HE* 7 THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Advertisements. FORTY-FIVE HIGHEST AWARDS (including twelve Gold Medals) during past Twenty-Eight Years. BRILLIANT WHITE SILENT LIGHT. ARCHITECTS, LIBRARIANS, AND COMMITTEES of FREE and other PUBLIC LIBRARIES are invited to inspect our successful systems of Lighting Libraries, Reading-Rooms, Museums, Art Galleries, &c. SUGG'S VENTILATING "TAJ 11 LIGHT, - - C3 cr o 02 to c These are made in various sizes from 100 to 1,000-Candle Power. SUGG'S "WALTHAMSTOW" LIGHTS Are also being largely used for Reading-Rooms and Libraries, as at Crystal Palace, >^ (H 3 T3 a C> O> .2 S _=' O> 4J CD ^~ & I tc _c =*-, !!a X "cj d o> f _s nd ^ '-^ 2 >a C-, a -3 -*3 .s SB s X 1 J5 13 u 3 o <> o> ^c IM 1. _= H 3 c as ^4 ) OS g O co B S 2 o QQ fc s^, K * _ E a a 6 C cS a) _a H O 'a o .^ o p E tD Marylebone, Newcastle-on-Tyne, &c., &c. Prices and all particulars may be obtained of Co 9 Vincent Works, Westminster; Grand Hotel Building*, Charing Cross; Crystal Palace; 33, Bold Street, Liverpool. a 'Advertisement*. BOOKS AT THE TRADE DISCOUNT OF 25 PER CENT. (3d. IN THE SHILLING.) SUPPLIED BY JOHN BTJMFUS, BOOKSELLER TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, 350, OXFORD STREET, LONDON. The Stock, one of the largest in London, is arranged in Three Departments, viz, ; NEW BOOKS (Ground Floor). All the Standard and Current Literature continually on hand. Discount 3d. in the Is. BOUND BOOKS (First Floor). A large and Avell -selected stock in every kind of binding. SECOND-HAND BOOKS (Second and Third Floors). Many thousands of volumes in all branches of literature. Catalogues from all Departments can be forwarded on application. THEOLOGICAL BOOKS. LIBRARIANS desiring to furnish a Theological Section, to enlarge such a Section already existing, or to purchase specified Religious Books, are invited to apply to the undersigned. Duplicates in this Department Bought or Taken in Exchange. A DEPARTMENT FOR MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE RECENTLY OPENED. CATALOGUES GRATIS AND POST FREE. 27a, FARRINGDON STREET, LONDON, B.C. Advertisements. The Companion Volume to "PUBLIC LIBRARIES." BY THOMAS GREENWOOD, F.E.G.S., AUTHOE OF Public Libraries," " Eminent Naturalists," etc. PRICE FIVE SHILLINGS. 450 PAGES ILLUSTRATED. Art Journal " A useful and comprehensive account of the Museums of the world." Pall Mall Gazette- " The title of this work conveys a pretty clear idea of its comprehensive nature ; in the main it follows on the lines of Mr. Greenwood's admirable book on ' Public Libraries.' It is a very convenient handbook to the Museums of the country." Graphic, OCTOBER 19, 1889. 11 ' Museums and Art Galleries,' by Thomas Greenwood, is so excellent a work that we have little doubt that it will soon pass into a second edition. Mr. Greenwood truly gays that the subject is practically without a literature, and his own book is a good attempt to fill the gap. There are a few omissions and one or two mistakes ; but that is little in such a book, covering so large an amount of ground. Museums are becoming of more and more importance, and Mr. Greenwood's book is likely to be the staiuliird work for some time to come." Spectator, SKPTKMBF.R 28, 1889. "Mr. Thomas Greenwood, who some time ago published a book on ' Public Libraries,' has followed it up with ' Museums and Art Galleries.' Although he is an enthusiast as regards the educational value of Museums and Art Galleries, and has ideas of his own, which he expresses in special chapters on 'The Relation of the State to Museums,' and 'The Place of Museums in Education,' the value of this book lies essentially in the fact that ittellSj in not too guide-book a style, all about the existing Museums and Galleries in the United Kingdom. Mi-. Greenwood does not hesitate to tell municipal authorities unpleasant truths, as when he warns the Glasgow people that there is a lively prospect of the whole of their collection of pictures being destroyed by ftre, and that their Museum is 'situated in an inconvenient and unsuitable position, and neither care nor money has been lavished on the collections.' Mr. Greenwood has spared no pains to gather, verify, and arrange his facts, and his book is so good that we regret being compelled only to hint at its excellencies." PUBLISHED BY SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., Ltd., 4, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LONDON, B.C. And to be had of all Booksellers. A dvertisemenfa. PUBLIC LIBRARIES, By THOMAS GREENWOOD, F.R.G.S. PRESS NOTICES OF THE TWO FORMER EDITIONS. Contemporary Review." Anyone wanting all the information on these heads will find it in tnis interesting work." Spectator. " This is a useful, as well as interesting book. We hope that it may do good service in promoting the movement." Times.- "Those who wish to learn something of this movement may do so in this volume." Daily Afems. " If any able man in want of a mission will take this book in his hand and lead a Public Library movement in London, he may perform a lasting public service." Athenaeum. " Full of information, and should be consulted by those interested in the subject." Christian World. " Any local Franklin who desires to see his fellow-townsmen have the untold stores of our wonderful literature placed within easy reach of their hands, could not spend a few shillings in a wiser way than by obtaining therewith Mr. Greenwood's book. In its pages he will find all the latest and most needful infor-na- tipn on the subject of Public Libraries, accompanied by some exceedingly practical hints as how to set to work." Nonconformist." It is with much pleasure that we call attention to this book. . . . A masterly epitome, both historical and practical, of the whole subject." Manchester Guardian." Contains a mass of information." Echo." The work bristles with information, and is written in attractive style." Graphic. "A thoroughly excellent practical volume." Liuerpool Mercury. "This is a volume which cannot fail to be read with much interest." Illustrated London News. " We have to thank Mr. Greenwood for bringing together a large mass of materials." Neu/castle-on-Tyne Chronicle. "We know no book that within the same compass presents so clear and forcible a record of what our public libraries have achieved as this." Globe. "Mr. Greenwood has our best wishes in the attempt to popularise free book-lending." Nottingham Guardian. " We can recommend the book." Morning Post. " The information is valuable." Queen. "A complete manual of information on the subject." Liuerpool Mercury." A volume which cannot fail to be read with much interest." Manchester Examiner and Times. "A useful, interesting, and welcome volume." Leeds Mercury. " The book will prove useful." Scotsman. " Gives a useful account of the organisation, uses, and management of Public Libraries." Newcastle Journal. "'Mi. Greenwood's book is equally interesting, useful, and stimulating." Leisure Hour." An excellent work." SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. Advertisement*. THOMAS CARLYLE. " I may say in regard to all manner of books, Bohn's Publica tion Series is the usefullest thing I know." EMERSON. "The respectable and sometimes excellent translations of Bohn's Library have done for literature what railroads have done for internal intercourse." Professor HBNRY MORLEY. " An important body of cheap literature, for which every living worker in this country who draws strength from the past has reason to be grateful." The Rev. J. M. WILSON, Head Master of Clifton College. "Bohn's invaluable series." BOHN'S LIBRARIES. Containing Standard Works of European Literature in the English Language. 3s. 6d. or 5s. per Volume frvith exceptions). A COMPLETE SET OF 729 VOLUMES. Price 159 2s. 6d. BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY 331 Volumes. BOHN'S HISTORICAL LIBRARY 22 Volumes. BOHN'S PHILOSOPHICAL LIBRARY 17 Volumes. BOHN'S ECCLESIASTICAL AND THEOLO- GICAL LIBRARY 15 Volumes. BOHN'S ANTIQUARIAN LIBRARY 35 Volumes. BOHN'S ILLUSTRATED LIBRARY 84 Volumes. BOHN'S CLASSICAL LIBRARY 103 Volumes. BOHN'S COLLEGIATE LIBRARY 10 Volumes. BOHN'S SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY SI Volumes. BOHN'S FINANCE LIBRARY 2 Volumes. BOHN'S REFERENCE LIBRARY 30 Volumes. BOHN'S NOVELISTS' LIBRARY 13 Volumes. BOHN'S ARTISTS' LIBRARY 9 Volumes. BOHN'S LIBRARY OF SPORTS AND GAMES... 7 Volumes. Used as the Standard of Orthography in the Postal Telegraph Department. WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, In one Volume of 1,628 Pages, with 3,000 Illustrations. 4to. Cloth, 21s. Bound in Half Calf, 30s. Calf or Half Russia, 31s. 6d. Russia, 2. With New Biographical Appendix, containing over 9,700 Names. THE COMPLETE DICTIONARY contains, in addition to the above matter, several valuable Literary Appendices, and 70 extra pages of Illustrations grouped and classified. 1 Vol., 1,919 Pages, Cloth, 31s. 6d. Bound in Half Calf, 2. Calf or Half Russia, 2 2s. Russia, 2 iOs. Certainly the best practical Dictionary extant. Quarterly Review. Prospectuses, with Specimen Pages, sent post free on application. LONDON: GEOKGE BELL & SONS, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. And of all Booksellers Home, Continental, and Colonial. PUBLIC LIBRARIES: A HISTORY 0V THE MOVEMENT AND A MANUAL FOR THE OkiiAM/ATIOX AND }IAXAuggest that Mr. Thomas Greenwood's book on the subject should be consulted. If this work could be circu- lated among ratepayers in towns where it is desired to adopt the Public Libraries Acts, the movement would be much encouraged. Yours faith- fully, JANKTTA RUTLAND." The RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, M.P., nays: "I am sensible of the importance of the subject, and I cannot doubt that your volume will win, as well as draw, a great degree of public attention." The late LORD IDDESI.EIGH. "I am glad to hear that you are interesting yourself in the promotion of Public Libraries, and heartily wish you success." Tfie RuaiT HON. A. J. MUNDELLA, M.P. " Your work will do good service to a good cause. No town should be without a Public Library, and your book will assist greatly in the pro- motion of these valuable institutions." PROFESSOR T. H. HL-XLEY. "I have found your book on Public Libraries full of useful information." (g&ttion is (WITHOUT PERMISSION) t> TO THK EVER-EXTENDING ARMY OF VOLUNTARY WORKERS IN THK PUBLIC LIBRARY MOVEMENT, CO WHOSE ENTHUSIASM AND EARNEST PURPOSE IN THE CAU8R CO HAVE PLACED THE MOVEMENT IN THE POSITION WHICH IT NOW OCCUPIES. O IF, BY INCREASED EFFORT AND AN ENHANCED PUBLIC INTEREST, JS> THE NUMBER OF ADOPTIONS OF THE ACTS CAN BE RAISED FROM TWO HUNDRED TO FOUR HUNDRED Q DURING THE NEXT TEN YEARS, C3 Z WHEN THE JUBILEE OF THE EWAHT ACT WILL BE CELEBRATED, A MOST DESIRABLE END WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED. CC *: 410341 PREFACE. HE Public Library movement has been progressing at a splendid rate. Four years ago, when the first edition of this work was published, only 133 places had adopted the Public Libraries' Acts. Now, as this third edition closes for press, a total of 208 adoptions of the Acts has been reached. Seventy-five adoptions of -the Acts in four years against 133 for thirty- six years may be considered a very satis- factory record. So rapid have been the advance and expansion of the whole question that the present edition forms an entirely new work on the subject. The discontinuance of the word " Free," as applied to rate- supported Public Libraries, is advised. The use of the word " free " attached to these libraries rather stamps them as being of the nature of charitable institutions. In no sense are they so. The more accurate as well as the more dignified designation is that of Public Libraries. The number of associations for the promotion of various objects is very large. Most of these appeal to the public for subscriptions for the maintenance of a paid staff and to meet the expenses of a propaganda. There is no association for the promotion of the Public Library movement, and there is not a single paid servant for the advocacy of the movement. The whole of the work is voluntary, and the number of workers in the cause is ever extend- ing. The movement is essentially one for the good of the entire community, and the earnestness of its many friends has placed it in the position which it now occupies. Sincere thanks are especially due to the Press for the publicity which has been given to the operations of these institutions. Xll HREFACK. That excellent body, the Library Association, is doing much to create a spirit of emulation among librarians. Quite a new life has of late been infused into it, and its work is destined to permeate every section of library operations. Many members of this Association have rendered valuable aid to the movement. The present volume has exceeded the limits which it was at first intended it should reach. This has been necessitated by the abundance of material with which I have had to deal. Further, the movement has passed the Rubicon, and whatever call there may be for future issues of this work, they will be in different form from this edition. Keeping this fact in view I have thought that the historian of the movement, writing a hundred years hence, when the entire country will be honey- combed with Public Libraries, will see in what position these in- stitutions stood in the last decade of the present century. There has been much generous benevolence towards Public Libraries. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, and others, have ren- dered especially useful aid to this movement in their liberal gifts towards 1'ate-supported libraries. The advocacy of the Gospel of Wealth, and the help which those possessing the means and the will can bestow upon these institutions, have been recognized by many. Still we are not satisfied, and I would plead for increased liberality towards Public Libraries. Other objects which appeal to the generous rich are, no doubt, useful, but I am bold enough to claim that the greatest good of the greatest number in perpetuity cannot be better secured than by Public Libraries. These institutions are the property of the people, and will be administered by the people through all time to come. The warmest encouragement has been extended to me in my work. Librarians in all parts of the country have shown me great kindness. Every facility has been afforded me, and my thanks are due, and are gratefully rendered, to all who have in person or by letter given me information and suggestions. Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, the popular borough librarian of Nottingham, has been good enough to revise the proofs, and Mr. Doubleday, chief librarian of the Marylebone Library, has compiled the index. It is notorious that librarians differ widely in their views respect- ing library administration ; and as my own experience as a librarian was gained many years ago, I have thought it best to place the two chapters dealing with "The Formation of Public Libraries " and " Library Administration " in the hands of an experienced librarian. I am, therefore, indebted to Mr. PREFACK. Xlll James J). 15rown, the chief librarian of the Clerkenwell Public Library, for writing tlio.se chapters. It is not creditable to us as a nation that we should be almost alone among the leading (ireat Powers in not having a fully responsible Department of Public Instruction. Ultimately, when a Minister is accredited to such department, his office will naturally be the headquarters of Public Libraries and kindred institutions. When that time arrives it is to be hoped the Government will see their way to giving small annual grants to Public Libraries under the Acts in rural districts, where the rate is insufficient for maintenance. One of the pressing needs of the day is the establishment of Public Libraries in the thousands of English villages, the majority of which are at present but indifferently supplied with books. The result of my labour which has not been by any means light, but one which has been a labour of love is now in the hands of the public. I have sought to construct a quarry to which friends of the movement might go for their facts and information ; and in anticipation of inquiries, I may in advance say that my book is for the freest and fullest use of all who seek to further the cause. The expansion of the work of Public Libraries, and the promotion of the movement, are the ends I have had and still have in view. For these ends my services are always at the disposal of those who desire to have them. 20, LORDSHIP PARK, STOKE NEWIXOTOX, LONDON, N. Jx'y, 1890. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PA0I INTRODUCTION .. i CHAPTER II. THE PLACE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE ... 6 CHAPTER III. THE PLKA FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES 17 CHAPTER IV. THE USES OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES 29 CHAPTER V. EARLY PUBLIC LIBRARIES 40 CHAPTER VI. THE PASSING OF THE EWART BILL OF 1850 49 CHAPTER VII. THE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY UNDER THE ACT 62 CHAPTER VIII. HOW TO BRINO ABOUT THE ADOPTION OF THE ACTS 70 XVi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. PAGE PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES 83 CHAPTER X. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES 142 CHAPTER XI. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES 194 CHAPTER XII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE WESTERN COUNTIES 208 CHAPTER XIII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN SCOTLAND 222 CHAPTER XIV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN IRELAND 253 CHAPTER XV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN WALES 261 CHAPTER XVI. CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE WORK OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES ... 270 CHAPTER XVII. THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES, AND WHAT REMAINS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED 275 CHAPTER XVIII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON 287 CHAPTER XIX. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN VILLAGES ... 328 CHAPTER XX. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACTS AND THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION 336 CHAPTER XXI. PUBLIC LIBRARY FUNDS, BUILDINGS, &c 348 CONTENTS. XVII CHAPTER XXII. I'AUE Tin. FORMATION OK PUBLIC LIBRARIES ... .. ... ... 359 CHAPTER XXIII. PUBLIC LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION 373 CHAPTER XXIV. BOARD SCHOOLS AS BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARIES 380 CHAPTER XXV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN AMERICA AND CANADA 390 CHAPTER XXVI. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES OF AUSTRALASIA 411 CHAPTER XXVII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION 420 CHAPTER XXVIII. PUBLIC LIBRARY LECTURES AND SCIENCE AND ART CLASSES ... 426 CHAPTER XXIX. THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY AND ITS WORK 435 CHAPTER XXX. OBJECT LESSONS IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES 444 CHAPTER XXXI. THE SUNDAY OPENING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES 459 CHAPTER XXXII. MECHANICS' INSTITUTES, WORKMEN'S CLUBS, AND THEIR RELATION TO PUBLIC LIBRARIES 471 CHAPTER XXXIII. PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONERS 479 CHAPTER XXXIV. STATISTICS OT PUBLIC LIBRARIES 498 xviii CONTENTS. APPENDICES. PAGE I. SUGGESTIVE PARAGRAPHS FOR CIRCULARS, HANDBILLS, &c. 511 II. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS- PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT, 1855 530 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' AMENDMENT ACT (ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND), 1866 536 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT (1855) AMENDMENT ACT, 1871... 537 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' AMENDMENT ACT, 1877 538 MALICIOUS INJURIES TO PROPERTY ACT (1861) (ENG- LAND AND IRELAND) 539 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT, 1884 539 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1887 .. 541 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' CONSOLIDATION (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1887 543 PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1889 ... 555 TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION ACT. 1889 556 III. FORMS FOR CALLING PUBLIC MEETINGS, NOTICE OF POLL, VOTING PAPERS, &c 559 IV. RVLE.S AND REGULATIONS SUITABLE FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES, FORM FOR GUARANTOR, 4c. 567 INDEX 575 LIST OF ILLUSTKATIONS. HARRIS PUBLIC LIBRARY, MUSEUM, AND ART GALLERY, PRESTON Frontispiece FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL PURCHASE BOOK, CHETHAM LIBRARY 46 ORIEL WINDOW IN READING-ROOM, CHETHAM LIBRARY 48 THE LATE WILLIAM EWART, M.P 60 BLACKBURN PUBLIC LIBRARY 90 BOOTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ... 93 BOOTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND PLAN 94 DARLINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND PLAN 97 LEEDS MUNICIPAL OFFICES AND PUBLIC LIBRARY ... v . ... 105 NEWCASTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY AND NEWSROOM 122 THE LATE J. BROTHERTON, M.P 131 WIGAN REFERENCE LIBRARY 139 BIRMINGHAM REFERENCE LIBRARY 151 DERBY PUBLIC LIBRARY AND MUSEUM ... 161 WESTCOTES PUBLIC LIBRARY, LEICESTER 173 GILSTRAP PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEWARK, GROUND FLOOR PLAN ... 174 GILSTRAP PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEWARK 175 NOTTINGHAM CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARIES 181 WINSFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY 186 WINSFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND PLAN 187 IPSWICH PUBLIC LIBRARY, MUSEUM, AND SCHOOL OF ART ... 202 READING PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND PLAN 205 CHELTENHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY AND SCHOOLS OF ART AKD SCIENCE 214 EXETER ALBERT MEMORIAL MUSEUM AND PUBLIC LIBRARY ... 216 NEWPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY 218 ALLOA PUBLIC LIBRARY , ... 227 DUNDEE PUBLIC LIBRARY, MUSEUM AND ART UALLJSKY 230 XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PA<;K MK. ANDREW CARXECIE 232 EDINIU i!i;n PUBLIC LIBRARY, ELEVATION 236 EDINBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY, REFERENCE LIBRARY FLOOR ... 237 BELFAST PUBLIC LIBRARY 256 SWANSEA PUBLIC LIBRARY, ART GALLERY, AND SCHOOL OF ART 266 WESTMINSTER NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY 294 ST. MARTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS PUBLIC LIBRARY 300 CHELSEA PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND FLOOR 303 LIBRARY LADDER AND DRAWER OF CARD CATALOGUE CASE ... 306 CLAPHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY 308 CLAPHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND FLOOR 309 CLERKENWELL PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND FLOOR 313 CLERKENWELL PUBLIC LIBRARY, FIRST FLOOR 314 VILLAGE LIBRARY, BEBINGTON 335 PLAN OF A CIRCULAR READING-ROOM 356 STANDARD BOOKCASE WITH SHELVES ON BOTH SIDES 360 WALL BOOKCASE WITH LEDGED BASE 361 LIBRARY INDICATORS 363 365 NEWSPAPER STAND 366 PERIODICAL RACK 367 METAL BOOK-HOLDERS 367 PAMPHLET-BOX 368 NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOSTON, U.S.A 401 CONCORD PUBLIC LIBRARY ... ... ... ... 403 PUBLIC LIBRARY, NORTHAMPTON, MASS 404 TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY 410 SYDNEY PUBLIC LIBRARY 416 PLAN OF READING-ROOM, BRITISH MUSEUM 436 READING-ROOM, BRITISH MUSEUM 437 THE JAMES RECK ITT PUBLIC LIBRARY, HULL 451 NOTE. While in the press, the number of adoptions of the Acts has reached 208. This makes an increase of 75 adoptions of the Acts in four years instead of 70, as > tated on pag-el. Lewisham (London) adopted the Acts by a majority of 773, on June -2o, 1890. PUBLIC LIBRARIES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. may with safety be said that there is no modern move- ment which has made such rapid progress as has the Public Library Movement. Only a very few years ago the leaders of public instruction had to lament 'that so few districts had availed themselves of the Public Libraries' Acts, and voluntarily taxed themselves for the support of an institution, which should be the common property of the people, and the home of the productions of the great minds of past and present periods. In 1879 the number of Public Libraries was only eighty-seven, being the total for the forty years from the Museum Act passed in 1839, or an average of two districts per annum. After an interval of thirty- six years from the passing of the Ewart Act of 1850, only 133 districts had enrolled themselves as users of " the nimble penny," but now the total number stands at just over 200, making an addition of no fewer than seventy in four years. This indicates that we have reached a rung of the ladder in our national life when these institutions are fast be- ginning to be looked upon as an inseparable corollary of the Board Schools, and that without them no district can be con- sidered as complete until it has a building inscribed as a Public Library. Pessimistic writers are fond at times of assuring us that the loving study of books is a thing of the past, that the hastily- written columns of the newspaper, with its list of murders, burglaries, railway accidents, prize-fights, and its police reports, have taken the place of literature in the estimation of the people. The facts hardly seem to warrant this assertion. Borough after borough is seen adopting the Public Libraries' Acts, purchasing, or collecting from the benevolent, sets of valuable books, and placing them at the disposal of the inhabitants of such localities. The old idea, which the political economists of a generation ago disseminated so persistently, that the only business of a munici- 2 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. pality was to pave the streets, look after the lighting and watering, and maintain public order, never took a firm hold of the people ; and to-day that idea is openly scouted by the majority. The pass- ing of the Elementary Education Act in 1870 was a proclamation of the belief that the cultivation of the minds of the people was a matter of public interest. It was soon felt that the mental cultivation with which the community was concerned could not logically be confined to the training afforded by the elementary school. Further facilities were needed, and so the Public. Library came to be regarded as a legitimate part of the ma- chinery of the municipality. Thanks to the enlightenment of individuals, and the generous help of public-spirited men and women, the movement for establishing these centres of know- ledge has very rapidly developed during recent years ; and it will soon be looked upon as a disgrace to any district to be without its Public Library. But still, notwithstanding the change which has come over public opinion with regard to these institutions, there is yet a mountain of work to be done, and our appeal is to all in towns and rural districts who care for the welfare of the community among which they dwell, to agitate and discuss the advisability as to the formation of these institutions where they are not already established. ClergjTnen and ministers of all denomina- tions, members of political clubs, debating and literary societies, and friends of the people of every shade of opinion, this is a ques- tion for you. Those with well-filled book-shelves of their own can and ought the more readily to sympathize with those who are less favoured, and should exert themselves to place within the reach of all a Public Library which shall be as free to them as the highways upon which they walk. The task of advocating and defending these institutions is becoming lighter with each succeeding year, for there is now a consensus of opinion that the Public Library is an institution of unquestionable utility, and it may be affirmed that the trifling addition which it makes to the rates is infinitely more than repaid by the advantages which the ratepayers reap from these institu- tions. The next generation will look back with astonishment at the prolonged opposition, coming sometimes from sources the least expected, with which the proposal to found these libraries has been met in certain centres usually regarded as enlightened. Englishmen have long been accustomed to pride themselves on the state of civilization which this " tight little island " has reached. But, if we take as a criterion the number of Public Libraries existing in each country, the comparison is woefully against us. The European country which possesses the largest number of Public Libraries is, strange to say, Austria a country upon which it has in some quarters been the custom to look with a sort of half-pitying eye. In Austria there are no fewer than S77 Public Libraries, containing 5,475,000 volumes, without reckoning maps and manuscripts a total which comes out at 2fi volumes per 100 of the population. France possesses 500 Public libraries, INTRODUCTION. 3 containing 4,698,000 volumes and 136,000 manuscripts, or 12 volumes per 100 of the inhabitants ; Italy ranking next with 493 libraries, 4,349,000 volumes and 330,000 manuscripts, or 16 volumes per 100. In Germany the Public Libraries number 398, containing 2,640,000 volumes and 58,000 manuscripts, or II volumes per 100 of the population. Great Britain possesses only 200 Public Libraries established under the Acts, the volumes numbering between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000, and a large number of pamphlets. There are 145 libraries in Russia, with 952,000 volumes and 24,000 manuscripts, or a fraction over one volume to 100 persons. It is noteworthy that in Bavaria alone the Public Libraries number 169, with 1,368,000 volumes and 24,000 manuscripts. Reviewing the principal libraries separately, the largest library in the world is that at Paris, which contains upwards of 2,000,000 printed books and 160,000 manuscripts. Between the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg and the British Museum there is not much difference. In the British Museum there are about 1,500,000 volumes. The Royal Library of Munich has now something over 900,000, but this includes 500,000 pamphlets; the Royal Library at Berlin contains 700,000 volumes ; the Library at Copenhagen 510,000; the Library at Dresden 500,000 ; the Library at Vienna 400,000 ; the University Library at Gottingen, Germany, 400,000. The Vatican Library at Rome has about 120,000 printed books, and commenced in 1378. The National Library of Paris is one of the very oldest in Europe, having been founded in 1350 ; and the University Library at Prague claims to have been founded the same year. One of the earliest national libraries that the world ever heard of was that formed by the Ptolemies in Egypt. The far-famed library of Alex- andria was the work of several monarchs, and so great was the veneration of the Egyptians for it that they looked on it almost as sacred, going so far as to inscribe over its portals these words : " The nourishment of the soul." The ends of the earth were ransacked to enrich its shelves, and, as was the custom of the times, the would-be possessors were not too particular how they came by their literary treasures. It is related that one of the Ptolemies absolutely refused to supply the famine-stricken Athenians with corn until they furnished him with certain original manuscripts which he coveted. Fancy the Queen de- clining to subscribe to the Mansion House Relief Fund unless the City Fathers yielded up to Her Majesty the private papers of Sir Richard Whittington ! Of the large libraries in the United States, the Boston Public Library comes next to the Con- gressional, with about 505,872 volumes (including the duplicates in its branches). The Harvard University collection comes next with about 210,000. The National Library, however, of the United States is destined to surpass all, for it is to contain, when com- pleted, 3,000,000 volumes. Counting all, there are in the United States about 6,500 libraries, of which fully 450 are Public Libraries, as we now understand the term in this country. I.IBK.UUKS. Gevnmny and France again are far ahead of us in point of number, although in the actual use made of the books Great Britain will hold its own against any of the countries named. The enormous distance Russia is behind the times in the matter of providing for the intellectual wants of her people is evident from the fact that the first public reading-room in the Muscovite Empire was opened only lately in the city of St. Petersburg. The room is connected with a good library, to which books have been contributed by some public-spirited citizens. Admittance is free, and permission is given to borrow books for reading at home. The new institution is named alter Pushkin, the novelist. But that the foundation of the Pushkin Public Library has no significance as indicating a change of policy on the pal't of the Russian authorities towards literature and the press, is evident from the fact that the Government has issued an order forbidding the editors of newspapers in Russian Poland to receive foreign exchanges! As one wanders about among the vast libraries in which some great English families keep under lock and key many rare editions of famous books, worth their weight in gold, the reflection is inevitable that valuable as are these collections, they are not put to the best use within the range of possibility. Bound fault- lessly, and shut up in elaborately carved oak bookcases that are seldom opened, inaccessible save to a favoured few, and on occasions of great rarity, they become little more than expensive articles of furniture. Books, like coins, are only performing their right function when they are in circulation. Hoarded up, the coins become only so much metal, and the books only so much paper and leather. In a Public Library, books begin to live among the people, and to exert an influence for good upon them. Oh! ye gentlemen of England, who are said to "live at home at ease," is this not worth remembering ? There are vacant shelves of Public Libraries throughout the country waiting to be filled. Let these gaping shelves appeal to you! By placing your treasures upon them a new lease of life would be given to books you have prized, and it is impossible to say where, along the line of the generations to follow, they would cease to gratify and enlighten. To the possessors of wealth an eve.n more urgent appeal is made. For all the large-hearted generosity which has during the last few years flowed out towards these institutions all the friends of this movement are grateful. But the high-water mark of giving to Public Libraries has not yet, it is sincerely to be hoped, been reached. There are thousands of English, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish villages, and very many towns which are absolutely devoid of any serious effort to meet the demand for books to read. Will the wealthy not make it possible for one or other of these places to cherish the memory of the aid given them to establish a library in their midst ? In what manner can the opulent better employ their riches than this ? A Public Library with its books lives for ever, and this way of perpetuating a name INTRODUCTION. O may be commended to the rich, and so bestowing on genera- tions unborn :i priceless blessing. There are hundreds of success- ful manufacturers and men-hunts who have in their power the means to benefit their town. Gifts of books secure a perpetual blessing, ;ind there will be seen in future years, it is hoped, much large-hearted giving for Public Library purposes, either m the way of sites or money, buildings or books. Unlike help bestowed upon charities, gifts to Public Libraries benefit all classes without the taint of charity attaching to them. Wealth can confer no better far-reaching utility than by being bestowed upon these institutions. Many charitable gifts pauperize, notwithstanding high and pure motives on the part of the donor. Not so, how- ever, when exercised in this way. The tendency of the gift is to elevate, to open out in the minds of an incalculable number of people new avenues of life, new inspirations, and new pleasures. Genera- tions unborn will bless the memory of the man who gives libraries and books, and for ages after the donor has gone ; hence the gift accomplishes good, and cannot fall into abuse as some schools and other institutions have done. The system of popular control keeps them healthy and vigorous. Would that there were more bequests to these institutions ! What can confer more universal good than a Public Library or Museum ? Oh that the philanthropy of the rich would flow out more in this direction ! If a suggestion will be permitted to those who are intending to distinguish them- selves iii this way, it is to make the gift conditional on the town or district adopting the Public Libraries' Acts for its maintenance. Too great stress cannot be laid upon this, because this course of action would bring the library in perpetuity under the adminis- tration of the elected authorities of the people. This is infinitely preferable to any safeguards as to trustees and their successors, it is the first outlay which frightens the inhabitants, and if this difficulty can be bridged by a noble gift being made to a town if they will maintain it, few places would give a negative reply to such an offer. There is no desire to cast any reflections upon other institutions which are constantly laying their appeals before the benevolent, but it is legitimate to point out that in connection with these institutions the gift in its entirety would go towards the specific object intended by the donor. There is no expensive staff of secretaries, collectors, and others to pay out of it, and the residue, if there happens to be any, would then go lor the purpose intended. Down to the last penny the public would reap the benefit of the gift. This is an important feature, well worth while being kept in mind. The extension of Public Libraries cannot, however, wait until the benevolent make up their minds to act, or until their wills are read, and gifts of this nature made known. Book-hunger is real and earnest, and can be met in no other way than by each district calmly and dispassionately deciding the (|iiestion for itself. To stimulate these places into action is the earnest purpose of this work. The following noble stanzas from a new poem, wi'itten by Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, to celebrate the opening of a Public 6 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Library at Boston, U.S.A., will be welcomed by our owu library builders and supporters : " Can freedom breathe if ignorance reign ? Shall commerce thrive where anarchs rule ? Will faith her half-fledged brood retain If darkening counsels cloud the school ? Let in the light ! From every age Some gleams of garnered wisdom pour, And fixed on thought's electric page, Wait all their radiance to restore. Let in the light ! In diamond mine Their gems invite the hand that delves ; So learning's treasured jewels shine, Ranged on the alcove's ordered shelves. From history's scroll the splendour streams, From science leaps the living ray ; Flashed from the poet's glowing dreams The opal fires of fancy play. Let in the light ! These windowed walls Shall brook no shadowing colonnades ; But day shall flood the silent halls Till o'er yon hills the sunset fades. Behind the ever-open gate No pike shall fence a crumbling throne, No lackeys cringe, no courtiers wait This palace is the people's own ! " CHAPTER II. THE PLACE OP PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE. '(HERE is no more marked characteristic of our national life than the growing self-dependence of the people, which has been the outcome of municipal corporations. Where these corporations are the strongest -and most vigorous, there must we look for the highest sense of the duties of citizenship and the most self-reliant populations. It is again in these municipalities, such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liver- pool, Leeds, and Nottingham, that the most has been done for the education of the people, in the way of Board Schools, Public Libraries, and Museums. The same municipalities have the best street lighting and street cleansing arrangements, and the police force are under the most perfect control. Surely this fact should dispel the fear that the energies of the poor in the way of self-help may be relaxed, and the rich become apathetic to their higher duties, by the spread of Public Libraries and kindred institutions, supported out of the same funds as are the local police and the street lighting and cleansing. It may be asked, "What is a corporation '? There are various PLACE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE. 7 kinds, but we are here concerned with the corporation as a body politic elected by the people, and responsible to them. The word is used as equivalent to incorporated joint-stock companies, where the whole of the citizens are shareholders and are banded together for a common purpose, that purpose being the common weal of the entire local community. The one vital principle which surrounds corporations is that they are gifted with perpetual life. They may well have been in some laws designated immortal, although in some cases their privileges have run only for a definite number of years, but during that period, when well organized, they cannot die, notwithstand- ing all the original members are withdrawn, for they are continued by succession. A corporation has, in fact, been compared to a stream which maintains its identity throughout all the continuous changing of its parts. Men (tome and go, Acts of Parliament are passed and become often a dead letter, to swell the number of much similarly cumbrous stuff already on the statute book, but the corporation lives on. In many of our municipal corporations all the men who were elected repre- sentatives when the charter was first granted have gone over to tire majority, but the tide of corporate life is not stayed ; yea, rather, time has consolidated and added strength. This is the main reason why no private enterprise can possibly do for Public Libraries and education what the corporation can do, and it is on this rests the plea for municipal Public Libraries, Museums, and Colleges, which shall be the property of the citizens, administered by their own elected representatives, and forming an integral part of their local life. The term " ratepayer " is a designation altogether cramped and unsuitable : the general use of the name citizen would be an infinitely better and more appropriate one. There can scarcely be a more pressing matter of importance at the present time than that of infusing into the minds of the people a high sense of the duties and privileges of citizenship. It is a happy and healthy characteristic of public life in this country that in the midst of controversies which go down to the roots of our national existence, our statesmen of all parties are regarded by their countrymen as men of light and leading, whose views on subjects of general and non-political interest are entitled at all times to respectful hearing and attention. This same characteristic is evident in municipal life, and men of opposite politics meet and discuss matters for the general good. Around what institutions could local life better gather than Museums and Public Libraries I' There is too much sentimental patriotism, too much lip patter about love of country, and far too little of the real thing itself. National patriotism is an excellent thing, but so also is local patriotism, and no institutions are more likely to cultivate the latter quality than these. The State has not done everything for the people that it is called upon to do when it has provided a gaol, a workhouse, a lunatic asylum, a policeman, and a share in the common hangman. 8 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Why, again, should our pauper life be so heavy a tax on the thrifty and rich ? Why is it not made more self-supporting either in farm labour or other ways ? Not that its being brought into competition with the labour out of its doors is advocated, but surely in the raising of food, and in the making of their own clothing, there is ample scope for such productive labour. Oh ye great Uritish people, with all your wealth and boasted common sense, how long is this national waste of money and force to go on, and the country idly look on, content with an occasional futile protest ? The higher life of the citizen has received too little attention, and the lower and baser life seems to have absorbed all the sympathy and care of the authorities. But we have touched the fringe of better days, and soon no municipality or local governing body will be considered complete unless it has under its administra- tion a library and a museum, as well as a workhouse, a prison, and the preservers of law and order. It is for the provision for this higher national life that this plea is made, and upon munici- palities is earnestly urged the need of giving the fullest and best attention to this question. The fact should be emphasized that the municipality can do for the people in the way of libraries and museums what cannot possibly be done by private enterprise. It may be unhesitatingly asserted that in fullest usefulness, economical management, and best value for money invested, the existing rate-supported libraries are far in advance of the private institutions of this nature. It is some forty years since Carlyle asked the question, " Why is there not a Majesty's library in every county town? there is a Majesty's gaol and gallows in every one ; " and, it is as long since the Public Libraries' Act was passed, and yet the lack of libraries is still one of the most startling deficiencies in these islands. We have given the people ever greater and greater political power, but they have shown no inclination to benefit themselves by means of books or other means of culture. "We must now educate our masters," said Mr. Lowe when the Reform Bill of 1867 was passed. He was quite right, for "our masters" were by no means quick to educate themselves, and the num- ber of Public Libraries which they consented to establish for three years after 1867 was about ten. Then came Mr. Forster's Education Act : that was not permissive, and great things were expected of it. Now that everybody was to be taught his letters, everybody would surely want books to read also. What, indeed, would be the good of teaching people to read at all unless they were also to have a supply of good books ? You might as well teach a man the use of his knife and ioi k and then not give him any meat. Public Libraries would be the natural and legitimate outcome of compulsory education. So it was confidently expected, but the expectations have only been partially fulfilled, as a perusal of the present volume shows. The effect of education upon crime has been a subject much discussed by social reformers. It may be assumed that there is a PLACK OF PI HI.IC LIBRARIES IN orn NATIONAL LIFE. 9 relation between the two tilings, although it is not possible to ascer- tain the precise ratio in which crime diminishes with the spread of education. It may, however, be maintained that the increase of mental power raises the mind of the people above the tempta- tions which lead to crime, and that, as a rule, mental and moral strength are likely to advance together. The case is stronger when we regard education not merely as a process by which knowledge is imparted, but as a system of careful training in which the subject is surrounded by guiding, restraining, and uplifting influences, when the environment of the individual is of a character to bring out its best characteristics, and to check the growth of selfishness and passion. The effect of such a course of what in the best sense must be called education may be expected to be greatest when it is employed towards the children of that class of parents who do not or cannot perform the primary parental duties. It is well known that there exists a degraded residuum from which the criminal class is constantly recruited. The result is seen in the records of the police-courts, where conviction after conviction is recorded against the same person. It is therefore a problem of the greatest social importance to ascertain how far the higher and better influences of education can be brought to bear upon these children, and if it is possible to cut off the entail of misery, to bar the gates of crime, and, as Dickens says, "throw but ajar the portals to a decent life." Such a question as this has long formed an interesting subject for speculative discussion amongst moral and social philoso- phers. On the one side we are told that the influence of heredity is too great to be overcome, that the criminal is born, and not made, and that, however well intended, such efforts at moral reform are doomed to disappointment. On the other side, the more hopeful spirits maintain that, whatever may be the tenden- cies derived from parentage, there is sufficient elasticity and adaptability in the moral nature of humanity to enable us to act upon it effectually if care is taken that all the surroundings of the individual are properly and judiciously selected. In another fifteen or twenty years, when some millions more children have passed through the Board Schools, and Public Libraries and other similar institutions have been established all over the kingdom, then we shall become a cultivated people. In these or similar words, half hopeful, half regretful, the grown-up generation summarize their estimate of popular culture. The Board School is the star to steer by ; the Board School boy is the hope of civilization. There is humility in the confession. But while Young England is, doubtless, a fine promising fellow, something may surely be also said for his seniors. If the question is considered closely, it is found that what the adult generation of working men using this last word in its ordinary accepta- tion have accomplished in self-instruction for themselves is as promising a feature of modern society as the progress which the young are making, more or less under compulsion. The increased access to the great stores of literature, brought about 10 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. by the establishment of Public Libraries, is, therefore, one of the indications which help to show us the tendency of the educa- tional movement of the present clay. That tendency is strongly towards the equality which means the placing of the same opportunities of knowledge within the reach of all. The Univer- sity Extension movement, with its gatherings of students at the great .shrines of knowledge, is a striking illustration of the tendency. But that extension has rested upon voluntary work, and the devotion of the students themselves to the branches of knowledge taught by the " extra-university " professors. The Public Library movement, however, represents the determination of the community to offer special facilities for the cultivation of the mind at the expense of the community itself. The readiness of the people to second and support that determination shows how great has been the growth of the feeling, not only among individuals, but among the public at large. The educational welfare of the multitude has at length become a matter of importance to us all. There has been a revolution in public opinion as to the true functions of Public Libraries. For a time they may be said to have had only a slight relation to the life of the community, but the authorities are now ready to acknowledge that success or failure is to be measured by the extent to which they come in contact with and shape for good the mental life of the nation. The subject of local taxation is inseparably a part of this large question. The present system under which, in England and AVales, the first incidence of local taxation (with some slight exceptions) falls on the occupier and not on the owner of lands and tenements, is unjust : such owners ought in equity to bear at least a moiety of those charges. The system under which country mansions are rated is unfair. The owners of ground rents in towns are liable to no part of those charges the outlay of which is essential in order that the property may possess any marketable value whatever. This is a matter which lies closer to the roots of our national life than the public are generally aware of. It is to some large readjustment of the present inequalities of local taxation that we must look in the imme- diate future for a much larger impetus to be given to the movement for the formation of these libraries than has yet been known. A very interesting study is afforded by comparing the gross rates levied in towns in various parts of the country. A glance at the following list will probably produce a series of surprises to many readers : TOTAL RATES. d. s. d. Accrington . . . . 4 -2 Ashton-uuder-Lyne . . 4 *' Barrow-in-Furness . . 3 10 Blackburn . 4 8 Blackpool 4 ~1 Bolton 4 10 Bradford "> o Brighton 4 * PLACB OF PUBLIC IJBKAEIES IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE. 11 s. d. B. d. Bristol 511^ Maldon . 7 3 Burton-on-Trent . . o l" Manchester . 4 Oi Burnley Cambridge .. 3 11 ..48 Middlesborough Newcastle-on-Tyne . . 6 . 4 # Cardiff . . .. 4 o Northampton . 5 9 Carlisle . . 3 10 Norwich . 7 6J Chester ..46 Nottingham . 5 2 Colchester ..76 Oldharn . a 6 Coventry ..60 Plymouth . 5 4 Darlington 5 4 Preston X 2 Dewsbury ..63 Gateshead ..60 Sheffield . 6 8 Grantham . . ..42 Southport . 3 8 Halifax .. 5 11 Sunderland . . . . 4 8 Iluddorsfield ..49 St. Helens . 4 1 Hull o 8 Swansea m o Ipswich . . 08 AVakefield 7 Lancaster ..30 AVigan 5 8 Leicester ..60 AVisbeach . 8 6 Lincoln ..61 Wolverhampton 7 5 Lowest oft it 6 York 4 )! Macclesfield . . o 10 Yarmouth it 10" These gross rates include the rates for poor, county and cemetery, borough, watch, School Board, Public Library, bath, and general district, and are based upon the years 1888-9. The proportion of abatement from the gross rental varies so much throughout the country that it is impossible to give particulars here of this abatement. Fifty-two towns ai*e here given as providing the best comparison. Out of these the total number having rate-supported Public Libraries is thirty-seven. The towns not possessing these useful institutions among those quoted are Accrington, Burnley, Bin-ton, Carlisle, Colchester, Grantham, Huddersfield, Hull, Lancaster, Lincoln, Lowestoft, Maldon, Waketield, Wisbeach, and York. The one great need of the age, and it is one which cannot be too strongly emphasized, is the appointment without delay of a Minister of Public Instruction. After many contradictions of various nature, the country has seen the appointment of a Minister of Agriculture. And so there is room for large hope that the next new public official, with or without a seat in the Cabinet, will be a Minister whose department shall have under his control the entire system of our national education, Public Libraries, Museums, and technical schools. The same official would, of course, be responsible for our national institutions, comprising the British Museum, South Kensington, and their offshoots in Edinburgh, Dublin, and elsewhere. This is a subject vital to the educational interests in our national life, and if the press and those who aid in forming public opinion will only take up the matter vigorously, we may soon be within measurable I '2 PUBLIC UBHARIES. distance of seeing appointed a Minister of Public Instruction. In this respect our own Government are disgracefully l^ehind other Governments. Even the Italian Government has in hand the preparation of a statistical inquiry into the Public Libraries of Italy. The value of the governmental reports upon the libraries of the United States is fully recognized by all who take an interest in the work of libraries. "When we compare the little which has been done in this country, with what has been in this respect done by the German and United States Governments, the comparison is sadly against us. There is before us at the present moment the whole of the Blue Books and parliamentary returns referring to Public Libraries which have been presented to the British House of Commons. It will be interesting to name them in the order in which they have been issued. First and foremost are the reports from the select committee on Public Libraries issued in 1849 and 1850. Each of these is a volume of between 300 and 400 pages of elaborate sta- tistics, and the evidence before the select committee appointed in 1849 on the best means of extending the establishment of libraries freely open to the public. Judging from the cost of other select committees and commissions, the net cost to the country of this committee could not have been less than some thousands of pounds. These two Blue Books constitute our one national ewe lamb in publications of real value dealing with Public Libraries. Then follow the other returns, which can be dismissed in a sentence. In 1852 there was a return of Public Libraries, some of which had adopted the Ewart Act of 1850. This return consists of nine pages. Then, in 1856, there was a further return, and as matters were growing a little this reached a total of fifteen pages. In IS-j" the House of Commons added a further instalment of six pages, the extent of an utterly useless return. Our legislators kindly took a rest after so laborious a task, and for twelve years there was no official document issued respecting these institutions. They then gave us a return of libraries and museums actually reaching twenty-nine pages. There was then a further leap to 1875, when we have a further instalment of thirty-one pages. Those in charge of this return must have been napping, for all through it there is the term " Free Libraries Acts" a designation which had not appeared in the Acts themselves, and the use of such a phrase ought never to have been allowed to creep into this parliamentary document. In 1876 there appeared the bulkiest of these returns. This is a Blue Book of statistics totalling up to ninety-one pages. So exhausted did Parliament become after so extraordinary an effort that nothing appeared between a short return of 1877 and a return of 1885, to be purchased for a penny, and it has been left to private individuals, out of a pure desire to serve the commonwealth, to supply the deficiency, and to do what should have been done by Govern- ment long ago. It is perhaps too bad to expose the nakedness of the land to this extent, but it is only a reiteration of a few simple and pertinent facts which wakes up John Bull to the floods of IM..VK OK prni.K- ur.HAitiK* rx orit NATIONAL LIFE. ]''> utterly useless talk at St. Stephen's, and how small a portion of what is done there touches the vitals of our national life. It is not further statistical returns for which it is necessary to plead. That has now been done. Hut in the making of a department in the State where Public Libraries and Museums will find a centre and a head. Further, the most pressing educational need which can be advanced is that of State aid for the formation and maintenance of Public Libraries in villages a question which is more fully discussed in a succeeding chapter. The most ready reply which is given to these requests for State aid to national institutions is, Where is the money to come from for the purpose ? That, surely, with the resources "which lie at hand should not be an insurmountable difficulty. If it were a question of a few additional pensions, the matter would doubtless be solved in a prompt way. As a commentary on the cry of an empty exchequer, there may be quoted the following two or three salient facts. A Government clerk recently died at Yentnor, in the Isle of Wight, who was a contemporary in official harness of Charles Lamb and John Stuart Mill. This in itself is not a remarkable event to chronicle. The special point in his case is, that he retired from the public service under medical certificate of unfitness in 1835, and that dui'ing fifty-four years he drew a pension. In the Chancery Court, a side clerk was retired at the age of thirty-one on a pension of 1,381 ; and a sworn clerk, whose emoluments had averaged 6,580 a year, was pensioned off with 4,953 a year ; another side clerk was granted 1 ,540 a year at the age of twenty-nine. The Accountant-General took 4,200 a year, and a humble door-keeper got 366 a year. In the Office of Works we find the surveyor retiring in 1876, after seven-and- a-half years' service, with a pension of 800 ; and the Clerk of the Furniture went off to draw 306 a year from the revenues of the country. The most outrageous example, however, of "re- organization '' is afforded by the case of the Rev. Thomas Thurlow, a nephew of Lord Chancellor Thurlow, who was " Patentee of Bankrupts," and " Keeper and Clerk of the Hanaper." These sinecures were abolished when he was forty-three, and he was given pensions (as compensation) amounting in the' aggregate to 11,715 a year, which pensions he continued to draw for forty years. Aiiecdotes of this nature are not scarce in the English service. How long Englishmen will tolerate with indifference this waste of national money it is difficult to say. It would be too much to expect the Government, whichever party is in power, to attack these abuses. They perpetually, with their ideas of false economy, carp and grumble at the moneys already expended in the interest of science, literature, and art, and are too disposed to cut down the scanty grant to the British Museum, the South Kensington Museum, and other national institutions. We can hardly expect the State to establish a Departmental Register of English literature, such as the Keeper of the Public Records has under his control; yet the advantages of such, or a similar per- manent record and means of intercommunication between widely 14 iTi'.uc I.IBKAKIES. scattered libraries and librarians need only be mentioned to be appreciated. Nor is it wise in this connection to forget that Public Libraries abroad frequently possess unique treasures which are not in any of our collections Wittemberg, Berne, Basic, and Vienna containing, especially, rarities of considerable literary importance. England must take care not to be left behind the Chinese in the matter of Public Libraries. A Public Library has been established in Canton city. Speaking officially of the inaugura- tion of this institution, the Viceroy of the province declares "how important it is to the good government of the country that educational projects should be promoted, so that the people may gain the benefits of good learning." With the Public Library fs connected a large printing establishment for the production of " good and useful books, whereby the present and the past may be compared, help obtained in the path of rectitude, and morals and manners strengthened." The Viceroy himself, with certain benevolent associations and trade guilds, have subscribed a sum equivalent to 11,000 for the maintenance of this institution, and the interest of this, and annual subscriptions promised, will yield an annual income of 2,000. The Japanese are even going beyond this. The Government of that progressive country has sent over Mr. J. Tanaka as a special commissioner to spend two years in this country, the United States, and some parts of the Continent, to study the Public Library system. This accomplished gentleman left England on his return to Japan in December, 1889, and in several confer- ences which the present writer had with him prior to his depar- ture, he gave an outline of the plan he will suggest to his Govern- ment for establishing Public Libraries throughout Japan. A> chief librarian of the national library at Tokio, his library experience is not by any means slight. The permissive feature, which forms so essential a part of our library work in England, is to be entirely absent in Japan, and municipalities and other governing bodies are to have the power of establishing Public Libraries, and the maintenance of them, without any restrictions as to the amount, is to come out of the general local taxation. It will thus be seen from this and other facts that as a nation we must indeed be up and doing. The place of Public Libraries in our national life is of so great importance that it cannot be over-estimated. The growing popu- larity of these institutions proves this unmistakably. One of many examples which could be named is that at one of the London Public Libraries very recently established under the Acts, a most unusual and encouraging scene was witnessed. The buildings had been closed for a week for the ordinary purpose of cleaning and arranging, so that readers had been deprived of their privileges for that short period. When the day of reopening arrived the doors were surrounded by an eager crowd. This happened in Lambeth, and at West Norwood the road was blocked by an expectant throng of three or four hundred people long before the I'l.Ai'K 'IF IMIM.ir I.INKAHIK-i IN* OTR .VATIOXAI, I. IKK. 1 - r > library was opened. All day long the people came pouring in to borrow hooks, and at nightfall no fewer than 1,14* volumes had been taken out about one-fifth of the whole stock the lending library possesses. At the other Public Library, almost at the opposite end of the parish, similar scenes were witnessed, and the number of books distributed there in the day was 1,009. These facts are as good a testimonial in favour of Public Libraries as could well be conceived, (iive a man the run of a large library, and free him from the anxious reflection that the money it costs him, be it ever so little, might be more profitably spent elsewhere, and he is open on all sides to refining influences, many of them not due to literature itself. Should he want it, he will acquire the civility of silence in a public reading-room, and he will emulate the courtesy which oils the wheels of every organ- ization. Too much, perhaps, is made of the Puritanical argument that a taste for literature keeps a man away from the pot-house. The bane of luxury lies not in moderate indulgence, but in excess. Time, and health, and mental energy may be wrongfully frittered away in reading as well as in tippling. But a temperate gratifica- tion of one pleasure is the strongest of all checks to excessive indulgence in another. The natural faculties of the mind are exercised in wholesome recreation in the Public Library. They ripen in the active work of life, in intercourse with active minds ; but in solitude and in idle company they rot. And from a literary playground, where they may gain health and vigour for these facilities, many of the poorer classes, who may in no disrespectful sense be called children in intellect, are debarred by lack of means. Thus, to view the matter from a point whence only its nar- row aspect of mere entertainment is visible, iiiuch may be said for the institution of Public Libraries throughout the entire country. People who protest very loudly against what, is not quite accurately called " free education " in elementary schools, seem to overlook the fact that, under the Public Libraries Acts, some- thing very much like free education is being provided not only for the children of the poorer classes, but for the sons and daugh- ters of the middle classes, and all classes, so far as they choose to read or borrow the thousands of educational works placed at their disposal. The Public Library is the university of the work- ing man. But a university is not for every man. Its true value is only appreciated by those whose previous training fits them to profit by its advantages. Books are only valuable to those who know how to read them, and libraries are only valuable to those who know how to use them. Nevertheless, the growth of the Public Library system is at least a proof of the gradual develop- ment of more active intellectual interests throughout the indus- trial community. This is an advantage in every way. It is indisputable that the industrial competition throughout the world is daily becoming more and more a competition of intelli- gence. It is certain that if we cannot hold our own in this com- petition, we must make up our minds to witness the beginnings of national decline. Knowledge is power, and in the long run it is ]f> IM IU.TP UBHATUKS. the only power that prevails. But it is as well not to forget in the recognition of the power that dwells in knowledge that knowledge is a good in itself and contains attractions within itself. Intellectual pursuits, even such as men immersed in daily industry can compass, often carry within themselves their own best fruits to the pursuer. In the present condition of the world we can none of us afford to neglect the material profit that resides in knowledge and in the cultivation of the intelligence ; but knowledge, like virtue, is its own true reward, and the pleasures of a cultivated intelligence are so pure and so unalloyed that even if no profit ensued from them they are worthy of pursuit for their own sake alone. It is clear that as a nation we are on the right road to educational excellence, and have become, if we may put any trust in arithmetic and appearances, a nation of learned and learning people. From the swaddling clothes of Celtic Druidism, the youthful habiliments of Saxon Paganism, and the corduroys of mediaeval barbarism and ignorance, we have come to the full well-made garments (mentally) of science, art, and general useful knowledge. Epictetus said that you will " do the greatest service to the State if you should raise not the roofs of the houses, but the souls of the citizens ; for it is better that great souls should dwell in small houses rather than for mean slaves to burrow in great palaces." Sir John Herschel uttered a similar truth when he said that " there is a want too much lost sight of in our estimation of the priva- tions of the humbler classes, though it is one of the most incessantly craving of all our wants, and is actually the impelling power which, in the vast majority of cases, urges men into vice and crime it is the want of amusement." Like the indulgence of all other appetites, it only requires to be kept within due bounds, and turned upon innocent or beneficial objects, to become a spring of happiness ; but gratified to a certain moderate extent it must be, in the case of every man, if we desire him to be either a useful, active, or contented member of society. It is therefore a matter of very great consequence, that those who are at their ease in this world should look about for means of harmless gratification to the industrious and well-disposed classes, who are prepared to prize highly every accession of true enjoyment. Of all the amusements which can possibly be imagined for a hard-working man after his daily toil, or in its intervals, there is nothing like reading an entertaining book. It calls for no bodily exertion, of which he has had enough or too much. It relieves his home of its dulness and sameness, which, in nine cases out of ten, is what drives him to the ale-house, to his own ruin and to that of his family. Supposing him to have been fortunate in the choice of his book, and to have alighted upon one really good, what a source of domestic enjoyment is laid open ! He may read it aloud, or get his wife to read it, or his eldest boy or girl, or pass it round from hand to hand. A feeling of common interest and pleasure is excited. Nothing unites people like companionship in intel- lectual enjoyment. It does more, it gives them self-respect, that THE PLEA FOR PUBLIC LIBRARII>. 17 corner-stone of all virtue. It' we would generate a taste for reading, we must begin by pleasing. (Jive a man this taste, and the means of gratifying it, and you can hardly fail of making him a happy man. You place him in contact with the best society in every period of history, with the wisest, the wittiest, with the tenderest, the bravest, and the purest characters who have adorned humanity. It is hardly possible but the character should take a higher and better tone. There is a gentle, but perfectly irresistible coercion in a habit of reading, well directed over the whole tenor of a man's character, which is not the less effectual because it works insensibly. The one truth which it appears necessary to bring home again and again to the heart of the people is the sense of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, and it may be maintained that Public Libraries and Museums, with their concomitants of reading-rooms, lectures, and all the other departments which are now being added are the institutions, par excellence, which are most calculated to bring home the privileges of citizenship. And so in the immediate future the place of Public Libraries in our national life will be more and more firmly established. These progres- sive instincts in our national life find an echo in the language of Li i well : " New occasions teach new duties ! Time makes ancient good uncouth ; They must upward still, and onward, Who would keep abreast of Truth." CHAPTEE III. THE PLEA FOB PUBLIC LIBRARIES. S a question purely social and free from the influences of party politics or religious prejudices, the Public Library movement has rapidly risen to importance All movements, however, having for their object the good of the commonwealth, appear to the promoters to make but slow progress, and were it not that the leading force in efforts for social reforms comes, as a rule, from men of persistent determination and undaunted perseverance, many a question would be allowed to die a natural death long before it passed the Rubicon. The process of educating the public on a subject requires unlimited time and patience ; and opposition, coming as it frequently does from unexpected sources, makes the work at times difficult and very arduous. Not a few pressing reforms, again, are doomed to still further delay by the Educa- tion Act of 1870 coming a full ten or twenty years too late, and foremost among the subjects which has had, on this account, to bide its time is that of Public Libraries. Considering that the existing institutions, especially those in the large commercial centres of the provinces, have so fully and conclusively justified 18 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. their existence, the wonder is that we have not now from four to five hundred, instead of the comparatively insignificant number of two hundred. Truly this is a meagre number to meet the book-hunger of a reading people, and is not by any means creditable to the enlightened and practical character which we Britishers claim to possess ; and in the provision of books for free-lending we have been left so far behind by the United States, France, Germany, and our Australian colonies, that the nation may well ask itself a few serious questions respecting the cost, uses, and operations of these institutions, and seek especially to solve the problem of their extension. The purpose of this chapter is to endeavour to reply to some of the arguments usually advanced against Public Libraries. The first and foremost reason is that the British taxpayer objects on principle to any increase in his rates. All that the Act permits is one penny in the pound per year on the rateable value, and no possible manipulation on the part of the authorities can make it more than this very small sum. There is somehow a chronic objection to rates, and there are not a few people who think we ought to be able to live any- where without the troublesome quarterly visits of the ubiquitous rate-collector. The author of " More AVorlds than One " does not enlighten us how the supposed inhabitants of those regions get on about the rates, or, what would be still more interesting to us, whether they have Public Libraries. What the comforts and conditions of life would be if there were no rates, the good people who object to them do not stop to inquire. It is this penny in the pound per year which forms the pons asinorum of their extension, and yet nothing could be simpler and more just to all classes of citizens than this vital principle of the entire question. The language used against this additional penny on the rates by the false economists on the one hand, and those who object to all progress on the other hand, who, as a rule, are the chief opponents to the movement, is invariably so strong that it tells perceptibly upon the ratepayers, and effort after effort is fre- quently defeated, until eventually the question is settled by sheer force of moral suasion. "We have rates for police, lighting, paving, cleansing, improvements, and the support of the poor, and a rate for the mental health of a town is just as necessary as any of these. Public Libraries are no longer a luxury, for the march of education has made them absolute necessities. They are, in the truest sense, educational institutions, and as such are as deserving of support out of the rates as are the Board schools. They provide facilities for the continuing of study after school- days are over, and, more than any other institution, they are the best link between leaving school and adult citizenship. The statement has gone forth that in London alone, out of the 80,000 boys and girls who leave our elementary schools yearly, a minority only continue their education at evening classes; and this may to a large extent be attributed to the lack of Public Libraries ; for there is clear evidence of a very important THE PLEA FOB PUBLIC LIBBABIES. 19 section of yoiing people in the large towns continuing their edu- cation by means of the Public Libraries. Even on the score of this additional penny to the rates, a town cannot make a wiser investment for its citizens than to build, stock, and maintain a Public Library, and it would be impossible to name any outlay so small as this which produces so much far-reaching utility as this penny. The benefit out of the rates for the poor, police, drainage, lighting, &c., is indirect, but the benefit out of the penny library rate is direct and personal. It is within the reach of all adults where these Public Libraries exist, to derive a benefit so great that, if they had to pay for it at the current rate of subscription library fees, would cost them ten or twenty times as much. The aggregation of the infinitely little could not be better exemplified than in the penny library rate, for in some towns it means an annual income of over 10,000. Unfortunately, as long as the environments of life and human nature are what they are, it will not be possible to do without rates. But rate economists usually begin at the wrong end, for they resent and oppose educational rates and meekly pay the police, gaol, and workhouse rates with- out any inquiry as to whether there might not be some saving in those directions. England is the only country with an elaborate poor law system, and whether the labour of those in our work- houses could not be made more remunerative, and so reduce the rates for their maintenance, is a question which must sooner or later come to the front. When this happy time arrives, there will then be more to spend for libraries and museums. At present the rate expenditure is chiefly for the improvident, the criminal, and the generally troublesome citizen, and the peaceable and respectable citizen is left to take care of himself ; whereas the cases ought to be reversed, and as the public become educated to the needs and vast utility of Public Libraries they will demand them. The avowed enemies everywhere of Public Libraries are the publicans, and yet it is acknowledged on all hands that their business creates the necessity of the workhouse and gaol, with their huge machinery for management. How long will thrifty and intelligent citizens continue to be governed by this powerful body, who always range themselves against every movement which has for its object the true interests of citizenship ? In the previous chapter there are some statistics of the gross rates in various towns. More places could of course have been given, but these suffice for present purposes, and there may be local causes why some are high and other towns not, but this is not the place or the time to discuss. Striking an average, however, it does appear that any town with its gross rates not exceeding 5s. 6d. in the pound, can afford to immediately set its house in order and adopt the Public Libraries' Acts, and if all the towns in the country not at present possessing libraries do this, there would soon be such an increase in their number as would gratify all friends of these institutions. Is there one town which has adopted the Libraries' Acts which would go back to the saving of a penny in its rates and do away 20 1'lT.I.ll! l.IimAKIKS. with its Public Library:' There is not an atom of proof that there is a single one; but there is evidence that the citixcns of some towns, who would like to extend their operations and open additional branches, would be willing to pay a higher rate than a penny. It is not by any means a rash assertion to state that in the majority of cases it is the most cheerfully paid item on the rate-paper. A companion argument to the one named is, that they are parochial institutions, and as such will not be used by the " better class" people, and the rich pay for supplying books to the working classes. This is an amusing argument to all who are familiar with the working of Public Libraries. The designation of " Free " Libraries is highly objectionable, and it is sincerely to be hoped that librarians and committees will gradually drop the use of the word, and simply call their institutions Public Libraries. In America no Public Library is allowed to be called "free" unless supported entirely by private munifi- cence. Libraries, education, trade, and land never can be ab- solutely free. The argument just named is only heard when an effort is being made to adopt the Acts. We rarely hear it in towns where they exist. In Birmingham, the occupations of the borrowers reach a total of 200, and it would be difficult to mention any occupation or profession which is not included. Other towns can show a like general use of their Public Libraries, proving beyond a doubt that all classes avail them- selves in one way or other of their facilities. Public Libraries are no more parochial than are the roads and the street gas lamps, and the citizen who refused to use a library because it was "free " and " parochial " should be the first to move in having the lamp-posts abolished from the street or road in which he dwells. By others, again, they are classed with free soup kitchens and free wash- tubs in public washhouses. But this is an unfair and inaccurate analogy. There is no doubt that the term " free " as applied to these libraries has deterred a large number of people from using Public Libraries on the ground that they objected to participate in any of the benefits of a charitable institution. " They are not an unmixed good," says another. Well, is there anything in this" mortal life which is absolutely an unmixed good ? but there is so much good mixed up with them, that a town which refuses to adopt the Acts is depriving itself of an institu- tion, the influence of which could not fail to be for the best interests of the district in which it is situated. Workhouses are not an unmixed good, because they induce thriftlessness, while they provide shelter for the unfortunate and indigent. The police are not an unmixed good, for they are sometimes found treacherous, and lose their heads in a mob. The high- ways are not an unmixed good, because they are used by people having unlawful purposes in view. All sanitary provision is not an unmixed good, because the drainage flows away to the Thames or other place, where it makes the surrounding district unhealthy and causes pestiferous smells. Yet all these things, rin: PI I:A mi; i-i r.uc i.iBR.vniF.s. :M acknowledged as good and beneficial, are supported out of the rates, and the rigid economists say, so it ought to be; but the State, as represented by the local authority, has no right to go beyond these necessities of civilization, and provide books and reading-rooms which shall be as free as the highways. The unmixed good argument should, if carried out, lead those who advance it to abstain from marriage, from most kinds of food, and from almost everything which adds to the comfort and happiness of life. Carrying this argument further, that these institutions are Socialistic in character because the State is expected to do what the people should do for themselves. In a little pamphlet issued by the Liberty and Property Defence League, there are given under the head of " Socialism at St. Stephen's, 1886 and 1887," what this body of gentlemen are pleased to call the ' Socialistic Acts and Bills, 1870 to 1887." In this theyinclude all the IMucation Acts and Bills, Public Libraries and Museums Acts, the Technical Education Bills, and a host of others. This League has for its object self-help versus State-help, and has been formed for the purpose of resisting over-legislation, for maintaining freedom of contract, and for advocating Individualism as opposed to Socialism, irrespective of party politics. The influence of Mr. Herbert Spencer on the thought of the age is unmistakable, and his political philosophy is permeating the efforts towards reforms which on all sides are looked upon as necessary ; the difference resting only in the degree with which parties view a possible and necessai'y change, in order to adjust a law or series of laws to the requirements of the time. Mr. Herbert Spencer considers it highly desirable that museums and literature should be provided for the public in a way accessible to them. But, he asks, when we begin to lay on the public shoulders the cost of what they say is not vital but merely desirable, where is this going to stop "i And he further charges us with being committed to State Socialism to bring about social amelioration by force. Every thoughtful mind which has read Mr. Herbert Spencer with a desire to do him justice can scarcely fail to have received so much mental stimulus that to feel oneself differing from a master, not so much in the general principles laid down as in the application of a particular principle to a particular depart- ment of the work of the State, is not an agreeable position. It is impossible not to feel the force of his statements in "The Coming Slavery," in "The Man verms The State," and with much that he says about the State monopoly in letter carrying, telegraphs, and telephones, many are in full accord. This, however, does not prevent such from differing from him when he says : " The changes made, the changes in progress, and the changes urged will carry us not only towards State owner- ship of land, and dwellings, and means of communication, all to be administered .and worked by State agents, but towards State usurpation of all industries, the private forms of which, disad- vantaged more and more in competition with the State, which can arrange everything for its own convenience, will more and more die away : just as many voluntary schools have in presence of Board schools. And so will be brought about the desired ideal of the Socialists." But may it not be reasonably asked, Why should the action of the State be limited to what is necessary to the material existence of a nation, and rigidly excluded from what ministers to its higher life ? AVhat Divine right has property that no demands should ever be made upon it for the latter purpose ? And why may not we use the organized forces of the community to do that which it is desirable in the interests of the whole community should be done - No school of thought condemns the establishment and maintenance of the British Museum Library and the National Gallery out of national taxation; why, then, should it be called " State Socialism '' for a local community to support its own museum or Public Library out of its local taxes ? As to the questions of State ownership of land and dwellings : the first is already too patent as exemplified in the State land under the control of the Ecclesiastical and Charity Commissioners, but with regard to the second count there is not much danger of the State becoming the landlords of huge industrial dwellings. State usurpation, again, of existing means of communication and all industries, is receiving considerable check at the present time rather than an impetus, as judged by the dismissal of workpeople from the dockyards and clothing factories, and the marked tendency of public opinion to prevent the State from interfering with particular industries. Does not the line of demarcation lie here? That the State cannot compete with private enterprise when it comes to the building of ships, making rifles, guns, or clothing. The dis- advantages arising chiefly from costly and inefficient manage- ment, without an individual pocket to suffer from depreciation in stock and plant, is becoming acutely recognized. Where the State has sought to come into competition with industries of any kind it has egregiously failed in every department. This is unwise and impolitic State Socialism which cannot be too effectually scotched. But in all educational matters and affairs relating to the public health and safety/ if this be State Socialism for the municipality to take these under its control, it has been an inestimable boon to the people, and a diminution of the first category of State Socialism, and an enlargement of the second class may well be advocated. Mr. Herbert Spencer has not asserted anywhere that the Education Act of 1870 has not worked most beneficially for the good of the country, although it may have caused the dis- appearance of a few voluntary schools. The utter deadness of many of the voluntary schools so closed was universally apparent. The recognition by the two leading political parties in the State that unwise and impolitic State Socialism is a possibility and a danger against which we should be on the alert, is a sufficient safeguard for our national welfare. The mischief lies, not in the tendency or the State to do in the future what the people should do for THE PI.KA FOR PFBLIC I.IBBARIBS. 23 themselves, but that up to 1832 the people were not allowed the choice of doing anything for themselves, but had to accept with- out voice whatever laws were passed contrary to their best interests. The privileged classes, up to that time, placed upon the statute books so many laws of a distinct State Socialistic character that the reading of political history up to that time is one of the saddest records of human selfishness that we have in all the range of literature. The fear is, not that we may, as a nation, go in for too much State Socialism, but that we may fail, or, at all events, be so long in undoing the unjust State Socialism of bygone generations. Some philosophers have emphatically announced that the sole duty of the State is to administer justice, and that legislation should not attempt to uplift the citizen, but rest content after providing him with a policeman, a workhouse, a lunatic asylum, a scavenger, a row of lamp-posts, and a hangman. The notion that municipalities, corporations, and nations are organized for physical purposes and material ends, only seems to us a relic of the barbarism of mediaeval periods. The individualists assure us that private enterprise will best furnish the community with whatever civilizing and ennobling influences it needs. I hold that the highest and first duty of the State, as exemplified by a national or local authority, should be to make good citizens, and this it can only do by extending every opportunity for enlighten- ment and general advancement. When opening a library and recreation rooms for working men at Saltney, near Chester, at the end of October, 1889, Mr. Gladstone said : " Let the working man be on his guard against another danger. We live at a time when there is a disposition to think that the Government ought to do this and that, and that the Government ought to do everything. There are things which the Government ought to do, I have no doubt. In former periods the Government have neglected much, and possibly even now they neglect something. But there is a danger on the other side. If the Government takes into its hands that which the man ought to do for himself, it will inflict upon him greater mischiefs than all the benefits he will have received or all the advantages that would accrue from them. The essence of the whole thing is, that the spirit of self-reliance, the spirit of true and genuine manly independence, should be preserved in the minds of the people. If the individual loses his self-reliance, if he learns to live in a craven dependence upon wealthier people rather than upon himself, he incurs mischiefs for which no compensation can be made." It is in the spirit of these words that the .Public Library movement will continue to make headway. In the many uses of these institutions, their very tendency is to cultivate that self-respect and self-depen- dence to which Mr. Gladstone was referring. No one who has once tasted the joys, the pure intellectual joys of reading, can help feeling something of enthusiasm at the idea of Public Libraries, whose open portals invite all alike to enter. It is such a perfect luxury to sit down with some really good book and in a few minutes to be transported out of this common work-a-day world into brighter scenes, to have pass before the mind's eye all kinds of gorgeous pictures, and to hold familiar converse with the great and good of all ages and climes. But the advantages of good reading do not stop here ; it is not simply an enjoyment, but if pursued systematically it constitutes a liberal education. There is every need now, more particularly, to give to the people the means for further education. It is inexpressibly sad"to see those over whose education so much has been spent in our Board schools suddenly cease their education with the ending of their school life. Imagine the insanity of our present action. We spend several pounds a year over the education of every one of these Board school children, and then we deny them the means of continuing their studies at that point in their life when they might most profitably do so. To such as these a Public Library provides a pleasant mode of adding to their stock of knowledge, and carry- ing it to a further point. The argument of Public Libraries not being an unmixed good referred to just now has reference chiefly to the class of literature which is supposed to be in greatest demand, viz., fiction, and that the reading-rooms provide shelter for loafers. In many libraries the issues of fiction show a per- ceptible decrease, whilst the increase in the issues of books on science, history, travels, and general literature, is very marked. Take Newcastle-on Tyne as an example. Here the issue for the last four years of works of fiction is as follows : 1883, 65-69 ; 1884, 64-28 ; 1885, 61-81 ; 1886 55-22; and in the last library year ending March 25, 1889, the percentage is only 48-87. Those, again, who may be disposed to regret the large preponder- ance in the issues of light literature, should bear in mind that books of this description are read very rapidly, and that the same work may be issued to three or four different borrowers during the time that another book, which requires more careful reading, is kept by one reader. And the expenditure upon the works of fiction, as compared with other books, is by no means in pro- portion to the issues. Even if the statement were true that nothing but novels are read and it is absolutely void of truth- it can be said that a people engaged in reading novels might be infinitely worse employed, for the choicest works of English fiction are provided by the Public Libraries not the common and indecent trash which some people appear to think are the only novels to be had at a Public Library. Fiction is a generic phrase, like wealth, but careful supervision is exercised by most com- mittees responsible for the working of Public Libraries, that questionable productions under this head are excluded. The testi- mony of very many librarians is that the tendency in the taste of readers is upwards rather than downwards, and that people who begin by being inveterate novel-readers usually drift into reading more profitable and instructive books. It should be remembered that under fiction are classed the works of many writers, the circulation of whose novels might still be wisely promoted at the cost of the town's common purse ; for they are among the most THE Pl.KA FOR PI'BlJf! LIBRARIES, l'.') skilful and the most persuasive of moral and intellectual educators, and they supply mental recreation of the highest value in any community. This question of the circulation of fiction is dealt with a little more fully in another chapter. A question often asked is, " Why should the rich provide libraries for the poor?" as is also the fellow-question, " Why should we educate other people's children :- " The simple answer to both is, that the safety of the commonwealth demands it, and that if it is not done there will be infinitely more to pay in repressive organizations. The people of Scot- land, "the States," and (iermuny have generally educated their children, and they are the most intelligent and thrifty folk in the world. There is no choice about the educating of other people's children. Not only has it to be done, but it pays to do it. An educated commonwealth means law-abiding citizens, and these mean a people strong, just, and upright, and these qualities nourish the best and truest interests of the country. Parsimony and cheese-paring economy in educational matters cripple and harass, without effecting any good, whilst large and comprehensive educational measures have always proved the wisest course. In a most interesting article in the " Leisure Hour,'' by Mr. F. M. Holmes, on Public Libraries, based on the first edition of this book, he calls attention to " the feeling of resistance which animates many people against the ' new ' system, which, it is said, overrules and subordinates private rights to the benefit of the multitude, and heavily taxes the few for the advan- tage of the many, whether lazy and thriftless or not. "We shall hear a very great deal of this feeling expressed in different ways in the times that are to come. For the present we mention it, in passing, as in our opinion a very decided influence against the establishment of Public Libraries. To give an instance, our good friend Midas says, ' Why should I pay a sovereign a year for Tom, Dick, and Harry, and their wives and children, to read story-books, simply because Tom, Dick, and Harry at the municipal poll outvote me r 1 The amount of their rate will be but sixpence per year- perhaps nothing ; yet they will get all the benefit, for I have what books I care for at home. Why should I be ruled and taxed by them for their advantage? It is pauperizing the people.' This argument is just and reasonable ; but we would say, in reply to it, that the increasing municipal and political power of the people is inevitable, and that, as an economical investment, it pays a community to tax itself pro rata for the placing of every possible elevating and educating influence in its way. Education alone will not make people good and peace- able citizens, but its tendency and effect are in this direction. A commonwealth must necessarily be composed of all classes of society, from the very rich to the very poor ; and it is an inevit- able law of nature that the interests of all shall be so intermixed that there is a mutual dependence one on the other for the com- fort, safety, and immediate advantages under which they may live. The law of the great Master, that " man liveth not to him- 26 PVBTJC LIBRARIES. self alone," is the one principle underlying the well-being of the commonwealth. It is the carrying out of the principle of union where all citizens contribute for the common good of all, and it is as far removed from pauperization as can possibly be. It is far better for a nation, a community, or an individual to aim at what might be considered the ideal, than to burrow downwards, and the work of Public Libraries unmistakably tends in that lift- ing up of the people. It is better for Midas to spend his 25s. a year, if he is rated at 300, than a larger sum as his quota for a staff of extra policemen and gaolers. It is becoming now received as an axiom that as education increases crime diminishes, and politicians of all shades of opinion make use of this assertion so repeatedly that it would seem unnecessary to support it with figures. Statistics are usually so dry and uninteresting that to inflict an avalanche of them upon the general reader would only bore and not perhaps convince. Still, there are a few figures in this section which should be studied with care by all who delight in the uplifting of the people and the spread of intelligence. In 1856 the number of young persons committed for what are called indictable offences was 14,000; in 1866 it had fallen to 10,000 ; in 1876 to 7,000 ; in 1881 to 6,000 ; and in 1886 to 5,100. And this though the population had risen from 19,000,000 to 27,000,000, so that juvenile crime was less than half what it was, though the number of children was one-third larger. The prison statistics are scarcely less satisfactory. The average number of persons in prison was, in 1878, 21,000; in 1880,19,000; in 1882, 18,000; in 1884,17,000; in 1886,15,500; and in 1888 14,500. Indeed, our prison population is mainly recruited from those who cannot read. Out of 164,000 persons committed to prison, no less than 160,000 were uneducated, and only 4,000 were able to read and write well. The state of pauperism depends, no doubt, greatly on the state of trade and agriculture. But while, as we know, they have latterly been subject to great fluctuations, pauperism has also steadily decreased, which is due, to a great extent, to our better education, leading to greater thrift and more power of adaptation to circumstances. However this maybe, in 1870 the paupers were 46-5 in every 1,000, and for some years the number had rather increased than diminished. In 1880 it had fallen to 32 per 1,000, and in 1889 it was 28 per 1,000, the lowest percentage since the introduction of the Poor Law. With these facts and figures before us, it may well be doubted whether Public Libraries really cost the ratepayers anything. It may be said that they actually save more than the penny rate. Does not this help to prove that every town and district is best studying the economy of its administration by making liberal provision for educational purposes ? Looked at broadly and fully, this fact should cause towns, where they do not exist, to at once establish these crime-reducing institutions. The national need is that we be not placed at any disadvantage in the neck-and-neck race of competition with the Germans and Americans, which has become inevitable, as the existence of THE PI.EA FOR PUBLIC LIIiBABIRS. 