fic objects, and who profess that they cannot
get along at all by having books brought to them, are favored in their
wish to go to the shelves, while others are disfavored. This raises at
once the just complaint that invidious distinctions are made. The only
safe rule to follow is that of universal free access, or impartial and
uniform exclusion from the shelves. In the latter case, no one can
complain, especially when made aware that he can have all the works on a
given subject brought to his seat in a brief time, and can work upon them
to much greater comfort and advantage, seated where there is good light
and ample room, than if standing up in the shadow of the shelves to
pursue his researches.

It is also to be considered that such disarrangement of books as
inevitably follows free admission to the shelves deprives the very
persons who claim this privilege, of finding what they seek, until a
complete replacement takes place, throughout the library, and this is
necessarily a work of time. That it involves much more time and
consequent delay than is occasioned by the re-shelving of books used in a
day, is apparent when we consider that in the latter case, only the
number of volumes actually withdrawn from shelves by the library
attendants have to be replaced, and that these are in conveniently
assorted piles all ready to go to their respective shelves; while in the
other case, the displacement is made by many hands, most of them careless
of any convenience but their own, and moreover, the disarranged books
are, or are liable to be, scattered on the wrong shelves, thus throwing
the entire library into disorder, requiring great pains, knowledge, and
time to repair.

In any well-regulated library, the absence of any book from its place can
almost always be accounted for. Thus it is either--1. In the reading
room, in use; or 2. Charged out to a borrower; or 3. Sent to the binder
for rebinding, or repair; or 4. Reserved for some reader's use; or 5. In
temporary use by a cataloguer, or some other library assistant; or 6.
Among the books not yet re-shelved from recent use.

Now each of these is a legitimate reason for the absence of any book not
found in its place. By search under each of these heads, _seriatim_,
aided by the memory of librarian and assistants, the missing volume
should be readily located, and soon availed of for use.

But in the case of books misplaced by readers, no such tracing out of the
whereabouts