him never so courteously that
experience has proved that a library is thrown into confusion by such
admission; that while he may be careful to replace every book handled in
the same spot, nearly all readers are careless, and he will insist that
he is the exception, and that he is always careful. That is human nature,
the world over--to believe that one can do things better than any one
else. But if such importunities prevail, the chances are that books will
be misplaced by the very literary expert who has solemnly asserted his
infallibility.

On the whole, open shelves may be viewed as an open question. It may be
best for small libraries, as to all the books, and for all libraries as
to some classes of books. But make it general, and order and arrangement
are at an end, while chaos takes the place of cosmos. The real student is
better served by the knowledge and aid of the librarian, thus saving his
time for study, than he can be by ranging about dark shelves to find,
among multitudes of books he does not want, the ones that he actually
does want. The business of the librarian, and his highest use, is to
bring the resources of the library to the reader. If this takes a hundred
or more volumes a day, he is to have them; but to give him the right to
throw a library into confusion by "browsing around," is to sacrifice the
rights of the public to prompt service, to the whim of one man. Those who
think that "browsing" is an education should reflect that it is like any
other wandering employment, fatal to fixity of purpose. Like desultory
reading of infinite periodicals, it tends rather to dissipate the time
and the attention than to inform and strengthen the mind.

In libraries of wide circulation in America, many have open shelves, and
many more free access to certain classes of books. The Newark Free
Library opens all departments except fiction; others open fiction and
current literature only. Some libraries, notably in England, have a
"safe-guarded" open-shelf system, by which the public are given free
range inside the library, while the librarians take post at the outside
railing, to charge books drawn, and check off depredations. This method
may be styled "every one his own librarian," and is claimed by its
originators to work well.

At the Conference of the American Library Association in 1899, after
discussion, votes were taken, showing 50 librarians in favor of free
access to shelves for small libraries, as against