number of books was given out to the teachers for use in the schools than last year. Four of the intermediate, two of the primary, most of the grammar schools, and the high school drew books to use in this way. About 650 volumes were thus circulated by the teachers, 30 in the primary schools,'490 in the intermediate schools, 100 in the grammar schools, the remainder in the high school. Many of the scholars in the primary and intermediate schools exchanged their books every week during the school sessions, so each volume was read many times." California State L., Sacramento. (44-45th rpt.) Added 6739; total 94,752.

sented to the city by the members of the club. The library contains about 500 v.; it will be conducted as a free town library, open one or two days in the week.

Indianapolis (Ind.) P. L. The bill taking the library from the jurisdiction of the school board and placing it under control of a board of directors, which passed the legislature in February, failed to pass the senate for lack of a constitutional majority. It was brought up twice, but was unsuccessful each time.

Los Angeles (Cal.) P. L. (6th rpt.) Added 6353; total 43.777. Issued, home use 450,818 (fict. 40.5%; juv. 10 %; current magazines 20 %); ref. use 38,271. New members 4709; total membership 18,057. Receipts $20,452.82; expenses $20,208.13.

Additional shelf-room has been given by the construction of 600 feet of extra shelving, but the space for books is constantly becoming more limited. The appendix contains a useful list of The circulation of pictures and mounted ilstate publications, noted elsewhere, and a sum-lustrations was 1779 for the year, or .3 per cent. mary of the free public libraries of California, of the total home use. giving statistics of the 28 libraries organized and operated under the general law or under city

charters.

Cleveland (0.) P. L. The Open Shelf, heretofore published monthly by the library, has been made a quarterly publication, on recommendation of Librarian Brett. The advertising income of the journal proved insufficient to admit of its continuance as a monthly.

Columbus (0.) Public School L. (18th rpt.) Added 3065; total 20,738. Issued, home use 94,642 (fict. 32.27%; juv. 35.60%); ref. use 8096; no record of reading-room use is kept.

The card catalog of the library is complete to date, arranged by author, subject and title. A ms. subject catalog is nearly completed, and when finished will be combined with author and title entries as copy for a printed dictionary catalog.

"Fiction shows an increase, due to the publication of the 'fiction list.' There are 10,000 volumes in the library in classes other than fiction which are not listed, or printed, and which are consequently unknown except through the medium of the shelf-sheets.

"Music has an increased circulation to its

credit, and is a particularly satisfactory feature with the borrowers. The demand for many of the popular operas was so great that several duplicate copies of them had to be purchased

in order to meet it.

"On March 12, 1894, the new charging system went into effect, each book being provided with a card which remains in the book when in the library, and when 'out' the card is in the slip-case. The cards bear the number of every borrower who has read the book to which the card belongs, and the charges indicate the sex of the reader and the date of the issue of the book. These book-cards have room for 35 issue charges, and the 450 cards which have been filled furnish a very interesting index to the books most widely read in this city. Charles King's books head the list with 26 cards, five being for Two soldiers,' four each for Foes in ambush,' and 'Starlight ranch,' and three for ' Between the lines,' the remaining 10 being scattered. Rose Nouchette Carey comes next There is a special collection of school classics, with 25 cards, and 'Little Miss Muffet' leads containing about 3730 v.; these are sent in lots with five cards, followed by 'Averill' with four of 25 copies to each school for a period of four cards. Clara Louise Burnham has 22 cards, six weeks, with permission for renewal, if desired. of which represent Dr. Latimer,' this book They are kept in constant circulation through- having the largest number of issues of any in out the school year, each set reaching from five the library during that time. Next is 'Next to six schools during the year. The books are door' with five cards. There are nine copies of purchased in lots of from 50 to 150 copies each. each of these books, and eight copies each of King is a very popHartford, Ct. Watkinson L. An exhibition the King and Carey books. of the rare ancient and modern books obtained ular author with boys and young men, the love by the Watkinson Library at the Columbian story being subordinated to the action. Miss Exposition was held during the week of March Carey is the favorite with girls, both authors 15-22. It included valuable editions in litera-occupying the intermediate ground between juvenile and adult fiction." ture, fine art, history, biography and travel, and rare books on forestry, vineyard and flower cul

ture.

the following order: Behrens, Clemens, Gunter, A list of the most popular writers is given in Barr, Crawford, Dumas, Sarah Grand, F. MarHartwell (O.) L. On March 21, the library of ryatt, Burnett, Doyle, Haggard, Stannard, Baythe Hartwell Literary Club was formally pre-ley, Forrester, Barrie, Clifford, Hector. "In

The report covers the year 1893, and is, as usual, detailed and interesting. The development of the many departments of the library has been most gratifying, and its administrative machinery becomes yearly more effective. The condition of the law, education, and medical divisions are separately described. In the ms. room, shelving has been provided and the quarter million mss. of the library are there accessible for examination and research.

