Jean-Baptiste Cotton des Houssayes

Jean-Baptiste Cotton des Houssayes (1727-1783) was a French librarian and author. He was born in the small town of La Neuville Chant d’Oisel, in Normandy, near Rouen [Engelbarts, Rudolf. Librarian Authors: A Bibliography. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1981, pg. 12.] . He chose a clerical career, became an abbé and lived most of his life in Rouen, where he accepted membership in the local academy in 1764, and taught in the city’s college from 1764 to 1774. He loved books and reading and educated himself widely and methodically in many branches of learning. In 1755 he began making notes about what he read and studied. In 1776, he was appointed librarian of the Sorbonne. He promised to emulate the great librarians of the past, such as such as cardinals Quirini (1680-17590) and Passionei (1682-1761), who served as librarians of the Vatican; Gabriel Naudé, creator of the Mazarine library; Johann Michel Francke (1717-1775), who created the catalog of the magnificent library of County Bünau, minister of the king of Saxony; and Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-17500, priest, historian, antiquarian and archivist and librarian of Ducal Court of Modena, one of the foremost scholars of his age [Ibid] .

On December 23 1780, des Houssayes presented a discourse in Latin to the assembled faculty, entitled Oratio habita in Comitiis Generalibus Societatis Sorbonicae [Thornton, A.L.A., John L.. Classics of Librarianship: Further Selected Readings in the History of Librarianship. London: The Library Association, 1957, pg. 26.] . In this paper he outlined what he considered to be the duties and qualifications of a librarian. This paper has been reprinted several times and is included in several books. Translated into French in 1839 by Pierre Duplessis, the treatise became known as Discours sur les Qualités et les Devoirs du Bibliothécaire [Ibid] . This version has also been repeatedly reissued. The first English translation appeared in 1863; Dana and Kent included it as a classic in their collection of works on librarianship of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, published in 1906 by McClug in Chicago [Dana, John Cotton, and Henry W. Kent. Literature of Libraries in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Metuchen: The Scarecrow Reprint Corporation, 1967, pg. 33-56.] . It has been published by other firms under various titles. It is a popular and important document for it expresses the philosophy of librarianship. Des Houssayes deserves the admiration from any librarian for his efforts on behalf of the profession.

Des Houssayes suggests in "The Duties and Qualifications of a Librarian" that the librarian possess all secular and sacred learning; he must be a professional theologian, and have an array of knowledge of literature, of the arts and the sciences. He must be versed in bibliography, since it is the foundation of all other sciences. The librarian must have sound judgment in book acquisition and have the ability to create a comprehensive collection, but he must practice selection to achieve genuine merit for his library. The librarian must exercise economy; must be imbued with the need for a good classification system; and have a great memory, for he must know every book and its location. A good librarian must welcome all scholars and be their friendly and intelligent guide. When introducing a patron to the library, or if a scholar should ask to see a book, it should be placed before him. The librarian should always be ready with suggestions for other books on the same subject. Finally, the librarian must be polite and offer great service.

Des Houssayes’ ideas from the seventeenth century are just as important in the twenty-first century as when they were first present: a librarian should strive to offer outstanding customer service.

Des Houssayes wrote several other works [Engelbarts, Rudolf. Librarian Authors: A Bibliography. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1981, pg. 14.] , among them Éloge Historique de M. Maillet du Boullay, published in octavo in 170 in Rouen; in 1775 appeared his Éloge Historique de l’Abbé de Saas, also in octavo; and in Paris, in 1783, appeared his Éloge Historique de Chamousse, which was published in two volumes in octavo. He also published several articles on botanical subjects in the Journal de Physique in 1780 and delivered several discourses before the Académic de l’Immaculée Conception de la Sainte Vierge de Rouen. He edited the works of Claude-Humbert Piarron de Chamousset, a philanthropist. He spent many years working on a monumental unfinished bibliographic manuscript to be entitled Histoire Littéraire Universelle, ou Bibliothéque Raisonnée, also Traité des Universités de France and Mélanges Bibliographiques [Ibid] . After his death his personal library and literary collection were donated to the Sorbonne.

Notes

References

Dana, John Cotton, and Henry W. Kent. Literature of Libraries in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Metuchen: The Scarecrow Reprint Corporation, 1967.

Engelbarts, Rudolf. Librarian Authors: A Bibliography. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1981.

IDEALS: Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship, “The Spirit of Reference Service”; available from https://www.ideals.uiui.edu/handle/2142/1450; internet; accessed 25 February 2008.

IFLA 2006 SEOUL, “Public Libraries as Institutional Repositories and Stewards in an Historical and Ethical Contest”; available from https://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla72/papers/151-Koehler-en.pdf; internet, accessed 25 February 2008.

Thornton, A.L.A., John L.. Classics of Librarianship: Further Selected Readings in the History of Librarianship. London: The Library Association, 1957.

Wertsman, Vladimir F. The Librarian's Companion: A Handbook of Thousands of Facts and Figures on Libraries / Librarians, Books / Newspapers, Publishers / Booksellers. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996.