YMCA Library Cover Story

The cover story on the Library History Buff website for May lies in the label affixed to the top of the featured cover. The YMCA of San Francisco found a novel method of raising revenue for its free library. They rescued letters from the Dead Letter Office of the Post Office Department in hopes that the recipient of the rescued item would make a contribution for this service. In this case, the envelope contained an invitation to a church ceremony that occurred on October 27, 1870. Since the envelope was postmarked Nov. 20, the recipient may have not been willing to make a contribution to the San Francisco YMCA. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the United States was founded in Boston, MA in 1851. By 1876 there were 478 of these associations in cities across the nation. Of these, 180 had libraries with a total of 164,188 volumes. Two hundred and one of the YMCAs had reading rooms with an average of 9,145 readers daily. The purpose of YMCA libraries was “to provide a suitable place for young men and others to spend their evenings in, without resorting to the haunts of vice and dissipation.” Some YMCA libraries were free and some charged a nominal fee, generally $1 a year. The Library of the Young Men’s Christian Association of San Francisco was founded in 1853. By 1876 it had a collection of 5,000 volumes.

Happy 150th Alice Tyler

Today we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of the library profession's outstanding former leaders. Alice Sarah Tyler (1859-1944) was one of the library pioneers who helped define state level public library development in the twentieth century. Tyler served as President of the American Library Association in 1920-21, the third woman to do so. Tyler was a graduate of the first class of the Library School of the Armour Institute of Chicago which was the predecessor of the University of Illinois Library School. She was the first Secretary of the Iowa State Library Commission in 1900, a position she held for thirteen years. She served as president of the League of Library Commissions in 1906-1907. Tyler became director of the Library School at Western Reserve University in 1913 where she served until her retirement in 1929. She held numerous leadership positions in a variety of library organizations. Tyler was one of the forty library leaders selected by the Library Journal to be included in "A Library Hall of Fame" in 1951. Tyler's philosophy of librarianship is reflected in a quote from a 1927 talk: "The ultimate goal in library work is after all elusive... Certainly our real goal is not toward an external end; it must be in the realm of mind and spirit. If one can phrase a practical end for the elusive quest, it might be: Helping people to use their minds; Stimulating people to think!" Tyler is listed in the Dictionary of American Library Biography, and I'm indebted to Helen M. Focke who wrote the entry for Tyler for much of the information in this post.

Bookstack Retrieval

One of the more interesting library related images (WHi 39575) in the Wisconsin Historical Images collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society shows two giant revolving bookstacks with an elevator placed between them. The vision of this futuristic book retrieval system was created by W. D. Lewis around 1900. Massive storage of books by libraries in tiered bookstacks was not that far into the future though. When the New York Public Library on 42nd Street opened in 1911 it had eight tiers of steel bookstacks capable of holding three million volumes. When the Free Library of Philadelphia opened in 1927 it utilized a number of new technologies to speed retrieval of books from its six tier free standing bookstack. Click here to see a step by step view of the retrieval process. The Mathewson Automated Retrieval System (MARS) at the University of Nevada, Reno is a modern day version of an old idea.

To find out about a library bookstack from hell click here.

Bibliophemera

I've recently become acquainted with the Bibliophemera blog of Chuck Whiting, a bookseller from Texas. Whiting's blog discusses "ephemera related to books - their owners, sellers, binders, publishers, etc.". It's right down my alley because a great deal of what I collect falls in the ephemera category. Whiting even had a blog post on bibliophilately recently which is one of my major collecting interests. He has also had posts on the Booklovers Library and bookmobiles, two other interests of mine. He has another blog called Archeolibris which is about "Digging up interesting fragments among the leaves of new, used, and out-of-print books". Both blogs are worth checking out.

