im, having met him
on my way to California. To my surprise I found we did not own the book.
So I wrote to Mr. Winsor, the Librarian of Harvard University, and told
him that the applicant could be trusted and would make good use of the
information afforded him, and that he needed the book in preparing a
course of lectures which he was to give at once at Colorado College in
Colorado Springs. Then I asked Mr. Winsor if he felt at liberty to lend
the book. The next thing I heard in regard to the matter, a letter came
from the gentleman in Colorado Springs thanking me for the aid rendered,
and saying that Mr. Winsor had sent the book and that it had reached him
just in time to use in preparing a lecture. The library in the United
States which was earliest in the field in doing the work of lending to
other libraries systematically and on a large scale, in so far as I
know, was that of the Surgeon-General's Office in Washington, long
administered so intelligently and with so keen an eye for usefulness by
Dr. John S. Billings.

Now, how can libraries in towns of the size of North Brookfield become
bureaus of information?

Let them approach as nearly as they can to the ideal of seeing to it
that everybody needing information gets it.

The first thing to do is to let it be understood that a library desires
to have inquirers come to it for information, and that its librarian is
ready to take time to find out whether the library contains books which
will give the information desired.

If it does not have the needed books, the librarian tries to think where
they can be had. Does anybody in town own them? If not, can they be had
from a library in a neighboring town?

If these resources are not adequate, then let the librarian send to the
nearest large centre to borrow books from the library there to answer
the questions asked. Worcester would be the natural centre for North
Brookfield to send to.

Individuals should not send to Worcester, but the librarian, having
exhausted resources at hand, should send for the books, the library
agreeing, of course, to make good damage and loss and pay the cost of
carriage. An out-of-town librarian does not know the individual users of
a library in a smaller town, but the librarian in that town does know
his constituency and for whom it is safe to borrow books. Libraries
should lend to one another, but the work of lending should be
systematic.

As a member of the Free Public Library Commis