LIBRARY APPLIANCES. THE TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT OF LIBRARIES, INCLUDING FITTINGS AND FURNITURE, RECORDS, FORMS, RECIPES, &c. (continued 2)

Receipts for fines, &c., may either be in books of numbered and priced tickets—1d., 2d., 3d., 6d., &c.—or in perforated counterfoil books with running numbers. Both kinds are extensively used, as well as tissue books with carbonised paper, similar to those seen in drapers’ shops.

Application forms for books exist in many varieties, but chiefly in connection with reference libraries. The number of lending libraries which use the application slips is as yet comparatively small, but there are indications pointing to a more general adoption of this appliance, especially where indicators are used. Some reference libraries have an elaborate application in duplicate, one part being retained when the transaction is complete, and the other returned to the borrower. The plan adopted in the British Museum of charging assistants with issues, and returning the readers’ applications, is not recommended for imitation. The very special arrangements of the Museum require special means of working, which are not suitable for general adoption. On reference library applications, in addition to the usual admonitory sentences as to books being only for use on the premises, &c., it is customary to ask for the book number or its press mark, author and title, volumes wanted, reader’s name and address, and date. In addition most libraries include a space for the initials of the assistant who issues and replaces the book, while some ask for the ages and professions of readers. Lending library applications need be no more elaborate than this:—

________ PUBLIC LIBRARY.

No. of Book Wanted. No. of Borrower’s Ticket.

Date.

Or this:—

________ PUBLIC LIBRARY. Lending Department.

Book Number. Author and Title of Book Wanted. Ticket Number.

Date. Vols. Issued.

Renewal slips and post-cards, and bespoke cards or forms require no description.

Information circulars and readers’ handbooks are becoming more and more general, and many useful documents of the kind have been issued. The object of all is to direct attention to the library, its uses, and contents, while making more public the rules, newspapers taken, hours of opening, &c. The little handbooks issued from Manchester, Boston (U.S.), Glasgow, and elsewhere, are models.

The barest reference will suffice for such articles as book-marks, cloth or paper, overdue notices and post-cards, issue returns, branch library returns, infectious diseases notification forms, and stock-taking returns, all of which are almost explained by their names. It should be stated as a curious fact that very many persons object to having notices of overdue books or defaulting borrowers sent on post-cards, while others think a charge for the postage of such notices an imposition. Any young librarian desirous of obtaining specimens of these or any other forms will always be sure to get them on application at the various libraries. The Museum, as before stated, contains a number of all kinds of forms.

As regards ordinary Stationery it is hardly necessary to say much. Note-paper is usually stamped with the library arms, and envelopes with the name on the flap. Pens, ink, pencils, rulers, date-cases, paper-knives, &c., are all so familiar that it would be waste of time to consider them separately. Any intelligent librarian will find endless suggestion and profit from a visit to a large stationer’s warehouse, and may even pick up wrinkles of some value by keeping his eyes open to the adaptability of many articles of manufactured stationery.

RECIPES.

Pastes. Ordinary flour paste is made by mixing flour and water to the consistency of a thin cream, taking care that all knots are rubbed out, and boiling over a slow fire with constant stirring until it becomes translucent. It can be made of almost any thickness and toughness, and by the admixture of a little glue very strong paste is obtained. A few drops of oil of cloves, creasote, or corrosive sublimate, or a few grains of salicylic acid will preserve flour paste for a long time if it is kept in closely covered vessels. The office paste called “Stickphast” is a variety of this preparation, and is much better than gum. There are a number of firms in London and elsewhere who make flour pastes which will keep, and these may be had through any bookbinder or direct from the makers at a cost as small as the home-made kinds, and of a much superior quality. There are various preparations of starch also used as paste, but they are best adapted for mounting photographs. A clean compound called “gloy” used to be sold in bottles, and was found useful for mounting fine plates or for office purposes. Mr. Zaehnsdorf recommends a paste made of rice flour, mixed with cold water and gently boiled, as one admirably adapted for delicate work. For all purposes of book patching which can be accomplished by the library staff Le Page’s soluble glue will be found handier and better than the ordinary kinds.

Stains caused by writing-ink may be removed by (1) Equal quantities of lapis calaminaris, common salt, and rock alum, boiled in white wine for half-an-hour, and applied with a brush or sponge. (2) A small quantity of oxalic or muriatic acid diluted with water, applied with a camel’s hair brush, and dried with clean white blotting paper—two applications. (3) Solution of oxalic acid and water, after which the leaves should be dipped in a weak solution of chloride of lime and water, and thoroughly dried, after washing in clean water. (4) Aniline ink stains can be sponged off with warm water, or completely removed by a bath of alcohol. Grease spots or oil stains can be removed by (1) washing or dabbing the part with ether or benzoline, and afterwards placing between white blotting paper, over which pass a hot iron. Keep the ether and benzoline away from burning lights. (2) Put the leaf between two pieces of white blotting paper and carefully apply a hot iron to both sides. (3) When the stain is caused by a slice of bacon having been used as a book-mark, or by contact with a paraffin lamp, the borrower should be asked to remove it and supply a new copy of the work! (4) In general oxalic, citric, and tartaric acids are safe agents to use for removing stains in books, as they do not affect the letter-press. (5) Water and damp stains are removable by the application of boiling water and alum. (6) Foxing may be removed by dipping the leaves in a weak solution of hydrochloric acid, half ounce of acid to one pint of hot water, or by a weak bath of chlorine water. (7) Mud stains will yield to washing in cold water, then in a weak solution of muriatic acid, and finally in a weak solution of chloride of lime; dry well. For many practical hints on these and other subjects, see the admirable Art of Bookbinding, by J. W. Zaehnsdorf, issued as one of Bell’s “Technological Handbooks”. The receipts given in Power’s Handy Book about Books, Brannt and Wahl’s Techno-Chemical Receipt Book, and Cooley’s Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts will also repay a little study.

To repair torn leaves: lay the torn leaf upon a piece of tissue paper of the same colour as the leaf itself. Touch the edges of the torn pieces, lightly, with good paste, applied by the finger,—bring them carefully together in proper position and place on top another piece of tissue paper; then put the volume under a heavy weight or in a press and leave it till next day. Finally, with great care, tear off the tissue paper which will adhere wherever it has touched the paste. The fibres of the tissue which remain, together with the paste, result in an almost invisible union of the torn fragments.