Report of the President 



Notwithstanding serious handicaps, such as the influenza epidemic 

 which necessitated closing the juvenile departments of the library and 

 museums for seven weeks, the preoccupation of the public during the 

 first six months with knitting and other war work, the employment of 

 many young people in industry — in spite of these and other distractions, 

 both our library and museums have had a busier and more active year, 

 with larger results, than ever before. 



To the Art Museum, Mr. George Walter Vincent Smith has continued, 

 as in years past, quietly and unostentatiously adding priceless objects 

 of art, installing besides many other accessions a case filled with Philip- 

 pine curios and an exhibit of beautiful Colonial china. A series of Satur- 

 day afternoon stories or lectures for children has been most successful 

 in giving information that leads to a better understanding and fuller 

 appreciation of the exquisite contents of the museum. 



Furthermore, Saturday afternoon drawing classes for the children, 

 for which art teachers from the public schools have volunteered super- 

 vision, have resulted in some very creditable work. 



The Museum of Natural History has been visited by an increasing 

 number of people. A course of story-telling has given to more than a 

 thousand children information regarding the geological formation of the 

 city and the surrounding hills and valleys, the character of our local 

 industries, and the sources of our food and clothing, followed by imagin- 

 ative excursions to the West and South and the countries across the sea. 

 A small branch has been opened in the Boys' Club, with frequently 

 changing displays. Work with the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts has 

 been prosecuted, and regular lessons on bird lore have been provided 

 for the scout masters. The Museum has served also as headquarters 

 for the school garden work. The lecture work for the season has been 

 very satisfactory, and all the other customary activities of recent years 

 have been carried on as usual. 



The continuous and rapid growth in the use made of the library is 

 indicated by the statistics of books borrowed. The figures at five year 

 intervals show that in 1899 the annual circulation was 150,424 volumes; 

 in 1904 it had risen to 322, 581 volumes; in 1909, to 506,731 volumes; 

 in 1914, to 655, 903 volumes; while the past year it amounted to 940,183 

 volumes. At the beginning of the period the number of books available 

 was less than 90,000, while today there are on our shelves more than 

 260,000 volumes. 



Americanization work, which has only recently engrossed a large 

 share of public attention, has been an active concern of the library for 

 several years past. A striking feature of this season's work was an ex- 

 hibition in the library building arranged by the Springfield Federation 



