Closely allied to the virtue of patience, is that of unfailing tact. This
will be found an important adjunct in the administration of a public
library. How to meet the innumerable inquiries made of him with just the
proper answer, saying neither too much, nor too little, to be civil to
all, without needless multiplication of words, this requires one to hold
his faculties well in hand, never to forget himself, and to show that no
demand whatever can vex or fluster him. The librarian should know how, or
learn how to adapt himself to all readers, and how to aid their
researches without devoting much time to each. This requires a fine
quality of tact, of adapting one's self quickly to the varied
circumstances of the case in hand. One who has it well developed will go
through the manifold labors and interviews and annoyances of the day
without friction, while one who is without tact will be worried and
fretted until life seems to him a burden.

Need I mention, after all that has been said of the exacting labors that
continually wait upon the librarian, that he should be possessed both of
energy and untiring industry? By the very nature of the calling to which
he is dedicated, he is pledged to earnest and thorough work in it. He
cannot afford to be a trifler or a loiterer on the way, but must push on
continually. He should find time for play, it is true, and for reading
for his own recreation and instruction, but that time should be out of
library hours. And a vigilant and determined economy of time in library
hours will be found a prime necessity. I have dwelt elsewhere upon the
importance of choosing the shortest methods in every piece of work to be
accomplished. Equally important is it to cultivate economy of speech, or
the habit of condensing instructions to assistants, and answers to
inquiries into the fewest words. A library should never be a
circumlocution office. The faculty of condensed expression, though
somewhat rare, can be cultivated.

In the relations existing between librarian and assistants there should
be mutual confidence and support. All are equally interested in the
credit and success of the institution which engages their services, and
all should labor harmoniously to that end. Loyalty to one's employers is
both the duty and the interest of the employed: and the reciprocal duty
of faithfulness to those employed, and interest in their improvement and
success should mark the intercourse of the librarian wit