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LIBRARIAN'S REPORT. 
To the Chairman and Members of the Derby Free Pubhe 
Library and Museum Committee. 
GENTLEMEN, — 
T gives me very great pleasure to lay before you my Thirteenth 
Annual Report, which is accompanied by the usual Tables ex- 
plaining the details of our work. On each of these I may be 
allowed to say a few words, which I hope may be of interest not only to 
you, but to that large section of the inhabitants of the town who use or 
are interested in the Library. 
From Table I. it will be seen that the Lending Library stock is now 
nearly twenty thousand volumes, and the questions of shelf room and 
space on the Indicator will soon become acute. 692 new books have 
been added, and out of the 499 withdrawn as worn-out, 460 have been 
replaced. Nine volumes have heen lost and paid for, and four have 
been totally lost. The issues are shown in Table II., and show a decrease 
of nearly 10,000, or a daily decrease of 38 from last year’s results. I find 
that this decrease is a general one in various parts of the country, and 
the principal reason for it is probably to be found in the general pros- 
perity of the country, plenty of work affording less leisure for reading. 
The exceptionally fine weather which has prevailed during the greater 
part of the year, and the great popularity of the bicycle as a means of 
recreation, have also something to do with the result. There is some 
consolation in knowing that the amount of solid reading remains about 
the same, the principal decreases occurring in Fiction (about 7,000) and 
in Juvenile books (about 2,000). I am very glad to report that I have 
had no serious complaint to make about the usage of the books during 
the year. The Reference Library stock stands at 11,233, which includes 
a little over 3,000 volumes of Patents. Of these, 1,147 have been con- 
sulted, as against 2,206 last year. 169 volumes other than Patents have 
been added, and the daily issues in the various classes differ little from 
former years. 
Table V. gives a variety of information. From it we gather that 
the number of new borrowers is about the same as usual—rather more 
adults and rather fewer children having joined than last year. 1,160 
