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BOOK IV.

Chapter I.

which have to be given to the good arrangement, the Librarianship. accurate cataloguing, and the ready service of a Library. What, then, is to be expected if a dominant share in the management of a Library be placed in the hands of men with just enough of elementary education to bring into broad daylight the intensest ignorance, in union with the most stolid self-conceit?

Professional

Life.

Yet, in the most unfavourable position in which any such circumstances can place a Librarian, there is ample ground for steady and cheerful perseverance. Every step that is taken to extend the usefulness of a Library;-to diffuse far and wide the best thoughts of the best thinkers;-carries one mine the more beneath the social abuses which have so often placed a prevailing influence over our public institutions within the grasp of cunning money-grubs, or of noisy stump

orators.

The mine, too, is one that will eventually be none the less effectual for the slowness and silence of its

onward course.

The discipline of Over and above this broader consideration, a public servant thus placed may find comfort amidst the discouragements of ill-appreciated work, by listening to the many monitions, both within and without, assuring him that such experience is a discipline which, if turned to the right account, is never bought too dearly. The labour that has to be performed under the direction of men who can neither understand its difficulties, nor estimate its results, is but too likely to be at length rendered somewhat grudgingly. It becomes increasingly hard to keep in mind that applause is no right

i

aim of work; that the pursuit which is much affected

BOOK IV.

Chapter I.

by immediate rewards, or the want of them, must be Librarianship. either unworthy in itself, or be unworthily carried on. The discipline which forces a man to discover that, however much his heart may really be in his work, his failures belong, at the best, to shortcomings within, as well as to discouragements without, cannot but prove a wholesome and a fruitful discipline. In few ways will the full force of the weighty precept,-"Obedience is better than Sacrifice," get so well apprehended.

The question, 'Is a professional organization of Librarians practicable and likely to be useful?' is one of much interest. But at present the materials scarcely exist for any definite answer to it. If such an organization could be created upon a solid basis without ostentation, and without attempting to achieve too much, some, at all events, of the difficulties which beset appointments, under circumstances such as have been glanced at, would be put in a way of removal. In proportion as the number of Public Libraries shall increase and as the public concern in them shall be broadened, both the means and the desirableness of creating a Librarians' Association will, in all probability, evince themselves. Of late years we have seen instances of a like organization in Professions not much more numerous, and assuredly in no respect more important, and have seen their justification in good results both for the Profession and for the Public. But unless an Association bring with it increased means of systematic

Professional

Organization of
Librarians.

BOOK IV.

study, and of public evidence of the fruits of study, no Librarianship. result of much worth can be looked for.

Chapter I.

Meanwhile, every man who enters on this calling may give a powerful impulse to its elevation. It will never open for him a path to wealth or to popular fame. It is, and is likely to be, eminently exposed to social indifference and misconception. But, as a means of permanent usefulness, it presents opportunities which are surpassed only by those of the Pulpit or the Press. By the enlightened and zealous discharge of its functions, a man's work may be made to carry within it the unfailing seeds of many mental harvests, only to be fully gathered in, when he shall have long lain in his

grave.

CHAPTER II.

BOARDS OF MANAGEMENT; TOWN COUNCILS;
AND CENTRAL INSPECTION.

Il est vraiment à regretter que les trois quarts des Communes, grands et petits, mettent si peu d'importance, ou tant d'insouciance, à la formation de leur administration locale; elles la composent sans doute d'honnêtes gens, de bonnes gens, mais quelles bonnes gens, grands dieux! Et à quoi sont-ils bons? Je connais une ville qui a pour Conseillers Municipaux trente bourgeois, de la meilleure pâte de bourgeois qu'on ait jamais vus sur la terre, tous hommes de bien et craignant Dieu, dévots à l'honneur, dévots à la Patrie, économes, rangés, probes, délicats, et qui se feraient mille fois écorcher plutôt que de prendre un liard à quelqu'un. Eh bien! il n'est pas moins vrai que ces trentes probités coûtent plus au pays que ne le feraient soixante Mandrins aidés d'autant de Cartouches.

Il semble que le vertige souffle sur eux, et lorsque le hasard leur a fait adopter une bonne mesure, ils trouvent le moyen de la paralyser par le mode d'exécution.

Boucher de PeRTHES (Petit Glossaire, i, 160).

BOOK IV.

Chapter II. Boards of Management;

To treat adequately of the many questions that link themselves with the constitution and the functions of Boards which have to govern Public Libraries, would Town Councils; require wider limits, longer experience, and larger spection. abilities than mine. Some observations, however, may

and Central In

BOOK IV.

Chapter II.
Boards of

Management, &c.

Trustees of the

be offered as points for consideration and further inquiry.

As respects Libraries on the largest scale, we have, The Board of in the Trustees of the British Museum, an instance of British Museum. a Committee, constituted at the outset for the control of what, for a generation or two, was little more than an attractive exhibition, and place of amusement, yet developing itself, without material changes in its composition, into a Board of Management which (well seconded by its Officers,) has dealt successfully with the most difficult and complicated questions, and has converted a pleasant lounge for the idlers of London into the greatest Repository of the stores of Learning and of Science that the world has seen.

In its organization, very open to Criticism; in some of its less important acts and modes of procedure, actually under the censure of a Royal Commission, this Board has yet, in the main, a most indisputable claim to the gratitude of the British people, and might reasonably take pride in the fact that the year which closes its first century of active labour sees it officially proposed as a model to France.

To pursue, therefore, somewhat more into detail, yet with brevity, that general notice of the Constitution of the Museum Trust which I have given in the preceding volume, will scarcely be a misapplication of the reader's time.

With slight modifications, the Museum is still governed on the old system. In June 1850, so much of the existing Statutes as created Sub-Committees for specific Departments-MSS.; Printed Books; Zoology;

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