SCIENTIFIC READING IN A PUBLIC LIBRARY. 527 



Mathematics has a relatively large circulation, but we must not sup- 

 pose that in May, 1901, 673 citizens of New York devoted themselves 

 to the theory of functions or the calculus of probabilities. Further 

 analysis would reveal the fact that a very large proportion of the books 

 taken out were text-books on arithmetic and algebra. 



An examination of the records of the separate libraries reveals 

 some points of interest. For instance the circulation in political sci- 

 ence and political economy at Bond Street was twice as great as at 

 Bloomingdale — five miles above. The proportion of Hebrews among 

 the users of the two branches must be in nearly the same ratio — a fact 

 that speaks for itself. On the other hand the circulation in educa- 

 tion was larger at Bloomingdale. In English philology, the Chatham 

 Square Branch circulated nearly as many books as all the other branches 

 together, which is noteworthy when we remember that this is in a 

 foreign section, where there are news-stands on which not a single 

 English newspaper is exposed for sale. The same proportion holds good 

 at this branch for general works on natural science (class 500). Some 

 things about the table are inexplicable. Why, for instance, should 

 the Ottendorfer Branch have circulated twice as much zoology as 

 Bond Street, only a half mile distant? Doubtless this was owing 

 to some temporary demand, which another month's record might 

 reverse. 



Comparison of the circulation in each class with the number of 

 books in that class shows, as might have been expected, that the larger 

 the stock the larger the circulation. There is a mutual reaction be- 

 tween these two numbers. On the one hand, if the demand for a 

 particular class of books is not great, in any branch library, that library 

 naturally does not call for books on that subject; on the other hand, 

 if a library is meagerly supplied in any subject, so that users who 

 wish to read in that subject can not get what they want, the circulation 

 is apt to remain small. In such cases the circulation may be raised 

 by replenishing the stock. The ratio does not always hold good, how- 

 ever, and there are some notable exceptions. 



Evidently these are but a very few of the considerations suggested 

 by a study of the table. Different parts of it will naturally interest 

 different readers, and each will be able to find may things in it that 

 can not be brought out here. Of course the record for a whole year 

 would be still more valuable, but, as has been said, the amount of 

 daily labor necessary to subdivide the report is so great that its con- 

 tinuance beyond a month would hardly be justified. So far as I know 

 this is the first attempt made in any library to subdivide so closely in 

 any subject and to present the results in a form suitable for observation 

 and study. 



