able
to read most books in the French language with facility. In the great art
of learning, all doors are easily unlocked--by those who have the key.

It should go without saying that the librarian should possess a wide
knowledge of books. This knowledge should include (1) an acquaintance
with ancient and modern literature, so as to be able to characterize the
notable writers in each of the leading languages of the world; (2) a
knowledge of history extensive enough to enable him to locate all the
great characters, including authors, in their proper century and country;
(3) a knowledge of editions, so as to discriminate between the old and
the new, the full and the abridged, the best edited, best printed, etc.;
(4) an acquaintance with the intrinsic value or the subject and scope of
most of the great books of the world; (5) a knowledge of commercial
values, so as to be able to bid or to buy understandingly, and with
proper economy; (6) a familiarity with what constitutes condition in
library books, and with binding and repairing processes, for the
restoration of imperfect volumes for use.

The librarian should be one who has had the benefit of thorough
preliminary training, for no novice is qualified to undertake the role of
an expert, and any attempt to do so can result only in disappointment and
failure. No one who has read little or nothing but novels since leaving
school need ever hope to succeed.

No librarian can know too much, since his work brings him into relation
with the boundless domain of human knowledge. He should not be a
specialist in science (except in the one science of bibliography) but
must be content with knowing a little about a great many things, rather
than knowing everything about one thing. Much converse with books must
fill him with a sense of his own ignorance. The more he comes to know,
the wider will open before him the illimitable realm of what is yet to
be known. In the lowest deep which research the most profound can reach,
there is a lower deep still unattained--perhaps, even, unattainable. But
the fact that he cannot by any possibility master all human knowledge
should not deter the student from making ever advancing inroads upon that
domain. The vast extent of the world of books only emphasizes the need of
making a wise selection from the mass. We are brought inevitably back to
that precept by every excursion that we make into whatever field of
literature.

The librarian should pos