332 



LIBRARIES, PUBLIC. 



BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRAKY. 



tion, 84; Masonic, 14; Odd Fellows, 17; social, 57; 

 scientific, 78; historical, 60; garrison, 14; mer- 

 cantile, 10: and society, 108. 



As to finances: 600 libraries reported a total 

 of $1,679,210 received from taxation, and $1,513,- 

 352 was appropriated to 773 libraries by States, 

 counties, and cities in the year. Five hundred and 

 ninety-four libraries recived $1,035,052 from en- 

 dowment funds; 833 received $386,441 from mem- 

 bership fees ; 303 received $38,684 from book rents ; 

 625 received $529,350 from donations; 1,017 re- 

 ceived $729,547 from sources not stated. The 

 total income reported by 2,437 libraries for the 

 year ending April 1, 1896, was $5,911,636. The 

 permanent endowment funds of 605 libraries aggre- 

 gated $17,570,673. The value of the buildings 

 owned by 567 libraries was $33,291,259. The value 

 of the books added during the year by 2,333 li- 

 braries was $1,574,410. 



State Aid and Special Legislation. A re- 

 view of the whole subject, with a bibliography, is 

 given in the Report of the Commissioner of Edu- 

 cation for 1895, accompanied by the full text of 

 all the laws. This work has been furthered great- 

 ly by the creation of library commissions in vari- 

 ous States. 



The first State library commission was organ- 

 ized in 1890 by Massachusetts, followed by New 

 Hampshire in 1891, Connecticut in 1893, Vermont 

 and Wisconsin in 1895, Ohio in 1896, New York 

 and Georgia in 1897, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Min- 

 nesota, Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, and Maine in 

 1899, and New Jersey and Iowa in 1900. 



Buildings. Among the larger library build- 

 ings erected within the last decade are the Library 

 of Congress, which cost $6,300,000; Boston Pub- 

 lic Library, $2,300,000; Chicago Public Library, 

 $2,000,000; Columbia University, $1,200,000; Car- 

 negie Library, Pittsburg, about $800,000 (the 

 building comprises library, music hall, art gal- 

 lery, and museum) ; Princeton University, $650,- 

 000; Milwaukee Public Library, about $600,000; 

 Wisconsin Historical Society, about $600,000; 

 Newberry Library, Chicago, $500,000; Providence 

 Public Library, $300,000 ; and Library of Carleton 

 College, Northfield, Minn., $250,000. Many li- 

 braries costing from $50,000 to $200,000 have been 

 built, among them the Kansas City Public Li- 

 brary, $200,000 (site $30,000 additional); Pratt 



Institute Library, Brooklyn, $190,000; Library of 

 the University of Illinois, about $165,000; Forbes 

 Library, Northampton, Mass., $134.529; Carnegie 

 Library, Atlanta, Ga., $115,000; Orrington Lunt 

 Library, Northwestern University, $100,000; Pe- 

 oria, 111., Public Library, about $70.000 (site $16,- 

 000 additional) ; and Hoboken, N. J., Public Li- 

 brary, $62,000. 



Many of these buildings are due to private be- 

 neficence. It is said that, as far as the incomplete 

 statistics show, more than $24,000,000 have been 

 bestowed by individuals for buildings, books, and 

 maintenance, in the past ten years of the nine- 

 teenth century; and there was also a generous 

 expenditure of public money in the same period. 

 The yearly proceedings of the American Library 

 Association include a full report on gifts and be- 

 quests. 



Management. Open Shelves. A matter that 

 has been much discussed is that of " free access "- 

 that is, the free admission of the public to the 

 shelves, as in the New York Free Circulating 

 Library. Yet this question still awaits solution^ 

 for the arguments appear to be about equal, pro 

 and con. Most librarians evidently agree in believ- 

 ing that a certain number of books, at least, 

 should be freely accessible to the public. Many 

 libraries have "open reference shelves" in th<- 

 new building of the New York Public Library, 

 for instance, arrangements have been made for 

 40,000 volumes thus placed. In such large refer- 

 ence libraries, of 500,000 and more volumes, it ia 

 impracticable to allow unlimited access. 



Cataloguing. Co-operative cataloguing was re- 

 ferred to hopefully in 1893, but the expectations of 

 its warmest adherents have hardly been reali/ct , 

 although the publishing section of the America i 

 Library Association continues to issue print el 

 catalogue cards for new books. However, the 

 Annual Literary Index (continuing both Poole's 

 Index to Periodical Literature and the A. L. A. 

 Index to General Literature, 1893) is issued regu- 

 larly, and in Cleveland the Cumulative Index to- 

 periodicals began to appear in 1896. Some sci- 

 entific periodicals are indexed by the co-opcrati\e 

 effort of five libraries the New York Publiu, 

 Harvard University, Columbia University, Boston 

 Public, and John Crerar (of Chicago), the index 

 entries being printed on cards of standard siz<3.. 



