Melvil Dewey's Library Notes

Library Notes was a quarterly publication established by Melvil Dewey's Library Bureau in 1886. The promotional flyer for Library Notes shown above was mailed on November 24, 1886. The flyer indicates that the publication will print only items of news likely to be directly useful to its readers. It indicates that special attention will be given to the wants of private, Sunday School, and small public libraries. Library Notes was to be edited by Melvil Dewey, "an editor to whom natural taste, long study, and unique library experience has given unequaled facilities for the work". Dee Garrison in Apostles of Culture (University of Wisconsin Press, 1979) writes this about the content of Library Notes: "Platitudes lie next to inspiring passages, which rest alongside statements of highly original ideas and devotion to long-lost causes like spelling reform. Interspersed among all this are sections discussing the most minute details of library mechanics." The very first issue of Library Notes can be found in Google Books. Take a look for yourself.