books on ani¬ 
 mals, introduced by a fascinating pro¬ 
 cession of parti-colored paper wild 
 beasts upon the board. A vexed libra¬ 
 rian might exhibit some dirty books 
 under the label: Want one? Go wash 
 your hands! but this is a dangerous field. 
 
 I have found that titles of timely 
 articles in magazines, when posted on 
 the bulletin board, one or two at a time, 
 lead people to read. Slips two by 
 three inches in size may each bear a 
 title; they fill vacant spaces and give 
 
variety, attracting more attention than 
 lists of titles would. Notes about your 
 library and the great libraries, when 
 introduced very sparingly, quicken in¬ 
 terest. 
 
 A bulletin board should be two or 
 three feet wide and double that amount 
 in length; of very soft pine or white- 
 wood, perhaps varnished, but certainly 
 not painted, so that ordinary small 
 tacks may be pressed in with ease. 
 Some prefer a literature board, a sec¬ 
 ond board for current events, and a 
 third for children. 
 
 The bulletin board will aid in mak¬ 
 ing the library generally useful—the 
 most frequented spot in town. The 
 busy man will come in to find when 
 the bank opens, when the next train 
 leaves, when the morning mail arrives, 
 what articles are in the warrant for the 
 next town meeting, when he must re¬ 
 turn from the seashore to place his 
 children in school. 
 
 In that corner of the board devoted 
 to the schools, boys and girls should 
 find notices posted by the superintend¬ 
 ent and by teachers. They should find 
 reference lists for their lessons and 
 topics for prize essays. A bright stu¬ 
 dent would enjoy managing such a de¬ 
 partment for an acknowledgment in 
 
 5 
 
the annual report. One person would 
 be well and fully occupied in a library 
 of fair size with the care of the infor¬ 
 mation desk and the bulletin boards. 
 
 Any special list of references on a 
 subject of passing interest will, if not 
 too long, add to the interest of a bulle¬ 
 tin board. How much a library should 
 spend for printing such lists depends, I 
 think, upon a library’s income. Cer¬ 
 tain lists should be in every public li¬ 
 brary, and there should be an unlimited 
 supply from year to year; a reference- 
 list for each holiday, for the greater 
 statesmen, soldiers, sailors, and poets. 
 These lists should be short and simple. 
 Too long a bibliography is as confus¬ 
 ing to the untrained public as a subject 
 of which there is no bibliography. This 
 is an age of cataloging and annotation 
 rather than of creation among edu¬ 
 cated men, and a librarian must be cau¬ 
 tious in his use of lists. 
 
 Many excellent lists on current topics 
 appear from time to time in library 
 bulletins, and an institution with limited 
 means need spend little or no money 
 in making new ones. Use what is at 
 hand by cutting away or adding titles 
 to make the lists meet your conditions. 
 If you have the inclination keep all 
 lists, whether publisher’s circulars or 
 
 6 
 
advertisements, or library bulletins or 
 secondhand catalogs, and arrange them 
 by subjects in an alphabet for ready 
 reference. 
 
 If you issue a bulletin, or if you have 
 library notes in a local newspaper, an 
 announcement that you have a list of 
 articles and books on the Dreyfus case, 
 or on international arbitration, will an¬ 
 swer every purpose that would be pro¬ 
 moted by incurring the expense of 
 printing the lists. A book like Briefs 
 for debate, is made up largely of spe¬ 
 cial lists. Poole’s index and the Cu¬ 
 mulative index are invaluable for spe¬ 
 cial lists on public questions, before 
 literature on these subjects appears in 
 book form. 
 
 But to the library with ample funds 
 the printing press is a wise adjunct. 
 Special lists, uniform in style, special 
 subjects reprinted from the catalog 
 cards, lists of accessories, lists of pic¬ 
 tures and of music scores—all these 
 help students, and, to some extent, the 
 public. I have said, make them short. 
 Study arrangement and spacing—two 
 qualities as necessary in printing as in 
 painting. Use not over two or three 
 kinds of type; let it be old face, and 
 carefully avoid fantastic styles. Some 
 country printing offices are stocked 
 
 7 
 
just now with type which city offices 
 have found that city people will not 
 tolerate, type with a curl at each end, 
 capitals that conceal the fundamental 
 letter-form. Do not subdivide the ma¬ 
 terial too much, but give the alphabet 
 a share of service. Readers want only 
 obvious classes, and care little for the 
 librarian’s theory of the classification 
 of knowledge. An able librarian is 
 too apt to be intolerant of stupidity or -r 
 slow mental action. He must when on 
 duty stimulate by working with and 
 through people, not above them. Let 
 him satisfy his own ideals out of hours 
 by association with great books and su¬ 
 perior minds. 
 
 Bulletin boards and special lists ad¬ 
 vertise a library and so widen its influ¬ 
 ence. But let me say in closing, al¬ 
 though it may be carrying coals to 
 Newcastle to say it before a library 
 club, that nothing so well advertises a 
 library as a capable librarian. 
 
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