10 



The present Reading Room is occasionally inconveniently crowded, but this 

 will be obviated when the new room is completed. 



The printed volume of the Catalogue and Supplement contains the books 

 received down to the end of 1872. It is proposed to issue a Supplement com- 

 pleting the list to the end of 1875. 



During the last few months a system has been brought into operation, by 

 which the list of new books is printed weekly as they are received, and placed 

 on boards for the convenience of readers. 



A catalogue of the books numerically is also in progress, which will greatly 

 facilitate identification and the detection of errors. 



A perfect check upon the issue and return of the volumes taken out is a 

 great desideratum, but with issues sometimes of nearly 2,000 in a day the 

 process is very laborious. Improvements have recently been introduced, which 

 appear to be working well. 



LENDING LIBRARIES. 



The Lending department pursues its useful career without calling for much 

 remark. The issues this year are less than those of last year. The quantity of 

 light literature is about three-fourths of the entire issues. The wear and tear 

 of these is very great. The volumes worn out are about 2,400 in the year. 

 These are generally cheap editions of novels, which circulate through^lSO to 200 

 hands, and are then rendered unfit for use. These worn-out works are destroyed, 

 and about one-haK have fresh editions in their place. The other half are works 

 which have lost their interest and are replaced \iy others. In this way there is 

 constant change going on without much absolute increase. The increase in the 

 number of volumes during the last year is 1,281. 



The foUowiner figm-es will show the statistics : — 



Volumes lent 193,013 



Kew Tickets issued 



Tickets renewed 



Tickets cancelled 



Total readers on the books 



Books lost or injured and paid for 



Books lost 



Volumes worn out — replaced 



Volumes worn out — withdrawn 



New volumes added 



Total number of volumes in the Libraries 20,482 



