been heard, owing to the death last December of Mrs. M. E. Hunt, one of the donors, the date for hearing previously appointed being December 26. The complications arising have been from time to time noted in these columns (L. J. 18: 160, 297, 482.)

Nebraska State L., Lincoln. (Biennial rpt.) Added 3503; total 30,253.

Good progress has been made in completing sets of law reports, serials, and magazines; the miscellaneous department has also been strengthened. The librarian urges that an appropriation be made for a card catalog and that additional shelving be supplied.

New Jersey State L., Trenton. (Rpt.) Added 1529; total 43,388; visitors, "exclusive of lawyers, scholars, and other regular attendants,

2610."

In law and miscellany the library will favorably compare with any state library in the country, while as a practical 'working library' it has no superior." The library is largely used for reference work by the pupils of the state schools, business colleges, and the high school. "In fact, it seems to be getting to be generally understood that the library is an important adjunct to educational institutions, and teachers frequently refer their scholars to our books of reference. This is as it should be, and proves that the popular notion that the state library was exclusively for lawyers is being rapidly dispelled."

New London (Ct.) P. L. (Rpt.) Added 1682; total 14,168. Issued, home use 69,971; av. daily use 229, largest daily use 675; ref. use 1993 (no record of general ref. use is kept). New borrowers 527; total no. borrowers 3850. Volumes issued per capita of population 5.09; by registration 19; average no. times each book has been issued 5.46; non-resident registration 192.

During the year 247 art studies were added to the library collection. There are 57 magazines on file in the reading-room.

New York. Aguilar F. L. The Lexington avenue branch of the library was recently removed to 113 East 59th street, between Lexington and Park avenues, where it has much more attractive and convenient quarters.

charters, ordinances, and regulations of every considerable city in the United States and Europe, so far as printed; standard works of history and science, and such reference-books as will make it a thoroughly equipped library of reference. There is great need for such a library downtown; in fact, none such exists, and to found it would be glory enough for one administration. I may add that the city librarian should be appointed by the mayor, instead of by a subordinate, and should be responsible to him alone."

Philadelphia. Apprentices' L. The 75th anniversary of the Apprentices' Library was celebrated on April 29. The building was decorated with palms and potted plants, and was open to visitors between II a.m. and 6 p.m. An historic sketch of the library, issued in pamphlet form, was presented to visitors. According

to the annual report, the library now contains 15.429 v.; the reading-room attendance has been 48,207; 80,892 v. have been circulated; and 1066

new cards were issued.

"

Philadelphia. Franklin Institute L. A short history of the organization and development of the library is given in the account of "The Franklin Institute," compiled by W: H. Wahl, published in pamphlet form by the Institute. The library is essentially a reference collection, comprising full sets of patent records, technical and scientific works, and important serial publications. Its income is, however, far below its needs, though its many exchanges, received through the medium of the Journal of the Institute, lighten considerably its burden of "chronic poverty.' The library now contains 41,812 books and unbound volumes, 27,931 pamphlets (of which the greater number are classified and cataloged), and 4722 maps, charts, and photographs. Its working force is quite inadequate to its demands. "It may surprise those who are familiar with the working methods and needs of the modern library to learn that all the domestic work of the Institute library-which is receiving monthly about 200 new volumes, issuing for reference 6000 volumes monthly, and which has 150 readers per day is performed by a single librarian, with the aid of one boy who also acts as messenger."

attendance. Speeches were made by Dr. B. C.
Steiner, librarian of the Enoch Pratt Library,
Baltimore; Judge W: B. Hanna, S: B. Huey,
located in the building known as the West Phila
and Judge W: N. Ashman. Branch No. 5 is
delphia Institute, and the books formerly in the
institute now form part of the new collection,
which opens with about 6500 v. Three rooms
commodation for about 20,000 v.
are devoted to library purposes, and there is ac-
The librarian

New York City L. The New York board of Philadelphia (Pa.) P. Ls. Branch No. 5 of the aldermen recently received a letter from C: Burr Philadelphia Public Library was formally opened Todd, of the New York Historical Society, urg-ercises had been issued, and there was a large on the evening of May 22. Invitations to the exing the reorganization and rehabitation of the city library, established in city hall. Mr. Todd says: "The City Library, under Tammany rule, has so degenerated as to become a travesty on the name. It was founded primarily, I presume, for the use of city officials, and should, therefore, be a reference library only. It ought not to contain the city records (the earlier ones, at least), now kept in the room adjoining, under custody of the city clerk, in a most slipshod way. These records are being defaced and destroyed, and should be printed at once by a responsible commission of historical scholars and conveyancers. The city library should contain, further, the corporation manual and various histories of the city, laws of the various states,

is Clarence S. Kates, who was transferred from Branch No. 4 in Roxborough.