Besides the 1228 periodicals received, there is a total of 3438 "sequents," or publications appearing at intervals, such as reports, proceedings, etc.

future needs of the library in its new quarters. As the association expects to commence the circulation of books among its members in the new building, the plans are drawn with a view of meeting the arrangement of the books in two departments, reference and circulating. The building will have a frontage of 75 feet and about the same depth. As the rear portion will have light-shafts on either side, the floor will not be as wide in the rear, and this rear section or L will be used for the storage of books on the stack system. The sixth or top floor will be used for the reference department, and will contain a reading-room for book readers only, one section being railed off for the use of artists and supplied with drawing tables. On this floor also will be the rooms of the librarian and catalogers, the latter containing stacks three tiers high. This floor will also communicate with the upper tier of the floor below by means of stairs, thus utilizing the upper tier of the fifth floor stack for the reference department, which will be much the largest, bringing a large part of the reference library within easy access of the

attendants.

The fifth floor will have stacks two tiers high for the circulating department, also for bound newspapers, patent reports and public documents. There will be a periodical reading-room, part of which is to be railed off for those consulting bound newspapers, patents, and public documents. Here will be the delivery department, from which books will also be sent to the various branches of the association. The capac

but as the fourth floor can be converted to the use of the library when required, the shelving area can be very largely increased. The new building will probably be ready for occupancy within two years after work is begun.

The reference use of the library is estimated at 250,000 v. and is constantly increasing. The demand for reading and reference lists in special subjects has also grown continually among schools and special students. One of the features of the library is the weekly "book night," when the new books of the week, including important importations, are open for public inspection from 7-10 p. m. every Thursday evening. The loan of books from the library for speciality of the two floors will be about 120,000 v., study purposes shows an increase of 18.71 per cent. during the five years to 1893, and the amount of "paid help," or information furnished to persons at a distance, for which a charge covering actual cost of time is made, has grown from $8.40 in 1890, the first year of the plan, to $431.77 in 1893-"a sum small in itself, but representing thousands of dollars of practical service to the public." The work of the library school for the year is summarized, and lists of the graduates and students attending the school and accepting library positions during the year, are given. There is also a comprehensive review of the work done in aiding library development throughout the state. Appended is a "summary of state library statistics, 18921893"; the "statistics of New York libraries," issued as State Library bulletin "Public libraries no. 2;" and State Library bulletin "Legislation no. 3," giving the usual annual "summary and index of state legislation" during 1892.

New York. University Club L. (Rpt.) Added 948; total 11,892. Expenditures for books and bindings $1806.82; total expenditures $2808.78. The report is almost wholly given up to a review of the year's accessions.

New York. Y. M. C. A. L. The plans for the library department of the association, which will occupy the fifth and sixth floors of the building of the Y. M. C. A., which is to be erected in 56th and 57th streets, between Eighth and Ninth avenues, have been developed with much care, and will, it is thought, fully meet the present and

Philadelphia. Mercantile L. (72d rpt.) Added 3583; total 171,525. Issued, home use 86,621; attendance 301,558. Membership 2903, against 3115 in the previous year. Receipts $21,105.78; expenses $20,867.05.

as

At the annual meeting, held Jan. 15, 1895, it was voted to reduce the membership fee to $2.50 annually for subscribers, and $2 for stockholders.

Philadelphia P. Ls. The committee on libraries of the board of education expects to open months, viz., no. 5 in West Philadelphia in April, two new branch libraries within the next two and no. 6 in Germantown in May.

Portland (Ore.) L. A. (31st rpt.) Added 1609; total 21,510. Issued 25,874 (fict. 71 %), an increase of 11 % over previous years; readingroom attendance 49,876. No record is kept of newsroom attendance.

edness. The interest and other deficiency will and "Grimm's fairy tales." There is always seriously embarrass us, and steps must be imme-great demand among the boys for biographies diately taken to make up the deficit." He urges that generous contributions for library support be made by friends of the association.

of heroes, as David Crockett, De Soto, Washington, Napoleon, and Lincoln. The girls are especially fond of Alcott, Finley, Coolidge and May, and fairy tales.

