GENTLEMEN: I have the honor of submitting the following report of receipts and expenditures for the official year ending June 30, 1886:

REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, CINCINNATI, July 1, 1886.

To the Board of Managers of the Public Library of Cincinnati :

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to submit the report of the Librarian for the year ending June 30, 1886.

The total number of volumes and pamphlets reported in the Library June 30, 1886, was as follows:

The number of volumes and pamphlets added during the year

During the year 676 volumes have worn out and been condemned, so that the Library now contains 164,020 volumes and pamphlets distributed as follows:

Of the volumes added during the year, 5,248 have been acquired by purchase and 803 by gift. Of the pamphlets, 174 have

been purchased, and 335 have been donated. A list of the donors, with the number of volumes given by each, is appended to this report.

There have been 5,433 volumes bound and rebound, and 253 volumes sewed and repaired, in all 5,433 volumes, besides books purchased in Europe and bound there. In addition, 7,691 volumes have been repaired at the Library.

The total use of the Library during the year has been 777,446 books and periodicals, an increase of 43,943 as compared with the year 1884-5. The following is a summary in accordance with the formula adopted by the American Library Association:

The use of books increased 9,509 as compared with 1884-5, and the use of periodicals increased 34,454. The internal use of books continues larger than in any other one building in the United States.

As to the character of the books read and consulted, very complete information will be found in the tables appended to this report. The percentage of fiction and juvenile literature of the whole use of books has been 54.1. For the previous year it was 55.9. The great change which has taken place in the character of the use of books will be better shown by a comparison with the use a few years ago. For the year 1878-9, the last library year prior to the present administration, the use of fiction and juveniles was 236,888; that of other works was 138,299. For the year just finished, the use of fiction and juveniles has been 209,970; that of other works has been 178,346. So that while the use of fiction and juveniles has decreased 26,918, the use of other works has increased 40,047. In the meantime, the number of