Page 137 - Training for librarianship; library work as a career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

and establishments other than his own. Facts
are basic in his work ; only when in possession
of them can his undertaking be accomplished
successfully. Generahzations and approxi-
mations are not of much value in helping to
decide the advisability of making an invest-
ment or a loan, for both the bank customer
and bank directors have the right to expect
that whatever advice is given or whatever
action is taken shall always first and foremost
be based on thorough and sound information.
Years ago through correspondence, study of
press reports and association with men of
affairs, the banker could secure tliis required
insight. To-day, however, industrial and
economic conditions are so complex and so
interrelated, events move so rapidly and time
is so essential an element in financial transac-
tions, and the scope of the work of the mod-
ern financial house is so much larger than
heretofore, that the means of the past are no
longer suitable.
The interest of the bank of the past was
largely local. Its clients were local, its in-
vestments and interests were local. All this
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