27 libraries generally in the midst of these nations has given the people an advantage which lias been lacking in English life, and it will take us years to overtake the drawbacks, on this account, which have inevitably accrued. National sentiment alone should lead every town and large rural district where a Public Library does not already exist, to at once set about the adoption of the Acts. Some friends say that books are so cheap, a whole library can now be purchased for a few shillings. Some books certainly are cheap, especially reprints of works when the copyright has expired ; but let us ask, in all seriousness, whether the nation's book-hunger has been met when two or three publishing houses have competed with each other in vomiting out cheap reprints by the cartload ? Public Libraries may contain these, but they also contain something infinitely more valuable. Good as many of the books are, the mind of the nation can no more feed solely upon them than the appetite can be satisfied with sponge cakes. What Carlyle would have said against the shoal of cheap reprints is not known. But it is safe to aver that when he stated that " the true university of these days is a collection of books," he did not mean a plethora of threepenny and sixpenny editions of standard works. The fact of books being cheap does not necessarily bring those which anyone may desire to read within their reach. Do the large subscription libraries find a diminution in their number of borrowers because books are cheap ? Their experience proves that they do not ; and the same truth applies to borrowers from Public Libraries, for the fact remains that the number using them where they are established is rapidly increas- ing. But still, notwithstanding some books being cheap, many are still very dear. Amidst the cheapening process, which has for some time been going on in almost all classes of commodities, books have maintained until recently a singularly high price. Literature has not adapted itself to the democratic tendency of the times ; and if the democracy has suffered in consequence, literature, too, has been injuriously affected by the narrowness of the market. The cheapening of good books is a vital point now that political freedom is the possession of the masses. For the masses, like their wealthier countrymen, read ; and the only question is as to what is presented to them for their amusement or instruction. Those who carry this argument to its logical sequence cry, " Let the people who want to read buy their own books : reading, no doubt, is an excellent thing, but let the reader pay for it himself, instead of asking the ratepayers to bear the expense." Even fro7n the ratepayers' point of view, it would not be difficult to show that this would be a very short-sighted policy. Another objection, frequently brought against these institxitions where attempts have been made to establish them, is that they would injure the subscription libraries and the bookselling trade, and existing institutions, such as mechanics' institutes. It may be unhesitatingly affirmed, with regard to the former, that this is 28 i>i isi.ir i.iun. \HIKS. not the case, and in support of this statistics could be quoted show- ing- that the shares in subscription libraries had gone up rather than down where Public Libraries have been established; and the testimony of booksellers in most large towns is that the sale of books is not diminished by the proximity of these libraries. The existence of the Public Library has certainly not a deterrent effect upon the sale of books. It enables many a man to read books which he could not afford to purchase, and which would therefore not be bought even if the library were not in existence. It enables him to read a book before purchasing it, so that he may judge whether it will be worth his while to add it to his own private collection. The fact is that there never was a time when so many books of all sorts were in demand as are now bought by the public. It may be doubted whether the compulsory closing of all the circulating and other libraries in the king- dom would make an appreciable difference in the sale of books to the general public. In February, 1886, a public meeting of the burgesses of Harrogate was held to consider the question of adopting the Libraries' Acts. The motion in its favour was carried with only three dissentients. An alderman stated that he had been in communication with four of the booksellers of Harrogate, all of whom had circulating libraries. One Avas present at the meeting to support the adoption of the Acts, two were indifferent, while the fourth said he should be delighted to pay his share of the library rate, and if anything was required for its initiation he would be glad to subscribe five pounds. There are a great many subscription libraries whose whole stock is often less than 200 vols., and they do a thriving business on 3d. per week per volume, or in some cases Id. per day. The class of books is often the veriest trash ever issued from the printing press, and must have been bought at so much a ton. These trades are not injured, and the seller of lamps has just as much reason to complain when an enterprising company seeks to light his town with gas, as a bookseller or proprietor of a subscription library has against a town's library being established. Public Libraries engender habits of reading, and no trade benefits so much from this as the booksellers. Some booksellers are among the best friends of the Public Library movement. In many places there is a pardonable fear that a Public Library would be the ruin of the mechanics' or kindred institutions. All who know anything of these institutions would be prepared to acknowledge that in times past they have done a most admirable work, but it may very seriously be doubted whether they are equal to the needs of the day. They are too exclusive in cha- racter, being proprietary institutions. They are, again, too costly to the average working man, for there are few of them where the subscription is less than os. per year, and a working man would need to be rated at 60 a year to pay this amount in his rates, and even in the case of a 60 rateable value, there is better value in a Public Library than in the mechanics'. The libraries in many mechanics' institutes are poverty itself. New literature THK rsK OF PUBLIC LIBRA!! I 1.-. L>! i> conspicuous by its absence, and in not a few towns they are languishing 1 ami gradually dying for want of funds. They lack the one vital principle which keeps Public Libraries healthy and vigorous, inasmuch as they are not subject to the control of the popular vote, and are, moreover, too much under the adminis- tration of cliques. In some towns they exist side by side with Public Libraries, and the twin institutions are in no sense an- tagonistic to each other. In other places the committee of management have well and wisely offered to hand over their institution as a Public Library, if the town will adopt the Acts. This has been followed with the most satisfactory results, and is well worthy of being imitated in other towns. Certainly no mechanics' institute committee can reasonably expect a town to forego adopting the Acts simply because their institution might suffer. CHAPTER IV. THE USES OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. E uses of Public Libraries are becoming so manifest on all hands that it would appear almost a work of supererogation to enumerate some of their many uses. Let any one not accustomed to these institutions go to Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham. Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Newcastle, and other towns, and see for himself what they mean to the inhabitants in those towns. It is not simply that the citizens have the privilege of borrowing books, and largely avail themselves of it, but if they wish for informa- tion on any subject, the first step they adopt is to go to the reference department of the Public Library. Books on any subject can be obtained there, where there is absolute quiet, so that these departments become public studies, where the book- worm may revel to his heart's content, and here may come the Sabbath-school teacher to prepare the better for his or her class, and to consult books otherwise beyond reach. Here the mechanic, eager to improve himself in the technique of his trade, can read what master-minds have said of it. Here, too, you may find the minister of the Gospel desirous of making the acquaintance of the latest critics and scholars, or to learn the most recent discoveries of travellers, and the opinions of the erudite students. Yet again you may see in these libraries the family doctor, bent on con- sulting the most recent authorities on the healing art, the literary man in search of data, the student and the essay-writer upon the same errand, the schoolboy or schoolgirl to see maps or gazet- teers, and the business man to see directories in fact, represen- tatives of every class find their way hither in search of much-needed information not otherwise so easily accessible. If it is evening the news-room will, in all probability, be full of adult visitors, diligently perusing the papers, magazines, or books of one kind or another. 30 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. These libraries are centres of light, and not only feed, but create a taste for reading, and, unquestionably, whatever does this is of benefit to the community, and aids materially in the repressing and taming of the rougher and baser parts of human nature. The writer, who formerly held the position of librarian, is well aware how often wives andhchildren come for books, and make the request, " Please pick me a nice one, sir, for if I take home an interesting book, my husband (or father, as the case may be) will stop in during the evening and read it to us." The curse of officialism does not extend to by far the greater majority of librarians and assistants, for, taken as a body, it would be impossible to find a more courteous body of men and women among public officials. They are invariably willing to help the readers and borrowers, and in thousands of instances they are not merely the attendants who give out and take in the books, but they are the vocal key to the catalogues, aiding with their suggestions and knowledge in the search for books on a par- ticujar subject. Not a few of them, again, look upon their office as that of a public instructor. It is said of Wordsworth that a stranger having on one occa- sion asked to see his study, the maid said : " This is master's room, but he studies in the fields." The agricultural labourer learns a great deal in the fields. He knows much more than we give him credit for, only it is field-learning, not book-learning and none the worse for that. But the man who works in a shop or a manufactory has a much more monotonous existence. He is confined, perhaps, to one process, or even one part of a process, from year's end to year's end. He acquires, no doubt, a skill little short of the miraculous, but on the other hand very nar- row. If he is not himself to become a mere animated machine, he must generally obtain, and in some cases he can only obtain, the necessary variety and interest from the use of books. There is happily now some tendency to shorten the hours of labour, and, what is less satisfactory, there are times when work is slack. But the hours of leisure should not be hours of idleness ; leisure is one of the greatest blessings, idleness one of the greatest curses one is the source of happiness, the other of misery. Suppose a poor man has for a few days no work, what is he to do ? How is he to employ his time ? It need no longer be lost where there is a Public Library or news-room to which he can resort. It is not being advocated here that these libraries should be the common resort of those who wish to idle away their time, and receive a passing half-hour's amuse- ment. It is said that this evil afflicts all Public Libraries to a less or greater degree ; but the statement should be made with a very great degree of caution and qualification. Some have gone so far as to say that it is undoubted that the Public Library everywhere is largely patronized by the respectable loafer. He has no club, and cannot take his ease at an inn. So he drops into the Public Library, possesses himself of a couple of chairs, and makes himself comfortable. He asks for a book, THE USE OF PUBLIC LIBBABIBS. 31 and endeavours to make it interest him. If the effort ends in his complete physical and mental prostration, he cannot help it. Now, we have no desire to prevent the Public Library from ministering to the amusement of the public. On the contrary, we should be sorry if it did not. We have too many institutions of the strictly " improving " class, which inculcate a sort of priggish propriety, and leave no room for the healthy develop- ment of the universal desire for entertainment. By all means let the Public Library provide the public with newspapers, novels, and other light reading. But the light readers ought not to stand in the way of the solid ones, as they do in a num- ber of places. The failure of an attempt in Liverpool and in Birmingham to separate the two classes has been somewhat remarkable. The plan adopted was to set aside a " students' room," and it failed. A better plan would be to give bond fide Svorking readers the first claim to the available accommodation. A man or a woman who is merely skipping through a novel should give way for the reader who wants to read some works of solid literature. Many books now in the lending department should be transferred to the reference department, and the sitting room in the library should be preferentially given to the reference readers. No mercy should be shown to the sleepers. When a " reader " goes to sleep, it is time for him to go home, and make room for less happy mortals to whom the felicity of early slumber is denied, and this is unquestionably done, and is being exercised with greater strictness every suc- ceeding year. In not a few reference reading rooms even the writing of letters is strictly forbidden, and any attempt in this direction is immediately stopped by the caretaker or news- room superintendent. This official, usually in a distinctive coat, has become an indispensable person in the news-rooms, where the attendance is very large, and his presence certainly tends to the general comfort. The direction which reform should take is indicated by the course of the growth of the evil to which reference has just been made. The modern library system is a development of the mechanics' institutes and reading-rooms of other days. Its scope and prin- ciples have never been clearly defined. Its central idea is that any man should be able to have any book for the asking that his means of obtaining wholesome reading shall be as indepen- dent of his individual pocket as are the lighting of the streets and the drainage of his district. The term " Free Libraries " is, of course, a misnomer ; one might as well talk of free drains. But the central idea has developed without the limitations which it is the function of discipline, organization, and discrimination to impose. That is the origin of the evil. The remedy is clearly to be found in imposing these limitations. The indiscriminate lending of books, and provision of seat and desk accommodation, must give place to a system under which workers are distin- guished from idlers, and the former given the first consideration. But even granting that there is a modicum of truth in these PUBI.IT J.THRATtlKS. undesirable uses of Public Libraries, we maintain that the legiti- mate and reasonable use of Public Libraries, with their reading and news-rooms, is far in excess of whatever abuses can be pointed out. The tendency is distinctly upward, and a man or youth who idly saunters into one of these places may, and does, begin to feel that the place possesses privileges which bring pleasure and true relaxation in his life, and he gradually begins to value them accordingly. The spirit of factious criticism may be silent, for precisely similar evils could be pointed out as existing in churches and chapels. Even the very worst of the residuum who frequent public news-rooms cannot get harm from what they peruse, and the chances lie in the probability of their getting something of an opposite character. Public Libraries seek to realize Tennyson's words " To teach high thought ami amiable airs, And courtliness, and a desire of fame, And love of truth, and all that makes a man." Very large numbers of the community are engaged from day to day in a simple struggle for existence, and their time is fully occupied with the cares and worries of daily life. "When visiting the Public Libraries and reading-rooms in the evening, such do not want books which will continue the same train of thought in which they have been engaged during the day. They naturally want something which will lift them into a different sphere altogether, and excite their imagination and interest them. When Public Libraries were first established, it was greatly feared, as has been already mentioned, that they would militate against the bookselling trade, and that this worthy class of tradesmen would suffer. On the contrary, the very opposite has been the case. At one of the annual conferences of the Library Association, the closing day of the session was marked by the reading of a paper of more than professional or technical in- terest, the subject discussed in it being " Public Libraries from a bookseller's point of view." It was argued, when Public Libraries were first instituted, that they would have the effect of injuring the sale of books. People, it was urged, would go to the libraries for what they wanted, instead of buying it as heretofore. And there was a certain amount of plausibility in the suggestion. Most persons, it might be supposed, Avould be satisfied with perusing the volumes in which they were interested, and would be happy to be relieved of the necessity of acquiring them for themselves. And to a certain extent that is the case. No doubt the establish- ment of Public Libraries has been of great advantage to many who formerly were obliged to expend large sums in book-buying. Nevertheless, the bookseller who addressed the librarians asserted, as the result of his experience, that Public Libraries had rather increased than decreased the trade in which he is concerned. Nor is the reason difficult to discover. Granted that there are those who are glad to read without buying, there are probably still more who are led to buy what they read, or are led, by reading, to mi: I-SKS OK iTHi.K- i.iBKAiui:-. :;:; desire to buy. A young man who borrows a Public Library book, finds it, perhaps, so attractive, that lie becomes anxious to obtain a copy of it. He is not satisfied with reading, he wishes to possess. That, one can well believe, very frequently happens. And then, of course, there can be no question that the anxiety to form a little library of one's own is, in a general way, fostered by the reading which the libraries supply. A taste for books is engendered, and then comes the feeling that it would be pleasant to have some of one's own. And if Public Libraries did no more than inspire this feeling, they would have a sufficient reason for existing. In some districts the proportionate issue to each inhabitant reaches over four books per year of the entire population of the town, and to each actual borrower over twenty volumes per year. This fact not only justifies the existence of the libraries in those towns, but should be a very powerful argument to other districts to establish them. Professor "W. Stanley Jevons said truly, that " The main raison tfi'-tre'of Public Libraries, as indeed, of public museums, art galleries, parks, halls, public clocks, and many other kinds of public works, is the enormous increase of utility which is thereby acquired for the community at a trifling cost. If a beautiful picture be hung in the dining-room of a private house, it may, perhaps, be gazed at by a few guests a score or two of times in the year. Its real utility is too often that of ministering to the selfish pride of its owner. If it be hung in the National GJallery it will be enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of persons, whose glances, it need hardly be said, do not tend to wear out the canvas. The same principle applies to books in common ownership. If a man possesses a library of a few thousand volumes, by far the greater part of them must lie for years untouched upon the shelves ; he cannot possibly use more than a fraction of the whole in one year. But a library of five or ten thousand volumes opened free to the population of a town may be used a thousand times as much. It is a striking case of what 1 propose to call the principle f the multiplication of utility, a principle which lies at the base of some of the most important processes of political economy, including the division of labour." The town which cares for its citizens will establish a Public Library, and take care of it with just as much interest as it will attend to the water, drains, and gas of the town. If it is necessary for the health of the inhabitants that they have pure water, perfect drains, and good gas, surely it is the more necessary that they have healthy provision for the mind, and no institutions which have yet been provided in any part of the country so thoroughly do this as Public Libraries. Our friends across the Atlantic endeavour to carry out the principle that every town ought to have a library containing as many volumes as the town has inhabitants. Such a library becomes at once the centre of the intellectual life of the town, and affects the morals and manners of the entire community. % 3 34 PUBLIC LIBRATIIES. And more : its influence stretches out into the whole country, wherever its readers may chance to go; and its importance is not for a moment to be compared with the entire sum of the mercan- tile and manufacturing interests by which it is surrounded. A town with a library can be distinguished easily from one which lacks any such collection of books ; and those parts of the country in which town libraries abound are the parts which are most influential in every department of intellectual and even material labour. " Let those," says a recent writer, " who pride themselves upon their devotion to the so-called practical, reflect that the advantages of a library are no longer of a purely literary character, and are becoming less and less so ; that the ' arts and mysteries' of manufacture are no longer taught by word of mouth alone to indentured apprentices, but that the 'master workmen ' of the nineteenth century speak through books to all ; and that in proportion as our workmen become intelligent and skilful does their labour increase in value to themselves and to the State." These are weighty words. It may be a cause for wonder that any private person should make such a bad investment, pecuniary and literary, as to buy an expensive encyclopaedia. In the first place, unless the person be a universal student, and life is too short for that, he pays for a far greater proportion of what he never will or can read, than of information that he cares for and can assimilate and utilize. He must be rich or extravagant who can afford to pay for a pound's worth of tablecloth to accompany a half-pennyworth of bread. In the second place, such rapid advances are nowadays made in nearly every department of science, that most of the articles on that subject will be superseded and out of date, even if not incorrect, before the publication of any single edition is completed. Public Libraries are the most suitable purchasers and owners of encyclopaedias, for the sake of giving their readers the opportunity of reference to such works. But to the private individual the possession of such a great expensive work is as a white elephant. As one of the uses of Public Libraries, it may be noticed with pleasure that juvenile reading is becoming elevated. The decrease of illustrated books, for use in the reference library, is at some libraries very marked. When this department was made accessible to young readers, the books in greatest favour with them were those containing illustrations, but in many cases they did little more than turn over the leaves and glance at the pic- tures, one reader being thus able to take out several volumes during a single visit. This custom, if not a very intellectual one, had at least the negative merit of keeping these young people off the streets, and out of possible mischief ; but it has resulted, as it was hoped it would, in the positive virtue of enabling them to acquire the habit of reading. Large numbers of these young lads now regularly ask for books in various branches of literature, and spend a whole evening reading one, instead of merely turning over the leaves of several volumes. This shows that the libraries THK t SKS or PriU.IC I.I IU! A II IKS. 86 are being more and more used for educational as distinguished from merely recreative purposes. So far as is known to the present writer there are only two Public Libraries in the country where on shelves in the general news-room there are placed a number of volumes for the free use of visitors. These places are "NVigan and Cambridge. At the former place the number of volumes is 400, representing fiction, some illustrated books of travel, and others of general interest. These books are largely used, and at AVigan the loss in twelve years from these volumes has been three books. This simple fact may be commended to the very careful thought and atten- tion of those who say that Public Libraries and news-rooms are misused. This same plan is deserving of the consideration of other libraries. It works exceedingly well at these two places. What should not be seen on the tables of reading and news-rooms are tracts of the goody-goody order, placed there, no doubt, by persons perfectly well-meaning. But in some cases, while going over the libraries of the country, the present writer has been amazed to find some librarians making quite a display of these on the tallies of the news-rooms. In answer to inquiries the reply has been that young folks coming in to the news-room see them lying on the tables and take them up to read. This is really no answer, and there need be no apology for saying that these public institutions ought never to be made the means of < lisseminating sectarian truths. No religious body of any faith or order whatsoever should have the opportunity of making these rooms the channel of their propaganda. Apart from this objec- tion there is the other view which is, that the sickly and senti- mental tracts so usually forming the chief bulk of those issued by many religious bodies up to quite recent years, have had their turn^ and it is now time for something of a more wholesome order to have an opportunity of influencing the community. How far books of travel and guide books should be provided by Public Libraries is a question around which much discussion has revolved. The term " books of travel *' is such a comprehensive phrase that it is difficult to say where such literature begins and ends. But it may be safely said that very costly books of travel should not be purchased. Still the same spirit would not be in place when applied to Bates' "Naturalist on the Amazon," and many other books of travel which could be named. With regard to guide-books there is less difficulty, for it appears reasonable that only in very special cases should these be included: and then only those guides to the more beaten tracts of travel. Less thorny ground is trodden when the matter of local charters, records and documents is approached. Too much stress cannot be laid on the tact that in the majority of instances the Public Library is the proper custodian for many of these charters. How large a number of these old and invaluable documents are now rotting away in the cellars of town halls or the musty holes of town clerks' offices only those know who have to consult occasionally these local records. A literary friend of the present writer was tJO ITIM.IC l.lItKAltlKS. writing tlu- history oi' a county, and travelled over the entire district to consult the old records. Many of these he found in must inaccessible places, nit-eaten and mildewed. An earnest appeal is made t<> librarians to have these documents searched out. If they need cleaning and restoring communication should be made with the authorities at the British Museum. Every help has been given, in many cases in this direction the charge being simply for the time of the attendant spent in the work. No Public Library can now be considered complete until it possesses as perfect a collection of local histories and literature as opportunity and means will afford. Those at Birmingham, Manchester, Nottingham, Plymouth, and Newcastle, are ex- cellent, and it may be confidently hoped that all these institu- tions will within the next twenty years possess such a collection. How far these libraries are justified in spending their money in old and rare collections of books or copies of scarce works is a matter which must be left to the individual requirements and resources of every library. But there is one section of literature which has become indispensable and invaluable, and that is a collection of books bearing upon the staple industries of the town or district in which the library is situated. This is a matter vital to the future welfare of libraries, and it should not be necessary to restrict this collection to works in the English language. Some few of these Public Libraries are already . the most complete storehouse extant for these collections of technological books, and others will soon begin to make a special feature of this department. There are other uses which could be enumerated. Files of local and leading London papers are kept. Here also are maps, charts, and other special matters, and it is impossible to deny that these are a great public convenience. Some libraries open the doors of their news-rooms at 8.30 a.m., in order to specially accommodate those who wish to have the very earliest opportunity of consulting the advertisements of situations vacant in the news- papers. It may at times be a depressing sight to see so many eager to do this, but it should be a cause for local satisfaction that the unemployed can at once go and make acquaintance with the wants of the labour market. Seaboard towns find a demand for the shipping papers, and wisely place these in positions where they are most accessible. Here will be often seen hard-headed captains and horny-handed sailors looking over each other's shoulder at the last copy of the shipping paper. Here too comes the captain's wife when that worthy is away on the mighty deep, to see if her husband's ship has been spoken or signalled. These are but straws to show the universal appreciation in which these citizens' reading-rooms are held. The question of the supply of Government papers and other official papers to Public Libraries is of the highest importance. In August, 1885, a deputation waited upon the late Lord Iddes- leigh at his official residence in Downing-street. The ultimate THE USES OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 37 result of the interview is embodied in a letter of this lamented statesman, of November 13, 1885, in which he said : "I have care- fully considered the question brought before me by the deputa- tion as to the possibility of free grants of ( !<>venunent publications bei 11,14- made to the Public Libraries. I stated at the time the objections which I saw to such a proposal, and on further con- sideration I remain of the same opinion. But I am glad to say I have been able to make an arrangement which, by appreciably reducing the cost to Public Libraries of purchasing such publica- tions, will, 1 trust, be of considerable advantage. A contract is about to be made, under which one contractor will undertake the sale of all the Government publications published by the Sta- tionery Office ; and it is to be a condition of the contract that the accredited agents of Public Libraries are to be allowed at least :>o per cent, discount from the prices of the publications as fixed by the Stationery Office." This important matter has been further advanced, for on February 15, 1887, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that his predecessor had promised to submit a vote to the House to enable the House to decide whether a gift should be made of Parliamentary papers to Public Libraries. He would sulmiit a vote to the House for this purpose. As each set o.C Parliamentary papers, only, cost about 15, he thought that the amount might be furnished by economies in the Stationery Office and a reduc- tion in the cost of distributing Parliamentary papers. Hitherto nobody has cared to buy them, and with few exceptions their distribution has been confined to Members of Parliament, the bulk in the end finding their way to the paper makers as waste paper. It is reasonable to hope that their distribution to the Public Libraries of the kingdom will secure for them a wider circle of readers than has hitherto been possible, and be followed by a more thoughtful perusal and even study of their contents. In a letter received from the Treasury on December 8, 1889, reference is made to the debate in the House of Commons on May 14 of that year, when the vote for the Stationery Office was under discussion. It was then stated that the arrangement made a few years a.u'o still holds good, under which applications of this nature are met within the provision of 100 made by Parliament. Each application must contain a list of the papers which the Library desires to obtain, and should be addressed to the Con- troller of H.M.'s Stationery Office, Storeys Gate, London, S.W. Only those who from time to time have occasion to consult these official documents know their real value. Those who ignore the information they embody do so under an entire misapprehension of its true value. It is most desirable that ignorance on this matter should be dispelled. This can best he done by placing the papers in the Public Libraries, and thus bringing them within the reach of all in search of reliable informa- tion on the special subjects into which the reader or the student may be inquiring. The supplying of Patent Office ^publications is a question of 410341 38 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. burning interest to librarians and committees. At present these are very costly, and fill up a vast amount of space, that it is in many libraries becoming a very serious question, indeed, as to whether they will be able to continue obtaining them as they have hitherto done. The condition of affairs in this respect at Nr wcastle-on-Tyne is so thoroughly indicative of what is being felt at other places, and what has been done there summarizes the position of affairs so thoroughly, that there can be no better plan adopted than by stating what steps have been taken at those places. A sub-committee of the Library committee was formed to report on the supply of Patent Office publications. This committee reported in September, 1889, that they had received from the Patent Office a letter informing them that, as the bound volumes of specifications of patents could not be got ready earlier than eighteen months after the publication of the separate specifications, the Board of Trade had decided, with a view to the distribution of the specifications at the time of publi- cation, to discontinue the distribution of these volumes, and, in lieu of them, to issue a packet of specifications every week, on the understanding that the library receiving them would undertake to birtd them up at the end of every eighteen months. This letter was referred to the chairman of the Books and House Committee and the Chief Librarian, Mr. Haggerston, who, after considering the subject, presented the following report to the committee : " We have gone carefully into the points raised in the letter of Mr. J. Lowry Whittle, of the Patent Office, dated July 24th, 1SS9, and report as follows : The specifications of patents are now received in bound volumes from eighteen to nineteen months after the date of publication. The arrangement which the Patent Office now propose will give us the specifica- tions in parts as soon as published, which is some three weeks after the acceptance of the completed specification. A specification may be completed at the date of application for provisional protection, or at any time within fifteen months after- wards. The Patent Office authorities undertake to make good any copies of specifl a- tions which may be abstracted, lost, or damaged prior to the binding of the volumes. The proposed change will involve our appointing a London agent to collect the specifications weekly, and to dispatch the same to Newcastle. If this be necessary. Messrs. H. Sutheran & Co. have offered to act for us at an annual charge of 1 Is. Od. We shall need 150 cardboard boxes for storing and administering the specifica- tions prior to their being bound. The boxes will cost 2s. 6d. each, altogether 18 15s. Od. It will be necessary to bind from 90 to 100 volumes of specifications annually. The estimated cost of each, in half linen buckram guarded, will be about 3s. 6d., or an annual cost of from 15 15s. Od. to 17 10s. Od. The total estimate of preliminary cost will, therefore, be 20 5s. Od., and the estimated annual cost 20 Is. Od. The grant of patent specifications was made to the Corporation of Newcastle. "VVe have not been able to ascertain the date, but we are informed that they were deposited by the Corporation -with the Literary and Philosophical Society not less than 40 years ago. The Corporation paid the Literary and Philosophical Society the cost of binding and of carriage. In eight years -from 1859 to 1867 the amount thus paid for binding was 232 16s. 4d. In 1882 the Literary and Philosophical Society required the room which the patent specifications occupied, and they were transferred to the Public Library ; but they did not become the property of the Public Library, as they had not been the property of the Newcastle Corporation. The Government maintained the right of withdrawing the grant at any time, and recalling the volumes. Whilst it is right and fitting that books such as these which the Corporation receive from Government for the benefit of the entire community should find room THE USES OP PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 39 at the Public Library, it is not right that the Public Library should be chaiged with expenses for them which a private library was not charged with when it took care of them. They are not books which the Public Libraries Committee would be likely to purchase if the Corporation did not provide them. We have noted that the Government may recall them. They are open to reference by any person who wishes it free of all charge. They are in the Public Library as a convenience to the public not only of Newcastle and neighbourhood, but of the whole of the surrounding country. The nearest places to Newcastle where complete sets of these publications can be consulted are Edinburgh or Glasgow in the north, Liverpool or Manchester in the west, and Leeds in the south. There is no reason whatever why the finances of the Public Library should be burdened with any payments for these specifications; but, on the other hand, they should not have been required to make any payments during the past seven years. They have simply acted for the convenience of the Corporation in the matter, and if it is placed fully and clearly before that body it cannot be doubted that that body will see the justice and propriety of acknowledging its responsibility. The matter is a very important one. In 1857, 66 volumes of patent specifica- tions were published, and each of these contained about 50 separate specifications, giving a total of 3,250. In 1867, 94 volumes were published, giving a total of 4,700 specifications. In 1677, 50 volumes, each containing about 100 specifications, or a total of 5,000; and in 18-7, 91 volumes, each containing about 200 specifications, or a total of 18,200. It will thus be seen that there are more than five times as many specifications published now than there were thirty years ago. It may appear somewhat unjust that Newcastle should be called upon to defray the whole of the charges for these patent specifications ; but we must remember that this is one of the consequences of the position of our city as the metropolis of the district. If, however, the finances of the Public Library, which are already so meagre, are to be burdened by the payments we have mentioned, the General Committee will have very seriously to consider whether it is justified in agreeing to the change which the Patent Office proposes. The Commissioners of Patents seem to be acting under the instructions of the Board of Trade, and it will probably not be possible to get the specifications in any other form than that which is now proposed. We suggest at the same time that negotiations should be opened with the Patent Office so as to ascertain how far it can be induced to undertake that, if the grant be recalled, it will reimburse the Corporation or other persons who may pay for the cost of binding ; and how far it is possible to induce it to undertake the binding itself. It may be that this could not be done without considerable agitation and difficulty ; but whn the large and accumulating profits which are in the hands of the Patent authorities are borne in mind, and it is remembered that these profits spring out of the patents themselves, and that the object of circulating the specification* is to encourage the taking out of patents, and so to increase the fund we have mentioned, it cannot be denied that it would only be fair if all the expense of that which is practically the best advertisement of the Patent Oittce, were borne by the Patent Office itself." The Patent Office has such an enormous annual revenue that it is not an unreasonable request to make on behalf of these libraries that they shall be regularly supplied with the "Patents' Journal " and specifications free from all expense. Gifts of books and pamphlets come from publishers, authors, and public bodies. One library received from the Lords Com- missioners of Her Majesty's Treasury Calendars of State Papers, &c., eighteen volumes ; Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland during the Middle Ages, sixty volumes ; and the publications of the Record Commissions, &c., seventeen volumes, the value of which was 63/. 8s. 6d. The Agents-General of the Colonies send books and pamphlets, and the Cobden and other clubs do the same. The American Bureau of Education, Washington, and other institutions on the other side of the Atlantic send occasional copies of works to Public Libraries in this country. 40 PUBLIC LIBBAKIES. CHAPTER V. EARLY PUBLIC LIBRARIES. ||HE kings of old were wise in their day and generation. They were not slow to recognize that it was politic to turn the popular mind from the idle political theories to books. The pleasures of imagination which all might enjoy through the channel of a library were a famous antidote for political disaffection, and it was probably, therefore, not altogether a love of literature that made the Roman Emperors reckon manuscripts amongst the most valued of their spoils of war, or to estimate them even more highly than vessels of gold. All the literary treasures of the nations they conquered were sure to find their way to Rome. Julius Caesar proposed to open to the public the magnificent library upon which had been lavished the opulence of Lucullus, and of which Plutarch speaks in the highest terms. The daggers of Brutus and his companions nipped the project in the bud. But the Emperors who followed were as enthusiastic as Caesar in the cause of Public Libraries, and even called those they established after their own names. As a matter of course the Imperial despots spared nothing that would add to the magnificence of their literary hobbies. Thus, we read of marble floors, walls covered with glass and ivory, and shelves of ebony or cedar. Just as men of a later period thought nothing too cosily to bind or ornament the books they loved, or as the plutocrat of to-day will lavish his gold as freely on yards of well-bound literature for which he really cares no more than he does for the painter's chef d'ceuvre which has cost him thousands. Still, the fact remains that from the earliest times the great men of the earth invariably turned their attention first to the collection of books and manuscripts, and next to taking care that the people should have free access to them. In the " good old days," when King John was trying to impose his rule on his somewhat turbulent subjects, and, indeed, for two or three decades afterwards, libraries hardly existed. The borrowing of a volume was a serious concern in those days, and heavy was the pledge or the bond required for the loan. One of the regulations of the library of the Abbey of Croyland, Ingulphus has given. It regards the " lending of books, as well the smaller without pictures as the larger with pictures, any loan is forbidden under no less a penalty than that of excom- munication, which might possibly be a severer punishment than the gallows." Books were rare and precious things with the learned and rich, and Public Libraries were totally unknown during that period. The Library of Corpus Christi, Cambridge, is a very interesting feature of that L T niversity town. Although most of the sights at Cambridge are free to the visitor, and great the liberty she EARLY PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 41 allows to those who vi.sit her, she, too, has her sacred places whither not all may penetrate. Such, for the most part, are her libraries. Perhaps this conservatism is an inheritance from mediaeval times, when books too often proved an irresistible temptation, and gave rise to much grave abuse and scandal. Modern times are not free from a like reproach. So it may have been either prophetic insight into futurity, or consciousness of the peccadilloes of his contemporaries, which led Archbishop Parker to frame the stringent rules under which his library is held by Corpus Christi. His intimate connection with this college, of which he became .Master in 1544, is suitably marked by this bequest of the greatest of all his treasures. Some little account of the restrictions he imposed on their use may be of interest. Two persons must always be present before any volume can be consulted ; one Master or Fellow of the College, the other Fellow or Scholar. Should longer use of the books be necessary, they may be removed to one of the Fellows' rooms, not more than three at a time, and after due registration. Beyond the College buildings they must never go. A system of duplicate keys to the bookcases affords security that these instructions be observed. The Archbishop's will provides that if six folio or an equivalent number of smaller volumes be lost, the entire collection, together with the plate he also bequeathed, shall pass to Caius. Should they in turn lose as many more, it travels to Trinity Hall; a third like loss, and what remains returns to Corpus. For smaller lapses than these, fines are imposed, no doubt heavier in the Archbishop's day than they seem now. Once a year the Masters of Caius and Trinity Hall, together with two Scholars of Corpus, are invited to verify the list, the two former receiving 3s. 4d and the two latter Is. each ; and subsequently they are entertained at dinner by the College. But no volume has yet disappeared since the first review was made nearly 250 years ago. While looking at the cases one is reminded of the old joke of Edmund Burke's, who remarked, on seeing some locked presses of books, that it reminded him of " Locke on the Human Understanding." The library was originally a room built over the old chapel. When this was pulled down in 1824, the books were temporarily placed in a private apartment until the completion of the new library in 1827, when they were transferred to. their present quarters. Subsequently, a few of the most interesting were placed in glass cases down the centre of the room. The library is a fine building, with bookcases of carved oak, and a handsome ceiling ; a screen, at the west end separates Archbishop Parker's collection from the other books. Being made at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. it contains, as might be expected, a large proportion of ecclesiastical papers. The last report of the Bodleian Library, 1882-87, which the librarian has issued, shows that the number of volumes on the shelves is now not far short of half a million. Referring to the older benefactors of the library, it is said that until his death, in 1613, Sir Thomas Bodley never slackened his munificence, and 42 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. among many contemporary donors, the Deans and Chapters of Exeter and Windsor were conspicuous. William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, Sir Kenelm Digby, and Archbishop Laud followed with most extensive and splendid benefactions of MSS. Sir T. Rae and Oliver Cromwell gave collections of MSS., which still bear their names. The illustrious Sclden bequeathed about 8,000 MSS. and printed volumes. And in the same century Sir Thomas Fairfax, Christopher Lord Hatton, and " Junius" added celebrated MS. collections Marshall and Bishop T. Barlow (an old Bodley's librarian), collections of MSS. and printed books. Since the seventeenth century there have been other benefactions more or less munificent, and the library is also entitled to a copy of each book issued in the United Kingdom under the Copyright Act. In the minster of Wimborne, Dorset, which is a venerable structure, believed to have been first erected between the years 705 and 723, and to which was joined a monastery, there is a Public Library attached that was founded by the donor, the Reverend William Stone, in 1686. Wimborne was a place of importance in Saxon times, and most historians date its foun- dation to the Romans, who made it one of their military stations, for as such we first find it mentioned. The old minster was originally founded by Cuthburga, daughter of Kendred, in the year 700. A century and a-half later, St. Ethelred, fifth king of all England, who was mortally wounded in conflict with the Danes, was buried here. The king must have been well acquainted with the church and monastery, for it was at his own request he was buried within its portals. The Danes destroyed by fire the church and monastery in the tenth cen- tury, and no effort was made to restore them till 1043, when Edward founded a college of secular canons on the sacred ruins. The present minster was founded about the middle of the eleventh century, and was not completed till that of the fifteenth, so that the church consists of various dates. It is through a small door in the vestry of this later style of archi- tecture, which is a most interesting chamber, that admission is obtained by a turret stair of the Perpendicular period, to the Public Library. It is certainly not uncommon to find literary storehouses attached to churches of importance, but the pecu- liarity in Wimborne is that it is one of the very earliest attempts to popularize knowledge, and gave to the townspeople of Wim- borne the unspeakable gift in an age when books were scarce and expensive the right to book knowledge free of charge. How far this boon was appreciated by the good folks of Wimborne of that day is not known, but we find that Matthew Prior, the poet, born in Wimborne in 1664, used to visit the library, and with pleasure read copiously of the 243 volumes which it contains. The room is small, but the library is well arranged, and round the edge of each shelf runs an iron rod, to Avhich is attached all the books by means of a chain, so that it is clear, even in the days of the donor, there were those who had EARLY PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 48 TKI respect for the eighth commandment. The rods are secured by locks, so that, to read comfortably, it was necessary to bring a stool beneath the book wanted. Many of the chains are broken, but they are still preserved. The books are of great value and exceedingly rare. The oldest entire manuscript bears the date 1343, and is a compendium for the instruction of priests who might have the cure of souls. There is a beautifully-bound copy of the Breeches Bible, in black letter, dated 1.595, in oak boards, and a volume of Sir Walter Raleigh's " History of the World" ; and also " Walton's Polyglot Bible," complete, dated 16o7. The Bible consists of four volumes, in seven languages, and the New Testament in one volume in live languages, and a Lexicon in seven languages by Castello, dated 1669. The history of Public Libraries appears to date in England at least from the fourteenth century. Monks, from their cloisters, have left us an evidence of how they spent their time between matins and evensong ; and whatever reasonable doubt there may be of the usefulness of their work to the age in which they lived, book-lovers and collectors will ever owe them a debt of gratitude lor the- illuminated books they left as legacies to the generations following them. A singular assertion has been made to the effect that there were more Public Libraries two or three hundred years ago than there are at the present time. This is an interesting point, not only to librarians, but to all anxious to see progress and not retrogression. There is much to be said in favour of this assertion. This proves the great need for the speedy extension of Public Libraries all over the United Kingdom and Ireland. Certain it is that during the Protectorate of ( )liver Cromwell, Public Libraries were established, and it is not a little to the credit of this public-spirited Englishman that he should, at that early date, have recognized that the truest republic for the people was the republic of letters. This brings us to a very important period, no less in fact than the burning question as to which was actually the first Public Library in England. The claim lies chiefly between Bristol and Manchester. Mr. John Taylor, chief librarian of the Bristol Public Libraries, has taken up the defence of Bristol, and has marshalled his facts with great skill. He says, " It should be remembered that our present mental illumination was of no sudden kindling, but had developed fi'om the spark that was kept alive in the cloistered shades of old. It was possible that in the waste of the Monastic Libraries at the dissolution, works may have perished which, had they been spared, would have shown that the Bristol monk or friar was, as elsewhere, sometimes a man of intelligence, or even of genius. Notwith- standing the implied prejudice of the monks and secular clergy against profane learning, they might look back to both these classes of churchmen with feelings of thankfulness for what they had done for the commonwealth of letters, if not by original productions, at least by the preservation of the works of the great minds of antiquity. There was an ancient library that once 44 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. flourished in Bristol, for which they claimed the distinction of being the first library accessible to the public. His purpose was to show that Bristol might claim the honour of having founded a Public Library in her midst two centuries earlier than the date of Chetham's Library, and also that a second Public Library was established in Bristol in 1613, or forty years previous to that of Manchester. Close to the Exchange, Bristol, is a church, which, judging from the Italian campanile, might have been built in the last century, though the windows of the north aisle against the streets would indicate a date as far back as the fifteenth century. An examination of the interior, however, would discover that masses must have been sung within its precincts as early as the twelfth century. This apartment, or upper room, which extended the length of the nave, served as the cottage and library of a fraternity of semi- monastics, to whom was committed the custody of the civic archives, and whose office it was to keep a register of local and public events and acts. This body were termed kalendars, and by a re-establishment of the ordinances, in 1464, by John, Bishop of AYorcester, it was instructed that the prior should constantly reside in the house of the kalendars, and take custody of a certain library, newly erected, at the Bishop's expense, in the same house ; so that every festival day by which, of course, was then meant all days which were not fasts, at two hours before nine, and for two hours after, free access should be granted to all willing to enter, for the sake of instruction, the prior under- taking to explain difficult passages of Holy Scripture, to the best of his knowledge, and to give a public lecture in the library every week. Lest through negligence the books should be lost or alienated, it was ordered that three catalogues of them should be kept ; one to remain with the Dean of Antiquarian Canons, another with the Mayor for the time being, and the third with the prior himself. The Bishop also ordered that once every year there should be a due collating of all the books, with the inventories or catalogues, by the dean, prior, and another appointed by the Mayor, between the feast of St. Michael and All Saints ; and if it should happen that some book, through the neglect of the prior, should be carried out of the library, and stolen, the prior was to restore the book to the library, under a penalty of 40s. above its true value ; and if he could not restore it again, then he was to pay the value of the book and 40s., besides 20s. to the Mayor, and the rest for the benefit of the library. He ventured, therefore, to conclude that as early as 1464 a reference library was instituted in Bristol." This is the main argument which Mr. Taylor brings forward. In further support he sent a few months ago to the "Athenseum," a trans- cript of a document, hitherto unpublished, that was out forty years before the fine old library yet existing in Manchester was founded. A similar institution took its rise in Bristol, and was founded by Robert Redwood in 1615, and Mr. Taylor explains that this the house spoken of in the deed of 1615 was rebuilt K.Mtl.Y PrBI.IC I.IRRARIES. -15 in 1740. The library lias had continued existence, and in 1876 came under the operation of the Act. There is, however, now, another claimant in tin- field. Mr. Charles Welch, the librarian of the Guildhall Library, says that London had a Public Library nearly two hundred years before the Bristol Library of 1613 was founded. There was a Public Library founded by the famous Richard Whittington and William Bury, certainly as early as I \-2~>. This library suffered from an illustrious book thief, as, according to Stow, the Protector Somerset borrowed the books, probably in 1">5J), and forgot to return them. It would require a second volume and an antiquary to enter minutely into the merits of these three claimants as to which was the fii'st Public Library open free of charge to the public. The Chetham Library is unique in the history of libraries, and when one steps into it out of the busy Manchester thoroughfare in which it is situated, it would only require a few people dressed in the costume of the period moving about, to imagine oneself back at least three centuries. Within sight of the two largest railway stations in Manchester, and under the shade of the cathedral church, there is, after passing through the gateway into the large quadrangle, almost as much quiet as if one were miles away from the madding crowd and the busy haunts of men. The building dates back to 1421, and was, no doubt. used for monastic purposes. The college was erected upon rocky ground overlooking the confluence of the Irk and the Irwell, by Thomas West, Baron de la Warr, in the time of Henry VI. The site had previously been occupied by an old manor house known as the Baron's Hall, whose antiquity even then was an unknown quantity. Anyhow, it had for centuries been the resi- dence of the " Lords of Manchester." The generous Baron handed the edifice over to the warden and fellows of the collegiate body, in whose care it remained until 1547. Not being a monastery in the strict sense of the word, it somehow escaped the predatory clutches of Henry VIII. It fortunately survived the dissolution of the monasteries, and was left to his successor, Edward VI., to dissolve the worshipful eonmiunity, which he appears to have done with much thoroughness. The boy king "conveyed" the college to the then Earl of Derby. Then followed the troublous times of the battle of the people against Charles I., and the property was confiscated from the Stanleys. During the Common- wealth the main part of the premises was used as a prison. The old Manchester worthy, Humphrey Chetham, now comes upon the scene. Born in 1580, he had, during the latter years of his life, maintained and educated twenty-two poor boys. In 1653 lie died at the age of seventy-two, and left 7,000 for the purpose of an estate, the profits of which were to be devoted to the maintenance of forty boys. In 1665 a charter was granted by Charles II. making the twenty-four feofees an incorporate body, and they have gone on since then on the self-elective process, administering the estate, and at the present time there are 100 boys in the school or hospital who are fed, clothed, and educated 46 1TUMC LIBRAHIES. KARLY PrUMO LIBRARIES. 4i in the institution. A further bequest of 1, (XX) was devoted to the purchase of a library, and a sum of 2,100 was allotted from his personal estate for the acquirement of a suitable building in which to house the boys and the books. The trustees selected the old college, of which they took possession in 1654. The first purchase of books was made in August, 1655, but the whole of the sum bequeathed was not expended until near the close of the year 1663, when the library consisted of 1,450 volumes. This number had increased to 4,453 in 1712, including thirteen manu- scripts. At the present time the number of volumes in the library is 46,000, of which several hundreds are MSS. of exceeding interest and value. About one-half of the books are of modern literature. The library is especially strong in works on archeo- logy, history, theology, and county histories, and the efforts of the trustees have been to procure the best of original editions in the masterpieces of literature. Here are to be found the granite columns in literature which have formed the quarry for the smaller and less important works. Strange to say, there is only one little pamphlet in the whole library which is known to have belonged to Humphrey Chetham. This reached the librarian only a short time ago from a clergyman who had bought it for a few pence among a number of pamphlets at an old bookshop. In it there is the signature of Humphrey Chetham. The proof that the library has been opened to the public continuously since 1 655 lies chiefly in the old original pur- chase book, a facsimile of the first page of which is given. From this period down to the present time the records of the purchases are continuous, and written in a clear hand by the various librarians who have been in charge. A transcript of the first few lines are : " An acct. of the first parcell of Bookes for ye publicke Libraries of Ilumfrey Chetham, Manchester, is as following Fol. 1. Received from Mr. John Littebury the 2 day of Augt. 1655, Augustmi Opa. Vol. 8 Fol, 7 ; Aquinatis Suma cum coment : Cajet Vol. 2, 1 14s.; Aristotelis Opa., Vol. 2, 1 18s.; Aquinatis, Catena in Evang., 9s.; Coment, in Evang. et Epist.j Vol. 2, 17s.; Opuscula Oma., lls.; Quest disput.de. deo Xt., 10s.; Alvarez de (divina Gratia) Auxiliis, 7s. ; Ambrosii Opa., Vol. 2, 1 10s." Only some eight to ten people per day consult the books in the library, but the whole of the buildings and the quadrangle form a great show place, and no tourists or excursionists consider that they have " done " Cottonopolis until they have seen the Chetham Library. The library is open from ten to four in the winter months and ten to six during the summer. But the library deserves an infinitely better fate than to be used as a mere show place, and some day, amidst the hurry and race for wealth, a good portion of the Manchester public will realize the fact that they have in the very heart of their city old buildings of considerable archaeo- logical value, and the home of literature of the first water, and from which fiction has been scrupulously excluded. The reading room, where the treasures of the library are freely placed at the use of the student, is a very paradise for the spirit 48 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. seeking rest in this unrestful age. The walls are oak-panelled, and on them hang a number of portraits of Manchester worthies. One of these portraits is a veritable (tainsborough. Seated in this room on one of the high-back chairs of Charles II. 's time, and with all the other furniture of the same period, it does not require a great stretch of the imagination to repeople the old chamber with those who must have trod its floor centuries ago. In this very room there probably walked Sir Walter Raleigh, who was entertained there by Dr. Dee. One is tempted to linger in this quaint old place surrounded by its lore of literature and archie; ilogy, but we must forbear. ORIEL WINDOW IN READING-ROOM. Without desiring to enter minutely into the question of which really was the first, it does appear that, so far as Bristol and Manchester are concerned, the former place is the older founda- tion and Manchester the older building. Furthermore, the latter place presents the unique fact of an uninterrupted record of use since 1655 in the same rooms and the same building. A matter of almost equal interest to the foregoing is the discovery a year or two ago by Mr. H. T. Folkard, the librarian THE PASSING OF THE EWART BILL OF i860. 49 of the Wigan Public Library, of a tract issued in 1(599 bearing the title, "An Overture for Founding and Maintaining of Bfbliothecks in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom." The author of this production has been identified as the Rev. James Kirkwood, minister of Minto, so that the " kingdom " referred to is undoubtedly Scotland. In clear and forcible language the writer points out the great usefulness of parochial libraries, especially to the young student before " the cares of his family or the affairs of his calling do so take up his mind that he can have no time nor heart to study." This is capital. lie then urges parochial authorities to secure the establishment of a library in each parish. Mr. Kirkwood proposed that after a suitable place had been provided and placed under the superintendence of the schoolmaster, the minister should send to it all his private books, and be paid for them by an annual tax on the income of the parish. This appears a little singular in the light of to-day. The general expenditure was to be met by the levying of one month's " cess " upon all church incomes, a method which would, in Mr. Kirkwood's opinion, have realized 72,000 Scots or 5,000 sterling Such a sum he expected to be more than sufficient for the purpose intended, and he therefore proposed that the surplus funds should be used in founding a national printing office, which would be controlled by a Committee of the General Assembly. " This founding and promoting of Bibliothecks in every paroch throughout the kingdom," he contended, " is both necessary and easie, advantageous and honourable, our interest and our duty." So interesting is this old pamphlet, copies of which are not to be found either in the British Museum or the Bodleian, that it is reproduced in its entirety, and will be found among the appendices. The saddest thing about the whole matter is that, though nearly two hundred years have passed since the pamphlet was written, the intelligent appreciation of the wants of the country by which its author was evidently animated has not yet infected more than a comparatively small percentage of his countrymen. CHAPTER VI. THE PASSING OF THE EWART BILIi OP 1850. ^ EFEREXCE has already been made to the voluminous report of the Select Committee on Public Libraries. On March 14th, 1849, it was ordered that a Select Com- _ mittee be appointed on the best means of extending the establishment of libraries freely open to the public, especially in large towns in Great Britain and Ireland. The granting of this Committee was largely due to the exertions of Mr. Ewart and Mr. Brotherton, who, at various intervals in 1849, had been agitating the question in the House of Commons. On the 23rd of the same month the Committee was appointed, and consisted of Mr. Ewart, Viscount Ebrington, Mr. Disraeli, Sir 4 50 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Harry Verney, Mr. Charteris, Mr. Bunbury, Mr. George Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Brotherton, Mr. Milnes, The Lord Advocate, Mr. Goulburn, Mr. Thicknesse, Mr. Mackinnon, Mr. Kershaw, and Mr. Cardwell, all of whom have passed over to the majority. The first meeting of this Committee was on March 30, 1849. Three meetings were held in April, eight in May, and four in June, making in all in that year sixteen meetings. Mr. Ewart was present, and took the chair at all the meetings except one. Mr. Brotherton was absent from only one. Sir Harry Verney and Mr. Monckton Milnes were regular attendants at these com- mittees. Mr. Disraeli was present at two of the meetings. The report of 1849 was issued in July of that year, and consists of 318 pages. The evidence of Edward Edwards was first taken, and occupies thirty-six pages. He was also examined at a later date, his evidence again extending to about the same length. He also furnished a number of maps of his own compilation, showing the distribution of libraries in the leading countries of the world. The report presented to the House of Commons by the Committee provides very good reading even at this distant date. They begin by referring to the inquiries made in Parliament during the years immediately preceding the appointment of a Committee. These inquiries referred more particularly to the formation of museums, art galleries, as well as schools of design, as a means of enlightening the country. Right in the very foreground of this report there stands the admission that there were not at that time wanting those who held that such institutions, however successfully established among foreign nations, would not be appreciated, and might be abused by our own. Old prejudices in England die hard, and the same objection is now and again even yet made in some quarters. The Committee then shoot their big gun. They state that not- withstanding the fact that the British Museum, the gallery at Hampton Court, and the National Gallery had been thrown open to the people it was generally admitted that no abuse has marked the change, but that much rational enjoyment and much popular enlightenment have distinguished it. The heavy shot of the gun lies here. They say one improvement, however, yet remains to be accomplished, hitherto (in 1849) almost untried in this country, and that is the establishment of Public Libraries freely accessible to all the people. It was a humiliating confession for them to make that such libraries had long existed on the Continent, and they were further compelled to own that it could not be doubted that their existence had been pregnant with advantage to literature and to the general character of the countries in which they had been founded. No one can deny that it was a just comparison for the Committee to make when they said that it might with equal fairness be inferred that our own literature as well as our own people being denied the benefit of such institutions must have proportionately suffered. They drove this home by saying that they had learned that more than half a century before 1849 the first step taken by an English writer was to consult a foreign Public IIIK PASSING OF THK KWAIIT BILL OF 1A50. .', I library on the subject of his studies, and that no such auxiliary was at the service of British intellect. They referred to < iibbon, who complained that in his time the greatest city in the world was destitute of that useful institution, a Public Library; and that " the writer who had undertaken to treat any large historical subject, was reduced to the necessity of purchasing for his private use a numerous and valuable collection of books which must form the basis of his work." They quote a number of similar cases. The usefulness of the Foreign Libraries is largely brought out, and altogether the report of the committee is forceful and pregnant witli suggestiveness. They point out that the principal advantages offered by Foreign Libraries consist in their number, in their entire accessibility, and in the fact that the books were allowed on liberal yet sufficiently protective conditions to circulate beyond the Avails of the library. It is unnecessary to go further into the details of the Com- mittee's report. A digest of the evidence of Edward Edwards would be interesting, but the exigencies of the present book pre- vent its being done. Asked what had been the result of opening the National Gallery and Hampton Court Palace, he unhesitat- ingly said that large numbers of people had been withdrawn from amusements of an unintellectual and often of an injurious character, to such amusements as are rational and improving, and are calculated to benefit them in very many ways. He was asked if he thought that libraries would have the same effect, and replied that even in a greater degree if they were made generally accessible. This is where Edwards's warm-hearted enthusiasm showed itself. The immense and almost daily extension of London had even at that early date begun to show itself, and he was asked if the policy of creating Public Libraries was not daily becoming of more importance. He replied to this that he thought it was on several accounts. And this " not only from the growth of London making the actual existing provision of libraries more and more inadequate, but also from the fact that the increase in the production of books makes it still more difficult for persons, even those who have considerable private resources, to keep pace with what is produced both here and abroad. Therefore, that as it becomes more difficult for many persons adequately to purchase books, it is still more important that they should be provided in Public Libraries." Questions about the provision of libraries in manufacturing and commercial towns were then put to him, and he said that this was daily becoming a question of increasing importance. Asked what attempts had been made to supply libraries in large towns, he was compelled to own that only some attempts of an imperfect kind had been made by the mechanics' institutions. He produce:! a list of some of the libraries in Lancashire and Cheshire towns, but from the fluctuating nature of the resources of those institu- tions, and the want of permanency in them, such libraries often last but a short time, and were then dispersed and sold. This must suffice for the report of 1849. The report published 52 PUBLIC LIBBABIES- in 1850 is a continuation of this, and extends to over 400 pages. There was some slight difference in the constitution of the Committee. The first meeting was on the 4th March, 1850. They mot again on the 7th, llth, 14th, and 21st of the same month, and then adjourned in order to give time for the printing and translation of certain foreign papers relating to Continental Libraries. They afterwards met on June 4th, and the final meet- ing was on June llth, making in all seven meetings. Mr. Kwart was present at every one of the meetings and acted as chair- man. Mr. Brotherton attended five of the sittings, and the name of Mr. Disraeli does not appear as having been present at one of the seven. The first witness again examined was Mr. Edward Edwards, whose evidence was by far the most important of that laid before the Committee. The other gentlemen who gave evidence were Mr. Robert Lemon, chief clerk of the State Paper Office, Sir Henry Ellis, principal librarian of the British Museum, Mr. Antonio Panizzi, keeper of the printed books at the British Museum, and Mr. C. R. AVeld, librarian to the Royal Society. The questions asked were of a most varied and comprehensive char- acter. Every branch of the library world was dealt with, and the questions were framed with a view of bringing out the most trust- worthy and useful information. Naturally a very large number of the questions deal with the British Museum. Mr. Panizzi was asked whether he thought that the interests of the public in an intellectual point of view would warrant the expense incurred by the extension of the reading-rooms of the British Museum. He thought that decidedly they Avould, but added that a better plan would be to provide new libraries for general resort, open to all comers, and to regard the library of the British Museum as a library for the higher class of students, rather for purposes of research and erudite study, and so to meet both requirements. As a library for the use of men of letters, the regulations which at present obtain at the British Museum are good in the main as good probably as could be devised ; but that, in addition to that provision, there is needed another provision of a different kind for general readers ; a provision of educational libraries, which would certainly come under regulations of a different kind from those which are found quite sufficient for the uses of the British Museum Library. The whole of the evidence in this direction was, that in London, libraries were required in all directions, and that to say that the British Museum Library could possibly supply the book needs of London was simply erroneous. Questions were sent to the Public Libraries on the Continent, Greece, Russia, and other countries, and the replies are printed in the languages of those countries. The whole of the two Blue Books may be summarized as follows : The Committee believed that there was much in the practice and experience of other countries by which we might profit, and it was hoped the labours of this Committee would give a powerful impulse and a right direction to that growing interest in the subject which has been evinced in so many parts THE PASSING OF TIIK KWAIIT BILL OF 1850. 53 of the country. Further, that this country is still greatly in want of libraries freely accessible to the public, and would derive great benefit from their establishment. There is much in the .sum and substance of their work, that we may apply to our- selves now, after a lapse of forty years, although we have made some good progress, and the question does not now by any means stand where it did. In going through the evidence of Mr. E. Edwards, it is impossible not to feel the pulsation of a man alive to the book needs of the time, and the keen prophetic spirit actuating him in all he said and did for the enlarging of the work of Public Libraries. Sufficient honour has never yet been paid to his work on behalf of these institutions, and the very least that should now be done is either a monograph of his life and labours, written by such a man as Mr. AV. E. A. Axon, or a tablet or bust placed in the Manchester Public Reference Library. He died during sleep on the 7th February, 1886, and was one of the most earnest and enthusiastic workers which this movement has ever known. He was originally an assistant in the printed books department of the British Museum. When the Manchester Public Libraries were in course of . formation, he worked very assiduously in connection with them, and there is no doubt that they owe much of their success to his wide knowledge of books and the ability displayed during his six years' management. After his retirement from the service of the Manchester Public Libraries' Committee, he published several books on libraries and their management, the most important being his " Free Town Libraries," and " Memoirs of Libraries." He was also the author of " Lives of the Founders of the British Museum," a " Life of Raleigh," and many other works, and was granted a Civil List pension in 1883, of 80 a year, and never was a pension better bestowed, for libraries and librarians owe him a debt of gratitude which can never be paid, especially when it is considered that hie salary during the first eleven years while at work at the British Museum, was only a little over 164 per annum. He was a vigor- ous worker, often being at his desk at six a.m., and his earliest writings on Libraries date back to 1836, when he was twenty- four years of age. He was seventy-four at the time of his death. As to the actual origin of the Ewart Bill of 1850 there has been recently some interesting discussion, and the question seems now to be fairly set at rest. It is a striking fact that so many move- ments for the public good, and which have gone to the very core of our national life, have had their beginnings in the meeting together of two, three, or more men in a little upper room. This was so with the Anti-Corn Law League, and it may be said to have been the same with the Museums' Act of 1845, which really formed the basis of the Act of 1850, the previous Act being repealed on the passing of the Ewart Bill. In one of the class-rooms of the then Government School of Design in the Royal Manchester Institution two friends were, on a winter's morning in 1844, warming them- selves over the fire, for it was snowing out of doors. These two friends were the late Mr. George Jackson, the honorary secretary of ~)4 H T.I.IC I.IHUARIES. the school, and the other was Mr. George Wallis, then the head- master of that school, now the keeper of the Art collection at South Kensington Museum. Mr. .Jackson urged Mr. AVallis to prepare a paper on the value of museums in the provinces as a means of impi'oving public taste. Mr. Wallis, however, insisted that he (Mr. Jackson) was the proper person to prepare a paper, inasmuch as so early as 1837 he had prepared for and read at the Manchester Mechanics' Institution two papers on "Schools of Design," in which he had advocated something very like museums in connection with them. The friendly contention ended in Mr. Jackson undertaking to prepare a paper, on condition that he had the assistance of Mr. Wallis, and help in its discussion. The result was a paper on " The means of improving public taste,' and it was read at a conversazione held in the Royal Manchester Institution on 25th November, 1844. The paper, and the dis- cussion which followed, says Mr. A Vail is, excited so inuch in- terest that it was proposed to hold a public meeting for the further consideration of the subject. This meeting was held in the theatre of the Manchester Athenaeum, on 30th November, 1844, the late Mr. Richard Cobden, M.P., taking the chair. The paper was again read by special request, and the subject discussed at length, as recorded in the Manchester newspapers. Amongst those present was Mr. Joseph Brother ton, M.P. for Salford, who seemed deeply interested, as was Mr. Cobden, in the matter : and after the meeting Mr. Brotherton proposed to Mr. Jackson and Mr. Wallis that they should furnish him with the materials for drafting a bill to empower corporations and the governing bodies of large towns to establish museums, and support them, as discussed, by a penny rate, Mr. Brotherton undertaking to lay the matter before Mr. William Ewart, M.P. for Liverpool, who had been chairman of the Committee of 1836, which recommended the establishment of schools of design. This suggestion was carried out, and on the 6th of March, 1845, Mr. Ewart moved in the House of Commons for leave to bring in a bill to enable corporations to establish and maintain museums of art. An interesting debate followed, and amongst the speakers were Sir Robert Peel (then Premier), Mr. Joseph Hume, Mr. Brotherton, and Lord John Manners ; Mr. Shiel concluding the debate by advocating Sunday opening, which did not help the proposal. The result was the " Act for encourag- ing the establishment of museums in large towns." Owing to a variety of circumstances not the least difficult of which were the conditions on which corporations could establish such museums, and support them by a halfpenny instead of a penny rate the Act was practically a dead letter ; but in the session of 1850 Mr. Ewart carried an amended Act, by repealing that of 1845, and giving powers enabling town councils to establish Public Libraries and museums. Mr. AA T allis is a very modest man, but we are glad that he has enabled us to clear up the point as to how rate-supported Public Libraries came to be established. In a letter received a few weeks ago, he says that his official work has been more with the exten- Till-: PASSING oy THK KWAKT BIIL Oy sion of museums than with libraries, but he has never lost his interest in tin- latter, and has always begged books or money to buy them whenever lie has hud a chance of doing so. He was fortunate enough some five or six years ago to get a friend to "he foO worth of books to one of the London libraries. Mr. Ewart's efforts gave a concrete form to an idea which was widely prevalent in the public mind. The diffusion of education since the beginning of the century had been great, and a rapidly- increasing class had begun to feel the necessity of providing means for carrying to a higher development the education which had been conferred on the poor in the national schools. By co- operative effort the necessary books could be readily placed at the disposal of those who were too poor to buy them for them- selves. Hence the suggestion of rate-supported libraries. But the limitations which it was then thought useful to impose in order, presumably, to prevent the ratepayer from spending his money recklessly for his own advantage, were stringent, and not a little singular. The expenditure was to be limited to a halfpenny in the pound on the rateable value of the property in the borough or district adopting the Act, and even of this not a penny was to be spent on books. There might be a library, but it should contain no books bought at the public cost. It was hoped that philanthropists would come forward, and at their own " proper costs and charges " fill the empty shelves. Doubtless the untamed philanthropist was as rampant in those days as now, but his sympathies did not ran in this direction. The books were not forthcoming, and Parliament had again to be appealed to, with the result that in 1855 the Act, which is up to the present time the principal enabling Act, was passed. The work of the late Mr. AVilliam Ewart in connection with this Bill was not by any means light, and the struggle he had to secure the passing of his Bill provides one of the many examples of how often the House of Commons has opposed measures to which, after they have been passed, it has given no stinted praise for the beneficial results to the nation con- ferred by the Acts. When Mr. Ewart proposed that British municipalities should be empowered to build libraries, as well as make sewers and supply gas and water, and to levy a local rate for bringing books into the drawing-room of the wealthiest, the parlour of the tradesman, or the kitchen of the working man, he found, as all reformers have found, that his only prospect of success lay in dealing piecemeal with the subject. The record in Hansard of the debate on the question is very interesting, if not profitable, reading. The appearance of the "talking shop," as Carlyle irreverently called it, on the second reading of the Bill by which it was proposed to create for the first time in England permanent Public Libraries, was somewhat striking. The House was not by any means a full one, but the benches were well occupied by those who had previously expressed themselves against the measure. Had there been some trumpery personal explanation to be made, and a "scene" expected, every seat 56 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. would have been occupied, but because the feeding of the in- telligence of the nation was concerned, the majority of the members lingered over their dinner, and their places were vacant. Constituencies now watch very closely the attendance of their members at divisions, and it is well for the nation that such is the case. It is very refreshing to turn back to some of the speeches made upon the second reading the crucial stage of all legislative measures, and as most of those who took part in the debate have gone over to the majority, the pith of the chief speeches made on March 13, 1850, is here given. Mr. Kwart, in moving the second reading, said that the simple object of it was to give a permissive power to town councils to levy a small rate for the establishment of Public Libraries and museums in all municipal towns. An Act called the Museums' Act was passed f our years previously, enabling town councils, in towns having a population of 10,000 inhabitants and upwards, to levy a small rate to establish museums of science and art for 'the benefit of the public ; and all that the present Bill proposed was to extend the principle of the Museums' Act to the establishment of Public Libraries also. In asking the House to adopt such a measure, he was backed by the feeling of many of the towns of the country; and since he had introduced it, he had received communications from several large towns in Scotland and Ire- land, who were desirous of having the Bill extended to both of those countries. Afterwards Colonel Sibthorp said he would be happy to contribute his mite towards providing libraries and museums and proper recreations for the humbler class in large towns ; but he thought that, however excellent food for the mind might be, food for the body was what was now most wanted for the people. He did not like reading at all, and he hated it when at Oxford ; but he could not see how one halfpenny in the pound would be enough to enable town councils to carry into effect the immense powers they were to have by this Bill. He felt that this Bill would increase the taxation of the people in times when it was not at all necessary, and, therefore, he moved that the Bill be read a second time that day six months. Mr. Brotherton was surprised at the opposition to the Bill. In the first place, the measure was entirely permissive : and secondly, the rate was limited to one halfpenny in the pound. The money could, he pointed out, only be applied to the erection of, or paying rent for a building for holding a Public Library or Museum. No power was given to lay out the funds in the purchase of books, specimens, or pictures ; all these were left to depend on the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants. In the populous boroughs of the country this was a very proper measure. In Salford the town council, acting as the representatives of all the ratepayers, had come forward with alacrity to provide a building for a Public Library and museum. The private gifts of the inhabitants had already stocked the museum to a considerable extent, and there had been voluntary contribu- tions made of between 5,000 and 6,000 volumes to the library (which THE PASSING OF THE EWART BILL OF 1850. " was attended by hundreds every night) in less than six months. He contended that this Bill would provide the cheapest police that could possibly be established, and what was the use of education for the people unless they were enabled to consult valuable works which they themselves could not purchase ? It was the duty of the House to promote all that had a tendency to bring the higher and the humbler class together ; but this could not be done unless the people had the assistance of those above them. Mr. Bernal (afterwards Mr. Bernal Osborne) said his objection to the Bill rested on a very narrow and limited ground. Then he continued : If it had proposed to give power to town councils on an application to the Treasury from two-thirds or three-fourths of the inhabitants of a town, to be allowed the principle of the Bill, to tax the general body of the ratepayers for the establishment of libraries and museums, he would not have had so much objection to this measure. But he found fault with it because it would enable any town council desirous of carrying out the views of any small section of the inhabitants, to tax the general body of ratepayers for an institution that might soon degene- rate into a mere political club, for which only a few of those who were compelled to contribute for its support had any sympathy. Had the Bill been really permissive, as it was alleged, he would not have opposed it ; but it proposed to clothe town councils with imperative powers, and, therefore, he would support the Amendment. Lord John Manners (now the Duke of Rutland) said, as far as the great principle of the Bill was concerned, no one was more anxious to support it than himself, for his experience of towns led him to wish that in every town, not only museums but Public Libraries were established ; at the same time the public did view with great suspicion any measure that tended to increase the amount of local taxation. He admitted that the Bill would not tell upon the landed gentry, but it would impose an additional tax upon the agricultural labourers. Mr. Labouchere (father of the present member for Northampton) said he was induced to take the same view as the member for Montrose. It would be most useful if in every good-sized town a well-composed library was established, to which all the inhabitants had free access. He was of opinion that it was of much greater importance that there should be a good library than a good museum. Nothing, he believed, could be more visionary than the fear that these libraries would be filled with novels and the worst description of literature, or that they would be mere receptacles of newspapers. Why should such distrust be entertained of the discretion of the town councils, who, he conceived, could be as safely trusted with the management of this as of other matters placed under their control. The question was of considerable importance, and one in which all classes were interested : and he confessed he did not think these libraries could lead to those consequences which some hon. gentlemen, who opposed the measure, appeared to apprehend. Mr. W. Miles said his objection to the Bill was, that it gave the town council the power of taxation without consent. Moreover, there was something like a false pretence in the Bill, for although the maximum rate was said to be only a halfpenny in the pound, he observed, by Ihe third clause, it was enacted, that, for the purchase of land, it shall be 58 PUBLIC I.IBRAUIES. lawful for the town council, from time to time, with the approval of the Treasury, to borrow money at interest. Mr. Johii Bright said there was evidently great accordance on both sides of the House with regard to the object of the Bill, and he hoped, therefore, that the House would not, on account of certain objections, which might be removed, refuse to read it a second time. The member for the University of Cambridge seemed to take an entirely erroneous view of the halfpenny rate, which was only intended to apply to the building and furnishing of the library, the books being supplied by voluntary contributions. There must be a large concurrence of opinion before any step could be taken. The town councils would not borrow 5,000 to build a library unless they felt satisfied that the wealthier inhabitants would furnish books. He would be ashamed of himself and the House if he supposed that it would be necessary to say a word in favour of the object of the Bill. He (Mr. Bright) was quite sure that nothing would tend more to the preservation of order than the diffusion of the greatest amount of intelligence, and the prevalence of the most complete and open discussion amongst all classes. He would give his support to the second reading. Mr. Houndell Palmer, now Lord Selborne, expressed a doubt that they were all agreed as to the principle of this Bill. Re- admitted That it would be desirable to have good Public Libraries in all towns ; but that was not the principle of this Bill. The principle of this Bill was taxation without the consent of the persons to be taxed. According to the principle of the hon. member for Manchester, this Bill would be totally inefficient for all the purposes for which it was to be introduced ; for the hon. gentleman said, that by passing it they did no more than enable town councils to erect the buildings and to purchase furniture. Why, unless they were possessed of libraries and museums, what town council would be justified in erecting buildings in anticipation that charitable persons would afterwards present them with books and curiosities ? It was evident that the Bill was intended for ulterior objects, by which powers would be given for the purchase of books, and, perhaps, also for the fitting-up of lecture rooms. He hoped the House would consider well before they applied to institutions of this nature the principles of public management, and compulsory rating instead of the voluntary and self-supporting principle, which he considered to be the life and essence and the cause of the utility of such institutions. On these grounds he should certainly divide against it. Mr. Palmer expressed what was evidently the feeling of a con- siderable number of members, that the time had not then been reached when the principle of popular control could be introduced into matters of this kind. How far this mistrust was ungrounded has been shown by results. Sir R. II. Inglis, and other members, opposed the second reading. Mr. Ewart, in reply, said that the latter hon. gentleman seemed to forget that this was merely a permissive Bill. He would not now at that late hour go into all the objections which had been urged against it, but would only say that existing libraries had been formed on the Museums' Act, on the principles of which he Till. PASSING OK THK KW.VHT Itll.l. 