absorb. It was held by some that there is a basis somewhere on which might be obtained uniformity of statistics. Mr. William Dawson Johnston, of New York City, gave an address. on "The Need of Specialization in Library Service." Mr. Johnston's thesis held that there should be a distinction between bibliographers and clerks in library service, and that there should also be differentiation of function among bibliographers. He advocated, also, securing the service of experts from allied institutions or from independent scholars resident in the community. Dr. John Thomson, of Philadelphia, presented an address on "The Pleasures of being a Librarian." He illustrated his topic by pointing out curious, humorous, and impossible entries in various standard indexes. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY IN THE COMMISSION FORM OF GOVERNMENT. An investigation of this subject by Charles S. Greene shows the whole matter of the relation to the municipality to be an extremely important subject in view of the number of towns and cities that are adopting new charters of this sort. The earliest commission charters were adopted in southern cities and in smaller towns, where the library had not assumed the relative importance assigned to it in other places, so that the first commission charters gave scant consideration to the question. Those charters have been followed, often rather blindly, by many larger cities. In some charters the library is under the complete control of one commissioner. In other cities library boards have been discontinued and the librarian reports directly to the commission or to some one commissioner. In some the effective control of the staff is put in the hands of a civil-service commission. In most the method of library support is left uncertain and generally inadequate. PUBLICATIONS. Aids in library work with foreigners. M. Reid and J. G. Moulton. 24 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 10 cents. American library annual, 1912-13. 468 p. R. R. Bowker Co. $5. A. L. A. catalogue, 1904-11. Class list 3,000 titles for popular library. Ed. by Elva L. Bascom. Chicago A. L. A. 1912. $1.50. A thousand books for the hospital library. ing Board. 25 cents. E. K. Jones. 56 p. A. L. A. Publish Books for school libraries. New York State education department, Bulletin No. 513. A suggestive list of 700 titles. Buffalo's system of public school and public library cooperation. Mrs. E. H. L. Elmendorff. The children's free library and city education. Frances J. Olcott. Reprinted from "The American City," March, 1913. Buying list of books for small libraries. 64 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 10 cents. Commissions, State aid and State agencies. Asa Wynkoop. 24 p. A. L. A. 10 cents Course of study for normal school pupils on literature for children. Julia S. Harron, Corrine Bacon, and J. C. Dana. 134 p. (Modern American library economy as illustrated by the Newark (N. J.) free public library, pt. 5, sec. 5.) H. W. Wilson Co. $1. Decimal classification. Melvil Dewey. Eighth ed., enlarged. Forest Press, Lake Placid Club, N. Y. Essentials in library administration. L. E. Stearns. Second edition. 103 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 25 cents. Finding list of books relating to printing, book industries, libraries, and bibliography in the Virginia State library. Richmond, 1912. How to choose editions. W. E. Foster. 24 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 15 cents. How to plan a library building for library work. C. C. Soule. 403 p. Boston Book Co. $2.50. Index to library reports. Katherine T. Moody. 185 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. $1. League of library commissions. Yearbook, 1912. 40 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 25 cents. Library Building. W. R. Eastman. 17 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 10 cents. Library conditions in American cities. "Educational Bi-monthly." December, 1912. Library work, cumulated, 1905-1911. A bibliography and digest of library literature. 409 p. H. W. Wilson Co. $4. Normal library budget and its units of expense. O. R. H. Thomson. 18 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 15 cents. Periodicals for the small library. F. K. Walter. 32 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 10 cents. Proprietary and subscription libraries. C. K. Bolton. 10 p. A. L. A. Publishing Board. 10 cents. Public library movement. S. S. Green. 336 p. Boston Book Co. $2.25. 10 cents. Course in reference work, and some bibliographies, of special interest to teachers. Delia G. Ovitz. 38 p. Wisconsin State normal school. Exercises on use of reference books. Delia G. Ovitz. 12 lessons. Wisconsin State normal school, Milwaukee. First selection of 500 children's books for a library. Michigan State library. 92 p. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OPENED TO THE PUBLIC IN 1912-13. The Chemist Club of New York City opened what is claimed to be the largest chemical library in the country. The University of Chicago secured the Durritt collection of Louisville, Ky., an especially valuable collection on southern and early western history. The Yale mission library, of Yale University, has opened a library to contain books on foreign missions. The Forestry bureau of Oregon opened a forestry library in Portland. The University of Minnesota has become a regular depository for municipal documents for all cities having a population of 30,000 or more. SCHOOL LIBRARIES. The number of public high-school libraries in the United States is 10,329, containing 6,185,937 volumes. Number of private high schools, 1,405, containing 2,443,880 volumes. WIDENER MEMORIAL LIBRARY. Perhaps the greatest interest in university libraries for the year centers around the proposed new library for Harvard, the Widener Memorial Library. The cornerstone was laid June, 1913, and the plans for the future library are full of promise. The splendid collections of Harvard will have ample room, and the special collections will be made available in a way not possible heretofore. There will be provided throughout the greater part of the stacks small stalls for individual readers where one may keep his books and papers and work continuously from day to day in close proximity to the general collections on the subject in which he is interested. The card catalogue is being transferred from the old standard size to the present standard size of card, and something like 162,000 printed cards have been placed in the catalogue. The shelf capacity is estimated at 2,500,000 volumes, about five times the capacity of the old library. The