To the Chairman and Members of the Free 

 Library and Museum Com?nittee. 



Gentlemen, 



I have much pleasure in submitting to you my Third Annual 

 Report. 



The number of volumes in the Lending Library is 14227, 

 against 13796 last year, and in the Reference Library 8,595 against 

 8184, or a total increase of 850 volumes, the number in both 

 Libraries being now 23,022. The total issue in both Libraries 

 shows a trifling decrease. In the Lending Library the issue is 

 130,314 against 131,641. This is more than accounted for by the 

 gradual withdrawal of ihe three volume novels, which formerly held 

 such an important position in our stock of works of fiction. In the 

 Reference Library the numbers are 27,917, against 28,070. Eight 

 books have been lost and paid for, and three have been totally lost 

 through default of both borrower and guarantor. The books 

 rebound and repaired number 3,545, nearly all with the exception 

 of the magazines being* done on our own premises. About 3,000 

 of the number have been either resewn or entirely rebound. 141 

 books have been withdrawn as worn out. It gives me much 

 pleasure to again report that as a whole the books are carefully 

 used, and fewer cases than ever of wanton damage have come under 

 my notice this year. The Library is now in a good state of repair, 

 and fewer books await mending than is usual at this time of the year. 

 The musical department quite justifies our belief in its usefulness. 

 This is shown by the fact that the issues number about 30 in the 

 week, and about 1,500 during the year. I have been often asked 

 as to the popularity of the newer works of fiction as compared with 

 the older standard works. I have been making careful comparisons 

 as to the number of issues, and I am gratified to find that " Ivan- 

 hoe " and "David Copperfield '" are out in circulation quite as 

 much as "Aurora Floyd" and "Last Lynne," and that "John 

 Halifax'* and "Adam Bede" show up quite as well as "She," 

 "King Solomon's Mines," or "Treasure Island.'' The interest in 

 the former books is abiding, that in the latter evanescent. 



The News Rooms are more fully attended than ever, and the 

 couduct of those that visit them is all that one could wish or expect. 

 I have had no serious complaint to make during the past year 



