re any documents but those
for which it has an actual use; only the largest libraries can afford
the task of filling up sets of documents simply for the sake of having
a complete record.

Small libraries, and all libraries in need of any special report or
document, can get it, in most cases, by applying to the superintendent
of documents. Return all your duplicates to the superintendent of
documents; arrangements for their transportation will be made by him
upon notification, and anything he has that is needed will be sent in
exchange.

Do not try to collect a complete set of government documents; the
government of the United States has not yet been able to do that.

CHAPTER XXX

Checking the library

Check the library over occasionally. It need not be done every year.
It is an expensive thing to do, in time, and is not of great value
when done; but now and then it must be gone through with. It is not
necessary to close the library for this purpose. Take one department
at a time and check it by the shelf-list. Make a careful list of all
books missing. Check this list by the charging slips at the counter.
For those still missing make a general but hasty search through the
library. Go over each part of the library in this way. Then compile
all lists of missing books into one list, arranged in the order of
their call-numbers. Once or twice a week for several months go over
the library with this list, looking for missing books. Even
with access to the shelves, and with great freedom in matters of
circulation, not many books will be found missing, under ordinary
circumstances, at the end of a six months' search. Such books as are
still missing at the end of any given period, together with those
that have been discarded as worn out, and those that have been lost
by borrowers, should be properly marked on the shelf-list, and should
have an entry in the accession book, stating what has become of them.
If they are not replaced, it will be advisable to withdraw the cards
representing them from the card catalog, or to write on the cards the
fact of withdrawal and the cause.

Keep a record of all books withdrawn from the library for whatever
reason.

CHAPTER XXXI

Lists, bulletins, printed catalog

Give the public access to the card catalog if possible. If a
dictionary catalog is made it will prove to be most helpful to the
serious students. For the average reader, the person who wishes to get
a recent