Library supplier
The inaugural meeting of the American Library Association took place in Philadelphia in 1876, coinciding with the Centennial Exposition. A group called the "Cooperation Committee on Library Supplies" that met at the meeting agreed on the need of libraries to achieve economies of scale in purchasing. The ALA set up a department, run by Dewey, to sell supplies to libraries at reduced cost. Supplies included card stock (in a standard size agreed at the first ALA meeting), catalog cabinets with drawers, bookends, furniture and shelving. In 1879 this function was taken over by Dewey to be incorporated into his existing businesses. Dewey later separated the library supply business from his other enterprises in 1888 and called this new entity "The Library Bureau.": 70
During the 1880s and 1890s, the Library Bureau prospered by supplying to many of the new Carnegie Libraries being built. It opened a number of large factories to provide furniture and supplies. It sold merchandise and services through a network of sales offices and distributors in the United States (46 in 1922), England (4), France (1), and Belgium.
In Boston, its headquarters operated from offices located successively at Hawley Street, Franklin Street, and Atlantic Avenue.
In the 1890s, the Library Bureau introduced vertical filing. It soon became a large supplier of filing equipment, supplies, and expertise to business and government. Library Bureau schools in major cities taught filing to clerical workers.
It opened a large factory in 1909 in a brick building at 224 Albany Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts; in 1918, the adjacent building, 230 Albany Street, became its headquarters. By 1925, the Albany Street factory employed 450 workers. By 1922, the Library Bureau had factories in Cambridge, Chicago, New York City, London, and Ilion, New York.
Between 1896 and 1899 Library Bureau collaborated with Herman Hollerith's Tabulating Machine Company to distribute its punched cards processing machines.
