Report of the Boston Trustees and comments (2)

The Trustees of the public library, in compliance with the order of the two branches of the City Council, submit the following report on the objects to be attained by the establishment of a public library and the best mode of effecting them : –

Comment: From the start libraries depended upon both the executive (mayor in this case) and the legislative (city council).

Of all human arts that of writing, as it was one of the earliest invented, is also one of the most important. Perhaps it would be safe to pronounce it, without exception the most useful and important. It is the great medium of communication between mind and mind, as respects different individuals, countries, and periods of time. We know from history that only those portions of the human family have made any considerable and permanent progress in civilization, which have possessed and used this great instrument of improvement.

Comment: Writing seems to be connected to the shift from hunter-gatherers to agriculture. Where agriculture started, there also arose writing. This is true even in Mesoamerica, which seems to have developed its own form of agriculture independently from the Eurasian tradition. This is not to disparage the value of orals traditions, but to recognize their limitations. Writing is a very powerful tool. Trade and government are limited without it (though the Native Americans had impressive trade routes and systems of governance).

It is principally in the form of books that the art of writing, though useful in many other ways, has exerted its influence on human progress. It is almost exclusively by books that a permanent record has been made of word and deed, of thought and feeling; that history, philosophy and poetry, that literature and science in their full comprehension, have been called into being, by the co-operation of intellects acting in concert with each other, though living in different countries and at different periods, and often using different languages.

Comment: Books (the codex) date to about 0 CE, with scrolls and tablets being common before that. Since Caesar’s works, the Jewish Scriptures, and what remains of Classic Greek culture were composed on scrolls, it is hard to just pass them over. Books were a major change. It was much more than just convenience (one book instead of ten scrolls). Books are sturdier and less damaged by use. They replaced scrolls more completely than CDs have replaced vinyl.

Till the middle of the fifteenth century of our era, it was literally the art of writing by which these effects were produced. No means of multiplying books was known but the tedious process of transcription. This of course rendered them comparatively scarce and dear, and thus greatly limited their usefulness. It was a chief cause also of the loss of some of the most valuable literary productions. However much this loss may be regretted, we cannot but reflect with wonder and gratitude on the number of invaluable works which have been handed down to us from antiquity, notwithstanding the cost and labor attending their multiplication.

Comment: Transcription also meant that works were, in effect, continuously edited. The Bible took quite a while to assume its final form. Many of the earliest physical texts lack familiar portions. Later transcribers added explanations and glosses, since the original context was being lost. In the case of early texts, the oldest physical texts are centuries later than the actual composition. It is simply not possible to recover the original text. Despite this problem, books have brought texts down to us in remarkably fine form. The Bible, the Greeks and others are as we have known them for centuries, with few alterations.

The same cause would necessarily operate to some extent against the formation of public and private libraries. Still however, valuable collections of books were made in all the cultivated states of antiquity, both by governments and individuals. The library formed by the Ptolemies at Alexandria in Egypt was probably the direct means by which the most valuable works of ancient literature have been preserved to us. At a later period, the collections of books in the religious houses contributed efficaciously toward the same end.

Comment: The value that societies placed on texts in antiquity is enlightening. The library in Alexandria was formed by the required confiscation of all scrolls that came into the port (which were often returned after being copied). Texts and books were part of an economy of scarcity until recently. Jefferson owned hundreds of books and was an object of wonder for that reason alone. He knew each of them almost be heart and prized them all. As for the religious houses, I would recommend Thomas Cahill’s How the Irish saved civilization : the untold story of Ireland’s heroic role from the fall of Rome to the rise of medieval Europe .

To be continued…

A Neo-Traditional exercise: The Boston Trustees Report & comments (1)

In 1852, soon after the birth of the public school system, the City of Boston established a committee to look at the goals of a possible public library. This was needed because public libraries were almost an unknown occurrence and far from what could be called an institution. In this series of posts, I will look at the report that committee created and how it is the core of the modern library. A full copy of the report is on-line at McMillan Memorial Library. I consider this a great example of neo-traditional librarianship – a digital copy of a core statement of the library’s historical mission.

The document starts with the names of the committee members and the officials who ordered the report and its printing.

Ordered, That the Trustees of the City Library be requested to report to the City Council upon the objects to be attained by the establishment of a Public Library, and the best mode of effecting them; and that they be authorized to report in print.

Comment:It is not inconsequential that the public library gets its start from city government. This is in keeping with the principal of subsidiarity. Government should undertake operations that are beyond the competence of individuals, but do so at the lowest level that can handle the operation. In most cases, the public library is best handled on the city or county level. I understand that in some states, state government has gone beyond setting standards, regulations and guidelines and actually operates the public libraries, but I do not consider that optimal.

Note that public libraries, from the start, are both part of and insulated from government and politics. The City Council and Mayor request the report, but it is written by appointed trustees. This duality is important. Libraries serve a civil function, else they would have no claim on tax revenue, but they are set aside from direct political control. In authoritarian regimes,  government has direct control of libraries, but this is not the role envisioned for American public libraries. Not that libraries are that well insulated. Many directors will attest they politics cost them their positions and even their careers, but it rarely does so directly. Additionally, when politics does interfere with the operation of a library, it rarely results in better service or a more complete fulfillment of the mission.

Despite that, libraries are a part of local government and I applaud that. Libraries exist to serve their community. If they happen to lose sight of that, they are straying from their mission. They only deserve tax dollars to the extent that they serve the needs of the community. Tax dollars are not spent to meet mere demand, which can be met by the marketplace and private sector. Public sector funds must be spent on community needs.

From the start, there was a need to be clear about the mission of the library. I recently saw a discussion that questioned if the public library could be started in the current environment.  Using this report as a justification, maybe. Sold as a middle class entitlement, First Amendment institution or a free book/video store – never. The Boston trustees wanted to be clear about why they were requesting tax dollars, how those dollars would be used and they wanted it in writing. Bravo!