Page 244 - Training for librarianship; library work as a career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

necessity. In library work, as in commercial
"
activity, the saying holds: He who knows
four languages is equal to four men."
"
It used to be said that the librarian who
reads is lost." The librarian who would be
successful must, however, read ; only he must
follow the advice of Bacon, of some books
merely to taste, others to read carefully and
a few to digest thoroughly. Both caution
and wisdom must guide in deciding the
amount and character of the reading, for
obviously he who reads so much as to interfere
w^th his other duties is heading for difficulty.
Very little, however, goes on in the world,
the impulse of which is not shortly felt in the
library. To keep up with the whole mass of
print is impossible. Nevertheless, while the
librarian may properly be expected to know
everything about his own craft, he will at the
same time find it advisable to be respectably
informed on a great many topics.
A knowledge of the mechanics of libra-
rianship, however, is fundamental to good
work. Order and system must be second
nature to the librarian, for library method and
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