ully the restoration and the reclamation of
the books of a library, whether public or private.

Nothing can be more important than the means of restoring or reclaiming
library books that are lost or injured, since every such restoration will
save the funds of the library or collector from replacing them with fresh
or newly bought copies, and will enable it to furnish its stores with as
many new books as the money thus saved represents. The cardinal thing to
be kept always in view is a wise economy of means. An every-day prudence
is the price of successful administration. A management which permits any
of the enemies of books to destroy or damage them, thereby wasting the
substance of the library without repair, is a fatally defective
management, which should be changed as soon as possible.

This consideration assumes added importance when it is remembered that
the means of nearly all our libraries are very limited and inadequate to
the drafts upon them, year by year. A great many libraries are compelled
to let their books needing rebinding accumulate, from the mere want of
money to pay for reclothing the nearly worn-out volumes, thus depriving
the readers for a considerable time, of the use of many coveted books.
And even with those which have large means, I have never yet heard of a
library that had enough, either to satisfy the eager desire of the
librarian to fill up deficiencies, or to meet fully the manifold wants of
readers. So much the more important, then, is it to husband every dollar
that can be saved, to keep the books in such good condition that they
will not need frequent rebinding, and to reduce to a minimum all the
evils which beset them, menacing their safety, or injuring their
condition.

To attain these great ends, the librarian who is qualified for his
responsible position, must be both a preserver and a restorer of books.
If not personally able to go through the mechanical processes which
belong to the art of restoration, (and this is the case in all libraries
except the smallest) he should at least learn all about them, so as to be
able to teach them thoroughly and intelligently to an assistant. It is
frequently made an excuse for the soiled and slovenly and even torn
condition of books and bindings in a much used public library, that
neither the librarian nor his aids have any time to look into the
condition of the books, much less to repair any of the numerous damages
they sustain. But it should