Such were, in broad outline, the medieval libraries as regards their physical appearance; and the details of the administration of these libraries were in many respects as quaint as the libraries themselves.

The librarian was sworn into office on the Holy Gospels, as became one whose duty it is to furnish to those who have need the “food” and “weapons” of the soul — for so they used to call books. “Books are the nourishment of the soul,” says one abbot, speaking of the library of his convent; and another says, “As the armory is to the castle, so the library is to a monastery.” The very name librarian “armarius” derived as it is from the press, cupboard, or almerie, in which the books are kept, is precisely the modern work almoner; — as the almoner server from his cupboard food and drink for the needy, so the librarian deals out books, which are the food and drink of the soul.

In the beginning the librarian was, curiously enough as it sounds at first, the precentor or choir-master, but the explanation of this is, in fact, simple enough; since the first books were the service-books kept in the apse-cupboard in the church, the precentor was naturally charged with their care, and when the collection grew by the addition of other books he kept charge until the growth made subdivision of labor necessary.

The ordinary duties of librarians are often laid down with great minuteness in the monastic rules; they differ greatly in detail but not much in essence from those of the modern; he much take charge of the books, “keep and know under their separate titles,” frequently examine carefully to prevent damage from damp, dust,