Quincy, Mass. Thomas Crane P. L. (Rpt.) Added 469; total not given. Issued 73,442 (fict. 34.4%; periodicals 24.1%; juv. 21.3%). New

St. Louis (Mo.) F. P. L. At a meeting of the directors on May 11, the librarian was authorized to send boxes of books to such charitable institutions as desired them, and the managers of which would be responsible for their safe-giving author and title entries and full index. For this he asks a special appropriation of keeping and return. Books will also be sent to $2000. the various engine-houses of the fire department, provided the chief of the department will guarantee their return.

158,812; ref. use 86,012; Sunday and holiday use 2629. New registration 2653; total registration 17,898. Receipts $32,947.61; expenses $30,105.77.

other, is then passed through the narrow channel back of the book section. Each book section or magazine is treated in this way. The rods, which form the hinge-pin of each section, project sufficiently beyond the ends of the book section to be thrust through plated steel hingepieces at the top and bottom of the book. The side covers are fitted top and bottom with hinge-pieces, and each book section also has its hinge-pieces; these pieces are ingeniously devised to connect with one another, each rod joining two hinge-pieces. The sections may be withdrawn by removing the rod, and more or fewer sections may be inserted at will. A flexible label is fitted over the rear edges of the sections, slipping into false pockets inside the side covers. As the channel-pieces, forming the back of the volume, are covered with the same material as the side covers, the uniform aplabels may be either of leather, gilt stamped, or of parchment, typewritten or hand-printed. It will be seen that this method of binding allows of almost indefinite expansion, extension, or contraction, and also of subject, chronological, or numerical arrangement, while it insures durability of the volume. Single sheets, engravings, different sizes of pamphlets, etc., may be bound in the same way as uniform pamphlets or magazines. Full description of the binder and directions for its use may be obtained of the manufacturers, M. Grunewald & Co., 104-110 Fifth ave., Chicago.

"The plan which we have of letting users of the library rummage freely among new books bought for the circulating department does very much to excite interest in good books which would pass unnoticed unless called in this way to the attention of readers. There have been three exhibitions of pictures in the library building during the past year. The first was on February 26, when the plates of the great work of the French painter of battle scenes, E. Detaille, entitled 'L'armée Française,' were placed upon the walls of the lecture hall. We had before shown the uniforms in use in colonial times in this country, and those which have been adopted from time to time in the army of the United States. That exhibition had given great satis-pearance of a book binding is produced. The faction, and we were not surprised to find that this one, in which the uniforms of all the arms of the service in the French army were displayed in color, and as worn by artistic groups of officers and men, also excited a marked interest." The second exhibition, held May 15, illustrated Mexican antiquities. The foundation | of the collections shown was Dr. A. Penafiel's "Monumenta del arte Mexicano," which contains hundreds of illustrations in portfolios; some 200 or more photographs taken from views in Yucatan, numerous objects of interest in connection with Mexico, and the flags of Mexico and Yucatan, were also shown. The third exhibition, which was opened October 12, was held in the lecture hall, and consisted of "the beautifully colored plates of Garnier's soft porcelain of Sèvres, and of the photographs of lace in the lace album and in Strassen's Spitzen des 16-19 Jahrhunderts aus den Sammlungen des Kunstgewerbe-Museums zu Leipzig ausgerwählt."

PRACTICAL NOTES.

THE RUDOLPH BOOK BINDING is the latest invention of Mr. A. J. Rudolph, of the Newberry Library, inventor of the Rudolph indexer and its accessories. The binder is novel in design, and though especially intended for pamphlets, magazines, and other serial publications, can also be used in binding books. It is difficult to give a fair idea of its details without diagrams, but the following brief description may serve to make plain its distinctive characteristics.

The binding consists of six parts: side covers, "channel-pieces," hinges, rods, staples, and label. Every book to be bound is divided into sections of from 10 to 90 pages each, as desired; in the case of magazines each magazine will form a section. The book section is then inserted within a channel-piece" of zinc, covered with cloth or buckram; this channel-piece covers the back of the section, extending slightly on either side, and leaving a narrow channel between the back of the section and the piece itself. The book section is firmly fastened in the channel-piece by wire staples driven through holes. A wire rod, headed at one end and slightly pointed at the

Gifts and Bequests.

Quincy, Mass. The Thomas Crane Public Library has received a bequest of $20,000 from the late Mrs. Clarissa Crane, who died in New York City on April 22. Mrs. Crane was the widow of Thomas Crane, of Quincy, and the Thomas Crane Public Library was built by her and her sons as a memorial to her husband.

Librarians.

ABBOTT, Samuel A. B., president of the board of trustees of the Boston Public Library, resigned that office on May 1, stating that the pressure of his private affairs made him unable to devote to the duties of that position the time necessary for their proper performance. Mr. Abbott has been practically the head of the library for six years past, and has directed its administration in all essential particulars. His resignation was unexpected, although since the appointment of a librarian he has not been as prominently identified with the direction of the library as previously.

BARNETT, Miss Claribel R., of the New York State Library School, class of 1895, has been appointed head cataloger at the Library of the Department of Agriculture, Washington.

