"U. S. LIBRARIES HAVE ADVANTAGE OVER FRENCH"

Although the fundamental principles of library organization are the same in Europe as in the United States; libraries are newer, and hence have been enabled to maintain a thoroughly business-like system from their formation, with the advantage of having access to greater wealth, which facilitates an intricate perfection of organization, according to Dr. Pierre Roland-Marcel. Director of the Bibliotheque Nationale of France, the largest library in the world.

"European libraries have been gradually increasing in size for centuries, and for a long time the number of books proved rather cumbersome for the antiquated methods of cataloguing," said Dr. Roland-Marcel to a CRIMSON reporter after his lecture in Emerson Hall last night "Many of the books in a library were practically unknown and inaccessible. An entire reorganization of the library system was necessary to make it efficient. This was begun in the Bibliotheque Nationale in 1882, when the compilation of an alphabetical slip catalogue of the 3,000,000 and more volumes in the library was started. The existence of the old system hindered this reorganization rather than helped it.

"In the United States, however, a complete system of cataloguing was inaugurated when the number of volumes collected in libraries was comparatively small. Hence efficiency was effected early, and further progress has followed with greater ease.

"European libraries also rather partake of the nature of museums. The old manuscripts, century-old relics, are put on exhibition, like your Treasure Room on a large scale. The illustrations in these manuscripts are often valuable as works of art, aside from the literary merit of the works. We have a collection of about 200,000 medals, many of them famous historically. Our periodical department is quite extensive, and we have several newspaper reading rooms. One of these is intended principally for Americans."