Report of the President 



V 



Few people realize, I suspect, what an economical expedient a public 

 library is for supplying the book needs of a community, and what large 

 returns the pubHc get from the money expended. The total maintenance 

 of the main Hbrary and branches cost the city last year about 90^^ for 

 each inhabitant. The man who buys one new book in the course of a 

 year probably pays more than twice that amount; one good phonograph 

 record costs nearly double. Many people of very moderate means do 

 not hesitate to patronize circulating libraries, and the cost of borrowing 

 a single novel mounts to 90^;^ in a few weeks. Through the City Library 

 and branches every citizen for his 90^ not only may draw novels all 

 through the year, but may take home any reasonable number of other 

 books chosen from hundreds and thousands of volumes many times 

 more costly than novels. He has the free use, also, of a quarter of a 

 million pictures ranging from cheap prints to expensive photographs and 

 engravings. He has at his command music scores for all varieties of in- 

 struments, and a growing collection of the finest phonograph records. 

 He finds on file five hundred periodicals from this country and abroad. 

 He is furnished with comfortable quarters, lighted and heated, in which 

 to read and study. But all this is by no means enough to constitute a 

 public library. In addition, he finds at his service a corps of expert 

 librarians with catalogues, indexes, and a wealth of bibliographical ap- 

 paratus to help him find the books or information for which he seeks. 

 Bulletins and lists are distributed to keep him abreast of current pub- 

 lications and guide in the choice of older books. His children are helped 

 to cultivate a wholesome taste for reading, and are taught in classes 

 how to use the library, and the methods of gaining access to its resources. 

 Not all of the people, it is true, avail themselves of these privileges, 

 but an astonishingly large number do; and a not inconsiderable part 

 of the cost of maintenance is directed towards bringing books to the 

 attention of those who do not - especially children and newcomers to 

 America - in the belief that they will thereby become happier individu- 

 als and more intelligent citizens. Besides the books taken home, so 

 many volumes are consulted at the library buildings that no attempt 

 is made to count them. Definite figures therefore cannot be given, 

 but it seems safe to estimate the value of books used annually as aver- 

 aging perhaps $100 for each actual reader, and at least $35 for each 

 inhabitant. And this takes no account of the value of all the other 

 services rendered. Such a return from an expenditure of 90?f seems by 

 no means a bad investment. A wider understanding of how much the 

 community benefits from a library, and at what relatively small cost, 

 will undoubtedly lead to larger support - public or private - and larger 

 support is necessary if the system is to keep pace with the growth of the 

 city. 



