Books may be used in three ways—­for information, for recreation, for inspiration.  There are some who feel inclined to rely implicitly on the information that is to be found in books—­to believe that a book can not lie.  This is an unfortunate state of mind.  The word of an author set down in print is worth no more than when he gives it to us in spoken language—­no more and no less.  There was, to be sure, a time when the printed word implied at least care and thoughtfulness.  It is still true that the book implies somewhat more of this than the newspaper, but the difference between the two is becoming unfortunately less.  Now a wrong record, if it purports to be a record of facts, is worse than none at all.  The man who desires to know the distance between two towns in Texas and is unable to find it in any book of reference may obtain it at the cost of some time and trouble; but if he finds it wrongly recorded, he accepts the result and goes away believing a lie.  If we are to use books for information, therefore, it is of the utmost consequence that we know whether the information is correct or not.  A general critical evaluation of all literature, even on this score alone, without going into the question of literary merit, is probably beyond the possibilities, although it has been seriously proposed.  Some partial lists we have, and a few lists of those lists, so that we may know where to get at them.  There are many books about books, especially in certain departments of history, technology, or art, but no one place to which a man may go, before he begins to read his book, to find out whether he may believe what he reads in it.  This is a serious lack, especially as there is more than one point of view.  Books that are of high excellence as literature may not be at all accurate.  How shall the boy who hears enthusiastic praise of Prescott’s histories and who is spellbound when he reads them know that the results of recent investigation prove that those histories give a totally incorrect idea of Mexico and Peru?  How is the future reader of Dr. Cook’s interesting account of the ascent of Mount McKinley to know that it has been discredited?  And how is he to know whether other interesting and well-written histories and books of travel have not been similarly proved inaccurate?  At present, there is no way except to go to one who knows the literature of the subject, or to read as many other books on the subject as can be obtained, weighing one against the other and coming to one’s own conclusions.  Possibly the public library may be able to help.  Mr. Charles F. Lummis of the Los Angeles library advocates labelling books with what he calls “Poison Labels” to warn the reader when they are inaccurate or untrustworthy.  Most librarians have hesitated a little to take so radical a step as this, not so much from unwillingness to assume the duty of warning the public, as from a feeling that they were not competent to undertake the critical evaluation of the whole of the literature of special