'F 1 S "i( ). 59 luu I framed the present Bill. He would give his careful con- sideration to all those objections, and endeavour, if possible, to meet them, and render the Bill more popular. After Mr. Muntz, Sir G. Grey, and Mr. Law had addressed the House, a division was taken, the result being for the second reading, ayes, 118 ; noes, 101 ; majority, 17. On April 10th the Bill passed through Committee, with certain modifications, by a majority of 35. It must be confessed that the House looked bored with the subject. The immediate proposal before them was limited to the procuring of sites and the erecting or adapting of buildings for Public Libraries, and the provision from time to time of the expenses of maintenance by means of a library rate ; and it was entirely a permissive measure, leaving every town to decide for itself. The provision of books was to be a matter for future legislation. Looking at the question as it rested before the lli'U>c, one naturally wonders that so simple a measure should liavc met with any opposition. In later stages the small measure of practicability which the Bill contained was, by the persistent will'ulness of its opponents, lessened in Committee. When it was returned from the Committee it had yet another trial to pass, and altogether it went through a dozen discussions and six formal divi- sions before the opposition ceased. Ultimately, when it reached the Lords, to the credit of that hereditary chamber be it said, it was carried without any opposition whatever, and, in fact, what was said in the gilded chamber was rather on the side of furthering than of hindering the measure. It must be admitted, however, that as landed proprietors they would not have to pay the tax. When it received the Royal assent on August 14th, 1850, its chief provisions stood as follow : 1. Town councils were permitted, if they thought it well to do so, to put to their burgesses the question " Will you have a library rate levied for providing a Public Library," and to poll them on that question. The proposal was, however, limited to a population of not less than 10,000 within the municipal limits. 2. In the event of the ratepayers deciding that question in the affirmative, the rate so levied was limited to a halfpenny in the pound on the rateable property. 3. The product of any rate so levied was to be applied (1) to the erection or adaptation of buildings, together with contingent expenses, if any, for the site ; (2) to current charges of manage- ment and maintenance. 4. Town councils were then empowered to borrow money on the security of the rates of any city or borough which shall have adopted the Act. Other legislation followed, as will be seen on reference to the Appendix, in which the various Acts will be found. It is interesting to note that the late Lord Hatherley (Lord Chancellor), then Mr. W. P. Wood, took the liveliest interest in and gave great assistance to Mr. W. Ewart, in the passing of the Amendment Libraries' Act of 1855. Lord Hatherley was a 60 PUni.IC LIBRARIES. Commissioner of the Westminster Public Libraries, from the adoption of the Act, in 1856, by those parishes, until his death in 1881. THE LATE WILLIAM EWART, M.P. The late William Ewart, lived to see some very happy results as the outcome of his work. He died in 1869. Many a man has THE PASSING OF THI: I:\VAUT MILL OF 1850. 61 been immortalized in marble, who did far less for the public weal than has been accomplished by the Public Libraries' Acts, which will for ever be associated with his name. lie was the second son of the late Mr. Kwart, merchant, of Liverpool, near which city he was born in 1798. The Ewarts are an old Kirkcudbright family, dating back there to 1576. His early education was obtained at Eton, where he had among his schoolfellows Dr. Pusey, Mr. Denison, a past Speaker of the House of Commons, the late Dr. Trower, Bishop of Gibraltar, the late Marquis of Londonderry, and others. From Eton he went to Christ Church, Oxford, and took his 15. A. degree in 1821, and in 1827 he was called to the Bar. After leaving Oxford he lived fur two years in Italy, Germany, and France, for the purpose of studying the language of each of those countries. He not only returned to Kngland a very accomplished linguist, but his travels had a further influence upon him. The libraries then open to the public in so many French, German, and Italian cities first aroused liis desire to see English cities and towns as well endowed in that respect. In 1828 he entered Parliament for the since disfranchised borough of Bletchingley, and voted for the first Reform Bill. He afterwards sat for Liverpool, and later for Wigan. His name, however, is most associated with the Dumfries Burghs, for which constituency he sat from 1841 to 1868. In the early part of his career Mr. Ewart's name appeared very fre- quently in the reports of the Parliamentary debates as a speaker, both on subjects of general politics, in which he was an advanced Liberal, and on special subjects, such as the sugar duties, for Free Trade in sugar, and in 1834 for the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and many other questions which have gone to the very roots of our national well-being. He always exhibited a laudable zeal on behalf of the working classes and the population of our large and crowded cities, and advocated the opening of public museums and galleries, and other repositories of works of art, as free from every restriction as possible. He also was among the first to propose, and certainly one of those whose steady perseverance carried, several important bills for the establishment of schools of design. The nation is very apt to forget the great blessings which have accrued from some of the small and apparently insignificant measures passed by the House of Commons, but the memory of William Ewart should ever be kept green by the friends of this movement. An excellent portrait of him appears on the opposite page. In the middle of 1887, Mr. Gladstone, in opening a Public Library, paid a high tribute to his memory. It is interesting to note that Sir John Gladstone, the father of Mr. (Hailstone, was an intimate friend of the father of William Ewart, and Sir John gave the names of his friend's son as Christian names to his own son, who was to become so distinguished. William Ewart could have no better monument than that of his name being perpetuated in the name of England's greatest living commoner. Mr. Gladstone, speaking at Swansea, said : " It recalls to me the early clays of my political life, and the name 62 PUBLIC L of one whom I knew well from my boyhood upwards, namely, Mr. William Ewart, who passed the Public Libraries Act, and on whose memory and whose services I look back with the greatest respect and regard. There is no doubt that Mr. Ewart, by his efforts in this cause, entitled himself to be enrolled upon the list of England's benefactors. He was, in point of fact, not only a patriot, but a prophet in this case. He took up the question of Public Libraries at a very early date, and he reminds us of the phrase which is applied in a higher and holier sphere to a character familiar to us all he was for the time the ' voice of one crying in the wilderness.' But by degrees there became apparent solidity and reality of the public interest which was involved in this question, and which was perceived by him in the far distance, long before others were aware of its existence, while the majority were perhaps inclined to treat it as a crotchet of a benevolent mind, and the product of his fancy rather than of his judgment. Notwithstanding such discouragements, Mr. Ewart laboured steadily in the cause, and could he now be amongst us how he would rejoice to think of the acceptance which his great purpose has obtained." Mr. Ewart was for thirty-eight years in Parliament, between years the 1828 and 1868, when he resigned his seat for the Dumfries Burghs, having represented them for twenty-seven years. The present writer has recently heard from Miss Ewart, his daughter, who mentioned that she has with her brother and sister sent photographs of their late father to most of the Public- Libraries in the country. CHAPTEK VII. THE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY UNDER THE ACT. E influence of Manchester on commerce, politics, and education has long been a recognized fact, and to the everlasting credit of Manchester be it said that it was the first town to avail itself of the Public Libraries' Act of 18*50. Cottonopolis may reasonably be proud of this fact, and the author of this work, a native of that district, looks back with pride and pleasure to the time when, as a lad in his teens, he used the old Campfield Library as a borrower. All honour to Manchester for what she has done for the advance- ment of knowledge and social progress in its various forms. Warrington had a Museum and Keference Library from 1843 ; Leicester had a rate-supported Museum from 1844, under the James Silk Buckingham Act of 1843 ; Salford had its Peel Park Library, and Museum, a year or two before the passing of the Ewart Act ; but to Manchester belongs the credit of giving effect to the Act in establishing a popular Lending and Reference Library. The Manchester papers of the time contain full reports of the meetings. They were then issued twice a week, these being published on Wednesday and Saturday. The opening ceremony THE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY UNDER THE ACT. 63 took place on the afternoon and evening of Thursday, September 2, i^ij-2, and in the issues of Saturday the 4th the fullest promin- ence is given to the reports of the two meetings. Each of the Manchester papers devoted about a column to a leader on the important event which had taken place in their midst. To the afternoon meeting some eight columns are devoted, and the report of the evening meeting extends to between five and six columns. Nothing could better demonstrate the significance of the event in the estimation of the Manchester press than this fact, and from that time to the present the "Manchester Guardian," " Examiner and Times " and " Courier " have never ceased to give Public Libraries their earnest and consistent advocacy. The tone of the editorials is hopeful and buoyant throughout, and in perusing carefully the entire fifteen columns of newspaper matter it is impossible not to be struck with the inspiring tone which characterized the proceedings. The " Manchester Guardian " in its editorial, remarked that " Sir John Totter and his coadjutors, in the foundation of the Public Library, scarcely need to be con- gratulated on the brilliant ceremony which has crowned their labours. If they feel towards the nascent institution as towards their natural offspring they must have some satisfaction in reflect- ing that a more successful christening never ushered into the world a favourite of fortune. No good fairy was absent from the festal board, nor, we firmly trust and believe, did any malignant genius slip in uninvited to mar the destiny which so many powers had contributed to render perfect. In our age and country few undertakings have been launched under more august or varied auspices." Then there follows later on in the editorial these words, so pregnant with hope and foresight : " To what vast fields of mental and moral elevation, individual and social, an avenue was opened for our teeming population on that day never, we trust, to be shut to the poorest of our fellow- townsmen so long as Manchester has an existence and a name." For thirty-eight years the doors have been open to the very poorest, and through all time to come, as far as one can be humanly certain, they will remain an open portal for the long line of generations to follow. As the time approached for the opening ceremony the interest in the object increased, subscriptions were multiplied, and numerous were the applications for tickets. A more brilliant and intellectual assemblage was seldom seen than that which filled every nook and cranny of the reference room of the Campfield Library where the meetings were held. The lending library on the ground floor was opened as a reception room. At a quarter after eleven a.m. the principal guests came upon the platform, and were received with loud applause. On the chairman's right there were R. Barnes, Mayor of Manchester, the Bishop of Manchester, Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, Bart., M.P., R. Monckton Milnes, M.P. (afterwards Lord Houghton), W. Makepeace Thackeray, John Bright, M.P., Charles Knight, James Crossley, and M. Ross. To the left of the chairman were the Earl of 64 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Shaftesbury, the Earl of Wilton, Charles Dickens, Sir James Stephen, Joseph Brotherton, M.P., J. A. Turner, treasurer of the Public Library Fund, Sir E. Armitage, and Thomas Bazley. The whole of these have now passed over to the majority, but the movement whose birth they were celebrating is destined to envelope the entire country by the time the jubilee of the move- ment comes round. The entire story of these two meetings is so full of interest and bears retelling so well that the indulgence of the reader must be asked if the details seem wearisome. The chairman first read a report of the history of the institution. This occupied a column of small type in the newspaper reports. In the summer of 1850 a subscription was set on foot for the establishment of a library. But as it was the especial object of the promoters to provide means for the mental culture and moral elevation of the artisans and workpeople, who form so large and important an element of such a community as Manchester, it was laid down, as the funda- mental basis of the scheme, that it should include a Free Lending Library, an institution up to that time without example in this country. In support of this object twenty-six townsmen sub- scribed, either for themselves or for their respective firms, the sum of 100 each. The building at Campfield had early been pointed out as well adapted to the contemplated purpose. It had originally been built by the working classes with an outlay exceeding 5,000, but under the then existing circumstances those interested were willing to dispose of it for 1,200. Sir Oswal Mosley owned a chief rent upon it of 91 6s. per annum, which was estimated to be worth twenty-four years' purchase, or about 2,200. That gentleman, on being informed of the purpose to which it was intended to devote the building, expressed his cordial approval, and stated that he should value the chief rent at twenty years' purchase, 1,826, and should further testify his goodwill to the project by returning one-half of the purchase money as a contribution to the fund. In January, 1851, the first appeal was made to the public for co-operation and support. Particulars as to the formation of the library then follow. The speech of the chairman, Sir John Potter, came first after the recital of the particulars by the secretary. The mayor, Robert Barnes, who wore his chain and badge of office, followed. The Earl of Shaftesbury the good earl said : In rising to propose the first resolution, I must defend myself against the probable charge, that, as a stranger, and unconnected with your great city, I presume to obtrude myself upon the notice of this meeting. The resolution which I am called upon to move, expresses : "That this meet- ing witnesses with great satisfaction the opening ceremonial of the Man- chester Public Library, and desires to express its entire confidence that this noble institution will effect great and lasting good to the community for generations to come." There will be no difficulty in obtaining your con- currence to this resolution, and there will be as little difficulty in showing to the by-standers and the world the large and local benefits that will THK FIRST prm.io T.rTvn.vHv rvr>KK THK AfT. (>;"> arise from this institution. But we must go further than local benefits ; and allow me to observe that in these days of pursuit of excitement, in these days of novel projects and restless inquiry, in these days of acceler- ated progress, when time and space seem almost extinct, you are preparing hereby an antidote to mischiefs that might likewise arise, and setting an example that may be imitated ; and in laying down a principle of universal application, you assert that the true end of commerce is to make the necessities of the country subservient to its civilization, and then its civilization subservient to the social and moral amelioration of the whole family of man. Now, sir, who in these days will presume to question the growing importance of the man of commerce and industry ? They no longer, as before, figure for a time, and then become absorbed in the great mass of proprietors. They now stand apart, upon a separate and inde- pendent basis, and claim to be heard as equal to the best in patriotism, in principle, and in intellectual power. Our institutions God be praised ! can well bear this demand. . . . You have founded this great and glorious institution, large, liberal, and cosmopolite ; and from my heart, I say, may God prosper it to the purpose to which it was intended ; and may you, in the pursuit of wealth, and in the duties of commerce, in the exercise of every virtue, and in the maintenance of every sound and great principle may you, I say, thereby sanctify the possession and enjoyment of your riches, and may you enjoy for yourselves, and transmit to those who may come after you, the citizenship of a crowning city, "whose merchants are princes, and whose traffickers are the honourable of the earth." Therefore, with heartfelt satisfaction, I propose the resolution I have had the honour to read to you. Sir Edward Tiuhver J/ytton, M.P., spoke as follows: In rising to second the proposition which has been placed before you in such eloquent and touching terms, I am.' reminded that there was once a Scottish peasant, who, having raised himself to a rank in the eyes of posterity beyond that of ordinary princes, desired also to raise the whole class which he ennobled in the scale of intellectual nobility, and was the first to institute libraries for the people in the rural districts of Scotland That peasant was Robert Burns the poet, and when I look around this noble hall and this large assembly ; when I know that behind me are the contributions that come from the palaces of your kings ; when I see that next to me is one of our most reverend dignitaries of the church ; when I see beyond me the representatives of some of the loftiest houses of our aristocracy ; and when I look upon either side and know that you have present also the representatives of the orders of literature and art ; and when I look before me and see an array that I confess awes and dazzles me more than all, composed of those who are never absent where good is to be done, I own I do wish that Burns could have foreseen what magni- ficence you have given to his idea. . . . But, gentlemen, education does not cease when we leave school ; education rightly considered is the work of a life, and libraries are the school books of grown up men. I was exceedingly touched when the other day I was taken by Sir Elkanah Armitage to see the library and museum at Peel Park, which, I believe, owes as much to Mr. Brotherton as this library owes to Sir John Potter. I was moved and affected when I saw so many intelligent young faces bent over books with such earnest attention ; and when I felt what healthful stimulants had replaced the old English excitement of the ale- house and the gin palace. tiii ITBI.IC I.HU:AUII>. Tlion came Charles Dickens : I have seen so many references made in newspapers, in parliamentary debates, and elsewhere to the " Manchester School," that I have long had a considerable anxiety to know what that phrase might mean, and what the " Manchester School " might be. My natural curiosity on this head has not been diminished by the very contradictory accounts I have received respecting that same " school ; " some great authorities assuring me that it was a very good one, some that it was a very bad one ; some that it was very broad and comprehensive, some that it was very narrow and limited ; some that it was all cant, and some that it was all cotton. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have solved this difficulty by finding here to-day that the " Manchester School " is a great free school, bent on carrying instruction to the poorest hearths. It is this great free school inviting the humblest workman to come in and be its student ; this great free school, most munificently endowed by voluntary subscription in an incredibly short space of time starting upon its glorious career with 20,000 volumes of books knowing no sect, no party, no distinction knowing but the public want and the public good. Henceforth this building shall represent to me the " Manchester School," and I pray to Heaven, moreover, that many great towns and cities, and many high authorities may go to school a little in the Manchester seminary, and profit by the noble lesson that it teaches. ... I have long been, in my sphere, a zealous advocate for the diffusion of knowledge among all classes and conditions of men ; because I do believe, with all the strength and might with which I am capable of believing anything, that the more a man knows, the more humbly and with a more faithful spirit he comes back to the Fountain of all knowledge, and takes to his heart the great sacred precept, ' ' On earth peace, goodwill towards men ! " William Makepeace Thackeray said : You will see that in seconding this resolution, my trouble need but be small. Of course, amongst the many sanitary and social reforms which every man interested in the public welfare is now anxious to push forward, the great measure of books will not be neglected ; and we look to those as much as we look to air, or to light, or to water. If books do soothe, cheer, and console ; if books do enlighten, enliven, and fortify ; if they do make sorrow bearable to us, or teach us to forget or to endure it ; if they do create in us harmless tears or happy laughter, if they do bring forth in us that peace and that feeling of goodwill of which Mr. Dickens spoke, and which anybody who has read his books must have felt has come from them surely we will not grudge these estimable blessings to the poorest of our friends, but will try with all our might to dispense these cheap but precious benefits over all. Of educated mechanics, of course, it is not my business to speak, or ever my wish to pretend to be an instructor. Those who know the educated mechanics of this vast city or this empire, are aware that they are in the habit of debating the greatest literary and political questions amongst themselves ; that they have leisure to think, and talent to speak, much greater than that of men who sometimes are obliged to appear for a moment before you. They have their poets and their philosophers. The character of their education is very much changed from that of one hundred years ago, when, if you remember, Hogarth represented the evil mechanic as occupied with Moll Flanders, and the good mechanic as having arrived at the reading of the story of the good apprentice, who was made Lord Mayor of London. The THK I-TKST PI lU.ir I.IHKAKY C\TRH THE ACT. 67 mechanics of our day have got their Carlyles to read, their Dickenses on their shelf, and their Bulwers by their side. It is only to the very poor to the especially poor that the resolution which we have before us applies. I am sure that you will use all your endeavours to meet the purposes for which it was intended, and to carry the contents of your noble volumes into the cottages, garrets, and cellars. I am aware, gentlemen, that in so vast a collection, the sort of works which I am in the habit of writing can occupy but a very small space. I know that our novels are but what we may call tarts for the people. History is bread, and science is bread, and historical and spiritual truth form that upon which they must feed. But, as one knows, that when every fresh book is written, a new desire springs up for better and better reading. I feel sure that your attempt to improve and elevate the condition of the working classes of the community will be crowned with success. Sir James Stephen, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, moved, " That in the Reference Library this meeting hails with great pleasure a provision for the wants of the scholar and the student of every class, and in most branches of literature, science, and art ; and records its firm expectation that, by a con- tinuance oi' liberal aid, this department of the institution will long be a centre of intellectual information and improvement." In the course of his speech, Sir James said : We are living at a time when it is not permitted to any man to with- hold the little which it may be in his power to contribute towards the advancement of such objects as this. These mighty discoveries, these strange inventions, these gigantic revolutions, these unheard-of migra- tions, these heavings of the lower strata of human society the increasing power of the popular voice, all these things testify that we have reached the accomplishment of the prophecy of the time when " men shall run to and fro, and knowledge be increased." We are, therefore, approaching a great crisis and catastrophe of human affairs. To approach such a crisis and catastrophe in the right spirit, it behoves us all to do our best. You have done your best ; you have erected this temple of knowledge in the midst of a multitude whom now, as we have heard, we regard with com- posure unbroken, but whom altered circumstances might cause us to regard with other and different feelings. The future, however, is in the hands of Him who rules us all ; our business is with the present hour, and with present duty. I'ichard Monckton Milnes, M.P., said he remembered, not with- out shame, how many of the class to which he belonged possess magnificent repositories of books of which hardly a volume ever descended from the shelves. " But let me," he went on to say, "congratulate you on having a population which can read the books that you have gathered, let me congratulate you that the purposes of this library are not limited to your own liberality, but that they reach at once with a trumpet-voice the intelli- gence even of the poorest of the people of Manchester." John Bright, M.P., was in his best vein, as will be seen : The Libraries' Act was a very inefficient and incomplete measure. He was in Parliament at the time, and saw the difficulties which Mr. Ewart and Mr. Brotherton, the parents of the measure, had to pass it through the House. It was an extraordinary fact that the opposition came 68 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. almost entirely from that side of the House which was composed of country gentlemen, a great portion of them, no doubt, having had an education at one of our great universities. Those gentlemen opposed the rate on the ground that there were certain boroughs wherein the limits of the corporation included certain agricultural districts, and that it would not be a judicious c^ a proper thing to add to the " burdens on land " by passing the Bill. He was sure that no class, whether connected with agriculture or with manufactures, could dispense with such an instru- mentality as the Public Library afforded to the people ; and that it would be better for the country if every manufacturing and agricultural labourer, every manufacturing capitalist, and every farmer, were well read and instructed in all the branches which were accessible in this library to the population of Manchester. Charles Knight, who did so much in the providing of cheap literature for the people, moved, " That the promoters and friends of this institution most earnestly desire that the example now given may be followed by the establishment of similar libraries in the populous cities and towns of the United Kingdom." Then later on he said : Most sincerely was it to be prayed that this example might be followed ; but he could not refrain from expressing his conviction that the time was not far distant when it would be universally followed, and when the populous cities and towns of this kingdom would rival this eminent example. . . . Out of this library there must grow an intelligence that would go forth throughout the country to enlighten and to radiate, for it was perfectly clear that, amongst the great body of men who worked in the factories, there must be men who were anxious to cultivate some particular pursuit, in which they might one day attain to eminence. A few other speakers followed, and a working man, Peter Cunningham, hoped that Mr. John Bright would see them through this " halfpenny hatch " referring to the limit of a halfpenny rate in the Ewart Bill, and which was afterwards removed by the Bill of 1855. These were the leading speeches at the afternoon meeting. At the more public meeting in the evening, the Earl of Shaf tesbury again spoke, and so did Mr. Thackeray, and an incident occurred in connection with the speech of the able and pure-minded author just named which should not be allowed to be forgotten, reflecting as it does the greatest credit upon the sensitive feelings and patriotism of the writer of " Vanity Fair " and " Esmond." Those who have read his speech at the gathering earlier in the day cannot fail to have been struck with the tone of dignity and the earnest hopefulness which pervaded it. In the evening the vista of popular libraries being established all over the country, and the educational and elevating influences which would necessarily flow from the extension of the movement, over- came Mr. Thackeray, and he abruptly sat down in the middle of an incompleted sentence, much to the surprise of the audience, who cheered him when the words he was uttering came to a sudden stop. After learning of the incident, my respect for the memory of this genial and good man was greatly enhanced. It THE FIRST PUBLIC LIBRARY UNDER THE ACT. 69 was not the lack of words so much as the effect on the highly- strung nerves of a sensitive man, on the opening out of this new page in England's educational history. The Manchester papers make no mention of this incident. And not only Thackeray, but all who lift up their voice in public, have at some period of their career to be grateful to the kindly charity of the Press. Leading articles on the inauguration of Public Libraries appeared also in " The Times, " Athena3um," " Illustrated London News," and other papers ; but at a distance of thirty- eight years we have yet to see fully realized these institutions becoming part of our national institutions. One of the papers just named made use of the following language, and were it not very certain that it was in 1852 when it was first printed, we might be disposed to rub our eyes and see if it was not yesterday when it actually appeared. The writer says : " In an age when Public Libraries have become necessary, when the love of books is daily spreading wider and wider in society, the business of literature is as much a legitimate business as any other. It, indeed, becomes a question, whether, instead of going to a Free Library to borrow, the working man and the cottager, as well as the poorer portions of the middle-classes, would not purchase books, if justice were in this respect done to their producers. With an international copyright, and untaxed paper and advertise- ments, the literary genius of this age would find its money reward from the public of its own and other States. It would cease, to a great extent, to be in distress and in difficulties, and would be as well paid by the sale of its commodities as the manu- facturers of Manchester in the production and sale of theirs. Expensive books do not suit the multitude of readers. Books must be made cheap ere they can be made accessible to the cottage or the workship. By all means let our towns and cities have their Public Libraries ; but, at the same time, let us have Free Literature. The two objects are so far from being incompatible, that the second in reality includes all the advantages of the first, with many others of its own. The ' million ' require cheap books as well as cheap bread. If they cannot get cheap good books they will have cheap bad ones." The inauguration of the Public Library Movement, graced as it was by the presence and active aid of several of the most eminent authors of the day, whose reputations gain lustre rather than diminish as the years recede, was an event to which we may well look back. Upon that occasion the readers and makers of books stood face to face. Manchester, the city of numerous industries and well-distributed wealth, declared with emphasis that she fully appreciated the uses and the blessings of good books, and desired to extend them to all classes of her people. She acknowledged literature to be a power in the commonwealth, although the Government then practically denied it by taxes on knowledge. Mr. Alexander Ireland, a Manchester worthy of the first water, and of considerable literary note, is one of the very few still living 70 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. who took an active part in the promotion of the movement, and he may be congratulated, not only on the part he then took, but on his long life of public usefulness. Another gentleman who was present, and is still living, is Alderman Abel Hey wood, J.P., who well remembers the meeting. It is impossible for a Man- chester man to refrain from going back, in memory, to the premises in which that meeting was held, a building now turned to other uses, but which deserves a tablet placed upon it to record its history as the cradle of a new social movement which will yet spread itself over the entire length and breadth of the land. How much we owe as a nation to some of these apparently less important measures of reform, which have, through much difficulty, been placed on the Statute-book, will never, perhaps, be fully recognized, but so far as this movement is concerned, we would scatter a handful of flowers over the graves of Ewart, Potter, Brotherton, Edwards, Shaftesbury, Bright, Dickens, Thackeray, and Lytton ; and as the movement gains new life, and is fast enveloping the entire country, we would thus call to mind the memory of those who struck this new vein in the nation's life, and gave the first impetus to a cause fraught with blessing for the common weal. CHAPTER VIII. HOW TO BRING ABOUT THE ADOPTION OF THE ACTS. is a healthy and happy charactei-istic of public life in this country that, in the midst of political controversies which go down to the very roots of our national existence and unity, our statesmen of all parties are looked upon as men of light and leading whose views on subjects of general and non-political interest are entitled at all times to respectful hearing and attention. As a people we fight stoutly and vigorously when political issues are at stake ; but even while the battle rages most fiercely we are always ready to lay down the weapons of political warfare and to listen patiently and respect- fully to men who have earned the right to speak with authority on topics of common social interest. This is a trait in our national character which cannot be too highly valued, and we may well be proud of it. Life, and especially public life, would scarcely be worth having if there were no questions or movements affecting the common weal of the people in which those of all shades of political and religious opinion could stand together, and work shoulder to shoulder for the achieving of a given purpose for the good of the whole local community. This characteristic applies with greatest force when it is brought to the test of movements like the one now being advocated. There is, in fact, no effort for the public good which could be commenced in any district so capable of effectually welding the sympathies and activities of those holding opposite views in politics and religion as the Public HOW TO BRIN& ABOUT THE ADOPTION" OF THE ACTS. 1 Library movement. Every town and every rural district ought to have its Public Library and reading-room ; and instead of a paltry 200 odd of these institutions in forty years' time, the number i luring the next ten years should be more than doubled. Let it be said with sorrow, however, that in some cases the movement has been defeated not by the indifference of the majority of the people but by the strenuous opposition of those possessing well-filled bookshelves of their own, and to whom the penny rate would mean only the merest trifle. In not a few cases clergVmen and other leaders in local opinion have so damned the movement with faint praise, if they have not kept altogether aloof from it, that failure has attended the efforts made. Considering these matters and the years of agitation which have been necessary in some towns, it is of vital necessity that the subject should be taken up only by those prepared to meet with bitter opposition, and to vigorously maintain their views. The British ratepayer is very often a tough customer. The seat of sensitiveness is the trousers-pocket, and in every district he has the impression that he is over-taxed, and the least hint of any increase in that direc- tion brings paterfamilias up in arms directly. To make liaste slowly should, therefore, be the motto of all friends of the move- ment. The more the question is discussed, the more friends the movement gains ; so that the fullest publicity should be courted rather than shirked. In one year there have been twelve refusals to adopt the Acts, and this is a fact patent enough to prove that the adoption of the Acts is not easily brought about. Before passing to the more important section of this chapter there is a matter of vital interest to this movement to which it will be here opportune to direct attention. The present writer was the first to launch, several years ago, the suggestion that the popular vote to decide this question should be abolished, and many friends have been won over to this view of the subject. All are agreed that the various Acts as they stand are a conglomeration of phrases, confusion worse confounded. Even lawyers them- selves do not understand them, or interpret them in different ways, as has been the case in some noted instances. The ground is being cleared for the bringing forward of a Consolidation Act upon which librarians and the friends of this movement shall be agreed. For the present, counsels are somewhat divided, and there has as yet been no opportunity for a fair and full discussion of the whole subject. This question is more fully discussed under the chapter on the Legal Aspects. The more, however, that the present writer considers the question of the Popular Vote the more is he convinced that the movement will never make the progress which it ought to do until the whole plan of operation is altered, and the power to adopt the Acts placed with the governing body. This is, of course, the one vital pivot iipon which the whole movement, as it is at present constituted, rests, and it is one perhaps which concerns the move- ment more than it does librarians. Judging from the forty years' experience of the popular vote it cannot be said to have been as ( "2 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. successful as the best friends of the first Bill hoped would bo the case. In many districts where the adoption has been carried there has been an appalling amount of apathy and indifference, and the question has been ultimately carried by the few who have advocated the cause and those they have been enabled to gather around them. Frequently not one in ten of the ratepayers has voted where the method has been by voting papers, and in some cases where it has been settled by statutory meeting there has been an even worse evidence of the want of interest in the movement. In a county town in England, within the last year, a town's meeting, numbering all told fifty souls, carried the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts. And when this dead level of the statutory meeting has been reached it is surely time to abolish either this method or that of voting papers for settling the question. Those who are not friendly to this movement will at once say that this lack of local interest is a proof the people do not want these libraries. But this is not so, and repeatedly the very people who have shown the most indifference have been the first to use their Public Library when it has been opened. The cause lies deeper down than the absence, in some quarters, of a desire for libraries. Our local national life and the sense of citizenship art- only just beginning to take root, and on many sides when this question comes up for settlement there is a much more uni- versal interest in the success of the efforts than ever there has been before. But the time has arrived when the accredited representatives of the people, the local governing body, might be safely left to have charge of this question. Through them their constituents would still have a voice in the decision. Surely if these representatives may be trusted in the expenditure of larger sums and the power to impose infinitely greater increases in the rates than the Ewart penny, they might be trusted with this question, which is one lying so close to the welfare of the entire district. The popular vote can be resorted to on so few questions that to make it apply any longer to Public Libraries seems unwise, unnecessary, and im- politic. This argument is strengthened by the fact of the Tech- nical Instruction Act of 1889 giving the power to the governing authority to levy a rate not exceeding a penny in the pound with- out first obtaining the consent of the people. As already stated, the constituents would still have a voice through their representatives. And there is no fear that Town Councils, Local Boards, and other governing bodies Avould rush in one huge body throughout the country to carry the adoption of the Acts within themselves. Representatives are too afraid of arousing the antagonism of their constituents by the imposition of an extra penny on the rates to do any such thing. They know full well that out of doors every vote they give for the increase of local taxation brings upon them obloquy and misrepresentation. Hut the point is that the elected representatives of the people can in educational matters especially be trusted, and that for the mental advancement of the people parsimony and niggardly economy arc HOW TO BRING ABOUT THE ADOPTION OF THE ACTS. 78 the very worst directions in which they can be exercised. Extra- vagance and undue expenditure are not suggested, and it should always be seen that the people get good value for the public money spent in these as well as in other directions. Still our economical tendencies have begun at the wrong end when they are applied to educational matters. The same zeal turned upon the frightful cost which ciime, drink, and self-made poverty inflict upon us would have long before this made an appreciable saving in these items, and so there would now be more to spend for educational purposes. One of the chief objections against the popular vote is the cost of taking the poll. This means to some districts an outlay of several hundred pounds. In fact, where voting papers are delivered and collected by hand almost the whole of the machinery necessary at a municipal election has to be set in operation. It is safe to say that in many districts the local public money which is absorbed in taking the vote would go a very long way towards stocking a library. It is possible that returning officers will oppose doing away with the popular vote because the question of fees is not by any means a small one. But the ratepayers whose money has to be used to pay these fees should consider whether the expenditure in taking a popular vote is really necessary. Another objection is that in the taking of the popular vote the publicans and other false friends of the people have it in their power to defeat the movement. How often this attempt at popular voting has been strangled by Boniface & Co. it is lamentable to have to consider. This prolific class of society seems to rule and govern almost every department of our national and local life either directly or indirectly. There is a constant drain upon public money to pay the depredations upon society created by the ravages of their trade. And when an attempt is made to promote libraries, museums, education generally, parks, and other advan- tages for the people, up start the publicans and block the way with a barrel of beer. That there are some respectable members of this trade is acknowledged ; but it is sufficiently clear how often this Public Library movement has been defeated solely by the efforts of beer-sellers to cause all thoughtful people to seriously consider the factor that this trade is in our national life. For street lighting, cleansing, road making, poor laws, and police, there is no popular voting. The local governing body has the power to deal with these and other affairs. Why should the line be any longer drawn at Public Libraries and museums ? The only way that William Ewart could get his Bill through the House was by the introduction of the permissive clause. Still from the Amendment Act of 1855 down to the present there has been a sufficient test of the popular vote, and we should, as a nation, have now grown beyond that stage. As these libraries are for the good of the whole district, and not Cor a section of it, the power can with safety be entrusted to the representatives elected by popular vote. These can be trusted to look at the question from every standpoint. The mere fact of 74 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. its being made a test question at the polls would be a distinct gain to the movement, for then the constituencies would hear so much said on one side and on the other that they would be compelled to think about the subject. The popular vote would thus remain ; it is only changing its field of action. This is a matter which may be urged upon the attention of all who take an interest in this movement. The gain would be great. There would be to the constituencies less cost, and a better way of ascertaining the real wish of the people ; and the influences at present brought to bear in opposing the adoption of the Acts would be minimized and concentrated in one particular direction. There would furthev be an impetus in the number of adoptions of the Acts, as it would narrow down the ground to cover. But this is prospective, and we have to deal with the Acts as they stand at this date (April, 1890), and these clearly define that until thej r are repealed, the popular vote, either by statutory raeetiug or by means of voting papers, shall be adin-. :i .1. Con- sequently similar methods which have produced success in the past are calculated to again have the same effect. First and foremost in the very front rank of influences likely to aid those in any district desirous of starting the movement is that of the Pi-ess. The Fourth Estate has become so great a factor in English life, that any public effort which leaves out in the cold, or pre- tends to do so, the local newspapers, is almost sui-e, from the very first, to be doomed to failure. And if proprietors and editors of newspapers can be made friends of the cause, and be prevailed upon to treat the matter vigorously in their columns, the efforts towards the adoption of the Acts cannot fail to be ultimately successful. r The ball might, in the first instance, be set rolling by some prominent resident in a letter to the local press, showing the wide usefulness of Public Libraries to all classes, and the de- sirability of adopting the Act in that town or district. The writer of such a letter should give some particulars of what these institutions have done and are doing iu other districts. He should go into figures, giving the rateable value of the town, what the penny in the pound would produce, and what could be done in the way of establishing, stocking, and main- taining a library with the gross amount. It would be advisable in such a letter to combat the idea that the rich provide books for the poor that the town is doing for individuals what they should do for themselves, viz., provide themselves with books. Ignorant opponents everywhere dub these institutions as expensive luxuries in a town. They are nothing of the kind. The argument to the effect that if a town provides water, gas, and sewers for its ratepayers, why should it not provide books and reading-rooms, should *be skilfully handled. One letter would thus lead to others, and the subject would be prominently ventilated on both sides. Promoters must expect to be told that there is an immense amount of nonsense talked about Public Libraries, and that it seems to be thought that HOW TO BRING ABOUT THE ADOPTION OF THE ACTS. 76 because books are a good thing, therefore they should be provided for nothing. Such will, as a parallel inference, say that since bread is useful, therefore it should be given without work. Other statements are sure to be made such as, it is just as reasonable to provide free boots as Public Libraries, free every- thing, in fact, as books for lending to all adult citizens, without let or hindrance. The conclusion will be drawn that if these institutions are provided for the citizens it tends to destroy the moral fibre of a man, and dulls the sense of self-independence. Elaborate arguments will be advanced that Livingstone, Stephen- son, and a host of other noble Englishmen achieved success without the aid of Public Libraries. Pope's oft-quoted words, but which are neither wise nor reasonable " A little learning is a dangerous thing ; Drink deep or taste not the Piajrian spring : There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again " will he served up and do duty in a variety of ways. Others will say that all such measures as the Public Libraries' Acts aro simply relics of Protection devices for compelling men to maintain a channel of supply which is supposed to be beneficial to the community, but which confessedly cannot stand alone. The terms "faddists," "fanatics," and the rest are sure to be used, especially by anonymous letter writers, for it is a significant fact that there is not more than one in twenty-five letters in the public press against Public Libraries which gives the name of the writer. In discussing this question, as with all others, it should be well borne in mind that there is no reason to be ashamed of an honest opinion, no matter whether it is for or against a particular movement. Every question admits of reasonably different views being taken of it, and the one immediately under consideration is no exception to the rule. Letters such as those indicated, and replies, cannot fail to bring out the editor in his columns with leaders, and so the subject soon grows into a burning question for the district. Every letter against the movement should be answered by one in favour. The most extraordinary assertions will be made respecting these institutions, their cost, management, etc. A long chapter could be filled with a selection culled from various sources. One paper gravely stated, among some "facts" against Public Libraries, that servant girls would have a new excuse when they wished to get out in the evening. Instead of the excuse being a " Bit of ribbon," it would be " To change my book at the library." " Please I want a book for my baby to play with ! '' was a request, says somebody, actually made to a librarian at a Public Library. And so this very childish argument that the books borrowed from such a source would be badly used, is one of many such advanced against them. In other cases opponents will be strong in figures, proving (to themselves) that the libraries will cost fabulous sums, involving risks and outlay, which may bring the town or parish to the verge of absolute bankruptcy. In other 76 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. cases towns will be quoted where, by a special Local Improve- ment Act, they have obtained permission to increase the rate, It should be remembered that in these instances the opening of branch libraries has been the main cause. Second in influence for the movement are clergymen and other ministers of the Gospel, Sunday and day-school teachers, and all who have influence with, and care for, their fellow-townsmen. Surely these could easily introduce the subject in a sermon, speech, or address. Some capital lectures on the subject have been given by clergymen and nonconforming ministers, and in several instances the successful issue of the movement has been largely owing to the spirited championing of it by these influential classes of the community. Notices from the pulpit, on the Sunday prior to the vote being taken, referring to Public Libraries as being Home Missionary efforts, are especially helpful. Young men's literary and debating societies, and political clubs can and do render very good aid. It is astonishing how many friends of education there are when such a movement as this is set going, and the voluntary help of all these should be at once enlisted. When the subject has been forward for a time, a provisional committee should be formed, with a man of definite qualities for light and leading elected as chair- man. All true friends of the cause will have no jealousy against some gentleman taking a very prominent lead in the matter ; but it is only one of strong individuality who can do this, and the others should rally round. Such work is, of course, all voluntary, and a good leader will take care that these voluntary workers are well organized into sections for various districts. School- rooms, as a rule, will be willingly lent for the purpose of meetings. Speakers at these meetings would do well not to burden their audience with too many statistics ; but short speeches, to the point, would do much more good. Stress must be laid all through the agitation that more than one penny in the pound per year for maintenance cannot be levied. This is the one vital point of the entire question, and this argument cannot be driven home too firmly. An elaborate preliminary scheme should be avoided. A library committee appointed on the carrying of the Acts are never bound by any scheme put forward by the provisional committee. If friends of the movement have visited Public Libraries in the country all the better, as they will from these derive inspiration. Much help must not, at first, be expected from aldermen and town councillors, or members of local boards under the existing Acts. These gentlemen know only too well the sensitiveness of their constituents respecting the rates, and a prominence on the part of many of them in a movement for an extra rate, however slight, might mean the loss of a seat in the council or board. The local members of Parliament again sometimes hold aloof from the movement, for reasons best known to themselves. Be careful that every step taken is legal. Enemies to the movement will be ever on the watch for loopholes of attack. HOW TO TVRIXfi ABOI'T THK ADOPTION OF THR ACTS. 77 One case is in mind where a bitter opponent refused to pay the rate when levied, his plea being that a meeting had decided against the adoption of the Acts. As it was a test case he was summoned in the County Court, and of course lost, as he had mistaken a meeting of the opponents as the statutory meeting denned by the Acts. Sometimes town clerks, when perhaps there is personal feeling in the matter, are reluctant to give information which would keep promoters within the strict lines of the Acts ; but in other cases they give the freest and fullest advice, and so render admirable help. Wherever possible a local solicitor should be asked to serve on the provisional committee. As it is impossible to carry on any propaganda without some powder and shot, a small preliminary fund is indispensable, and friends of the movement are always ready with subscriptions for this purpose. A distribution of literature is the chief expense, and the outlay for this depends, of course, upon the size of the town. Local printers are the best from whom to get leaflets, etc., printed, preference being given to the publishers of the local newspapers which support the movement. Reprints of letters and other matter are given at the end of this book, and then from the type standing, after appearing in the local press, for a number to be struck off will be found a practical plan. The expenses for taking the poll come out of the rates, but for public meetings for the purpose of advocating the adoption of the Acts, and literature, a subscription fund among the promoters will be necessary. It is impossible to take too great care to keep the question absolutely free from political bias, and wherever practicable the leaders of the two chief political parties should be induced to take a prominent part in the movement. Life would not be worth living if there were no platform where all could meet together and work for the common good, and no other public question is welding together so thoroughly those of all shades of religious and political opinion as this. It does not, as a rule, augur well for the movement when it is brought forward and advocated chiefly by those who are open to the charge of being doctrinaires. The attitude of shopkeepers is always a vital factor in the movement, and they are, of course, a class largely interested when an increase in the local rates is contemplated. Every effort should be made to conciliate them and to win them over to the scheme. The presence of Public Library buildings always improves the adjoining property, and in some towns tradesmen advertise their places of business as being within so many doors of the Public Library. These institutions inculcate by their influence temperate habits and thrift, and as the masses spend less in drink they will have more to spend with the local tradesmen. Many shopkeepers render most valuable service by advocating the claims of these institutions. Drawing-room meetings for the purpose of explaining the uses 7 s PfBI.TC I.IBRATUKS. ami working of Public Libraries to the well-to-do are very advisable. There are a large number of people who will never take the trouble to inform themselves about any movement, but who might be disposed to attend such a gathering as this when they could not be induced to attend a public meeting or a lecture on the subject. Many local papers print matter referring to these institutions, and before the type is distributed it would be well to have a few thousands struck off. Posters are useful, especially in large towns where the people are difficult to reach by other means. Opponents of the measure may be thus classed : I. The better-class people, who do not see why they should be taxed for the benefit of other classes. II. Those who say books are so cheap nowadays that no one need be without them. III. The enemies of education and there are not a few of these. IV. The burdened (?) ratepayer, who objects on principle to all rates and taxes. V. The publicans and their numerous votaries. VI. The working classes, who very often are not particularly anxious for the establishing of Public Libraries. VII. The folks who don't care for books, and fail to see why other people should poor creatures, what a life to lead ! VIII. The absolutely indifferent, who care for no movement, no matter how good its objects " Mugwumps," our American friends call them. IX. Those who say that providing Public Libraries out of the rates kills private benevolence in this direction. X. shareholders in subscription libraries, who fear that the movement will depreciate the value of their shares. As a matter of fact, Public Libraries do nothing of the kind. Take a large town in the north of England, for instance. Shares were offered in the circulating library of that town, in 1870, at 6, and now command over 20. In some movements there has been much mistaken consideration for existing circulating libraries, and it cannot be made too widely known that wherever Public Libraries were established, so far from injuring other libraries in the town, they had always considerably benefited them. As existing mechanics' and other institutes are very frequently referred to, it may again be mentioned that the one vital difference between mechanics' institutes, literary and scientific institutions, and Public Libraries is that the latter are subject to popular control, and the former are not. This ensures for them a healthy and vigorous condition, for their administration is closely watched. The librarian is responsible to his committee, Avho are in turn responsible to the town council or local board, and they again have to come periodically forward for re-election. Mechanics' institutes being proprietary institutions, are not subject to this popular control and administration, and if the cause of failure to meet the educational and reading needs of the day is looked HOW TO ItTiINC Al'.ol T TH1-: AIXH'TION (>F Till: ACTS, 79 into, it will be found that the absence of this popular control largely accounts for it. Mechanics' institutes have done in the past ;i magnificent work, but they are scarcely in touch with the educational needs of the day. These institutions, in some instances, would form a good nucleus for a Public Library, by the taking 'over of the building and books at a fair valuation price ; or, what is better still, for the committee of management of the mechanics' institute to offer to hand over the institution if the town will adopt the Public Libraries Acts, and turn the mechanics' institute into a Public Library. National and local pride should save these institutes from becoming mere clubs and lounges, and there is a reasonable fear that many of them already possess this character. The provisional committee may be urged not to prematurely push forward the taking of the vote. The cause has been lost in many towns through doing this. The ground must be well cleared before this is done, and test votes can be taken at the previous public meetings on such a question as Those hold up hands who wish to see a Public Library established in this town? Then following vigorous discussion, and the period appearing ripe for the test, a requisition signed by ten ratepayers to the mayor, or local authority, requesting him to issue voting papers or call a public meeting to decide whether the Act shall be adopted in that town. (See Appendix for this form.) A poster announcing this town's meeting will then be issued, and so the town will experience an event fraught with important consequences upon its present and future generations. The mayor or chairman of governing authority will, of course, preside, and the town clerk will commence by reading the notice convening the meeting. Speeches in favour of the step, and perhaps one or two against, will be made, and then will come the formal proposition by some prominent ratepayer, and this will be seconded, and then a show of hands decides the book fate of the town for weal or woe. If a simple majority of those present at this town's meeting decide in favour the vote is sufficient. Some years ago a meeting was held at Stockport to consider the advisability of establishing a Public Library. It was manifestly hostile to the proposal until a young man rose, and, in an impassioned speech, exhorted the citizens present to go to their children's bedsides and say, " Oh, my little children, I have cursed you with the blight of ignorance, with all the power that is at my disposal." Although hyperbolical in tone, it is not strange that such a taunt should have struck home. The Act was adopted. A show of hands is not final, although, to ordinary persons, that is the distinct meaning of the Act. But there is another Act of Parliament which steps in and enables a citizen, by a right of common law, to demand a poll. This may be done in such an irregular way that it can be ruled out of order, or the request LIBRARIES. come from a person not competent to demand it. Such a step on the part of the chairman would, in the majority of cases, be unwise and iinsafe, and would only lead to legal quibbles being raised which might be costly to defend. It is competent for the defeated party, whichever it is, to demand a poll. This was settled by a case heard in 1875, Reg. v. St. Matthew, Bethnal Green Vestry, where it was ruled that the right to demand a poll is a necessary incident to the mode of election by show of hands. The later case was in 1882, when the action Reg. v. Wimbledon Local Board was tried. The ruling was that any qualified person present at a meeting convened under the Acts may, after a show of hands, demand a poll. The person so demanding a poll should be asked up to the platform, and must there sign a declaration giving his name and address. He must also bring with him a witness to his signature. This action may bring an easy and cheap notoriety where the show of hands is in favour, and the opponent demands a poll for the purpose of defeating the movement. The document will be placed in the local archives, and so will go down to the local posterity through all time. At a statutory meeting there can be no amendment to the motion. The answer is a simple " yea " or " nay." The power of demanding a poll is the substitute for an amendment to the substantive motion. In the chapter on legal aspects reference is made to the matter upon whose shoulders should fall the cost of the poll where it is demanded. It is always wiso and safe to treat the opponents to the scheme generously. Tact, skill, and courtesy in handling the objec- tions have often won over those who have gone to the meeting with the fixed intention of opposing the scheme. The use of voting papers* is the better and more satisfactory method. These can be delivered by policemen. Sending the papers by post is permitted by the Scotch Act, but cannot be resorted to in England at this date (April, 1890). "Here you are more taxes!" said by the postmen as they handed in the papers, lost Glasgow the "adoption of the Act, and the citizens had to pay to the tune of several hundred pounds for the gratuitous remarks of these industrious members of the Civil Service. The cost of taking the vote by papers is defrayed out of the rates. A Town Council or a Local Board have the power, of course, of deciding within themselves which of the two methods shall be adopted for ascertaining the views of the rate- payers. Sometimes the number of spoiled papers is very considerable, and the issue of a little slip giving plain instructions a day or two before the polling takes place is advisable. " Yes " or " No," name and address of ratepayer, and, if he or she so desires, a vote that the rate shall not exceed something under a penny, is all the writing permitted. Anything beyond this nullifies the vote. Some exceedingly good friends want to say on their voting papers that they are in favour of these libraries, but they HOW TO BBING ABOl'T IHK AMM'TION OF THI. A.CT8. 81 are not in favour of providing novels at the public expense, or novel reading, and they cannot resist making the fact known on their papers. Such a vote would, of course, be lost. Others again wish to make remarks of some other nature ; and too much stress, in many places, cannot be laid upon the necessity of giving a simple answer, " Yes," and their name and address. The question of who are qualified to vote has for years been a very vexed one, but was settled by the Croydon case, to which reference is made in another chapter. That decision has now made it clear that occupiers as well as owners have votes. In not a few cases the most determined opposition was offered to the adoption of the Act, and during the formation of the library the most gloomy forebodings and prognostications of failure were indulged in. After, however, the library had been in work three or four months, there was not one in a hundred of the opponents but what had been won over, many of them having the honesty to confess their conversion, and to acknowledge that they had not the slightest idea that a Public Library was such a splendid and enjoyable institution. The following gives the main features of the various Acts : 1. Any town, parish, district, or union of parishes, is empowered by the Public Libraries' Acts, 1855 1889, to levy a rate not exceeding one penny in the pound for the establishment and maintenance of buildings, with the requisite appliances, suitable for " Public Libraries, Public Museums and Schools for Science, Art Galleries, and Schools for Art, or for any one or more of those objects " (47 & 48 Viet. c. 37), provided that a majority of more than one-half of the ratepayers vote in favour of adopting the provisions of the Acts. 2. The preliminary steps to be taken with a view to the adoption of the Act are these : (a.) In MUNICIPAL BOKOUGHS the Act requires that the mayor shall convene a public meeting on the request of the town council, or on the request in writing of any ten resident ratepayers ; (b.) In DISTRICTS within the limits of any Improvement Act, the district board is to convene a meeting upon the requisition in writing of at least ten resident ratepayers ; and (c.) In PARISHES, the overseers of the poor, on the written requisition of ten resident ratepayers, are to convene a meeting to determine whether the Act shall be adopted. (d.) The prescribed local authority is empowered, under the 40 & 41 Viet. c. 64, to ascertain the opinions of the majority of the ratepayers, either by public meeting or by the issue of a voting paper to each ratepayer. 3. Ten clear days' notice of the time, place, and object of the meeting must be given by affixing the same on or near the door of every church and chapel, and at least seven days' notice by advertisement in a newspaper published or circulating in tho borough, district, or parish. 6 82 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 4. Any expenses incurred in connection with the meeting or the voting papers, whether the Act be adopted or not, are chargeable upon the borough fund or rates, and may be defrayed, if necessary, by a separate rate specially levied for the purpose, such rate not to exceed one penny in the pound. 5. Where a poll is demanded the voting should be open that is, those desiring to vote may go and record their vote at the places duly announced. 6. If the Acts be adopted the organization for carrying their provisions into operation is as follows: (a.) In BOROUGHS. " The management, regulation, and control of libraries and museums, schools for science and art, shall be vested in and exercised by the council," or by such committee as the council may appoint, and the members of the committee are not required to be members of the council. (6.) In DISTRICTS. The board or trustees acting in the execution of the Improvement Act, or a committee appointed by them ; also local boards under the Local Government Act, 1858. (c.) In PARISHES. Not less than three nor more than nine commissioners, to be appointed by the vestry, are con- stituted a body corporate for the purposes of the Act, under the name of "The Commissioners for Public Libraries and Museums for the Parish of in the County of ." 7. The council, board, magistrates, or commissioners are empowered to borrow money at interest, on the security of a mortgage or bond of the borough funds, or general district rate, or of the rate levied under the Act ; and the provisions of the Companies Clauses, and the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts, 1845, are incorporated with the Public Libraries' Act. The Amendment Act of 1884 (47 & 48 Viet. c. 37) empowers any authority acting under the Public Libraries' Acts to accept a grant from the Committee of Council on Education towards the purchase of sites or the provision of premises or furniture for schools of science or art. 8. When two or more neighbouring parishes combine for the purposes of the Act, each parish is to appoint not more than three commissioners, and the commissioners for the several parishes are to form one body corporate, and to act together in the execution of the Act. The expenses of carrying the Act into operation are to be borne by the parishes in such proportions as they may mutually approve. A simple majority of those polling, whether by statutory meet- ing or poll, is sufficient to decide the question. Where the movement is successful, official announcement should be made in the usual sources. The following will give an idea : PUBLIC UlSItAUI i;s IN THK XOUTHKRX LOCAL BOARD OF HEALTH. DISTRICT OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACTS, 1855 TO 1889. Notice is hereby given, that a Poll of the Ratepayers of the District of the Local Board of Health has been duly taken, as by law required, on the following Resolution, proposed at a Public Meeting of ratepayers of the said district, held in the Town Hall, , on the day of , , viz. : " That this meeting hereby resolves and determines that the provisions of the Public Libraries' Acts, 1855 to 1889, shall be adopted for and within this District." And which Resolution, on being put to the meeting, was duly passed, whereupon a POLL was demanded ; and that the result of such Poll is as follows : Votes in Favour of the Resolution Votes Against the Resolution Majority of Votes in Favour And I hereby declare the said Resolution to be duly passed and adopted, and hereby, as required by law, publish a copy thereof. Dated this day of Chairman of the said Local Board of Health. It will be seen that this applies to a case where a poll was demanded, but only this form, as being one of the most complicated, need be given. The amount of intimidation which goes on when the vote on this question is being taken is at times perfectly amazing. In the autumn of 1888, when the vote was being taken in Hull, it was stated before the stipendiary that there were whole streets where opponents had induced wives of absent fishermen to vote against the Acts, and themselves aided to fill up the voting papers. A charge of forgery was instituted, and the case was brought home to the party. It is a pity that the Corrupt Practices Act does not apply in the taking of this vote. CHAPTER IX. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. ;T is in the northern and midland counties that wo have to look for the best development of the Public Library move- ment up to the present time. The spirit of emulation is, however, abroad, and in another ten years the metropolis and some of the western counties will, there is reason to think, have made so much progress that they will be in line in f-vi-ry way with those of the north and midlands. "But it AV;IS in S-4 PCBLIC LIBRARIES. the north of England that the movement first entered the soil, and it IB here that its roots have most widely spread and the work has been carried on with the greatest vigour. Some of the modern geographies are beginning to split up the forty counties of England differently to the arrangement in the older books, but for present purposes and in order to adjust the length of the chapters the division of the counties is not on all-fours with the recognized school books. The counties here dealt with are Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmore- land, and Lancashire, and the towns are named alphabetically where it is thought necessary to call attention to the work. It has been already stated that the time does not appear to have yet arrived when Public Libraries ought to be made the subject of unsparing criticism. The real national interest in these institu- tions is as yet only a few years old, and whilst the largest and best of the libraries are doing a work which will bear the closest examination, there are others which have to struggle with difficulties and surroundings which hamper and harass their work. These hindrances may arise from various causes. But it becomes increasingly evident that the tone of the work comes chiefly from the librarian unless his hands are tied by a captious committee. It is not a pleasant statement to make, but neverthe- less a true one, that some librarians are so very unbusinesslike in their methods that the wonder would be if the libraries under their charge were particularly successful. These cases are, how- ever, not numerous, and are becoming less so. It not unfrequently happens that, even in libraries where the management is not quite what it should be, the use made of the building and the books grows by leaps and bounds, so that even in spite of adverse circumstances the work is successful. It is a truth which cannot be too often reiterated, that the same qualities which go to make a man successful in other walks of life invariably produce a librarian whose work possesses spirit and energy. The ranks of librarians who are deeply in touch with the purposes and possibilities of their work are being constantly enlarged, and so long as this is so there need be no fear as to the future of these institutions. It was, of course, impossible to mention more than a limited number. Some will, perhaps, argue that the work of many Public Libraries differs so little that it was unnecessary to mention more than a limited number of representative libraries. But the main object in view is the promotion of the movement, and to bring as many side lights to bear upon it as possible. In districts where it is sought to adopt the Acts the work of libraries in similar sized towns and districts to the place where the movement is in progress is quoted, and it is with a desire to aid these that so many places have been named in these chapters. There is the further desire to prevent so many librarians from being disappointed at their own place being left unmentioned. Nearly all the places where the Acts have of late years been adopted are named in the present and chapters ironie- PCBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN' POrNTIKS. 8-5 diately following, but all are, in any case, in the tables of statistics at the end. A8HTON-UNDER-LYNB. The library here has for some time been struggling to carry on an increasing work in rooms which are not at all adequate to its requirements. The committee, however, now see an end to their troubles on this account, for on April 10, 1890, a letter was read at the Town Council meeting from the trustees of the late Mr. George Heginbottom, offering the gift of 10,000 for the erection of a Public Library and Technical School for the town. Ashton will thus soon be able to rejoice in a large and specially designed building. BARNSLEY. Barnsley has the distinguished honour of being the first English town to adopt the Acts in 1890. Some years ago the question was first mooted by Mr. Alexander Paterson, the editor of the " Barnsley Chronicle," and there was then a very strong feeling against a Public Library in certain quarters. In January last, when the question came forward, it was entirely the other way, and at the town's meeting there was absolute unanimity. A public hall was erected in the town some years ago, and this was so unsuccessful that the company came to bankruptcy, and the hall, offices, and some other effects became a white elephant to the creditors. After various suggestions had been advanced as to the uses to which the hall might be put, the whole block of buildings came to the hammer, and was purchased by Mr. Charles Harvey, J.P., who with most commendable public spirit offered the hall to the town for the purpose of a Public Library, making the wise proviso that the Acts should be adopted. This gift represents an actual money value of not less than from 10,000 to 12,000. An able writer in the local paper to which reference has been made appropriately remarked, at the time the question was in progress, that a Public Library "is of necessity an educational centre in a much more comprehensive sense of the term than any private or proprietary library can be, untainted by either sectarian tendencies on the one hand, or political influences on the other ; and the humblest visitor to its reading-room will, while there, feel himself on a footing of equality with its most aristocratic patrons. The clubs will continue to go on doing their own work in their own way, but the Public Library will do something which they, however fully equipped, cannot do place the best literature of the present and bygone times within the reach of all sections of the community, and that free of charge so far as the readers themselves are individually concerned. In not a few the taste for reading will have to be created ; in others it will simply need to be fostered ; while many will for the first time in their lives have the privilege of familiarizing themselves with the writings of our standard authors those works which take rank as our British classics. A taste for reading, coupled with the means for its gratification, cannot exist without exercising a beneficial influence Hi PrBIJC I.IT1R ARIES. all round. Latent talents, of the existence of which their possessors are at present ignorant, will be developed ; the advantages enjoyed will induce many to become not merely readers, but students ; and the result will be the raising of the intellectual and moral standard of the community generally." There is every reason to hope that Banisley will do itself great credit in its Public Library work. The spirit in which the whole question was taken up and carried through shows this. Very liberal donations towards the cost of fitting up the library have been given, and, immediately the Acts were adopted, a number of books of great local interest, which had been left by the owner in trust until the Acts were adopted, were handed over to the town. The committee of management of the mechanics' institute decided that the books in the circulating and reference libraries and all maps be presented unconditionally to the corporation for the purpose of the Public Library. Here is an example which may well be followed by the committees of other mechanics' institutes. BARROW-IN-FURNESS, AND FLEETWOOP. The new Town Hall in which the library is situate is a hand- some block of buildings. It was opened in July, 1887, by the Marquis of Hartington. The Public Library is the youngest of the municipal institutions of Barrow. The subject was first mentioned several years ago, but, public opinion not being sufficiently ripe, the question died out, and it was not xintil 1881 that the Public Libraries' Acts were adopted by resolution of a public meeting. A temporary building was at once erected, to be used until the library found a permanent home in the new Town Hall. Mr. John Frowde, of the Liverpool Public Library, was appointed, and still continues, librarian. Lists of suitable books, numbering 5,000 volumes, were selected. The opening ceremony took place in the autumn of 1882. Funds were subscribed for acquiring a natural history and scientific museum. It was soon found that the building which had been erected was too small for the number of persons desirous of availing- themselves of its privileges, and the room intended for museum purposes was fitted up as an additional newsroom, while a further sum was expended on the purchase of books. From that time forward success was assured, and it is gratifying to state that the public demands on the institution have grown year by year. Xow there are 14,946 volumes in the library ; the juvenile section is strong, and the average issue is about eighty-six per day. The average daily issue has grown from 249 to 424. Over 45 was received in fines for detention during the year. Some members of town councils sadly need to use the books in their Public Library more than appears to be the case, and this applies especially to Barrow. A discussion took place in the council in July, 1889, on a recommendation from the library committee as to a proposed increase in the librarian's salary from 150 to 175. The statement was made that nine out of ten on the library committee who voted against the proposed PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THK NORTHERN COUNTIES. 87 increase never went to the library. The moral here is that only those of known sympathies with Public Library work should be elected on library committees. Ornamental and indifferent members are not wanted on these committees. One member spoke of libraries having been " invented for the penurious class." The work at Harrow has nearly doubled itself since the library \v;is opened, and in the table of the occupations of the 2,1 2o new borrowers, surgeons, accountants, chemists, clergymen and ministers, farmers and schoolmasters, are exceedingly well represented. Not a single trade in the town is unrepresented among the borrowers. Which of these, pray, are the "penurious class " ? Fleetwood owes its library to the generosity of the late Samuel Fielden, who died in November, 1889. In August, 1887, the Acts were adopted by statutory meeting, and in December of the same year the reading-room was opened. The library followed in the middle of 1888. During some months the attendance at the reading-room has been as high as 4,441. Papers and magazines to the number of sixty-five are taken. The librarian's report is pithy. At the end of 1888 the question of Sunday opening came up. The donor was distinctly in favour of that step, for he said ' It is urged as an argument against opening similar places on Sundays that it may prevent people from attending church or chapel. In reply, I would say that the people will go where they are attracted and interested. Let the clergy then make their services such as to draw and please the people. With good music, short sermons, and good elocution, they would fill their places of worship at any rate, better than they now do." The building purchased by Mr. Fielden was erected by the late Benjamin Whitworth for educational purposes. On its coming into the market it was purchased by Mr. Fielden and handed over. Here is another case of donors making their gifts to irresponsible bodies whose work is not continuous. The late Mr. Whitworth has done a work for education which stands out among all the conspicuous work which has been done in this direction. But the permanent use of the building in question for the purpose intended could not be satisfactorily guaranteed by any clauses in legal documents. It is only by the building being the property of the people that this can be assured. Gifts of this nature should always be offered on condition that the people will take upon themselves the maintenance of the institution, and this can only be done by the adoption of the Acts. Mr. Samuel Fielden has so recently joined the majority that the following sentence from the speech of Mrs. Fielden, who declared the building open, deserves to be placed on record. She said " When Mr. Fielden presented this institute to the town neither he nor I had the remotest idea the gift would be considered worthy of so public a recognition as this. He gave it with pleasure, and thought there was an end of the matter. My husband, however, amongst numberless virtues, has his little eccentricities, and one of them is that he cannot bear to be thanked for any of his good 88 PFRT.ir LIBRARIES. actions. He says that it is either his pleasure or his duty to do them, and that in the one case no thanks are deserved, in the other none are required. This is why I represent him to-day. He is afraid that too many thanks might be offered to him, and he cannot stand butter. I rather like it in moderation ; 1 have never yet developed a taste for dry bread I think there is no period of life more exposed to temptations to evil or more open to influences for good than that between thirteen and twenty-one. The restraints of school no longer exist, the feeling of independence is strong, and parental control is to some extent relaxed, whilst on all sides, to say the least, questionable amusements and companions present themselves to our young people, and the desire for improvement, the lessons of the teacher, and the counsels of the parent, are, alas, too often forgotten or neglected. Then how truly valuable nay, how indispensable is such an institution as yours, where your sons and daughters may assemble under kindly control, in well-lighted and comfortable rooms, to listen to lectures, and to join in any branch of learning for which they may have developed a taste in their school days." The rate produces roughly 130, but so far the work is beginning well. Several liberal gifts for the purchase of books have flowed in. BlNGLEY (YOEKS). The question has been forward at Bingley for some time, and the example of Bamsley was found to be contagious, for on February 14, 1890, the Acts were unanimously adopted. Here the committee and members of the mechanics' institute acted worthily. An offer of Mr. Alfred Sharp's of 1,000 for books if the Acts were adopted lubricated the matter very materially. It required the consent of nine-tenths of the members of the mechanics' institute before they could hand over the building. It is satisfactory to note that 240 voted in favour of handing over the institute and only ten against. The meeting decided very unanimously in favour of the adoption, and no poll was demanded. BLACKPOOL AND SOUTHPORT. These two Lancashire seaside watering-places are well served by their libraries. Blackpool shows a steady increase in its lending department. The number issued during the year was 45,188 against 42,074 for the previous year. Borrowers to the number of 1,481 now avail themselves of the library. This gives a proportion of one in every fourteen of the population. The attention of readers is being directed to works of travel, history, science, and art. Only 56 was spent in new books, which is a small amount considering that the rate produces 613. November to March are the busy months, as at other places. The library is in charge of Miss Eteson and two lady assistants. At Southport there are 18,235 volumes, and the turnover of these is shown as 90,639 for home reading and 24,892 for use in the reading-room. This shows a decrease in both PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN roi'NTIES. 89 departments over the previous year, but it is largely accounted for by the rule made in February, 1888, that no book be exchanged within three days, in order to check careless return. Among the non-members of the council on the committee the name of Mr. Alexander Ireland appears. He has ever been an earnest friend of popular education. In January, 1889, the new reference department was thrown open. Among the rules is one to the effect that a penny shall be paid for each leaf found turned down. The index-catalogues and supplement are both well arranged and well printed, and reflect credit upon the librarian, Mr. Newman. Birkdale is a neighbouring district of Southport, and it is said that a considerable number of the residents have been accustomed to go into Southport almost daily to use the reading-room, and some of the Birkdale people thought that the time had come when they should have a library of their own. Discussions as to amalgamating the two districts have taken place, but nothing has yet been done. In March, 1889, the township was placarded with a copy of a requisition signed by some thirty or forty persons, all of whom, except three or four, belonged to one political party, others not being asked to sign. This in itself was, of course, suspicious. The town's meeting was summoned by the chair- man of the Local Board in the usual manner, and was held in the Town Hall. There were five persons present at 8 p.m., which num- ber afterwards rose to twelve, and, when the meeting was fullest, to twenty persons. The promoters did not put in an appearance. There was nothing for it but to adjourn. This was done for a fortnight, and on the night fixed, the adjourned meeting was held. The township had, meanwhile, been largely placarded with a new issue of bills. At eight, the time for commencing the meeting, there were twenty to thirty persons present, and at no time more than thirty to forty. 