Library Heritage Day

Today is the last day of National Library Week 2009, and if I had my way libraries across the country would be celebrating Library Heritage Day. It doesn't seem unreasonable to me that libraries would take one day a year to focus on their heritage. However, for some reason librarians seem to be adverse to acknowledging their past. It is true that on significant anniversaries some libraries do make an attempt to highlight their heritage, but such an effort once every fifty to one hundred years is not that noteworthy. I am of the strong belief that we are the beneficiaries of the legacy of those library workers and supporters who have gone before us, and we should acknowledge that prior contribution to our libraries. For those pragmatists who see acknowledging our library heritage as a diversion from the problems of the present, I would argue that library history can be used to help make the case for the value and importance of libraries. I like the "I Love Libraries" campaign of the American Library Association because it appeals to those who value libraries the most and who are the most likely to stand up and support libraries when times are tough. People who love libraries are also the people who are most likely to appreciate and value library history. My point is that incorporating library history into an overall marketing plan for a library or libraries is a smart, practical thing to do. Setting aside one day during National Library Week each year as Library Heritage Day would be a step in the right direction. For more specific ideas about a national library heritage day click here.

Library Buttons

Library buttons are a common device used by libraries to promote library services and programs. They are also used by professional library associations to promote conferences and activities at those conferences. Library vendors frequently take advantage of buttons to promote their products and services to librarians. It's easy to see why they are a popular collectible among librarians. Over the years I have collected hundreds of library related buttons. I've selected a few to include on a Library Buttons page at the Library History Buff website.

Library Bookmarks

Bookmarks have been a common library handout for more than a century. They have been used by libraries to accomplish a variety of purposes. Protection of books has been a primary purpose. Providing bookmarks theoretically avoids having patrons turn down the corners of pages. They also discourage patrons from using other objects as bookmarks. Early bookmarks intended for use by children often included guidance on the care of books. Another purpose of bookmarks was to convey the rules of the library. They were used by some libraries as date due reminders. An ongoing purpose has been promoting reading. National Library Week promotional materials always include bookmarks. Summer library programs routinely include bookmarks as one of the freebies. Because of the wide variety of library and other bookmarks, they are a natural collectible. I'm not a serious collector of library bookmarks but I have managed to accumulate a card catalog drawer full of them. I've put images of some of them on a Library Bookmark web page at the Library History Buff website. A nice collection of links on bookmarks is located here.

Libraries and Hard Times

There is a cliche that history repeats itself. This has more than some validity when it comes to libraries and hard times. The American Library Association is currently doing what it can to promote libraries and to assist libraries in making their case during these difficult economic times. Some of the arguments used by libraries during the great depression of the 1930s are being repeated today. ALA staff member Julia Wright Merrill writing in the December 1931 issue of the Bulletin of the American Library Association (predecessor of American Libraries) wrote about "The Challenge of the Depression". In that article Merrill quotes the arguments made by the Toledo Public Library to justify its funding in the hard times of that era.

Hard times bring a re-evaluation of institutions supported by taxes. The public has a right to expect its money's worth in accomplishment. Why the public library deserves adequate support at this time is a proper question and one which we wish to answer.

As pointed out in this report, its load of work increases suddenly and greatly in times of depression. It serves and serves alike all classes of people, regardless of color, creed, nationality, age, or position.

It provides the adult with a place of learning such as does no other organization, and is prepared to assist him as he meets difficult and practical problems.

The library's influence is positive and constructive. Knowledge tends to strengthen all who possess it. Good roads, public buildings, compulsory employment insurance, and other public supported measures are fine. They cannot, however, take the place of or create a better prepared and more enlightened citizenship. Support of the public library is an investment in men, not materials, and offers the opportunity for more than temporary
relief.

The library's levy has, indeed, never been large. The present rate of .5 mill yields almost exactly a dollar per capita, which is considered a minimum amount on which to give good
service. A reduction in income necessarily cuts seriously the quality and quantity of service.

The ill effects due to lack of funds are not easily remedied even with increased funds at a later date. To develop good and efficient book collections requires time and continuous buying. A trained and effective personnel are the result of time and uninterrupted development.

The need for books today cannot be satisfied with money five or ten years hence. Men and women can wait but little longer for mental food than for physical food. Today's opportunity must be met now or permanently denied.

I found this article at the New Deal Network. Other articles about libraries during the Great Depression can be found on this site by searching under "libraries". Library historian Charles Seavey has a good web article on "American Public Libraries in the Great Depression". The picture above is entitled "Migrant Mother" by Dorothea Lange from the Library of Congress digital collection.