Excerpt from The Book Bulletin of the Chicago Public Liabrary: January 1919
It has been found that this can be accomplished very satisfactorily by means of annotations - the addition to each title of a concise little note framed to convey the thoughts indicated above.
Book annotations in Library Bulletins must be brief, pointed, honest and convincing. Being designed, in the first instance, not to induce book buying but book reading - not always concomitant objects - they need not, or should not, savor too much of the untempered enthusiasm of the publisher's or publicity man's eulogy aptly described by a remarkable term of trade jargon as the "blurb." On the other hand they should be so framed as to answer, as completely as possible in a very small space, the double query as to "Why we bought this book and why you should read it." From the information compiled by the book selecting officials of a Library before the book was bought, it should be possible to evolve such an answer to the satisfaction of every reasonable inquirer. Frequently such information will be best conveyed in the words of others who have said just what we wished to say and have said it much better. In that event quotations should be used without compunction and with no fear of a latent implication of evading responsibility. We are still standing behind the book - once removed. Sometimes the note may be wholly subjective, reflecting the mental reactions of the reader; at other times a mere description will suffice, while not seldom nothing can be said about a book that is not already apparent from its title.
At all events it has seemed wise to introduce annotations into the Book Bulletin and, beginning with this issue, the practice will be continued at least long enough to afford a fair trial as to its value from the point of view both of the Library and of its patrons. While it will increase somewhat the cost, and will add considerably to the labor of preparation, these burdens will be justified and cheerfully borne, and, eventually, will disappear if, as we confidently believe, the annotations will enhance the usefulness of this publication and contribute to a better realization, on the one hand, of the policies and purposes, of the Library in buying some books and in not buying other books, and, on the other hand, of the results of our labors by our patrons for whom they are performed.
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