GENERAL REPORT. 



It is very gratifying to note the ever-growing popularity of our 

 Lending Libraries and Reading Rooms. These institutions, while 

 largely for the purpose of entertainment, are increasingly used for 

 the more serious work of education and instruction. 



The Committee have recognised that the time has arrived when 

 old-fashioned and unnecessary restrictions to the full use of our 

 books should be removed. The open bookshelves in the Picton 

 Reading Room have been much appreciated : the books being in 

 constant demand, and the losses trifling. It is now proposed to 

 accept one guarantor instead of two for those who wish to become 

 borrowers from our Lending Libraries, and to allow them to have a 

 second or student's ticket, which will only be available for a book 

 other than a novel. We feel confident that this privilege will be 

 accepted as a boon, and we trust it will lead to reading of a more 

 serious character. There can be no doubt that the true policy for 

 the successful management of a Library is to popularise it in every 

 way by removing all arbitrary restrictions and by assisting readers 

 in their selection of books. In so doing you cannot fail to make 

 every reader you can secure a better mau and more valuable citizen. 



The opening of the Antield Reading Room has not been, so far, an 

 unqualified success, and in this is only another proof that reading 

 rooms without the advantages of a lending library are not deemed 

 sufficient. This is so far gratifying, inasmuch as it indicates that 

 the people do not merely require newspapers and magazines. We 

 hope, however, in the near future to form a library for the circula- 

 tion of books for home reading. 



The approaching completion of the Andrew Carnegie and 

 Kirkdale Libraries seems a fitting time to point out that the 

 Liverpool Branch Libraries have won a very high place in the 



