To the Chairman and Members of the Free 
Library and Museum Committee. 
. GENTLEMEN, 
I have much pleasure in submitting to you my Third Annual 
Report. 
The number of volumes in the Lending Library is 14227, 
against 13796 last year, and in the Reference Library 8,595 against 
8184, or a total increase of 850 volumes, the number in both 
Libraries being now 23,022. The total issue in both Libraries 
shows a trifling decrease. In the Lending Library the issue is 
130,314 against 131,641. This is more than accounted for by the 
gradual withdrawal of the three volume novels, which formerly held 
such an important position in our stock of works of fiction. In the 
Reference Library the numbers are 27,917, against 28,070. Eight 
books have been lost and paid for, and three have been totally lost 
through default of both borrower and guarantor. The books 
rebound and repaired number 3,545, nearly all with the exception 
of the magazines being’done on our own premises. About 3,000 
of the number have been either resewn or entirely rebound. 141 
books have been withdrawn as worn out. It gives me much 
pleasure to again report that as a whole the books are carefully 
used, and fewer cases than ever of wanton damage have come under 
my notice this year. ‘he Library is now in a good state of repair, 
and fewer books await mending than is usual at this time of the year. 
The musical department quite justifies our belief in its usefulness. 
This is shown by the fact that the issues number about 30 in the 
week, and about 1,500 during the year. I have been often asked 
as to the popularity of the newer works of fiction as compared with 
the older standard works. I have been making careful comparisons 
as tothe number of issues, and Iam gratified to find that ‘* Ivan- 
hoe’’ and “ David Copperfield’? are out in circulation quite as 
much as ‘Aurora Floyd” and “Hast Lynne,” and that ‘“ John 
Halifax” and ‘Adam Bede” show up quite as well as “She,” 
“King Solomon’s Mines,” or “ Treasure Island.” The interest in 
the former books is abiding, that in the latter evanescent. 
The News Rooms are more fully attended than ever, and the 
couduct of those that visit them is all that one could wish or expect. 
I have had no serious complaint to make during the past year 
