Librarian Christian Sheehy posted some “Rules for Reading” she discovered in library archives from 1937.

We’ve embedded the old rules above. How much has changed since then? We think every reader should ask themselves the “Questions Put to Ourselves as Library Workers”–they include timeless bits of advice for all readers.

Here is the most important question of all, for 1930s librarians and 21st Century writers: “Am I a constant learner, curious and intellectually honest?”