'The chairman took the chair punctually at eight. He looked round, and remarked that the meeting could not possibly be regarded as a representative one ; upon which a ratepayer proposed that it be adjourned sine die. This was seconded and carried unanimously, and the business was over at four minutes past eight. It is immaterial who were responsible for this fiasco, but it would be far better to leave the movement alone than to play with it in this way. BLACKBURN. The street in which the building illustrated on p. 90 is situated is appropriately called Library Street, In 1853 the Libraries' Act was adopted, although the Act was not carried into effect until 1862. Since 1874 the library and museum have been in a specially constructed building. It is a handsome stone-built and fire-proof edifice, with sculptured panels in the mediaeval Gothic style, erected at a cost, including the internal fittings, of about 12,000. On the ground floor are the reference and lending libraries, a commodious reading-room, &c. The libraries contain upwards of 33,522 volumes ; of these 17,445 are in the reference department, and 16,077 in the lending department. The number 90 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. of volumes purchased last year was 794, at an average cost of 5s. 7|d. per volume. Special reference is made in the report to the works on cotton manufacturing. In the reference section 30,061 books were consulted, and in the lending department the issues were 55,702 during the last year. The increase in the two departments was over 17,000 volumes. The museum is in the same building, and now comprises three rooms, occupying the whole of the first floor. The South Room contains a miscella- neous collection of ethnographic objects, a collection of pottery, some British and foreign animals, shells, &c., and electrotypes of coins ; the Western Room, examples of marble figures and plaster casts, and a fair collection of British birds; while the BLACKBURN* PUBLIC LIBRARY. North Room, which forms the picture gallery, contains paintings, framed engravings, and photographs, and the Kensington Loan Collection. There is also a collection of local and other geo- logical specimens, minerals, &c. Mr. D. Geddes, who had been librarian and curator for some years, died very suddenly in October last. He was an enthusiastic collector for the museum, and had served the town well. Mr. R. Ashton now occupies this position. BOLTON. Bolton was one of the first of the twelve places to adopt the Acts, and has recently issued its thirty-sixth report. In its central library and three branches it boasts of 64,604 volumes, one-half the number being in the parent institution. The use of the reference library is strongest, and there are the exceptional figures showing the issue for the year in the reference depart- Pl'BLir LIBRARIES IN THE MUtTHERN fOUXTIKS. !M jncut of 7S,&32 volumes, and in tlie lending section of 40,898 volumes. This, however, must be somewhat discounted, as magazines, given in the reference returns, tell up to 51,078. There is managed at the Bolton Public Library about the strongest subscription library of any in connection with these rate-supported institutions. The number of subscribers is 385, and the average daily issue in this department is about 200. The Public Library received last year 1459 volumes from this sub- scription library, the value of which is given as 200. The committee in the report are content to express themselves in ninety-five words about the briefest report which has come under the author's notice. The other parts of the report are full and interesting. There is mention of the generous offer of Mr. J. P. Thomasson, of Mere Hall for a library and museum, and the grounds for recreative use. These premises are being altered for the purposes named, 11,000 having been borrowed for the work. The central lending library is badly housed, but the branch buildings, especially the one in High Street, are well suited for the work. This was erected at a cost of about 2000 on a site of 600 square yards of land presented by Mr. John Heywood, M.A., J.P. A separate entrance is provided from the street level for the boys' reading-room ; both entrances being thoroughly controlled from the librarian's private office, which also supervises the lending library and newspaper reading-room. On the upper floor is a large reading-room, and also a ladies' read- ing-room, separated by a glazed screen, together with a small room for students, lavatory, &c. The basement contains a capacious reading-room for boys, caretaker's apartments, heating chamber, &c. In addition to the main staircase there is provided a light iron staircase in connection with the librarian's office, this additional staircase giving convenient access to all the depart- ments of the building. The style is Gothic, plainly treated, and the materials of the building are brick and ornamental terra- cotta. The structure is thoroughly well lighted, windows being placed on all the four sides. The gifts to the library have been most encouraging. One, at the end of 1888, of local and other valuable literature should lead the owners of similar literature in other towns to go and do likewise. The presentation consisted of the books, pamphlets, papers, prints, and engravings of the late Mr. Holclen, who did much to bring about the adoption of the Acts in 1853, and who acted for some years on the committee. These contributions include an illuminated manuscript found in an old Piedmontose monastery in the present century, and the first copy of the work printed at Ruthingen, an ancient town in Germany, at a period almost contemporary with Caxton's first work. The manuscript, which is in an excellent state of preservation, is entitled " Historia Scholastica," and consists of a commentary on the various books of the Bible from Genesis to the Acts of the Apostles. It was composed by Petrus, dean of Troy, who acquired the name of Comestor (or devourer) from his having read or devoured so 9l? 1VBT.IC M13BARIES. many books. He died about the year 1185. The composition of the work is an extraordinary one, for it is both dogmatic and historical, mixed up with observations on all kinds of subjects, and in which the opinions of Plato, Aristotle, Josephus, and others are given as authorities. From these causes, no doubt, its extensive popularity was derived, and for three centuries it was looked upon as an excellent work of positive theology. It was printed as early as 1473, and a French translation issued from the press about 1495. To this same author has been attributed another famous book, entitled " Mer des Histoires," with remarkable woodcuts. The colophon asserts that this MS. was written by a scribe, whose name is given, in the year 1303. Mr. Holden had the manuscript bound in boards almost fac- simile with the original. No place is so suitable for the preserving and handing down for public use of these old documents as the citizens' library. Here they will be seen and appreciated, and some care taken of them, instead of being allowed to rot away in old cupboards and drawers, where they can only be gazed at now and again by the owner and his immediate friends. No Public Library should go without gifts of this nature. Mr. James K. Waite is the librarian, and there is no doubt about a solidly good work being done. Reference is made in another chapter to the storm which raged around the proposed Sunday opening, but, notwithstanding the influential meeting, and repre- sentation respecting the advisability of throwing the news-room open on Sundays, the doors of the building are still kept closed on that day. BOOTLE. For a population of some 50,000 Bootle is exceedingly well off in its Public Library and Museum building, but the supply of books can scarcely be said to touch a significant figure. This stands at only 6,715, and many libraries with a fifth of the revenue from the rate have as many books, or even more. It may be said, however, that Bootle has had its twin institutions of library and museum for which to provide, and this is not at most places an easy thing to accomplish satisfactorily out of a penny rate for the two institutions. The building is admirably planned, as will be seen from the engraving shown on the opposite page. There is one excellent feature of the Bootle work, and that is the publicity given to it by the local press. Even the committee meetings are reported, or at least some of them, for here at hand is a column and a quarter of matter referring to the meeting of that body in October, 1889. It would be all the better for library work generally if committees would have their chief meetings reported. There is in the report just referred to a well-merited word of praise for the librarian and curator, Mr. John J. Ogle, who, in conjunction with the deputy town clerk of Bootle, gained the ten-guinea prize offered by Mr. MacAlister, of the Library Association, for formulating a Public Libraries' Consolidation Bill. A ground floor plan of the building is given on page 94. I'l HI.IC 1.IBRARIKS IN THK NORTHERN COUNTIES. The circular of information issued by the librarian is full of interest, and must have aided materially to popularize the library and museum. Within the compass of eight pages there is an epitome of what is going on in each department. There is a splendid lecture-hall in the building, and of this good use is made throughout each winter. In order to encourage systematic home I'l IU,IC LIBRARIES. reading the committee have arranged with the Cambridge University to keep the home study syllabuses in stock ; and not only this, but the books recommended have been obtained in the GROUND FLOOR PLAN OF THE BOOTLE LIBRARY. library. The last development of Bootle has been to open a students' room. Dr. Bark has been for some years chairman of the committee, and for the sake of Public Library work generally it may be wished that every committee had as enthusiastic a chairman as he has proved. BRADFORD. The work at Bradford has rapidly developed, and a comparison between the first and the nineteenth report should be enough to convert the most rigid opponent. With a limited income, they have constantly enlarged the scope of their operations, until now they have, in addition to the central library, eight branches. The chief library has also in connection with it an art museum. There is a general consensus of opinion that as an educational agency it is entitled to rank among the grandest local institutions, appealing as it does to the intellectual senses throughout each of its departments. Supplied with the best literature of the day, the library and reading-room departments offer inducements to im- PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 95 provement, which, it is satisfactory to add, are in the highest degree appreciated by those for whose benefit they are intended, while the addition of the art gallery and museum have furnished a means of recreation equally instructive, besides supplying a want which was long felt in Bradford. The last report states that in consequence of the closing of the central premises during the early part of the year for painting and cleaning, the total number of issues and visits in the central departments is somewhat reduced, but, with the exception of the reference library, the daily average is higher than in any previous year. The committee call attention to the inadequacy of the funds at their disposal for carrying on the work under their charge. The demand for branch libraries continues, but it is only by an increase of funds that these can be established. The wear and tear of the volumes in the lending libraries is also very great, owing to the large increase in the circulation, and thus the money intended for the purchase of new books is mainly absorbed in replacing worn-out stock. This is a serious drawback. No less than 1,159 10s. 6d. is absorbed from the rate which yields 3,500, for rent, rates, and insurance. The markets committee of the corporation are the landlords of the premises, and charge an excessive rent. This is not only unfair, but cripples seriously the committee in their work. The library again has to pay all rates. There is room for -readjustment in these two depart- ments, and the Town Council should remove part, at least, of these burdens. The few figures here given will show the expansion of the work during the last five years. Of total visits and issues together there have been 1885, 1,576,489; 1886, 1,787,470; 1887, 1,951,766; 1888, 2,115,374; 1889,2,200,892. Mr. Butler Wood is the secretary and chief librarian, and is an accomplished public servant. CLITHBROE AND OVER DARWEN. The Clitheroe library has had ten years' existence. It is a case of living on 120 and doing an increasing work on that income. It is open for two nights a week, and the average issue is 210 volumes. Fifty pounds was left them twelve months ago, and this has been a windfall for new books. The magazines are in large demand for home reading. What is being done at Clitheroe with a small revenue can be done at other places. The pressing need at Darwen for new premises in which to store the increasing number of books belonging to the Public Library has long been generally acknowledged. Two years ago a committee appointed to investigate the matter reported on the inadequacy of the present accommodation. They stated that every square yard of space was utilized, that in point of ventilation the place was so deficient that great injury was being done to the books, and that " the whole of the arrangements at the present building are, in fact, of a make- shift and temporary character," and they concluded with the words " We are, in short, satisfied from our inspection of the ibrary that the question of procuring another building for its 96 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. accommodatioii is an urgent and pressing one, and that no time ought to be lost in dealing with it. Since that report was drawn up the evils therein complained of have been intensified, for the books are constantly accumulating and the number of borrowers is continually increasing, yet so far nothing has been done. A scheme by which the administration of the library will be invested in the Town Council has been arranged, and it is hoped that the congestion referred to here will soon meet with a solution, especially as a very suitable site is available. The local papers help the work considerably by publishing lists of the new books as they are added to the library. Readers are advised to cut out these as they appear, and place them at the end of their catalogues. This plan is deserving of being copied by other libraries. It is this publicity perhaps more than anything else which enables the commissioners to announce that the library is now more appreci- ated by the local public than at any other period of its existence. The Darwen people claim that for the size of the library and the size of the town Darwen has the best Public Library in the county of Lancashire. This may be a little open to question, but there is one point greatly in favour of the managers, and that is the amount spent in new books each year. DARLINGTON. The old adage of its being unwise to look into the mouth of a gift-horse, does not apply to Public Libraries which have been the gift of a generous citizen. Every one of these institutions Avhich owes its origin to such a source may be looked at as fully as desired, and without exception there is reason to think they will bear the most minute examination. The Edward Pease Library at Darlington has been open four years, and although every bookin the lending department has been, on the average, some dozens of times in circulation, not a single one is now unaccounted for ; and this speaks well for the readers. The inhabitants make the greatest possible use of the institution, as will be seen from the fact that 84,621 books have been taken out for home reading. This out of a total of 10,664 in the lending department, in charge of the present librarian, Mr. Everatt, shows a capital record, the daily average being 323 volumes. The juvenile section of the library has been particularly successful. The actual number of readers' tickets now in use is 2,493. The gross number of volumes now in the library is 14,390. No fewer than 950 people as a daily average visit the reading-rooms. From the time of its estab- lishment down to now the library has been managed with an ability that has brought the institution to a state of high efficiency, and has enabled it to perform a work of magnitude in the town. Gradually the people become so used to privileges of this character that they take them as a matter of course, and perhaps seldom pause to consider how enormous are the advantages and how valuable from a monetary point of view. The subject of a Public Library had been for a considerable period mooted in Darlington. In 1870 a vote of the ratepayers I'l BI.IC MBRARJKS IN THE NORTH KKN COl'NTIKS. 'I? showed a preponderance against it of those who chose to record their votes. The late Edward Pease took great interest in the question, and in everything relating to educational matters in his nut ive town, and left by his will 10,000 for a Public Library, or a similar object, as his trustees might think fit. Sir Joseph Pease, one of the trustees, offered, through the Darlington Town Council, to build and furnish a Public Library, and also to give a site for the same in a central postion in the town, if the in- habitants adopted the Public Libraries' Acts. A considerable majority declared for the Acts. The style of architecture is Renaissance, and is very striking. The west elevation has a GBOUND PLAN OF DABLINQTON PUBLIC LIBBABY. frontage of about 106 feet, and the north elevation of about 92 feet. The main entrance is at the junction of these two elevations, and is made conspicuous by a handsome gable, which cuts off and thus destroys the severity of a right angle, this object being further attained by a well-proportioned porch. On the keystone of the arch is displayed the head of Minerva, and above it the owl with its right claw upon an open volume. Entering by this porch, we pass through swing doors, glazed with stained glass, into a handsome oval-planned vestibule, and from thence into what may be termed the public lobby, which gives direct access to the various rooms comprising the building. The general effect 7 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. here is very good. The large area of marble mosaic pavement, in the centre of which stands a white marble bust of the late donor on a black marble pedestal, over which is cast a soft, mellow, and steady light from the large octagonal ceiling light, filled in with painted glass, on which are skilfully represented sacred subjects, literature, chemistry, building, engineering, navigation, painting, and music. The lending library measures about 57 feet by 29 feet. This is admirably lighted from the roof, which is partly open timbered, and from the tie-beams of which are suspended ten effectively designed double gas pendants. The librarian's desk is immediately in front of the centre, and by a careful arrangement of glass-panelled doors the librarian or his assistant is enabled to see every person who enters not only the lobby, but those going into the reading-rooms and the reference library. Running south from one side of the librarian's desk to a length of 43 feet, and from the other side of his desk running east for about 12 feet, are the indicators for 24,000 volumes. The remainder of the furniture in this room consists of specially designed bookcases, &c., capable of holding 32,000 volumes. These are arranged so as to utilize the floor space to the greatest advantage. The general reading-room, a fine apartment, measures 51 feet by 29 feet, and is otherwise well proportioned and admirably treated as regards its structural and artistic details. It has a very fine cored ceiling springing from a moulded cornice and enriched frieze ; from the cornice spring moulded and enriched ribs, which divide the core into panels and extend along the horizontal portion of the ceiling, dividing it also into large panels or lights, which are filled in with stained and painted glass subjects, illustrating literature, music, painting, sculpture, astronomy, and chemistry. The upper parts of the windows in this room are also filled in with painted glass illustrating different foliage ; this is intended to obviate the necessity of blinds. The whole of the furniture in the reading-rooms has been specially designed. The artificial lighting is accomplished by two six-light pendants from the ceiling, double brackets to each newspaper stand, and a separate bracket to each table. The reference library measures 36 feet by 29 feet. It has a good front north light, also a top light, and is treated structurally and artificially in the same manner as the general reading-room, but the style of furnishing is different. It consists of two glazed bookcases, each 16 feet long and capable of holding 3,000 volumes; two reading-tables, 14 feet long by 3 feet 9 inches wide ; and a number of chairs of the same design as those in the general reading-room. The ladies' reading-room is on the right on entering the public lobby, and is well lighted by two large windows. The furniture consists chiefly of two taste- fully designed bookcases, to hold the various magazines, and capable of containing 420 volumes ; a table 8 feet long by 4 feet wide ; and chairs with movable back pads. The room is artificially lighted by a double pendant in the centre of the room, and reading brackets from the chimney breast. In the same position on the north as this room occupies on the west, there is a committee PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 99 room. Liberal gifts have flowed into the library. The most recent of these gifts has been the Surtees bequest of 275 volumes, some of them of archaeological and historical value. In the reference department there is a unique collection of books dealing with the early history of the Society of Friends. Darling- ton forms a very suitable home for these works, for the Friends throughout the district are numerous and most influential. The cost of the building was about 8,000. Intending donors of libraries may follow the Darlington building with safety. Mr. G. GK Hoskins, F.R.I.B.A., was the architect. A ground plan of the building is shown. DENTON. The adoption was quickly and quietly settled in this celebrated hat manufacturing district in May, 1887, by public meeting. The hat manufacturers took up the question in a very spirited manner, and praise is due to them for taking the lead. The assessment of most of the works stands at 100 or 150, and this only means 8s. or 12s. for the year. Mr. Lees Broadbent, the chairman of the Local Board, in moving the resolution for the adoption, said truly that the erection of a Public Library, whilst benefiting the few, must certainly be a great benefit to the many, and he believed that in providing suitable classes the manufacturers of that district would derive equal advantage. Twelve months not by any means an unreasonable time were absorbed in obtaining subscriptions and in the holding of a very successful bazaar for the raising of funds, and no less a sum than 885 was realized. Plans were then immediately solicited, and now a large and handsome build- ing in the Elizabethan style has been erected in the middle of Denton. The structure is of brick with stone facings, and its picturesque gables mark it out from the buildings around. The interior corresponds with the ornate exterior. The rooms are large, lofty, well lighted, and furnished solidly and tastefully. Entering from a large hall, a reading-room 39 feet by 24 feet is on the left. Next is the lending library, Avith a reading-room for boys. On the first floor are lecture-rooms which can be converted into class-rooms, a laboratory for twelve students, and a balance-room. The science classes for which this provision has been made are an important feature. The chemical classes are certain to be of great technical value to the workers in the staple trade of the district. The entire scheme has involved an expenditure of nearly 3,000. When it is borne in mind that the township has a popula- tion of only 15,000, it will be seen that more than ordinary uriHTosity has been shown by the people within the district. The opening ceremony was in September, 1889, and in giving a history <>t the movement in Denton, Mr. Thomas AVoolfenden, who acted as honorary secretary, paid a tribute to the time and attention which had been given to the matter by the provisional committee. The total number of volumes is about 1,500, and the library has entered on a career of usefulness. There are several surround- ing districts which are watching the success of the library in 100 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Denton, and it is sure to exercise a wholesome effect upon these places. DEWSBURY. This is the one ewe lamb which Yorkshire has provided in the adoption of the Acts between January, 1887, and the end of 1889. A public meeting decided the question in May of 1887. The trustees of the Mechanics' Institute acted in a very worthy manner. A promise of from 4,000 to 5,000 volumes was made by them, and several gentlemen who had been mainly instrumental in keeping the Mechanics' Institute from going to pieces took an active part in the movement for the adoption of the Acts. One of the speakers at the statutory meeting said that when the adoption of the Acts was first proposed, some years ago, he opposed it be- cause he thought they would be able to make the Mechanics' Insti- tute a success, but he now found out that it could not be done. The Rev. T. Whitby, M.A., vicar, put the issue very clearly before the meeting when he said that in Dewsbury they ought to have a Public Library so as to give to those who lived in the town the opportunity to consult works that were beyond their private means to purchase, and to advance the education and intelligence of their important town. About 1,000 was raised in subscrip- tions. In December last a temporary room was opened in the Old Wheelwright School, Wellington Street, by the Mayor. The premises have at small cost been rendered suitable for temporary use by the library committee. The newsroom is commodious and well lighted, but the space for the library is insufficient, and it will be necessary for the committee to provide new quarters as early as possible. The library contains about 7,300 volumes, and is made up of the libraries of the Mechanics' and Parish Church Institutes, and the library which had been established by a local firm for their employes. The Mechanics' Institute and the other libraries were presented to the town, and the library of the Church Institute was purchased by the members of the Corporation for the nominal sum of 40. Suitable premises will be erected on the site of the old Mechanics' Institute. DONCASTEB. Doncaster rejoices in a new building opened on June 20, 1889. The new quarters are the outcome of a Jubilee movement, and the money for its cost was subscribed by the public. The former history of the library may be told in a few words. The nucleus of the library was the books which formerly belonged to the Sub- scription Library and the Mechanics' Institute, but when the promoters of the movement proposed on June lo, 1868, " That the Public Libraries' Acts be adopted," they could not have foreseen what a handsome and commodious building Avould be the outcome of the proposition, or what an extensive collection of books would twenty years after be placed at the service of the people of Doncaster. The promoters took up their abode in the buildino- near the church which was built for the Grammar SchooF PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 101 and it would probably have had to serve that purpose for many years to come, but for the fact that the citizens of this town, in common with those of other towns, desired to mark in a permanent manner the Jubilee year. Not indeed that better accommodation was not needed ; the 7,000 books which formed the nucleus of the library had doubled themselves, and the number of volumes issued in one year had nearly trebled itself. The most important part of a man's education is that which he gives him- self, and it is in that respect that an institution like the Public Library is of priceless value. The works of every age and of the greatest intellects of all time are freely at the service of the student. In the reference library are costly encyclopaedias, State papers, works of art, gazetteers, dictionaries, and all that an earnest student needs for that higher education which is so essential to his progress, or, if information is needed on special or abstruse subjects, there are books of reference in abundance, whilst in the lending department will be found most of the best literature of the day. Altogether the library contains 15,470 volumes. Statistics show that the library is thoroughly appreciated, and Doncaster may claim the credit of being a reading town. In 1870, the first year of the library's existence, 16,989 works were issued; in 1878, 15,252; and in 1889 the issues reached 64,856. The committee have been constantly adding to their store of books, and during the last ten years have on an average expended from 80 to 100 a year upon the purchase of new works of a standard character. The school of art, on the first floor, is approached by a stone stair- case, and consists of elementary drawing, cast and modelling rooms, all of large size, the first-named being specially noticeable for its height and general suitability ; likewise a master's room and ladies' and gentlemen's retiring rooms. All the halls, corridors, &c., have tiled floors, and the fittings, chimneypieces, &c., have been made to special design ; and the building generally is most appropriate for its purposes both in plan and appearance, externally and internally, and reflects the greatest credit on the building committee. The architect is Mr. Henry A. Cheers, whose design was selected in public competition out of some sixty designs submitted. The ceremony of opening was worthy of the town. There is annually received from outside borrowers some 17 or 18 in subscriptions. The last report shows a balance of 337 in favour of the library committee. Mr. W. E. Williams is the librarian. It was proposed to spend 3,300 upon the building, and after allowing for a donation from the Science and Art Department towards the school of art, the Corporation undertook to make themselves responsible for the balance. The Science and Art Department promised a subscrip- tion of 370 to be exclusively expended upon that particular portion of the building, and the library committee, anxious that no further liability should fall upon the Corporation, offered to defray the expense of fitting and furnishing the library, which amounted to about 500. The building is in the Tudor style of architecture, 102 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. treated in a liberal spirit without slavish adherence to the period, save to give the general character and appearance of that scholastic time. The windows are wide and lofty, and the general impression in traversing the building is an air of spaciousness and ample light to all parts. GATESHEAD-ON-TYNE. This library is housed in a very suitable and compact building. On the Saturday evening of the writer's visit there was an appear- ance of briskness about the place, and yet, although the reading and newsrooms were crowded, there was a very inviting air of studious quiet about the whole premises. The library was opened on November 9, 1885. From that time down to the middle of 1889 332,494 volumes have been lent, and out of that large number two only have been lost. The turnover is excellent. Out of 6,878 volumes the issue in the one year in the two departments has been 89,073 volumes. In the juvenile section 24,30o were issued, and this is a department to which special attention is given. The building is admirably planned, although they could have done with more space. On the ground floor there are the lending library, the magazine and reference reading-room, and the general news- room and ladies' room. In the middle of 1889 the building was closed for three weeks for decoration and renovation. The appear- ance now is decidedly prepossessing, and the style of decoration is decidedly happy. On the main floor the ladies' reading-room and the gentlemen's reading-room have been coloured in pale green and cream, whilst in the newsroom creams and greys are the prevailing tones. The walls of the staircase have been given a salmon tint, and when brought into the line of sight with the decorations of the rooms opening out upon it the effect of the whole is highly pleasing to the eye. Of the rooms tenanted by the science and art classes the antique room has received a colour- ing of a very pale shade of green, varied with dark maroon, and in the lecture-room opposite the decoration is in harmony with the general plan, although of not quite so elaborate a character. Immediately on its reopening the institution was patronized by crowds of visitors, evidently anxious to make up for lost time. It may be taken for granted that the bright and cheerful aspect of the whole building accounted for the quiet business-like air about the place. There is no doubt that visitors to these places are largely influenced by their surroundings. A bright and cheerful appearance cannot fail to produce a demeanour in keeping with it. Gateshead may well be taken as a model for a small library so far as its internal arrangements are concerned. Mr. Johnston is the librarian. The Sunday opening of the reading-room is appreciated, as many as 100 persons using it during the hours it is open, two to five o'clock and six till nine o'clock. The caretaker, who lives on the premises, is able to exercise all the supervision which is requisite. HARBOGATE. This beautiful inland watering-place enfranchised itself only a PUBLIC LIBEAEIES IN THE NOETHEEN COfXTIES. 103 very few years ago. With a stock of 3,998 volumes they succeeded in last year having a turnover of 80,196 volumes. Not only this, but the library premises have been crowded every day, and a great want was for some time felt for increased accommodation, which has now been met. In the course of a few years we shall no doubt see in Harrogate a suitable building specially erected for the rapidly extending work of this institution. Mr. C. F. Harrison is the librarian. HiNDLEY. It was a safe prediction in the last issue of this work that Hindley would bring its useful library under the Acts. This they did on May 6, 1887, by public meeting. The building, specially erected, is a very suitable one for the work. The donor of the building, the late Mr. Leyland, J.P., passed away in 1883, but he has commemorated his name by means of the Public Library and a park in a way which will never be effaced. The aphorism that England's greatness is due to the nobility of her sons has been repeatedly proved. And, to apply the simile in a restrictive sense, it is as true that the monuments of a town's greatness are due to the liberality and large-heartedness of her citizens. There is many a town in England at the present time whose inhabitants remember gratefully the beneficent gifts of some of the citizens who, gifted with remarkable foresight, have left donations for the building and the working of institu- tions which have been the turning-point in the career of the town. The park and recreation grounds are situate about two miles from the centre of Hindley, and cover an area of about twelve statute acres of land. They are fitted up with a gymnasium, bowling green, cricket and football grounds, walks, &c. The library and museum are situated in Market Street. The building contains, on the ground floor, the lending library and newsroom, 51 feet by 25 feet 6 in., with cloak-rooms and lavatories adjoining, and a stone staircase which leads to the committee-room on the first floor, 23 feet by 16 feet, with oriel window at the end ; and the refer- ence library and museum, of similar dimensions to the library below. The work has been executed from the plans and under the direction of Mr. Thomas Worthington, and Mr. John G. Elgood, architects, of Manchester. The legatee, Mr. N. Eckersley, expressed the wish that the Acts should be adopted, as the local board could not maintain the library without this being done. The building is in every way suited for its work, and has before it a useful career. The rate produces 90. LEEDS. The people of Leeds are naturally very proud of their Public Library work. With a record of nearly twenty years behind them they may proudly turn to the vast extension of the Public Library system in Leeds, and to the unquestionable progress which the work has made, as proof of the estimate placed on these institutions by the citizens. Leeds now has at its head- 101 rnti.ic quarters a splendid collection of works, and the reference depart- ment there is of such a character and of BO comprehensive nature, that it is not only a source of pride to Leeds but to the whole of Yorkshire. The town stands fourth on the list of libraries throughout the country for the extent of its reference section. The number of volumes is 40,891, and during the last library year the number of issues in this department were 1?,466. The average was 401 -5:2 for the 305 days open. Some 14,108 works on the arts and sciences were consulted. Of miscellaneous literature and magazines the number was 38,096, and the next largest item is for directories, dictionaries, heraldry, &c., the number being 2-2,~m. Artisans represent the largest class of those who con- sulted the works in this department, and professional men rank about the next largest. Yorkshire ladies are usually able to hold their own among the ladies of any other part of the country, but they do not represent a large proportion of those who made use of the reference department. The proportion for them was only 1'39 of each 100 volumes ; and shopkeepers show an equally low percentage. Perhaps the main reason why the percentage of lady-visitors to this section is not larger, is the number of steps which they have to climb before reaching the library. In plan- ning the handsome pile of municipal buildings where the library is housed, it is most unfortunate that both the lending and reference departments are skied, and it is an even greater calamity that the general newsroom is so far away from the library, having a separate entrance, and in a different part of the building. Some- body must surely have been at fault in the mapping out of the original plans, and the views of the committee and the librarian appeal* to have been overridden in the Town Council, or so great a mistake could not have been made. The estimated cost of these municipal buildings was to have been 75,000, but through some breach of contract, and extras, the sum reached ultimately 130,000. In so large an expenditure it is greatly to be deplored that the library portion should have been sacrificed to the other parts of the building, as has unquestionably been the case. The work in the parent institution at Leeds, grew and developed in an old, adapted building, most inconvenient in every way, and badly lighted and ventilated ; and it might naturally have been expected that some marked advance would have been made in the convenient arrangement of the new quarters. That the new premises are of course better in every way than the old is admitted on all hands, but the pressing wants of the library have certainly not met with the careful consideration from the Town Council which should have been the case. In the years to come, when the next move becomes necessary, it is to be hoped that the library, with its twin institution of art- gallery, will have a building specially constructed for their ever-widening requirements. Perhaps by that time the Nitrate King, who has done so much in providing parks for Leeds, will see his way to do for Leeds what Carnegie has done for Edinburgh, Alleghany City, and Pittsburgh. 1't 11I.IC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COrNTIES. 105 The lending library of the parent building represents a strong feature. The total issue reached 384,647 volumes for the year, or an average of 1,257 per day. Fiction, poetry, and drama repre- sented the largest part, as is the case at all libraries ; but history, biography, travels, science, and art represent a very respectable total. LEEDS MUNICIPAL OFFICES AND PUBLIC LIBKABY. The extensive use made of the Board Schools in Leeds, isjthe section which has brought their work most under the public notice. The town of Leeds covers a wide area, probably the largest in the country. It was early seen, in connection with the Public Library, that if that institution was to be of advantage to the great body of the ratepayers, and not simply to a section, it should be spread over the town. This has been done to the extent of some twenty-five branches, each with a fairly well-selected stock 106 PUBLIC LIBBAEIES. of books, and all of them in populous neighbourhoods. The result of this arrangement is that it is only on rare occasions that readers in the districts so provided need to visit the main library at the municipal buildings. The wisdom of opening so many branches has been seriously questioned, and it may be stated here, as is said in the chapter dealing with the use of Board Schools as Public Libraries, that it is to be hoped other large towns will not emulate the example of Leeds, with regard to the number of Board Schools in a town used in this way. The aim of having a library within only a very few minutes' walk from the door of every householder in Leeds is not an unmixed good. It prevents that consolidation of work in large given centres to the same extent as has been achieved in other towns, with their specially constructed branch buildings. Several of the branches in Leeds have had to be closed through lack of readers, and it certainly appears a case of having too much of a good thing. These various branch lending libraries issued in the year 354,971 volumes, and the total number of borrowers' cards issued was 9,827. Some of these branches are doing an excellent work. The one at Sheepscar had 190,490 visits to it in the last year, and a daily average of 187 books issued in the lending department. The branches at New Wortley and Ilunslet rank next, with a very large turnover and a use of the reading-rooms which must be gratifying to the librarian and committee. The Town Council is responsible for the large number of these branches, but in the developing of them Mr. James Yates, the librarian, has had much to do. With the numerous branches under his control he has, of course, found his hands full, but with the aid of able head assistants the threads of the work have been kept well in hand, and a thorough oversight has been kept over these numerous branches. Mr. Yates has twice visited America to see some of the libraries in that country, and with almost a lifetime behind him of library work he has acquired a very varied experience. The establish- ment of the travelling libraries in Leeds is largely due to him. These contain about 100 volumes each of good and instructive literature, and they pass around among the children of the Board Schools. This is a method which should be largely copied in other districts. Books of travel are the favourites, and all fiction is excluded. The Leeds report is packed with statistics, and has about touched the high-water mark in this direction. The whole work accomplished every year is very instructive, and it would be impossible for all this educational machinery to be in constant operation without yielding more or less of beneficial results. LIVEBPOOL. One of the kings of Public Library work has gone over to the majority since the issue of the previous edition of this work. Sir James Allanson Picton was for the best part of forty years an earnest and consistent friend of the movement. For the whole PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 107 of that period he had presided over the deliberations of the library committee with very great credit to himself, and certainly with advantage to the whole of the Liverpool community. He was at the time of his death, which took place in July, 1889, eighty-four years old, but, despite his advanced age, was as active as ever both in public and private matters to the last. He began life as a poor boy with little or no education, and by dint of tremendous work raised himself to be an architect of the first rank and a distinguished scholar. He was master of five languages, and partly acquainted with three more, besides being an authority on antiquarian, philosophical, and social questions, lie was the author of the "Memorials of Liverpool," a work display- in ir great pains and research, which is now a standard book. The well-known Picton Reading-room, adjoining the Public Library, was called after Sir James Picton, in acknowledgment of his long and ardent labours on behalf of the spread of Public Libraries and education among the people. He was one of the most easily understood of men. He had lived plainly and simply among his fellow-citizens. His industry was tremendous ; it ran into every department of his life. His reading was vast and voracious ; his enterprise in the acquisition and attacking of languages was phenomenal. The first occasion on which he presided over the library committee was on June 29th, 1852, and the last occasion was on July 1 1 th, only some four days before his death. Such a record is unique and unexampled in the history of the Public Library movement. The whole library community felt the stronger for having as one of its leading lights the late Sir James Picton. His life was long, happy, and useful, beyond the ordinary course, and it was his good fortune to be able to show to the world both how a young man, by cultivating the talents with which he has been endowed, and by perseverance and upright conduct, may rise to a position of great eminence, and also how an old man may keep himself in touch with younger generations, and, by a just appreciation of the progress which is ever going on around us, bring the fruits of his life's labours to the highest point of perfection. He was a member of the Corporation from 1849, and took an active interest in all the affairs of the Town Council ; but it was as chairman of the library and museums committee, with his ripe experience and warm and sympathetic touch with the reading needs of the people, that his public usefulness was most apparent. In the Public Library roll of honour he will ever occupy a first place. With all who knew him his memory will, for long years to come, be green, and the record of a long and active career in the service of his fellowmen is immortalized in the hearts of the Liverpool people, and in the large and special reading-room bearing his name. " The Picton," as it is affectionately called, is a much frequented room in the group of buildings forming the central library. The entire library world pays its tribute to him and to his work. He never swerved one hair's-breadth in his devotion to his library duties. His interest was ever fresh and buoyant, and he watched with 108 PUBLIC LIBBABIES. keen interest the beginning, formation, and growth of the Public Library work in Liverpool. The late Sir William Brown, the munificent donor to Liverpool of the Public Library and Museum buildings in William Brown Street, could not have perpetuated his name in a more appro- priate way. These, with the Art Gallery, are, without doubt, the finest pile of buildings for this purpose in the whole United Kingdom and Ireland if we except the state-aided institutions. Standing in the largest square in the city of Liverpool, and well elevated from the street below, they have contributed largely to gain for Liverpool a most important place for the majesty and architectural beauty of its public buildings. In 1860, when the question of founding a Public Library was first mooted, the proposal met with cordial support, but some opposition. Two years afterwards the Council obtained the Act of Parliament authorizing them to levy a library and museum rate of not exceeding Id. in the pound, and in the same year, 1852, the library was opened in Duke Street. The following year saw the establishment of the north and south lending libraries; the Brown Library was opened in 1860; the Walker Art Gallery in 1877 ; and the Picton Reading-Room in 1879. Whilst, however, these buildings, thus gradually erected, form a splendid group of institutions testifying to regard for education and for art, the public rate out of which they have to be maintained has since 1852 remained the same. There has been no corresponding accession of resources, and in this respect Liverpool differs from many of the other large towns, where the rateable value has increased so much. The use made of these handsome buildings is unmistakeably large. The thirty-seventh report was made public on March 13th, 1890. The committee note that the parliamentary powers obtained during the last session now enabled them to administer the Library and Museum Act of 1852 to the fullest extent, and frees it from many moot points which heretofore presented themselves, nota- bly so, that a doubt has been dispelled as to the lending libraries forming a part of the corpus of the main library in William Brown Street. The exigencies of Liverpool trade and commerce having necessitated the migration of a large and industrial sec- tion of the community to a residential neighbourhood removed from the centre of the city, it was deemed desirable in their in- terest to extend the area of the district libraries, resulting in the erection of one in the township and ward of West Derby. The extent to which district libraries may ultimately be established will greatly depend upon the financial resources of the committee, and upon that question the dictum of the ratepayers must sooner or later be pronounced. This question of branches has for a long time been a sore one in Liverpool, and many columns of the local press have been devoted to it either in the form of letters, reports of discussions of the committee, or leading articles. Mr. Peter Cowell, the well-known chief librarian, has advanced the view that it would be better to build up a great central library with PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 109 those expensive books for reference by the working men which they could not obtain for themselves, rather than fritter away their means in the establishment of small libraries. This has been the keynote of the work in Liverpool, but it is not clear that it has been altogether successful. The statistics of the refer- ence library show that there have been issued during the past year 444,649 volumes. Compared with the issues of the previous year, this shows a decrease of 57,649 volumes. The decrease has been proportionate in the several classes of literature into which the books are divided, except Latin and Greek classics, which exhibit an increase of 485 volumes. The volumes added during the year number 2,404. The effect of good and bad trade upon employ- ment is always apparent in the work of the library by the decrease or increase of the books issued to those frequenting the read- ing-rooms, and the present improvement in trade is no doubt the direct cause of the diminution of books issued both this year and last ; and the books borrowed from the lending libraries also show a decrease to the extent of 42,106 volumes, due no doubt to the same cause. The number of books referred to, which have been classified, by no means represent the whole of the work of the library. The issues of quarterly, monthly, and weekly periodicals, which are placed in the Picton reading-room, are estimated at 111,143. These periodicals are all of a scientific or literary char- acter. In the Brown reading-room, where the literature issued is of a more recreative and popular kind, the various periodicals lent, in addition to the volumes of prose fiction, volumes of the illustrated papers included in the table, number 112,430. To this must be further added 78,048 directories and 17,125 volumes of patents. A section of this room forms the newspaper department, and various countings of the readers here present at one time give an average of not less than 700 per day, or 189,740 during the year. The foregoing figures combined make a total of 763,395 books and periodicals issued during the past year, and this apart from the enormous number of persons who come to consult or read the newspapers. Of the 444,649 volumes issued from the refer- ence library prose fiction appears to have been the class of litera- ture most in demand, 171,697 volumes having been applied for. Latin and Greek classics come at the other end of the list with 3,679 issues. The total number of works contained in the library amounts to 94,749. The total number of volumes lent from the north and south lending libraries was 385,326, of which 195,485 were issued from the north branch and 189,841 from the south branch. At neither branch were any books lost. The volumes added or lent to both branches amounted to 800. The total attendance at the branch reading-rooms, opened during the evening only, and held in school-rooms, were 116,912, being made up as follows : Chats- worth Street, 31,258 ; Stanley Road, 30,535; Wellington Road, 23,466; Queen's Road, 17,323; Lowhill, 14,330. A new branch library was opened on January 30th, 1890. This is the first perma- nent district reading-room and library combined that has yet been 110 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. established in the city. As to the need for the new institution there can be no question. In the thirty-six years which have elapsed since the opening of the north and south lending libraries, there has grown up in the outlying parts of Everton and West Derby an artisan population of from 70,000 to 100,000 people, to whom, by reason of distance, those libraries are of practically no benefit. The fact has long been recognized by the library committee, and doubtless had the committee's resources kept pace with the de- mands upon them the present provision might have been made sooner. As it is the new library comes just when and where it is most needed. The cost has been about 3,000. It occupies an area of 400 square yards, and comprises a reading-room 38 feet by 22 feet. It is of one storey only, and 60 feet square. The greater portion of the interior is occupied by the library and reading-room, a spacious apartment with an openwork roof sup- ported by pillars. Around the walls on two sides are placed the bookcases. On the other sides and in the bays of the windows are the newspaper stands, whilst the floor space is occupied by tables for readers of books. There is accommodation altogether for about a hundred people. The library is also provided with a room for the assistants, a librarian's room, and a committee-room, and has been fitted throughout with the latest improvements. About 7,000 volumes have been provided, and within three months after the opening 2,307 borrowers' cards had been issued. The question of decentralizing the chief library is occupying con- siderable attention, not only from the committee, but in the city generally, and the development of this step will be watched with interest. Probably as one means of carrying this work out the five evening reading-rooms, open from 6 to 9.30, will ultimately assume a more permanent form. MANCHESTER. Taking an all-round survey it may be said that Manchester has never taken a back seat to any town or city in the world in its Public Library work, and probably never will. This, perhaps, appears a rather bold assertion, but it is one based upon what Manchester has done, is still doing, and is prepared to do. The vitality and energizing force throughout the entire work is so conspicuous that the statement just made is more than justified. So eagerly desirous have the friends of this movement been of having a fuller account of the rise and progress of the Public Libraries of this city that the need for a little handbook giving a descriptive and historical sketch of them has long been apparent. And to meet this demand for information a pamphlet of sixty pages was written by the chief librarian, Mr. Charles W. Sutton, and the deputy chief librarian, Mr. AV. R. Credland, and issued in 1888. The able work of Mr. AV. E. A. Axon on " The Man- chester Libraries," published some years ago by Messrs. Abel Heywood & Sons, had prepared the way for this shorter book, which brought the subject down to date. The reader already knows that the Manchester Public Library was the first to PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. Ill be established under the Ewart-Brotherton Act of 1860, and, as previously shown, immediately after the passing of the Act steps were taken for the adoption of the Acts and the formation of a library. The steady progress of the work from the beginning down to the present date is a record which Manchester men look upon as one of the brightest gems of the many to which Manchester proudly and justly lays claim. In the account given in another chapter of the opening of the first Public Library under the Act of 1850, a number of names are mentioned; but there are others in the Manchester roll of honour who have done much to help on the popularizing of these institutions in that city. First and foremost among these is Mr. Councillor Harry Rawson, J.P. This gentleman was born at Manchester near the close of 1820. After a brief school life, and before he had attained his eleventh year, he found employment in the shop of a well-known bookseller and printer in Market Street. At the termination of his apprentice- ship he remained for five years as manager, and then, .in con- junction with a fellow-workman, began business. In 1853 they acquired the premises where their apprenticeship had been passed. As is often the case, the real education of the subject of this sketch began with the years of active work. The desire for know- ledge found further encouragement and outlet at the evening classes of the Mechanics' Institution. Here he took an active part in the discussions of the Mutual Improvement Society, and on the attainment of his majority he was elected a member of the board of directors. Amongst his many services to the institution not the least was the prominent part he took in the establishment of day classes for girls and women. Mr. Rawson has been con- cerned in the government of the Mechanics' Institution since the year 1841. Five years ago it was transformed into a technical school, and he was elected chairman of the council. He is also a member of the Whitworth Committee, appointed by the legatees of the Sir Joseph Whitworth to assist in their great scheme for the establishment of the Whitworth Institute of Art and Industry in Manchester. In 1856 Mr. Rawson was elected a representative of Cheetham Ward in the Manchester City Council ; and, with the exception of a slight interval, retained this connection until 1865, when ill-health compelled his resigna- tion. His advocacy, in 1857, of Sunday bands in the public pai'ks produced an outbreak of Sabbatarian bigotry, and an ineffectual effort to defeat him at the poll. As chairman, in 1858, of the Public Libraries' Committee, he was mainly responsible for the policy of establishing branch lending libraries in the various populous districts of the city. In 1884 he was solicited by the electors of Exchange Ward to become again a candidate for municipal honours, and was returned by a lar any other man. He died suddenly in 18o7, and so passed away before the wide and beneficial results of his work began to be seen. The statue is of bronze, and is 9^ ft. high. A> it is appropriately placed near the entrance to the park, it forms a conspicuous object to the visitors. On one side of the pedestal are some words spoken by Mr. Brotherton, in a speech in the House of Commons, "My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants." The Lord Bishop of Manchester, at the inauguration of the statue, alluded to Mr. Brotherton's devotion to the cause of education, especially in the providing of public museums, libraries and parks as places of recreation for the people, that the hours gained from labour might be given to self-instruction, self-improvement, and wholesome, healthy, and ameliorating pursuits. The Manchester Vegetarian Society has kindly lent the portrait. It is with no desire to discount the excellent work done for the movement by "William Ewart that the statement is made of an equal, if not greater, place which Joseph Brotherton occupies. He grasped most fully all the advantages which in course of time would acmie to the public from an extension of these institutions. The Salford Museum and Library may largely claim to be the seed-germ from which all the rest has grown. Joseph Brotherton gathered information which is embodied in the reports of the Committees of 1849-50, and altogether rendered a service to the movement which should never be forgotten. Manchester popularized these institutions by establishing the first lending library, and availing itself of the Act of 1850 ; but the place of Salford in setting a good first object lesson in reference library and museum work is very important. The borough is naturally proud of what it has done for the movement, and well it may be. THE LATE J. BROTHERTON, M.P. 132 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. SHEFFIELD. There are few preliminaries about the Sheffield report. After a few brief paragraphs by the chairman it dashes at once into a record of the work. This is chiefly devoted to figures showing the operations for the past year, and the comparisons with the previous year. The work for 1888-9, briefly summarized, at the central library and its four branches stands thus : Central, 98,124, or 357 volumes daily ; Upperthorpe Branch, 78,290, average 283 ; Brightside, 69,150, or 250 ; Highfield, 113,258, or 410; Attercliffe, 59,028, or 215 volumes daily. It is cheering to learn from the report that a sub-committee have under consideration a scheme for providing better accommodation for the numerous readers who frequent the central library. This need has pre- sented itself for at least twenty years, and the question has simmered and been shelved again and again during that time. There is scarcely another large town which has to conduct its work in its central library under such adverse conditions as at Sheffield. Year after year the building becomes more congested. The mere fact of only an average of 149 volumes being consulted per day in the reference department in a town of close upon 300,000, shows that there is something "rotten in the state of Den- mark/' and there is clear proof that it lies in the dreadfully poor accommodation provided for the work in the parent institution. Is it safe to hope that the deliberations of this sub-committee will lead to a new building being erected P It is cheering to note that plans have been drawn for an additional building to aid the central in its work. Out of its nimble penny Sheffield has a central library, four strong and healthy branches, and a magnificent museum. There is also an art gallery which would do credit to any town to support, but this is not sup- ported out of the rate. Could a penny be made anywhere to go further ? The museum and art gallery ought unquestionably to have a separate rate for them. They are an ornament to the town and are of large and increasing usefulness. The framers of the penny clause it is likely did not contemplate that it would ever be expected to do as much in many towns as it has accomplished. But the time is now within measureable distance when Sheffield will, by an Improvement Act, adjust this matter for itself, and get an extra penny for the museum and art gallery. The town in its gross rates is much below the rates of a number of towns where the Acts have been adopted. With its Firth College and a School Board life of which any town in the kingdom might be proud, surely in this library department of its educational work Sheffield will not take a back seat. The very mention of an extra penny tends to produce a breeze in some quarters, but as a rule it is found to be in limited circles, composed of people who would rather economize the penny and spend more on policemen. The penny, as every Sheffielder knows, was enough when there was only the central and one or two branch libraries to support. But now the children at the table are grown so large and are so PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 133 hungry for additional food in the shape of new books for the libraries and additions for the museum that, a.s the parent's income is only at the same rate as it was thirty-four years ago, when the Acts were adopted, some of these children with their staff must necessarily go short in one department or another. There has, of course, been an increase in the rateable value, but this is not commensurate with the additional outlay. The work of the four branch libraries in Sheffield and the buildings in which that work is carried on is of the most excellent description. The town, in the operations of its branches, fully makes up for the defects of the central library as a building. The four branches together issuing an average of 1,158 volumes per day is a respectable total, which more than retrieves the character of Sheffield. The branch buildings are models of con- venience and general arrangement. Well situated, as each is in its thriving suburb, there is no wonder that they should be well used and popular with the people. Mr. Thomas Hurst is the chief librarian, and is a good administrator. SOUTH SHIELDS. The most noteworthy event of recent date has been the issue of a new catalogue, the first since 1873. The number of volumes in the lending department was then below 5,000, and is now 11,324, which, with 5,910 in the reference department, makes a total of 17,703 volumes. Special lists of books suitable for the students in the science and art classes are displayed, and it is satisfactory to note that 1,000 volumes, out of the 13,219 volumes which were consulted, were issued during last year to these students. These classes are particularly strong at South Shields, and the work forms an important part of that of the library. The lending department has an increase of 667 readers over the previous year. The total issue in this section was 86,662 volumes, the proportion of pure fiction being 51-47 per cent. During four years not a single book has been lost. The number of visitors to the newsroom is yearly increasing, and, notwith- standing the alterations, the room is often inconveniently crowded, and there is not sitting accommodation for all those who attend. The room is provided with twenty-three daily, sixty-five weekly papers and periodicals, forty-seven monthly magazines, journals, and reviews : seventy-five of the foregoing are presented. The museum, in the same building, attracts a large number of visitors, more especially strangers who have been staying in the town during the summer season. Mr. Thomas Pyke, the present secretary and librarian, was secretary for the district union of Mechanics' Institutes, and the building of which he has now charge was the old Mechanics' Institute. Lectures are given during the winter months, and from these there is a considerable revenue from the rent of the hall, which more than pays for the interest and redemption of debt. The report consists of four pages, and yet covers the chief ground of the work. The local press is beginning to 134 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. notice the operations of the library more than formerly. Alto- gether the work is healthy and progressive. STALE YBRIDGE. The origin of the Public Library movement was the issue of a circular, in October, 1886, by Mr. Mark Fentern, during hi.s mayoralty, who lias all through been a warm friend of the move- ment. This set the ball rolling, and a provisional committee was formed. The work of this commtttee was performed in an admirable manner, and in the early part of 1888 a statutory meeting declared in favour of the adoption by a large majority. A poll, however, was demanded, which resulted in success. In September, 1889, the mayor formally opened a Public Library, established in some of the rooms of the Town Hall. When opened it contained some 7,000 volumes, of which 2,800 were works of fiction, 340 religious books, 340 historical works, 58 on various branches of science, 570 on literature, languages, &c., 630 juvenile literature, 390 on biography, and 570 on music. No newspaper reading-room is provided, the opinion being held that the various political and other clubs provide largely for the public wants in this direction. There is, however, a room for the reading of books of reference and other works. The mayor, in the course of a short speech, dwelt upon the advantages, educa- tional and otherwise, of Public Libraries, and expressed the hope that the new institution would prove a guide to the young, a help to those of mature years, and a comfort to the old and feeble. He moved a vote of thanks to the gentlemen who had rendered financial aid to the formation of the library. Amongst those especially mentioned were Mr. T. II. Sidebotham, M.P., Mr. J. F. Cheetham, and Messrs. Summers, each of whom gave 500, and Messrs. Knott who 'gave 100. About 1,750 books per week are being issued, and the library is shaking down into solid work. Mr. Thomas Aldred is the librarian. One good feature suggested for the work here is the establish- ment of a reading class, under the concluctorship of a well-read man. The classes are free and open to all. The government ol the classes is on similar lines to mutual improvement societies. The course consists of an opening lecture by some eminent man on the value of books ; followed on other nights by a person reading a criticism of the work or works of a certain author, showing the style, merits, language, &c., and a public discussion follows. ST. HELENS. St. Helens, as a town, would not be described as a beautiful place. The chemical and iron-works in the neighbourhood prevent the artistic in street architecture from boldly asserting itself. But in its library work there has been an extraordinary growth. The library was established under the St. Helens' Improvement Act in 1869, but was not opened until 1877. The stock of books and issues and the attendances at the reading- PUBLIC I.I lilt A I! IKS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 135 room have doubled themselves in seven years. 1 )uring last year the visits to the reading-room were 371,048. The stock of books in the central lending department is 12,175 volumes ; reference department 3,695, and the Sutton branch 1,143 ; total 17,014. The number of books borrowed from the central lending department during the 307 days on which books were lent out was 97,627 against 94,526, showing an increase of 3,001, and a daily average of 317-6. The week-day attendance during the year was 227,894, against 248,603, and a daily attendance of 742-3. The decrease was no doubt owing to the improved state of trade, which greatly affects the attendance at all the libraries in the manufacturing districts. The Sunday attendance had increased from 15,147 last year to 18,629, an increase of 3,482, the average per Sunday being 358-2. From a personal knowledge of the district and from press reports it is clear that the members of the Town Council and the Library Committee have at times felt a little out of joint with each other. For some years the council has appeared to think that the committee were spending more money than was desiral >le. It would almost seem advisable that instead of having these differences between the committee and the council, the latter body should decide what the library ought reasonably to cost the town so much in the pound per annum. "While under the Acts only a penny can be levied, St. Helens, with its special Act, was not spending anything like that sum on its library. Since then the expenditure has been decidedly increased, but it is still under a penny. There is no special restriction in the borough as to the amount to be spent on the library. It would be well that the council should decide what the maximum amount spent on the library should be, and, having come to this decision, the Librai'y Committee might reasonably be allowed an almost absolute veto as to how the money should be spent. Mr. Alfred Lancaster is the librarian. STOCKPORT. This busy and progressive town is rather unfortunately placed. It has an excellent museum in a large public park ; but its Public Library is not by any means as well placed as could be desired. Its quarters are in an old market hall, and on Fridays and Saturdays the ground floor underneath the library and news rooms is used for the sale of cheese, geese, and other commo- dities. The building thus serves a double-barrelled purpose in providing food for the brain and the stomach. This duplicate capacity is, however, bad for both the library and its visitors, for owing to defective ventilation the smells are at times insufferable, and the health of the able librarian (Mr. J. D. Buckland) and his assistants can scarcely fail to be seriously impaired. The Acts were adopted in 1860, but for the maintenance of the museum, and it was not until 1875 that the Public Library was opened. Under the great difficulties which the work encounters from the unsuitability of the building, the issues both in the lending 136 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. and reference sections are very considerable. An attempt is being made to remedy these defects by improved ventilation. The issues are about 320 per day, and altogether some 1,200 people visit the various departments daily. In view of the technical school which has now been opened, and which is referred to on another page, the committee have made judicious purchases of scientific and technical books. .The committee entertain the hope that one day Stockport may meet with a generous benefactor such as have in towns of far less importance presented noble homes for the public literature. Shall such an appeal remain unheeded ? As a manufacturing town, Stockport occupies a position of renown. Its industries are as numerous as in most places, and shall it be said that Stockport lacks what Northwich, Newark, and other places possess ? " Wanted, a generous donor, who, recognizing the book and reading-room needs of his town, will perpetuate his name by building a new home for the Public Library." Stockport has not a few public-spirited citizens, and there is, it may be hoped, some prospect of this being accomplished. 100 is paid out of the rate for the rent of the present library, and for rates and taxes 24. The first item is excessive, seeing that it is paid to the Corporation ; and the second item, seeing that so many libraries are exempt from all local rates, might surely be remitted. The balance not spent is 55. The com- mittee should see that they have this balance, and that it does not go back into the general borough fund. These balances in connection with Public Libraries require watching. The full penny should be in all cases received and expended on the library and its twin institution where there is one. Soon, it is to be hoped, there will be another penny allowed for museum pur- poses. The sum of 161 was spent on new books. This is capital, and in its 21,394 volumes for a population of 59,553, Stock- port compares in this respect very favourably with other towns. The sincere hope may be expressed that an increased interest will be shown in this institution. Public Libraries are becoming as needful as fresh air and good water. The town has splendid new baths, a magnificent technical school, a museum, to which the visitors reached last year the total of 25,319 during the week- days, and 14,672 on Sundays. Shall it go crying aloud for a new library for an indefinite period ? WHITEHAVEN. The first report has just been issued. The library is the old Mechanics' Institute, which was generously offered to the people if they would adopt the Public Libraries' Acts. The efforts of the local press in helping to bring about the desired change are ac- knowledged, as indeed they ought to be. On February 19, 1887, the vote was taken, and showed 1,532 for the adoption of the Acts and 784 against. No time was lost in the appointing of a librarian, and the work of organization commenced. On May 16, 1888, the library was opened by the Archbishop of York, who, on the afternoon and evening of the opening day, delivered interest- PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 137 ing addresses, which did much to emphasize in the public mind the value of the institution as an educational force, and as a means of rational recreation. He advised them to use their Public Library for amusement. They wanted amusement, and he hoped they would get it in that building rather than by keeping a small book with rounded corners in which they calculated the odds on a horse which they never saw and probably never would see. In their Public Library they had a place of wholesome recreation, and a place which would visit them with neither remorse nor headaches afterwards. Leave was given by an inspector of the Local Government Board, in February, 1887, to borrow 660 for structural alterations. The trustees wished to make it <500, but the inspector suggested the larger sum in order that the library might have a better start. " These libraries," he said, " are very useful. You want very good reference books, and you want books for the people to take away with them," and so the 650 was borrowed, repayable with interest in thirty years. The popularity attained by the library has fully equalled the anticipations of its friends. Since the opening 1,470 borrowers' tickets have been issued. The total number of tickets now in force is 1,078. The number of new borrowers steadily increases. With the twofold object of extending the usefulness of the library and augmenting its revenue, the committee, when framing the regulations, provided that non-ratepayers resident outside but within twenty miles of the Whitehaven Improvement district, might borrow books on payment of an annual subscrip- tion of 5s. This privilege has been used to a limited extent. The issues since the opening amount to 41,440 volumes. The issues apart from fiction have reached the large and satisfactory total of 10,479. The reading-room has from the first been largely used by all classes, and is steadily strengthening its hold upon the class to whom the facilities it offers, no less than those of the library, are so great a boon. The half-hourly countings made from time to time, if taken as a basis for estimation, would give at least 2,000 as the average weekly attendance. The order and quiet which have always prevailed in the room are worthy of note. An inspection of the catalogue shows that the selection of books has been made with care. The works in the historical section are particularly comprehensive, and such as are suitable for general reading as well as for the student. Some 243 volumes were received from the Record Office, and are worth about 130. Mr. John Wilson, who has taken a warm interest in the movement all through, is the honorary secretary, and Mr. Simpson, the librarian. WIGAN. Wigan has an excellent record to give of every department of its work. For its population of 53,000 it has the respectable number of 33,619 volumes exclusive of pamphlets. The additions during the last library year reached 1,619 volumes. The total gifts have reached 14,409, and in addition to this sum pictures 138 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. and busts to the value of 675 have been given. The memory of the late Joseph Taylor Winnard will ever be green in AVigan. He left by will the bulk of his estate for the purchase of books ; but unfortunately, owing to some indefmiteness in the will, the whole of what the donor appeared to intend should come to the library has not been received ; so that instead of 12,000 volumes which the bequest produced, the number should have been 25,000. This serves as another of many proofs why intending donors should make their gifts to Public Libraries during their lifetime, and not give the opportunity for posthumous litigation to harass and curtail their well-meant generosity. Another local townsman adopted this latter plan ; Mr. Thomas Taylor, who still takes a warm interest in the work of the library, purchased the site of the old Grammar School in the centre of the town, and built upon it the present library. So rapidly has its work extended since it was opened in 1878, that already the newsroom and the reference library need extension, and a spare piece of ground in the rear of the building will be probably soon used for this purpose. The official opening in October, 1877, was worthy of the town. Lancashire people never do anything by halves. At the banquet an address was presented to Mr. Taylor. This address closed with the following sentence : " We accept your gift with mingled feelings of pleasure and responsibility. AVe rejoice in it as a powerful means of aiding the great forward movement which is taking place in our midst, and we hope that its success will be a sincere and lasting pleasure to yourself. The Public Libraries of the country are destined to fill a high place in national education, and we take this Public Library as a precious trust confided to us for promoting the moral and material progress of our people." The hopefulness of these words has been more than realized, and in the immediate future the library is destined to fill a still more importance place. All things taken into consideration, the reference library is, for its arrangement and the selection of books, the finest in the country of any town of its size ; and even some towns with double the population of AVigan might well be proud of that depart- ment. AA'e are rapidly reaching the day when in no Public Library will the reference section take a second place, but will be considered of primary importance. The selection of the books in this department and its organization are very largely the work of the librarian, Mr. H. Tennyson Folkard, who has brought his culture and practical library experience to bear upon his work in a way commendable to him, and which has done much to give the library the place it now occupies among these rate-supported institutions. A sketch of the reference room on the first floor is shown in the accompanying picture, and is the most handsome room in the building. The room occupies the same area as the lending library and reading-room below, and one is struck on entering it with its resemblance to some of the old college libraries. Prior to the purchase of the books from the AA T innard bequest. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IX THE NORTHERN COUtfTIBS. 139 specialists in the various departments of knowledge were asked to draw up lists of the best books in each of them. In every division great care was taken to include only books of high merit. It would have been a source of regret if the catalogue of so fine a collection had not been so formed as to entitle it to a bibliographical reputation. Both the librarian and his committee were equal to the occasion, and the catalogue of the 23,000 books in the refer- ence library will be, when finished, one of the most complete and exhaustive of its kind which has yet been published. It will contain altogether about 80,000 entries, and is being published iii parts at intervals, the entire subscription for the whole being 140 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 1. Mr. G. L. Campbell, a member of the Wigan committee, has written and published a very appropriate " Note " to explain the method upon which this catalogue has been compiled. Under the principal heading, the author's name, or, if anonymous, the leading word in the title, each work has been fully described. When practicable the author's position, and date of birth and death have been given. Each work appears also under subordi- nate headings of title and class, and in many cases numerous cross references are given. As illustrating the nicety with which the compiling has been done, it is deserving of mention that where a book contains a portrait, as in many biographies, the fact is noted. Numerous divisional headings appear. Letters A and B consist of some 2,900 entries. The letter B occupies a book of 177 closely printed pages. Several catalogues of portions of the reference library have been issued. One, the Mining Catalogue, has had a most extraordinary demand, it being apparently the only English work of this class relating to this important industry. In this catalogue, extending to 158 pages, and bound in cloth, every book or paper mentioned has been entered both under the name of the author and under the name of the subject. The subjects, moreover, have been sub- divided in order to place the work catalogued, when possible, under the country, town, or other locality of which it treats. AVorks in any manner relating to coal, although not strictly of a practical nature, have been carefully noted. Articles relating to the folk-lore and traditions of mining, works treating of the fossils, &c., of the coal measures, and of obsolete, but rare or curious books connected with the subject, are included. Collateral branches of industrial science important to the mining interest have been inserted, such as papers relating to relief funds, insurance, strikes and lock-outs. To a district like Wigan the great value of a good collection of mining books, which can at all times be consulted, cannot be over- estimated. The other special catalogues of this department are the catalogue of AVigan books, the Masonic catalogue, and the catalogue of law books. The first named is an excellent sample of what should be done in other towns. Mr. Folkard has dis- played considerable industry in collecting the publications of the local presses and all books, pamphlets and manuscripts having any eonnection, no matter how remote, with the town. This catalogue of twenty-eight pages must have come as a surprise to many of the townspeople, many of whom probably never thought that Wigan could furnish such a collection of local literature. Libra- rians in other towns should give this plan their attention. The Masonic catalogue is unique. Probably the only Public Library committee which has a Lord upon it is that at Wigan, which among its honorary or burgess representatives has the Right Hon. the Earl of Crawford, LL.D. ; to him this masonic catalogue is inscribed. Some of the entries in it are very interesting, and display much research. The latter statement can also be made about the catalogue of law books. The whole of these special catalogues should tend to create an extended use of this import- PUBLIC LIBBARIES IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. 141 ant department of the Public Library. If the town has some- what dreary surroundings for the presence of coal mines does not conduce to giving nature play for its beauty Wigan has in its library an oasis which cannot be too highly appreciated. The annual report contains the welcome feature of the librarian's report, covering five pages. The reports of committees are always acceptable, but as a rule no one can speak so authoritatively upon the working of the library as the man in charge, and the greater prominence of librarians reports in these annual publica- tions is very desirable. In the lending department the gross issues were 68,430. The newsroom is very popular, as it deserves to be. The Sunday attendances for the year reached 11,366. The ten yeans Sunday opening of the reading-room has been an unqualified success. In the general reading-room there are about 400 volumes for reading and reference. The public are allowed to help themselves to the books, which are upon open shelves. There is a notice hung up that no books are to be taken out of the room. No supervision is required beyond rearranging the books early every morning. In twelve years six books only have been taken away. For some years a voluntary rate of a halfpenny in addition to the penny has been paid by a large number of ratepayers, as the legal penny was insufficient for the rapidly extending work. Last year a special local Act was obtained which gives the power to levy a rate of twopence in the pound. Lectures have been given during the last few years in connection with the library, and these are becoming more and more popular with each succeeding winter. The local press give capital help. As new and important books are added in the reference department, short notes written by the librarian, epitomizing the contents, are published. It is impossible to pass on from this short sketch without being more than ever convinced that the library at Wigan is a live institution, pregnant with usefulness to the entire town. The necessity of a museum for the borough is now being discussed, and under the new local Act this will no doubt soon become a reality. WORKINGTON. In December, 1889, the sanction of the burgesses was obtained for the adoption of the Acts. The example of Whitehaven was found to be infectious. The Town Council as a body took a worthy lead in the matter, and this, aided by the step taken by the committee of the Mechanics' Institute, greatly facilitated affairs. The committee had passed a resolution to the effect thai they regarded with approval the proposal to exercise the powers conferred on the Town Council by various statutes for the estab- lishment in the borough of a Public Library, and that if the premises now occupied by the committee be required for such library, the committee would facilitate as much as was in their power the acquirement of the Mechanics' Institute premises by the Town Council. May many other committees of mechanics' institutes adopt the same method, and a similar resolution. At 142 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. the statutory meeting.all present, with only one exception, voted for the adoption, and no poll was demanded. The rate will produce about 250 per annum. In February, 1890, negotiations were in progress for the acquirement of the savings' bank, for the purposes of a public library. On the Sunday immediately prior to the poll an excellent sermon was preached by the leading clergyman of the borough on the uses of Public Libraries, and on the part these institutions play in the betterment of the people. CHAPTEK X. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 'UBLIC LIBRARIES are sparsely scattered throughout the Midland Counties. Only three counties are without at least one of these institutions, these being Rutland, Buckingham, and Huntingdon. The counties in addition to those in the North, West and South Midlands are Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Chester, Stafford, Warwick, Worcester, Shropshire, Hereford, Hertford, Oxford, Northampton, Bedford, and Cambridge. Five of these counties have only one rate-supported library, so that the work yet to be done is very widely distributed. ALTRINCHAM, NANTWICH, AND MIDDLEWICH. These three Cheshire towns followed each other very closely in the adoption of the Acts. Nantwich was the first to do so, and then followed Altrincham. This was brought about by a short and sharp agitation in September, 1889. The voting showed a majority of 738 in favour of the adoption. The whole of the arrangements for the taking of the poll were carried out by Mr. J. Stokoe, clerk of the Local Board, whose efficient manage- ment of a work so full of technical and legal difficulties gave the greatest satisfaction. Acting under the advice of the solicitors to the Board, occupiers of property assessed to the general district rate were looked upon as being entitled to vote on the library question whether the rates were paid by the landlord or tenant. Every householder was thus enabled to exercise the privilege of voting in the settlement of this very important question. This was before the Croydon decision, which finally disposes of this point. For its pecuniary support the library will rely upon a sum of 200 per annum from the trustees of the Mayor's Land Charity, which the ratepayers so long ago as April, 1888, unanimously decided should be applied to the maintenance of a Public Library. By the order of the Charity Commissioners regulating the funds of the Charity, the money can only be given to a library that is absolutely free, so that by the adoption of the Public Libraries' Act the ratepayers can at last avail themselves of the benefit of the income. Beside this, the Library Committee may draw upon the Local Board to the extent of 207 per annum. LIBRARIES IN THB MIDLAND COUNTIES. 143 Another important fact which must not be lost sight of is that the directors of the Literary Institute, who possess a library of 3,000 volumes, a commodious news-room, and a large hall, capable of accommodating 700 persons, besides convenient class-rooms, expressed their willingness to hand over to the town the whole of their undertaking, providing arrangements are made for con- tinuing the educational agencies connected therewith. The hall at present yields an income of 150 per year, which might also be made available for the support of the library. As a sample of the gross misstatements frequently made about existing libraries a local public man said that, although ostensibly the Manchester Public Library had an income of only a penny in the pound, they really cost fivepence in the pound. A wilder and more inaccurate assertion about these institutions was never made. It required only a post or two. to show the absurdity of the statement, for fivepence in the pound in Manchester would pro- duce an income of 60,000 a year a sum which could not possibly be spent on the existing libraries in Manchester. This is men- tioned as an illustration of the statements for which friends of the movement must be prepared. All through the discussions respecting the adoption of the Acts, the advisability of an adjoining parish (Bowdon) with identical interests also adopting the Acts, and amalgamating with Altrincham, was kept in view and references were frequently made towards this desirable end. Steps have been taken with a view of handing over the Literary Institution for the purposes of a Public Library. The adoption at Nantwich was in August, 1887, by public meeting. Not a single hand was held up against the proposi- tion. Subscriptions flowed in very freely, and 1,000 was quickly promised. This enabled them to erect a building. The library is well and substantially built, but is not, from external appearances, extensive nor very ornamental. If it is, however, filled with all the books it is capable of holding, not many less than 5,000 can be shelved therein, its utility and real value will be as great as the founders could reasonably hope for under all circumstances. And, as to the reading-room, if there is any fear at all, it is that it will be found even too large for all the papers that they can afford to supply regularly. In December, 1888, it was opened by Mr. Brunner, M.P., who contributed largely towards the first cost. Mr. Brunner said there had almost been an epidemic of Public Libraries. He hoped the County Govern- ment Bill would be amended to provide for the creation of corporations in every village. He was convinced a large number of gifts were lost on account of the absence of any duly constituted authority to receive them. In Middlewich, a district with a population just over 5,000, the Acts were just as quickly adopted as in the other two places named. That nothing succeeds like success is true, and in the Public Library movement as in other departments of life. A meeting was held in the early part of 1889. It was pointed out that Middlewich was in a much better position to adopt the Act 144 PUBLIC LIBBABIES. than many other towns. They had no land to purchase, no buildings to erect. In addition to having a capital building, they had a balance left from the Jubilee fund of something like 36, besides which they had the promise of some very good subscriptions, amongst them being 100 from Mr. Brunner, 20 and 2 a year for two years from Mr. Moss, 10 from Mr. John H. Cooke, and many other subscriptions, so that presently they would be as rich, comparatively, as the Salt Union. The proposal to adopt the Acts was moved and seconded. Mr. Brunner, M.P., supported the motion. In the course of his speech he said that through the kind-hearted public spirit of two great neighbours they had a very fitting home for their library, and he did not think they could possibly make a better use of a corner of that hall than to establish in it a library for the inhabitants. To his mind there was nothing so cheap as a Public Library, for in such a place a working-man could for 6d. a year, or a penny in the pound, procure for his household, and more particularly for his children, a series of weekly delights from one end of the year to another. ASTON MAXOB. The vast borough of Birmingham has been making municipal love to its little neighbour Aston, and has tried to induce the people to become merged in greater Birmingham. But Aston declines with thanks, for they have long seen that all the outlying wards of Birmingham have had to give way to the huge scheme for the improvement of the centre of the town, and so the suburban wards must wait. Aston is wise in its day and generation, and naturally feels that it is strong enough to con- tinue running alone. And certainly, so far as the library is concerned, Aston has been better served by itself by being a separate parish than would probably have been the case had they some years ago been annexed to Birmingham. The rooms of the library are situated in the Local Board offices, and there are eleven years of steady and useful work behind them. The issue in the two departments last year was 96,804. The additions to the books last year, especially in the lending department, are excellent in quality, and nearly every taste has been kept in view. Good and bad trade affects the circulation at Aston as in all other manufacturing districts, and last year's trade being good the demand was slightly below that of the previous year. The news room and reference-room are comfortable and attractive rooms. There is a good light, cheerful surroundings, with a bit of inexpensive art pottery here and there. The furniture was designed to suit the rooms, and is very conveniently placed to allow of freedom of locomotion. The best possible disposal is made of the space, and an additional room for reference has recently been added. A strip of card is distributed to borrowers to serve as a book-mark, and on the back of this the salient features of the library are given. The penny class lists of books are well compiled. One of the Board Schools close by the PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 146 library is used for lectures during the winter, and the library lectures have made Aston quite a local reputation. The lectures are of a high-class character. Mr. Robert K. Dent, author of " Old and New Birmingham," the genial librarian, has done much to develop this section of the Aston work. BEDFORD. The county of Bedford has begun to establish its Public Libraries. It was appropriate that the county town should lead the way, and this it did in August, 1889, by public meeting. The Mayor, in explaining the object of the meeting, said that it had been advertised in the legal way. For some time past a good number of people had been anxious that a museum should bo established in Bedford, and he himself thought it absolutely necessary in order to compete with the educational institutions in the town. In addition to that it was known that the Archaeo- logical Society had a great many things which it was desirable to have in a museum, and the society wished these things to be placed in the custody of some responsible body ; and, seeing that the Corporation was a body whose continued existence was cer- tain, it appeared to him that the Corporation should become custodians of the articles now in possession of the Archaeological Society, and any articles which were now placed in private libraries by persons who were anxious to hand over the treasures they possessed to some responsible body, who would hold them for the benefit of the donors and of the public generally. Feeling how important the matter was, he made inquiries, and found that two suitable rooms for a museum could be had at the Bedford Rooms at a rent of something like 40 a year. Thinking that the time had arrived for them to take some initial step in the matter, he brought it before the Council, but was told that it would be imprac- ticable for any public money to be spent in this way unless they availed themselves of the Public Libraries' Acts. Feeling then the importance of having a Museum and a Public Library in the town, which should be a centre of education and have a beneficial influence, and also feeling it was a matter that should be brought before the ratepayers, he had taken the liberty of calling that meeting, and he trusted they would show their appreciation of the endeavours that were being made to benefit the town by availing themselves of the Public Libraries' Acts. This was done unanimously, and Bedford is getting its museum into shape and will then establish its library. BILSTON, BBIEBLEY HILL, AND DUDLEY. It is becoming a fortunate thing in the history of the Public Library movement that no town or populous district governed by a local board is considered to be complete without a Public Library. Bilston dates its adoption from 1872. Its number of volumes is not yet large, and it should no longer be possible to lay to the discredit of the large employers of labour in the district that the library is by them a somewhat neglected institution. Their work- 10 146 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. people are large users of the newsroom and library, as is seen from the fact that 500 to 600 persons visit the various departments each day. The number of borrowers 5,730 is extraordinary, con- sidering that there are only 6,800 books, and what are these among 23,000 people ? A few twenty-guinea gifts for new books from the large firms in the district would tend to place the library on a much better footing. The burden of debt is telling rather heavily too, for out of a rate of 180 an annual amount of 74 is devoted to the repayment of the loan. Consequently the librarian Miss Fox has to be content with a salary of 15s. per week. Bilston wants a refresher in the shape of a few generous gifts, and it is to be hoped that it will not go long without them. And so does Brierley Hill, for during its twelve years' existence the enormous sum of 10 has been contributed by a supine public towards its library. This is a disgrace which surely the manufacturers of the district will no longer allow to exist. The population of 12,000 is a straggling one, but their reading proclivities cannot certainly be met by 1,691 volumes. On the two nights a week when the lending library is open some 300 books are lent. Our tenderest sympathy goes out for these small libraries struggling with a very limited income ; and where the better-class people stand aloof from it, as appears to be the case at Brierley Hill, the difficulties of the work are increased. Two rooms are allotted in the Town Hall buildings for the work, and 40 a year is paid to the Local Board for rent, heating, and cleaning. Will the people of Brierley Hill allow us to urge them to show an enhanced interest in its Public Library ? Dudley shows a better state of things, but here they have an income of 530, so that something on a larger scale may be reasonably expected. There was an interval of six years between the adoption of the Acts and the opening of the library. There are two small branches, and the gross use of the chief and two offshoots is very considerable. Here again the paucity of gifts is really not creditable to a town like Dudley. It is, perhaps, too much to expect the present Earl of Dudley to take the lead and spare some trifle from his abundant means, which are largely made by the people of the district. BlRKENHEAD. There is vitality in the work at Birkenhead, as there ought to be after an existence of thirty-three years. Birkenhead used to be a sort of Brighton for Liverpool, but the opening of the Mersey Tunnel and other drawbacks are said to have left the town not quite what it was. But at all events the library is holding its own, for the gross issue for the year was 148,703 for home reading, and 106,416 for reference. The work has grown steadily each year from the opening. In 1856-7 the books issued in the two departments were 13,646, and from that they have grown to over a quarter of a million volumes a year. This is the real argument in favour of Public Libraries. The use of them grows the older they get. It is no mushroom popularity which they enjoy. There PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 1 17 is no booming ; but for solid growth they may be very critically examined. The report of the librarian, Mr. William May, is altogether a very hopeful one, and perhaps to the committee the most cheering item is that they have been enabled to pay off another 300 of the debt on the building, and yet they have a balance of nearly 200 in favour of the committee. It is to be hoped that they will see they get it, for these balances to the credit of the working of Public Libraries were never intended to go back into general borough funds. Mr. May is a librarian with ideas. His renewal slip, which is given among the appen- dices, seems to have set the ball rolling in this direction on this side the Atlantic. The hand-lists of new additions to the shelves are capital. For three-halfpence there is one of twenty-four pages, which is a little model of its kind. Birkenhead is a great engineering district, and some pages in this hand-list are devoted to the works on engineering and mechanical arts. This has led to an increased demand for books on these subjects. The Birkenhead committee and their librarian believe in the virtue of printers' ink. They have issued a four-page circular of informa- tion concerning the library. With one or two trifling alterations this is also given among the appendices, and other libraries will do well to adopt a similar plan. The idea is Mr. May's. .BIRMINGHAM. To any one unacquainted with the Public Libraries of the country, a visit to the Birmingham Public Libraries is a liberal education; and to those familiar a visit to these institutions in the capital of the midlands is a source of inspiration. The Birmingham Public Libraries and the name of Mr. J. D. Mullins are inseparable, and it is only a matter of simple justice that the man who has done as much for this movement as any other individual man, should have that work fully and universally recognized. Mr. Mullins is one of the most modest of men, and has a dread against the chiel takin' notes; but his professional brethren are not disposed to let him off so easily. It is not a settled question as to whether the large constituency which he serves, the com- mittee whose servant he is, or his brother librarians esteem him the highest. Certain it is that, during some thirty years, few faces have been more familiar to literary Birmingham, and to those who take an interest in Public Library work, than that of the chief librarian to the Birmingham Corporation. He embodies within himself the very essence of quiet force and earnest activity. Quietly at work, with spectacles on nose and skull-cap on head, he is the centre and controller of a vast organization, the com- plexity and details of which are known only to those behind the scenes. Mr. Mullins is not a Birmingham man by birth, this event having taken place in London. His first beginning in library work was in 1868, when he was chosen librarian from one hundred and twenty-six candidates for the old Birmingham library a subscription institution which has a very interesting history, but into which this is not the place to enter. Here he 148 Pl'BLIC LIBRARIES. remained seven years, and in 1865 he was chosen chief librarian of the Public Libraries. In his new life Mr. Mullins was certainly the right man in the right place. His knowledge of books, his experience in catalogues, his familiarity with library management, were of great value. He had little to learn, and had only to carry out his views on a larger scale. His greatest merit is his methodical and microscopic power. No detail is too complex or too minute to be dealt with in some practical way. Besides this, he is remarkable for his extreme and uniform courtesy and perfect coolness. The merely business management of so large a library and numerous branches is most extensive, as all librarians know. Even the hours of duty of the various officers are put in a tabular form, and their attendances are similarly recorded. The pay- ments of salaries, wages, and accounts are all recorded in excellent order, duly checked and certified in business style. His seven years in a large subscription library, and his twenty- two years in Public Libraries, have afforded him a larger experi- ence than falls to the -lot of most men in his own profession. His little book, now out of print, and published some years ago, entitled " Free Libraries and Newsrooms," has been a capital pioneer. Further than this, Mr. Mullins has, by his practical aid and advice to other towns when forming their libraries, often been of most valuable service. For a long time he has been greatly shattered in health, and while still maintaining his old cheerfulness and vigour, it has been patent that advancing years have meant the loss of some of his old elasticity and buoyancy. But there are still left for him, it is greatly to be hoped, many years of work for Birmingham and the library movement. He is a born librarian, and his whole heart and soul have ever been in his work. In the growing popularity and extending useful- ness of the institutions under his care he has always taken the most lively interest. The wish may be expressed that, in the course of a few years, when that restored health for which all his friends hope for him may come, he will have time and oppor- tunity for writing a book on library administration. Few are better qualified to undertake such a work. Mr. Mullins is a man of whom Birmingham is proud, and his professional brethren have an equal pride in him. Acting as the mouthpiece of the latter for the time being, it may be said that they would give him three times three and musical honours, and that in his case it would be a very genuine display of the universal esteem in which he is held among them. The ever-extending work at Birmingham is the best of all possible proofs of the utility of the libraries. This could not have better evidence than is afforded by the decision of the Town Council in August, 1889, with a unanimity worthy of them, to erect three new branches. The only question was as to where the branches should be placed, for all the outlying districts are claiming to have them established in their midst. Any one who has visited either of the existing Birmingham branch PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 149 libraries at Constitution Hill, Gosta Green, or Deritend, who has seen the crowds of quiet and orderly readers in the rooms, and the strings of borrowers at the counters, could not come away without feeling that these institutions are doing a valuable and important social work. The use of such libraries and reading- rooms depends largely upon the facility of access. The workman after his day's toil cannot travel two or three miles to a reading- room, nor send his child the same distance to fetch a book to be read at home. All ratepayers have to contribute to the cost of these institutions, and all should as far as possible have equal opportunities of enjoying their advantages. It is proposed to spend between '15,000 and 16,000, and the branches will be completed without delay. One of these will be erected at the corner of Spring Hill and Icknield Street, from the designs of Messrs. Martin and Chamberlain. The principal feature will be a lofty and well-lighted hall, serving both for newsroom and lending library. The issue department will be accommodated in a gallery on the first-floor level, and approached by a staircase either from the reading-room or the vestibule. There will also be a librarian's room and a lavatory. The entrance will be at the corner of the two streets, and the buildings will have exterior elevations designed in modern Gothic, and constructed of red brick with terra-cotta dressings. A small circular ventilation turret also forms part of the design. The plans for the Lingard Street library also shows an elevation in brick and terra-cotta, designed in the Renais- sance style. It is treated very successfully, and has a good deal of enrichment of an effective character. The most striking feature is a semi-detached tower at the angle, which is to be fitted with a clock ; and the main room will be lighted by a range of lofty windows. The architects have dealt very skilfully with a piece of land of somewhat difficult form, and the building will greatly improve the appearance of the locality. As so many misconceptions have, from time to time, arisen and been placed before the public it will be as well to state what is the simple fact with regard to the rate. In one town where the movement was in progress, the statement went forth that the library rate was threepence in the pound. Until very recently from the present date, the rate has been but one penny, but by desire of the ratepayers power was obtained by means of a Local Improvement Act to raise it if necessary. This was necessitated by the demand for new branches. The limit of expenditure of the Ewart penny will not provide for an unlimited number of branches, and it is to meet the needs of these new branches that a fraction of another penny has been found neces- sary in Birmingham. There is no town where the library rates is more cheerfully paid than in this large midland centre of activity. The work here is a remarkable record of rapid growth and expansion. In 1861 the library sprang into life with a respectable collection of rather more than 6,000 books. In four years the number of books had considerably more than doubled, and they were borrowed by over 130,000 readers. Then in 1866 150 a great advance was made, for the reference library was opened with a collection of 16,195 books, and the volumes in the lending library were increased from under thirteen to over twenty-Jive thousand. Year by year the tree which had been, in its origin, a comparative grain of mustard-seed, waxed mightily, so that by the end of 1877 the reference library contained 44,519 books and the lending library 41,568, a total of 86,087 volumes, of which no less than 658,030 readers made use, for recreation or instruction. Then came the disastrous fire, in which the records of the year 1878 were lost. On that January morning in 1879 half Birmingham seemed to be standing in a kind of mute despair while its goodly volumes were being reduced to ashes. But, great as w r as the disaster, it served a useful purpose. The energy and promptitude with which Birmingham set to work to retrieve its loss are a memory which may be handed on with pride to succeeding generations, and, as with the fabled Phoenix, from the sacred ashes has, starlike, risen a fairer and nobler successor. Year by year the library has been rendered more and more perfect by the acquisition of valuable and interesting bnoks, keenly appreciated by an ever-widening circle of readers, till at the present time the reference library contains 102,35:? books, and the lending library 59,849 a total of 162,201, or about double the number of the stock when the fire ravaged their treasures. The average number of visits each day to the Birmingham libraries and reading-rooms may be roundly stated as not less than 12,000 a very respectable portion of the population. It is a well-known fact that thousands of men during the year get employment through reading the advertisements in the large numbers of papers to be found in the newsroom. Indeed, at nine o'clock any morning it is most interesting to see scores of men go straight not to the news, but to the advertisements to get employment. The reference department is a very strong feature of the Birmingham work, the catalogue of which will form, when completed, a sort of top-stone to Mr. Mullins's reputation. This catalogue has many details of special interest, and affords further example of the soundness of the plan on which it is compiled, and of the handiness and usefulness of the work as a " finding index " to the nearly one hundred thousand volumes which the library now contains, and which are constantly increasing from the munificent donation fund, which has not yet been exhausted in the purchase of high-class books. The form of the catalogue is practically alphabetical as a list of authors' names. But under various important headings the principal books are collected, so that it is also a classified catalogue for ready and general use. The experience of years has shown that not only for the references of the student, but for the prompt delivery to readers of any book or pamphlet, the catalogue has proved to be a remarkable success. As an example of the detail of the work it may be mentioned that the great " llarleian Miscellany," in ten quarto volumes, is fully catalogued on eleven pages, the contents of each volume being ITTH.1C LIBRARIES I\ THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 151 described, thus enabling readers and students to look up many rare, curious, and neglected pamphlets, whose existence is little known, but whose contents are historically valuable, and often highly interesting. Even so small a subject as " Hats '' is represented by six pamphlets ; while " Heraldry " has more than a page of rare and costly works. Under " History," the principal BIRMINGHAM KEFERENCE LIBKARY. books on general history are classified, each country being catalogued sepai'ately under its own proper heading, to which part the reader would naturally first refer. The Shakespearian library at Birmingham is noted far and wide. The shelves are stocked with editions in English, and in all languages into which the plays have been translated. The total 1,52 PUBLIC LIBBAKIE8. number of English editions or selections is 2,010, and of separate plays and poems 814 ; the " Ana " make up 2,005 volumes. There are complete editions in Polish, Russian, Hungarian, and Spanish ; but in Greek, Portuguese, Finnish, Croatian, Frisian, Roumanian, Welsh, Flemish, Ukraine, and Wallachian there are only separate plays. Of German editions and selections there are no fewer than 621 volumes, and the other Shakespearian literature in German numbers 1,385 volumes. France has only one-fourth of the number of editions and separate publications. The latest news with regard to this section was the offer last year of the collection of Shake- spearian rarities by the executors of the late Halliwell-Phillipps for 7,000. Opinion was very much divided on the wisdom or other- wise of this proposed step. The " Daily Post " summed up very powerfully the arguments against the purchase in the following sentence: " We emphatically contend that the matter is a national one, and not by any means of a local character. The ratepayers of Birmingham would have no adequate return for their outlay. They would simply be paying for a treasure in which a few scholars and students would delight. The Shakespearian collection in our Public Library at present lies useless. The early editions and other highly-valued treasures alike unasked for and neglected. The artisans of Birmingham have no time to pore orer old type and manuscripts they cannot understand. They derive little pleasure from merely gazing at book-backs upon which a fancy price has been set by bibliographers." Alderman Johnson, the chairman of the Library Committee, and who is one of the best friends which Public Library work ever had, championed the cause on the other side. The catalogue of the Shakespeare Library will ever be the opua mc'f/num of Mr. Mullins. It not only catalogued what he had on the shelves, but what he wanted to possess in fact, was a catalogue of all then known to exist. It gave the titles of all the chief works classified under English and foreign, and under the heading of each play' the title and date and size of all known editions, thus forming a literary as well as a library memorial of Shakespeare. This catalogue was a labour of love. His duty as a librarian in no way required so elaborate and learned a work. It was the outcome of his own knowledge that no full work had been done, and of his own energy and industry that it should be done. The reference library was first opened on Sunday in 1872. In order to show the work being done on this day by this department the table which follows is very instructive. Altogether the use made of the library on the Sunday is most encouraging. Between five and six hundred orderly readers visit the reference library on the day of the week which, as much as any day, should be devoted to intellectual pursuits. Their demand is, in the majority of cases, for books of an instructive character, and who shall say that in the quiet reading of a book within the four walls of a Public Library on that day is a violation of the sanctity of the Sabbath? PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. VOLUMES ISSUED ON SUNDAYS DURING 1888. JS fl a _ . s 0* 1 MONTHS. "3 c 1 SS k olitirs unrnv Is 1 11 1 o | ?; 7 '- '" ~ = \l C 5'i 1 H 00 | i! f 1 1 fi i * January February ... 