By Aksel G. S. Josephson. THE Proposition for the establishment of a Bibliographi

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "By Aksel G. S. Josephson. THE Proposition for the establishment of a Bibliographi"

Amie Robbins
5 years ago
Views:

1 IN RE A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL INSTITUTE (Read at Baltimore meeting, December 28, 1905.) By Aksel G. S. Josephson THE Proposition for the establishment of a Bibliographi cal Institute, which I sent not long ago to over four hundred librarians and scholars of reputation in this and other countries, has elicited a number of replies, most of them encouraging and all, with one notable exception, apprecia tive. One of my correspondents, a man of great authority and influence, and widely known both as scientist and biblio grapher, says, indeed, that he does "not think that a central office, with a director, will be of much use,"and is in general very sceptical in regard to the whole affair. Against this might be put the consensus of opinion of all my other corre spondents, most clearly expressed by another man of equal authority, and at least as well known in the scientific world, that, "for scientific men a Bibliographical Institute is the first, and not, as some seem to think, the last requirement." Doubts have been expressed from several quarters as to whether it will be possible to secure endowment for an estab lishment which has so little of "show" in it as a Bibliographi cal Institute. I am told that "the men who have the money to back [such] ventures are not likely to see where the re turns are coming in," that "men of wealth are not likely to be greatly interested in such work," and that they rather spend their millions for library or university buildings. I am nevertheless inclined to think that it should be possible to con vince some large industrial or commercial concern, or some one in charge of such a concern that a systematic utilization of the great mass of technical literature, separating the chaff %

2 A Bibliographical Institute 97 from what is of value, would be of immense importance io the industrial world. Here, I am convinced, lies the proper field of attack, here the place where the work should be taken up, not because of its intrinsically greater value scientifically, but because of its greater possibility. The International Catalogue of Scientific Literature is apparently not ready to include applied science within its scope; and there can be no doubt in the minds of any one acquainted with the con ditions, that the world organization of technical bibliography must be started in America and its control kept in America. A Bibliographical Institute once started, even if confined at first to technical literature, would soon expand to include other branches of bibliography. The size of the endowment asked for has been subject to varying comment. One correspondent commended me for not having "made the common mistake of announcing that [the work] can be done for a totally inadequate sum," and another is inclined to think "that even $1,000,000 endow ment is too little when one thinks of present and future biblio graphical needs," while a third "can but feel that [the] pro posed institution is planned on so large a scale as to be almost impracticable." The last remark was apparently directed against the whole scheme of organization and work, and not merely against the suggested endowment, but these two sides of the problem are so closely related that one must consider them together. That $1,000,000 would be inadequate if it were intended to start all the various activities at once, is clear, but it should be noticed that I have stated this amount to be required "to establish [The Institute] on a reasonably permanent basis, so as to insure a gradual develop ment of all its possibilities." The first year (or years) of existence of the Institute should be devoted to experiments and preliminary work and this would not even require the

3 98 Bibliographical Society of America income of $1,000,000; if this sum be available from the beginning, therefore, such portion of the income as may not be expended should either be added to the main fund, or, still better, put aside as a special fund for future use when the time for enlargement comes. When the time comes for the full development of all the activities which should come within the scope of a Bibliographical Institute, an endowment of $5,000,000 would not be at all too large for its needs. The preliminary and experimental work of the first years of the Institute should consist of two or three definite undertak ings, so planned as to give a soild foundation on which to build up the Institute. I would begin with a bibliopraphy of some branch of bibliographical literature, such as national bibliographies, or the bibliographies of technical literature, and with a catalogue of economic journals. In addition to these two undertakings I would take up the indexing of a certain number of periodicals, not covered, or not adequately covered, by any of the existing comprehensive indexes to periodical literature, and I would carry on the indexing of current and back volumes simultaneously. The Bureau of Information service should also be started at once, so as to give the Institute from the beginning a practical foothold with the public. This would necessitate the organization at once of a staff of correspondents or associates in other cities. The tone of several of the letters which I have received indicates that there will be no difficulty in enlisting the services of a number of competent scientific bibliographers, both in this country and in Europe. The difficulty in getting suitable men, both as correspondents and as members of the head quarters staff, has been pointed out to me and I fully appreci ate this difficulty. A trained bibliographer does not always know the subject matter of a particular science well enough to make adequate annotations and a specialist has often a much

