The Small Library/Chapter 4
In a previous part of this work, allusion has been made to the indifference generally shown towards technical and professional literature by those for whose benefit it is laboriously compiled. Nearly every author and publisher of technological works has the same tale to relate, touching the indifference of workmen and masters alike to book-aids to their trade. Lawyers and medical men are certainly more discerning and liberal patrons of their professional literature, while clergymen must either buy books or cease to preach, but the average man of business, whatever his particular line may be, must be written down, along with the publican and the coster, as among those to whom the printed records of learning, wisdom, and scientific dexterity make but little appeal. Those superior persons—the average business men—who are continually parading their great commercial acumen before the humbler folks who only rank as customers, seem to be singularly short-sighted in regard to the aid which literature can, and does, lend to business. They support but one form of literature, if it can be dignified with the name, Advertising, and in this respect they are to be commended as faithful patrons of the art of printing. But in nearly every other respect they disdain to borrow hints from books or even their custodians. One instance will suffice, and it must be understood to refer exclusively to British men of business, and not to Americans and Germans, who have shown themselves intelligently alive to the power of literature and the excellence of the devices used in connexion with libraries. The average British man of business, then, is a conservative, who will not avail himself of even the most obvious labour-saving method, unless he is driven to test it, and reluctantly self-persuaded to use in spite of previous prejudice. The card-indexing system is a case in point. This method has been in everyday use in British, American, and Continental libraries for more than a century, and is recognized universally as a labour-saving device of the highest value. It has been widely adopted for every kind of business purpose in America and Germany—book-keeping, address-indexing, stock-keeping, traveller's records, and every variety of commercial operation-while in England, our men of business look at it askance, because they think it is quite a dilettante concern, used only by the impractical men of affairs who run libraries.It is not to be wondered at if such men are sceptical regarding the value of book-knowledge when they thus ignore an appliance, which, considered solely as a labour-saving device for business purposes, might easily become a means of materially increasing and improving the volume and quality of their commercial operations. If any one doubts the truth of the assertion above made, as to the general indifference towards technical literature of manufacturers, workmen, and merchants, he, or she, has only to take stock of the technical books contained in the nearest shop or warehouse, to be convinced that literature plays but a small part in British trade or commerce.
The workshop library, generally speaking, consists of various price-lists and manufacturers' catalogues, with, perhaps, a ready-reckoner and a few tables of rules and formulæ. Many workshops do not even possess the price-lists, and all kinds of processes are accomplished by rule-of-thumb, in the good old way sanctioned by the traditions of a long series of venerated great-great-grandfathers. Methods and recipes are used which are simply handed down from workman to workman, which have never been properly recorded for reference, and never, therefore, compared with similar, and perhaps more economical and effective processes. Some workshops of the largest kind do possess valuable and fully-equipped reference libraries of technical books, but they are very often locked up in the office for the sole benefit of the manager and foremen. In most factories, very little in the way of technical books will be found, save a few volumes of patterns or trade catalogues; and it must be confessed that, from libraries in hotels and shops to those in lighthouses and battleships, fully-stocked and up-to-date technical collections of books, capable of being used in aid of the special trades or professions are very seldom in evidence.
The question of providing useful and suitable books for shops, warehouses or factories is greatly complicated by the immense variety of different trades and occupations implied by the very names of shop and workshop, and further by the absence of a good modern guide to the literature of trades. The books which may prove useful to a grocer are not necessarily those which an ironmonger would require, while the reference books wanted in a foundry would differ materially from those applicable to a tannery. It is, therefore, a matter of impossibility to attempt to single out the technical books which are best adapted for this, or that, or the other trade. Those who are interested must rely upon works like Sonnenschein's Best Books and Readers' Guide, or Greenwood's Guide to Technical and Commercial Books to be found in all good libraries, and the reviews or notes in special trade journals. But every shopkeeper and manufacturer ought to possess at least two or three of the leading textbooks dealing with his trade, and at least one manual of accountancy. It is needless to repeat what has already been said about the in-difference of shopkeepers to their technical literature and journals. It is, unfortunately, a fact too well known to the publishers who bravely undertake the thankless task of giving tradesmen, in book form, an equivalent for the technical training which our own Government neglects, while other nations are pushing ahead and injuring the old British reputation for quality and accuracy in every kind of manufacture and machine. It is not ignorance, because the necessity for cultivating scientific methods has been dinned into John Bull's ears for very many years, and, generally speaking, he is more indifferent now than he was before 1870. Indeed, it may be questioned if there was not more genuine taste for hard study and sound education years ago, when the population was many millions less, than at the present time, when horse-racing, betting, billiards, football, and hooliganism in every form are the favourite amusements of a great majority of our commercial and artizan population. But this is not an essay on social progress. Of books which may be regarded as labour-saving tools in the business of every shopkeeper there are at least two which should be considered indispensable:—
A Local Directory.
