Reader Policies in Rare Book Libraries

ance and even hostility over security policies in the issuing of rare books. Legends of inaccessibility have an astonishing life and for years at faculty gatherings edged jokes about the velvet ropes and searching by electronic eyes have greeted the rare book librarian. So-called in-accessibility is given as a lame excuse for not using the library, and there is little compunction in using it as an unthinking, but devastat-ing, criticism of the administration of the library. And occasionally, re-bellion is voiced at the point of entry into the collection. The librarian patiently, but to no avail, explains the necessity for the protection of valuable books which are irreplaceable. Since con-servation is his fkst concern, immediate convenience of the reader seems to come second. The extreme position is that readers have no rights, only privileges. There are, of course, explanations for lack of understanding by the inexperienced user of rare book facilities. The present generation is far removed from the early days of library history when only the paid up members of a subscription library were permitted to borrow the books in the society’s library. Today, the tax supported public library em-phasizes service and circulation, and properly so, and little is made of the unique value of a book, unless it should be in a collection of rar-ities within the public library. Though not intentionally, free libraries foster the idea of expendable books and readers with inalienable rights. Modern living too, with its assembly line production and abundance of disposable items does not imbue us with the concept of cherished objects. There are always more autos and more television sets (pro-vided one can pay for them); one can always “get another ” or “trade it in. ” Planned obsolescence is a catch-phrase; no one creates an ad-vertising slogan about revered retention of the unique and fine. Even connoisseurs of paintings, gems, and ivory do not inevitably regar