GENERAL REPORT. 



The very able, and complete reports furnished by the Chief Librarian, 

 the Curator of the Art Gallery, and the Director of our Museums leave 

 little to be said; but it may be convenient to summarise the distinctive 

 features of our work, which stand out prominently as marking the 

 advance of the Institutions under our eare. and the increased value 

 placed upon them by the community at large. 



The past year was a period of great commercial prosperity and active em- 

 ployment for all classes, and therefore, as leisure time has been restricted. 

 we have had a falling off in the number of the readers at our various 

 Libraries; but it .gratifying to find that the decrease in our issues 

 have been entirely ill works of fiction, and that, our issues of standard 

 Literature, works on science and technology, have been fully maintained. 

 Our endeavour to bring our stores of special books within the know- 

 ledge of all have proved a great success, and our displays of works on 

 art and on our local history, were greatly appreciated, and gave a 

 stimulus to readers in these departments. 



The need for further Libraries is pressing, and the Committee arc 

 -4ad to think that they will shortly he able to proceed with the erection 

 of Libraries at the South end. at West Derby, and at Wavertree. They 

 are also anxious to provide a Library for Kirkdale as soon as their 

 finances will admit. 



The work of our Museums is much hampered by the structural altera 

 lions rendered necessary by the new buildings, but we shall be amply 

 compensated for our present inconveniences by the magnificent accom- 

 modation which will be afforded by the new galleries when completed. 

 The area of our Museum will then be 64,000 feet. Our largest gallery 

 will contain 20,000 feet (the largest gallery in the British Museum 

 containing only 13.900 feet), and it will be possible to display far better 

 than in any other Museum the various groups of the animal kingdom >n 

 their phylogenetic relations, and as nearly as possible, therefore, m 

 the.r natural sequence. The Museum will thus be at once compre- 

 hensible to the general public, and vastly more instructive than it has 

 hitherto been. 



