I 
REPORT OF THE LIBRARY COMMITTEE. 
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Academy , December 29th 1892 • 
Madison, Wis., December 29th, 1892. 
The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences , Arts and Letters , 
Gentlemen: The binding and cataloging of the books of the 
Academy, which will soon be completed, makes it important that a 
more suitable place be found for the storing of these books. The 
present location of the books in the cases of the academy room 
Is undesirable for a number of reasons, most important of which 
.are the unsafe condition of the building, the ready access of 
dirt and fallen plaster to the shelves and the difficulty of pro¬ 
viding proper protection from theft. It is impossible to keep 
from the books the finely disintegrated plaster which is con¬ 
stantly falling from the walls. The free access of the public to 
the rooms, owing to the use of it for other purposes than those 
of the Academy, renders the proper protection of the books a very 
difficult matter. During the past year the glass fronts of cases 
have been frequently broken and one case has been forcibly 
opened by cutting the wood away from the bolt. The cataloging 
of the books has shown that in the past many have been lost or 
stolen. Moreover the space available is already crowded, while 
the library is growing through its numerous exchanges and 
•through the completion of its existing series of journals. 
In view of the facts above stated, we earnestly recommend 
that an appeal be made to the legislature at its next session, for 
the erection of a building to accommodate the libraries of the 
State Historical Society and the Academy. If these two 
libraries and the library of the State University, which is 
greatly m need of new quarters, were under one roof, it would 
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