up a
quotation, or write a letter, at the same time. Never lose your good
humor, never say that your time is valuable, or that you are very busy;
never hint at his going away; but never quit your work, answer questions
cheerfully, and keep on, allowing nothing to take your eyes off your
business. By and by he will take the hint, if not wholly pachydermatous,
and go away of his own accord. By pursuing this course I have saved
infinite time, and got rid of infinite bores, by one and the same
process.

The faculty of organizing one's work is essential, in order to efficiency
and accomplishment. If you do not have a plan and adhere to it, if you
let this, that, and the other person interrupt you with trifling gossip,
or unnecessary requests, you will never get ahead of your work; on the
contrary, your work will always get ahead of you. The same result will
follow if you interrupt yourself, by yielding to the temptation of
reading just a page or a paragraph of something that attracts your eye
while at work. This dissipation of time, to say nothing of its unfair
appropriation of what belongs to the library, defeats the prompt
accomplishment of the work in hand, and fosters the evil habit of
scattering your forces, in idleness and procrastination.

It ought not to be needful to urge habits of neatness and the love of
order upon candidates for places in libraries. How much a neat and
carefully arranged shelf of books appeals to one's taste, I need not say,
nor urge the point how much an orderly and neatly kept room, or desk, or
table adds to one's comfort. The librarian who has the proper spirit of
his calling should take pains to make the whole library look neat and
attractive, to have a place for everything, and everything in its place.
This, with adequate space existing, will be found easier than to have the
books and other material scattered about in confusion, thus requiring
much more time to find them when wanted. A slovenly-kept library is
certain to provoke public criticism, and this always tells to the
disadvantage of the librarian; while a neatly kept, carefully arranged
collection of books is not only pleasing to the eye, but elicits
favorable judgment from all visitors.

Among the qualities that should enter into the composition of a
successful librarian must be reckoned an inexhaustible patience. He will
be sorely tried in his endeavors to satisfy his own ideals, and sometimes
still more sorely in his efforts to