5 



The Toronto Public Library, eleven years after its establishment, had 

 35,926 volumes in its circulating library, and these covered not only maga- 

 zines, but books on medical, social and other sciences; also of religious liter- 

 ature, the arts, language and literature, geography, novels and topography, 

 with history, biography and poetry. 



But the observable thing is that in Toronto, where the tastes and condi- 

 tion of the people are very much the same as those of Winnipeg, the propor- 

 tion in the circulating library of fiction to all the other books was only as 

 1 to 7. This thoroughly supports the position we have taken that only 

 fiction which is established as good literature should as a rule be largely 

 used. 



THE REFERENCE LIBRARY. 



But it is the Reference Library in which we are as a Society chiefly 

 interested. Reference books are open for consultation in the reading room 

 of the library, but may not be taken from the building. The Reference 

 Library consists of books which are more expensive and therefore more 

 valuable and useful; books of cumbrous size such as dictionaries and the. 

 like, which cannot be easily moved or carried; or uncommon or rare books, 

 which even the private libraries of the well-to-do cannot secure; and yet 

 books of a class which must at times be consulted by different classes of 

 citizens. 



The Reference Library is the notable part of every library. In Toronto 

 Public Library, which has from the first been under the care of Mr. James 

 Bain, he a scholarly man, who had several years' experience in a publishing 

 house and is an authority on things Canadian- — who, in short, is in every way 

 a competent librarian — wrote a few years ago in speaking of the library and 

 the board of twelve leading citizens who assist him: — 



" From the outset the Board has watched with great interest the growth 

 of the Reference Library as the most valuable portion of the institution under 

 their direction, and feel a reasonable pride in the valuable collection ot 

 books which has been gathered together during the past ten years. In the 

 department of Canadian history and exploration it is unequalled in the 

 Dominion; while in arts, manufactures, patents, history and genealogy, and 

 many other subjects, it occupies a high position." 



During the ten years spoken of the Toronto Reference Library increased 

 from 8,043 volumes to 33,062 — nearly as many books as the Circulating 

 Library contained. 