4 A Bibliographical Institute 99 too low opinion of the importance of accuracy in biblio graphical work. A staff composed of both kinds of workers would perhaps be most satisfactory, but this will undoubtedly be more expensive than even a million dollar endowment could stand. It would be necessary to make a diligent search for men who combine both special knowledge and biblio graphical training, or else for scientific men who might be amenable to training in bibliographical technique. The parts of my plan which have met with any detailed criticism are those which relate to classification and evalua tion. Both of these are matters which need not be discussed in detail at the present stage. The working out of a scheme of classifiation will be one of the first duties of the staff, and I might point out that just for this reason the first members of the staff must combine bibliographical training with special scientific knowledge with the bias towards bibliography. And as to evaluation I should perhaps have said annota tion I do not at all undervalue the difficulties which con front us here; but if it be kept in mind that descriptive notes are the main point, that criticism should be confined to the authoritativeness of a publication with regard to the present standpoint of science, and that the annotations must have due regard for side issues as well as for the main purpose of a publication, I have no doubt that a serviceable plan can be worked out. After all, no annotation, no abstract can take the place of the work itself. The object of an annotated bibliography should be to guide the investigator to the publi cations he might need, not to save him the trouble of consult ing them. The ideal in this respect might well be unattain able ; but that is no reason why we should not do the best ac cording to our lights. I have been asked what should be the true relation of the proposed Bibliographical Institute to existing agencies of the

5 100 Bibliographical Society of A merica same kind. The Institut International de Bibliographie in Brussels, I am told, "attempts to do precisely this work which [I have! outlined." I doubt if that is so. The Brussels Institute is working to collect material for the Universal Bibliography; nothing is further from my mind. My plan is to create an institution where information of a bibliographical nature can be obtained and which for this purpose must do certain preparatory work by publishing or at least preparing a number of bibliographies, needed in order to carry out the work of a Bureau of Bibliographical Information. The In stitute should obtain its information first hand, copy its titles from the publications to be recorded and base its classifica tions and annotations on the publications themselves. It is true that occasionally titles must be copied from other biblio graphies for the sake of completeness, but all such entries should be clearly stated to be second hand work, with men tion of the source of information. The work of the Brussels Institute is very largely second or third hand work, and as a result of this it is unsatisfactory. The promoters of the In stitute have an abundance of enthusiasm but lack the neces sary appreciation of the need of exactness. Their work is too amateurish. Furthermore the chief energies of the Brus sels Institute are bent on the expansion of the Decimal Classi fication and on making this a universal classification. My plan includes the preparation of a scheme of classification not as a universally acceptable scheme, but as a pliable tool in the hands of the workers at the Institute. I can not see that close relations between these two institutions can do much good. The relations of the new Institute with the Inter national Catalogue of Scientific Literature might be made mutually advantageous to both undertakings. I have had little opportunity to examine the volumes of the International Catalogue very closely, but am aware of much adverse criti

6 A Bibliographical Institute 101 cism of them and have no doubt that the classification used in them is capable of improvement. But here we have already in existence a large international organization which in some cases has resulted in the establishment of important subordin ate bureaus. The new Institute, if established, should as soon as practicable, take over the work for America for the International Catalogue, thus relieving the Smithsonian In stitution from this work which cannot be regarded as ger mane to the object for which it was founded: this being said with due regard for the self-sacrifice of its management in undertaking it. As to other bibliographical agencies, the new Institute should endeaver to co-operate with them as far as practicable and utilize them in case of need, especially in its earlier days, and to lend them a helping hand whenever that might seem advisable, rather than supplant them for the mere sake of uniformity. Future duplication should be pre vented; present duplication diminished. In many cases the question of absorption is sure to arise; but in this respect the motto of the Institute should be festina lente. I must not omit, before closing, to touch on the suggestion that this work "should be done at and by the national library at the general government's expense." Will the Library of Congress, will any library be willing to expend any consider able portion of its funds for general bibliographical purposes? I doubt it. That Congress will never appropriate any sum for such a purpose is almost certain. It is true that we have in Washington a very large accumulation of books, larger than in any other city in the country at present, and the In stitute should naturally have an important branch there. But Chicago, is, in my opinion, the most suitable place for the central office. It is near the geographical center of the country; it is the industrial and commercial center; it is am bitious to become the educational and scientific center. Its

102 Bibliographical Society of America libraries are growing; the growth of its resources in periodical literature within the last five years has been very remarkable and will continue.

7 102 Bibliographical Society of America libraries are growing; the growth of its resources in periodical literature within the last five years has been very remarkable and will continue. In addressing the Bibliographical Society of America on this subject it has not been my purpose merely to occupy the time of those who attend the meeting or to fill some space in a forthcoming volume of the Society's Proceedings. I would like to see the Society take some definite step towards the realization of the plan. I regret exceedingly my inability to be present at the meeting, but hope that some one will take up and second the motion which I herewith present, namely: That the council of the Society be asked to take steps to wards securing a grant for preparatory and experimental work preliminary to establishing a Bibliographical Institute.

REFERENCE SERVICE INTERLIBRARY ORGANIZATION OF. Mary Radmacher. Some of the types of library systems in existence include:

REFERENCE SERVICE INTERLIBRARY ORGANIZATION OF. Mary Radmacher. Some of the types of library systems in existence include: INTERLIBRARY ORGANIZATION OF REFERENCE SERVICE Mary Radmacher Librarian Skokia (111. ) Public Library The greatest development in American public library service has been realized in the large cities.