055
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Title
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055
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Transcription
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county library. Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., is director of the New York State Library. Dr. Jewett's term of service was ended by his death in 1913.
From the first the University library has been primarily a reference library. Most of the books have been bought on the recommendation of professors who were interested in securing the best material in print in their own fields. Occasionally this has resulted in an extreme specialization, the forming of a valuable collection of books on a single line while the library might be comparatively weak in the other lines and in the more general works of the same subject. But these special collections are so extremely valuable, and particularly for research work, that it has been felt to be the wisest thing, often, to allow the library to develop somewhat unevenly in places, trusting that in the future the weaker places may be strengthened. Generally, with several professors in a department working on various subdivisions of their subject, the library receives requests for most books of value in the different lines of work and so is building a well-rounded collection of the best material on many subjects. To the librarian belongs the part of choosing the books that do not fall to any department and the general works that are used by all. Often, too, as book catalogs and announcements are received by the librarian, future requests from professors are foreseen and books am ordered to be ready when wanted.
While the library is, as has been said, primarily a reference library built up for the use of the faculty and students of the University in their university work, this statement must not be taken to mean that there are no books to interest the general reader or to tempt him to browse among the shelves. Most of the best literature of all the world in all ages is here, poetry, drama, fiction and essays; large collections of biography and history; travel and exploration; books on all the sociologic and economic problems of the day. Students are prone to confine their college reading to the work assigned by their professors, and professors often find little time for books not on their own particular subject, so that a certain type of excursive read-
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Rights
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