8 



about 7,000, and an increase in the daily issue of 29, which now 

 reaches 637, as against 438 in November, 1885, when I first entered 

 your service. The first year of the Children's Library has been an 

 unqualified success. The daily average for the whole year is 81, but 

 for the month of March it was 112, and on one Monday evening, no fewer 

 than 202 books were issued. The lowest month for issues is August, 

 and the lowest day of the week, Wednesday. I am very glad to be 

 able to report once again that there is little fault to be found with the 

 way that the books are used. 



Tables 3 and 4 deal with the Eeference Department. Here we have 

 increased our stock by 130 volumes, about the normal rate, for in the 

 286 reported last year, there were 122 volumes of Patents, none of which 

 appear in this year's list. The daily issue is less by 9 than last year, 

 but the fact that there were 1,000 less Patents consulted, and that 

 there was only one course of University Extension Lectures will 

 more than account for the slight falling off. It must be also borne 

 in mind that now the great majority of those who use the Reference 

 Library are students, and are not, as was formerly the case, largely 

 mixed with those who simply come to look at picture-books. 



Table 5 gives miscellaneous information. From it we learn that 

 the new borrowers during the year reached 1,350, of whom 468 were 

 children. The sexes are pretty equally divided, and Table 6 shows in 

 a classified form the occupations of the last thousand. The same 

 thousand borrowers reside in the wards shown in the following Table, the 

 reading population varying little from former years in its distribution. 



649 over-due books had to be written for, and a proof of the popularity 

 of the bespoken system is to be found in the fact that 1,175 books were 

 bespoken. 2,760 books passed through the binders' hands for greater or 



