The Trials of Talbot Wallis, State Librarian

Résumé du livre

"In 1883, librarianship was not yet a genteel profession, or for that matter, a profession at all. It had made advances in both directions, but not without some resistance. California's state library was one pocket of such resistance. To its patrons, most of whom were men, the state library operated like a club, as a place to drink, smoke, joke, and relax ... But for people with loftier ideals, and not all of them were women, a library ought to be a place for quiet study and self education ... The trials of Talbot Wallis chronicle the triumph of the genteel shhh! over the rude guffaw."--Page 1