1 o the Chairman and Juembers of tlui ^Dcrbtj 

 fcree library and JKLaseuin Committee. 



Gfntlemen, 



The time has come round for me to submit to you my Seventh Annual 

 Report, and I do so with very great pleasure. 



The Lending Library now contains 16,958 books, against 16,160 last 

 year, and the total issues are 134,763 against 133,594, while the daily average 

 is 515 against 518. 843 new books have been added, and 589 volumes 

 withdrawn as worn out have been replaced by new copies. Early in the 

 year, the Book Committee went through ihe whole of the worn-out list from 

 the stock book, te-ordering such books as they thought desirable, and declar- 

 ing the numbers vacant where the books were out of date or without interest. 

 Nineteen volumes have been lost and paid for, six totally lost, and five com- 

 ing from infected houses have been destroyed. I can only repeat what I 

 have said on previous occasions, that with very few exceptions, the books 

 are carefully used, and considering the extent of the circulation, there is very 

 little cause for complaint. 



The Reference Library stock now includes 9,664 works, of which 342 

 have been added during the past year, and it has not been found necessary 

 to withdraw any from circulation. The number added includes a large 

 number of the volumes of Patent Specifications, and I would diaw attention 

 to the largely increased use of this Department. The daily average issue in 

 the Reference Library is precisely the same as last year, indeed the year's 

 work as a whole has been singularly like that of the preceding year. Great 

 care has been exercised in the choice of the new books added, preference 

 being given to those likely to be of service to students and to workmen 

 employed in the various industries of the town. Both these classes use the 

 Reference Library largely. As in previous years, the text books presented 

 by the University Correspondence College are greatly in request, and the 

 University of Cambridge lent some of the more valuable books used as text 

 books for the University Extension Lectures. 



I think there is nothing else in the statistics to which special attention 

 need be drawn. The preparation and publication of two book Catalogues, 

 the cataloguing and labelling of the " Felix Joseph " collection of China, 

 and the labelling of the fossils, have made this the busiest year for clerical 



