398 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSKUM, 1903. 



the windows, makes u very pleasiiio- impression. On the foui'th and 

 tiftli Hours the same amount of spaeo is at the disposal of the lil)rary, 

 making in the two stories combined forty-one additional rooms, for 

 the libraiv school, the section of public libraries, the duplicate section, 

 the lil)rary museum, the bindery, the children's reading- room, etc. 

 The library school has a lecture room in the seventh stor}- of a corner 

 pavilion. The muscMun contains a collection relating to library l)uild- 

 ings and library administration of several thousand books, pamphlets, 

 samples, formularies, models, etc., which aie very exactly classified 

 and catalogued. The collection is unique of its kind and extremely 

 instructive. " 



In the New York State Library particular attention is paid to law 

 (60,000 volumes, princi})ally American codes),'' medicine (25,000 vol- 

 umes),'" sociology (3(),000 volumes), instruction (16,000 volumes), his- 

 toiy and kindred subjects (40,000 volumes), genealogy, bibliography, 

 and Americana, as well as everything relating to the State of New York. 

 It contains also a special collection of female authors and of books for 

 the blind (of whom there are 5,000 in the State of New York) and for 

 children, as well as for the State officials residing in Albany, About 

 2,200 periodicals are received by su])scription or donation. 



The building is fireproof. Some rooms contain extinguishers, lines 



« In order to give an idea of the contents of the library-museum we add here the 

 headings of the catalogue of the collection: Charts illustrating selection of books; 

 Stacks; Lights, standards, etc.; Chairs, easels, floor covering, reference bookcases, 

 shelf supports, folio shelving, shelving, tallies, trays and trucks, miscellaneous fittings; 

 Regulations for readers; Administration; Executive. Accession: Book plates, order, 

 sample books (showing stamping, plating, etc.). Catalogue: Back blocks, bulletins, 

 catalogues, cost of printed catalogues, catalogue drawers, drawer checks, drawer 

 handles and labels, drawer rods, guides, handwriting, linotype, printed catalogue, 

 card racks, size rules, catalogue trays, cataloguing miscellany. Classification; Refer- 

 ence. Loan: Card charging systems, loan desks, indicators, ledgers, registration 

 books and cards, statistics, loan miscellany. Binding and repair: Binders, book corner 

 protectors, book corners, materials, mending. Shelf: Book supports, dummies, maps 

 and map cases, newspaper files, pamphlet cases, shelf labels, holders and guides, shelf 

 lists, shelf miscellany. Care, cleaning, safety of building. General liliraries: Home 

 libraries^ libraries for the blind. Children's reading: Historic development. Liter- 

 ary methods and labor savers, office fittings: Book holders, clips and paper fasten- 

 ers, drawer fittings, files, folios, mailing envelopes and cases, paste, mucilage, etc., 

 paper, pens, pencils, and erasers, punches, supplies, stamps, trays. Scrapbooks and 

 files; Notebooks; Indexmg; Engraving. 



'' In the excellent annual report of the director for 1898 it is stated on p. 2S that 

 the time is near at hand when every prominent lawyer of the State of New York 

 will l)e connected with the library by telephone. 



'The report of the director for 1898, p. 35, expresses the opinion that the time 

 is at hand when most of the physicians, also, of the State of New York will be con- 

 nected by telephone with the library. In both cases a fee of 25 cents per half hour 

 is to be paid when more than half an hour is required to give the information called 

 for. The medical library is also used in the State of New York as a circulating library 

 in the same sense as the organization of the traveling libraries described on a following 

 page. 