Librarian Bursch says: "The great event of the year was the reduction in dues. This has In the higher grades of literature it is interresulted in a large increase in our membership.esting to note that nine complete sets of ShakeAt the end of the year 1894 we had 193 more sub-speare have been purchased since July, that scribing members than were enrolled at the end of 1893. Another innovation was the monthly publication of Our Library, a paper devoted to the interests of the Library Association, intended mainly to place before the members a list of the current accessions to the library. Incidentally it has been found convenient in a number of other ways. It serves as an excellent means of communication with the membership, and enables us to supply readers with lists of books on timely topics. It is also used as a medium of exchange with other libraries."

Two courses of university extension lectures were delivered during the year, but owing to the "flood of '94," then prevailing, they were poorly attended. Early in June the periodicalroom was furnished, and attracted a large and Increasing attendance. A catalog of the fiction department is in preparation, and will be issued during 1895. Mr. Bursch calls attention to the inadequacy of the book fund and the need of a special collection of Oregon historical literature.

Quincy (Ill.) P. L. It has been decided to issue a library bulletin of additions every two months. The estimated cost will be about $90 a year for an edition of 3000 copies; it will be distributed free to library users. The statistics of circulation for February showed an increase of from 30 to 50 % in books other than fiction. This is directly attributed to the system of issuing two books on a card.

"

Bulfinch's "Age of fable" has been issued 94 times in the same period, and Kant's "Critique of pure reason" 14 times. George's "Progress and poverty" is issued regularly three times a month, and the little "A B C of electricity," by Meadowcroft, is in constant demand, as are all the works on electricity. A comparison of the novels now read with those most popular in 1888, and also those of 1890, shows how evanescent was the popularity of quite a number, notably │“Earth trembled," "Mr. Barnes of New York," "Anna Karenina," and "April hopes." On the other hand, "Vanity Fair," "Monte Cristo," "Les miserables," "Ben-Hur," "Uncle Tom's cabin," and "Scarlet letter" show no diminution in the public favor, and "the tendency," according to Mr. Crunden, “is always upward. Better novels supplant the poorer, and gradually a larger percentage of other classes of books is read."

San Francisco, Cal. THE Bancroft Library: by J. J. Peatfield. (In Overland Monthly, Mar., 1895. p. 272-281.) il.

of the library of Hubert Howe Bancroft. The An interesting account of the development illustrations include views of the library, a portrait of Mr. Bancroft, and reproductions of some

of the rare volumes and mss.

was also decided that a fee of 10 cents per month or 25 cents per quarter be charged to each borrower, and that the library be open only from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., thus saving the expense of lighting. A reduction in library salaries was proposed, but not finally adopted. These expedients will allow of the reopening of the circulating department, and it is hoped that the library may in time receive adequate financial support.

Seattle (Wash.) P. L. On March 2, at a meeting of the library commission, it was decided to close the circulating department of the library St. Louis (Mo.) P. L. In a recent lecture be- for lack of necessary funds. The February apfore the Eliot Society of St. Louis on "What do propriation for the library was only $200, while the people of St. Louis read?" Mr. Crunden the expenses amounted to $600. The matter gave an interesting summary of the books most was taken up by the city authorities, and on in demand by borrowers of the Public Library. March 11 the council voted an immediate apHe said that since last July 71 copies of "Tril-propriation of $250 to the library committee; it by" had been purchased, and next to that comes "Monte Cristo,' of which 13 copies were in the library, and 68 have been purchased. Continuing down the list is "Vanity Fair," "Les miserables," Ben-Hur," "David Copperfield," "Ivanhoe," "Uncle Tom's cabin,' "Henry Esmond," ""Scarlet letter," "Three guardsmen," Mrs. Holmes' "Darkness and daylight," "Moonstone," "Adam Bede," "Old curiosity shop," "Wandering Jew," "Barriers burned away," "Mill on the floss," Pendennis," and "SaraciStockton (Cal.) P. L. The new library buildnesca." Of these, the smallest number of copies ing erected from the bequest of Dr. W: P. Hazfound necessary is 28 for "Saracinesca." In ju- elton was formally opened for inspection on venile literature Miss Alcott's four books, "Lit- March 14, and for the routine work of issuing tle women," "Jo's boys," "Little men," and and receiving books on March 16. The building "Under the lilacs" lead the list. There are was described in the March issue of the LIBRARY 73 copies of "Little women” in the library, and JOURNAL (p. 101). The library has been in ex53 have been purchased since last July. Othersistence for 10 years or so, and it contains about popular among the children are "Tom Sawyer," Jack and Jill," Scudder's "Book of folk stories," Lamb's "Tales from Shakspeare," "Andersen's fairy tales," "Robinson Crusoe,"

30,000 v.

University of California, Berkeley. Univ. L. (Rpt.) Added 3462; total 55,780.