BLAKELY, Miss Bertha E., a member of the New York State Library School, class of 1895,

GRAY, Louis T., executive officer of the board of trustees of the Boston Public Library, resigned his position early in May. Mr. Gray's resignation was presented to the board some time previously, but was laid on the table, the board voting to give him temporary leave of absence instead. Later, it was decided that the position of executive officer should be abol-Catalogues for those years and aim "to call attenished, its special duties to devolve upon the librarian, and Mr. Gray's resignation was accepted. Mr. Gray has been active in the administration of the library, and had almost entire charge of the moving to the new building.

list of books added to the library, January to March, 1895. Cleveland, 1895. 32 p. O. 5 c. This is the first appearance of the Open Shelf since it abandoned its monthly form for that of a substantial quarterly. Besides the classed list of accessions, with abundant and interesting annotations, it contains a short account of the Case Library of Cleveland, and of the year's work at the Public Library.

ENGLISH CATALOGUE of books for 1894: a list of
books published in Great Britain and Ireland
in 1894; with their sizes, prices and publishers'
names; also of the principal books published
in the U. S. in one alphabet: with an index to
subjects: a continuation of the London and
British catalogues. N. Y., Office of Publish-
ers' Weekly, 1895. 148 p. O. pap., $1.50.
FOSTER'S MONTHly Reference LiSTS (Provi-
dence P. L. Bulletin) for May are devoted to
"Bismarck and, the German Empire" and
"Wood, wood-carving and furniture."
May Bulletin also contains a special catalog of
"school duplicates," with brief descriptive an-
notations.

The

Manchester (Eng.) MUSEUM, Owens' College. Catalogue of the books and pamphlets in the library arranged according to subjects and authors, by W. E. Hoyle, keeper of the museum. (Museum handbooks.) Manchester, 1895. 302 p. bds., 3s. 6d.

1893, to April, 1895. Salem, 1895. 194 p. O. The 12 numbers of the bulletin bound in a substantial octavo, and supplied with an index.

The SALEM (Mass.) P. L. BULLETIN for May has four good reading lists: "Cuba,' Pottery," "Best books of 1894,' "Memorial Day."

The SPRINGFIELD (Mass.) L. BULLETIN for April has a list of "books relating to musicgeneral and essays."

U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE. Library bulletin, May, 1895. Accessions to the department library, January - March, 1895. 12 p. Q. UNIV. OF STATE OF N. Y.

Handbook 6: list

of publications. 36 p. Tt. A list of the publications of the university giving prices and occasional descriptive annotations.

- New York state travelling library, nos. 19-22. Young people's library, ca. 8 p. Tt. Four classed lists of 25 books each, with the brief descriptive notes that are a feature of these useful little publications.

State library bulletin; legislation no. 5: comparative summary and index of state legislation in 1894. Albany, 1895. O. 20 c.

FULL NAMES.

Montresor, Frances Frederica, author of "Into the highways and hedges," pub. by Appleton, '95. Bookman, May, '95.

Bibliografy.

Dewey classification and Cutter book numbers have been used in this careful and painstaking catalog. The classification is carried to an exceeding degree of minuteness, as may be instanced by the fact that the section "Mollusca" is subdivided to four places of decimals, 594.0948 being the class number corresponding to Mollusca of Scandinavia," in which there are 27 entries. Mr. Hoyle believes that "the present catalog is the first published in England in which the Dewey method has been fully carried out." All pamphlets, periodicals, and transactions in the library have been cataloged, and no attempt has been made to distinguish them from books. "To indicate whether a work will be found among the octavo, quarto, or folio books or among the unbound pamphlets" The American Ecclesiastical Review (245 N. "q," "f," or "p" is prefixed to the book num- Broad street, Philadelphia) has published, month ber. No attempt has been made to give full by month, since January, a series of articles ennames in the classed catalog; brief title entries titled "The library of a priest," which are useare the rule, and the imprint data include pag-ful contributions to religious bibliography. The ing, illustrations or plates, size, place and date articles, which are concluded with the May Introduction," by of publication. An author-catalog, giving full number, are as follows: names when practicable, is appended, and this Thomas Hughes, S.J., p. 1-14 (Ja.); "Sacred is followed by a useful index of subjects, giving Scripture," by A. J. Maas, S.J., p. 138-150 Rev. Ad. class number and paging. The catalog as a (F.); "Dogmatic theology," by whole is admirable and must prove a boon to all Tanquerey, p. 226-245 (Mr.); "Canon law," users of the college library. by Rev. G. Péries, p. 328-335 (Ap.); “Sacred music," by Rev. H. T. Henry (My.). The series contains quite full lists and has annotations by members of the Society of Jesus. In most cases places and dates of publication are given, and G. F. B. often names of publishers.

The MILWAUKEE P. L. has issued an excellent little reading list for 'Memorial Day," compiled by Miss L. E. Stearns, for the use of schools. It includes suitable addresses, collections of verse and single poems, national songs, literature of the flag, anecdotes of the war, etc. (8 p. Tt.)

The Bookman for May contains " A bibliography of Ibsen" (p. 274-277), by W: H. Carpenter.