GENERAL REPORT. 



It is gratifying to be able to report the continued prosperity of the 

 Institutions under the direction of the Library, Museum, and Arts 

 Committee. In every direction we notice an increase in the public 

 estimation of our work, and a growing eagerness to avail themselves of 

 the advantages these Institutions confer. A few figures will at once prove 

 this. The Brown Reading Room was last year attended by upwards 

 of 900,000, the Picton Reading Room by over 300,000 readers. Over 

 one million books were issued by the libraries, and over half a million 

 magazines ; while the visitors making use of the newspaper files reached 

 329,000. The attendances at the Lectures numbered 38,G11 ; and at the 

 Evening Reading Rooms 109,258. At the Museum there have been 

 327,448 visitors, or a weekly average of 6,297. The number of visitors 

 to the Art Gallery was 619,047. 



From these figures it is estimated that upwards of two million persons 

 have made use of our Institutions. There is no doubt that a considerable 

 portion of these visits were made for the purpose of entertainment, but 

 it is satisfactory to feel that the entertainment afforded in all cases carries 

 with it some intellectual or educational benefit. 



The Committee have desired to popularise their work, in the hope that 

 by attracting visitors they were taking the best means of inducing an 

 increased regular attendance. We are very much the creatures of habit, 

 and it has been felt that if we can only attract new comers, a very con- 

 siderable proportion will become regular in attendance ; and though 

 such attendance may in the first instance be for newspaper reading, a 

 certain percentage will be induced to go forward and become serious 

 readers and students ; and in this connection it is gratifying to notice the 

 large increase in the issue of books on science and art. 



A work of this magnitude cannot be carried on without considerable 

 expense. In Liverpool the funds at the disposal of the Library Committee 

 are limited to the produce of a rate of one penny in the pound, which 

 produced last year only £11,300, as against £13,000 five years ago. If 

 it had not been for the grants made by the City Council out of the 

 Exchequer Contribution Account, it would have been quite impossible 

 to have maintained the institutions in their present state of efficiency. 

 Other towns are more favourably placed, and in all the larger cities and 

 boroughs a rate of twopence in the pound is devoted to the maintenance 

 of the public libraries alone. 