libraries of Harvard University now contain about one million books, and a half million pamphlets. NECROLOGY. Death claimed during the year several who had made distinct contributions to the development of library service. Foremost among these were: Dr. John Shaw Billings, librarian of the New York Public Library, who died March 11, 1913. Charles Carroll Soule, library trustee of Brookline, Mass., and an authority on library architecture, January 7, 1913. Walter Kendall Jewett, librarian of the University of Nebraska, March 3, 1913. Charles A. Larson, editor of the publications of the Chicago Public Library, August 19, 1913. Clarence W. Ayer, librarian of the public library of Cambridge, Mass., April 12, 1913. Bertha S. Wildman, of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, February 19, 1913. EXPANSION IN LARGE CITIES.1 Atlanta. This library turns into the city treasury the fines and fees of the library, which last year amounted to $1,577.20. Small deposits of books have been placed in associations and commercial insti 1 From reports of the libraries, unless otherwise noted. tutions, and 1,000 books have been loaned to the schools; a number of free lectures and attractive exhibits were held at the building during the year. Baltimore. The Enoch Pratt Free Library, of Baltimore, records a circulation for the year of 706,222. There are 17 branches in the city, with 300,000 volumes on the shelves. The administration of the library cost the past year $88,932.13. A new departure has been an attempt to have good literature read aloud to the public in the branch libraries. Boston.-Boston Public Library has occupied one new branch building, costing, with its site, $86,000-a model branch building. Two other branch buildings are approaching completion. One in Charlestown will cost $72,200, and the other, in East Boston, $100,000, including in each case the cost of the site and equipment. Branch reading rooms in municipal buildings in different parts of the city are being provided. Two noteworthy groups of statuary flanking the principal entrance to the main library building, one representing art and the other science, the work of Bela L. Pratt, sculptor, have been put into position during the year. The number of volumes sent on deposit from the central library through the branch system was 42,587, of which 11,432 were sent to schools. There were also sent from the branches themselves and from two of the largest reading rooms 25,654 volumes on deposit, distributed among 153 places. Of these, 20,056 were sent to schools. Not only is the collection of the central library used as a reservoir from which books may be drawn for use in the branches and reading rooms, but each of the branches and reading rooms is in itself a reservoir from which books are drawn for use by teachers in schools in its immediate vicinity. Books were supplied the public through 28 branches and reading rooms, deposits in 31 public and parochial schools, 61 engine houses, and 31 other institutions. Brooklyn. The Brooklyn public library consists of 28 branches, 3 stations, 9 deposit stations, 11 factory stations, 3 stations in department stores, and 275 institutions to which traveling libraries are issued; 17 of the branches are housed in buildings erected from money given by Mr. Carnegie. So rapid has been the development of the communities where most of these branches have been erected that several are taxed to their utmost capacity. Ground was broken for the new central library building of Brooklyn, and several new deposit stations were opened. The library work with children is one of the most important activities undertaken. The "Books for boys and girls" and "The child's own library" are in the second edition, and requests for copies come from all parts of the country and often from abroad. A system of traveling libraries was organized for active service to all Brooklyn police stations, fire departments, railroad terminals, and a large number of commercial and manufacturing institutions. Schools, both public and private, are in close connection with the children's department. Buffalo, N. Y.-A plan of cooperation between the Public Library, Academy of Science, Art Museum, Historical Society, the public schools, and the Grosvenor Library, entered upon the last year, has resulted in a better understanding of and a greater improvement in the field of work common to these institutions. A bequest in the will of a former citizen was "given to the Buffalo public library in acknowledgement of many happy hours spent there." The libraries for the keepers of lighthouses in the Buffalo district have been supervised by request made by the lighthouse inspector. A pamphlet was issued describing the Buffalo system of public school and public library cooperation, by Mrs. H. L. Elmendorff, and it was found extremely useful. Printed lists were sent to the pupils of the graduating class of the grammar schools, urging their continued use of the library, and to 10,000 students of the night schools, calling attention to the opportunities offered by the public library. Direct results were observed in demands for books upon the trades. The library took part in the child's welfare exhibit, and by means of display cards and photographs, on exhibition of books for children, classroom libraries used in the public schools, the work of the library with the children of Buffalo made a most interesting showing. Chicago. Chicago Public Library.-During the year, the twentysixth circulating branch was opened at Holstein Park. A civics room, covering every phase of social and political activity, was opened in the main library. The municipal reference library in the city hall passed under the control of the public library. The library service was maintained through 487 agencies, including 26 branches, 87 delivery stations, 23 deposit stations in business houses, and 342 schools. Chicago. The John Crerar Library.-The principal event of the year was the acquisition of property, 135 feet on Michigan Avenue and 128 feet on Randolph Street, as a site for a new building. This will provide a central location which the directors are convinced will develop the greatest usefulness of the institution. As 1916 is the earliest date at which the building can be ready for occupancy, the library has made arrangements to continue in their present quarters until then. Chicago. Newberry Library.-The board has lost one of its charter members, Gen. E. C. Newberry, who died July 20, 1912. The library was the recipient of a number of valuable gifts during the year. A number of exhibitions of material have been held during the year. |