Librarians Report 



TO THE COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR ENDING 

 SEPTEMBER 29th, 1910. 



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Gentlemen, 



I liave much pleasure in laying before you my usual Annual 

 Report. I liave just completed twenty-five years' service in this 

 Institution, on which I can look back upon with pleasure, and feel that 

 progress, if not rapid, has been steady. I gratefully acknowledge 

 that during the whole of my period of service, I have had the help 

 and consideration of an able and judicious Committee, and the hearty 

 co-operation of a devoted Staff. 



I cannot say anything new about our work in the Library, and 

 the tables give every necessary indication of its scope and magnitude, 

 but I am glad to put on record my belief that the quality of the reading 

 done by the public is mending, and that the taste of readers is slowly 

 and steadily improving. Fiction still constitutes the larger pare of 

 our issues, of course, but even in that I think I see a tendency toward 

 that which is classic and good rather than toward the light and 

 ephemeral. Needless to say, we have as little of the latter class as 

 possible. I think the books are better used than formerly, and we have 

 had comparatively few cases of careless or wilful damage. 



The Museum is as much used as ever, and I believe is serving its 

 purpose well, both as an attraction to the casual visitor, and as a real 

 help to the student. 



The year in the Art Gallery has also been a successful one. Beside 

 the usual Spring and Autumn Exhibitions, v/e had a Photographic 

 Exhibition in the Summer, to which members of the local Society made 

 valuable contribution, and this was followed by a capital exhibition 

 of the clever w^ork of Mr. Trevor Haddon, a small example of which 

 was purchased for our permanent collection. The enlargement of the 

 Gallery is still a crying necessity. 



