here another refuge and stronghold, fortified

"Against confounding Age's cruel knife
That he shall never cut from memory."

The architect of this building has not wrought in mere brick and stone;
he has added to those shrines and centres of human memory to which its
treasures gravitate for their security and convenience. This university,
in receiving this building from its Finance Committee, which has raised
its cost, and whose head first suggested its erection, is placed in a
position where it can discharge not only the first duty of a university,
to which it has always been true, of thinking for the community, but the
second, which is like unto it, of remembering for society.

COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

One of the functions of the modern library is that of a huge
cyclopedia, kept continually up to date by the acquisition
of new material--books, periodicals, prints, pamphlets,
clippings, publicity matter and manuscripts. It is the
cyclopedia on cards long advocated by Dr. Dewey, except that
the cards are in its catalogue and do not contain the
information directly but serve only as keys to it. In this
kind of service the library is for the moment getting away
from books and nearer to the worker, whether at home, in
school or laboratory, or in commerce and industry.

LIBRARIES AS BUREAUS OF INFORMATION

Early material on this ancient function of libraries, so
widely extended and developed of late, is hard to find. Only
two papers are given here. The first, by Samuel S. Green, is
part of an address delivered at the dedication of the Haston
Free Public Library Building in North Brookfield, Mass.,
printed in _The Library Journal_ for July, 1896. A sketch of
Mr. Green appears in Vol. I. of this series.

The ideal library is one which invites everybody who has a question to
ask, which books contain answers to, to come to the library and put his
question, with the assurance that he will be kindly received, his
question sympathetically considered, and every effort made to find the
answer desired.

I cannot better illustrate what I mean by saying that libraries should
be bureaus of information than by giving instances of inquiries recently
made in the library under my charge and explaining how those inquiries
were met. I will select questions which were answered by sending out of
town for books, and thus illustrate in additio