189
A great many books are missing; a circumstance which has been duly recorded by the Council, and against the occurrence of which such measures have been taken as will prevent in future any further similar loss.13
Apparently Haas' efforts to tighten up went too far because his successor, F. Hirth reported in 1879 that "the Library is too sparingly used by the members of the Society”, and even that was "somewhat disorderly, not to say, unconscientious". He went on to state that an honorary librarian could not be expected to oversee the operation at all public hours, nor during those times when the Chinese servants were cleaning it. He proposed that the Shanghai Library, which was leasing space in the society's building, take over its operation and run it as a non-circulating reference collection. The society would continue to seek donations and exchanges, and its members would continue to have borrowing privileges. In 1881 this transfer took place and this arrangement continued for the next two decades until the Shanghai Library became a true public library and moved to other facilities.
15
These were slow years in the development of the library, and the annual reports complained of few donations and included such statements as “it is remarkable and no less a matter of regret, that our excellent library is so little used”. In 1887 the society issued its first catalogue of Chinese language publications, a two-page list of sets which totalled 1,497 volumes. In 1894 a third edition of the printed catalogue of Western language books was issued, which showed 1,324 titles, up only about thirty percent in a quarter of a century.
17
By the beginning of the twentieth century the library was embarking on its second growth cycle. There were now exchanges with "about 60 learned societies and journals”, from such diverse places as Hong Kong, Holland, Portugal and French Indo-China, as well as the United States, Great Britain, and Germany. There was an assistant librarian, a Miss Backet, who was compiling indexes of articles on Asia appearing in European journals.
19
Another recataloguing of the collection took place in 1907, this time according to the Dewey Decimal System, "upon the recommendation...