A Librarian's Open Shelf

Borrowing a book and reading it through are different things, and Arthur E. Bostwick begins this collection by examining that gap. A librarian describes a regular borrower who has taken home nearly a hundred books without finishing one. Bostwick then considers lending records, readers' interests and the limits of urging people to read from a sense of duty. His essays and addresses move from libraries and education to science, public life and the companionship of books.

The collection brings a librarian's practical observations into discussions of wider social questions. An essay on history and heredity connects family research with an interest in past events, then considers how inherited loyalties can shape accounts of the American Revolution and Civil War. Readers interested in libraries, reading habits or the teaching of history will find concrete examples of how Bostwick builds an argument from everyday experience and challenges familiar assumptions.