5 4 45 42 860 736 19 20 501 290 132 132 142 81 1,839 1,412 140 111 3,678 2,824 735 706 March 4 63 702 24 437 135 166 1,640 113 3,28C 820 April 5 37 558 37 351 134 252 1,502 133 3,004 601 May 4 10 311 23 185 74 133 825 89 1,650 412 June 4 34 268 9 189 57 91 714 66 1,428 357 July "i 32 481 10 275 43 153 1,055 61 2,110 422 August 4 23 206 8 197 52 131 658 41 1,316 329 September ... 5 36 418 13 338 111 184 1,186 86 2,372 474 October 4 27 398 20 325 76 59 1,143 238 2,286 571 November ... 4 18 499 23 293 131 231 1,272 77 2,544 636 December ... 5 27 484 13 296 130 187 1,266 129 2,532 506 Totals ... 53 394 5,921 219 3,677 1,207 1,810 14,512 1,284 29,024 548 The number of cases of misconduct on the part of assistants is very small. A year or two ago the authorities of the Birming- ham central libraries discovered that about three hundred books had been stolen from the reference department. The thefts were carried on in a systematic manner for twelve months, but they were not discovered until a junior assistant disappeared. Most of the books missing were duplicates of expensive editions of Shakespeare, and valuable tomes on history and travel. The duplicates were not stamped, as were those first in the library, and there was nothing to render them unsaleable. Over two hundred of the books were discovered at second-hand book- sellers' shops in the town. The assistant was in receipt of sixteen shillings a week as wages. He produced, it appears, when selling the books, a letter purporting to be written by his mother, who alleged she was selling her husband's stock. The stamping of every Uook and regular and systematic stock-takings should be the rule at every library. It is impossible not to feel that Birmingham is certainly a model town in the matter of books. The annual report of its Libraries Committees proves this in every way. Mr. John Morley, in his address on the study of English literature, said that the average issue of novels in English libraries is about 70 per cent, of the 1")4 PUBLIC LIBRARIESv whole, liiit at IJirmingham the percentage of novels is about half Mr. Morley's estimate. Utility real and vast is the conclusion to which one naturally arrives, and if the present rate of progress is maintained what the proportions will be in another half-century who can predict ? BUXTON AND CHESTERFIELD. These are the only two places in Derbyshire, in addition to Derby, which have so far enfranchised themselves. The beautiful watering-place of Buxton has done credit to itself in its library movement. The whole district is surpassingly beautiful, with an air as clear and bracing as could possibly be desired. Now its mental air has become impregnated with a people's collection of literature, and the health-seekers and pleasure-seekers who go from all parts of the country will have a cheerful reading-room to which they can resort. The pile of buildings in which the Public Library is housed is well situated, and forms, in fact, a landmark for the whole district. In planning accommodation for the municipal offices the leaders of the library movement argued that they could not do better than adopt the Acts and provide accommodation in the Town Hall. And the people showed their sense by not requiring much persuasion. For an outlay of some 11,000 the people have a handsome Town Hall. The reading-room of the library is 40 feet by 25 feet, and there is also a smaller room. At the end of the reading-room is the lending library. The building was opened in June, 1889, by the Marquis of Hartington. Well might he say, in declaring the library open, that an admirable policy had been pursued in Buxton in making provision for the wants of all classes. The prosperity of the town depended very much on the support of the rich and well-to- do, but that had not led the authorities to neglect the other classes, who necessarily increased in numbers with the increasing prosperity of the place. He was very glad indeed they had seen their way to the adoption of those very useful Acts the Public Libraries' Acts, and it was a happy idea, when the town needed additional public buildings, to include a place for the library. He hoped it would be a source of improvement and recreation for the people of all classes. The lending library began with over 2,000 volumes, and was opened in November last. The work of lending went on briskly, and has gone on increasing since. What better attraction can a watering-place provide for its visitors than a reading-room well supplied with papers and periodicals ? The watering-places are rapidly recognizing this fact, and we are within measurable distance of the time when no inland or sea- board watering-place will be considered complete without its rate-supported reference library, reading-rooms for the visitors, and the lending library for the residents. Five of such places have within a comparatively short time of each other adopted the Acts. Buxton has reason to be proud of having done so. Some of the members of the Local Board appear to have been a little unreasonably ruffled about the catalogue. Catalogues do not grow JTBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 165 spontaneously, and mature like i'ungi. Some librarians wish they did. Another proof is afforded at Buxton of what has been so frequently stated. Directly these libraries get into operation they encourage gifts. There is at once a responsible body to take charge of gifts. Buxton has never hitherto had a public local museum. Antiquaries and archaeologists have pillaged many interesting relics, and added their finds to distant collections. Geologists have pursued their interesting researches, but with- out giving any local interest to sermons in stones. It has often been remarked that the natural sciences have few devotees in Buxton, and the fact is scarcely one for wonderment when we consider that there is no antiquarian collection open for the inspection of young and old, and whereby enthusiasm in the pursuit of science might be roused in receptive minds. Gross ignorance, and a slavish hankering for utility alone, have destroyed many interesting relics, and there is, therefore, the greater reason why such as may yet be rescued should be deposited in a place of safety for public inspection. Within recent years antiquarian research in Derbyshire has received a great impetus, and the town evidently possesses one antiquarian in the person of Mr. William Millett, who has intelligently and thoroughly examined the old Deep Dale Cave, and now offers to the town the valuable results of three years' labour, and these are to be placed in cases in the newsroom. The librarian receives 40 a year as a salary. Chesterfield is rather feeling the pinch of having to make bricks without straw. Out of a rate which only brings in 160 they are making the very best use which can possibly be made of this sura. The librarian has to be content with 65, which cannot be looked upon as a princely income, but he is devoted to his work. The shoe pinches in the repayment of a loan, the annual sinking fund of which amounts to 64. The expenditure for newspapers and periodicals reaches 30, and the bookshelves have to be content with their present furnishings. Now, ye master potters of Brampton, and colliery proprietors of Winning- ton ! shall this useful little institution starve in your midst ? The total issue of volumes during the past year was 32,766 for the lending library, 6,729 for the subscription library, and 750 for the reference library. The classified summary of the year's issue from the lending library is interesting, as showing the kind of mental food chosen by the borrowers. Fiction heads the list, 21,815 volumes having been issued. Of works of a theological, philosophical, and educational character 364 volumes were lent. Only fourteen volumes in law, politics, commerce, &c., were issued. Voyages, travels, history, &c., proved somewhat more attractive, as 2,012 books in those departments were borrowed. In arts, science, literature, 558 volumes were issued, natural history 326, poetry and the drama 378, juvenile 768, and miscellaneous 6,681. This is a creditable show for an institution which does not claim to be strong. They have recently introduced the system of allowing outsiders to borrow by paying a small subscription. 156 vrr.ur These borrowers must, of course, be guaranteed by a ratepayer. Prior to adopting this plan in December last, they had over 300 applicants for books from outside the borough limits. The income from these subscriptions will be a useful contribution towards the interest on the building. The legality of allowing outsiders to borrow on payment of a subscription was questioned in Chesterfield, as it has been elsewhere. As stated in another chapter the spirit and rendering of the Acts is against this inno- vation, but each individual place must really settle the question for itself. By the adoption of the plan it is no loss to the ratepayers, but, on the contrary, a benefit, and it should be permitted by the Acts. CAMBRIDGE. In presenting their thirty-fourth annual report to the Council of the borough, the committee of the Cambridge Public Library say they have satisfaction in recording the continued success of the institution. They aim at making the library as efficient as possible, so as to meet the educational want of all classes of the community. In furtherance of this object, the librarian, Mr. John Pink, addressed a circular to all head masters and mistresses of public and private schools in the borough, calling their atten- tion to the many valuable works of reference in the library, and soliciting any suggestions, or lists of books, that would be of ser- vice to themselves or senior scholars in their schools. As a result, a number of educational works have been purchased by the committee. Two further courses of lectures and classes wt-iv given in connection with the Cambridge University Extension Lectures, and the library committee provided duplicate copies of all the text-books required. These proved of much service to the students, as was gracefully acknowledged by the secretai-y. The additions made to the libraries during the year comprised 1,205 volumes; of these 1,001 were added to the central library and 204 volumes to the Barn well branch. The libraries now com- prise 35,988 volumes. The issue of books was again in excess of that in any previous year, being 104,903 against 102,929 last year. The reading-room continues to attract a large number of readers. As mentioned on another page there is an open reference library at Cambridge. Visitors to the library are much struck with the large number of books in the reading-room, which are freely accessible to all persons entering it. Constant demands for such reference books as dictionaries and encyclopaedias, led first to one and then to others being shelved in the reading-room, so that the readers could help themselves, and so satisfactory did this method prove that other works were added from time to time. The com- mencement was made in the year 1858, when a copy of Webster's "Dictionary" was placed in the reading-room, and at the end of six years the number of volumes had increased to 322. Now they number 1353, and they are largely and carefully used. Four volumes were stolen during the past year, but they were of small value. In 1887 they established a new rule to the effect that the 1TUUC LIBIIAIIIKS IN TIIK MIDLAND COUNTIES. 157 wife or child of any burgess who resides with him beyond the precincts of the borough shall he entitled to borrow from the library, and in such east- such burgess signs the following declara- tion in addition to the voucher: I declare that my resides with me at Burgess's name in full occupation Dated the day of 18 By order of the Library Committee. CABLTON AND HUCKNALL TOBKARD. These two Nottinghamshire districts, both under the control of Local Boards, are shaking down to their work. Carlton, with its 6,000 inhabitants and a rate producing only about 50, was rather proud of having done, in the adoption of the Acts, what Hull had refused to do. The 1,000 volumes with which they began were classified and catalogued by Mr. J. Potter Briscoe, of the Notting- ham libraries, as were also the books at Hucknall Torkard. Mr. Briscoe has in this way, like some other librarians, been an active missionary for the movement. The opening ceremony took place in October, 1888. The building which was handed over on the adoption of the Acts was formerly used as the Local Board offices and as a temperance hall. The only structural alteration neces- sary was the throwing of two rooms into one, and the work was carried out, together with the furnishing of the room and the purchasing of some books, at a cost of 40. Alderman C4ripper, of Nottingham, performed the opening ceremony. He observed that they were taking an important step in the history of the village, which he hoped would have good results in the future. They sought to place before the people books of an entertaining, amusing, and instructive character. That library was part of the great educational wave that was sweeping over the country. lie believed that education was opening the minds of the people. The library was in their village an illustration of the way in which one step led to another. He looked upon it as a necessary conse- quence of the good schools they had in the village. What was the use of teaching children to read unless they provided them with the means of turning their knowledge to account ? If they wished their children to retain their knowledge, it was absolutely necessary that they should find some way of gratifying their taste for reading. He hoped they would supply, as far as possible, books of a healthy description, which were likely to improve the character. He had no objection whatever to fiction, provided it was of a healthy kind, but many novels now published should not be read. At Hucknall Torkard, w r here the tomb of Byron is, there is a capital new building, presented to the town by Messrs. J. E. Ellis, M.P., and II. B. Paget, two of the proprietors of the Hucknall Colliery. The building is well situated, and is built in the Renaissance style of architecture, from the designs of Mr. A. N. Bromley, of Nottingham. It consists of a library having pro vision 158 ITBUC LIBRA TUKs. for 4,000 volumes, with capabilities for extension, a large reading-- room, a reference library, a smoking-room, and a librarian's house. The library is placed in the centre of the building, so that the librarian has supervision over every room. The reading- room is 40 feet by 22 feet, and the reference library 23 feet by 16 feet. The opening ceremony of the lending library was in January 1889, a year after the other parts of the library had been opened. Mr. J. E. Ellis, M.P., has all through thrown a good deal of life and interest into the work of the library. He might well say at one of the opening meetings that they had assembled on that occasion all sorts and conditions of men, differing in religious and political matters, and this movement was not confined at all to any section of the community. The rate will produce about 120. Help in filling the shelves has been derived from a variety of sources. The committee of the old mechanics' institutes lias pre- sented the library with 228 volumes of their best books. The co-operative society too were generous, and a bazaar held a few months ago has also aided in the same direction. Carlton and Hucknall arc typical cases where a Government grant of '30 or 40 a year would prove of material help, and would be money well and legitimately spent. COVENTRY. During the twenty years' working here a total of 31,163 books has been acquired, which for 42,111 people is creditable. The library building was erected and presented by Alderman Gulson. This gentleman is now having a new reference library added to the original building, and in addition to this about 2,000 has been given. The estimated cost of the extension is 6,000. The new building occupies the vacant land at the back of the library, and the style of architecture is in harmony with the existing structure. It is intended that the present entrance shall be reserved for the users of the reading-room only, which to all intents and purposes will be separate from the library proper; and a new entrance, of noble proportions, is provided for the library on the north side, in the centre of the block. The vesti- bule opens into a large waiting-hall 20 feet by 33 feet, and this leads into a new reference library 64 feet by 53 feet. The books are placed round the room, and some of them in galleries at the sides, the galleries and roof being supported by ten pillars. Ample light is admitted by top lights and thirteen windows. It is proposed to furnish the room with twelve tables, and all the fittings will be of the most modern and approved designs. Other parts of the additions include a conveniently situated librarian's room, a book store, &c. The present reference library will be absorbed in the lending department. As well as the Public Library there is managed by the same staff a subscription library. From the last report it appears that this book club expended nearly 600 in books and magazines during the year. After circulation for a time among the members, the books are all added to the Public Library by purchase at one-eighth of the published PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 159 price. The issue in the last library year was 84,401, which gives two books per head of the population. On Easter Monday the library was open to the public, but this is not put forward as a plan to copy, but rather the opposite. Coventry will have reason to be proud of its library buildings now that this extension is completed. DARLASTON AND OLDBURY. The Town Hall, Public Library, and public offices of Darlaston form one block of buildings, which were opened in October, 1888. The buildings are very handsome and compact, and stand out prominently in the town. The Town Hall is un- doubtedly the largest in the district, it being 90 feet long, 5<) feet wide, and 25 feet 6 inches high to the wall plate, the height in the middle of the roof being 34 feet. It was thought by some that a too costly and elaborate structure had been erected, but it is well to prepare for future growth as well as present needs. The entire cost was 6,000, of which nearly 2,500 was voluntarily subscribed. A little temporary difficulty was experienced, but this has been met by the generous action of Mr. James Slater, the chairman of the Local Board. He intimated that he was prepared to furnish and provide the literature, the daily and weekly papers, the monthly periodicals, as well as other contributions, as long as the present debt was remaining on this part of the public buildings. The reading-room has two large reading-desks, capable of displaying six papers each, supported on single standards with foot rails. At the top there is a moulded space which is to bear the name of each news- paper, and an ornamental carving of brown oak, with light scroll iron brackets. Altogether they are pretty and substantial desks, and are made from pitch-pine and brown oak. A bazaar was held in December last in the Town Hall, and this was taken up very spiritedly by the ladies of the town and district. Jt was felt that the incubus of the debt of 1,500 could be wiped out by a combined effort, and at the close of the bazaar some 1,500 was in all received, so that the library has now started on its career with every prospect of success. The Acts were adopted in Oldbury in July, 1888. The move- ment becomes, in fact, infectious, and the adoption of the Acts or the opening of a new library in a near town at once causes the inhabitants of towns not similarly favoured to look around and ask themselves why they should not have one of these citizens' institutions of their own. The question was decided by public meeting, and the requisition was signed by 174 inhabitants. The subject of a Public Library had been mooted in Oldbury several times previously, and the great hindrance to putting the Acts into operation before had been the feeling that the rateable value of the town was so small that the amount raised by the penny rate would not be sufficient to cover the expenses. Now that difficulty had been overcome, inasmuch as during the last few years the rateable value of the ]60 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. township had increased very considerably, the chairman of the opening meeting said he felt satisfied that the penny rate would bring in an income sufficient to meet the expenses of a library and reading-room. The question was brought for- ward more particularly in connection with another scheme for erecting public buildings and public offices for the town. It was felt that the most economical way of putting the Acts into operation would be to join it with the scheme for public buildings, as it could be done at a less cost. The resolution was carried unanimously. Mr. A. M. Chance, a member of a firm in Oldbury who are very large employers of labour, in moving a vote of thanks to the chairman, remarked that he could not recollect any meeting in Oldbury where there was such absolute unanimity as there was upon that occasion. The things which caused Oldbury to be a byeword among their neighbours had now passed away, and those people who spoke disparagingly of Oldbury forgot to refer to the fact that they had no educational rate in the town. DERBY. It is always a pleasure to turn into the handsome block of buildings forming the Derby Public Library and Museum. There is no public institution in Derby that can compare in any way with the Public Library and Museum, which, at the cost of a fortune, was presented to the town by its late representative, Mr. Michael Thomas Bass. It was essentially a gift to the working classes, and is a more genuine mechanics' institute than the so-called establishment which arises in immediate juxtaposition thereto, which is a mechanics' institute replete with everything but the mechanics themselves. One has only to watch the stream of working-men visitors to the lending, the reading, and the refer- ence departments of the library, and to the museum, to observe the extent to which the magnificent generosity of the millionaire brewer is taken advantage of by his whilom constituents. There is one matter of regret about the reading-rooms, and that is, that among all the costly fittings, the ornamental iron screens, the stained glass, the oriel windows, and the polished granite, the light is defective. Half the rooms are in a state of perpetual gloom, and, unless the reader have the nocturnal sight of the owl or the bat, it is almost impossible to decipher print. The same fault should be avoided in the many new buildings now being erected. At Derby it does, unfortunately, detract from that cheerful aspect which the rooms otherwise have. This only applies to the daytime, for in the evening when the gas is alight there is brightness everywhere. One of the most notable features in the Derby work is the enormous number of boys and youths who frequent the library. The place literally swarms with young people, and on each visit which the present writer has made to the library there has been among these perfect order and silence. Mr. William Crowther, the librarian and curator, with Mr. C. Courtney as chief assistant, are regular boys' men, and are PrBLIC LIBRARIES IX THE MIDI.AVI* COUNTIES. 161 keenly in touch witli their visitors, giving every facility for reading to the future men and women of Derby. The eighteenth report departs, and wisely, from the usually stereotyped run of such publications. It leads off almost at once to say that " there is nothing startling to chronicle respecting the last year's history of the library and museum. The institution stands as high as ever in public estimation, and its efficiency in all its branches has been fully maintained. A larger sum of money than usual has been spent by the book committee, no fewer than 1 ,647 DEBBY PUBLIC LIBBABY AND MUSEUM. new books having been purchased. Of these 798 are replace- ments and 849 are entirely new. To the vigilant care and discretion of the book committee is due the general high character of the library." The librarian's report gives the stock, which stands at 14,836 in the lending section, and 8,825 in the reference department. In the two sections the issues for the year were 147,778. This shows a slight decrease, but it is accounted for by the gradual elimination of the three-volume novels, and, as an additional cause, the librarian is of opinion that the books are kept longer than formerly and changes are less frequent. This, 162 ITHUC LIBRAK1KS. he thinks, ] mints to more thorough and less desultory reading. During last year then- have been 1, 00:} new borrowers. No iV\v<>r than 1,(X>."> iooks were bespoken at the cost of one penny per book, a post-card being sent to the borrower when the book is in. This post-card simply informs the borrower that " the book (giving title) is now in, and will be retained for you until to- morrow evening. Please produce this card when you make application for the book." This plan is in operation at other libraries, and is well worth extending still further. The librarian places on record in the report his sense of the high service which is rendered by the entire newspaper press of Derby, and thankfully acknowledges its hearty co-operation in all that tends to the welfare of the institution. Will other librarians please copy this paragraph ? Newspaper men are human enough to care for a word of thanks for the aid they render in popularizing these book-homes of the people. HANDSWORTH. As little reference has been made to the inquiry of the Local C4overnment official where a loan is desired, it will be oppor- tune to here mention the case of Handsworth. This will serve to show the method of procedure, and the opposition which has at times to be met. On February 2o, 1890, an inquiry was held by Colonel Henry Luard, E.E., on behalf of the Local Government Board, into the application of the Local Board for powers to borrow 2,000 for the purpose of extending the Public Library. There was a large attendance of ratepayers, and a strong party opposed the granting of the application. The clerk to the Local Board opened the case for the Library Com- mittee. He said the Public Libraries' Acts were adopted in 1876, and from that date up to the present the movement had been most popular in the district. Evidence of the public interest taken in the matter existed in the fact that upwards of 500 was subscribed towards the library when it was fii'st opened. The lending library was opened in May, 1880, with 0,120 books. Now there were 9,138 in this department, while they had a reference library of 1,328, making a total of 10,458 volumes. In 1882 they introduced a musical department into the library, Handsworth being the first to adopt the plan of a Public Library of music. At the present time they have all the standard works in the musical library, and they add to them yearly. In the first year there were 41,672 issues of books made, while last year there were 61,225; and as many as 600 issues have been made in one day. In 1886 the committee organized a series of lectures during the winter months, all of which were well-attended, and have been continued up to the present. In 1885 the attendance averaged .'>00 per day, and the insufficiency of the accommodation in the reading-room would be understood when it is stated that the room was only thirty-one feet by twenty feet. Since then the average attendance had increased considerably. With regard to the shelves for the books, they had no more room, PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 163 and there were 2,000 books unshelved. The newsroom was also too small for the newspapers. It would be submitted that the large assembly room in the buildings should be used as a reading- room. In the original plans it was included as a reading-room. An objection to this was that it was upstairs, and consequently not on the same level as the present library. Some of the oppo- nents of the scheme objected to the extension upon the grounds of elevation. The architect from whose plans the buildings were erected said that the elevation would not suffer, and as regards the loan, if 2,000 were borrowed at 3 per cent., both principal and interest could be repaid in fifty years at the rate of 81 9s. 2d. per annum. It was proposed to make a new room thirty-four feet by thirty feet as a general reading-room, and in addition the new plans also provided for a ladies' room, and a room in which students could use books out of the reference library. The rector of Handsworth presented a petition signed by 852 ratepayers in opposition to the scheme. The petitioners were entirely opposed to the scheme, and to the spending of so large a sum for that purpose. They considered that the large room upstairs could be altered at a small cost, and used for the purposes of a reading-room. Dr. Randall, the rector, who led this oppo- sition, said he considered the proposed expenditure altogether unnecessary. At the same time he believed that the members of the Local Board were desirous of promoting the welfare of the parish. He believed that they were ill-advised in intending this great outlay. This 2,000 would take -1,250 to repay it in fifty years. It was not the extension of the library that he and those who were with him opposed. They protested against the Local Board making the extension while they had plenty of room at their disposal which could be utilized for the purpose at a cost of about 20. The large room was used for all sorts of purposes outside library matters, and he denied the right of the Local Board to use it for any other purpose than as a library. The Local Board had plenty of work to do by attending to the state of the roads and so forth. The Inspector : But, Dr. Randall, you could not spend the library rate on the roads. Dr. Randall: But 1 want to know where the extra expenditure will come from. The chairman of the Highways Committee said the extension was a public necessity. There were over 30,000 people in the parish, and the number was rapidly increasing. Permission to borrow the amount was granted. HEREFORD AND LEOMINSTER. Herefordshire contributes two towns to the gross number of adoptions. The Hereford Library is now in its eighteenth year. Few statistics are given in the report, but in place of the usual returns there are given some interesting particulars about the museum and the lecture work in connection with the library. Over 600 volumes were added last year to the lending library, making the number 9,447. These, with 3,511 in the reference section, bring the number to 12,958 for a population of 19,822. 164 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. For the year the issues were 29,991. The income for the year was 700. The practice, continued for some years, of holding pub'ic meetings in the museum lias been discontinued, and this enabled the committee to provide some new cases and give an altogether better appearance to the museum section. The lend- ing department has up to the date of the last report been open only on three days in the week, but the growth of the work made it necessary to open it on each weekday. During the agitation for the adoption of the Acts in Gloucester a most extra- ordinary statement was made by an ex-mayor of the city to the effect that " he knew that in a neighbouring city, Hereford, where a gentleman of extreme generosity subscribed a sum of 6,000, the citizens of Hereford also subscribing a large amount, they really obtained what might be termed a Public Library. But what was the result? That, after taxing the citizens one penny in the pound, they were not in a position to carry on their Public Library." The statement was so at variance with fact that one wonders how anyone could make such an assertion. The speech in question coming from such a source, and the entire lack of organization, cost Gloucester the failure of the adop- tion of the Acts. The incident serves to show that the most vigorous opposition comes from those who should be leaders of public opinion instead of being dragged in the tail of the move- ment, as this ex-mayor of Gloucester will surely be if he lives a few years longer. Leominster affords a useful example of a recent adoption under considerable difficulties. Mr. Rankin, M.P., offered 1,000 on condition of the Acts being adopted. This lubricated the matter greatly, and notwithstanding the beer trade opposition led on by a local brewer, the forces of progress were too much for these gigantic powers everywhere as well as in Leominster. Mr. J. B. Doweling skilfully organized the provisional committee. He was aided in this work by the ex-mayor, Alderman Alfred Lewis, and praise is due to this body for the dogged persistency which they displayed. The vote was taken at the end of September, 1889, and proved successful in securing a most triumphant majority. Out of a total of ] ,200 voters 1,078 returned their papers, and this shows the wide interest which had been created. There were only 199 votes against the adoption. A leaflet giving the reasons for a Public Library for the town by some leading local men did excellent service. A prominent gentleman from Hereford wrote that the Public Library in that town had been a great success. The rate will produce about 200. Leominster, in its adoption of the Acts in so plucky a way, will have its effect upon the neigh- bouring towns. A sufficient sum has been collected to warrant the committee in deciding upon a site. It is very satisfactory to note that the bitterness of the opposition is dying away, and there is a general desire to work together for the common good. Some little difficulty is being experienced at the time of writing with regard to the rating of an out-parish, which forms part of Leominster, but this is likely to be satisfactorily settled. IM IU.IC LIBRARIES IN THE MI1M.AM) COUNTIES. 165 HERTFORD AND WATFORD. Hertford occupies a rather singular position. The Acts wore adopted in 1855, the town being about the first small borough to take advantage of the then new legislation. But for twenty-nine years the Act, although " adopted, as the Hertfordians pleasantly termed it, was a dead letter. In 1884 the intrinsic value of the books was trifling, but in 1887 some 9,000 volumes wen- got to- gether, including some of the very best books in the language. Of these 5,000 were contributed by a local institution that had been forming a library since 1832, and during the three years between the periods named above an altogether new life was experienced, mainly owing to the enthusiasm of the librarian, Mr. Ernest Lawrence, who, it appears from the returns, is rewarded with the princely stipend of '30 a year ! In the Jubilee year it was thought that the best way to celebrate the event would be to build a library and school of art. This was dune, and there is now for use a new building, but which might have been better designed. For a population of 8,000 there are now 1 ] ,000 books, and so the point has been reached of having more than a book per head of the population. Many of the committee, notwithstanding this, naturally feel that their book-buying is along way from being complete. The gross return from the rate is 124. The lit. Hon. A. J. Balfour, M.P., opened the new building, and made an excellent speech. For public utility the Watford Library has a capital record. The institution was built by public subscription nearly twenty years ago. There are fewer books than at Hertford, but the turn- over is good, and fiction is kept down to the respectable figure of 63 per cent, of the issues. The Watford Public Library is a distinctly educational institution, and to so important an extent lias its work grown that it has been found necessary to enlarge some of the rooms, and a student's room is now contemplated. Considerable attention is heim-,- given by the librarian, Mr. John Wooliuan, and his committee to the organizing and developing of the i rt'civnce section, in Avhich there are now some 2,440 books. The committee wisely recognize that though the circulating sec- tion is now most popular, the credit of the library and of the town demands that the other section just referred to should be properly arranged and accommodated. For years a charge was made in the lending library to the borrowers, but about two years ago this charge, which an impartial critic must be compelled to designate as illegal, was wisely discontinued, and the forward movement of issuing the books free of charge resulted in almost at once quadrupling the number of borrowers and the number of books issued. For the. 6,797 books in the lending section there are 1,717 borrowers. In appealing for gifts of books in the various departments of literature the committee need not apologize for asking for copies of the ever popular novel, and all true lovers of the best English fiction will agree with them in saying that the novelist is the accepted teacher of the nineteenth 166 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. century. A private subscription room has been in operation for some time, for which there is a charge of 10s. per year, but it seems that owing to the advantages offered by the political clubs of the town this is now being conducted at a loss. In the educational sections the school of art is strong, and the day and night classes are well attended. The school of music is perhaps unsurpassed for health and vigour by any public library in the country. The income in this department for one year was 888, but the expenses were of course heavy. The school of literature is popular, and in this department the University Extension Lectures and classes continue to be well supported. Not content with all these various avenues of work, the com- mittee have considered whether it was practical to launch con- tinuation or night schools and recreative classes. In December last, the Local Board discussed whether the town should not avail themselves of the opportunity afforded by the Technical Instruction Act. They unanimously came to the conclusion that something should be done at the close of the financial year with regard to this Act. To illustrate how the town has grown it may be mentioned that in 1874 the penny rate produced 80, and now it realizes 245. The last report breathes altogether an earnest spirit of work. With a local press which supports them, a com- mittee who have real interest in the work, and a Local Board ever ready to support them, the wonder would be if it were other- wise. These two bodies act largely on the principle that in educational matters the supply often has in these things to create the demand instead of waiting for it. HlNCKLEY AND Lot'GHBOROrGH. These two places with Leicester are the total number of adop- tions in Leicestershire up to date. Ilinckley drew into line as a sort of Jubilee movement. On May 16, 1888, the building was opened by that warm friend of this movement, the Duchess of Rutland. A special building has been erected by Messrs. Atkin Bros., at a cost of 1,500, in memory of their brother, Mr. Arthur Atkins, who for many years had taken a warm interest in all that concerned Ilinckley. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who seem to be the most ubiquitous of all ground landlords, sold a piece of land for 250, and the furniture and fittings were bought from a general subscription fund. A local patriot bequeathed 500 for books, so altogether Ilinckley holds up its head and feels proud of its Public Library, and is using it well. The architect is Mr. J. Barradale, of Leicester, and it is a pretty structure in a species of Flemish architecture. Throughout there is neatness and taste. The library provides another of the now rapidly increasing number of building erected at a cost of from 1,000 to 3,000, and these are the sort of places which all friends of the move- ment wish may grow so plentiful that it may be difficult to count them all. The Duchess of Rutland always talks and writes about these institutions in a way which is as invigorating !M HI.IC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COl'NTIES. 167 as a flood of sunshine on a spring day. It w ,s just like tliis distinguished lady to say tiiat if she had the power she should like to have a reading-room in every village with which she is in any way connected, be it large or small. Would that the same spirit animated more of the representatives of our highest families ! Hinckley is in a rather singular position. The Acts have been adopted, but for five years a committee have guaranteed that it shall not lie a burden to the town, and have made them- selves responsible for its maintenance during that time. There were local reasons why this was practicable and easily adjusted, but it is not a plan which should be copied. The catalogue has in it a page devoted to one of Professor Ruskin's many pithy sayings about books and reading. Loughborough has for its population of 20,000, books to the number of 6,000. The rate produces 260, and the library keeps its fiction down to 55 per cent, of the issues. Books and binding absorb 50. Only recently the Mayor had offered a collection of geological specimens for the library, and this is an example of how the nucleus of a museum comes to be established in connection with a Public Library. The ratio of borrowers runs about one in ten, and the ratio of issue of books to the population is 2'51. An enterprising member of the committee calculated that had the borrowers purchased the books they have had out during the year it would have cost about 6,000, whereas, after deducting the expense of the reading-room, the cost to the ratepayers has been under 90. This fact illustrates the gain which accrues to the town by co-operation. The local press supports the library well. Now that Loughborough is incorporated the work will occupy an even more important position than it has done in the past. A little over twelve months ago an intelligent working man wrote to the author from Loughborough. lie commenced by stating that they were then governed by a Local Board, and the library committee (composed in September, 1888, of members of the Board and ratepayers) had decided that none but direct ratepayers were eligible to sign guarantee forms for borrowers. This new regula- tion was rather a hardship on the working men, who had been good friends of the library and had contributed 50 towards its first cost. The men felt, and felt naturally, that as they were on the voting register, and entitled to vote for the members of the Local Board and Board of Guardians, they were ratepayers although they had compounded. Many of these direct ratepayers were opposed to the establishment of the library, and so the men felt the indignity of going about asking for guarantors The line is a very fine one, and it is only mentioned now as a guide to other places not to run aground on this little sandbank. To be on the burgess roll should be quite sufficient for any guarantor, and is now sufficient at Loughborough. It is always best to take the public into confidence in library work, and to have confidence in the public. If all the losses of the Public Libraries throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland were added together it would make the veriest trifle. Not only should the signature of a burgess 168 Pl'BLIC LIBRARIES. be good enough for a guarantor, but the production of the last rate receipt be sufficient to entitle the owner to become a borrower. The catalogue compiled by Mr. Moon, the librarian, is very neatly printed ; and it contains a number of local advertise- ments. KIDDERMINSTER. Kidderminster and Worcester are the only two towns in "Wor- cestershire which have up to date adopted the Acts. Both places have from the beginning of their libraries had to carry on their work under considerable disadvantage. Kidderminster has now entered on its ninth year, and the unhealthy condition of the reading-room, and the great discomfort caused to frequenters of the library by the inadequate space, naturally hinder the development of the work. But the promise of better things is already casting its shadow in the foreground, and an offer was made in October, 1889, by an anony- mous donor, to contribute a large sum towards building a new library for the borough. The need of such a building has long been felt, and a site has been preserved adjoining the schools of art and science, which, when the new library is erected, will form a complete block of buildings for science, literature, and art. There has, too, been another drawback. The amount received from the Town Council is 240, and the actual amount to which they are entitled is 300. Surely this is strange, and in this respect Kidderminster has fared similar to some other places. The committees of Public libraries everywhere should see to it that -where the penny is levied, they have the full amount credited to them, and that they use it. It is manifestly unfair to the library work that a penny should be raised for the library, and that institution get only part of the amount realized. A penny, the whole penny and nothing but the penny, should satisfy committees, and there should be no balance permitted to go back into the borough general fund. The gross sum raised may, of course, have to bear its share of the cost of collection of the rate. The question of a separate banking account for Public Libraries has been dealt with in the chapter addressed to committees and commissioners, and this is a matter which may be urged home upon these governing bodies. For a population of 25,000 Kidderminster has 4,687 volumes. The members of the Town Council can at once see what the difference of 60, which has gone into the general borough fund, has meant to the library. The shelves have been starved, and, further than this, the spirit of the Act of Parliament has been violated. The entire issue of books for the year has been 40,149. The 1,790 volumes of fiction have been turned over 35,311 times. Some of them must certainly be well thumbed. Kidderminster has just completed its apprenticeship in its library work, and it is hoped that the Town Council will now rally round the committee and Mr. Penny, the librarian, so that within another two years there may be a new home and a vastly enhanced work. PI ::.!< l.ini: \KII> I\ THK MIDI.ANh ColNTIKS. 189 I -I A MING TON. Leamington presents another case where the summary of the monthly and the annual meeting of the committee are reported in the press. It is satisfactory to note that the daily attendance at the libraries and reading-rooms is becoming larger year by year, and last year reached the astonishing daily average of over 1 ,000 persons. This gives the enormous total of 280,000 persons frequenting the libraries during the year on the 280 days which it was open. This immense attendance ought to show how neces- sary it is to provide adequate accommodation. The public at present suffer great inconvenience for want of light, air, and space in all departments of the library. The reading-rooms are too small, and are for such numbers quite inadequately ventilated. The premises upon which the business of the lending library is carried on are too small, and occasion great inconvenience to the borrowing public. The room in which the reference library is situated is scarcely large enough at present, and there is insuf- ficient shelving accommodation, and no room to erect more. It cannot be long before better provision for all these departments must be seriously considered by the Town Council, and when it is, the hope may be expressed that they will see fit to provide a permanent home in which very ample space shall be allotted, together with abundance of light and air. 100 was spent last year for books. The average cost of the .books for the lending section was 2s. 7Ad. per volume ; but for the reference library some expensive books of reference were bought, and the cost per book reached 12s. Mr. D. B. Grant is the librarian, and in August last he had to report a singular but most unusual occurrence. A history of Stratford-on-Avon was abstracted from the reference room on the Saturday, and was returned, in just as mysterious a way as the purloining had taken place, on the Monday. These cases are so rare that this is about the only case of its kind throughout the country which has recently occurred. A town councillor eulogized the last year's work by saying that to speak upon the advantages of the Public Library, would be an attempt to paint the lily white or to gild refined gold. Town councillors in other districts might be frequently a little less sparing in their adjectives when the work of the local library is under discussion. LEEK. Leek has acted wisely, and given the fullest scope of usefulness to its Nicholson Institute by adopting the Acts. This they did in November, 1887, at an enthusiastic statutory meeting, without a voice of dissent. The requisition was signed by the Vicar of Leek, a Congregational minister, the Wesleyan superintendent, a Roman Catholic priest, several other Nonconformist ministers, and those representing the various sections of politics. This is exactly as it should be. A difficulty had arisen as to what shoxild be done with the Mechanics' Institute, and well might one of 170 PUfiLIC LIBRARIES. the local papers say that the only effective way to prevent those non-enfranchised institutions from becoming political nurseries was to bring them under the Libraries' Acts. The Nicholson Institute was the noble gift of a noble townsman of Leek, the late Mr. Joshua Nicholson, who spent some 30,000 on the building, furnishing and stocking it with books and works of art. The donor died in 1 880, leaving behind a record of public usefulness and a stainless private life. The spirit in which he built and furnished that institution was forcibly, though modestly, set forth in some remarks which the founder made at the opening ceremony. He said" I have known what it is to struggle in life : I have known what privation is ; but I have always recog- nized one grand fact, viz., that we ought not only to 'think of ourselves but to regard others, and I never knew a time when out of the smallest income I possessed I could not afford some- thing for somebody else." Prior to the adoption of the Acts some difficulties had arisen as to the obtaining of loans from South Kensington. These will go less and less to institutions which do not belong to the people under the Acts, and will ultimately be discontinued entirely. An intimation to this effect had reached the Nicholson Institute, and the Nicholson family, who as trustees for the founder were bearing the expenses of the institute for a stipulated term of years, co-operated with the Town Council and other leaders of public opinion for the bridging of this diffi- culty in a way which reflected the highest credit upon them. The spirit which pervaded the whole of the negotiations Avas excellent, and may well be copied in other districts which have at present libraries given by private individuals, but which are not yet under the Acts. At the statutory meeting in 18*7 the following was the resolution: "That pursuant to the ratepayers' requisition, and the public notice which has been given for this purpose ; it is the opinion of this meeting that the Public Libraries' Act, 1855, ought to be, and the same is hereby adopted for the district governed by the Leek Improvement Act, 1 855." Moved and seconded by large employers of labour, and supported by several working men, there is no wonder that it should have been carried with ringing cheers. Mr. Joshua Nicholson, at the . close of the meeting, summed up the whole by stating that the ratepayers had done that night a lasting honour to themselves in taking over the Institute. Not only as ratepayers would they confer a great benefit on themselves, but they would do so on their poorer neighbours who had not a vote. It may be mentioned that the family are still large supporters of the institute financially. The building is of an exceedingly appropriate design. Every point of detail has been carefully attended to, and Messrs. William Sugden & Son, the architects of Leek, are to be congratulated on producing an artistic building, with excellent internal arrangements. The work being accomplished by the institute is rapidly extending. With a total of above 7,000 volumes, there is an PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 171 annual turnover of nearly 28,000 volumes. A series of lectures were given last winter, some by townsmen ; and in the winter of 1888-89 a series of six Oxford Extension Lectures on " Repre- sentative Englishmen," and a further series last winter on " English Novelists." The late William Hall was librarian for the first four years of the life of the institute, and had won many friends in the profession and in the town. lie received the appointment of chief librarian at Croydon about the middle of 1889, but he was scarcely able to enter fully upon his duties, as he died in December last. He was succeeded at Leek by Mr. McLeod. LEICESTER. After a trying experience extending over some years, the Public Library here seems to be again in the full enjoyment of renewed public popularity. The central library has its quarters in a building which is well situated, but which from many points of view is not well suited for a Public Library in a large and important town like Leicester. It is an adapted building, and, like most altered buildings, it can never meet all the requirements of an ever-widening sphere of work. Leicester is such a progressive town that in course of a few yi -iii's there is a reasonable hope it will have as a chief library a building worthy of the town and of the work being done. So many new buildings have been erected of late years in the immediate neighbourhood of the library for business purposes that the modest structure used as a library and reading-room falls rather flat in comparison with them. A public building which should be indicative of the intellectual life of the town, ought not to be placed in the shade by premises devoted to commercial pur- poses. The newsroom and lending department are on the ground floor, and the reference room is on the first floor. For the lending department the books are all stocked on Avail shelving, and this goes to a height of twenty to twenty-four feet ! This absorbs a great amount of labour and time in finding the books, as well as being positively dangerous to the assistants who have to race up and down the ladders for the books. There can be no wonder that a serious accident should have occurred a few months ago, when the ladder fell while an assistant was upon it, and who was so injured that he had to be taken to the hospital. The ladder in its fall struck another assistant on the head, causing a very serious wound. It is almost criminal to place the shelving so high as this in any Public Library. The books are destroyed sooner by the heat and vitiated atmosphere, and only those who have had to do the work know what it means to go up even fifteen or sixteen feet in a room where the gas jets are all lighted, and which is full of people. Some of the Leicester borrowers have rushed into print and complained of the delay in being served. So far as the writer could see at the time of his visit there was no unreasonable delay, but if such had been the case there could be no wonder considering the height from which some of the books had to be obtained. 172 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Mr. C. V. Kirkby, who was chief assistant at the Leeds Public Library, was appointed chief librarian at Leicester about two years ago. He has done much to restore the library to the position it should occupy, and to bring its work into closer touch with the people. The committee, in their last report, say that a thorough examination of the books has been made, and a conspicuous improvement has been observable in the spirit in which the staff have performed their duties. An unusually large expenditure has, in consequence, been incurred in binding and renewing books, but the result is seen in larger issues and increased public interest. The creation of a juvenile department has operated well in keeping the adults free from interference by the younger readers, and in giving the young a more copious and attractive selection from books exclusively provided for them, for which a special catalogue has been issued at a cheap rate. These and other advantageous changes have led to greater order in the administration of the library. In the central lending department the issues have been, in volumes, 126,391, against 110,538, showing an increase of 15,853 volumes. The number of works issued is 114,280, against 94,799 works last year. This shows an increase in the number of works lent of 19,481. All classes, with the exception of miscellaneous literature, show a marked improvement. The largest increase is in the juvenile class, the issues being 9,849 volumes more than last year. The number of borrowers, who either renewed their vouchers or took out new ones during the year, was 2,790, against 1,914 last year, showing an increase of 876. This is the largest number of borrowers since 1873. The total number of borrowers entitled to take out books is 4,704. The improvement in popular taste has enabled the committee to reject some books which have lost their attractiveness. The statistics seem to show this year an increased demand for books of a serious and instructive kind ; but fiction still forms about one-third of the total. The committee do not desire to interfere with this demand, and do not consider themselves justified in exercising a rigid censorship over the popular taste, but they endeavour to exclude what is immoral and degrading, and to encourage the issue of all that is healthy and instructive. In the reference section the issues in volumes have been 28,958, against 30,357 last year, shoAving a decrease of 1 ,399 volumes. This decrease is only apparent, as the number of works issued this year was 18,331 against 15,552 last year an increase of 2,779 works. Leicester has two branches, and the latest of these, opened in March, 1889, is a model of what a small Public Library should be. The site was given by the Rev. Joseph Harris, owner of the estate. The building, of which a ground plan is given, was erected in accordance with a design by Mr. Stockdale IlaiTison, and is in the style of the Renaissance. It forms a prominent architectural feature of the neighbourhood, the front elevation being such as can hardly fail to arrest the attention and attract the admiration of visitors to the locality. It is built of brick, PUBT.ir LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND rOTNTIES. 173 with white stone dressings, and over the main entrance is a low tower and spire. In planning the various rooms, care has been taken to make them easily accessible, economically managed, and abundantly lighted. The principal entrance is through a vestibule, which gives access to a spacious hall, out of which opens, facing the doorway, the lending department, with the newsroom on the left, a ladies' room to the right, and the librarian's room or refer- ence department adjoining the lending library. These rooms are divided from the hall by glass partitions, and so arranged that WESTCOTES BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARY, LEICESTER. the librarian at his desk can have supervision over them all, whilst it appears impossible for anyone to enter or leave the building without passing his line of sight. The newsroom is 50 feet long by 24 feet wide. It has a lofty open ceiling, is splendidly lighted, and decorated in a manner which gives it a most cheerful and airy character. Newspaper stands are arranged round the walls, and there are large tables with racks in the middle for periodicals up the centre of the room. The circulating library is in the centre. Bookcases are provided for upwards of 6,000 books, and about 174 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. ^,600 have already been either purchased by the committee or given by friends. The other rooms are suitably furnished, the heating is by means of hot water, the ventilation has been particularly attended to, and there is every convenience and accommodation for visitors. The cost of the building was about 2,000, and for fittings 400. Both the Westcotes branch library and the catalogue may be taken as excellent models for small libraries. The librarian has placed a few pots of ferns about the rooms, and these give a prepossessing finish. The work being done at Leicester and its two branches is thoroughly useful. MANSFIELD. The question has been considered here for three years, and a statutory meeting on March 31, 1890, settled the question with acclamation, and no poll was demanded. The probable injury which might result to the Mechanics' Institute was very fully discussed, but it is deserving of note that the members of that institution, as a body, would not oppose the project, but rather do what they could to carry it through successfully. A com- mendable local spirit displayed itself. Speakers urged that Mansfield had stood still long enough, and that this was one of those questions, the carrying through of which would prove that they were in the forefront of progress. NEWARK. The Gilstrap Library is very beautifully situated in the public gardens, with the ruins of the old castle forming a sort of back- ground to the library and grounds. Thecasrlc dates back to 1 12."., and its history is closely linked with that of this ancient town. It was visited by Cardinal Wolsey in 1530, and by James I. in 1(503 when on his way to London to take possession of the English throne. Sir (then Mr.) Wil- liam Gilstrap built this handsome library, and endowed it with an amount which produces 90 a year. The accommodation provided is on one floor, and consists of general, reference, and ladies' reading-rooms, library, librarian's room, &c. The public entrance is in the centre of the front towards Castle Gate, and gives access to a well-lighted hall, IMHI.lr LIBRARIES IX THR MIM.AM. COrN'TIES. 175 between which ;iii(l the library are placed the library indicator and the borrowers' counter, with the reading-rooms to the right and left. In aiTaiiLriii.u- the several rooms care has been taken that each is well lighted, and so placed as to be easily supervised by the librarian, Mr. Killing-ley, formerly one of the assistants at the Nottingham Library. The number of volumes is 5,460. The GILSTRAP PUBLIC LIBRARY, NEWARK. gift of the building in every way reflects the highest credit upon the donor. It would, no doubt, be gratifying to the '2,000 borrowers to which, of course, additions will be made to see the number of books grow steadily to at least 10,000. So beautiful a building should be the home of a good stock of books. 176 PUBLIC' LIBRARIES. XEWOASTI.E-rXPER-LYME. Events move slowly in the Newcastle of the Midlands. On September 9, 1884, the Acts were adopted, and the Public Library has not yet been completed, although the buildings are now progressing rapidly, and probably will be open to the public during 1890. The scheme which had to be dealt with was a large one, and this, no doubt, accounts for the seeming delay. It comprises council chamber, assembly rooms, school of art, Public Library, and reading-rooms. An offer of 1,000 towards these public buildings gave the movement a start some years ago, and other sums have been promised at later dates. When com- pleted, tire town will have a very handsome pile of buildings. The library department will comprise library proper, or book- stores, :?4 ft. by 40 ft., divided into 8 ft. lengths by open iron galleries round the walls, connected by spiral iron staircases, thus dispensing entirely with ladders. The reference, reading, and general newsrooms are each 25 ft. by 30 ft., approached by an ample corridor, and with the necessary conveniences. These rooms are divided by lofty glazed screens, which denote at all times the extent of the apartments in this connection, whilst affording facilities for oversight. There is a capacious basement for the storage of useful but seldom studied literature, and all other requirements are fully provided for. The architects are Messrs. Sugden & Son, Leek, and others. NORTHAMPTON*. This progressive manufacturing town, which adopted the Acts in 1876, long ago outgrew the premises available for library and museum purposes. On the building of the handsome new town hall, the old headquarters of this ancient municipality were turned into a Public Library and Museum. In 1888 it was decided to build an addition, and in September of that year Mr. Thomas Codlington, of the National Institute of Civil Engineers, held an inquiry, on behalf of the Local Government Board, into the application of the Northampton Town Council for powers to borrow, on behalf of the museum committee, 500 for carrying out the extension necessary to make additional accommodation for the lending and reference libraries. After the town clerk had read the notice announcing the inquiry, it was stated that the tender for the work was 585, and it was estimated that the furnishing of the building and the architect's commission could not be less than '100, which gave a total of 685. Towards that they had 180 available, which left a balance of 505 required. They applied for power to borrow 500, to be repaid, principal and interest, during a period of twenty years. It was explained that, as a matter of form, the application was for power to borrow for a term extending over sixty years, but it was understood that the application should be for twenty years, so as to make the repayment no burden upon the current expenses of the institu- tion. The amount of the annual repayment for twenty years PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 177 would be 36 15s. 8d. The Commissioner suggested that thirty years would be a reasonable term. In answer to his inquiries, it was suggested that the ratable value of the borough on the basis of the borough rate, upon which the loan was to be charged, was 175,868. The borough debt, exclusive of the water under- taking, which was represented by 281,000, was 92,987. Mr. Codlington inspected the places, and also visited the spot for the proposed alterations. The permission to borrow was granted, and the amount was obtained from the Local Government Board. The committee issued, in June, 1889, a statement through the press, in which are several important features of interest in the present condition of this question. They stated that their income from the penny rate is about 720 a year. Then follows the information that they have no doubt that it was the intention of the framers of the Public Libraries' Act that this penny rate should be simply a maintenance rate, and that the site, buildings, &c., for the Public Library should be provided by the municipal authorities. In support of this opinion, the following towns have given sites for the Public Library : Liverpool, Nottingham, Swan- sea, Cardiff, Reading, Wolverhampton, Derby, and Southport. The Corporation of Hereford made a contribution of 1,500 towards the cost of their buildings. At Cardiff, in addition to the site, the Corporation have assumed the cost of erecting the building with- out any charge on the library rate. At Swansea also, in addition to giving the site, the Corporation have granted from its ordinary funds an increased yearly sum towards paying the interest on the capital borrowed for the erection of the building. The Corpora- tion of "VVigan also have granted 500 for printing the reference library catalogues. These are only a few instances of what has been done in other towns. The library committee, therefore, felt themselves quite justified in asking for further help from the finance committee of the Town Council. The members of the finance committee were very favourably disposed to do this, but, of course, had to be guided by their legal adviser, the town clerk, who ruled, and also supported his ruling by some very eminent authorities, that in Northampton, at any rate, whatever may be done in other towns, they could not have anything from the borough funds over and above the penny library rate, for the reason that they have no rents of property, or profits, or any in- come whatsoever, but what is bound to be used for the reduction of the rates. Still, feeling that although the ruling of the town clerk may be strictly according to the letter of the law, yet it is not according to the spirit of the Act, the committee relied upon the assistance of their fellow-townsmen to help them out of the difficulty, remembering that this difficulty is caused by the fact that in Northampton they had not only to provide for a Public Library and reading-room, besides making grants to the science and art schools, but also have had to pay for the buildings in Guildhall Road, the conversion of which, from a gaol into a museum, &c., cost 3,500. This entails upon the museum committee a heavy annual charge of some 250, 12 178 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. thus taking away more than one-third of the total inc<5me, for the purpose of paying for, and maintaining in proper repair, buildings which are just as absolutely belonging to the Corporation as the town hall, the police station, or any other public building. This only leaves them the sum of 470. Out of this again gas and water cost 50, so that to maintain the library, museum, and help the science and art schools for a town of 60,000 inhabitants, they have the immense sum of 420. If it had not been for the help of a few gentlemen who interest themselves in the work, the committee would not have been able to struggle on at all. For ten years, from 1876 to 1886, the total amount spent in buying books was 90, but thanks to the forethought of one or two members of the committee, the gift of the late Mr. Charles Markham has been now transferred for the benefit of the library. This gives 50 per annum to purchase books, but this is a very insufficient sum. The difficulties in Northampton are illustrative of the difficulties which are being experienced elsewhere, and hence the reason for going rather fully into them. It is not unreasonable to expect that town councils and other governing bodies should, without taxing the penny rate, do more in the providing of sites and buildings than is at present the case. This is a matter of serious importance to the future of Public Library work, and one to which municipalities will have to devote in the future considerable attention. The unwisdom of adapting buildings, except in very special instances, is shown in what has resulted at Northampton. The buildings are now better suited than before for the library and museum, but it is safe to predict that the town will require within ten years an entirely new building specially erected for the purpose. At the present rate of progress in the work of these institutions this is placing the inevitable at a later date than will probably be sustained by events. There is life and expansion in the public use made of the library and museum, and a bold scheme and public spirit, encouraged by a few generous gifts, would have enabled the council and committee to erect premises which would have met all the requirements for the next twenty years. The selection of books is admirable. During the time the library was closed many old books were weeded out by Mr. T. J. George, the cultured librarian, and a large number of books of modern literature took their place. Librarians often make interesting discoveries when on book- hunting expeditions, and many individual libraries have benefited by the acute sight and practical experience of the librarian in knowing the value of old books and pamphlets. At a book sale a year or two ago Mr. Quaritch purchased a tract sent for sale by the committee of the Northampton Public Library. The description was given as follows: "Hamor (Raphe) A True Discourse of the Present Estate of Virginia, and the Successe of the Affaires there till the 18th of June 1614 : together with a relation of the several English Townes and forts, etc. The Christening of Powhatan's daughter and her marriage with an PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND Col Mil;-. I7<> Ilt'.-lHl fine and perfect copy, very rare sm. 4 to Lond. John Beale for William Welby 161o." This tract was found by Mr. George between the pages of another book. As will be seen from the description above, it was of little interest to Northampton, and the committee are to be congratulated on receiving so handsome a sum as 33 10s. for it, which was spent in new books. NORTHWICH. The library here has four years' existence behind it, and the library and museum grow in favour each succeeding year with old and young. Here the issue of fiction is declining and has touched sixty per cent. At the same time the higher classes of literature show an increase. The number of borrowers, 3,199, out of a population of 14,500, is good. An interesting half-page of the report is devoted to a statement of the number of times that certain works have been issued since the opening of the library to the middle of 1889. As a similar item of information is not given in many reports, the issue of these one-volume books of well known literature for three years is quoted: M. Arnold, "Mixed Essays," 8 ; White's "Natural History of Sel- horne," 8 ; R. Beckett, "Builder's Price Book," 9; Spurgeon's "Ser- mons," 12 ; Handel's "Messiah," 18 ; H. Drummond, " Natural Law in the Spiritual World," 22 ; Froude's " Oceana," 26 ; Shakespeare's Works, 27; Proctor's "Other Worlds than Ours," 28; Smiles' "Iluty," 31; T. Ward, "Pamphlets on Salt," 33; Rev. J. G. Woo<^' Natural History," 35; G. R. Sims, "Poems and Ballads," 36; Macaulay's " History of England," 36 ; Darwin's "Descent of Man," 40; McCarthy's " History of Our Own Times," 42 ; Seaton's "Marine Engineering," 45 ; Archdeacon Farrar, " Life of Christ," 49 ; C. Pennel, " Modern Practical Angler," 53 ; " Beamont's "History of Frodsham," 55 ; "Longfellow's Poetical Works," 57; Lord Tennyson, "Poems," 59; Victor Hugo, "Notre-Dame," 67 ; Beethoven's "Sonatas," 78 ; Gilbert and Sullivan's "Mikado," 102; W. M. Thackeray, "Vanity Fair, 105; C. Kingsley, " Westward Ho," 124 ; Lord Lytton, " Last of the Barons," 127 ; G. Eliot, "Adam Bede," 145. The Salt Museum is unique, and there are in it numerous specimens of salt from America, India, and other places. The sum of 29 a year is derived from the rent of shops adjoining the library, and the whole of this with an additional sum goes for new books. The library and museum have been founded and are the gift of Mr. J. T. Brunner, M.P., who defrayed the entire cost of the building. NOTTINGHAM. There is an old adage that the water is not missed until the well runs dry. And the people of Nottingham never seemed to miss their central library so much as during the time it was closed. Owing to structural defects and a settlement in the building, it was found necessary to close the library to the public during eighteen months, and turn it over to the builders. This gave rise, in a few distant towns, to a strange rumour. In December, 1889, and just 180 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. prior to a meeting of the St. Leonard's Town Council, a repre- sentative of one of the wards started the report that the Nottingham and Clerkenwell Libraries had been closed by the wish of the people. The gentleman who was to bring the ques- tion forward wired to the present writer to know if this was true or not. This is only one sample of the many methods adopted by those who oppose the Acts. No statement about these insti- tutions could have been further from the truth. It is no unusual thing to hear in Nottingham that the people would rather be without the post office than dispense with their Public Libraries, for in no town is the work healthier and more vigorous. There was great rejoicing when on New Year's day, 1890, the building was again thrown open to the public, and the re -opening ceremony was of a very pleasing character. So many library and museum buildings are being erected in different parts of the country that a few particulars of the mishap at Nottingham may serve as a guide of what to avoid in other places. About fifteen years since the Town Council received an offer from an anony- mous donor of 10,000 if they would put up buildings for educational purposes. It was determined by the Town Coxmcil to spend 40,000 in putting up the buildings. Eleven firms sent in tenders for the erection of the buildings. Nine were local contractors. Two tenders were from firms not associated with Nottingham, and one was from Swansea. The lowest tender ajw)unted to 41,500, and the highest was 51,920. A sum of ^ll 0,000 would, of course, make all the difference between good material and bad material, and properly paid labour and poorly paid labour. In 1877 the plans were sent in, and the appointed builder, whose estimate was the lowest, proceeded until June, 1881, when the buildings were supposed to be completed, and were opened by the Duke of Albany in June in that year. They had good ground for believing that they were in possession of a substantial building, but it turned out, after two years had expired, that there were very grave signs of decay and defect in the buildings, and before 1883 the committee of the Corporation appointed a special committee to inquire into the defects of the buildings. That committee asked the surveyor to look into the matter and report upon what defects he observed. He gave some very startling statements, seeing that the buildings had been completed only two years. In one of his paragraphs he said, " Corbels in library and museum. Signs of fracture were visible in the plaster and brickwork under the corbels at the north and south ends of the recess in the public library and museum, and the corbels showed that they were by some means being tilted forward, and the whole superincumbent weight was brought on to the toes of the corbels, thus causing fracture to the walls." In another place he said, " A departure from the specification was made in the case of nearly all the corbels, as the bed, instead of being three feet six inches, as specified, ranges from two feet four inches to two feet ten inches." The committee who had charge of that building found that, instead TTTIT.ir LIBRARIES IX THE SIIDLANK COfXTIKS. 181 of serving the people with literature they had to serve bricks and mortar, and for a long time they expended their resources, as far as they possibly dare, in remedying these defects, until at last they went to the Town Council and stated that the building was in such a dangerous condition that they could no longer grapple with it. At the time that the building was closed it was positively unsafe. The beams across the ceiling, which was sup- posed to hold up the floor above, were rotten, and if they had attempted to carry on much longer the roof would have fallen in and the walls gone out, and they would have had an enormous expense to meet. If they had put a few thousands more into the building at the time it was erected they would have been saved I.IURAKIKS. the disgrace they had incurred by putting up a building of that kind, and also closing the place for eighteen months, and so excluding the people of the town from the benefits of the institu- tion. The moral is that the lowest tender is not by any means the most likely to give good work, and, as a further lesson, every care should be taken to see that no part of the work is scamped. Alderman Barber, who all through the twenty-two years' history of the library work in Nottingham, has been a warm friend of these institutions, took part in the re-opening ceremony, and called attention to the old Artisans' Library of the town which formed the nucleus of the first Public Library. The 5,000 or 6,000 volumes belonging to this old library were transferred on the Acts being adopted. The educational work being carried on by the Nottingham Libraries is of so solid and real a nature that it may challenge com- parison with the work of any other town of a corresponding size, both in this country and in America. Not only with regard to the library, but in other departments, Nottingham is rapidly becoming one of the most attractive educational centres in the entire country. University College, the name given to this large group of buildings, is, for its various organizations, the brightest gem in all the public buildings which Nottingham contains. Here under one roof are the libraries, natural history museum, literary and scientific class-rooms, and the technical schools, with laboratories and lecture theatres, while in buildings close adjoining are the trade schools, where engineering, carpentering, and other trades can be learned. In no town in the country is the sense of the duties and privileges of citizenship more acutely felt than in the capital of the lace trade, and this is largely owing to the important place which University College, with its vast ramifications of work, occupies in the municipal life of the people. Nottingham may well be proud of these institutions, and of the universal interest which the citizens show in them. It is impossible to visit the central library or any of the branches and not feel convinced that the entire work is pregnant with far-reaching utility. If Nottingham originally missed its way in the plans and erection of the building it has not in its work. The town is fortunate in having as principal librarian a man who holds a distinctly prominent place in the profession. Although still a comparatively young man, Mr. J. Potter Briscoe has had some twenty-three years' experience in library work, and has thrown heart and soul into developing and popularizing the libraries and reading-rooms. In him the Nottingham public as well as the committee have a useful servant. So many applications for a record of the work being done are reaching libraries from centres where the Acts have not yet been adopted, that there has been for several years past a card printed, for placing in envelopes, a brief epitome of the working of the central library and its branches. A copy of this card is given on the^next page. LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 188 Central Lending Library, South Sherwood Street, -Stock, 24,991 vols. Daily average issues, 643 vols. Reference Library. Stock, 21,647 vols. Daily average issues, 232 vols. Central Beading Rooms. Duily average attendance, '2.281. Ladies' Reading Room. Daily average attendance, 217. Children's Lending Library, Shakespeare Street.- Stock, 3,500 vols. Daily average issues, 104. Reading Room, Hermit Street, Sneinton. Stock, 725 vols. Daily average issues, 63 vols. Daily average attendance, 479. Reading Room, Bulwell. Daily average attendance, 162. Lending Library, Bulwell. Stock, 3,029 vols. Daily average issues (3 days weekly], 103 vols. Reading Room, Mayfleld Grove. Stock, 555 vols. Daily average issues, 30 vols. Daily average attendance, 445. Reading Room, Dame Agnes Street. Stock, 490 vols. Daily average issues, 76. Daily average attendance, 567. Lending Library, Chelsea Street, New Basford. Stock, 5,154 vols. Daily average issues, 120 vols. Reading Room, Chelsea Street, New Basford. Daily average attendance, 319. Reading Room. Soutbwark Street, Old Basford. Stock, 490 vols. Daily average issues, 13 vols. Daily average attendance, 177. Reading Room, Leen Side. Stock, 303 vols. Daily average issues, 59 vols. Daily average attendance, 593. Reading Rooms, Willoughby Street, Lenton. Daily average issues, 30 vols. Daily average attendance, 319. Lending Library, Willoughby Street, Lenton. Stock, 1,765 vols. Daily average issues, 123 vols. Reading Room, Court Street, Hyson Green. Stock, 516 vols. Daily average issues, 77 vols. Daily average attendance, 634. Reading Room and Reference Library, Carrington. Stock, 370 vols. SUMMARY. Stock of books (March 25, 1889) 63,365 vols. Annual issues about 450,000 vols. Daily average issues about 1,500 vols. Annual attendance at Libraries and Reading Rooms 2,000,000 Daily average attendances about 6,684 Magazines and newspapers about 650 The children's library is excellent in every way. Here there are about 3,500 books, all carefully selected to suit the require- ments of the juveniles, located in very convenient quarters in the Trinity Church parochial rooms, close to the central institution. This library was founded in 1882 through the liberality of the late Mr. Samuel Morley, M.P. Its position was originally unique, but the example has since been followed in more or less detail in various parts of the kingdom, since the reading of a paper by Mr. Briscoe on " Libraries for the Young," at the Library Associa- tion meeting at Plymouth. This library is open from four to eight p.m. daily, and when the present writer arrived there shortly after the hour of opening he found the librarian (a lady) besieged by a number of eager boys and girls, who, with clean faces and clean hands (two qualifications insisted upon), were bent on securing volumes to take home to read at pleasure. Only two books in seven days are allowed to the children, so that they may not be tempted to neglect their home lessons. Seven is the minimum age, and the children proudly designate it as "our library." About 2,000 children make use of this library. Some interesting pictures are hung on the walls. The penny catalogue of the children's lending library may well be taken as a guide for other places in forming a juvenile section. The reference library class fists published at a penny up to fivepence are models of 184 PUBLIC LIBRARIES what such class lists should be. Section D, which gives the litera- ture on sociology in the reference library, is particularly complete. The subjects are classed under commerce, education, emigration and colonial affairs, jurisprudence and law, political economy and finance, politics, public health, social movements, sociology (general), and statistics. In the entries of the books giving speeches, a complete synopis of the subjects of the speeches is given. Music and the special literature for the blind, and the Notts Collection are departments in which the Nottingham Library are particularly strong. In the former section the Nottingham Collection comprises 250 volumes, of which more than one-half are constantly in the hands of borrowers. These collections of books of music consist of anthems, ballads, fugues, glees, masses, operas, songs, and symphonies, and are not of an expensive character. The Nottingham Collection, which was carefully formed, was chiefly made up of Boosey's and Novello's octavo editions, and some of the publications of Augener, Chappell, Cramer, and Metzler. These books of music were obtained in the cheapest form. Before circulation, and after careful con- sideration, they were newly bound in a style peculiarly suitable for music, and being half-bound in hog-skin, are made as lasting as binding can make them. The Nottingham Collection of 400 volumes cost, including substantial binding, about 90, or an average of 4s. 6d. per volume. This collection may be taken as a basis for other collections. In order to facilitate the forma- tion of such, the names of publishers are indicated in the list of music in the second supplementary catalogue of the Nottingham Public Central Lending Library. This large town is well supplied with public reading-rooms. POTTERIES. The pottery towns have quite a cluster of libraries. Longton is, in fact, the only one of the pottery towns which has not yet reached the educational level of a Public Library. Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, and Tunstall all have their institutions, the first- named place leading the way by its adoption of the Acts in 1863. The working potters are politicians and readers, and a sight of the Burslem library in the evening is instmctive. At Hanley in 1864 there was an attempt to- carry the Acts, but the people gave a very emphatic " No," and the question lay dormant until 1882. In the following year a memorial bearing 3,000 signatures was presented to the Mayor, requesting him to call a public meeting to discuss the question of the adoption of the Acts. This was not the statutory meeting, for this did not follow until the middle of 1884. Nearly 2,000 in subscriptions were promised in advance, and by an overwhelming majority in favour the question Avas settled. An effort was soon afterwards made to arrange with the trustees and committee of the mechanics' institution and governors of the working men's reading-room for the use of the library and reading-room in fact, for the transfer- ence of the same to the library committee. The opposition was PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 18.5 sufficient for the time to prevent even an approach to an arrange- ment, and it soon became necessary to incur a considerable expenditure in adapting the old borough offices to the purposes of a library, a process which was found an extremely tedious one. Accommodation has been provided for a lending department, a reference reading-room, and a small reading-room has been set apart for ladies, while provision is also made for a museum. In April, 1887, the building was opened by Earl Granville. There are now -Ui"> visitors as a daily average to the newsroom. In connection with the science classes the new chemical laboratory has heen completely fitted without encroaching on the penny rate, and it is now the best appointed room of the kind in the district, and places the chemical classes at the institution in the front rank as a centre for imparting instruction in chemistry. It is fitted up so that thirty students can work in it at the same time, and students are accommodated in all stages, from elementary to honours. The issues in the library are decidedly going up. Mr. \\ . A. Taylor is the librarian. Stoke has 8,602 volumes, of which 1,539 are for reference. The increase for last year in the lending section was 325. With a small stock and only a moderate rate the turnover is con- siderable. Mr. A. J. Caddie is the librarian. The foundation-stone of the Tunstall permanent building was laid in May, 1889. The library and reading-room are upon the ground floor of the new town offices in the principal front. The school of art rooms are on the next floor, and the science class rooms at the top. During the present year the buildings are expected to be completed and open to the public. RUNCORN AND WlNSFORD (CHESHIRE). Runcorn was the first of the group of small towns in Cheshire which adopted the Acts. This they did seven years ago, and the example has proved contagious, seeing that six places very near Runcorn have within the last two years followed suit. Cheshire and Lancashire have each had six adoptions of the Acts during the last three years, so both counties have contributed their share to the progress of the movement. The subscriptions from non-residents only reach 12s., so this is not an important section, and if people outside the area of the rate really wish to avail themselves of the library they would do so to a larger extent than this. Fiction is represented by a third of the stock. The working people use the place well. Winsford carried the adoption of the Acts through as a jubilee present of the people to themselves. Voting papers were adopted, and the majority was satisfactory. The local spirit over the matter was very enthusiastic, and the interest excited was con- siderable. Winsford makes its living out of salt, and it has now a little seasoning in its local life. The manufacturers upon whom the rate falls heaviest came up well. Mr. J. T. Brunner, M.P., gave 500, and there were other gifts, amount- ing in all to only 30 short of a thousand pounds and 3,000 186 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. books. They were enabled to open on December 14, 1888, free of debt. This is a pretty little building, and cost 960. Standing on a gentle slope the appearance is striking. The design is of old English character with modern work. The front is of terra-cotta, worked with side moulding and cornice. For downright enthusiasm over the adoption of the Acts, getting out plans, erecting and throwing open their building, Winsford Avould take a medal. In April, 1887, the Acts were adopted, and by the end of the following year they had opened their new building to the public. The population is 10,041, and the rate brings in 164. There are scores of places with about ten thousand people, and a rate which would produce the same as at Winsford. These districts could not do better than take the Winsford plan and building all through. WINSFORD PUBLIC LTBRAHY. The roof at the front has been divided into three spaces, the two outside ones being drawn to a point in turret fashion with a finial to cap, whilst the inner one is thrown backward and shows to advantage the red ridge tiles. Entering through the front door is a vestibule some 6ft. wide with inner swing door, and nicely designed panels of cathedral and tinted glasses. Then there is a second vestibule as it were, from which are the entrances to the main room and to the side rooms for the librarian and the reference reading-room. These side rooms are about 15ft. by 13ft,, lighted by two sunlight gas-burners, and with a window at the front. The door into the main room is similarly constructed to the vestibule door. Entering the main building is a room 31ft. by 41ft., whilst the building is 12ft. 6in. high to the eaves, and about 26 ft. to the IMI'.I.IC I.niHARIF.K IV THK MITU.ANIi is: lantern. The librarian's counter is along the left hand side, and rxirn' lin.u 1 nearly the full length of the building, the book pr ^-. ^ briny behind tliis, and having accommodation tor some thousands it' hooks. On the opposite side of the room is the newspaper stand, with the titles of the papers the reading tables being in the body of the hall. The light in the daytime is derived from a lantern, which runs along the full extent of the roof of the main building, the lights having ornamental arches, and being alto- gether 6ft. high. The inside woodwork is painted green and pink, relieved by maroon, whilst the nicely arranged roof timbers are simply lightly stained and varnished. The tie rods across the building add to the appearance of the roof rather than detract t'mni it. Passing out of this room is the art class room, 31i't. by 1 7ft., with a separate entrance. This room has been built specially GROUND PLAN, WINSFORD PUBLIC LIBRARY. for the art class students, there being four sunlight gaslights in it. The floors throughout are composed of wooden bricks so as to reduce the noise to a minimum, and the whole building is upon massive pitch-pine logs, so that if subsidence should unfortunately find its way to this portion of the district, it can be more easily dealt with. An extraordinary statement was made during the contest, to the effect that even those who demanded the poll at the statutory meeting were favourable to the adoption. Then the sooner such a farce as the power to demand a poll is done away with in one way or another the better. That any one should be able to tax his fellow men a very considerable sum, in the cost of taking the poll, to gratify a freak, displays rottenness somewhere. Residents 188 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. outside the district are allowed to borrow for a subscription of 5s. per year for each person. SALE, NEAR MANCHESTER. This little suburban Chesliire township with its 8,000 people settled the question of establishing a rate-supported library by public meeting on February 18, 1890. The Rev. "NV. Edward Chadwick, the Vicar of Sale, vigorously advocated the adoption of the Acts. He pointed out that the population of the district is rapidly increasing ; that the proportion of the population who read is also growing ; and that as long as men and women are content to remain in a condition of ignorance it is well nigh hopeless to attempt to raise their moral and social condition. The taste for knowledge, information, inquiry, thought in one word, for light is a taste which those having the good of the community at heart must do all in their power to foster and cultivate. A public reading-room is an untold boon to the working class a place, that is, where they can read the daily papers, the best magazines, and where, free of cost, in an evening when the day's work is over they can inform them- selves of the current movements of thought and life, and where, free from the temptations incident to some other places of public resort, they can pass many a pleasant hour in the improvement of their minds. There is no more encouraging feature of our age than the evidently widespread desire to continue the process of education after leaving school. The hearty welcome given to the " National Home Reading Union," and the rapid success with which it has met, fully attests the truth of what is stated. A good Public Library provides the means and opportunity for this self- culture. It furnishes a wide choice of the best literary and scientific works, both of the present and of the past. Promises to the extent of 864 were made, on condition that the Acts were adopted. Of this sum Sir William Cunliffe Brooks, M.P., promised 250, and a plot of land for a site was offered by Mr. E. W. Joynson and his brother. This adjoins the Local Board offices, and so will be very central. Every facility was given for the demanding of a poll, but no one availed himself of the offer. SHREWSBURY. Shewsbury has not made much noise with its library. The references to it in the local press are not numerous. The Acts were adopted in 1882, and the library was opened in 1885. The building, which comprises library and museum, is admirably adapted for the purpose. The sum of 2,000 was obtained on loan from the Treasury, and this is rather a burden upon the rate, which produces 475. For a population of 26,478 the number of books is small, reaching only 6,799. The average daily issue among 3,063 borrowers is some 200 volumes. A glance at the returns and particulars given in this volume will show that there are towns with a smaller income which have a larger stock of books, and a IT!!!. 1C LIBRARIES IN THK MIDI. AM) ('OfNTIES. 1M> very much larger turnover. The difficulty of maintaining two institutions, a library and a museum, on a penny rate is perfectly clear, and a penny for each should be permitted where there an- twin institutions. The museum is in the hands of honorary curators, who take a very active interest in its work. It is visited daily by a large number of people. This is the only instance in the county of the adoption of the Acts thus far, and it would be cheering and encouraging to see it in every way a success. Shrewsbury has such a good record behind it of earnest municipal life, that the lack of public interest in its library and museum in these educational days should not be continued. In such a wealthy town there should be no difficulty about clearing off the remaining debt, and so lift the incubus from the rate. It augurs well for new vigour being infused into the work, when it is seen that within three months and up to the end of February, 1890, of the debt of 2,000 as much as 1,600 had been promised in donations, and the promises of annual subscriptions reached 50. Many methods have been adopted for augmenting this fund, but few of them have been more pleasing than that employed by Mrs. Cr. B. Lloyd. This lady conceived the idea of giving a concert in support of the library, and so ably was the idea carried out that a fashionable audience filled the Shrewsbury Music Hall, and were entertained with vocal and instrumental music of the most charming description. The proceeds of this concert produced about 30. With more books and the use of the whole income, the present turnover shows very clearly what could be done. The 4,571 volumes in the lending department were lent out ten times last year, the gross issues in that section being 47,044. The press can very materially aid the work in Shrewsbury, and its aid should at once be secured. An enhanced public interest would be sure to follow . SMETHWICK. Here as elsewhere there is a cry for more space for the branch reading-rooms, as the present quarters are on many occasions overcrowded. During the year 387 volumes have been bought, at an average cost of 3s. 2d. per book. The report records that four books were lost. One went amissing under exceptional circum- stances, " the man to whom it was lent having accidentally fallen into the canal during a dense fog. The committee considerately determined not to enforce replacement in this case." It is to be hoped that the poor man managed to get out alive, if the book was not recovered. The other three books were paid for by the borrowers. This serves to illustrate the exact book-keeping which goes on at these establishments. The report gives a list of the books added during the year. This is an improvement on any extension in the number of statistics usually given in annual reports. Smethwick with its chief library and two branch reading- rooms is getting value from its penny rate. The sixpenny catalogue runs to over 200 pages, and is bound in stiff covers. The library is strong in Ruskin's and R. A. Proctor's books. The 190 PUBLIC LIBBARIBS. catalogue bears a recent date, and Mr. Bailey, the librarian, is t,> be congratulated upon it, not only for the quality of the literature but for the number of cross entries. WALSALL. Walsall is fortunate. The profits on the local gasworks, the property of the Corporation, pay their School Board rate. The town is comparatively lightly taxed, and the people are willing to pay more than the penny rate for their Public Library, but at the penny they must remain until they get their Local Improvement Bill passed. There is one branch library, but more branches are wanted, and under the present income they cannot be provided. One of the local newspapers recently put the matter pithily, and there is reason to think that it expressed the views of a very large number of the people. The paragraph in question stated : By express restrictions of the statute the Public Library committee can take no more out of the borough rate for Public Library purposes than Id. in the per annum. This has always seemed to us an arbitrary, an injurious, and an unnecessary limitation. So far as we know there is no restriction put upon the council in the matter of its ordinary expenditure for purposes sanctioned by law, excepting the expenditure incurred for the specific objects of the Public Libraries' Acts. It may be that books and neAvspapers were, thirty years ago, looked upon as luxuries to be taken in moderation. But books and newspapers are now a necessity of our daily life, and a librarian holds a much higher position in public estimation than a butcher or a cook, both of whose callings are legitimate and honourable. But as in all that relates to local taxation the people are self-taxed, no pecuniary burdens being imposed from without, there is no reason why the limitation to the spending powers of a Public Library committee, or of a Town Council for Public Library purposes, should not cease. There is a consensus of opinion in Walsall that no institution in the town is of greater benefit to the public than the library and newsroom, and that benefit is most quietly and unobtrusively conferred and as quietly enjoyed. This is proved by the fact that there are about 7,000 borrowers, and about 2,000 people visit the libraries and newsrooms. It will be a good thing for the uncon- vinced friends of this movement to digest that statement. On one Sunday in last year, 230 people visited the reading-room. No wonder some three or four outlying districts should be hungry for a branch to be established in their midst. The librarian, Mr. Alfred Morgan, sends a copy of the catalogue, which is well printed and in clear type. WEDNESBURY. Wednesbury is feeling the pinch somewhat of a limited income. With a population of nearly 25,000 the committee are doing their level best with a rate which brings in about 260. An annual flower show has been started to raise an additional income, but the bad weather during the last show left the profits standing PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THB MIDLAND COUNTIES. 191 only at some 10. It is the very success of these libraries which often makes it difficult to keep pace with the increasing demands made upon them. It is the librarian and the shelves which have to bear the brunt of the poverty the one in his salary, and the other in the loss of new books which would otherwise come to them. At Wednesbury, the librarian, Mr. Thomas Stanley, has lately begun a subscription library. Forty to fifty subscribers have joined at a guinea a year, and the books will, after twelve months' use, come to the Public Library. The library forms a part of a pretty block of buildings comprising baths and library. These were opened in 1878. With 9,007 volumes the turnover reached 76,672 volumes. The committee appeal for gifts of books, especially those that bear upon the industrial pursuits of the neighbourhood, and topographical works relating to the town of Wednesbury and the Black Country generally. The report of the science and art classes shows that out of 102 students eighty-seven were examined, who took four Queen's prizes, nine council prizes, fourteen first-class certificates, and twenty-three second-class certificates. WOLVERHAMPTON. In every social movement, Wolverhampton exhibits a deter- mination to keep abreast of the times. A reasonable hope may be expressed that before many years have passed the town will have a handsome new building adapted to the growing require- ments of the library. The call upon the newsrooms is especially heavy, and frequently there is not a vacant chair. The readjng tables were specially designed by Mr. John Elliot, the courteous and ingenious librarian. These are about 8 feet long, with sloping tables, and on these is the periodical in a fixed posi- tion by means of a brass rod running down the middle of the publication, and preventing the reader from removing it. A ridge of woodwork at the top of the table has painted on it the name of the periodical. This keeps the whole room orderly, and the effect of seeing these long tables filled by readers from end to end is very striking. This particular form of table does no doubt prevent the reader from flitting from paper to paper, but is perhaps a little trying where the sight is not particularly good. Of the last thousand new borrowers the ages were distributed as follows : From fourteen to twenty, 466 ; from twenty- one to fifty, 413 ; over fifty, 37 ; ages not given, 84. Three hundred of these new borrowers were mechanics and artisans. Two special features of the work at Wolverhampton are the lectures and the evening classes. The library has well established its .position as a centre of evening educational work. Its classes form a continuation school, and the comprehensive character of the educational programme of each winter has well earned for it the designation of the People's College. A donation of 100 from Sir \V. C. Plowden, M.P., and one of 150 from their Mayor, Alderman Joseph Jones, aided to establish a chemical laboratory, which has been well used. A metallurgical laboratory is now in 192 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. course of formation, towards which the sum of ^31 l()s. has been promised by a local gentleman. The committee trust that the Council will, under the powers of the Technical Instruction Act, 1889, make a substantial grant towards the erection and fitting up of a metallurgical laboratory, which would have such a practical and beneficial bearing upon the trades of the town and district. These evening classes grow in popularity with each succeeding winter, and the work accomplished is of a very satis- factory character. More than ordinary interest is shown in the operations of this People's College, chiefly owing to the great interest evinced by the librarian and his committee in their extension. In August last, the members of the Public Library naturalist and archaeological department made an excursion to Lapley. A pleasant ride in brakes through sylvan scenery, rich in foliage, and ruddy with the fruitage of autumn, brought the party to their destination. The first visit was to the church, a stone structure of the fourteenth century. The party was conducted through it by the vicar, who gave some interesting details of its structure and history, and also exhibited the earliest register of the church, written upon parchment, and dating from A.D. 1538. Other places of interest were visited, and then tea was taken on the lawn of the vicarage. After tea a paper upon the " Flora of the Midlands " was read to the party. The paper was illustrated with some fifty specimens of plants, and gave an account of the principal flowerless plants or cryptogams, and flowering plants or phanerogams, met with in the district of the Midlands. A few weeks afterwards the members of the classes in mechanical engineering, applied mechanics, and steam, accompanied by their teacher, visited the pumping engines of the Mines Drainage Com- missioners at Bradley. About fifty students availed themselves of the privilege granted. The Saturday evening concerts in connection with the library are becoming quite an institution. A nominal charge is made for admission, and both the vocal and instrumental music is usually of a high order. Six hundred is an average attendance at them. The series of Gilchrist science lectures have been very successful during the past winter. Lord Wrottesley, in presiding at a lecture by Professor Miall, " On the Life History of the Earth," said he hoped he would be permitted, as an outsider, to refer for a moment to the Public Library of the town. Very many had watched with much interest the great progress and development which that institution had made, and he ventured to think the audience present would, if appealed to, by an overwhelming majority give their testimony as to the value which they had received from it. He thought the committee of the library had increased their claim upon their gratitude for identifying them- selves with the important educational treats they had afforded through the course of lectures now in progress. No wonder that the work at Wolverhampton should have caught hold of the people, percolating as it does into their social uiwAiUES IN THK MIDI.ANII IUIMU>. \y and educational life to so large an extent. The Improvement Rill about which there was so much discussion in Wolver- hampton, and of which such a handle was made in some towns against the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts, referred chiefly to the Municipal School of Art, and Art Gallery. Pictures to the value of 20,000 were bequeathed to the town, and it was to provide a suitable building for these that an additional rate was found necessary. A penny is still levied for library purposes, and an extra halfpenny, under the Improvement Act, for the art gallery. Unfortunately there are many who object to all rates on principle, and who, when a library rate is proposed, pour out the vials of their wrath upon the proposal, and frequently the most untruthful statements are made by these opponents. WOBCESTEE. The work here has long been cribbed, cabined, and confined. The present rooms are much too small, and great difficulty is experienced in storing the books. But after much discussion and very careful consideration of plans the committee are about to erect a building to accommodate the library, museum, art gallery, and schools of art and science. The whole of these institutions will be under the control and management of the Public Library committee, and supported under the Libraries and Technical Instruction Acts. There can be no doubt that such a combination of educational institutions will be of the greatest possible benefit to the city, and the Town Council of Worcester have acted wisely in deciding to carry out such a scheme. The librarian, Mr. Samuel Smith, has been, with his committee, engaged in forming a collection of Worcestershire books and pamphlets. Mr. AY. A. C'otton has greatly assisted them in this work by presenting to the library 71 volumes and 145 pamphlets, either written by Worcestershire authors, printed in the county, or relating to Worcestershire. Some of these date back to 1632. Collectors of local literature in other districts might well follow the example of Mr. Cotton. The number of local pamphlets and books in private hands all over the country must be considerable, and the gift of these to the nearest Public Library during the lifetime of the owner, could scarcely dispose of them in a more useful or appropriate way. In Worcester there are 23,000 books for a popu- lation of 45.000. This is good, and still better that fiction stands at 55 per cent, of the issues. For the year the total issue was 79,000, which gives about If books to every inhabitant. On one day last September, 1,373 people visited the newsroom, library, and museum. These institutions have many good and earnest friends in the city and council, and among these there stand out promin- ently Mr. R. W. Binns, F.S.A., of the Worcester Porcelain Company, and Mr. F. Corbett, The latter gentleman, speaking recently, said that twenty-five years ago, when scarcely more than a boy, he made up his mind that some day or other, if human effort could achieve it, there should be a Public Library in Worcester. There were several defeats, and it was not until 1879 13 194 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. that the Acts were adopted. Worcester in its new home, which will soon become a reality in bricks and mortar, has a bright and hopeful future before it, and its present 3,500 borrowers will then soon swell into a very much larger number. CHAPTER XI. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. (HE work is developing but very slowly in the Eastern Counties. Lincoln has not a single one in the entire county. Norfolk has two only. Suffolk one, Essex two. The other counties, included in these brief notices under this chapter for the sake of simplification, are Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. In Kent and Surrey, in particular, the movement makes but very slow progress, and there is a mountain of work to be done before these counties are won over to the movement. BARKING (ESSEX). Barking, with its population of 12,000, has the distinguished honour of being the first place in Essex to adopt the Acts. At the end of 1888, by a majority of four to one and by means of voting papers, the question was settled. There were many earnest workers, and the great success in securing the adoption was owing to the excellent organization. Messrs. W. Beavers, W. W. Glenny, J.P., George Jackson, and Mr. Mason marshalled their forces well, and the town was divided into districts and actively canvassed. Hence the reason why more than the average number of ratepayers voted. In March, 1889, a temporary reading-room, comfortably fitted up and furnished, was opened, and has been open on all week days from ten a.m. to eleven at night. They have now some 867 in the lending section, which was opened in May last. With an income of 275 there is every prospect of a useful work. Colchester and Chelmsford will now have to set their house in order, or they will be left behind in this movement. In both places the question has been discussed. BRENTFORD. A splendid organization brought about the adoption of the Acts here in the middle of last year. Mr. H. W. Williams, with a strong committee, had no intention of permitting the question to rest for lack of meetings and arousing public interest. A little legal difficulty arose prior to the evening of the statutory meeting. At the foot of the public notice calling the meeting was an intima- tion that compound householders were not entitled to vote. As this was the question upon which the last movement in Brentford in 1883 came to grief, an eminent Queen's Counsel was consulted, who said that the Local Board's adviser was wrong in his con- struction of the law. The learned gentleman stated that he was PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 195 engaged in a case of a similar nature two years ago, in which the authorities of a vestry of the City of London refused to receive the vote of a tenant in the city because he compounded with his land- lord for his rates. Despite the fact that the opinions of eminent legal men supported the action of the authorities, the Court of Queen's Bench held that a man was entitled to a vote if he paid rates, whether directly or through his landlord. As reported in another chapter, eminent legal authority laid it down that com- pounders could not vote, and in many places the question has been lost on this one point. The Croydon case solved the difficulty in Brentford, and the town clerk of that place sent the following letter: "Town Hall, Croydon, June 11, 1889, In reply to your letter of this date, the case of the Attorney-General v. the Mayor and Corporation of Croydon is to be found in the Law Reports. The decision of Mr. Justice Stirling does not neces- sarily apply to a place which is not a municipal borough, but I should think it quite likely that when the attention of the legal adviser of your Board is called to the case, he might modify any opinion which, in the absence of the case, he might have formed. Yours faithfully, C. M. ELBOROUGH, Town Clerk." "When Queen's Counsel and the lesser lights of the legal pro- fession give diametrically opposite opinions ordinary mortals may be expected to find some difficulty in interpreting these badly worded Acts. The Acts were carried with enthusiasm, and in January, 1890, the opening ceremony took place. The conversazione for this pleasing object was in every way successful. Mr. James Bigland, M.P., performed the ceremony. Many liberal gifts of money and books flowed in, and the library is now in full operation. BRIGHTON. Brighton has a local Act dating back to 1850, enabling them to levy a rate for library and other purposes. This was amended by another Act in 1876. The Pavilion rate, in which the library and museum are situated, is ^d., and this produces about 1,310. For several years a local storm has waged about the Public Library. The reference department was opened in 1873, and some of the more active spirits of the Town Council and among the residents have ever since that time been agitating for a lending section. This, however, did not become an established fact until last October. Columns upon columns of matter have appeared in the local press respecting the library, and the reports of several of the discussions in the Town Council as to whether there should be a lending library occupy as much as four columns of closely printed small type. It is doubtful whether another town, except perhaps Warrington, could supply such an example of two opposite con- tending forces vigorously fighting the matter out to the bitter end as this celebrated watering-place, which bears the name of London-super-Mare. But the principle was worth fighting for, and praise is due to those members of the Town Council who championed in so able a manner the cause of the reading section 196 PUBLIC LIBKABIES. of the Brighton people. An argument very frequently brought forward at watering places, where it is sought to adopt the Acts, is that a Public Library would injure the private subscription libraries. This statement was advanced in Brighton, and in reply to it Mr. W. J. Smith, the bookseller of North Street, and a member of the librai'y committee, said : " I have sent down a contribution of 1,300 volumes to the library, and if it is once started and placed under proper management I shall do what I can for the library in the future. But the primary object must not be lost sight of : that is, the provision of literature. If we cannot dispense books in a building which we should like, we must do with what accommodation we can get. The sum of 2,000 would purchase 16,000 volumes, reckoning them at 2s. 6d. a volume. This, with the books we have, would form a very serviceable library." Mr. D. B. Friend, the well-known librarian and bookseller, of Western Road, is another member of the trade whose daily avocations do not narrow his opinions on a subject where the benefit of others besides himself is concerned. " Of course there are the subscribers to private libraries," he said, "who would take advantage of the opportunity to get their books for nothing, when they can afford to pay for them out of their own purse. But I don't anticipate that the establishment of a Public Lending Library would have any disastrous effects on private enterprise. I am decidedly in favour of the movement myself. What traders lose in one way they gain in another. The perusal of books leads to a desire for their acquisition, and this desire once implanted is not often eliminated. It grows by what it feeds on." On September 12, 1873, the building was opened to the public by the Mayor as a library, picture gallery, and museum. The back- bone of the collection was 3,000 volumes of the library of the Rev. H. V. Elliott, presented by his surviving son, and 7,000 volumes of the library of the Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, presented by the proprietary. In the sixteen years which elapsed since the opening many donations have been made, both large and small, and of very different value. From the day of opening till October last, as already stated, this library was exclusively a reference library, not as containing only books of reference properly so-called, but from the fact that the public were privileged to read the books only in the library rooms and not to take them away to read at home. Within more recent years it was widely felt that this indiscriminate restriction of books to the library rooms was prejudicial to the interests of both library and readers. It was not only inconvenient to numerous habitual readers, but it deterred a large number of would-be readers, who would have been glad to take books away to read at home, from making use of the library at all ; and it was also felt by those Avho were acquainted with the contents of the library and the wants of modern readers, that, if the refer- ence library Avere to be transformed into a lending library with any prospect of success, it would be necessary to add to those PUBLIC LIBEABIES IN THE EASTEBN COUNTIES. 197 contents, valuable indeed as they were, a large supply of modem literature, and especially wholesome fiction, in which the library of the past was sadly deficient ; for a library which trusts entirely to casual donations and is not recruited by a systematic purchase of books up to date, necessarily stagnates. During the last three years more than one lending library scheme, involving either important standard alterations in the present times or an entirely new building, has been suggested, discussed, and rejected. The latest and most ambitious of these schemes was the Jubilee Scheme of 1887. The Mayor of that year asked the Brighton public for 10,000 for the erection of a separate memorial building, and the furnishing it with books ; but in answer to the appeal only about 2,400 was subscribed. It was none the less felt by the Jubilee committee that it would be a pity to lose the opportunity of providing the nucleus of a Public Lending Library in the town, and the Mayor sent to each sub- scriber a letter asking whether the subscriber was willing that his subscription should, under the circumstances, be applied to the purchase of suitable books, and to providing fittings for their reception in some of the present premises. The result of the Mayor's letter and of some subsequent negotiations of a Jubilee sub-committee was this, that the committee was enabled to hand over to the Town Council about 1,100 to defray the cost of fittings and the purchase of books. This sum did not include Mr. D. Hack's subscription of 1,000, inasmuch as he had indepen- dently and previously, at the end of October, 1888, communicated to the library committee his intention of applying his subscription to the purchase of books, and his desire that the committee should at once make out lists of books to purchase. The library com- mittee appointed a sub-committee of selection, composed of Mr. W. J. Smith, Mr. F. W. Madden, librarian, and H. J. Mathews, and the work of the formation of the lending library was started. The total number of books in the Brighton Public Library is 30,108. Of these, 17,545 are in the Victoria lending library. The whole of the old library, comprising forty cases, was examined book by book. Books which belong properly to the reference library were removed to that department ; a load of useless books was eliminated and transferred to the rooms upstairs ; and the magazines and reviews, numbering 1,500 volumes, which were chiefly in the rooms, were brought together and placed in the lend- ing library. The number of books in the reference library is 12,244. The few months which have passed since the lending library was opened have more than justified the prophecies of those who have taken up the question. About 420 books are distributed each day, 300 being taken for home reading. The number of actual borrowers using the lending section is 2,874. Brighton has now placed itself in line, and has commenced its true Public Library career. It may be stated with confidence that a few years will suffice to illustrate to the gentlemen who opposed the scheme that in doing so they were acting prejudicially to the real welfare of the town. 198 PUBLIC LIBBABIES. CANTEBBUBY, FOLKESTONE, AND SITTINGBOUBNE. The library at Canterbury dates back to 1825, but it was not until 1858 that it was taken over by the Corporation. It is a museum and library combined, and hence the reason why the committee have not been able to provide the shelves with more than 5,300 volumes. The daily issue is about 100, and is steadily advancing. In the early part of last year an offer was received from an old Canterbury resident, Dr. Beaney, of Melbourne, to build new premises for the Public Library, and to include in it a working-men's institute. In March, 1889, when the question was discussed in the Town Council, it was determined that a letter should be sent to Dr. Beaney suggesting that, as there was no need for another institute in Canterbury, the city would be much benefited, and his name brought into permanent connection with the place of his birth, if he would give them a new Town Hall. The entire letter sent to Melbourne is a piece of the coolest presumption that we think has been ever known in connection with such a proposal. A distinct offer was made for one thing to be done, and this offer is treated indifferently, and something of quite another character is put before the gentleman making the offer, and the offer is now withdrawn, as it deserved to be. There is an old standing charge that the cathedral cities are, in their municipal and educational institutions, far behind other towns, and there is much truth in the statement. Canterbury, in its action over this offer to build a Public Library as a new home for the existing one, illustrates this point very clearly. The inci- dent will serve as a useful lesson to other places, when there is an offer to build them a new Public Library, to accept it, and not spoil the intending donor's mind by foolishly suggesting some- thing different. The Corporation evidently thought that a dwelling for their noble selves was of infinitely more importance than a suitable dwelling for books and museum objects. There should be a little library education infused into the minds of the Canterbury Corporation, and if the ecclesiastics at the cathedral will kindly take this matter in hand they will accomplish a very necessary and useful work. Folkestone rejoices in a new building, which was opened by Sir Edward "Watkin, M.P., in April, 1888. He remarked, in the course of his address, that when Lord John Russell introduced what was called the Municipal Corporations' Act it was said that it would be inefficient, and that the management of everybody by everybody was a cardinal and radical mistake. He (Sir Edward) thought, however, that they could look all round the municipal boroughs of England without seeing, except in one or two cases they, as human beings, did sometimes make mistakes magni- ficent monuments of such popular institutions as the one they were opening that day. Who would have thought it possible fifty years ago that an effort of this kind would have been realized by a body of town councillors elected by the people ? In order to erect the Public Library and Museum the sum of PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 199 6,500 was borrowed by the Town Council in 1888 at 3 15s. per cent. This loan has to be repaid in thirty years by means of annual instalments. The penny rate produces 541 13s. 4d. The amount required annually to meet the interest on, and the repay- ment of, the 6,500 borrowed is 364 11s. 4d. There therefore remains annually only about 11 7 to defray the cost of main- taining the building, providing newspapers and periodicals, and purchasing books for the library. The committee, however, foresaw this difficulty, and from the first recognized the almost utter impossibility of maintaining the town institutions of library and museum on the one rate ; and, under these circumstances, the Town Council have sanctioned the collection of a voluntary rate of another penny in the pound. The building is a great attraction to Folkestone, and will be well used by visitors as well as residents. Every watering place might do many worse things than imitate Folkestone, which is ahead of Margate, Ilamsgate, Dover, Deal, and Hastings. The gross issue last year was 25,197 volumes, and a large number of new tickets have been issued since the new library was opened. The Acts were adopted in Sittingbourne in the latter part of 1887, and in October last year the library was opened. The yield from the rate is 103, and they begin well with 5,000 volumes for 10,000 people. A neighbouring township of Milton was invited, under the Act of 1887, to join with them, but resolved to wait until they could have a similar institution of their own. It will be remembered that, by this Amendment Act of 1887, the public boards have the power to establish and maintain lending libraries without providing a separate building. One of the local papers, in referring to the opening of the library at Sittingbourne, has given us a somewhat new argument. The writer prophesies that the Public Library will be a great power for good in the town. It will provide a fund of pleasure for all who use it. It is to be commended, says the paragraph, on "physical as well as intellectual grounds. Medical experts tell us that the brain requires light and exercise, and that the state of the mind reacts on the state of the body ; hence it follows that that which benefits the mind must also improve the bodily health. To the other reasons in favour of the institution of the library, we may therefore add the argument that it is a sanitary measure of the highest order." A library on sanitary grounds is capital. GREAT YARMOUTH. A three years' experien.ce of their Public Library has made the Yarmouth people regret that they did not avail them- selves of the advantages of such an institution at an earlier date. The new part of the premises, opened in January, 1889, pro- vides additional accommodation and was erected at a total cost, including fittings and furniture, of about 2,400. These new quarters are very conveniently arranged and are well lighted, warmed and ventilated. A new reading-room 50 feet by 25 feet, has been provided, affording extra accommodation for 100 adult 200 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. readers and shelf-room for 4,000 more books. The lending department is also utilized as a reading-room for boys and girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen. The people themselves say that no other library in the kingdom enjoys the use of so picturesque and delightful a building to those of an artistic and antiquarian taste as that of Great Yarmouth. The old Tolhouse, in- telligently restored, is a most inspiring place in which to read. Built early in the thirteenth century, it has served as council-chamber ever since, save in later years when it did duty as a law court. The ancient hold, or gaol, of great strength, lies beneath, and is daily visited as one of the most interesting sights in the town. The debtors' prison lies just beyond, and both are now disused. The principal entrance to the hall, where the library is established, is by an open external staircase, which with its covering of quaint old timbering leads from the street to the first floor. This arrange- ment is all but unique in England, although it is apparent by the study of other ancient buildings that it was of common occurrence in Norman and somewhat later times. The fine hall, with its oak wainscoting and great timbered, pointed roof, and its gothic windows, is furnished as a reading-room, but the almost grotesque old civic chair still stands in its place, together with many another curiosity of a bygone age. The official opening of this extension at once created an immediate increase in the number of borrowers, and in the attendance at the reading-rooms. In fact, so heavy was the drain upon the resources of the library that the permanent staff were glad of the help of five townsmen, who, in the evening gave their assistance. In one year there have been added 2,084 volumes, more than half the number being gifts. The total of books is now 10,017, and the issue last year was 110,438 volumes in the lending departments. This is almost phenomenal considering that the population is only 50,000, giving over two books to every inhabit- ant in that year. Eighty per cent, of the reading was fiction, but the Yarmouth people have not taken fright at this, for they seem to be believers in Tennyson's saying that " . . . . truth in closest words shall fail, When Truth embodied in a tale Shall enter in at lowly doors." The librarian, Mr. Carter, who came from the Manchester Public Library, and the committee have devoted special attention to the securing of books relating to the town and county. If all com- mittees would do this, as suggested in another place, they would render a national as well as a local service. England is an old country, and there is scarcely a town or a village in it with the exception, perhaps, of some of the recently founded centres of of industry which cannot boast of being the birthplace of some individual or the scene of some event which entitles it to share in the heritage of the ages. The volumes issued by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and the annual reports of the Deputy- keeper of the Public Records should be carefully scanned by local Pl'BUO LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN OOIMIKS. 201 librarians, who would frequently find in these compilations refer- ences to matters of antiquarian interest which have escaped the attention even of the most painstaking local historians. A good local library, in addition to works of archaeological, historic, and biographic interest, should also contain a collection of the best books illustrative of the local flora, fauna, geology, agriculture, and meteorology. The juvenile department bids fair to become very popular so far as the reading-room and lending department are concerned. Places like Tunbridge Wells, Margate, and the watering-places on the South Coast should observe what is being done at Yarmouth. IPSWICH. The adoption of the Acts here took place early in the history of the movement, for it dates as far back as 1853 ; but the library was not opened until April, 1888. Three separate reports are submitted by the committee, dealing severally with the museum, lending library, and schools of science and art. With the first of these only is it necessary to deal at present, beyond saying that the evening attendance at the museum, which is a particularly good one has greatly increased during the past winter. During the last library year 1,000 volumes were added, by purchase 761, and by donations, 259. These purchases had been chiefly made from a fund specially raised for the purpose. As the demand for books far exceeded the supply, and as no funds were available from ordinary sources, the committee had endeavoured to raise 200 a year for three years for the purpose exclusively of purchasing new books. Their appeal was generously responded to, many gentle- men promising 5 per annum for three years. The number of volumes now in the library is 4,071, and the number of readers 2,310, so that there are not two books for each reader. Some of the books have been issued fifty times during the year. On an average, twenty-five require rebinding or repairing every month. In June, 1888, the number ol books issued was only 363. In June, 1889, the issues reached 2,684. The largest number issued in any one month was in March, 1889, when the books borrowed were nearly 5,000. The total number of issues for the year was 42,o^4. The committee express their regret that the demand for novels was so largely in excess of other and more useful literature, but they have carefully excluded all works of fiction, which, in their judgment, would have a tendency to demoralize the minds of readers. In order to increase the attractions and usefulness of the library, the committee purchase all the new books they deem suitable as soon as they are published. A catalogue of the valu- able collection of books in the reference library has recently been printed. As early as 1660 there was a parochial library in Ipswich, of about 500 volumes, chiefly theological in their character. Many of these are now valuable as being first editions of otherwise rare books. Topographical and antiquarian books are also well I'l HI. 1C I.UJJlAltlKS. represented, all of them early issues. Mr. Wm. Fen ton is the librarian. The interest on the loan reaches 188, and out of the rate the museum absorbs 285. As bearing upon the question of guaran- tors referred to on another page, a sensible letter appeared in one of the local papers a few months ago, signed " A Voice from the Workshop." The writer complained that the obtaining of a guarantor forced upon workmen a disagreeable obligation, besides being an unwarrantable imputation on a man's honesty. Why cannot, he asked, every householder be responsible for himself or PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 203 herself? It is easy, he remarked, to conceive cases where it would bo hard to exact a penalty, but such extreme contingencies Public Libraries should risk, which after all would be a very trifling cost without abusing their power and seeking to make matters unfair and unequal betwixt man and man. The task of obtaining guarantors is really not a burdensome one, and it would be a very extreme case where anyone desiring to become a bor- rower could not meet the requisite requirements in this direction. Still the time is fast approaching when the production of a rate receipt will entitle a citizen to all the privileges of a Public Library, and guarantors will be the exception and not the rule. The three departments are strong and healthy, and the work altogether at Ipswich is a good buttress of the Public Library movement in the Eastern Counties. NORWICH. A townsman writing from Norwich says that he can remember the time when the Norwich Library seemed the fit haunt of ghouls and ghosts. But now, he says, the place is seething with life, and every succeeding year the people of Norwich are learning more fully to appreciate their valuable bookerie. This is a well-earned testimonial, for on the evening of the present writer's visit the place was full of people in every department. A little while ago the committee set themselves the task of obtaining some 300 for books for the juvenile department. This they accom- plished, and in September, 1889, the work of distributing the boxes of books among the elementary schools of the city com- menced. The number of books purchased amounted to about 3,360. They have been selected with a special regard to their attractiveness and interest for school children in the advanced standards. The choicest works of the world's authors are re- presented in the catalogue of the library the modern and the ancient writers have alike been laid under contribution. The goody-goody books supposed to enforce some sickly attenuated morals have been rigorously banished. Works of fiction are in strong force ; but science, history, and travels are not by any means entirely unrepresented. The selection is an admirable one, and its power of meeting the most likely demands upon it may be illustrated by the fact that it includes no fewer than twenty copies of " Little Lord Fauntleroy." The work which the compara- tively small outlay will permit the Public Library to perform will be gathered from the fact that the books which are being put into circulation are sufficient to maintain for each school a fresh supply for a period of five years, and that during that period every child in or above the fourth standard will have an opportunity of obtaining periodically a fresh volume for perusal. By the expira- tion of five years the children of any school in and above the fourth standard will have passed out of the school, and a new generation will have arisen. Therefore, the library has simply to be recruited with such additions as occasion may require. The 204 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. arrangements made for the circulation of the books, and for their safe return, have been carefully thought out, and are of the most complete character. The head teacher of each school is to be responsible for the issue of the books. Cards containing a list of the contents of each box are enclosed with each consignment, and issue books are provided. For the purpose of forwarding from the library to the different schools four boxes have been provided, two for the use of the Board Schools, furnished by the Board, and two for the use of the Voluntary Schools, provided by the library committee. The books are apportioned to each depart- ment of a school according to the average attendance of the scholars in the fourth standard and upwards. About 100 volumes or so are retained in hand to meet any unexpected demand which may arise for greater supplies. It is pleasing to hear from Mr. George Easter, the librarian, that it is found these juvenile books are largely used to promote regular attendance, by issuing them on days when formerly the children least attended. Further than this, they allow children to take books, or to choose books when taken, by the number of attendances made. This is a work which should extend to other libraries. Norwich is about the only library known to the writer where they are bold enough to call a spade a spade. The room for the gentler sex is designated the " women's room,'' and why should it not be '? Only we are so frightfully punctilious over these frequently meaningless phrases, such as " ladies " and " gentlemen." The plain Saxon " men " and " women" is infinitely better. New departures, especially if they are good and deserving of imitation, are helpful. A Nonconformist minister, the Rev. II. II. Snell, has been giving a series of plain talks. A few months ago it was on " What people read." He called attention to the fact that " it was a coincidence that on the very week of this plain talk about reading, the annual report of the Norwich Public Library should have been published. It is not a large library, the lending department only consisting of 12,000 volumes ; but somehow or other the right spirit has got into the library, and a real effort is made to put it fully at the service of its members, and it cannot fail to effect great educa- tional good in the community." AVill other preachers please copy this method of taking occasional opportunities of referring to the elevating power of Public Libraries ? Norwich had a Corporation Bill in the House of Commons during last session, a clause or two of which affected the library. The issue of books is creditably large. Ten years ago eighty-six a day were issued. Now it has reached 348 in the lending section alone. Norwich has a large subscription library, well managed and efficiently officered. It dates back to 1784, and contains now over 3.5,000 volumes. The income reaches 700 from subscriptions alone. Other towns where the Acts have not yet been adopted, owing, perhaps, to the fears of the existing subscription libraries, should note the fact that the Norfolk and Norwich library is healthier than it ever was. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. 206 READING. The only adoption in Berkshire up to the present is the one in the county town, and so good an example is being set by I !cailing that the wonder is the larger towns of the county have not vigorously taken up the question. The adoption was in 1879 and the library was opened in 1882. The visit of the Associa- tion to t*Ms town of buscuit and seed fame in 1890 will naturally call forth a considerable amount of attention to the library and museum, and the members who attend the meetings will have the opportunity of visiting a compact and very useful twin institution. Mr. "NV. I. Palmer has long been an earnest friend of the movement. The library and museum are housed in a very handsome block of municipal buildings, towards the erection of which Mr. Palmer contributed about 2-5,000. A ground plan is shown in the sketch below of the library which is well and GROUND PLAN, BEADING PUBLIC LIBRARY. conveniently planned. One of the main features of the work is the juvenile section, and it is one to which the able librarian, Mr. \V. H. Greenhough, the librarian and superintendent of the art museum, has given his special attention. This was opened in January, 1889, and was set in motion by a timely gift of 100 from the Mayor, Mr. G. W. Palmer. There are now 3,127 volumes, and it is held in a room of the vicarage. The library is open from four to eight in the evening, and on the date of the last returns being made there were 1,464 borrowers, of which 966 are boys and 498 are girls. The daily average is 180. In five months 20,600 books were borrowed in this department, and all were accounted for at the stocktaking. The Reading School Board have granted the use of rooms at two of their schools as evening reading- rooms. The rooms are open on weekdays from six till ten o'clock, 206 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. and about sixty daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals and news- papers are provided. For a payment of 2s. 6d. a year non- residents are permitted to borrow, and of these there are about 120. Two thousand visitors a day is a very average attendance at the library and newsroom. This is exclusive of those visiting the museum. There is no doubt about Reading getting good value of its library, and it is to be hoped that Newbury, where the question has been forward for discussion, and other towns, will quickly see their way clear to adopt the Acts. The com- mittee have adopted electricity for lighting, and the arc and incandescent lamps are used for the library and reading-rooms. SOUTHAMPTON. Southampton is proud to be able to issue its first report. This is so satisfactory that it serves to prove the libraries have met a great want, and would have been established years ago but for a bigoted opposition. The Acts were adopted on June 13, 1887, and the library was opened in January, 1889, at a town's meeting. The organization was well planned, and many voluntary workers placed their shoulder to the wheel. The Mayor gave the tone to the meeting in an earnest speech, in which he referred to the question before them being an educational one ; and in any move- ment for the advancement of knowledge, and the improving of the condition of fellow-creatures every one should be interested. The speech of the proposer, an army surgeon-general, was earnest, and to the point. He said that the nineteenth century had so far advanced that it was rather an awkward thing for him or anyone else to speak on such a subject as the advantages of knowledge, of which Bacon said, " It alone doth clear the mind of all pertur- bation." There were some people of whom it might be said that they could find sermons in stones, books in running brooks, and good in everything, but probably such persons were only in the proportion of about one to every 20,000 of the population, and the rest in search of knowledge had to go to books for it. He had found in the limit of their own language and literature that there was a magnificently rich field of knowledge which in such a library as they proposed would be accessible at all times, ready at their bidding to sing to them on every subject within the com- pass of human experience, in thoughts that breathed and words that burned, and suitable for every varying mood of their mind. They had also in their literature historians to tell them their history, and biographers to tell of the great ones who had left their mark on literature, science, and commerce. They had also travellers to tell of their adventures in distant lands, and men of science addressing them as to how they had extorted nature's secrets for the benefits of mankind. The seconder, among other advantages said that Public Libraries created a feeling of good fellowship among all classes, and in times of distress it was not an uncommon thing to see men out of work waiting outside a public newsroom for the doors to be opened, so that they could get an early look at the advertisements in the morning papers. PUBMC LIBRARIES IX TDK KANTKKX COrNTIES. 207 It was not by any means a far-fetched argument to say that when a municipality had done right to those suffering from want of work, there was a feeling of brotherhood between man and man, and those out of employment felt that they were not left out in the cold, but that there was a place where they could go for information. This is no small matter. The proposition was carried with the greatest enthusiasm, only about a dozen hands being held up against it. The establishment of local amateur parliaments a few years ago was quite universal, but the ardour with regard to them seems to have cooled down. The one then existing at Southampton rendered good service when the agita- tion was in progress. The proposal was moved, seconded, and well discussed, with the ultimate result that in a full house there were only two dissentients when the question was put to the vote. It was not treated as a party question, and why should it ever be P At the opening of this. Public Library, Mr. W. E. Darwin, a son of the famous naturalist, recalled a saying of his father's that it was wonderful what reading a man could do if he only devoted half an hour a day to it, but it all depended upon his regularity in so doing, and that he believed any man who had read half an hour a day regularly, at the end of a year or two might have read extensively on any subject. There are now some 7,563 volumes, and the demand for these reaches an average of 336 a day. Mr. O. T. Hopwood, the librarian and secretary, naturally wishes to see the shelves of the library better filled. An appeal was made for gifts of money and books, and to this there was a good response. Mr. J. Passmore Edwards gave a thousand volumes, and asked the librarian to indicate what kind of books were most wanted, or most in demand. This is a kind of gift which cheers the heart of a librarian and committee. Will others please copy ? A town councillor offered to lend 200 free of interest for a few months in order that books might be purchased. Miss Gordon, the sister of the late General Gordon, has presented the whole of his library. The British Museum would like to have them. But there was an appropriateness in the books remaining at Southampton, and the best home for them was the Public Library. The committee have been engaged in looking out for a site for a permanent library, which it is hoped will soon be erected, as the temporary premises are already congested with the rapid extension of the work. There are some 900 visitors daily. The library was quickly organized and in operation, and the citizens have already realized what a useful institution they have now in their midst. Southampton has had, since 1862, the noble Hartley Institution. The building, with the site on which it stands, cost upwards of 20,000, and comprises the following departments : Circulating library, reference library, reading-room, museum, the art gallery, lecture hall, school of science and engineering (including the chemical and physical laboratories, &c.), school of art, depart- ment of general literature, evening classes, and the reading-room of the Southampton Chamber of Commerce. Its work has been 208 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. real and useful. But it was for many years patent that the Hartley Institution could not supply all the. wants of a Public Library under the rates. The educational departments are very strong, and in every way possible the Public Library is doing all it can to help and supplement the work at the Hartley. The lending depart- ment provides books for the use of the students at the institution in the science and other classes. The subscription to the library and reading-room is half-a-guinea a year, but on a declaration being made that the income of the intending subscriber is under 200 per annum, he is let off by paying the reduced rate of 5s. 3d. annually. The council have latterly adopted the plan of allowing the inhabitants of the borough to become free borrowers from the library upon presenting a guarantee form, duly signed, according to the regulations. It is noteworthy that the council of the Hartley Institution aided the adoption of the Acts most materially, and it is a pleasure to record the fact. The Hartley Institution is well known to the present writer, and there is the earnest wish that it may have before it years of such useful work as it has accomplished in the past. In these progressive days there need be none but the must friendly rivalry and emulation among these institutions of similar aims and works. Only there is still the conviction, which becomes deeper and deeper, that for far-reaching utility, and value for money, there is none which compare with the rate-supported institutions. CHAPTER XII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE WESTERN COUNTIES. E old adage, that " Westward the course of empire takes wa y>" * s not y 6 * 1 ^ u ^ v exemplified, so far as this movement is concerned. Dorsetshire is still without a single adoption of the Acts. Cornwall and Somerset have only one each, and Devon is content with two. Gloucestershire boasts only of two. BRISTOL. The present writer never enters the Bristol Public Libraries without being struck with the cosmopolitan character of the frequenters of the newsrooms and libraries. An active business man, desirous of seeing some of the many newspapers, will be in close proximity to the boys who frequent the room, and who con- duct themselves in a very orderly manner. Near to them again will be some ladies quietly perusing the papers, and so through- out the rooms there is an air of public utility, which is commend- able to the city of Bristol. The history of the Public Library movement in this large centre of the west is deeply interesting. In a local pamphlet, dated November, 1871, entitled " The Cry of the Poor," being a letter from sixteen working men of Bristol to the sixteen aldermen of the city, there is named as one of six PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE WESTERN COUNTIES. I'D!) pressing requirements the accommodation of a Public Library and newsroom. " We should be glad," say the petitioners, " to be able to .sit in our own room and read a bit out of an interesting book to our wives and families, or to get one of the children to road to us. Such a book would keep our boys from idling at street corners, where they learn no end of mischief and wicked- 0688, and would, maybe, prevent many of them from going to the public-house, the dancing rooms, and to the bad. We wish our children well, just as you do yours, and should be glad for them to know a great deal more, and to make a better use of what they learn than we have done, so that if they have got the ability they may not all of them always remain poor, ignorant working n ifii. Now, by the newspaper accounts, we find that Bristol is tar behind such towns as Cardiff, Newport, and Hereford in this matter, to say nothing of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, which were little villages, we are told, when Bristol merchants were giving a library and books for the use of their poor fellow- citizens. Gentlemen, though we work for our bread, we do not believe in ignorance any more than we do in bad air or in dirty skins, so we ask that Bristol may be placed under the Public Libraries' Act." This request of Bristol working men practically took effect by the adoption in 1876 of the Libraries' Acts in Bristol, the present chairman, Sir Joseph I). Weston, being president of the public meeting which sanctioned the local application of the Act. Since that time the work has gone forging along, and as Bristol dates its eai'liest Public Library to 1613, the city, so far as the actual work accomplished by the central library and its five branches are concerned, is determined to more than hold its own. The buildings comprising the central library are quite historic, and for a full account of this old structure it is a pleasure to turn to a history of the Bristol Library by the late Charles Tovey, published in 1855. This worthy Bristolian died in 1888, after seeing the fifth of the branches opened. His interest in the movement never flagged, and long before the adoption of the Acts, and down to the time of his death, he never ceased to take an interest in the work of the libraries. Mr. Tovey was as a prophet crying in the wilderness, for his little book of 1855 was received with an apathy not by any means creditable to such a city as Bristol. He says, " the citizens could not be aroused from their indifference to the advantages resulting from Public Libraries, and my book remained unsold." He was before his time, and the world will never overtake its indebtedness to the men who are in advance of their age and generation. Chiefly through his action the Town Council in 1853 appointed a com- mittee to inquire into the subject, and negotiate with the possessors and occupants of the citizens' building, called the City Library, and now used as the central library. Thirty-five to forty years ago Mr. Tovey was told that he could do nothing with the present generation. Their habits and manners, he was con- siderately told, were formed, and they would not use Public Libraries and museums if they were established. The opposition 210 PUBLIC LIBBARIES. came from those in high authority, and when a comparison is made with the objections raised in Bristol in 1853 to the vast use the people are now making of their libraries, the gain in the history of the movement is at once apparent. A more powerful appeal for a city or town to adopt the Acts and take under its municipal wing a library building was never penned. The whole pamphlet breathes a spirit of earnest purpose, and when Bristol gets its new central library, a consummation devoutly to be wished, the committee will see that there is placed in it a bust of Charles Tovey, and, if possible, some room or section of the library bearing the name of this warm friend of Public Libraries and their work. It is needless to remind the reader that in 1 853 to 1855 the movement was a mere bantling, but even then some eleven towns had adopted the Acts, and most of the libraries were then in operation. The old building of which Mr. Tovey writes so eloquently, and known as the city library, has, as already stated, a quaint history. There is no doubt that Bristol dates its earliest Public Library from 1613, and the present central library is in premises, part of which came down from that date. Additions have, of course, been made at various times, and it has now somewhat the character of a rabbit warren. But, with its old oak staircase, bookcases, and a marvellously fine old carved mantel, it is a build- ing in which the archaeologist would linger ; and when the time comes for a new home for the central library, it is to be hoped that something will be done to preserve this old building as a library. Perhaps as a separate juvenile library and reading- room, and, say, a patents library, it would have its best and most appropriate use. But we have seen that Mr. Tovey had to agitate for nearly a quarter of a century before he saw the Acts adopted, and now everybody in Bristol who knows anything of the working of the libraries is asking why were the citizens so foolish as to shut themselves off from so real a boon for so many years ? Other towns, especially the many towns of the West of England, may well look closely and seriously at the long struggle in Bristol, and put the question as to whether it is worth while their com- mitting the same mistake. Taunton and Gloucester may take heart and gather strength from the experience of the capital of the west. The operations of the libraries is of a very solid nature. Each of the branches is well situated in a thickly-populated suburb, and it is noteworthy that each of these offshoots from the parent stem has surpassed in its operations the work at the central library. Very full statements of their working are sent periodically to the local press by the able city librarian, Mr. John Taylor, who has done much to develop these institu- tions in Bristol. The last annual report shows the working up to December 31, 1889, and is worth quoting: UUU.UEIKS IN rrin \VKSTKHX corxrnos. Libraries. V v 00 S} """ o o = X *2J 2.593 O I M gas ~ - %* Central St. Philip's North District ... 21,235 83,587 48,187 41,633 59,123 74,085 210,300 306,000 202,700 Bedminster Redland Hotwells 32,826 14,578 17,832 57,770 129,369 54,438 256,225 416,400 160,650 Totals 218,185 416,418 1,552,275 o> 1 Borrowers' o' 1 Tablets Issuei Cash Taken. 63 19 a 881 65 9 6 1,049 76 15 5 539 40 1 1,760 145 10 3 524 59 10 11| 5,423 451 6 N The following are the classes of books issued for home reading : i B & ii d gO 11 rf! tn a Libraries. i i *! Si o E .25 O ~ = 2 S v 3 o eing, in fact, much below the average. The aggregate issue for the year was 634,603 volumes, which is over three books per head of the population for the twelve months. The first of the branches which was opened, the one in St. Phillips, has long ago outgrown in its work the accommodation provided, and the people in that district would like to see a new and commodious building ; but the claims of St. Phillips are not so great as is better provision for a central library, convenient for city men and others who pay a large proportion of the expenses incurred in relation to the Act, but have neither reading-room nor library suitable for the centre of the city. At the central library 212 Pt'BMC MBRAKIES. there are a considerable number of juvenile books which are lent out to boys to read in a room by themselves. Anyone sceptical of whether boys really care for such an advantage as this would be made a convert by looking in at the room on almost any week- day evening. The boys are orderly, and require little or no supervision. They quietly go on with their reading, and this from a class of books which have been selected with great care and discrimination. The Redlands branch is the best of the branch buildings. The cost of the ground and structure was 8,000. The drain is heaviest in the lending section at Redlands of any of the branches. Some twenty-five young ladies find employment at the various Public Libraries, and give the utmost satisfaction. Mr. Taylor is a great believer in the humanizing power of the gentler sex in library work, and he is no doubt right. The salaries paid vary from 12s. to 21s. per week, according to the position. One very important feature of the work at Bristol is that at the central library a set of each weekly, monthly, and quarterly serials is bound up and kept for reference. The more popular magazines are retained also at the branch libraries. But in each of the six libraries duplicate numbers are utilized by being dissected and classified into distinct volumes under names of authors or subjects, so that the special contents of some forty or fifty numbers "or volumes of periodicals can be consulted in each single volume thus treated. About a thousand volumes have been so made up, the contents of each of which is entered in the catalogue of each library. Mr. Taylor is the first to have adopted this plan, and it is one which has been of much service to his readers. The volumes cover a large variety of subjects, and are in much request. One may be taken as a sample of the rest. In the catalogue it appears under " Evolution," and the articles on the subject from reviews and magazines bound up in this 8vo vol. are as follows : Darwin's Theories "Westminster Review." Darwinism "Unitarian Review." Descent of Man " Quarterly Review. " Quatrefages on the Hu- man Species "Catholic World." Human Resemblances to Lower Life "Longman's." Our Origin as a Species "Ibid." Darwinism and Evolu- tion of Man (Dr. March), Philosophy of Evolution " Quarterly Review." Struggle of Science " Ibid." Physical and Religious Knowledge "Ibid." Religion and Science " Ibid." Degeneration Andrew Wilson. Fish to Reptile "Cornhill." Animal Development A.Wilson. My Cousin the Gorilla " Tinsley." Germ Theory " Nineteenth Century. Origin of Species and Genera "Ibid." Evolution v. Socialism "National Re- view." Nature and Thought G. J. Romanes. Man's Place in Nature "Nineteenth Century." Animals and Plants "Contemporary Re- view." Form and Colours of Living Creatures " Ibid." Relation of Darwinism to other Branches of Science "Longman's." Before Birth " Nineteenth Century. " Evolution and Ethics "National Review." Theory of Heredity " Contemporary Review." Hereditary Conscience "Ibid." Evolution and Religion "Ibid." Natural Selection and Natural Theology " Contemporary Review." Evolution of Theology T. H. Huxley. Darwinism and Religion " Macmillan's. " Evolution, Ethics, and Religion "Church Quarterly Review." PUBLIC I.IBRARIKS IN THK WKSTKHX ror\TIi;s. JIM 'I he interest and value attaching to these volumes to the essay writer, lecturer, preacher, author, and general reader is incalcu- lable, and the plan should be extended to every Public Library in the large centres. If the publishers and printers of magazines and reviews would make the articles separate one from another, in their publications, mutilation of context would be avoided. CHELTENHAM. This beautiful inland watering-place is a town to be envied in its Public Library. The new building, opened in April, 1889, is the result of a local effort to commemorate the fifty years national progress. The library is one of the finest buildings the town of Cheltenham possesses, and being spacious and commo- dious is exactly the place for a flourishing Public Library, and schools of science and art. The architecture is in the Italian style, into which has been imported by the architects a consider- able amount of general detail in the Elizabethan style. The building is 144 feet in length, and the height from the basement to the parapet is 45 feet. In the centre rises what may be described as a gable, and below is an arch terminating in plain pilasters. Beneath the arch is the portico with three fine entrances separated by Ionic columns, and surmounted by a balustrade of tracery, on which in the future it is hoped to place some statues. On the extreme right of the front of the building is a handsome tower which serves to give a finish to it on the one side, while on the left hand is a pinnacle which serves a similar purpose on the other side. Inside the premises, the whole of the ground floor, with the exception of the entrances to the schools of science and art, is devoted to the library. There is a fine vestibule with con- veniences of many kinds, and furnished with clock, barometer, and busts of Shakespeare and Milton. Passing through swing doors, communication is obtained with the reference library, the lending library, and the newspaper and periodical room, the latter of which is a most spacious room, and admirably adapted to the purpose for which it is intended. The library departments are also well suited to the requirements of such rooms, and are well lighted and ventilated. Near the reference library is the librarian's room, and part of the basement is intended to be set aside for the use of the caretaker, and for the reception and classification of the new books. With regard to the science and art schools there are separate entrances in the tower, and the staircases lead to a floor on which are cloak rooms and other oftkvs. The art schools contain four class rooms which are approached by a corridor, while the school of science contains a physical laboratory, a lecture room, a chemical preparation room, and a chemical laboratory, all of which are filled with the latest appliances for this class of study and for the convenience of preceptors and students. The entire cost of the new buildings, including the site, is about 15,200, and to meet this there is a total, including the loan, of 10,000 and sums from various sources, of 13,487 4s. 8d., or a deficit of 1,712 odd. All the work was 214 PfBI.IC LIBRARIES. carried out locally, the architect beimr Mr. W. H. Knight. It most appropriate to ask Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, Bart., M.P., to perform the ceremony of opening. In declaring the library open Sir Michael gave an address on the advantages of Public Libraries. These institutions, he said, were in England comparatively a recent outgrowth of our modern civilization, and this fact was one with regard to which, he thought, we might take some little shame to ourselves. It was an axiom amongst us that every child ought to be taught to read. But what were the children to read? Were they never, as they grew up, to read anything except that which was improving to the mind ? He did not see why in this or any other matter they should expect the poorer classes to have different tastes to themselves. On the contrary, he should hold PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE WESTERN COUNTIES. 216 it as an undoubted fact that the hardest-worked men and women, be their labour physical or mental, were those who stood most in need of mental recreation. And what mental recreation could the poorer classes havr :- What were they tempted to have ? Look at the floods of vicious and socialistic literature, unhappily now too cheap in our country, which they might be tempted to poison their minds with if something better and purer were not offered them in its place. Working men had now more leisure than formerly, and that was another reason why an effort should be made to elevate and refine their tastes, so that that leisure might l>e devoted to something better than the gross sensual indulgences of the working classes of former generations. If they wished people to become good men and good citizens, they must think not only of their serious pursuits but of their pleasures as well ; and, to his mind, great as the good might be which was to be gained from the solid and improving literature found in Public Libraries, there was also a good quite as great to be gained in the moral and intellectual recreation found in the writings of the best novel-writers of all the ages of English literature. The paying off of the debt is at present rather a tax on the income, but the ratable value being large it is not as great a burden as it would be in some towns. In providing themselves with a handsome structure for their rapidly extending work, the Cheltenham people have acted wisely. They have the finest Public Library of any inland or seaboard watering place, and this is a fact of which they may be reasonably very proud. The total number of books is now about 15,500 for their 5,119 borrowers. This is a large percentage of the population, and the class of books read will compare favourably with any library in the Southern or Midland counties. Fiction stands low. Other water- ing-places like Malvern, Tunbridge Wells and Scarborough should note the fact that some 1,200 residents and visitors use the institu- tion daily. With an existence still short of six years the library may well lie satisfied with the position it occupies, and its popu- larity is not a little owing to the librarian, Mr. William Jones, who received his training at Leeds. Gifts have flowed in, and among the official bodies from whom they have received books are the Trustees of the British Museum, the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, and the Delegates of the Clarendon Press. There has also been a gift of 1,300 volumes, on Fish and Fish Culture, from Dr. Francis Day, who spent some years in India as a Govern- ment official. Outsiders are permitted to borrow on payment of a five shilling subscription. The report in Cheltenham is that they would rather be without the post-office than without their Public Library. EXETER. Exeter has a beautiful building, as will be seen from the accompanying sketch. But the library has to take a back place to the museum and schools of science and art. The charge on the rate for this building is 225, which greatly impoverishes the work, and in few places is an extra penny for 216 PUBLIC I.IBRABIE8. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN THE WESTERN OOl'NTIES. 1'17 museum purposes more needed than in Exeter. There are 1 ,-Mx > volumes, but the daily issue of 163 books out of this number, and with a population is an exceedingly poor show. There are 1,620 borrowers. Exeter boasts of a rather powerful literary society, with an income of over 400 a year. The number of members is 847, and they have a library containing a mass of old-fashioned and obsolete books which only cumber the shelves. If the mem- bers of this society would throw their interest and enthusiasm into the work of the Public Library, they would get a better return for the money they now spend in their declining society. By co-operating with the library committee they would be serving themselves and what should be a strong public institution. NEWPORT (Mox.). N cwport lias now had seven years'life in its new buildings. These were erected at a cost of about 3,500. It is designed in a free style of English Renaissance, and has a frontage, on one side, of 66 feet, and on another of 108 feet. On the ground floor, a reading and newspaper room, 58 feet by 36 feet and 30 feet high, is placed in the centre of the block, lighted entirely from the roof. This room has, placed on the left, 20 feet wide and extending nearly its whole length, the lending library, designed with shelves to accommodate 15,000 volumes, and with the side next the reading room fitted with sliding sashes, making it accessible on this side to borrowers. The south side of this room extends to the lane, from which light is obtained. The curator's rooms are placed on the immediate right of the main entrance, and comprise living- rooms, while at the left of the entrance comes first a committee- room, 25 feet by 16 feet, occupying the corner. Between this and the end of the lending library is the reference library, 26 feet by 23 feet, completing, with former buildings retained, the whole of the ground floor accommodation. The first floor covers the whole area of the rooms below, except the newsroom. This floor is devoted entirely to the accommodation of the science and art classes, the rooms of which are so arranged, communicating with each other, as to be thrown open as a gallery of art on special occasions, if required. There is on the second floor a large cast and modelling room, and a suite of rooms for the curator. The entrance is flanked with red polished granite columns, fluted and moulded. On the left-hand comer is placed a circular turret, domed on the top, and covered with lead, which assists externally the character of the building. The total number of books is not yet large for a population of 50,000, being only 16,186. Borrowers to the number of 3,600 use these. The run upon fiction is going down, and other classes of literature are going up, and the use of the reference library is largely on the increase. There is a strong juvenile section of good literature to the extent of 1,100 volumes. Newport, in harmony with many other towns, is extending its boundaries, and has added a new district to the Borough. There will in future be a considerable addition to the 850 at present yielded by the 218 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. rate. Other towns are looking to the extension of borough boundaries as likely to aid them financially. At the turn of the year a new branch library and reading room for the Pillgwenlly district was opened. For many years it has been one of the lead- ing aspirations of the district to possess a branch library worthy the name ; and the residents are now placed in possession of a building which is in every way creditable to all concerned. The three-storeyed building has a frontage of 34 feet, and abuts on Temple Street, the thoroughfare in which the Sailors' Home and NEWPORT PUBLIC LIBRARY. Institute have their local habitation. The roof line is broken by a central pediment, the tympanimi of which is enriched by carving, and the panel below is charged by the appropriate motto, " Know- ledge is power." The front is red brick, with Bath stone dressings. On entering the building the magazine and chess room, 27ft. by 14ft., is seen, and on the opposite side of the entrance is the caretaker's-room, so placed that he may command the entire building. The main stairway next adjoins, leading to class- rooms which will probably be ultimately used for science and art purposes. Then, in the rear of the building, is situated the general reading-room. It is ample in every respect, being 46ft. PUBLIC Mid! AKIKS IN THi: WESTERN' COUNTIES. 219 by 25ft., and lighted by windows at the side, and by a large bay at the end. The Mayor has expressed his intention to provide a stained-glass window, and other gentlemen are inclined to follow tlif generous example. The total cost, including fittings, was about ' 1,200. Mr. James Matthews has been librarian for over fourteen years. The museum and school of art and science are depart- ments, the work of which, like that of the library, is rapidly extending. PLYMOUTH. It is always a pleasure to take a peep into the work at Plymouth. With a live librarian, an earnest committee, and a constituency who know how to use their Public Library, it could indeed scarcely be otherwise. In August, 1876, the library was first opened, and since that time it has grown steadily in public favour and usefulness. The work is housed in the old Guildhall, and thirteen years ago this building answered the purpose fairly well ; but the requirements of the library have long since outgrown the capacity of the building. At the present it contains nearly 30,000 volumes, in all branches of literature, and not only so, but the reading-rooms are frequently crowded to inconvenience, and the work has to be carried on under considerable difficulties. Another objection to the building is that it abuts on one of the noisiest quarters of the town, and the squalid appearance of the surround- ings, added to the dinginess of the building itself, render it altogether an undesirable place for a Public Library in a town like Plymouth. For the credit of the town itself, and for the health's sake of those who serve, and are served at the library, this state of things calls for early remedy. Mr. W. H. K. Wright, the borough librarian a good designation, by the way, which might fall into general use has long kept before his committee the need for a new library building, and some of his townsmen are kind enough to say that, like the boy in the soap advertisement, he won't be happy till he gets it. As there is some corporation property in the market, some feasible plan for securing the site and erecting a building may be within measurable distance. The last report covers a period of fifteen months, an alteration in the date of publication of the report necessitated by the recent change in the position of Plymouth, as a county borough under the Local Government Act. The issues in the lending department and consultation of books in the reference room comprise, during the period named, an aggregate of 251,739, or a daily average of 716. These figures in themselves are sufficient to show that there is plenty of work for the library staff, and that the desire of the public for reading of all kinds keeps up steadily. The report of the librarian covers seven pages out of thirty-two, and Mr. Wright has much to say of an interesting and instructive character. Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is where he gives particulars of the conditions under which about 1,000 volumes had been sent out on perpetual loan to eleven of the Board Schools of the town ; and in continuation of that report he stated that the new departure had given thorough satisfaction. He had visited the I'll) IT HI. 1C LIBRA K IKS. whole of the schools in which these branch libraries were placed, and found the books in uniformly good condition very few miss- ing, and the privilege highly appreciated by the children. In nearly every case the teachers took a warm interest in the matter, and were doing their utmost to preserve the books in good order, and to encourage the children to be punctual in their return, as well as careful in their use. After careful observation and con- sultation with all the head teachers he was of opinion that the experiment had proved most successful, and that its extension would prove a boon to the town. Mr. Wright is one of the pioneers in this use of Board Schools for library purposes, and the plan is destined to be universally developed during the immediate future. The Plymouth School Board warmly sup- ported the suggestions, and the members are to be congratulated on the results, so far, of their efforts. Both in the boys' and girls' schools substantial bookcases have been provided, and the librarian has prepared a list of books especially suited to children of school age, and which there is no reason to doubt will be largely read by the young people in whose interests this new departure has been made. On certain days of the week the children, both boys and girls, have the privilege of taking home a book each from the library, and when these have been read an exchange of books takes place between the different schools, so that the children are always having some new and fresh, with which to interest themselves and add to their stores of knowledge. Care has been observed in the choice of books, the object being to combine instruction with amusement, and the system is not to be confined to the Board Schools alone, but will be equally at the service of other elementary schools in the town. It is anticipated that great advantages will accrue to the cause of education, as a perusal of the books provided for the children can scarcely fail to prove a valuable adjunct to the instruction given in the schools during the day. It is suggested that in further extension of the movement evening reading-rooms should be started at some of the Board Schools, where working men might have the opportu- nity of spending a profitable hour or two in reading the daily newspapers and magazines that could easily be provided for such a purpose. Mi'. Wright is an enthusiast over local literature, and is himself an antiquary of no mean quality. He has lately written and published a work on "The Blue Friars," which gives a very interesting sketch of the sayings and doings of a little local fraternity who gave themselves this designation. He has thus added a new chapter in the history of old Plymouth. In his report he states that the extent of Devonshire and Cornish literature is so great, and its ramifications so extensive that a much more liberal supply is needed. The rate yields about 1,000, and the library and all its ramifications of work cost threepence per head per year for the entire population. In what other way could the Plymouth people or any people get three- penny worth of such excellent value ? ITISI.U: UHUAUIKS IN THK \\I>TKHN COUNTIKS. i'L'1 SALISBURY. On Mayo, 1890, a meeting of the citizens of Salisbury, convened by requisition, was held at the Council House, for the purpose of considering the advisability of adopting the Public Libraries' Arts in the city. The Mayor presided, and there was a large attendance. The Mayor explained the object of the meeting at some length, and also the steps that would be taken if a poll were demanded. He said he had heard something about politics in this matter, but it seemed to him that politics had nothing whatever to do with it. If it was an advantage to have a Public Library, that advantage would be shared by all parties. It was entirely a question for the ratepayers to decide whether they would go to the expense or not of establishing a library. A poll was demanded, and this will be taken on June -2, a date subsequent to this portion of the present work going to press. It is to be hoped that Salis- bury will do itself credit. TRUBO. The whole county of Cornwall has only one rate-supported library, and the cathedral city of Truro may hoist its library standard and call upon the towns in the county to set their house in order. The library was established in the beginning of 1886. The cost of fitting up the rooms was 35. The nucleus of the library books was presented by Mr. Norton, who took a leading part in the foundation of the institution. About 200 volumes were purchased, at a cost of 20, out of the funds at the committee's disposal, and upwards of 1,400 volumes were presented. The estimated cost of magazines and newspapers to the reading-room for this year is 27 10s., and many are presented. The rent of the present rooms is 25 per annum, and the accommodation has already become utterly inadequate to the requirements. The librarian's salary is 30 per annum, for which the services of a painstaking officer are secured. The cost of coal, gas, and clean- ing is 18 per annum ; printing, stationery, and postage, 5 ; and binding, repairs of books, furniture, &c., another 5. This, roughly, is how the Truro Library exists on 116 a year. The work done with their 4,000 books is not by any means slight. Mr. Passmore Edwards, the proprietor of the London " Echo," has during the last year or two been showing his interest in Public Library work. Among some thousands of books which he has presented to various Public Libraries were 250 volumes to the Truro Library. These included sets of good standard literature. The library in this Cornish city has had a struggle during its first three years' life ; but Cornishmen are too great lovers of progress to see it languish for lack of support. There was, in the early part of 1887, an effort made to get the Acts adopted in Penzance. The difficulty which led to the refusal on the part of the ratepayers to accede to the proposal, was the improbability of being able to maintain a library on an income of 150. Penzance has a Public Library, but not under the Acts. Here there are 16,000 volumes. Some time, perhaps, we shall have this a real Public Library. It would have a very 1'Jl' TIHI.IC I.THKAIUES. wholesome effect upon the movement in Cornwall it the county town would place itself in line. WESTON-SUPER-MAHE. The Public Libraries' Acts were unanimously adopted some time ago by a town's meeting. An ample central site has been pur- chased at a cost of 500, partly by subscription and partly by rate. It was intended that the rate should be allowed to accumulate, so as to form a fund for the erection of a suitable building, but it was afterwards discovered that the amount of rate levied during a year must be expended within that period, and the scheme for accumulation had to be abandoned. This has caused considerable delay. The Town Commissioners have recently covenanted with the lord of the manor to rent on perpetual lease his late residence, " The Grove " estate, comprising a mansion beautifully situated in about eight acres of finely wooded grounds the whole being intended as a park for free public use and a portion of the mansion is to be devoted to the purposes of a Public Library. It is hoped that the necessary structural alterations will be com- pleted, and a newsroom and library commenced early in the coming year. CHAPTER XIII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN SCOTLAND. E operation of the Public Libraries' Act of 1850 was extended to Scotland and Ireland a few years afterwards, but the power of assessment by it and the subsequent Acts was so limited as to render its provisions practi- cally inoperative for small towns unless some generous benefactor came forward and presented to the community a suitable building, equipped in whole or in part with a sufficiency of books. Subsequent legislation has modified the conditions under which the Acts may be adopted, and also the procedure. The most important amending Acts are that of 1866, applicable to England and Scotland, and that of 1877, applicable to England, Scotland, and Ireland. The law, as it applies to Scotland, begins with the Act of 1867, the previous statutes of 1854 and 1866 having been by it repealed. By the Consolidation Act of 1887 the Acts from 1867 to 1884, so far as they relate to Scotland, are repealed. By this Act, upon the requisition in writing of ten or more house- holders in any burgh or parish, the chief magistrate of such burgh, or in the case of a parish, the sheriff of the county in which such parish or the greater part of the area thereof is situated, shall ascertain the opinions of the householders in such burgh or parish as to the adoption of this Act in the manner set forth in Schedules A. or B., which will be found in the appendices, provided that where in any burgh the number of householders exceeds three thousand, the chief magistrate shall adopt the procedure, by way of voting paper, set forth in Schedule A., but in any other case it shall be optional to the chief magistrate or to PUBLIC LIBRARIES IX SCOTLAND. 