A Ready Reckoner.
This may seem a very trite and obvious thing to say, but any one with a turn for inquiry may easily ascertain how very necessary these recommendations are, if he strolls into any retail shop in a strange locality, and asks to see the directory. One might as well ask for a sight of the Bible or a Nautical Almanac in a public house!
The list which follows is composed mostly of books which will be found useful in almost any kind of business, while some of them are more likely to be required in workshops:—
Book-keeping and Accountancy.
- Hamilton-Ball. Book-keeping.
- Crellin. Book-keeping for Wholesale and Retail Houses.
- Thornton. Book-keeping for Business Men.
- Jackson. Book-keeping.
- Thomson. Principles and Practice of Book-keeping.
- Arnold (H. L.). The Complete Cost-keeper. 1900.
- Garcke and Fells. Factory Accounts. 1902.
- Gunn. Business Training Manual.
- Hooper-Graham. Modern Business Methods Series.
- Cordingley. Counting-house Guide.
- Ready. Précis and Précis Writing.
Receipts.
- Spon. Workshop Receipts. 5 Series.
- Cooley. Cyclopædia of Practical Receipts. 2 vols.
- Brannt-Wahl. Techno-Chemical Receipt Book.
- 'Scientific American' Receipt Book.
Rules and Tables.
- Clark. Mechanical Engineers' Pocket-book of Tables.
- Trautwine. Civil Engineer's Pocket-book.
- Molesworth. Pocket-book of Engineering Formula.
- Hutton. Works Manager's Handbook of Rules.
Miscellaneous.
- Statesman's Year-Book. Annually as issued.
- A good Atlas.
- Chisholm's Gazetteer.
- Law without Lawyers.
- Every Man's Own Lawyer.
- The Secretary's Assistant and Correspondent's Guide.
- A good English Dictionary, and, if necessary, German or French ones.
A considerable number of the books noted under the head of the reference department of the Household Library will also be found useful in Factories, Warehouses, and Shops.
As regards the books suitable for business houses which lodge their assistants on the premises, like the large drapery houses in London, the selections made under the title of 'Suggestions for a General Household Library will be found suitable. As a rule, the so-called 'libraries' in such business houses are a complete sham. Certain stoppages are made monthly from the wages of drapers' assistants who 'live in', which are supposed to go towards the 'library'; but, as this educational department usually consists of a few magazines and newspapers, its importance need not be unduly magnified. If the heads of such houses would provide plenty of good books, and discourage the type of semi-sporting newspaper usually found in the so-called 'libraries', there would be less reason to complain of the general conduct of the misguided young folks who are compelled to waste their lives 'living in'. At any rate, a good and well-selected library would tend to discourage betting, and the never-ending indulgence in 'sweepstakes' among both males and females, and might even prevent many of the girls from finding their chief recreation on the pavement.
A parental government is supposed to look after our soldiers and sailors, while municipal and other bodies are credited with exercising a similar care over policemen, firemen, street-cleaners, lighthouse keepers, coast-guard, etc. No doubt the municipal public libraries serve exceedingly well the needs of all kinds of municipal workers, and I know that the Brethren of Trinity House and the Commissioners for Northern Lights, look well after the literary entertainment of the watchers in our lonely lighthouses. Imagine the exquisite horror of being able to read Poe's Fall of the House of Usher, or Arthur Gordon Pym, in an isolated lighthouse during a dreadlful storm! It is doubtful, however, if the provision of libraries made by the Admiralty and the War Office for the inhabitants of our barracks and ships of war is at all adequate. The best technical collections are not freely at the call of the common soldier or sailor, and consequently their value must be greatly limited. It is not proposed to consider the needs of every variety of special library, because to a great extent the chapters on the small municipal library will answer every ordinary question.