Libraries & Periodicals

Libraries & PeriodicalsJordan MooreApril 5, 2010

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Welcome Guests or Representatives of the Mal-Odorous Class? Periodicals and Their Readers in American Public Libraries, 1876-1914by Charles JohanningsmeierLibraries and CultureSummer 2004 vol. 29 issue 3 p.260-288

Question

What makes a piece of literature high or low quality? Do the means of the literatures publication or production enter into it?

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Introduction

During the 1880s and early 1890s in particular, many librarians echoed various upper- and middle-class conservative commentators by demonizing most periodicals and their readers. Magazines, newspapers, and their readers, they argued, were trashy, ephemeral, and sensational, possessing few if any redeeming intellectual attributes; thus, they did not deserve to be welcomed in public libraries (p. 261).

Introduction

A newspaper reading-room freely accessible is sadly apt to become a tramps home, utilized as a lounging place by those who save a penny or two and obtain warm and comfortable housing for an hour through its hospitality. Library Journal, 1907 (p. 260-261)

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Introduction

In the 1870s, American libraries began collecting periodicals.By 1900, most libraries had a periodicals section.Much of the history on the subject is undocumentedDifficult to keep circulation recordsMembers of working classes did not serve on library boardsPeriodical readers from both the working and middle classes have often remained invisible to historians, just as the periodicals they read were long ago carted off to the junkyard and buried (288).

Hopeful beginnings

Before 1870s, readers who could not afford subscriptions had to go to places like coffeehouses or taverns.Periodicals were discussed at a special session on public libraries at Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia 1876.Periodicals in libraries could beInformativeEqualizingImproving

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Hopeful beginnings

The modern newspaper and other periodical publications afford the truest, the fullest, and, on the whole, the most impartial image of the age we have in that can be derived from any single source. Taken together, they afford the richest material for the historian, or the student of politics, of society, of literature, and of civilization in its various aspects.A.R. Spofford, Librarian of Congress, 1876 (p. 264)

If [Americans] are in advance of other people may it not be attributed to the general reading of newspapers? - A. W. Whelpley, Cincinnati Public Library, 1894 (p. 265)

A hierarchy of worthiness

Quarterlies

Monthly magazines

Illustrated monthly magazines

Fortnightly

Illustrated weekly papers

Weekly versions of daily newspapers

Daily newspaper

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A hierarchy of worthiness

The hierarchy reflects a hope that readers would move up in the scale of worthiness with the periodicals they read. This attitude is ironic, considering how much effort was also expended to move readers from sensational fiction to nonfiction books.A 1907 report from a librarian in East Orange, New Jersey, explained that the library should first supply enjoyable reading to those who have not yet learned the greater fascination of books about real things or people, adding, The development of the reader is usually in the order of newspapers, magazines, novels, books on special subjects (p. 266).

Keeping out the undesirables

Some libraries stopped providing popular material.Periodical reading rooms were made to be uncomfortable places.Inconvenient locationBy the front door before the coat roomUnheated basementFourth floor with no elevatorNo sitting areaHighly supervisedAway from main reading area

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Popular reading At no period since the making of books have so many stirring events crowded so closely upon each other. . . At times, we have not been able to furnish a sufficient number of chairs for the accommodation of our readers, and we have thought seriously of placing outside the door of our room that favorite theatrical legend Standing room only.-Librarian in Buffalo, 1898 (p. 271)

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Growing acceptance of periodicalsLibraries lent copies for a small fee and sold used copies.Librarians made scrapbooks from old periodicals.Libraries began binding issues and providing complete volumes.Newspapers presented the largest challenge. Some librarians asked publishes to print some copies on a better grade of newsprint or dip them in preservatives.

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Growing acceptance of periodical readersPeriodical reading rooms became more inviting. They were more brightly lit, more comfortably furnished, and less supervised. However, many were still separated from the main reading rooms.

Periodical readers, like fiction readers, must have pressed their case quietly and persistently yet in undocumented ways, constantly askingor, simply with their presence, demandingthat their needs be addressed (p. 272).

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Conclusion

Readers clearly wanted to gain knowledge that would help them make sense of the present and live better lives in itWoe to the librarians who missed this message and continued to view themselves as collectors and caretakers solely of books (p. 285).

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