The average all-day attendance of readers in

the library in March and April, 1894, was 102.9, an excess of 22.7 over the previous year. The percentage of students using books in the library has increased over 28 %, "though the student body itself increased only 25 %." In December, 1893, the deposit of $5 charged for the issue of library cards was abolished, and the circulation of books promptly rose from 1221 v. in March, 1893, to 2005 v. in March, 1894, with constant growth since then.

"The reclassification of the library, begun in 1892, has been completed, and the scheme of classification published as Library Bulletin no. 12." The work of reclassification, together with the first complete inventory, taken in June, revealed a loss of 160 v., or about 23 v. per year for the past eight years. On appealing to the students on the subject, a resolution was promptly passed by the Associated Students' organization, condemning the abstraction of books, and pledging watchfulness to discover and report

offenders.

In their annual report to the regents, the library committee of the university recommend various modifications of the library rules, and ask that they be authorized to negotiate with the trustees of the state library as to the adoption of a system of interchange between the books of the university library and the state library. The interesting collection of the writings of California authors, prepared for the Columbian Exposition, has been presented to the university library, to be preserved, together with similar material already in the library, as a permanent

exhibit of California literature.

University of Nebraska L., Lincoln. The bill appropriating $80,000 for a new library building for the university was passed by the legislature on March 21 with a fine majority. The bookroom of the building was erected some time since, and will form a main division of the structure to be built around it. The plans provide for the fireproof book-room in a wing 54x 76 feet, joined by a connecting passage with the main building, 84 x 47. The ground floor of the main building will be devoted to the uses of the State Historical Library, containing its library and historical collection; the first floor will contain classrooms, offices of the university and historical society, and the unpacking room of the library; the second, recitationrooms, reading-rooms, librarian's office, and catalogers' rooms; the third is wholly devoted to university purposes. The second floor of the wing is the book-room of the university library, the third floor being given up to classrooms until needed for library purposes. To make the wing as absolutely fireproof as possible, there are no openings between floors, the only method of entrance being by the main building and through the passage connecting the two buildings. Each floor of the wing can thus be reached only from the corresponding floors of the main building. The whole structure is to be heated by steam and lighted by electricity. The total cost is estimated at $75,000, and it is hoped that the building will be completed by the fall.

January the first number of a monthly bulletin of accessions which is intended for free distribution among readers.

Washington, D. C. Smithsonian Institution L. (Rpt.) Added (incl. pms.) 37,952; of which 12,418 were retained in the National Museum. Total 292,425. The increase in accessions is 8464 over 1892-3.

"Three sectional libraries are now established in the Institution—the editor's, the astronomical, and one for works on aerodromics. A room has also been set apart for the collections of prints belonging to the Institution. A few of these have been framed and hung upon the walls, the remainder being retained in bound volumes and portfolios. The card-catalog record of periodicals received has been transferred from the large cards formerly employed to the smaller card, known as the postal size; a new card catalog of periodicals in the Institution has also been prepared for the reading-room."

Watertown (Mass.) F. P. L. (27th rpt.) Added 237; total 22,431. Issued, home use 33,033; lib. use 9050. Receipts $3502.05; expenses $3502.05.

the previous year, and the use of the library is The circulation shows an increase of 20% over constantly increasing. Librarian Whitney rec

ommends the establishment of a children's

room, and of an addition to the building. He suggests the publication of printed subject bulletins. An account of the routine work of the reception and preparation of books for circulation is included, to enlighten public ignorance as to "the amount of time and knowledge required to do the most important part of library work."

FOREIGN.

676; total 24,039. Issued, home use 72,549; ref. Clerkenwell (Eng.) P. L. (7th rpt.) Added visitors to newsrooms 334,036. No. borrowers use 25,541; reading-room attendance 128,940; 3744, of whom 366 held two-book" cards. Receipts £1818.6.14; expenses £1584.9.72. was put into operation, the library being In May, 1894, the system of "open access closed during April pending the necessary alterations. The new method has given most satisfactory results. Notwithstanding the closing, tion of the previous year. The commissioners there was an increase of 2559 over the circulasay: "Most of the increase is due to the new system of service, but nearly 2000 of the issues dents and others extra tickets available only for must be credited to the practice of allowing stunon-fictional works. This privilege is mainly taken advantage of by the studious class, for whom it was intended, and has undoubtedly tion issued in 1894 has decreased as compared proved of great value. The percentage of ficwith 1893, and appears to be steadily declining. Practically the whole of this decrease is due to the opportunity which readers now have of examining books in the classes of history, travel, biography, art, and sciences. Owing to the manner in which the reading of fiction fluctuWaltham (Mass.) P. L. The library issued in ates, it is impossible to draw any definite con