"Order Is Heaven's First Law": Itinerant Librarians and Bibliographic Control, 1887-1915

Abstract

In recent years the concept of the itinerant, or journeyman, cataloger has been suggested as one solution to cataloging backlogs and shortages of professionally trained catalogers. The concept is not new. In the period between 1887 and 1915, when the United States was experiencing rapid library development, hundreds of librarians traveled throughout the country organizing library collections. Itinerant librarians made significant professional contributions by facilitating the widespread adoption of standard classification and cataloging schemes and training local librarians to continue the work. Unfortunately, their very success also encouraged two negative trends in librarianship: low salaries and the practice of employing untrained people in permanent capacities.