Librarian's Report. 



To the Chairman and Members of the Derby Free Public 

 Library and Museum Coitimittee. 



Gentlemen, — 



^PT gives me very great pleasure to lay before you my Thirteenth 

 ^J Annual Report, which is accompanied by the usual Tables ex- 

 plaining the details of our work. On each of these I may be 

 allowed to say a few words, which I hope may be of interest not only to 

 you, but to that large section of the inhabitants of the town who use or 

 are interested in the Library. 



From Table I. it will be seen that the Lending Library stock is now 

 nearly twenty thousand volumes, and the questions of shelf room and 

 space on the Indicator will soon become acute. 692 new books have 

 been added, and out of the 499 withdrawn as worn-ont, 460 have been 

 replaced. Nine volumes have been lost and paid for, and four have 

 been totally lost. The issues are shown in Table II., and show a decrease 

 of nearly 10,000, or a daily decrease of 38 from last year's results. I find 

 that this decrease is a general one in various parts of the country, and 

 the principal reason for it is probably to be found in the general pi'os- 

 perity of the country, plenty of work affording less leisure for reading. 

 The exceptionally fine weather which has prevailed during the greater 

 part of the year, and the great popularity of the bicycle as a means of 

 recreation, have also something to do with the result. There is some 

 consolation in knowing that the amount of solid reading remains about 

 the same, the principal decreases occurring in Fiction (about 7,000) and 

 in Juvenile books (about 2,000). I am very glad to report that I have 

 had no serious complaint to make about the usage of the books during 

 the year. The Reference Library stock stands at 11,233, which includes 

 a little over 3,000 volumes of Patents. Of these, 1,147 have been con- 

 sulted, as against 2,206 last year. 169 volumes other than Patents have 

 been added, and the daily issues in the various classes differ little from 

 former years. 



Table V. gives a variety of information. From it we gather that 

 the number of new borrowers is about the same as usual — rather more 

 adults and rather fewer children having joined than last year. 1,160 