223 the sheriff, as the case may be, to adopt such procedure by way of voting paper, or the procedure by way of public meeting, set forth in Schedule B. When the Acts have once been rejected in any place, two whole years must elapse before the proposal to adopt them can be renewed. In u burgh the initiative rests either with the magistrates and council or with any ten househoulders, either of which bodies may present to the chief or the senior magistrate a requisition in writing, asking him to ascertain the opinion of the ratepayers on the question whether the Public Libraries' Acts shall be adopted in the burgh. It rests with the acting chief magistrate absolutely to determine whether the opinion of the ratepayers shall be ascertained at a public meeting called for the purpose, or by the issue of a voting paper to each ratepayer. Of the eight largest towns in Scotland Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen, Greenock, Paisley, Leith, and Perth only four have yet adopted the Public Libraries' Acts. Twenty towns have now adopted these Acts, and it is instructive to observe when the chief impetus came. Between 1851 and 1860, only one town ; 1861 to 1870, three ; 1871 to 1880, five ; 1881 to 1885, four ; 1885 to 1890, seven. This is a very creditable record, and bonnie Scotland may well hold up her head and be proud of the part she has taken in this movement. True, there is the sad case of Glasgow ; but outside this the recent failures to carry the movement are con- fined to two, Elgin and Falkirk. But for a long time Scotland has been better off for small libraries than any other part of the United Kingdom. In travelling from time to time north of the Tweed, the author has been amazed at the number of libraries, people's clubs, literary and scientific institutes, so that there is every ground for saying that Scotland has held her own. A cynic might say that there is a great deal of human nature in the rate- payers of the Scottish towns. Poll a northern town on the Public Library question on the simple merits of the case, and it is not usually successful. But let some generous citizen present a library to the town, or offer to do so on condition that the Public Libraries' Acts be adopted, and it is surprising how speedily and unanimously the movement becomes an accomplished fact. But this is only a proof that Scotchmen know how to appreciate a practical gift for the benefit of the general com- munity. As stated elsewhere the history of the Public Library movement in Scotland is a history of Mr. Andrew Carnegie's generous gifts to these institutions. Most of the Scotch Public Libraries close their buildings for cleaning, and to give a holiday to the staff, from two o'clock on one day in the week. This is done at Paisley, Dundee, and other places. It would be a good thing for the Scotch Public Librarians to form a small association among themselves, as the Mersey and North Midland districts have done. There are many points of detail and library economy which could be discussed in a friendly way by occasional gatherings. JJ} PUBLIC LIBBABIKS. ABEBDEEN. Tlie rejection of the Acts in Aberdeen was a matter of consider- able surprise, considering that the refusal came in the face of the all but certain prospect that a suitable building for a Public Library would be provided rent free, that preliminary subscrip- tions to the amount of 4,000 would be forthcoming, and that the stock of the Mechanics' Institute Library, numbering upwards of 12,000 volumes, would become public property. In spite of these advantages, the citizens of Aberdeen, in public meeting assembled, rejected the Acts in 1872. The meeting was attended by more than 1, 500 persons; but of these little more than one-third took part in the vote, which was taken by means of signed papers. The numbers were, for adopting the Acts, 134; against, 488 majority against, 364. The result was generally attributed to the opposition of the proprietors of small houses, and of the shop- keepers, who objected to the burden of an additional rate. But among the leading hai*d-headed spirits of the Granite City the matter was not likely to rest here, and at the end of 1883, on its becoming generally known that the members of the Mechanics' Institution were disposed to hand over their building and library to the town, provided the citizens adopted the Public Libraries' Acts, a distinct impetus was given to the public feeling in favour of the step. Thus strengthened, this feeling found articulate expression at a meeting convened at the instance of a committee representative of the Mechanics' Institute and the Trades' Council, and the practical result was the presentation for a second time of a requisition to the chief magistrate of the city. In compliance with this requisition the Provost convened and presided at a meeting of householders, held on March 25, 1884. On this occasion, the adoption of the Acts was moved and seconded in presence of a large assembly. A poll being again demanded and taken, it was announced that of 1,155 qualified householders present at the meeting, 891 voted for the proposal, and 264 against it. The Public Libraries' Acts were accordingly declared to be duly adopted. The first duty of the committee was to enter into communication with the directors of the Mechanics' Institute on the subject of their proposed gift. After some negotiation, it was arranged that the Mechanics' Institute building in Market Street, together with the library there and its furnishings, should be transferred to the town for behoof of the Public Library, subject to certain reserved burdens, amount- ing to about 2,500. Another thing to be done was to make an examination of the whole of the volumes belonging to the Mechanics' Institute with the view of gauging the probable requirements of the Public Library, the aim being to raise the stock in the meantime to about 15,000 volumes. Of the 16,944 examined, as many as 3,467 were found to be so seriously imperfect from various causes that they had to be entirely set aside. With regard to the remainder it was evident that time and money would require to be largely expended before they PUBLIC LIBHABIES IN SCOTLAND. 225 could be made available for public use. In view of these facts, as well as of the desirability of enabling the citizens to enjoy the privilege of the lending library as early as possible, it was concluded that the best course to pursue would be to concentrate every effort on the work of organizing and establishing the latter. The number of volumes thus obtained was 8,227, of which 5,270 passed through the bookbinders' hands, and were repaired or re- bound at an average cost of 8d. per volume. As soon as access could be got to the large hall, on its being vacated by the school of art, one-half of it was adapted as a reading-room, the other half being reserved for the use of the lending department. The former was opened in August, and the popularity of this part of the library is well shown by the ever-increasing number of readers that throng the room from day to day. The apartment is well-lighted and comfortably furnished, and, as indicated, is largely frequented, particularly in the evenings. Starting with some 15,000 volumes, it was calculated that the readers would number about 5,000. As a matter of fact they are more than double that figure, which clearly demonstrates that the privileges of the library are fully recognized and taken advantage of by the community. Every endeavour has been made to increase the stock as expeditiously as possible, in order to meet this increasing demand. It may be of interest to mention that the standard of reading is remarkably high, the amount of fiction read being, relatively, compared with other libraries throughout the country, very low ; and this is all the more observable from the fact that under the heading of fiction is included all juvenile books and all poetical works. These rooms, with a reading-room on the opposite side of the street, have, from the time the Acts were placed in operation down to the present, been in use. There are no wall cases ; all the books are arranged in double-faced cases which stand in the middle of the floor, and are mounted on heavy castors. Each case holds on an average about 800 volumes. The work of arranging and cataloguing the books by Mr. A. W. Robertson, M.A., the librarian, gave the utmost satisfaction, and the catalogue has been greatly in demand. It may here be noted that the fines for detention of books amount daily to as much as 10s., but probably this sum will be reduced when the people are better acquainted with the working of the library. In future a label is to be affixed to each book, so as to give the readers an opportunity of marking for themselves the date when the book is due at the library. But the committee were early satisfied that the building in Market Street, however it might be made to meet the more pressing needs of the library, was not, and could not with any satisfaction be, adapted as a place of permanent occupa- tion, and had under their consideration the propriety of selling that building and of obtaining a suitable site elsewhere on which to erect one specially designed for the purposes of the library. After careful inquiry, and having regard especially to considera- tions of cost and convenience of position, the committee arrived at the opinion that of all the sites proposed one on the east side of 15 226 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Union Terrace combined the most advantages, and was well suited for such a building. A great point has been gained by the subscription of funds nearly sufficient to provide new library buildings without trenching on the ordinary revenue of the institution; and the last report issued at the end of last year shows that the revenue has been found sufficient not only to meet the cost of maintenance, but to provide for a considerable expan- sion of the library. The request for funds for the new building has met with an exceedingly good response. Mr. Carnegie con- tributes 1,000, and the Town Council a similar sum. The committee are able to state that the stock of the library has been raised from 19,594 volumes to 22,286 an increase of no less than 2,692 volumes. The demand on the part of readers for books again shows a substantial increase, the number of volumes borrowed during the year having risen from 214,630 to 236,894. Out of this large overturn only four books are for the present beyond the reach of the committee, the borrowers having left town and given no clue to their present abode. As, however, they may yet take heart of grace and supply this omission, it is, perhaps, too early to abandon all hope of recovery, especially when it is considered that during eighteen months, when the total issue reached 346,431, no single volume has been lost. AVhat do the Inverness people say to that fact? The Aberdeen report always affords interesting reading, and is conveniently divided under headings epitomizing in a pithy way the work of the library. AIBDRIE. To Airdrie belongs the credit of having been the first town in Scotland to adopt the Public Libraries' Acts. This it did in 1856, by the all but unanimous voice of the ratepayers ; and the library was started, in temporary and inadequate premises, within a few months of the resolution being adopted. The growth of the library has been slow, owing to its limited income from the rate, which is only 115 a year. Yet it is doing good work. It is now a lending library of 8,000 volumes. The total number of books taken out during 1889 was 18,762, of which 10,139 were fiction. ALLOA. A very interesting ceremony took place in December, 1888, when the building, which comprises a public hall and library, was formally handed over to the burgh commissioners by the donor, Mr. John Thompson Paton. The preparation of plans and specifica- tions for the new hall having been entrusted to Mr. Waterhouse, R.A., London. Gothic in style, the hall, which has been built of sandstone from Polmaise Quarry, presents externally a stately appearance. The extreme length of the building is 165 ft., the extreme length of the front portion is 87 ft., while the breadth of the main portion, which consists entirely of the hall, is 54 ft. The height of the front portion from the ground line to the ridge is 66 ft., while the extreme PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN SCOTLAND. 227 height of the hall from the ground line to the ridge is 40 ft. The central block of the front portion projects fully 8 ft. beyond the general line of frontage. The upper part of the frontage, being broken off with pilasters, projects from the wall line, and terminates in moulded corbels ; while that of the centre terminates in an ornamental gable top. The main entrance is by a magnificent doorway, placed in the centre of the block, facing Marshill, which is 12 ft. wide, and has a very handsome semi-circular top. Being three feet above the level of the roadway, the entrance door is reached by means of a flight of steps ; but the floor of the hall being almost on a level with the roadway, the area is reached by a descent of several steps. Internally the hall presents an aspect of great beauty and chasteness, and perhaps ALLOA PUBLIC LIBRARY. in this respect it has few, if any, rivals in the country. From floor to ceiling the building measures 36 ft., the hall proper being 95 ft. in length and 49 ft. broad. Starting from the main entrance door there is, first of all, a richly-ornamental vestibule, and a handsome staircase leading to the galleries and rooms above. On either side of the main entrance there are hat and cloak-rooms, retiring-rooms, and lavatories. The hall is also fitted with side and end galleries, with large and commodious platform. On the first floor, in the front block, are situated reading-room, library, and reference library. The bookcases are affixed to the walls, and are reached from galleries. On the second floor accommoda- tion is provided for an art school, which includes master's room, elementary room, model room, c. Indeed, the whole of the second floor will be devoted more or less to the purposes of an art school. The hall is lighted by fourteen windows on each side, the only roof lights being those for staircases. At the 228 PUBLIC LIBEASIES. extreme north end there is an ornamental ventilating shaft, rising to a height of 88 ft. from the ground, which will effect- ively ventilate the hall and carry the smoke from the heating apparatus. The internal decoration of the building is of a very elaborate character. The entrance hall and staircase are ela- borately finished in faience work, the arched tops being painted in colours which harmonize. A massive organ (also the gift of the donor of the hall) has been constructed in the organ chamber. The library, towards the equipment of which Mr. Paton con- tributed 1,000, contains over 7,000 volumes. The reading public of Alloa will find the library one of the greatest boons imaginable. Every kind of book is found upon its shelves, from those contain- ing light and entertaining literature to books which require a deal of study and deep thinking before their full contents arc- mastered. Books for boys and girls have also a prominent place, and will do much to eradicate in that district the " penny dread- ful" style of reading, which is so much sought after by our young people of the present day. The library committee are to l>e congratulated on their choice of books, and the librarian also for the compilation of the catalogue. The library was opened on February 11, 1889, with 7,300 volumes. The catalogue, compiled on the dictionary plan of authors, subjects, titles, and cross-references, is, as a catalgue following this method, a model of what a catalogue should be. NY here a small library of 7,000 to 8,000 volumes is being formed the selection of books made for Alloa may with every confidence be followed. Mr. Simpson is the librarian. BRECHIN. The little town of Brechin received, some months ago, an offer of 5,000 for Public Library purposes. A firm of Edinburgh solicitors, who are acting for the unknown donor, offered on behalf of their client that 3,000 of the 5,000 be applied to the pur- chase of a site and the erection of the necessary buildings, the money to be paid when the site and plans are agreed on, the balance of 2,000 to be paid only after the building is furnished with at least 6,000 volumes paid for by the inhabitants out of funds to be raised by them by subscription or otherwise, the balance of 2,000 to be invested as arranged, and the income thereof applied in purchasing new books, &c., from time to time, in meeting the cost of the upkeep of the house, insurance, &c., leaving only the management and the other necessary expenses to be raised by taxation under the Public Libraries' Acts. The assessment rate produces about 105 a year. At a public meeting for the consideration of the question a banker was bold enough to assert that a public gymnasium and a recreation room, \\hcre the young men might go and smoke their pipes and play at dominoes, and the young women go and knit stockings, were more required in Brechin than a Public Library. The Acts were adopted in the early part of 1890. In May of the PUBLIC LIBRA1UES IN' SCOTLAND. 229 same year a special meeting of the Town Council was held. Lord Provost Mitchell, who presided, said the object for which the meeting had been called was to afford an opportunity for the Public Library Committee to meet with the Town Council and have a conference on the subject of carrying out the Acts which had now been adopted. The committee having accordingly met in conference with the Council, discussed the steps which it was expedient to take. Early steps will be taken respecting a site and building. DUMBABTON. The Acts were adopted in 1881. The usefulness of Public Libraries in small places such as this must necessarily remain hampered so long as there is no aid from other sources. The com- mittee are looking forward to better times for this library. In about twelve months the library will be much better housed in the new institute in course of erection to the memory of the late William Denny, shipbuilder. The building is expected to cost about 6,000, and will be two storeys high. The library, reading- room, committee room, &c., will occupy the whole of the ground floor, while in the upper portion of the building there will be a recreation room, billiard room, card room, &c., with caretaker's house. A very eligible site in Church Street has been purchased at a cost of 1,700. The library expects to enjoy an immunity from rent after removal, and this will place it in a good position. The funds for the erection of the building have been raised by public subscription. DCNDKB. From whichever point of view the work in bonnie Dundee is viewed it comes out well. The group of institutions shown in the engraving represents in fact the present highwater mark of Public Library and Museum progress in Scotland, and Dundee may be bracketed with the best and most progressive in England. From first to hist these buildings have cost over 50,000, and not a fraction of this respectable sum has come out of the pockets of the ratepayers. The first origin of these institutions dates back to 1862, when Dundee, in common with other parts of the United Kingdom, was looking ai'ound and considering what was the most suitable monument to perpetuate the memory of Prince Albert. The citizens of Dundee, with that practical character which has always distinguished them, decided that their monu- ment should not be merely monumental brass or sculptured marble, but an institute specially devoted to the furtherance of the objects which for many years had interested Prince Albert, and which he had done not a little to promote. This was the birth of the Albert Institute, and the pile of buildings will ever remain, not only as a monument to him whose name it bears, but to the foresight and wisdom of the Dundee people. Other minds had been active, at a time contemporaneous with this but qiu'te independent of it, to see if it were not possible to get the 230 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Public Libraries' Acts adopted. Tbc resolution to adopt the Acts was taken in 1866, and it is to the credit of Dundee that it was taken unanimously, and that a preliminary expenses fund of 4,000 was at once subscribed. This may have been due, in some mraMuv. to the fact that the Albert Institute was then in course of erection, and that provision had been made in its title-deeds for accommodating a Public Library within its walls. A splendid site was given by the magistrates at a nominal price, on condition that room should be provided in it for the Public Libraries, museum and art galleries. The late Sir G. Gilbert Scott, 11. A., was entrusted with the work of designing a suitable structure, and in 1867 the whole of the buildings were completed, and the first use to which they DUNDEE PUBLIC LIBRARY, MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY. were placed was for the meetings of the British Association, which visited Dundee that year. The reference and lending libraries were opened in 1869, and in 1873 a large wing, now used for a museum and art galleries, was erected. So rapidly has the work developed since that time that largely increased accommo- dation was absolutely essential, and it was thought fitting that the new galleries projected in the Jubilee year, should be called the Victoria Galleries. Very generous have been the gifts of the leading citizens of Dundee. In 1887 Mr. Keiller came forward with an offer of ten thousand guineas, and during that year, and since, a no less sum than 25,000 has been raised to free the Institute from debt, and to build the new wings. The whole now PUBLIC LIBRABIES IN SCOTLAND. 231 form a magnificent pile, with enhanced beauty and utility. Efficiency in every department appears to be the order of the day. Mr. John Maclauchlan fills the triple capacity of librarian, curator, and secretary of the Dundee Art Union. The entire work of the Albert Institute, and Victoria Galleries, now comprises reference library, lending library, subscription library (one guinea per annum), museum of natural history, antiquities, art, and fine art galleries, annual fine art exhibition of works by living artists, and the Dundee Art Union. During the first quarter of 1890, 64,143 volumes were issued in the lending de- partment, and 16,896 volumes in the reference. The increase over the corresponding quarter of the previous year is 4,420 volumes. Dl'XFERMLINE. To die rich, to " cut up well," to devote a large fortune made by a combination of other people's work and business ability to founding a family of healthy fools these are the pet ambitions of most men who have " made their pile." One brilliant excep- tion, however, is the Scottish- American millionaire, Mr. Andrew Carnegie. At a Glasgow meeting, he and his wife were con- gratulated on the great good they had done in assisting to establish Public Libraries. Then said Mr. Carnegie, with the fire of resolution glowing in his eyes, " My wife and I are determined that we will not die rich ! " And it is a very fortunate thing, not only for Scotland but other places, that Mr. Carnegie and his wife have come to so worthy a decision. The Carnegie Public Library at Dunfermline was the first gift of this kind which Mr. Carnegie made. In December, 1879, shortly after his magnificent gift of baths to the town, Mr. Carnegie signified his willingness to give 5,000 (afterwards increased to 8,000) to found a library, provided the town adopted the Public Libraries' Acts. These Acts having been adopted at a public meeting held for the purpose on February 11, 1880, Mr. Carnegie entrusted several gentlemen with the preliminary arrangements, and afterwards a committee of management was appointed in accordance with the Acts. On July 27, 1881, the memorial stone was laid by Mr. Carnegie's mother, and a banquet given to celebrate the event. On August 29, 1883, the Institution was formally opened by the Earl of Rosebery, the number of volumes in the library being then 11,926. The building is Domestic Tudor in style, and presents a front to two streets. The Abbot Street part is devoted to a general and ladies' reading-rooms on the ground floor, and a lending library on the upper floor. This front measures 82 ft. in length and is two storeys high, with ranges of square-headed windows. The principal entrance is near to the corner of this front, which at this point is treated so as to give the appearance of a square tower, and is carried a storey higher than the rest of the building. The door-piece slightly projects, the head of the entrance being a some- what flat-pointed arch, deeply recessed, and supported at the sides by slender columns with moulded bases and bands and carved 232 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. capitals. The recessed portion of the arch is filled in with carved foliage, &c., and on the outer members are the words " Carnegie Free Library." The door-way is finished above as a gablet, with carved stone finial. In the third storey of this part of the building is the smoking-room, having oriel windows in the two angles, looking to both streets. The St. Margaret Street front is of much the same style as the other, and extends to 70 ft. This part of the design contains, on the ground floor, a dwelling house for the MR. ANDREW CARNEGIE. librarian, and a large recreation-room above. The front is divided by string-courses, which form hoods to the windows as in part of the north front, and in the centre is an octagonal tower rising to a height of 68 ft., and covered by a slated spire with an elaborate iron finial carrying the cardinal points. The upper windows in the southern part of this front are finished with gablets and fleur-de-lis ornaments. The whole of both of the street fronts of PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN SCOTLAND. 233 the structure is built of stone coursers. The interior arrangements have been well planned, and consist of a library-room measuring 67 ft. 3 ins. by 25 ft. 6 ins. ; recreation-room, 26 ft. 6 ins. by 25 ft. 6 ins. ; gentlemen's reading-room, 34 ft. 3 ins. by 25 ft. 6 ins. ; ladies' reading-room, 22 ft. 6 ins. by 18 ft. 10 ins. ; smoking-room, 28 ft. by 16 ft. ; and a keeper's house, containing three rooms and kitchen with other necessary conveniences. The ceilings of the reading-rooms are 15 ft. 9 ins. in height, and the library has an open timber roof with laminated beam under the principals, and resting on stone brackets. The centre of this ceiling is 23 ft. 6 ins. from the floor. The entrance hall and corridors are laid with squares of marble concrete, and a spacious stone stair ascends from the hall. On the landing of the first flight of this stair is the entrance to the -recreation-room, and a flight higher is that to the library. The number of volumes in charge of Mr. Peebles, the librarian, is now 13,505. Mr. Carnegie has several times since the building was opened shown his interest in it by gifts of money. A good sign was the large number of orderly youths and boys in the newsroom at the time of the writer's visit. A portrait is given of Mr. Carnegie, who is setting so worthy an example to other successful men of business. May he have many imitators ! EDINBURGH. " Auld Reekie" has now its Public Library, after the third time of asking, and the entire library Avorld Avill attentively watch the beginning and progress of the work in modern Athens. There is some evidence that there was in Edinburgh a small library open to the citizens as early as 1580, arid the fact is of bibliographical interest. It is unnecessary now to do more than glance at the ancient history of the two previous attempts to adopt the Acts. The movement of 1868 took practical shape at a meeting of citizens held on November 19, 1867. The attendance was .sinnll. but it was certainly influential, and the speaking was admirable 1 . The Lord Justice-General Avas in the chair. The resolutions, the chief of which approved of the proposal " as a means of promoting the enlightenment, recreation, and general benefit of the com- munity," were supported by some of the leading citizens. It is worth noting that one of the most earnest promoters of the scheme was Mr. T. J. Boyd, who, as Lord Provost of the city thirteen years afterwards, did his utmost to induce the citizens to adopt the proposal which was then rejected. The meeting re- solved unanimously to present a requisition to the Lord Provost, in terms of the Act, asking him to convene a public meeting of householders to decide the question. Opposition to the movement was at once organized, and was carried on with great vigour, chiefly by the shopkeepers of Princes' Street and other leading thoroughfares. The statutory meeting was held on May 18, 1868, and the meeting was a crowded and excited one. The Lord Provost was in the chair, but it can scarcely be said that he presided, for the 234 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. meeting defied all restraint, and gave itself up to most admired disorder. It was evident from the first that the opponents of the movement had taken possession of the hall in force. A more discreditable meeting lias rarely been held in Edinburgh. When the names of the leading requisitioniste were read out by Mr. Marwick. the Town Clerk, they were received, the report says, " witli hissing. 1 looting, and groans." That was the temper in which the meeting conducted itself throughout. The objectors made little use of argument : their strength lay in quenching all argument with howling and groaning. Free or fair discussion there was none ; and probably it would have been thrown away on such an audience. The resolution in favour of adopting the Acts was moved by Mr. "William Todd in an earnest speech, and seconded by Mr. "W. H. Muir. When the vote was taken, the result showed 1,106 against the proposal and only 71 in favour. An interval of thirteen years passed before another attempt was made, and in the interval the law had been altered, to the effect that the vote might be taken by a poll of the whole body of ratepayers, and not merely of those who were able to attend a public meeting. The electorate had also been greatly extended, so as to include a very large proportion of those whom the Acts were designed to benefit. Moreover, many large towns in England had in the meantime taken advantage of the Acts. On these grounds the promoters of the movement were hopeful of success. A public meeting of citizens favourable to the project was held on January 16, 1881. The requisition having been presented to the Lord Provost on January 18, 1881, it was resolved to take a plebiscite of the ratepayers. Voting papers, in the shape of post- cards, were issued to the ratepayers. Taking the " Yes " and " No " papers which were duly signed as the test of the opinion of the ratepayers, tin's vote showed a clear majority of 8,089 against the proposal to adopt the Act ; and the result was, of course, adopted as conclusive. There the matter rested in 1881. The third and final attempt was brought about in the autumn of 1886 by the munificent offer of Mr. Andrew Carnegie of CoO/xX) on condition that the city adopted the Public Libraries' Acts, and provided the additional money required for maintaining the library. The enthusiasm with which the last attempt was conducted did much to wipe off the stigma of apathy which attended the two previous efforts. All classes joined together in promoting the movement, and so securing for the city so splendid a gift. The main lever, however, came from the " Scotsman," and never since the Ewart Act of 1850 was passed has there been in any newspaper articles so pungent and so ably written, urging upon the citizens the advisability of adopting the Acts, as were printed in this well-known Scotch paper. Columns of matter were given describing the work in various parts of the country, and these were accompanied with forceful leaders, which must have aided most materially in educating public opinion upon the question. It was also a noticeable fact that some who had been vigorous opponents in the two previous attempts, now gave ITRI.ir LIBRARIES IX SCOTLAND. 23o their aid, and worked heartily with the promoters. It was stated that the cost of a plebiscite of Edinburgh would be i'oOO, and although at first there were doubts as to the wisdom of deciding the question by a town's meeting, it was ultimately settled to adopt this method, as the opposition was of so trifling and in- significant a character. The meeting was called for October 1'U, ]HS(>, and will remain as historic in the annals of Edinburgh. Sir Thomas Clark, Hart., the Lord Provost, presided, and it was estimated that some -2,~t(K) people must have been present. The letter of Mr. Carnegie, of which the meeting was the outcome, was brief and to the point. He said: "I should like to do my part in adding to the numerous attractions of the superb metro- polis of my native land. If its citizens were now of opinion that a Public Library would be of great good to the city, as I believe such institutions are, wherever established, and were they to adopt the provisions of the Library Act, which provide for proper maintenance, it would give me great pleasure to present the magistrates and town council with -50,000 for such a library." Able speeches were made. One gentleman, referring to the large percentage of novels taken out of Public Libraries, remarked that he did not see why a poor man's life should be one whit duller than his by depriving him of that he should not like to be deprived of himself a volume of Walter Scott, or Dickens, or of Thackeray. Moreover, he had noticed that people who learn perhaps the habit of reading only through an interest in romances, by-and-by also learn that they must have something deeper and more solid to satisfy them. It is the way in which deeper regions of thought are opened to the reader. The Lord Provost put the question to the vote, calling upon those in favour of the amendment to stand up first. This call was responded toby about twenty in all, most of whom quickly re- sumed their seats in some confusion, caused by the outburst of laughter with which they were greeted. The Lord Provost then called upon the supporters of the motion, and immediately the audience rose in a body, waving hats and sticks, and cheering mo.st enthusiastically. A cablegram was forthwith sent to the generous donor announcing the almost unanimous adoption of the Act. This is briefly the history of the three occasions when the vote on this question was taken in Edinburgh. The purpose will be gained if it should stimulate the friends in other districts where the movement has been unsuccessful to go on trying until they ultimately carry the adoption of the Acts. The design for a suitable building was thrown open to public competition, and the one sent in by Mr. Washington Browne was selected. The plans of this were subjected to some modifications and alterations, such as further consideration on the part of the architect and committee seemed to render desirable. < Mi July 10, 1887, the foundation-stone was laid amid great demonstrations of popular approval. The day selected for the event was Saturday, and this enabled the various trades' societies to organize and carry out a magnificent procession. Mr. Carnegie 236 K'BLiC LIBRARIES. lail the stone, and in doing so said that that was the fifth Public Library which he had been permitted to found, and he could wish for himself no happier lot than that he might be permitted to add infinitely to the number ere his race was run, and he lay down to rost upon the bosom of his mother-earth. The total height of the structure to the top of the lantern, measuring from George IV. Bridge, is 118 ft. Entering from Gowgate, the first floor is occupied by the heating and electric lighting apparatus and general stores, engineer's workshop, house, KLKVATION OF EDINBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY. &c. On the second floor are workshops for the staff , bookbinding, repairing rooms, and stores for books previous to their being catalogued. On the next floor, which is the first below the level of George IV. Bridge, is the newsroom, 90 ft. by 72 ft., with a ceiling 2o ft. high. It is of cruciform shape, with shortened arms, and the ends of each of the arms being filled with large windows, abundance of light from four sides is thereby obtained. The floor above is carried on a series of pillars, which form a complete square in the centre of the room of 42 ft. These pillars have an punr.ic UBBABIBB IN SCOTLAND. 237 iron core, and are encased in terra-cotta, and a dado 12 ft. high, of coloured tiles, is carried round the walls in a series of ornamental panels. This ensures the walls of this room, which is the most frequented of any, always having a cleanly aspect. The ceiling of the newsroom is deeply panelled and finished with ornamental plaster work. The lending library, on the George IV. Bridge level, is 72 ft. square the size in relation to the room below it and the reference library above it being smaller in consequence of a large deduction being necessary to provide for the entrance hall, which is 48 ft. by 17 ft., with a 23 ft. ceiling. The appearance of the lending library, so far as that is affected by the columns carrying the floor above, is much the same as that of the news- room. In this case, however, the encasing material is of wood. The public counter takes the shape of three sides of a parallelogram the area between the lines being 46 ft. by 36ft. It gives about 1 10 ft. of length for the display of indicators and the trans- action of the public busi- ness. The shelving is arranged on the wall, as also at right angles to it, in cases 7 ft. apart a passage being left be- tween the counter and the end of the book cases for the accommodation of the attendants. In the lending library there will be accommodation for 45,000 volumes one book to every five of the population being consi- dered a proper average ; and provision is made for the addition of a book store at the north-west corner capable of holding an additional 8,000 volumes. The reference library on the top flat is a very handsome apartment, the 90 ft. by 72 ft. dimensions being here resumed. There are three deep alcoves on each side, in the ends of which are the windows on which the hall depends, to a con- siderable extent, for its light. The books are arranged in three tiers or galleries, which are approached by circular stairs at the four angles of the hall. Over the arcading there is a moulded and panelled frieze, with floral ornamentation in the panels, and de- veloped from this is the drum of the dome-shaped roof. This drum rises vertically to a height of 7 ft. 6 in., and is broken up by pilasters into a series of circular and rectangular panels, in which mottoes, devices, or artistic symbols will be introduced. Springing from the upper stage of the drum ai-e the ribs of the dome, 16 in the PLAN OF REFERENCE LJSBAHX EDINBURGH PUBLIC LIBRARY. 238 PUBLIC LIBBARIES. ciivum f erenoe, and these again are received at the top in the base of ;i Miiall lantern which rises from the centre of the dome. The spaces between the ribs are panelled, but it is yet a moot point whether they will be used for lighting purposes or whether a roof light will only be given by the lantern of the dome. The height from the floor to the apex of the dome is 47 ft. 6 in., and the hall altogether is one which pi'esents great possibilities for decorative treatment. Shelving will be provided for 75,000 volumes, and that may be in- creased, when the requirements of the library demand it, by 35,000 more. The entrance hall is lined throughout with polished ashlar, and lighted with leaded glass windows in tinted colours. A colonnading of double pilasters gives variety to the walls, while at either end a set of double columns form the opening on the one hand to the grand staircase, and on the other (at the south end) to the public stair leading down to the newsroom. The heating is effected by means of coiled steam pipes placed in radiators, which also play an important part in connection with the ventila- tion of the building. Fresh air is taken through gratings from the outside, but before it is admitted to the different rooms it will be conducted through the radiators and warmed by contact with the hot pipes. For carrying away the vitiated air a powerful exhaust shaft will be constructed, into which the spent air from the various departments of the building will pass. This shaft is carried from basement to roof, over the latter of which it rises in the shape of an ornamental tower-like structure. By this system it is estimated that the entire air in the building will be changed four or five times an hour. Large fireplaces have also been introduced into the chief apartments, the flues of which will be utilized for ventilating purposes. An installation of the electric light has been introduced into the building. The plant is in duplicate, there being two engines, two boilers, and four dynamos, so that in the event of any breakdown there may be no extinction of the light. Complete provision has meanwhile been made for carrying gas- pipes through every portion of the building, but it is not intended that any fittings shall be supplied in the meantime. On the south- east angle, with an entrance to the Cowgate, is a staircase for the use of the staff, having in the centre a hoist for raising and lower- ing books to the various floors. Rooms for the members of the staff also open off this staircase. Mr. II. Morrison has been appointed the chief librarian, and the building will be opened about the middle of 1890. Net only Edinburgh, but the whole of Scotland, has for some time been discussing the future of the Advocates' Library. This library lias long been the Scottish counterpart of the" British Museum. Like that valuable institution, it is the great home of literary lore, and. like it also, enjoys the privilege of possessing a copy of every book puMi.shed in the United Kingdom. In one important particular, though, the Advocates' Library is unlike the British Museum it is not a public institution. There is, too, this further difference, that the care and expense of housing and maintaining the collection have not been laid on the public purse, PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN SCOTLAND. 239 but have fallen upon the Faculty of Advocates. Valuable to Scot- land it undoubtedly has been, but for that advantage the nation has simply to thank the Faculty, who, if it chose so ungenerous a course, has a right to close the library to the lay consultant. As a matter of fact, it is a fear that the closing of the institution may ultimately become necessary, that has occasioned, in the first place, the action of the Edinburgh Town Council, and in the second place, of the Scotcli newspaper press generally. The universal desire beyond the Tweed is to see it become the national library of Scotland. And in this view many on this side the border heartily join. Such a collection of books should not be open to the public as a matter of favour but of right. If Scotland can secure an annual grant for the maintenance of this library, providing that it is thrown open to the public, there will be room for congratulation. FORFAR AND IlAWICK. For a small library Forfar is doing fairly well. In three months an increase of over 400 volumes is shown in its issue. It is also worthy of note that whenever out-door labour is stopped the issues at once go up. The library at Hawick certainly stands high in the world, for it is at the top of the municipal buildings. It is rather a stiff climb to get up to the lending department, but the Hawick stocking weavers do not seem to mind that, for they use their library. GALASHIBLS. The Jubilee was a small windfall for this town, the reputation of which rests on Scotch tweeds, and its close proximity to Abbotsford. Some 1,300 was raised as a Jubilee fund, and what better way could there be of spending this than on an extension of the Public Library, providing a new reading-room and an extension of the lending librai'y ? The new reading-room has a floor space of 42^ ft. by 37 ft., equal to 1,582 square feet. Its main feature is a very large arched window in the end of the wall, which, along with lights on each side of the roof, floods the room with light. The walls, up to a height of o ft. above the floor, are faced with glazed tiles, disposed in a good and chaste pattern, and topped by a heavy cornice. The ceiling is of a great height, and dependent from it are four Wenham gas-lights. The public- access to this room is by a lobby 6 ft. wide, which has been taken off two sides of the original library room. This lobby, both in walls and ceiling, is lined with wood painted and varnished. The library room has been greatly altered. Formerly it was nearly a square, of which two sides were occupied with book- shelves, and the floor-space was used as a reading room. Hut to get a 6 ft. wide lobby from the staircase to the new reading- room it was necessary to put up new walls for the library proper ut that distance inward from the original walls. This has con- tracted the size of the room on two sides. In the interior it now measures, along the back wall, or the one bounding the reading- 240 Pt'BT.IC LIBRAHIKS. room, 30ft. But this diminution of wall space for books has been more than compensated by the new arrangement, and by the erection on the floor of the library room of five standards for books. These are the gift of an anonymous contributor. Ka.-h of the standards is 10 ft. in height and 7^ ft. in width, and as each carries eighteen shelves this is equal to 120 lineal feet of wall space 10 ft. in height for books. The lineal wall pace, when the library was closed, was 66 ft. Now, along with the standards, it is 200 ft., so that while the original room was somewhat overcrowded with 6,000 volumes, the library in its improved condition will give accommodation for about 11,000 volumes. The assessment yields about 226, of which 50 goes lor reading-room literature and from 30 to 40 for books. The work is decidedly growing. An interesting ceremony took place at the reopening in December last. The building stands well on an eminence, and the view from its windows over the Melrose valley and hills is very picturesque. Within the shade of those hills Adam Smith lived and wrote his " Wealth of Nations." GBANGEMOUTH. Another of Mr. Carnegie's lifts helped to bring about the adoption of the Acts here. An offer of 900 quickly assisted to decide the matter, and on October 1, 1888, the memorial stone was laid. A temporary building was opened until the new structure was ready for the public. Grangemouth is somewhat proud of the fact that a modest seaport town of less than 6,000 inhabitants should, with practical unanimity, have adopted the Public Libraries' Acts, when other towns and cities of greater pretensions have hesitated to do so. It is a matter to be placed to its credit. The manner in which the promoters of the scheme carried it out supplies a worthy and instructive example to other communities whose reading facilities are as yet undeveloped. The proposal for the adoption of the Act originated among the police commissioners of the town, who chose the mode of public meeting for obtaining the necessary approval of the ratepayers. The meeting took place in the Town Hall, and was presided over by Sheriff Wilson, the proposal for the adoption of the Acts being warmly supported by the chief magistrate, Mr. Hugh Maepherson, and other leading townsmen. Coming before the public for the first time, little surprise need have been felt had Grangemouth, like other places which need not be named, rejected the proposal. It was, however, after some discussion approved by a substantial majority, and held as the manner in which the townspeople elected to celebrate the Jubilee. The building now completed and occupied is of two storeys, designed by Mr. Black, architect, Falkirk, in a pleasing style which resembles most the Italian order of architecture. The lower part of the frontage is plain, and contains the two doors, one at each side of the building, which give entrance to it, while between them are three front windows, two giving light to the reading-room, and one to the staircase. The upper part of the frontage is highly orna- PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN SCOTLAND. 241 mental, chief features in the details being four large three-quarter columns, two at each end of the storey, while stone balustrading is also introduced at the base of the columns, and the top is finished with an entablature having the words " Victoria Public Library," above which is a stone balustrade in front of roof, and forming the summit of the frontage to the building. There is a clear spate all round the site, and this ground will be laid out ornamentally. On the ground floor is a library, 33 ft. by 22 ft. ft, and librarian's apartments at back of building. The stair- case is spacious and very handsome. On the second floor there is an art room, 22 ft. by 16ft. ; reading-room, 33 ft. by 22 ft. ; ladies' reading-room, 17 ft. by 13 ft. ; and committee room. At the opening ceremony of the temporary premises, Mr. Carnegie, referring to a little episode in his history while a boy in the city of Alleghany, said he would not take a fortune or give a fortune to a boy any more than he would leave that boy a curse. There was nothing in the world so grand a legacy as honest poverty. He next told of a Colonel Anderson who had lent him and other boys, from week to week, volumes from his private library. That man, continued Mr. Carnegie, would have a monument in the Public Library, that he was building in Alle- ghany, because he had opened up to him the intellectual wealth of the world. He learned from the books what he could not have learned elsewhere ; and could they wonder that, when he had wealth, the noblest use to which he could put that wealth was in imitating Colonel Anderson and establishing Public Libraries? The first lessons he learned, the sentiments that were graven on his heart, were those that came from the brain into the heart. Books taught him that to put an enemy into his mouth was to steal away his brains, and he had never entered a bar-room. Then he soon learned the grand sentiment, " To thine ownself be true," and it must follow as night did day, " Thou can'st not then be false to any man." Another lesson he learned was that no man can be cheated out of a reasonable success in life unless he cheat himself. Already about one-sixth of the entire population are enrolled as borrowers at the library. The cost of the building with fur- nishing reached 2,139, and on going over it, the present writer was surprised that so handsome and substantial a structure could be built for so reasonable an outlay. This was the total cost 2,032 being for the building, and 107 for furnishing and fitting. As a library for villages and small towns the building at Grangemouth would form an excellent model. INVKBNESS. Alas ! when we touch Inverness, we touch a very sore place in the Scotch Public Library movement. Is there an English news- paper which did not announce in the autumn of 1888 that the Inverness Public Library and Museum were to be closed ? News- paper opponents thank the gods of the fourth estate these are few and insignificant took up the matter, and pointed the finger 16 242 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. of scorn at this " glaring " failure of the Public Library system. Softly friends, not so fast ! In August of the year just named the library committee appointed to inquire into the position and finances of the library, reported that 811 volumes were missing, and that the overdraft on the bank, which in 1883 only amounted to 284, amounted to 726. In addition to this sum, there was the authorized debt secured by mortgage upon the library. It was obvious, the committee stated, that the system of manage- ment which necessitated the incurring of an increasing load of debt every year must come to an end. The first charge upon its revenues should be reduction of its debt, and it seemed to be impossible to reduce the present debt and at the same time carry on the library as it was now carried on unless some addition was made to its resources. In view of the state of the library funds, the sub-committee saw no course open but the closing of the reading- room department and maintaining the library for a time as a lending library, to be open for a few hours every week, until the debt was paid off. This is now being done. But better things might have been expected of Inverness, with its 20,000 inhabitants and its titled chief magistrate. It is not creditable to the Highlands that everything of an intellectual character has to go a-begging for patronage, while amateur concerts and the like flourish perennially in every countryside. The library committee must surely have been napping when they have permitted 811 and more volumes to be missing. KlRKWALL. In this far northern district the Acts were adopted in March, 1890, by means of voting papers. The voting was as follows : Out of the 497 papers which were issued, there were 264 for the adoption, and only 29 against. Five papers were returned as spoiled. At this rate of rapid progress Scotland will soon be honeycombed with Public Libraries. PAISLEY. Although Paisley cannot claim the distinction of being first to adopt the Free Libraries' Act, having to give precedence to Airdrie and Dundee, the enterprising spirit of its inhabitants and the munificence of its merchant princes did not allow them to be left very far behind. Stimulated by an offer by Sir Peter Coats, then plain Mr. Coats, and who died in the spring of 1890, to provide a suitable building, the ratepayers adopted the Acts by an overwhelming majority on March 28, 1867, with the result that a substantial edifice designed to give accommodation for both a museum and a library, was erected in High Street, and opened in June, 1871. Gifts of antiquities and curiosities poured into the museum in abundance, and its possessions soon became sufficiently extensive and valuable to make a very interesting display. The nucleus of the lending library was formed of about 7,743 volumes, presented by the PUBLIC LIBEAEIES IN SCOTLAM-. L>4.'> curators of the Paisley Library, which was founded in 1802, and to this 1,481 volumes were added at the opening, making a total of 9,224 volumes, which number has been augmented from time to time, and the lending department now contains about 20,000 volumes. The formation of the reference library was undertaken by the local philosophical society, the members of which obtained subscriptions to the amount of 1,612, which, after furnishing, enabled them, with the aid of the library they already possessed, to place in it 5,037 volumes. Although a sum is annually voted by the society for the purchase of books, the reference library has not increased very rapidly, and does not yet exceed 5,600 volumes. This department was originally on the same floor as the lending library and reading-room, but some years ago the space allotted to it was found to be insufficient, and Sir Peter Coats again came forward, and had an addition built on the higher ground behind, to be exclusively devoted to the reference department. In all Sir Peter cannot have given less than 30,000 towards the library and museum. This is one of the cosiest reference reading-rooms in the whole of the north of England or in Scotland, and should be the paradise of the student. There is one peculiarity of the work at Paisley, and that is, no newspapers are taken. The line is drawn at weeklies, of which seven are taken ; of monthlies there arc thirty-nine ; and of quarterlies three. The library reading-room ha.s a studious appearance, but this does not deter the working classes from using it, for, on the morning of the writer's visit, a navvy in corduroys sat at the same table as a young miss who had apparently come to consult some book before going to school. The entire buildings are conveniently designed. The rooms and halls open out of each other in a way providing convenience and effect. There is a splendid lecture hall, and all through the winter lectures are given, which frequently cause reference to be made to the books by those who attend the various courses. A curious and interesting find was made some time ago. A large number of bundles of manuscript were found in a barrel, and presented to the Public Library on condition that they should be bound. On inspection the bundles turned out to be the manuscripts of the " Bibliotheca Britannica," by Robert "Watts, M.P., who resided in Paisley at the time the work was being written. The late Thomas Coats had them bound in sixty- eight volumes and placed in the reference library. A very valuable work presented by Sir Peter Coats is Audubon's " Birds of America," consisting of four volumes of life-size coloured illustrations, and five volumes of ornithological litera- ture, the whole valued at 150. These books, being very large, are kept in specially made cases 4 ft. by 2^ ft., with sliding shelves on which the books are placed. An interesting relic is the minute book of the Paisley Society for the Reformation of Manners from its foundation in 1757 to the final meeting of 1871. This was the year of opening the Coats Library, so evidently the old Society for the Reformation of (Paisley) Manners thought that the work and objects of their society might be now 244 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. safely bequeathed to the Public Library. Other towns where these old societies for the Reformation of Manners exist, and where there is not a library under the Acts, please note. On account of the rapid growth of Paisley 's population since the Public Library was founded the amount realized by the assessment has increased from about 500 in ]871 to almost 1,000 in 1886, and it is still going up. Mr. Morris Young is the librarian and curator. PETEBHEAD. The matter was raised here by several reporters of the local newspapers writing to Mr. Carnegie to ask his aid. He cabled back to say that he was a great believer in helping those who help themselves, and that if Peterhead adopted the Acts he would give them monetary aid. This set the ball rolling, although prior to the action of the reporters others had for some months been of opinion that the time had arrived when the Acts should be adopted. In January of 1890 the plebiscite was taken. There were 1,672 electors on the roll. Of these 1,2*50 answered " Yes," and 76 " No." Some 304 were absent or dead, and 42 were neutral. SELKIRK. This town has the distinction of being the native place of Mungo Park and Sir Walter Scott. It has the further distinction of having turned a county prison into a Public Library, and in this respect the sph"it of emulation cannot be carried too far. In the autumn of 1888, Mr. T. Craig-Brown offered the buildings. They had undergone alterations with the view of making the prison available as a Public Library and reading-room, care having been taken to preserve as far as possible the original and picturesque features of its architecture. In altering the prison to a Public Library and reading-room care has been taken to leave untouched its original architectural features, the only alteration on the out- side wall being the addition of an oriel window with corbelled base and roof. This window commands fine views of the valley of Ettrick. The interior was originally filled with three storeys of arched cells constructed of stone and brick. The upper floor has been removed with the exception of a portion at the western gable, which has been retained to form a gallery overlooking the reading-room. This gallery will have an artistic appearance. Jli'sting on three ground arches, it will be adorned in front with mouldings, cornices, and panels, and will have a handsome balus- trade. The reading-room, which is on the second floor, will be lofty, symmetrical, and in every way suitable for the purpose for which it was designed. The ground floor, which is meant to be used as the library proper, has been treated in a unique and original manner. By removing the divisional walls of the cells and effecting other alterations, this lower part of the building has been converted into a species of crypt, with groined roof and massive pillars. It will afford fireproof accommodation for many thousands of volumes, for which reason it has been chosen. It is PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN SCOTLAND. 2-45 anticipated that, until the space is entirely occupied by the books forming the lending library, a part of it may be used as a refer- ence library and writing-room. The rooms previously used as offices by the prison officials have been converted into house- accommodation for the librarian. The space between the library and Ettrick Terrace is occupied by a narrow lawn or shrubbery, in which garden seats may be placed, commanding a beautiful view of the hills and river. Mr. Craig-Brown stipulated in his offer that the Public Libraries' Acts should be adopted, or, if they were not successful in carrying the Acts, the Provost should, on behalf of the town, undertake to maintain the library for t\yo years. In October of the year named a statutory meeting was held, and so unanimous was it that the Provost, who presided, said that there was no occasion to count the votes. To Mr. Andrew Lang, himself a Selkirk worthy, was entrusted the duty of de- claring their Public Library open to the public. The honour was well deserved, and the duty was gracefully discharged at the end of May last year. In the afternoon of the same day the freedom of the burgh was conferred upon Mr. Lang, and in accordance with the quaint old Scotch custom, he was asked to " lick the birse," and so was initiated into a " souter " of Selkirk. The rate produces about 90 a year. TABVES (ABEBDEENSHIBE). Tarves is a purely rural parish. The only village is the Kirk- town, with about 160 inhabitants. It is the only rural parish that has a library under the Acts. An old parish schoolmaster left a few hundred pounds and his books to the parish. A hall was built with the money, and the books formed the nucleus of a library. An attempt was made to keep up the library by lectures and by levying a small subscription. This was done for about seven years, but the income from these sources became gradually less. Some of those interested then bethought them of the Public Libraries' Acts, but doubts were expressed as to their applicability to rural districts. The opponents insisted on this point that the Acts were merely intended for towns, as they had no precedent of a rural parish adopting them. In reply, the Acts were quoted, and the promoters bravely said that they would make a precedent. In this way several meetings were held to discuss the matter, and it was agreed to take the vote by voting- papers in the legal way. Some time before this, the existing library committee issued to every ratepayer a printed circular explaining the state of matters, as well as showing the incidence of the rate. The population of the parish is about 2,400, and they wanted a little over 20 a year. For this purpose, and to make sure of carrying, they limited the rate to two-fifths of a penny. But when the vote was taken the adoption of the Acts was carried by more than six to one. The actual numbers were 176 for, and 28 against the whole number of ratepayers being about 290. This was done in December, 1883. If the amount paid by fanners I'll! IM ISI.IC LIBRARIES. (\vlio are almost tlie sole ratepayers in such a district is com- pared), it will be found that they pay quite as much as class, >s with the same income do in towns. For example, a farmer pay- ing 300 of rent, has his income reckoned at 100 per annum. Such a farmer pays five shillings of library rate. A person with the same income in Aberdeen, when the full rate is taken, Iocs not pay nearly so much of a library rate. Some have doubted the practicability of Public Libraries in rural districts, and the ground of objection is, that they could not be managed economically in such places. This is quite a mistake. They can be managed more economically than in large towns. For instance, in the town of Aberdeen there is just one-fourth of the income available for pure library purposes, viz., for books and binding, the remaining three-fourths being required for working expenses. In some large towns the working expenses amount to seven-eighths of the income. In the case of Tarves, the working expenses never exceed one-fourth of our income. So the argu- ment cuts the other way. The Acts were adopted in Tarves about the same time as in the city of Aberdeen, Tarves haA'ing the priority of a few months. If efficiency may be estimated by the relative supply of books, they can compare favourably on this head. In Aberdeen they have about one volume to every five of the population. In Tarves they have four volumes to every five of their population. Two adjoining parishes have been thinking of following their example. In the parish of Meldrum the vote was taken two or three years ago, but the adoption was lost by ten votes. Another parish close to Tarves is contemplating taking the vote. Here they have a library, but like the one which existed at Tarves, they find it very difficult to keep it up on its present footing. Mr. George Argo, M.A., farmer, lias taken a warm interest in the welfare of the Tarves library. As other districts in Scotland possessing small libraries may be anxious to give these a new lease of life by bringing them under the Acts, his address is given should further information be desired. It is, Braeside of Tolquhon, Oldmeldrum, Aberdeen. THUHSO. The Thurso Library, after a considerable number of years' work, seems as fresh and vigorous as ever. This no doubt arises from the periodic additions of fresh literature, which from time to time the committee have been enabled to add to the literary bill of fare Of course, in such a small concern as the Thurso Library, with its circumscribed income, the committee are handicapped by the want of funds ; but in this case it is gratifying to report that many friends from time to time have given of their abundance, and thus, in a great degree, helped those who, in this case, have been endeavouring to help themselves. To outsiders it is a continual marvel how a Public Library in any form or with any success can be carried on with an income of 40 ; but seeing that the Thurso one manages to exist with all the freshness of its PUBLIC LIBEARIKS IN SCOTLAND. 247 early years on this slender income, the wonder is increased. It is conducted perhaps on as rigid lines as any that affect the most rackrented crofter in the county, though there is no claim for a literary commission to adjust economic arrangements. The 40 is utilized to the best advantage, and because it is not a squeez- able quantity matters must remain till a wider area be found in which to tax, or better still a Government grant, for the support of this much-valued institution. WICK. The extreme north of Scotland is not going to be left out in the cold. Thurso adopted the Acts in 1872. AVick followed a long way behind, for that event came about in 1888, when it was earned unanimously. This is an instance of the Acts being adopted in the midst of a nest of conflicting authorities. There they had the Wick Town Council, the Pulteneytown Commis- sioners, the local authorities, and the parochial board to win over. Contributions in cash and books quickly flowed in, and within a very short time three local libraries were handed over. It was opened in November, 1888, by Sheriff Thorns, the largest con- tributor to the library. He very neatly expressed the end and purpose of the building when he said " Completeness in a library and the perfection of humanity are two things that will never be attained while the world remains as it is. So long as there are men to think and a press to print their thoughts, books will multiply, and there is a blank in the shelves of the largest library under the sun until the latest best book is placed upon them. The AVick Library is as yet like the small stone of the prophet's vision, and as there will be no miraculous attainment to magni- tude, such human efforts as are possible will have to be used to ensure its gradually increasing growth, so that it shall be slowly moving towards that completeness and perfection which will nevertheless be always an indefinite distance beyond its reach." To refer to the AA'ick Public Library and not to refer to Mr. AA T illiam Todd would be an unpardonable omission. AAlck owes its Public Library, not to its own wishes and enterprise, but to the quenchless zeal, the unswerving faith, and the untiring and almost unaided efforts of Mr. Todd. The Public Library is to a large extent his sole creation, and for what it is and further promises to be he is entitled to the chief credit. No movement ever had a sturdier champion than Scotland has had in AA r illiam Todd for the extension of its libraries. The parish of AVick runs sixteen miles by six, and they purpose serving the extreme limits by fortnightly boxes which are carried to and fro by the mail coaches. They have a library for the blind, and a fine museum. The total number of books issued during a representative month was 2,688, of which 1,466 were works of fiction, thus giving a per- centage of 54-o for this class of literature. The daily average of readers is over 103, and there can be no doubt that the Library is appreciated. 248 PUBLIC LIBRABIES. Other places where the question of the adoption of the Acts is now in progress are the following : ABBKOATH. Arbroath disputes with Edinburgh and Glasgow the distinction of having twice rejected the proposal to adopt the Libraries' Acts. The first rejection took place in 1873. It was preceded and led up to by efforts to get a subscription library, which had existed in the town for many years, popularized by a reduction of its rates. These efforts failed, and then it was proposed to obtain the consent of the ratepayers to the town's being placed under the Libraries' Acts. The proposal was supported by the leading manufacturers, but the opposition was strong and well organized, and at the public meeting called for the consideration of the question the opponents of a librai-y rate were triumphant. About 1,100 was subscribed by the leading citizens for the purpose of increasing the stock of the subscription library, and the sub- scription was lowered from half a guinea to half a crown. The success of which the scheme at first gave promise was of short duration, as has frequently been the case in other towns. The number of subscribers fell rapidly, and in 1879, after the experi- ment had lasted four years, the members resolved to appeal once more to the ratepayers. The promoters of the movement felt warranted in repeating the appeal, because in the meantime the Act of 1877 had allowed voting by signed papers. It was accom- panied, moreover, by the offer of advantages which were not forthcoming in 1873. The whole collection of books in the subscription library, reaching 14,000 volumes, was to be trans- ferred to the rate-supported institution, along with the remainder, of the sum of 1,100 referred to above. But the citizens of Arbroath were indifferent to these advantages, and hardened their hearts against the appeals made to them by men on whom the chief burden of the* rate would have fallen. They preferred to be guided by agitators who told them that, in spite of the words of the Act, the rate could not stop at one penny on the pound, and would certainly be much more than that in Arbroath. The result was that when the vote was taken there were 1,632 ratepayers against the Acts, and only 966 in their favour majority against, 666. That was in 1879 ; and we are not aware that, since that time, the people of Arbroath have shown any signs of repentance. ELGIN AND FALKIKK. Among the failures to adopt the Acts are Elgin and Falkirk. Early last year a public meeting was held, and the matter was discussed as to whether another attempt should not be made to adopt the Acts in Elgin. A local bookseller who took an active part in the movement referred to the previous failure, but said that there was nothing to frighten them from trying again. And try again they pluckily did in February, 1889, and were unsuccess- ful. The voting stood, noes 419 ; ayes 332 ; majority against, 87. Out of a constituency of 1,318 over 750 voted. Through no fault PUBLIC LIBRABIES IN SCOTLAND. 1>49 of Mr. Carnegie's, an offer of 500 for books from him, on condi- tion of the Acts being adopted, came just after the poll had been taken. Another year must elapse before the vote can be again taken, but Elgin will no doubt be then added to the list. The attempt in Falkirk would appear to have been a little premature, as it came at a time when increased local taxation for other purposes was contemplated. By the munificence of Mr. Robert Dollar, of Margnette, Michigan, U.S.A., a native of the town of Falkirk, the burgh has been placed in possession of a library of considerable dimensions for the free use of the in- habitants. Two years have elapsed since Mr. Dollar intimated his desire to present his native town with such an institution. Selecting the Young Men's Christian Association, he handed over a sum of 1,000 to be administered by them in that direction. The Young Men's Christian Association resolved, on the failure to carry the Acts, to assume the responsibility of carrying on the library, and, with this object in view, a subscription was set on foot to raise sufficient funds to extinguish a debt of 600 which rested on their institute in Newmarket Street, and to enable them to dispense with the annual income derived from letting the ground floor as business premises, the intention being to devote the space to the library. In due course this object was secured, and a small committee were entrusted with the furnishing of the library. Under their direction a collection of over 5,000 volumes has been brought together. The books are placed in an apart- ment on the street floor of the institute. In honour of the donor, the library has been named the Dollar Free Library. The library is open every evening (Sunday excepted), from six till ten o'clock, and books loaned out for a fortnight at a time. The committee hope to be able to carry on the work with an annual income of 30, but as the use of the library will be free this sum will require to be made up by voluntary subscription. The committee of management consists of ten members of the association, and ten gentlemen representing the public, and in future it is proposed to till up vacancies in this committee by the vote of subscribers of five shillings annually. It is safe to predict that Falkirk will on the next occasion adopt the Acts, when the period stipulated by the Acts shall have expired. GLASGOW. " Fallen is Carthage ! The gloom of desolation hangs over the defeated, and the unquiet spectre of Public Libraries has been laid at rest for a time. Three years ago we stood alone amid the press in our antagonism to the proposal to adopt the Act, and the pro- ject was defeated by a substantial majority. At this time it was again our mission to oppose, in the interests of heavy-burdened ratepayers, the Public Librarians." Thus wrote the editor of a very influential Glasgow evening paper, on April 27, 1888, the day the result of the plebiscite was made known. In no town or city in the entire United Kingdom and Ireland has the organization been stronger and more comprehensive, and the fight better 250 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. marshalled than in Glasgow, and yet in no place has the result been more crushing and disheartening. Every point of detail had been most carefully studied, the ground and plan of operations exceedingly well mapped out, a vast regiment of friends and workers putting a hand to the wheel, with all the vigour which characterizes a Scot with an eye to the main chance which happened in this case to be for the good of the community. But ( ilasguw again refused, by a large majority, to adopt the Public Libraries' Acts. The rejection was more emphatic than it was three years prior to that time. The number that took part in the voting was much smaller, and the majority against the proposal considerably more heavy. Those who took the trouble to vote against adopting the Acts were 7,000 fewer than in 1885, and yet they exceeded the number of those who desired to see Glasgow enjoying, like other large cities, the advantages of a Public Library, in the proportion of about five to three. The figures appeared to make it clear that the movement is making the reverse of headway, and that the interest taken by the ratepayers in the subject is dwindling. The actual numbers were For the adoption of the Act . . . . . . 13,650 Against 22,987 Majority against the Act . . . . 9,437 The total number of post cards sent out was 88,886, but of these 6,625 papers were returned, on account of the parties not being found. One of the most striking features about these figures is the amount of indifference manifested upon the question. Not half the people who received papers took the trouble to fill them up. The neutral people outnumbered the voters for and against put together. The first attempt towards the adoption of the Acts was originated in 1874, the prime mover on that occasion being Mr. J. Cleland Burns, who, with many others, has remained a firm and consistent friend of the movement down to the present time. From 1874 to April, 1886, the supporters were quietly at work educating the people. The decision was to be by statutory meet- ing, the voting power being at that time limited to those residing within the Parliamentary constituency. Notwithstanding this the meeting was swamped with non-voters, and there was altogether a lively time. At the close a vote was taken, giving the result of against, 1,779 ; for, 993 ; majority against, 786. For eight years little was heard of the Public Library move- ment, but early in 1884 some ninety gentlemen convened a meeting of citizens favourable to the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts, to consider the propriety of forming a society for promoting the object in view. The signatures to the document convening this meeting included the whole of the city members of Parliament and the member for the University, ten members of the Glasgow Town Council, and many other influential citizens. The meeting was held and a constitution submitted, but, out of deference to T.Tim AHIRS IN SCOTLAND. 251 the opinion of some present who were sanguine enough to suppose that an arduous campaign was not required, the idea of a formal association was abandoned, and the meeting thereupon resolved itself into a general committee for the purpose of promoting the adoption of the Acts. An executive was thereafter appointed, who met fortnightly and devoted themselves to the education of the community by the publication and free distribution of state- ments, tracts, and leaflets, explanatory of the objects and operation of the Acts. They, however, found the work to be much more serious than was at first contemplated. They had to contend against ignorance and apathy, and soon recognized the fact that without extended ward and district organization it was hopeless to make an impression upon so vast a community. Funds were given freely to the fullest extent asked, and, in addition to the continued publication and distribiition of literature, they orga- nized central and district meetings, which were addressed by leading citizens and local gentlemen. They also set on foot a system of ward organization which was most successful in calling forth enthusiastic and earnest work on the part of the various ward committees. Following an enthusiastic public meeting a requisition was presented to the Lord Provost, which, instead of the statutory ten names appended to it, contained no fewer than 1,200 names. In the meantime the Association had, with the aid of Mr. Anderson, one of the representatives of Glasgow, promoted and placed upon the statute book the Scotch Amendment Act of 1877 ; but, while this Act permitted a plebiscite in lieu of a public meeting it did not provide any machinery for the taking of a plebiscite. The Lord Provost decided, after taking legal advice, to issue to each householder a circular enclosing a post card addressed to the Lord Provost, which, after being filled up in the affirmative or negative, should be signed and posted by the voter. A copy of this post card is given below : PUBLIC LIBRARIES (SCOTLAND) ACTS. VOTING PAPER. As to whether the Public Libraries Acts should be adopted by the Burgh of Glasgow I vote Ratepayer's Name. ............. 9.?...!*? ?^?!... c rd ..S'*?^.?-- As there was not much sign of opposition the promoters felt 2fr2 PUBMC LIBRABIE8. confident of success, but when the post card votes were counted the result stood, ayes 22,755, and noes 29,946. Nothing daunted the old committee readjusted themselves, and in March, 1886, came before the local public as the Glasgow Public Libraries' Association. Of this body Mr. Richard Brown has long acted as the honorary secretary. The uncertainties and omissions of the Scotch Acts were felt to be a grave hindrance to the progress of the movement, and Mr. Brown was asked to frame an Amendment Bill. The bill thus drawn up was in May, 1886, circulated among the Scotch members, and in the Session of 1887 it was introduced into Parliament by Mr. James Caldwell, M.P., one of the vice-presidents of the Association. The bill passed into law on September 16, 1887, and is now the ruling statute for Scotland. It will be found among the Appendices to this work. The main change effected by this Act was to give to all householders, male or female, and also to all citizens paying rates upon 10 of rental, and residing within seven miles of any part of the city, a voice in the question of the adoption of the Acts. The result of the plebiscite has been already stated, and in face of the fact that there was a powerful incentive for Glasgow to adopt the Acts by bequests to the value of over 130,000, which would come under the administration of the Town Council Com- mittee immediately the Acts were adopted, there was utter failure. The large amount named is made up as follows: Mitchell Bequest 66,998 10 6 Bailie Bequest 36,009 16 8 Stirling Bequest (including Glasgow \ -17 n n Public Library) .. .. }."*** Moir Bequest 11,460 2 9 Logan Bequest 500 131,966 9 11 The value of these handsome gifts is seriously impaired by many drawbacks, which would be removed when once they come under the Public Libraries' Acts, as will be seen on reference to the chapter on Object Lessons. The cost of a plebiscite in Glasgow is about 500, so that on each occasion it is not by any means an inexpensive proceeding. On February 5, 1890, a meeting of the General Council of the Glasgow Public Libraries' Association was held. Dr. Ross, the chairman, said that during the two years since the plebis- cite was taken the association had done little except keeping an eye on public opinion, and trying to direct it as well as they could. They had also had the Exhibition, and the disposal of the surplus had created a considerable amount of inquiry into other endowments in the city available for certain purposes. It had been proposed that a great art gallery should be built in the West End, where the art treasures should be brought. Mr. R. Brown, the secretary, said that the proposal of the Lord Provost con- templated a building in the West End, and the question for their consideration was whether that was a desirable site for such a PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN IRELAND. 253 building; and whether, if an art gallery were to be erected at all, there should not be combined with it a Public Library at all events the central premises of a Public Library and Museum so that, as in other large cities, they would have the three combined, as contemplated in the Public Libraries' Acts. Another scheme was that of having the central building in George Square or other central situation. There might also be district libraries, and gentlemen might be got who would found these, conditional on the Acts being adopted for revenue purposes. An essential to the carrying out of such a scheme was that the Public Libraries' Acts should be adopted. They had been twice defeated on this matter, but he trusted that the citizens would soon repair the error, and place themselves on a level with the other large cities of the kingdom. He had been informed that the cost of the land and building for a district library was about 6,000 or 7,000. STONEHAVEN. No practical step has as yet been taken in regard to the Public Libraries' Acts. It has only been spoken of by the Debating Society, or Good Templars, who have put themselves in communi- cation with Mr. Carnegie, and they have his reply. With what local matters there are now on hand the Provost thinks it will be some time before the subject can be taken up. There are in Scotland a very large number of institutions called " Public Libraries " which are really subscription libraries. To give anything like a comprehensive list of these would occupy too much space, but particulars of a few may be given. Ayr has a public library with an income for last year of 216, with an expenditure of 170. Of this 90 were paid for lecturers' fees. Rutherglen, a suburb of Glasgow; Knockando, near Elgin; Smail- holm,near Kelso; Haddington, Wishaw, Dunbeath; NewAberdour, Banffshire ; Bridge of Allan, and Inverurie, all possess their " Public " Libraries. Keith has one with over 250 members. The income is about 120 a year. Kilmarnock has a library, which claims to be the largest of its kind in Scotland, but it has to exercise the greatest economy to make it self-supporting, and it barely reaches that point. Many of these institutions and others scattered throughout Scotland would form an excellent nucleus for turning themselves into Public Libraries in the full sense of the term, and securing the adoption of the Acts. CHAPTER XIV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN IRELAND. IiHE general awakening with regard to Public Libraries 7-1 has spread to Ireland, and the time is rapidly approach- ing when the interest in these institutions in the sister country will be as keen and universal as it is in any part of the United Kingdom. This is as it should be, and all friends of education and social progress will rejoice ~>l PUBLIC LIBRARIES. that such is the case, no matter to what party they belong. It has been the present writer's privilege to travel repeatedly from end to end of Ireland, and the spirit and desire to have every educational advantage in their midst which is to be found on the opposite side of the Irish Sea to their own, is permeating all elusses of the community. The great drawback is that so many towns and districts in Ireland have a ratable value insufficient, with a penny rate, to stock and maintain a Public Library. This will prevent for a time any wide extension of these institutions ; but surely some monetary aid from friends of the country among all shades of opinion will be obtained. A lift in starting a library, if the Acts are adopted, would be to many an Irish town a windfall. If those who have the true interests of the country at heart, and are able to render assistance, will remember this, and do what they can, they will render a useful service to a part of the realm where it is greatly needed. Irish newspapers have from time to time expressed a desire to have some authentic information in regard to the working of Public Libraries in Ireland. Unfortunately, no formal reports are published except at Belfast, and the fact is the more to be regretted, since, if they were satisfactory, the operation of the Acts under which they are constituted would be likely to'find a salutary extension. There is no reason why weekly or monthly returns should not be put before the public, showing, as in the case of other public institutions of the kind, the number of readers in comparative tables, and such extensions as may be provided in the way of literary opportunity. This is a matter worthy of careful attention, for unfortunately the particulars at disposal are not by any means as full as could be wished. In every way one would like to see the Irish Public Libraries drawn into closer touch with those on this side the Channel, and whatever tends in this direction will perform a very important and necessary service. BELFAST. The people of the city of Belfast began to get the impression that they never would see their Public Library an accomplished fact. In June, 1882, the council were memorialized in favour of the establishment of a Public Library, and they determined to take steps to ascertain the views of the ratepayers as to whether they desired the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts. Voting papers were accordingly issued, and resulted in 5,234 votes for the adoption of the Acts, and 1,425 against. No action was, however, taken until 1884, and it was then resolved to make the contract for the building terminable in 1886. The builders are not to blame for the delay ; the want of sympathy among the members of the Corporation was the chief element in bringing about the unreasonable delay. Leading articles and correspond- ence in abundance appeared in the local papers about the delay, but it was not until October 13, 1888, that the opening ceremony took place, which was performed by the Lord-Lieutenant, the PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN IRELAND. 255 Marquis of Londonderry. It was a far cry from this to 1881 when a deputation, headed by Mr. William Gray and others, brought the matter first before the Corporation. This body very ably took up the matter, and have not allowed their interest to decline, notwithstanding the long delay, and the many disappoint- ments which they have experienced. The appointing of a librarian landed the committee in a perfect sea of criticism and strong language. Jn the early part of 1888 they had this task in hand, and they had no reason to complain of any lack of candidates. The list of applicants contained 160 names of persons, ranging in age from 24 to 48 years. They came from all parts of the four kingdoms. The occupations of the appli- cants were varied, and the qualifications relied upon to secure the appointment were of a still more miscellaneous character. There were graduates of Oxford, Glasgow, Aberdeen, London, and the University of Ireland. There was a medical doctor, a dispenser at a lunatic asylum, a confectioner, the son of a news- paper correspondent, several schoolmasters, a retired head con- stable, a contractor, a missionary, a factory manager, a draper's assistant, an auctioneer, several authors and translators, a captain, a colour-sergeant, a corporal, and a canteen steward. One can- didate had travelled in Europe and America, and was accustomed to the management of men, and as these are more difficult to manage than books, he apparently had no doubt of his success in any position where either the writers or readers of books are concerned. Another was a railway and steamboat clerk, whose command of facilities of locomotion may have helped him, for he stated that he had visited the principal libraries in the United Kingdom, and was acquainted with their management in theory and practice. Another gentleman rejoiced in the varied experi- ences appertaining to a graduate, an adjutant, a paymaster, a chief constable, and an insurance secretary. A solicitor laid stress upon the fact that he had been five years in Africa. One of the most juvenile of the applicants was the younger son of an M.D. An adventurous spirit who wrote from Yeadon evidently had but vague ideas of the philological and social aspects of the North of Ireland. He stated that he " could not speak the real Irish language ; but if correctly informed, the people in general in Belfast speak what we term here ' broken English,' that he can understand." As there is one thing at home that he could under- stand, it would have been a pity to transplant him. Among such a choice selection of would-be librarians the committee wisely and well determined to appoint a man of experience in Riblic Library work, and the choice fell on Mr. G. H. Elliott, of the Gateshead Public Library. Then there burst on the heads of the committee a most terrific storm for having gone to England for a public librarian. A public indignation meeting was held, at which two reverend doctors, and many others, made speeches that it is hoped long before this they have forgotten. A deputation waited on the Town Council to memorialize them on the iniquity of their proceeding. The Town Council ratified ;>58 PITBTJC LIBRARIES. 