ifficult to
find out what the public wants. Its demands almost overwhelm the
assistant at the desk. Some libraries provide special blank forms on
which these requests may be noted. They are often capricious;
sometimes they do not represent the dominant public wish. The voice of
one insistent person asking for his book day after day may impress
itself on the mind more forcibly than the many diffident murmurs of a
considerable number. In libraries that possess a system of branches,
there is little difficulty in recognizing a general public demand.
Such a demand will be reported from a large number of branch libraries
at once, in which case the chances of mistake will be small. In the
New York Public Library many useful suggestions are gained through the
operation of the inter-branch loan system, whereby a user of one
branch may send for a book contained in any other branch. Books so
asked for are reported at the central headquarters, and if they are
not in the library at all, the request is regarded as a suggestion for
purchase. Should such requests come from users of several branches at
once, the desired book is very likely to be purchased. Often the
demand is general rather than specific, as for "a book about the
Caucasus" or for "more works on surveying," and sometimes they are
vague or misleading, titles being wrong and authors' names spelled
phonetically; yet the work made necessary in looking up these demands
is more than repaid by the knowledge that it may result in making the
library of more value to the public.

In some cases the librarian desires not only to respond to the public
want, but even to anticipate it. He does not wait to see whether a new
book on Japan will be in demand, because he is sure that such will be
the case. He does not hesitate to order a new book by Kipling or Mrs.
Humphry Ward as soon as he sees its title in the publisher's
announcements. The necessity for some other anticipatory orders may be
less evident, and this kind of work requires good judgment and
discrimination; but in general if a book is to be purchased on
publication, it cannot be on the library shelves too soon after the
date of issue. In any case, where it is desirable and proper to please
the public, double pleasure can be given by promptness; hence the
importance of being a little before, rather than a little behind, the
popular desire.

All this calls for little but quick and discriminating
observation,--the ability to