When I was a Librarian

FORTY‐EIGHT years in any profession or business is a fairly long record. In my case this period of time stretches from 1882—when library influence was just beginning to make itself felt—to 1930, when that influence had become a real factor in modern educational systems throughout the world. After graduation from Dartmouth College in 1876, having in mind no business or profession, I drifted from one thing to another; first studying medicine for a few months (the sight of a slight operation turning me from this profession), then as a chain‐bearer for a civil engineer, and finally as a clerk in a hardware store, until 1882, when I seemed to get my bearings.