2,500, the two Public Libraries are rate supported. In October, 1884, these two libraries, situated in Capel Street and Thomas Street, were opened, at which the members of the Library Asso- ciation of the United Kingdom were present. The acquisition of these premises was approved by the Treasury. It should be noted in passing that the Public Libraries' Act (Ireland) of 1855 was, on the initiative of Mr. E. Dwyer Gray, adopted by the people of Dublin in March, 1877, and was also, owing to his exertions, shortly afterwards so amended as to give powers to local authorities in Ireland similar to those enjoyed in England, such as the power of borrowing the necessary capital for buildings, fittings and books, and the power of forming committees which might in part consist of persons not members of the council. No steps were taken under the Act in Dublin until last year. This delay may be attributed to the passing in 1877 of the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act, which transferred to the Imperial Government the library of the Royal Dublin Society at Leinstcr House, with power to establish in Dublin a National Library and Museum. A very interesting ceremony took place in October, 1884, when the Lord Mayor declared the building open. He remarked in his speech that the libraries were intended for every class. The humble workman and the son of the wealthy merchant, if they chose, could sit side by side while improving their minds by the study of the best authors of all ages. Since then the work has gone steadily along. Printed reports have not been issued since 1887, but a large number of statistics in manuscript have been supplied by the courteous and able librarian, Mr. Patrick Grogan. There were, during 1889, no fewer than 233,736 visits to the read- ing and newsroom in Capel Street library, or an average of about 1,000 a day. The returns for the lending and reference depart- ments for 1888 and 1889 came out exceedingly well. The first three and the last three months of the year are the great reading months in Dublin. In January, 1889, the number of books lent for home reading was 2,983, and for the whole year the total was 28,046. In the reference library, 10,280 volumes were issued during the year. The largest issue was of illustrated works, and next to this class fiction is the most largely represented. Science and art were consulted to the extent of 615 volumes. This was a very fair turnover for 3,967 volumes. The circulation at the Thomas Street library is not so large as at Capel Street. If the city fathers could see their way to levy the full rate, they would then have an income which would enable them to build more convenient and commodious premises, and so give Dublin a better opportunity of doing greater justice to itself in its Public Library work. The new buildings of the science and art department, and of the Irish national library in Kildare Street, are now all but ready for opening, and probably before this edition is issued the cere- mony of declaring the buildings open will have taken place. For Ireland the event will be one of the highest importance, and, Pl T BLir LIBRARIES IN IRELAND. L'-VJ as all classes of tho community will agree, it is one that most fitly should be associated with a special ceremony, worthy of an occasion so signal and remarkable. The structures grace the noble area upon which they stand in the heart of the city, and will add a fresh beauty to its rapidly growing architectural monu- ments. They will be the property and the pride of every citizen. The National Library has long since exceeded the limits of accommodation that Leinster House affords, and now ranks as a collection equal, if not superior, to that possessed by any of the greater centres of population in England. The museum will also be a boon. Its objects have a national stamp, and it will be admitted that in no part of the world will there be found any institution to compare with it, as illustrative of Irish art, history, and archaeology. DUNDALK. This town has the distinction of being the first in Ireland to adopt the Acts. This was done in 1858, immediately after the extension of these Acts to Ireland. The stock at present is 8,000 volumes, and although the income from the rate is very small, more or less are added to the stock annually. A penny per week subscription is charged for home reading to help out the rate. A small grant would at once remove this necessity, which is at the same time an innovation. LIMERICK. In May, 1889, a motion was adopted in the Town Council to give effect in the city to the Public Libraries' Acts, and to provide a rate towards the working of same, with a por- tion of it to be subsidized for the benefit of the school of art, and a strong committee was appointed to carry out the necessary arrangements. In September of the same year the mayor referred at a council meeting to the terms of the title under which the Athena3urn had been held, pointing out that the lease under which the committee had taken the place from the Corporation, at a nominal rent, had been non-existent for a num- ber of years, and that no representation was given to the Council, in accordance with the original deed. He further pointed out that the objects for which the committee had been formed to get up lectures and promote schools of art and science had been practically abandoned. The Corporation were now endeavouring to avail themselves of the Libraries' Acts, and had set aside a sum of 120 out of the rates for the purpose ; but it was necessary that they should clearly understand what was their position, as regards the present occupiers of the Athenaeum, to the Corpora- tion, and they were quite willing to enter into any arrangement by which the place could be utilized for the benefit of the citizens. There is certainly a great opening for such an institution in Lime- rick, and to the commercial and artisan classes in particular it will be an immense advantage. The rate produces 240 a year. A nucleus to a library is found in the collection of nearly 2,000 volumes at the Athenaeum, which is the property of :>58 rrw.ic MBRARIES. 2,500, the t\vo Public Libraries are rate supported. In October, 1884, these two libraries, situated in Capel Street and Thomas Street, were opened, at which the members of the Library Asso- ciation of the United Kingdom were present. The acquisition of these premises was approved by the Treasury. It should be noted in passing that the Public Libraries' Act (Ireland) of 1855 was, on the initiative of Mr. E. Dwyer Gray, adopted by the people of Dublin in March, 1877, and was also, owing to his exertions, shortly afterwards so amended as to give powers to local authorities in Ireland similar to those enjoyed in England, such as the power of borrowing the necessary capital for buildings, fittings and books, and the power of forming committees which might in part consist of persons not members of the council. No steps were taken under the Act in Dublin until last year. This delay may be attributed to the passing in 1877 of the Dublin Science and Art Museum Act, which transferred to the Imperial Government the library of the Royal Dublin Society at Leinster House, with power to establish in Dublin a National Library and Museum. A very interesting ceremony took place in October, 1884, when the Lord Mayor declared the building open. He remarked in his speech that the libraries were intended for every class. The humble workman and the son of the wealthy merchant, if they chose, could sit side by side while improving their minds by the study of the best authors of all ages. Since then the work has gone steadily along. Printed reports have not been issued since 1887, but a large number ol statistics in manuscript have lu-cn supplied by the courteous and able librarian, Mr. Patrick Grouan. There were, during 1889, no fewer than 233,736 visits to the read- ing and newsroom in Capel Street library, or an average of about 1,000 a day. The returns for the lending and reference depart- ments for 1888 and 1889 came out exceedingly well. The first three and the last three months of the year are the great reading months in Dublin. In January, 1889, the number of books lent for home reading was 2,983, and for the whole year the total was 28,046. In the reference library, 10,280 volumes were issued during the year. The largest issue was of illustrated works, and next to this class fiction is the most largely represented. Science and art were consulted to the extent of 615 volumes. This was a very fair turnover for 3,967 volumes. The circulation at the Thomas Street library is not so large as at Capel Street. If the city fathers could see their way to levy the full rate, they would then have an income which would enable them to build more convenient and commodious premises, and so give Dublin a better opportunity of doing greater justice to itself in its Public Library work. The new buildings of the science and art department, and of the Irish national library in Kildare Street, are now all but ready for opening, and probably before this edition is issued the cere- mony of declaring the buildings open will have taken place. For Ireland the event Avill be one of the highest importance, and, PfBT.IC LIBRARIES IN IRELAND. 2C8 as all classes of the community will agree, it is one that most fitly should be associated with a special ceremony, worthy of an occasion so signal and remarkable. The structures grace the noble area upon which they stand in the heart of the city, and will add a fresh beauty to its rapidly growing architectural monu- ments. They will be the property and the pride of every citizen. The National Library has long since exceeded the limits of accommodation that Leinster House affords, and now ranks as a collection equal, if not superior, to that possessed by any of the greater centres of population in England. The museum will also be a boon. Its objects have a national stamp, and it will be admitted that in no part of the world will there be found any institution to compare with it, as illustrative of Irish art, history, and archaeology. DUNPALK. This town has the distinction of being the first in Ireland to adopt the Acts. This was done in 1858, immediately after the extension of these Acts to Ireland. The stock at present is 8,000 volumes, and although the income from the rate is very small, more or less are added to the stock annually. A penny per week subscription is charged for home reading to help out the rate. A small grant would at once remove this necessity, which is at the same time an innovation. LIMERICK. In May, 1889, a motion was adopted in the Town Council to give effect in the city to the Public Libraries' Acts, and to provide a rate towards the working of same, with a por- tion of it to be subsidized for the benefit of the school of art, and a strong committee was appointed to carry out the necessary arrangements. In September of the same year the mayor referred at a council meeting to the terms of the title under which the Athenaeum had been held, pointing out that the lease under which the committee had taken the place from the Corporation, at a nominal rent, had been non-existent for a num- ber of years, and that no representation was given to the Council, in accordance with the original deed. He further pointed out that the objects for which the committee had been formed to get up lectures and promote schools of art and science had been practically abandoned. The Corporation were now endeavouring to avail themselves of the Libraries' Acts, and had set aside a sum of 120 out of the rates for the purpose ; but it was necessary that they should clearly understand what was their position, as regards the present occupiers of the Athenaeum, to the Corpora- tion, and they were quite willing to enter into any arrangement by which the place could be utilized for the benefit of the citizens. There is certainly a great opening for such an institution in Lime- rick, and to the commercial and artisan classes in particular it will be an immense advantage. The rate produces 240 a year. A nucleus to a library is found in the collection of nearly 2,000 volumes at the Athenaeum, which is the property of 260 PUBIJC LIBRAKIES. the city. The Mayor anticipated that the project would be as great a success in Limerick as it has been in other cities, and there is not the slightest doubt that such will be the case. Several influential citizens and gentlemen connected with Limerick have warmly taken up the idea, and by- and- bye we shall soon see Limerick in the full enjoyment of a citizens' institution. In May, 1890, a deputation waited upon the Corporation to urge the advis- ability of at once placing the Acts in operation. HATHMINES AND RATHGAR. This is a township adjoining Dublin, and the Libraries' Acts have been in operation since 1887. The registered attendance for 1889 was 71,465, and the number of borrowers for home reading was 600. There are 2,000 volumes in the library. Only a half- penny rate is levied for its maintenance, and this yields 300 a year. The supply of newspapers and books is not large, but there is a useful work in store for the Rathmines library. If it sets other townships near Dublin to determine that they also will have one of these institutions a good end will be served. SLIGO. There was great difficulty in getting the people to adopt the Acts in Sligo. Had it not been for the deep interest which the late Alderman McDonough displayed in the subject the Acts would never have been adopted here. He was at considerable expense and loss of time in securing the means of having the library opened under the Libraries' Acts. It is now much appre- ciated by the public, and as soon as the Corporation are able to assist it a little better the library will flourish, and be of much usefulness to Sligo. Here is a case where heavy taxes are already imposed, and where, if the Government could by any means be induced to assist, it would very much help to forward the movement. Those who know the town well say that it is a fact that the Sligo library has done more to counteract crime, particularly drunkenness, than any other influence. The number of volumes is 1,700. A room in the Town Hall is allowed for use, but up to the present bonks are not lent for home reading. The reading-room is open on Sundays from 2 to 7 p.m. Mr. David Saultry is the librarian. DOUGLAS (!SLE OF MAN). The Douglas Library is the only rate-supported library under the Acts up to date in this tight little island. The Acts were adopted and the library opened in 1886. It occupies the first floor over some shops in a central part of this thriving watering-place. The Isle of Man is a favourite resort for Lancashire and Yorkshire people, and as the denizens of these counties know how to use a public library the reading-room is greatly appreciated by the visitors. With a total of 5,000 volumes there is a turnover of about 142 per day, and there are some 2,400 actual borrowers. The selection of books is probably as good as would be found among 5,000 vols. PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN WALES. 261 anywhere, all tastes having been consulted. As new books are added Mr. J. de Maine Browne, the courteous librarian, intimates them in the public press, with some notes of his own as to the value of the books for reading purposes. Ramsey, Castletown, and Peel should not be long before they adopt the Acts. For their own pleasure and advancement this should be done, but as a further reason there is no doubt that visitors to watering-places do largely use public reading-rooms, and in not a few cases select pleasure resorts where this advantage is afforded. So that as an investment the adoption of the Acts should be attempted imme- diately in every inland and seaboard watering-place not at present possessing these institutions. CHAPTER XV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN WALES. l| ALLANT little Wales, considering that there are not many large towns in the Principality, does not come out amiss in its Public Library work. The total number of adoptions of the Acts is eight. Wales and Scotland had a national system of education long before in England we had reached the same stage, and the people of both countries have for generations been known as earnest and eager friends of educational and social progress. As will be seen at the end of this chapter, the movement is spreading in quite a number of places in Wales, and in course of a very few years the number of adoptions will be more like eighteen than eight. In no part of the United Kingdom would a small government grant be more acceptable and useful than in Wales. The penny rate in the small districts is not sufficient to stock and maintain a Public Library. Wales should agitate this question of a state sub- sidy, and urge the point upon its parliamentary representatives. ABERYSTWYTH AND BANGOB. In the former place they can only boast of 3,646 volumes ; but as the population is only double the number it is, in comparison with some libraries, a fair proportion. The rate yields 100 a year. Bangor adopted the Acts in 1871. The library is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays only, from 10 to 12 a.m. and from 7 to 9 p.m. The number of volumes is less than Aberystwyth, for there are only 1 ,800 for 10,000 people. No wonder with so poor a number the average issue should only be 35 books. Surely some London or Colonial Welshman will remedy this defect, not only at Bangor but at other places in Wales. The Principality has lacked gifts for its Public Libraries. A little spirited giving would be most encouraging. 262 PUBLIC LIBBABIES. CARDIFF. It is here among the Welsh towns that we see the best example of what is being done. The work at the present moment is in a statf (if transition, for an extension of the buildings has long been necessary and has now been decided upon. The question of altering the present building, or erecting a new building and handing over the present one entirely for museum and science and art purposes, has for some considerable time been a burning one in Cardiff. Every department of the Public Library work has outgrown the space it has at disposal, and there is no cause for wonder that the general tendency of opinion, both inside the library committee and town council, should have been for a new building. An admirable and most convenient site was available adjoining the existing building. This forms part of one side of a square, the situation and shape of which are well suitable for a handsome building being erected. In July, 1889, the Local Government Board gave permission to borrow 10,000. When this extension is completed Cardiff will have its Public Library housed in quarters well qualified to meet its growing needs. The town was the first to adopt the Acts, when from 1862 down to the last report the progress has been steady and very satis- factory. The twenty-seventh report shows how every section of the institution has been largely used during the year, but the crowded state of every department prevents any extensive development, although much is required to supply the needs of so large and growing a town. At the beginning of the year the committee offered sums of 30 to the districts of Roath, Cathays, Canton, the Docks, and Grangetown, for the establishment of branch reading-rooms, on condition that a committee was formed in each district to work them, and, if necessary, supplement the grant by private subscriptions. The districts of Roath and Cathays have availed themselves of this offer, and successful newsrooms have been established in these districts. The central lending librai'y was open 302 days, and the reference library on 306 days during the year. The number of books issued from the lending library was 129,812, the number for the previous year being 126,618, or an increase for the year of 3,194. The number of borrowers now on the register is 5,761. The additions to the library amount to 3,704 volumes, of which 1,391 volumes have l>e,en placed in the reference library, and 2,313 volumes in the lending library. The donations were 308 volumes and pamphlets ; the remainder of the additions, viz., 2,396 volumes, were purchased. In order to make the public better acquainted with recent books added to the lending department and available for issue, an ingenious arrangement has been adopted. A board is hung in the library, on which are placed tickets containing the author, title, and number of such books as have been added during the previous three months. If a borrower wishes to obtain one of these, he removes the card and hands it to an assistant, who, when he has found the book, puts the ticket in a box. The entry is thus removed from the notice board, to be replaced when the book is PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN WALES. 263 ivtunu'd, and so on until the book has been in circulation three months, when it is altogether removed to make way for more recent additions to the stock. The question of branches has been a burning one in Cardiff. The borough covers a large area, and some of the suburban districts are very thickly populated. One of the local newspapers printed a series of articles going minutely and fully into the subject of the central institution versus branch libraries, and much was said for both sides. It was pointed out that it a branch lending library as well as reading-room was opened in one district the other suburbs would naturally cry out to be similarly served. The matter of means entered, of course, fully in the dis- cussion. The funds available are something under 2,000 a year. The penny rate produces more than this, but a sum has to be deducted from it towards the repayment of the loan. Of this sum the ordinary current charges of the institution, including museum and art gallery, take up by far the greater part. Indeed, when we place a very moderate sum aside for the pur- chase of new books for the library, and a still more moderate one for the purchase of necessary articles for the museum, the in- come is wholly swallowed up. For some years past, indeed, practically from the first start until very recently, they were con- tinually under water ; but things are beginning to look more promising for the future. It was felt that to erect branches would cripple the central institution, and wisely the decision has been arrived at to avoid so undesirable a result. In another part of this work the question of branch libraries has been dwelt upon. It is natural that outlying districts which see the utility of these institutions should wish to see one of them placed in their midst, but the ability to maintain one good central library and a number of branches, in a perfect state of efficiency, out of the nimble penny should be looked fully in the face. At present Cardiff does not quite see its way through these difficulties as to branches, lioath, a populous district, contributes some 400 towards the penny rate, and claims more than a small grant towards its reading-room. The passing of the Technical Instruction Act of last year gave considerable satisfaction in Cardiff, and quickly after the Act was placed on the statue book a committee was formed. The effect of this Act will be to relieve the library committee from the neces- sity of maintaining the science and art schools from the Public Library rate. The committee established these schools in the year 1865, and they have steadily risen in public estimation up to the present time. Many of the students now occupy important positions, in consequence of the instruction and encouragement received. The committee feels that its effort to supply technical instruction, which has been successfully earned on for a quarter of a century, is now justified by the passing of this Act, and hopes that under the new conditions the schools will enter upon an extended career of usefulness. It is hoped that the South Wales and Monmouthshire College will provide accommodation for technical schools. 264 PUBLIC UBRAIU i-:s. The work in the reference library is of a very solid and useful nature. During 1888-89 the total issue was 13,217, out of a total of 13,324 volumes and pamphlets. This is a section to which the able librarian and secretary of the other institutions, Mr. John Ballinger, gives his careful attention. Mr. Ballinger's administration of the library has contributed largely to develop its work. History, biography, and travel represent the largest issue in the reference library. There are in the reference room four of the prettiest and most appropriate stained windows which can be found in any Public Library. They were presented by Mr. James AVare. They represent respectively poetry, fiction, travel, and history. For the first-named the subject is Milton dictating " Paradise Lost " to his daughter. The other portraits are of Scott, Raleigh, and Gibbon. A set of similar windows in every Public Library in the country would be a decided gain. The Public Library committee have a separate banking account a step which should be taken by most committees. The catalogues are very carefully prepared. For a penny the borrowers in the juvenile section which is largely used have a twenty-four page catalogue of books selected with great discretion, and a sixteen-page supplementary catalogue is sold for a halfpenny. A new catalogue of the reference department has been recently going through the press. A local printing firm undertook the entire responsibility of producing it, having the privilege of taking advertisements for it. The catalogue sells for 6d., and copies are paid for periodically to the printers as sold. The cost of printing catalogues is so great that the plan is deserving of being copied. There are separate catalogues of the books on music, and books for the blind. A glance at the latter shows that fifty-five volumes, in the Braille character, are at the disposal of those to whom sight is denied. Printed in Moon's type there are about 160 volumes, whilst seven are printed in ordinary Roman embossed type. The different books of the Bible can be had in either Moon's type or in the Braille character, and in the selection of other works on the list care seems to have been taken to secure only those of an elevating and entertaining character. Altogether the work at Cardiff is in a healthy state, and with a growing rate the developments of the future will no doubt be more marked than during the past. In seven years the yield of the rate has nearly doubled itself. AVhat a capital thing it would have been for the Public Library movement if this could be said of all towns of equal size to Cardiff. CARNARVON. The Acts were adopted here in 1887. Only a lending library has up to the present been established, and in this there are 2,000 volumes. Through the exertions of Alderman Lewis, Avho initiated the movement during his mayoralty, a column:!; ;:s and handsome building was erected by public subscription and handed over on the adoption of the Acts. The rate yields 90. At one of the PUBLIC LIBBABIE8 IN WALES. 26/5 meetings for the promotion of the Acts some good speeches were made. A clergyman who made a strong appeal for the adoption said : " I do not care for a penny rate, but I do care very much for a Public Library for Carnarvon ; and let me tell you why when a young lad in Liverpool, a Public Library kept me from the theatre, the public-house, the singing saloon, the gambling hell. A Public Library supplied me with food for the mind made me a reader, a thinker, a public man a preacher of God's Gospel. 1 owe a debt I can never repay to that Public Library, and that is why I am here to-night." There are many others who could render a similar testimony. OSWESTBY. The question has been several times mentioned in Oswestry, and on May 19, 1890, the adoption of the Acts was unanimously carried at a town's meeting. It is very cheering to be able to record this in the present edition. The friends of education in < )s\vestry have for several veal's had their eyes on the establishing of a Public Library. The local press rendered excellent aid. The Rev. J. J. Poynter and others took part in the proceedings. A large town library, which has been under the control of trustees, will now be handed over to the Town Council, and provision for hoiising it will be made by the Council in the new municipal buildings about to be erected. SWANSEA. The Acts were adopted here in 1870. Some bold spirits a few years ago urged upon the Town Council the need of new and more commodious buildings for the Public Library and Art Gallery. The scheme was a large one. The building, of which a view is given, is an exceedingly handsome one, and was erected at a cost of (Ji'O.OOO in a central part of the town, from the designs of Mr. lloltom, of Dewsbury. This was opened by Mr. Gladstone in 1887. Owing to the heavy drain upon the rate to pay the interest on the loan of 18,567, too small a balance was left to keep the twin institutions in a state of efficiency. A temporary financial difficulty presented itself, and some papers took up the matter as if it spelt ruin for the Public Library and disgrace to the town. More gloomy prognostications were never made about these institutions, but all have been doomed not to be realized. The enemies of the movement made great capital out of the supposed failure at Swansea. The history of the library movement in Swansea is inti- mately connected with the name of Mr. G. B. Brock, the late chair- man of the library committee, who laboured assiduously for many years for the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts by the borough, and, assisted by Sir John Jones Jenkins and others who have since filled the office of mayor of the borough, was success- ful not only in this preliminary step, but in subsequently advanc- ing the movement to its latter and complete stage that of pro- viding a habitation for the institution which should be worthy 266 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. of it in every respect. The first Public Library was established in Goat Street, and was opened in 1878. In a very few years the institution far outgrew the anticipations of its promoters, and the capacity of the building in which it was housed. Branch libraries were in due time established. The stock of books, through the efforts of Mr. Deffett Francis and many other patriotic townsmen, rapidlv increased, whilst the borrowers and users of the reference library increased in like proportion. The Deffett Francis Library, SWANSEA PUBLIC LIBRARY, ART GALLERY, AND SCHOOL OF ART. long before leaving the old institution, contained over 4,500 volumes, and hundreds of rare pamphlets. The collection is rich in the departments of poetry, the literature of the drama, fine art and biography, and AVelsh history and topography. Then there is in connection with the institution the Rowland Williams Reference Library, full of rare works in Welsh literature and theology, besides a general reference library of a very copious chai-aeter. With regard to the building itself, the architects own de- PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN WALES. 267 scription, as being most succinct, is given. The extreme length of the front of the building shown in the sketch is 160 ft., and the extreme depth, to the back of the circular reading-room, 91 ft. The front portion is four storeys in height, and the back portion three storeys, with the exception of the circular reading-room, which is one storey only. The style of architecture adopted is Italian Classic, the front being divided by projecting bays at either end, and finished with pavilion roofs. The main entrance is in the centre of the fa9ade, and the interior is reached through a vestibule 17 ft. wide, with an inner hall of the same width. Both these are laid with a mosaic flooring of a beautiful floral design. The ground floor is devoted solely to the purposes of a Public Library. Eight and left of the inner hall is a corridor 8 ft. wide running the extreme length of the building, and communi- cating with the whole of the rooms on the ground floor. On the right of the inner hall is the newsroom, 61 ft. long and 21 ft. wide, and to the left of the inner hall is the magazine-room, 20 ft. by 22 ft. Adjoining this room are the librarian's private rooms and committee-rooms. At the rear of the inner hall is the reading- room and reference library, which is circular in shape, and 56 ft. in diameter. It has a domed top, with outer and inner lights, which is :M ft. high in the centre. The presses and shelving for books are arranged round the walls, and divided into alcoves radiating to the centre. The room is capable of storing 2o,000 to 30,000 volumes, arranged in two heights, with light cast-iron ornamental gallery around for access. The gallery is approached by geometrical stairs. Some of the presses are fitted up with glass doors and rollers for the larger and more valuable works. Blinds are used in all cases to protect the books. The reading tables are arranged in the centre of the room, and at the entrance is a catalogue desk. All the wood fittings are of American walnut, French polished. The angular recesses of the room are utilized and used as apartments for the attendants. On either side of the circular room is a room measuring 40 ft. long by '27 ft. wide. One is used as the lending library, and is fitted up in a similar manner to the reference library, with the addition of a book-counter for borrowers, with indicators and the usual arrangements for borrowing and returning 'books. This room provides book spaces for about 20,000 volumes. The second floor is appropriated to the use of the science and art department. It is approached by a separate staircase at the north-west end of the building, and comprises elementary rooms, painting-rooms, modelling-rooms, a large antique room, and a masters room. These form the art department. The remaining rooms are reserved for the science department, and consist of a lecture- room, class-room, and laboratory, and balance-room. The art section is fitted up throughout with desks and diagram boards, and the antique room is furnished with drawing tables and curtains, with pedestals for casts. The third floor is arranged as an art and picture gallery, and is lighted by top lights. All the rooms, including the curator's, are en suite. The wall space for 268 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. pictures is about 12,000 ft. A separate staircase is provided for this floor at the south-west angle of the building. There is certainly nothing to equal this gallery in the West of England or South Wales. The reference department is the strongest part of the work at Swansea. Here there are 21,891 volumes, with an average daily issue of 343 volumes. In the lending section 53,794 volumes were issued during the year. Swansea rejoices (?) in a committee of twenty-four members of the Town Council and fourteen members from outside the council. The attendance of these thirty-eight gentlemen is given in the report in tabulated form a plan which is adopted in so exceptionally few reports. The figures are instructive, and illustrate very forcibly the* absurdity of having large committees. Of the thirteen monthly and special meetings, four only from outside the council attended twelve, and one from the council attended ten of the meetings. Eight members of the council did not appear at any of them. Four showed up once, and others two, three, or four times. From outside the council the smallest number of attendances was three. This was in one case only, and the others were present at from seven to eleven of the meetings. There is evidently something wrong about these council members of the committee; some three-fourths of them might be very reasonably relieved of serving. So large a committee is, in any case, utterly unnecessary, and the experience at Swansea is proving this to be so. The prospect in Swansea for the Public Library work is brighter than it has been for some time, and its future will be watched with considerable interest. Mr. S. E. Thompson is the librarian and secretary. Under a Local Improvement Act a slightly increased rate is levied, and this removes the congestion which has been experienced. WELSHPOOL. Welshpool has, and is, doing itself credit. In September, 1887, a public meeting of the inhabitants was held to consider a pro- posal to adopt the Public Libraries' Acts. The Powysland Club, of which Lord Powys was the president, had offered to transfer their library and museum, the most valuable in the Principality, to the town as a free gift upon condition that the Public Libraries' Acts were adopted. The Town Council undertook to limit the rate to ^d. in the pound. Lord Powis warmly supported the proposal, which was, however, opposed by the residents in the outlying agricultural parts of the borough, and was defeated. A poll was demanded. On this being taken a few weeks later, and after there had been time to bring the question prominently before the public, the majority in favour was 291. In the following November the annual meeting was held. Mr. Morris C. Jones, to whose services the institution was so greatly indebted, and who for twenty-one years had not been absent once at the annual meeting of the institution, had most actively supported the pro- posal of handing over the institution to the town. Mr. T. R. Morris, the Mayor for that year, also threw in the weight of his PTTBUP LIBRARIES IX WALES. 269 influence. At the end of 1888, and after one year's working under the enlarged scope, the increasing amount of success which has attended the opening of the institution to the public can be best judged by the number of books issued and readers' tickets sold during the period of nearly five months from June 1 to October 22, and this was greatly in excess of any previous year. The reading- room is well attended, and is supplied with newspapers and magazines. The museum has been visited by a large number of persons. A considerable sum was obtained from a fund raised during the year for defraying the cost of fitting up the library. The towns and villages in the Principality will receive, it may be wished, quite an accession to the number of adoptions of the Acts from institutes, such as the one at Welshpool, being handed over for the free use of the people for ever. WREXHAM. Wrexham adopted the Acts in 1878, but after twelve years' existence the number of volumes reaches only 3,261 for 11,000 people. It was not until last year that a lending department was established, the books being bought out of 400, the sum received out of the National Eisteddfod. The 180 which the rate yields is heavily taxed by a rent of 40 a year repaid to the Corporation for the use of the rooms in the Guildhall. This ought not to be. An odd 5 or 10 at the most, as an acknowledgment, would be ample. Two ladies of title are on the committee. It would be gratifying to see the work at Wrexham making more rapid pro- gress. So many towns in Wales are inquiring about the Public Libraries' Acts that they want all the encouragement they can get from existing successful libraries. Haverfordwest and Llandudno have made attempts to carry the Acts, but without success. The vote was taken in the former place in 1888. In Llandudno the vote was taken in 1889, but the whole attempt was still-born. The steps taken to bring the matter clearly before the people do not appear to have been numerous. The attendance at the statutory meeting was very small, and the taking of the vote was postponed. At a later date twelve voted for the Acts and twenty against. A poll was demanded, and the result of this showed 771 against and 626 in favour. An institution with a library worth altogether about 2,000 would have been handed over on the adoption of the Acts. With some organization, Llandudno should easily now adopt the Acts, but it is unwise to bring the question forward anywhere in a half-hearted way. The following are the places in Wales where the question has come less or more to the front of late. In several of these districts the vote will probably be taken before long. In 1887 the question was mooted in Aberdare and Cardigan, but fell through in each town from lack of support. In March of the same year the subject was also introduced in Carmarthen. Both these towns should have their Public Library. Llangollen has a library, but not under the Acts. It sadly needs enfran- l'70 PUBLIC LIBRABIKS. and the town should set an example to Llancludno. Merthyr Tydvil has heard something about a proposed adoption of the Acts, but nothing has yet come of it. In Mountain Ash a vote was taken some four years ago, but the result was un- favourable. Since then the question has been mentioned several times, but nothing further has been done. Other places are Rhondda Valley, Ystrad, Penarth, and Treorky. Wales requires a little spirited encouragement, either by gifts or towns like Carmarthen, Llandudno, and other places adding themselves to the list. CHAPTER XVI. CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE WORK OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. IjROM some points of view it would appear that Public Libraries had suddenly emerged out of the long clothes p of [the nursery into the full light of public gaze. Cer- tainly this would be gathered from the flood-gates of criticism which have been within a year or two turned upon them. And they have come out of the ordeal remarkably well, and there can be no doubt that in nearly all the places where they have been established the ratepayers have very inexpensive institutions. Public Libraries will challenge com- parison with Board Schools, and all other public expenditure out of which the people get twenty shillings worth of real value for every pound sterling invested. If all other public money were equally well spent we should have less rates to pay, and it would be better for the people all round. The amusing part is that an attack on the expenditure for street cleansing, lighting, police, and prisons is a matter of rare occurrence, and the wrath of some economists centres round this nimble penny or the School Board rate. We are a nation of small economists, and meekly swallow the huge camel of extravagance. Public Libraries do not shirk criticism, and, like all other experimental national efforts, they must bear with a good deal of this commodity. It will do the institutions no harm, but on the contrary will bring the more publicity to their operations, and cause friends and foes to take sides. One thing the critics should bear in mind in making com- parisons in the working of Public Libraries. Scarcely any two have exactly the precise method of tabulating statistics, and more uniformity in this respect would be acceptable, but to that we shall come all in good time. A system is not built up in a day, whether it be a solar system or a library system. There are few towns exactly on all-fours with regard to the people and its book needs. Certain universal traits of character are to be found everywhere, but there are some local idiosyncrasies which count for something. The present writer, although accustomed to move <-'IUTirAT. EXAMINATION' OK THEIR WORK. 271 about the country from extreme north to extreme south, has noticed this particularly when going about the libraries of the country during the last few months. Some libraries class together fiction, poetry, and the drama. Some are open longer hours than others, or have more branches. Some lend three-volume novels at a time and count each volume in the returns, while again they may lend for seven or fourteen days. The condition of the local industries nearly always materially affects the returns of the library for that period. These institutions are in fact serving as useful barometers of the state of trade in many districts. Several towns have finer, more centrally situated premises than the rest ; whilst in some cases there is congestion, attributable to an unworkable committee and chairman who have been placed in their present position for political purposes, and who abominate the Public Library and all its works. This is no pun, but sober fact, and were it not for the force of public opinion against them they would throw every possible obstacle in the way of the library's work. As it is, they starve the shelves and bully the librarian. These are all factors which produce their effect ; and while the spirit of emulation among libraries should be encouraged, the plan of making comparisons in favour of one or more and against others is a method which should be received cum grano salts. The following towns are taken as illustrative of the rest, and as being very fairly scattered through the country. The figures given are for twelve months, but not always for the same twelve months. They are placed in the order of population, adult and juvenile : Popula- tion, 1861. No. of Readers' Tickets in use. Vols. in Stock. Total Year's issue. Turn- over. Issues per head of Popu- latiou. Liverpool 552,425 8,855 140,425 829,975 5-9 1'5 Birmingham 400,757 20,000 162,201 918,682 5'7 2'3 Manchester 341,508 41,863 197,947 1,649,741 8-3 4'8 Leeds 309,126 128,259 161,749 862,084 5-0 2 '6 Sheffield 286,289 16,669 91,495 803 171 4-6 1'5 Bristol 206,503 18,654 74,181 634,603 8-6 37 Nottingham 186,656 *9,307 62,995 450,000 7-0 2*4 Newcastle-on-Tyne Leicester 14P.228 122,376 11,968 4,356 63,899 32,476 295,562 206,822 4-6 6-4 2-0 17 Birkenhead 101,000 5,510 42,719 255,119 6'0 2'5 Preston 104,000 7,400 16,315 96,082 5'9 0'9 Norwich 87,843 3,660 22,959 96,102 4"2 ro Wolverhampton ... Plymouth 75,738 73,794 2,000 3,435 30,390 26,833 62,901 251,739 20 9-3 0-8 3'4 Rochdale 68,865 6,550 42,041 237 962 5-4 3-5 Darlington 35,104 3,000 15,614 78,698 5-0 2'2 Library closed for a year and a half, 1888-i 2~-2 vrni.ir There is a marked disparity among some of these figures as will be MVII. Wolverhampton has a little higher population than Rochdale, and yet the latter place has three times as many more borrowers' cards in use ; while Plymouth, which is about the same in population, stands between the two; and Darlington, with half the population, has half as many again as Wolverhampton, and not quite so many as Plymouth. The foregoing applies to the number of borrowers' cards in use, and in this the disparity may l>e accounted for by the method of renewing the tickets. A similar disparity attaches to the number of volumes for the size of population. Leeds has, roughly, one book for every two people, while Bristol is not quite so well off. Manchester is even better off than Leeds, while Preston has only one book for every four to five of the population. The same marked irregularity in the figures may be noticed in the other columns. The total cost of the libraries in these sixteen towns last year was 62,548, for a gross population of 3,097,212 on the basis of the last census. This works out to a fraction less than 4|d. per head, adult and juvenile, of the combined population of these sixteen towns for the maintenance of these libraries and their branches last year. And what had the people in return ? 1. In considering the cost of Public Libraries, it should in fairness be remembered that the expenditure incurred is not exclusively spent in providing books to read at home. The cost referred to includes the provision of an inviting and agreeable place to read in, instead of the more expensive and less salutary places which have absorbed so much of the time and money of the working and other classes. 2. Then, besides books for taking away, there is associated with the Public Library a reference library, a newsroom, etc., containing the best newspapers and periodicals to be found in this important branch of literature, much of which must be con- sidered as very solid reading. 3. There are, in addition, at many of these places lectures, science and art classes, museums, and art galleries. This simple fact alone is worth volumes of statistics as to the classes of literature read by the people, and a host of other details in figures. Friends of this movement may fasten opponents to this simple fact, and challenge them to produce another depart- ment of our national expenditure where there is for so small per head of the population so much far-reaching utility and solid actual value for public money spent. Before passing on, it is worth while calling attention to the wide difference in the ratable value of these various towns according to the population. The penny for Birkenhead produces 500 per year more than in Preston, and yet the population is larger in Preston by 30,000. Norwich with a population of 87,843, produces only a little more than Rochdale with 10,000 less. And other examples might be multiplied. 273 Taking a few towns smaller than those already given the following table is instructive : TWELVE STOCK OP MONTHS' TOWN. POPULATION. BOOKS. ISSUES. Aston 6o,000 11,669 96,804 Ashton-under-Lyne . . 37,027 11,936 70,558 Barrow-in-Furness 50,000 14,946 173,324 Cambridge 40,415 35,988 92,453 Cheltenham 43,972 15,409 136,916 Chester 40,342 13,273 52,418 Dudley 46,252 8,300 62,400 Macclesfield 37,514 16,497 48,722 Newport (Mon.) 35,382 16,186 77,563 Northampton 52,000 12,960 39,592 Rotherham 35,000 9,627 53,203 Shrewsbury 26,478 6,799 47,044 South Shields 56,875 17,703 99,881 Southport 40,000 19,885 93,894 Stockport 59,553 21,394 103,323 Wandsworth . . 33,000 10,822 88,646 Warrington 48,000 24,000 45,749 West Bromwich 56,295 13,261 62,419 Here again there are anomalies. While one town requires three books per head of its population, other towns are satisfied with less than one. Take the average of the towns through where there are Public Libraries, it is about one book and a-half to each person in the area they cover. Moreover, the reading is done 17 per cent, by the independent and professional classes ; 44 per cent, by tradesmen, students, shop assistants, and clerks; and 39 per cent, by mechanics and labourers. It would be easy to examine library statistics to infinite length; but, after diving deeply among them for some considerable time, the present writer has come to the conclusion, that for the purposes of com- paring town with town, or groups of towns together, there are so many differences in tabulating and in other directions, as already indicated, that the plan requires adopting with caution. Beyond the broad lines of work no two libraries are alike, and hence the difficulty of comparison. These are facts which should be kept very distinctly in mind, and comparative tables should not have any special value attached to them. Bad trade in one year or in certain trades will at once affect the returns, and good trade leaves less time for reading. A series of lectures on special subjects will even affect the returns, and as the weather, like chemicals, is at the bottom of a good many things, the state of the elements should not be left out of consideration. A wet season will keep people indoors to read, or send them to the reference library, and a dry season sends the people to the fresh air. Returns may go up or go down, and all the explanations which could be given one way or the other might not absolutely cover the ground. It is well to have statistics to see what each town is. 18 274 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. doing individually, but unfair comparisons must be guarded against, and this fact especially should be kept in luind bv newspaper writers. In course of time there will be uniformity in statistics ; but at present that is a much more difficult matter than it would appear, as before this can be done several radical changes in library administration will have to be made. It is around the head of the issues of fiction that the storm rages with the greatest fury. When this varies from 40 to 80 per cent., as it does, it shows the wide latitude which exists. But here again there must be caution. Some libraries buy no new three-volume novels. Others enter them in the returns as three- volumes, and not as one work. So that the 80 percentage may be caused in this way, and being lent for only seven, instead of fourteen days. It is admitted that the percentage of fiction is large in some cases, and that the amount spent in new books has been too lavishly spent on novels, but there is ample room for the conviction that "we have reached the high- water mark of fiction circulation. It is an absolute fact that the proportion of solid literature is steadily on the increase. It is again worth remem- bering that all magazines and periodicals are invariably classed as light reading, and these include papers like the "Engineer," " Builder," " English Mechanic," and many others. If the fairest classification was made, Scott would be classed with history, and Dickens and Thackeray as moral philosophy. "Young's Night Thoughts " and " Paradise Lost " have been included as fiction in some libraries. " Under Canvas," a book setting forth evangelistic work in a tent, has gone in the same category, and numerous other instances could be quoted. Everybody except the veriest prig reads some works of fiction at some time or other, and the time has passed when novel reading need be defended, seeing that bishops, as well as publicans and sinners generally, all plead guilty to the practice. The mistake lies in the individual reader doing too much of it, and so weakening his taste for the more solid works. The best of our English novelists may be reckoned amongst the chief benefactors of mankind, and nothing has con- tributed so much to lighten the tedium of daily life as romance. Novelists claim that theirs is the most important branch of literature, considered as a factor in the education and amuse- ment of the masses, and they have some ground for the statement. Public Libraries will pass through the stage of criticism which they have now entered in the eyes of many of the public, and they will come out of the ordeal none the worse for the process. The essential fact remains that these institutions, if properly managed, may bring advantages of the highest order within the reach of even the poorest classes of the community. Nowadays, we all profess to be anxious about the education of the masses of the people. But real education can only be begun in elementary schools. If the children of the working classes are to be truly educated they must do something more than pass the fourth or the sixth standard : they must learn, as they grow to manhood and womanhood, to take an unaffected interest in things of the THK KI Tl UK OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES, ETC. L??. 1 ) mind, and to carry on their studies not merely for the sake of material profit, but because they find in intellectual life the source of one of their deepest and purest pleasures. If this ideal is to be attained, there must be libraries where every one will be able to find the kind of books he or she may want. It is sometimes said that there is too great a "ran " upon novels, but the reading of good novels should be encouraged rather than discouraged, and there is not the slightest fear that people who delight in the best writings of this nature will confine their attention to fiction. CHAPTER XVII. THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES, AND WHAT REMAINS TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. K future historian writing upon the present decade will ^ e com P e ll e d to take into account the part which Public Libraries are taking in the education of the people. And it is safe to prophesy that at the rate of progress which is being made, the historian dealing with the first part of the twentieth century will acknowledge these citizens' institutions as occupying a very first place in the nation's life. Although much good was accomplished during the first twenty years after Ewart's Act, the real impetus came with the passing of the Elementary Education Act of 1870, and the next bound forward will be when Free Education, now within measurable dis- tance, becomes the main pivot upon which our national system of education rests. When that desirable time is reached, the position of Public Libraries and Museums will be as clearly defined in the nation's chart as the prisons and policemen are to-day. From present indications the land seems to lie in the probability that both political parties will struggle with each other which is to place upon the statute book the abolishing of pence in the schools of the people. It is now a plank in the pro- gramme of the two great sections, and when the decks are cleared for action, and the means by which the comparatively small sum now contributed in the form of school-pence is to be raised, then will come the time for the question of State aid to Public Libraries to be also discussed. It is becoming a well-known fact that the fees which are now paid represent only a small proportion of the amount which the teaching costs. And not only so, but the existence of these fees is a continual hindrance to the working of the Act of 1870. The effect of the fee is to keep out of the Board Schools thousands of children who ought to be in them ; and the attempt to enforce its payment increases the odium which almost necessarily attends upon compulsion. The remitting of fees in the case of proved inability to pay them is demoralizing in its effect, and a waste of time on the part of the officials and teachers. The annual grant of 20,000 for elementary education, which was commenced in IK:U, has grown by leaps and bounds. In a little 276 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. more than twenty years it had Ixrome nearly half-a-million for (ireat Britain alone. In thirty years it had increased by close upon another quarter of a million. And in fifty years it had touched three millions. And that sum, vast as it was, represented only the amount granted from the national exchequer, being supplemented by an even larger total raised by local rates. How far enhanced imperial taxation will take the place of local rating is a question which has not yet been seriously examined. But for educational purposes imperial as an alternative to local rating would appear the better plan. The practical grant of free education to Scotland brings us to the eve of a similar step for the rest of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Then will begin the real reign of power of Public Libraries. They will take their place, as they have never yet done, in the educational machinery of the country. And for that work they are preparing themselves in a way which is highly creditable to the individual institutions, and to the work as now forming one huge whole. It is no secret that some are struggling to make ends meet on a revenue which is not sufficiently large to keep the wolf from the door : the wolf in this case being the demand for an increased supply of books and branch libraries. The concern of all friends of the movement is for those institutions of the rank and file. It is, with many of these, one perpetual attempt to get a quart into a pint bottle. But even their future is not by any means so gloomy as some have tried to make out, and anyone looking at their record with unprejudiced minds cannot fail to conclude that the best is being made of everything. It is clear that second only in importance to the provision of mental food in the establishment of these Public Libraries comes the need for some means of utilizing the books which they contain to the greatest advantage. Every one has probably heard of some little society of young ladies who undertake to spend a certain time each day in the perusal of a literary classic. These little groups of people are a very general symptom of a want which is widely felt of some direction, some advice and superintendence, of the efforts which so many are eager to make for self-instruc- tion. According to Bacon, " some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." There is no section of the work of these institutions to which more careful attention will have to be directed than this. The need of library finger-posts is becoming as vital as is the existence of the libraries. The best thing for one seeking some direction as to what to read is to attend the classes of a neighbouring col- lege, or to enter as a student for a university extension course, but there are thousands to whom neither alternative is possible. The Home Reading Circles Union, as a new form of university extension, is specially designed to supply the want. This provides for the direction of the studies of any small group of readers who will form a local circle. It is intended to direct home reading, to bring the members of the circles under the personal influence of men who have studied the special subject, to test the work done, THE KrrritE OF prnur i.inRAniES, ETC. J77 and issue certificates of proficiency, and finally to arrange for summer gatherings of members of various circles similar to the recent meeting of university extension students at Oxford. At present there is no doubt that many busy men go to the Public Library a.s a distraction from the cares of life, and as a pleasant set-off to the toils and troubles of the day. The choice is not be- tween this and nothing, but between this and something worse ; between harmless amusement to the mind or fancy and the more gross pleasures which will come in and take up the time for which no other occupation has been found. A Public Library may be started with higher aims and may serve higher cuds, but it will be of most use to its neighbourhood by being so furnished as to meet all tastes. Works of fiction, and travellers' tales not always to be distinguished from fiction, and so much the more attractive on that account will always form a great part of a well-stocked Public Library. The purpose of its founders may be to instruct and not only to amuse ; but if they are to do either effectively they must be satisfied to do both, and must not look too curiously into the proportions betAveen the two results, for they will probably be disappointed if they do. At a Public Library the great body of readers are not particular on the score of what is called originality, provided they find the style pleasant and the interest sustained. It is to be feared that most of us read less in order to improve our minds than to occupy our leisure hours. " Happy is it," said Goethe on one occasion, " that we do not know who those are for whom we write." There is certainly one class of writers who seem to know very well the class for whom they write, and those are the producers of the gutter literature of which there is always such a prolific stock. With very many thousands of school children, all that has yet been placed within their reach is the "penny dreadful," the character of which does not improve one iota as time advances. To follow Dr. Johnson's plan of taking a walk down Fleet Street would reveal to any observant person, if he would take in his perambulations the courts and alleys surrounding that street, what an enormous trade is done in this class of literature. This would be driven home in his mind by seeing this filthy stuff being devoured by scores of printers' boys during the dinner hour, usually spent in the streets. It is in combating the influence of this class of literature that the future of our Public Libraries will be very largely occupied. The mountains of gutter rubbish issued from the press is so great that its influences for evil have scarcely yet been universally realized. Useful as Public Libraries are, they have as yet only touched the fringe of the working popula- tion. It is the poor student who has chiefly gained by the publi- cation, now fortunately increasing at a rapid rate, of cheap editions of standard authors. This most deserving class of per- sons has too long been forced to regard the books urgently needed for further study much as the ragged urchin regards the tempt- ing dainties in the confectioner's window as treasures beyond his reach. Who knows what the loss to science or literature may l'7> Pmi.ir IJTCRARIES. not have boon owing to the practical scarcity of books P What with Public Libraries and cheap classics, better times are coming for the poor student, but the reformation needs to go much fur- ther. The labouring poor and the tens of thousands of school children require catering for, and that has as yet only been very indifferently done. In the future of Public Libraries the juvenile section is one that will receive as much attention as any part of the work. This has been already done at some of our leading libraries, but the real work in this direction has only just begun. If the " penny dreadful " is ever to be supplanted, it must be by books of a stirring and exciting character, and of which the interest is so simple that an untutored intellect can grasp it with- out effort. We have to educate our masters, and while not fearing democracy, our best, truest, and wisest policy is to con- tent, educate, and guide the people. Misery, vice, and crime there must always be, but education and Public Libraries have already done much to diminish them, and will do still more in the future. Scarcely secondary to the planting of one of these libraries in every district where one does not already exist, and sustaining it with efficiency, the most perplexing problem with regard to the future of these institutions has reference to the supply of fiction. Many library committees and others, who take an interest in the work of these places, have been much exercised in mind of late with regard to this question Should novels be provided at all, and if so to what extent ? Some years ago a report of the Boston Public Library laid it down, as a rule, that " it is no part of the duty of a municipality to raise taxes for the amusement of the people unless the amusement is tolerably sure to be conducive to the higher ends of good citizenship. The sole relation of a Public Library to the general interest is as a supplement to the school system as an instrumentality of higher instruction to all classes of the people." There is much truth in this, but it may unhesitatingly be said that a Public Library, supported out of the general rates to which all contribute, has not fulfilled its functions until it has sought to the fullest extent of its means to meet the reasonable claims of all classes. The phrase " reasonable claims " is used advisedly, for certainly there does not come under this head the supplying of the trashy novels or books of a vicious character. Some of the greatest geniuses which the world has ever known have devoted their talents to the production of works of imagina- tion, and there are lessons to be learnt from these which cannot fail to have their influence upon life and character. There is again below these a vast store of excellent works of fiction which is wholesome and pure, but which never claimed to rank among the classic works of the imagination. But below these two large classes there is a sea of trash and rubbish which ought never to be found on the shelves of Public Libraries, and to the credit of librarians and committees comparatively little of it is found. The present writer claims no position as a censor, but after searching through a large number of catalogues found not a single case of a library having in its catalogue the works of two or three modern 179 Continental writers whoso productions are notoriously vicious in taste and demoralizing in tendency. Further than this, there never was a time in the history of Public Libraries when so much care was exercised in the selection of books as at the present time. This augurs well for the future of Public Libraries, and it is the writer's firm conviction that the question is one which will very fairly take care of itself if due discretion in the selection of books is exercised. Public Libraries have a cosmopolitan constituency for which to cater, and their supplies must be of a cosmopolitan character. The greatest good of the greatest number should be in this, as in other departments of life, an aim kept distinctly in view. The inveterate and insatiable hunter and reader of the latest three-volume novel, no matter of which sex the borrower may be, is beginning to be more and more discouraged. The dis- continuance of Public Libraries purchasing these has been almost universal, and will soon become entirely so. As pointed out in another section of this work, these three-volume sets are nearly the most expensive to keep going of any books in a library. The binding in which the work is issued is of the flimsiest, and when it is necessary to have them re-bound the cost is treble what has to be paid for a single-volume novel. And, moreover, the best writers in the world of fiction now publish their books in single volumes. Library space is too valuable, or should be at least, to find shelf room for three volume sets, and the library which occupies its space and inflates its returns with them is rather to be pitied. Notwithstanding all these admissions, it may be still held that there is a class of fiction which is elevating and educating in its character, and there is no reason why the reading of this should be discouraged. Sir John Herschell, in an address which he delivered in the Windsor and Eton Public Library (which is not under the Acts), said : " The novel in its best form I regard as one of the most powerful engines of civilization ever invented." The writers of novels whom Sir John Herschell mentioned were Cervantes, Goldsmith, Edgworth, and Scott ; and since their time we have had Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, and Charlotte Bronte. And if that were true of novels of which Sir John Herschell spoke, it must, a fortiori, be truer now, if the splendid character of the fiction of the last half-century be considered. It is this fiction, so healthy in its character, with which we have to form and train our youth into a taste for reading. But it is essential to go a step further. Fiction is not merely an amuse- ment. It is, for the lives of a great many of our people, a necessary counterpoise to the monotony of mere mechanical employment. They want their imagination quickened, and the squalor and monotony of their daily lives glorified we may even use that word by fiction, such as that of Scott and the other writers who have been named. Once create the passion for read- ing, and it will not, it cannot, confine itself to reading for amuse- ment only. Many opinions could be given upon novel reading, but they have been so well and universally reported in the press that it is not necessary to do more than just refer to them here. 280 PUBLIC I.ir.RARIKS. The general consensus of opinion shows that, like all other things in life, there is a use and an abuse of it, and too frequently the latter rather than the former is the state of things. In the l*ublic Library of the future the reference department will lie looked upon as the chief section of the work of these places. By this it is not meant that they will become solely the repositories of scarce books, but where works of a valuable nature, too expensive to be purchased by ordinary mortals, will find a place. This is the most expensive part of Public Library work to main- tain, as the books are among the most expensive published. But that is all the more reason why every town and every extensive village centre should have one place in its midst where books on every conceivable subject can be consulted with equal facility by young people and adults of both sexes. We are now just beginning the last ten years which will complete the jubilee of the Ewart Act of 1850. The total number of adoptions up to the date of the issue of this edition is over 200. The large number of adoptions within four years is a very gratifying rate of progress. But instead of an average of say fifteen a year, why should we not have, during the next ten years, at least twenty, with a sound opinion that twenty-five or thirty should be the number ? This will give us as a goal, when the jubilee is reached in 1900, a grand total of 400 adoptions of the Acts ; and really, considering the rate at which the whole question is advancing, and the impetus which is being given to educational movements generally, it is not too much to set this number before us and work steadily with that object in view. So, friends of the movement everywhere, please buckle on your armour, and let there be a long pull and a strong pull and a pull altogether, and this desirable end will be accomplished. The ground is, in many parts of the country, cleared and ready to be occupied ; but in other counties there are difficulties still in the way which will make the task a very laborious and arduous one. Again, however, there comes the consolation that the movement depends, in every detail of its work, upon voluntary efforts. Herein lies its chief success, for only those, as a rule, take up the question who have the necessary grit to carry the matter to a successful issue. Friends and comrades everywhere, who are interested in this movement, it is a grand cause for which we are working. The object is no less than the common good of the whole people. The charity which begins at home is here true in the fullest and most comprehensive sense. Every man and woman who places a shoulder to the wheel to establish a Public Library, and to put it in successful operation, helps to start the ripples of a work which will never cease as long as time lasts ; but which will ever become wider and wider as the generations to come develop and extend the work. Here is a magnificent vista of usefulness for those seeking a mission. It is not a work for civil- izing the desert places of the earth, but one for the filling up of the desert places at home with that which can alone in this life give the most solid and lasting enjoyment. The pleasures which THE FUTURE OF PUTU.IO LIBRARIES. ETC. 28] live are those of the mind, and the environing of the heart and mind with the wisdom of the great intellects of the earth should be the aim of all. It is the supply of libraries in all directions which creates the demand. This is one of the most convincing proofs of the utility of these institutions, and it is a vital factor in the movement. What remains to be accomplished is vast, and as widely scat- tered as are the counties and shires of the whole United Kingdom and Ireland. To do justice to this part of the task would require each county being discussed separately in full, but this would require a second or third volume. In England the county towns of the following counties are still without Public Libraries, and in many cases without any attempt ever having been made to adopt the Acts: Durham, York, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Lancaster, Kutland, Gloucester, Bucks, Huntingdon, Lincoln, Essex, Surrey, Sussex, Wilts, Dorset, Somerset, and Cornwall. This is a list which tells up to a larger number than the county towns which have adopted the Acts. Taking the great trunk railway lines of the country as one of the criteria which could be named, seeing that they pass through the most populous towns, the nakedness of the land becomes terribly apparent. After a careful study of the maps of each separate large trunk line, it is clear that fifty, sixty, a hundred, and in some cases a hundred and fifty miles of the country are traversed by the railways, and there is not the slightest vestige of a Public Library. This is deplorable. Among the places where attempts have been made to adopt the Acts, but without success, the following may be given. It is to be hoped that some of these are again ready for a trial. Some places named have not previously attempted, but the movement is ripening for bringing to the vote. BATH has several times considered the question. A small reading-room and library were kept open by a former parlia- mentary representative, but closed on his ceasing to represent the constituency. Better a small library than none at all, but what are a few books and newspapers among so many '- Bath should not longer lag behind. BIRKDALE at present is dependent on Southport for its books. In March, 1889, a meeting was called to consider the advisability or otherwise of adopting the Acts. When the chairman of the Local Board took the chair there were only thirty present, and he asked whether it was wise to go on. The meeting was adjourned sine die. Try again, Birkdale, and educate your local public opinion. BURTON LATIMER, near Kettering, is a village with a population of 2,000, and a ratable value of 8,000, and would like to have a Public Library. What a boon a small Government grant would be here ! With an income of 30, the difficulties are unquestion- ably great. COLCHESTER. There was a distinct leaning for a Public Library as a movement in 1887, but there were too many schemes in the I'!- 1 !' PUBLIC LIBRARIES. field, and this, with other plans, went to the wall. A town of so great importance in the Eastern Counties should not be behind two small places in the county where the Acts have been adopted. .Many leading men in the district are in its favour. Colchester is soon likely to try again. COLNE took a vote upon the matter in April of last year, and failed to carry the Acts upon a demand for a poll. The vote was a little too hurriedly taken, and with a better attempt to educate the constituency a better result would probably come about. Now the statutory twelve months have intervened, try again, Colne, and follow Nelson. EASTBOUBXE had a suggestion before it twelve months ago that the market building should be acquired, and turned into a Public Library and Museum. Some obstacles are in the way, but there is a likelihood that the visitors who winter at this delight- ful place will urge the adoption of the Acts strongly upon the town. Cheltenham finds the library a decided boon for its visitors, and those who frequent Eastbourne would find a Public Library a similar advantage. EXMOUTH, that pretty little Devon watering-place, wants a library and reading-rooms. Many persons appear anxious that the attempt should be made, whilst others point at the absolute failure which has speedily overtaken every venture in that direction which has been hitherto made. But one important fact has been forgotten. There has been no institution of the kind which has been absolutely free. The admission fees have been low, but current coin of the realm has had to be parted with before a glance at a paper could be obtained. FABNWOBTH, near Bolton, introduced the subject some two or three years ago, but nothing was done. There are several works of considerable size in the district, and a large working-class element. BUBNLEY has several times had the matter before it, but there is need of a provisional committee to take the question in hand, and organize. The presence of the Mechanics' Institution is the principal argument against the establishment of a Public Library, and had this institution not met the want of a cheap resort for consulting book and newspaper literature, a Public Library would in all likelihood have been established long ago. The Mechanics' Institution of Burnley is a strengthener of all that is good in the town. It is the popular resort of the reading public, and as a democratic institution it has no enemies. Any Public Library at Burnley ought to be in some way associated with the Mechanics' Institution. May such a desirable consummation soon be brought about. GLOI-CESTEB took the vote in March, 1887. From the first the promoters of a Public Library were outvoted, notwithstanding that 1,600 persons had signed the requisition to the Mayor to call the preliminary meeting. For adopting the Acts, 916 ; against, 2,259. The majority against the adoption of the Acts was 1,343. There can be no doubt that the defeat was caused by a few who TIII i in UK OF prnur LIBRARIES, ETC. 283 made use of the cry, " Vote against increased Taxation," to give them the support of the lower-class ratepayer at the time of municipal elections. This opposition was coupled with the oppo- sition of the public-houses, and the two pulling together were too sti'ong for them. The movement has many warm friends in Gloucester. Is not the time ripe for another attempt - 1 HASTINGS. The opposition to the movement is, strange to say, strongest in the south of England. On a previous occasion there was an unsuccessful attempt to carry the Acts. The offer of 1,000 from Mr. II. Barlow AVebb, a magnificent building erected by Lord Brassey, and some other promises amounting to 500, brought the question again forward. Some good meetings were held, at which most able speeches were made, and active steps taken to spread information upon the subject. The promoters advocated only a halfpenny rate. It is acknowledged on all hands that the reference library established at the cost of Lord Brassey is not being put to the use which the donor intended when he made a present of it to the borough. Here is another of the many instances where libraries, gifts of generous donors, or other- wise outside the Acts, ai'e rarely, if ever, put to the fullest and most legitimate use that would be the case if established under the Acts. The offer of these splendid gifts, if the Acts were adopted, failed to bring the matter to a successful issue. The statutory meeting held last February was of a very stormy character, and the vote was against the adoption. On a poll being taken the majority of the opposition was over 400. There was a powerful combination against the adoption, the leaders of both sides of politics being on this side, and there were other causes which told in the scale against the friends of the movement. A vigorous and plucky fight was made, and the time will come when Hastings will be in line on this question. In the meantime let there be more light on this question everywhere, for the more is known about these institutions the more friends are won over. The opponents celebrated their victory by a banquet, at which they congratulated themselres on saving the parish a halfpenny rate in the pound per year for library purposes. HENDON. A proposal is made tor the formation of a Public- Library in Hendon. Middlesex has not, as yet, shown very much public spirit in the matter of libraries. One thing the advocates of the Hendon scheme must admit at the outset : Mill Hill and Child's Hill cannot possibly have reading-rooms and libraries all to themselves. Nor would it be at all necessary for them to be provided at. those places. Given a central library in Hendon, the arrangement of a system by which the outer wards could exchange is a mere detail for future settlement, and is scarcely likely to be allowed to stand in the way of such a useful and beneficial institution for the whole district. ISLE OF AVIGHT has not yet one single adoption of the Acts. At the end of 1887 the vote was taken at AVest Cowes. On a demand for a poll only 324 papers were returned from a total of 1,600, Out of the number stated the majority against was eighty- 1> t PI BLIP LIBRARIES. four. Ryde, Shanklin, and Ventorhave also discussed the subject ; but the little island still stands where it did in this movement, and has not one rate-supported library. By-and-bye, no doubt, the good people of the island will come to see that Public Libraries are as useful as fashionable yacht clubs. ISI.KWORTH. In March, 1890, the Heston and Isleworth Local Board affirmed the principle of a rate-supported library. The ratable value is set forth as 44,780 in Heston and k~~>,-24-2 in Isleworth. making a total of 120,0?. On this basis a penny rate would produce about 500. This is, of course, a very modest sum to distribute over three townships. But there are some special advantages. Isleworth has the Public Hall Library, respectably stocked with books, but needing a much fuller supply than the existing funds can give. Hounslow till recently possessed a subscription library at the Town Hall, but lack of enterprise on the part of the owners caused it to be discontinued. There are, however, two church libraries which circulate pretty freely through the town, and Heston has also a public institution. It will be seen, therefore, that the encouragement of reading in the district, if cramped in various ways, has not been wholly lost sight of. Tlu's gives weight to the argument for the Public Library. Sub- scription and church libraries were very well in their day. They met a need which could be supplied then in no other way. But with the creation of the larger, more popular, and more compre- hensive institutions, their work attained a range and individual perfection which has gratified nobody more than their promoters. These districts will, no doubt, be soon added to the list. KEXDAL, with its 21 ,000 people, is still out of the hunt. In 1887 the question was well to the front. The " Kendal Mercury " has ably advocated the adoption of the Acts. Surely Kendal will not take a back seat to Workington and Whitehaven. The town has always displayed a commendable public spirit. Why should this not be the case in this movement ? LEIGH is another Lancashire town which has touched the question, but has not yet seriously taken up the matter. With a very large population, and numerous cotton mills, collieries, and machine works in the district, and a large ratable value, Leigh should be one of the first towns to now place itself in line. LONGTON. A Public Library is greatly wanted here, and the question has been several times mooted. This is the note which has been recently sounded in the borough. To an outsider it is a matter of real surprise that a town which possesses so much public spirit, and which has in several important matters stepped in advance of its neighbours in the Potteries, should in this one respect be so greatly behind the times. Of the larger towns in the Potteries (and it might also be said in this part of North Staffordshire), Longton is the only town which has not adopted the Acts. LOWESTOFT. The late Sir Morton Peto was very closely as- sociated with this thriving watering-place. So much so, in fact, that the Mayor haa described him as " Lowestoft's greatest bene- THK Kl TrUK OK 1M*BUC LIBRARIES, ETC. lV."> factor, and the founder of its prosperity." A few months ago a well-attended meeting- was hold to consider the desirability of perpetuating his memory by the erection of a suitable memorial in the town. A Public Library to be known by his name has met with very warm support, and the scheme is being well and favour- ably considered. The sympathies of Sir Morton were ever with the people, and no better memorial than this could be established. NEWBURY (BERKS). The question was brought forward early during 1889, but has been allowed to slide. This town, of over ten thousand people, greatly needs provision for its book-needs, and the subject will, it is to be hoped, soon again come before the people. It should be the first town in Berkshire to adopt the Acts after Reading. PETERBOROUGH has once or twice had the subject introduced in the town. The Young Men's Christian Association has expired, and it was suggested that a Public Library was the best thing to take its place. And so it is. Try it, Peterborough, and see if such is not the case. The old cathedral towns do not so far shine par- t'Vularly well in this movement. A good friendly lead is wanted. RAWMARSH was again, this last January, thinking about the question. Many of the people here use the Rotherham Public Library. But why should not Rawmarsh be independent, and have its own institution ? STONEHOUSE (PLYMOUTH). A movement in the direction was made a short time ago, and a committee of the board called together ; but the present time is considered inopportune, in con- sequence of certain financial burdens which have been incurred by the township. The matter is therefore postponed. TAUNTON. The county of Somerset does not yet possess a single adoption of the Acts. A strong committee took the preliminary work in hand on the occasion of a further attempt to carry the Acts in the beginning of 1888. Aided by the " County Gazette," and other local papers, they did their best to educate the local public. But the fates were sadly against them. Probably the most uproarious statutory meeting which has been held for a long time took place at Taunton in January, two years ago. On a poll being taken there was a majority against the adoption of 647. The number of abstentions was large, but it was satisfactory to note that five years previously, when the vote was taken, the number against was nearly treble what it was on the last occasion. Unscrupulous opponents had frightened the poorer people into the belief that their rents would be raised by the adoption of the Libraries' Acts to such a fabulous amount that they would be unable to pay them, and the workhouse would be the only place of refuge from the library rate. That such arguments were used was evident from the unseemly demonstration that took place at the public meeting, and one can hardly be surprised that these deluded ratepayers did vote against the movement. The opposi- tion had been well organized and well convassed, and on polling day care was taken that very few of them neglected to record their vote. On the other hand, the promoters showed considerable 286 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. indifference in the matter, or trusted too much in the common sense of the voters. Taunton will be soon ready for another attempt, when it is hoped a better result will be seen. TORQUAY. In the district of St. Mary Church there has been carried on for more than a year, by the aid of voluntary sub- scriptions, a Public Lending Library. Though on a small scale, it has been much appreciated, and the committee have begun an agitation with a view of adopting the Public Libraries' Acts. There is opposition, but they hope to succeed, and there is every probability of their doing so. TOTTENHAM (MIDDLESEX) refused the Acts in December last, but there was a little undue haste in bringing the matter to a vote. The apathy both for and against the Acts was great. Now the question has made such a distinct advance the Acts will no doubt be adopted at the end of the current year. WEYMOUTH. In April, 1890, the vote was taken here and lost. There was, unfortunately, no serious attempt made to educate the people upon the matter. WITHIXGTON is one of the suburbs of Manchester, and some of the leaders of local public opinion do not see why they should be dependent on Manchester for their supply of books. And quite right too. After Sale, and so many other suburbs of Cottonopolis, surely the time for "Withington to enfranchise itself has now been reached. YORK. In no town or city has the movement had more earnest friends than in York, and yet it has been terribly unsuccessful. After a preliminary committee had carried on an active canvass, the statutory meeting was called for August, 1887. Subscriptions to the extent of 5,000 were promised, and a large and suitable building could have been acquired on most advantageous terms. Excellent speeches were made in favour of the motion, and throughout there was a high-class tone. The opposition was well organized, and came from very influential quarters. The resolu- tion was lost by a large majority. A poll was demanded, and on this being taken the majority against stood at 817. Fourteen years previously, when the poll was taken, the number against stood much higher. With a population of nearly 70,000, and a city noted for its intelligence, the result was greatly regretted by the friends of the movement : but the defeat was taken with a good grace, and the time is now within measurable distance, when the decision will be reversed. If the clergy and others who aid in forming local opinion, while ready to record their vote in favour, will contribute their active support, and work instead of giving a merely nominal allegiance, success will be assured. Sooner or later York is sure to be added to the list, and there are evidences that it will be sooner rather than later. The county town of the largest county in the country should surely not be in the rear in this question. The question has been brought forward in the following, amongst other places. In several of the towns named an unsuccessful attempt has been made to carry the Acts Ashford (Kent), PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 287 Chelrasford, Grant-ham, Huddersfield, Hull, Hoi-wich (Lane.), Hove (Brighton), Ilkeston, Kettering, Lincoln, Luton, Monk Bretton, Newton Abbot, Penzance, Pocklington, Rugby, Rugeley, Sutton Coldfield, Stonebridge, Tunbridge Wells, Tyldesley (Lane.), Windermere, York, &c. CHAPTER XVIII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. |)HE barometer of the Public Library movement is evidently located in London. In no part of the United Kingdom has the progress been so rapid, and the development so universal as in the Metropolis. For thirty-six years the large provincial towns had been pointing the finger at London, and consoling themselves that in this movement, at least, they were not as the sluggish folks in the Metropolis. London might, they said, be the hub of the universe, so far as wealth, size, and importance was concerned, but in the Public Library movement, the capital was apparently content to take a very back seat. Londoners who had drifted up from some of the large provincial centres, and who had been accustomed to use the libraries in the towns they had left, were often stung to the quick when reminded in their old haunts of the dearth of Public Libraries in London. Place after place in the Metropolis had, up to 1886, tried to carry the Acts, and had met with failure so utterly disheartening that the movement seemed to have lost all its friends. Up to the end of 1886 only two parishes within the metropolitan area had adopted the Acts. The number at the time of writing (June, 1890), is nineteen out of the sixty-seven parishes in which the Metropolis is divided. In addition to this, many London parishes which have not yet adopted the Acts have given some thought and attention to the question. It has been to the present writer a source of inspiration to compare the letters bearing upon this question received by him, prior to 1886, and those to hand since that time. The tone of those of a few years ago was in some cases that of utter hopeless- ness. The forces of ignorance, apathy, and the utter indifference of the average Londoner to anything outside his very limited circle constituted obstacles so great, that to attack these seemed almost like a forlorn hope. But the work of the Board Schools had in the meantime been going steadily forward. An extension of the means of locomotion which had enabled many Londoners to see provincial libraiies, and especially the increasing power of the newspaper press, had been so thoroughly preparing the soil, that when the movement did once take root its growth was rapid, until now London, so far as these institutions are concerned, is like a giant Oliver Twist asking for more. On all sides there arc buoyancy and hopefulness, and those who have stood by the movement all through feel that the battle has been worth fighting, because it has helped to place these libraries on such 28H PUBLIC LIBRARIES. a footing that nothing can now retard their extension and development. The number of these earnest friends who, through evil and good report, have for a long period been like prophets crying in the wilderness, is large ; and now that success is assured, the highest praise which can in connection with the movement be bestowed, is due unreservedly to those who have in the various parishes held aloft the torch of educational advancement. They are witnessing the result of their labours, and it is something of which to be proud to have borne a part in a cause which has brought elevating amusement and solid instruction into thousands of lives and homes. The parish of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, to its everlasting credit, was the first to adopt the Acts. This it did in 1856, and no further adoption took place until 1883, when Wandsworth followed. A lapse of twenty-seven years represents a far cry, and during that period there was much quiet sowing of seed, which was of unquestionable benefit when the break did come in 1886. At the end of that year, Lambeth and Fulham followed each other quickly with unmistakable verdicts, and gave us the turning of the tide which will ultimately lead on to the fortune of nearly every parish in London adopting the Acts. The progress has been so rapid and solid that it now requires but little force to help it onwards, and a few more years will see the circle fairly complete. In the two former editions of this book, a chapter on the London Public Libraries was only practicable by going outside the metropolitan area for examples. The extreme suburban districts, such as Richmond, Kingston, Twick- enham, Wimbledon, and Baling had taken the lead, and had adopted the Acts. These places, in order to help out the arithmetic and so prevent the barrenness of the land from being too apparent, were included among the London Public Libraries. Now it is no longer necessary to do this. Credit is due to the places named for having been in the very front rank to move in the matter, and their example had a most useful influence. While, however, there is much to give pleasure and satisfaction to the friends of this movement, there is still much to be done, and it is desirable that all who have the question at heart should do what they can to rouse the districts where the Acts have not yet been adopted. We still compare badly in point of number with Paris and Berlin. The statement is made, on the authority of Professor Paloczy, that there are in Berlin twenty-five Public Libraries, with more than 100,000 volumes each. This gives a proportion of over two volumes per head of accessible literature for every man, woman, and child in the Prussian capital. There is nothing corresponding to this in London or Paris. The library of the British Museum contains about 2,000,000 volumes, the great National Library in Paris over that number ; but the former, though fairly accessible, is not so in the sense that a Public Library is ; while at the latter the facilities for consultation and reference, even when the necessary credentials are obtained by the applicant, are very unsatisfactory. The Germans have PUBLIC I.IBRABIES IN LON'DOK. 289 long enjoyed the reputation of being the most " bookish " people in Europe, and it is pleasant to know that even amid their present devotion to militarism they are not disposed to lose this reputation. Paris is equally well off in Public Libraries. There are in the French capital some eighty popular libraries distributed over various parts of the city. Many of these are municipal libraries, and are located in the town halls or in schools, and are supported by municipal funds. The more intelligent of former scholars of primary schools constitute their chief readers. Of the total number named there are about fifty-eight municipal libraries. Seven districts or arrondissements possess two of them, eight have three, and five four. The most populous districts have the largest number. The city spends yearly 4,480 (112,000 francs) in pur- chasing new books and in binding. The salaries are 3,880 a year. For 1887 the number of books consulted on the premises or taken home to read is given as 1,994,000 ; in 1888 it was above two millions; but in 1889 there seems to have been a decline in the number. The establishment of these libraries has been very rapid. Under the Empire they do not seem to have existed. Between 1871 and 1878 a number of libraries were established, but it was not until the later date, and the years immediately following, that the municipal authorities determined to plant libraries in the various districts. Paris and Berlin have thus taken the lead, but neither in the total number of these institutions, nor in point of the use made of them by the public, shall we, after a short interval, be behind these cities. We need ask for only very limited grace, and we shall be able to show a better and more extended use of the Public Libraries than is the case in Paris. The libraries in London are chiefly now in course of erection, but we shall not require to add the returns of. eighty libraries together to reach a total of two million issues in 'the year for reference and lending. We are on the eve of great things in Public Library work in London, and all arrears will be quickly overtaken ; and, if we are not greatly mistaken, both Paris and Berlin will be left very much in the rear. In neither of those cities does the Public Library system appear to develop, and it may be gravely doubted whether there is the same universal interest in these institutions that has now been awakened in London. The vast lift which was given to the municipal life of London in the passing of the Local Government Act, and the subsequent elections for the County Council, cannot be over-estimated. The utter absence of interest in local affairs in London up to the passing of that measure was the despair of all reformers. Now, while there is still a mountain of apathy and indifference to overcome, there is a spirit of inquiry and interest in the work of the County Council. In the securing of open spaces, and the administration of the public parks, the County Council have done real and lasting service. Those who captiously criticise the work of the council have really not gone minutely into the matter, or 19 290 PUBLIC T.IBBAKIES. they would recognize that out of the sea of talk there has been a solid residuum of useful work which is quietly revolutionizing London municipal life. The most pressing need which is now felt is for tin- formation of district councils, and then will begin the real municipal life of the Metropolis. Such a bill is now within measurable distance, and when it is placed upon the statute book it will mean the extinction of the vestries. The London vestries have been the butt of every reviler. So many metaphorical brickbats have been thrown at them that it is impossible for some of them not to have had a valid and reason- able cause for such castigation. But the intelligence of the vestrymen, and the quality of the work accomplished, has taken a step forward. It may be said with truth that, as governing bodies, they have caught the spirit of the day, and are determined to lift their administration into a position which will prevent them dying the ignominious death of the Metropolitan Board of Works. When their end comes they seem to have determined that the transference of power shall be done with dignity, and a consciousness that local public spirit in these latter days has not suffered in their hands. The formation of the district councils is perhaps yet several years distant. It should be urged upon the members of the vestries in parishes where the Acts have not yet been adopted to give this question of Public Libraries their serious and earnest consideration. The vestries can simplify the whole process of adoption by their action, and in no movement for the well-being of their neighbourhood could they more usefully devote their remaining days than to this of Public Libraries. It would be well if we could see one-half of the remaining forty-eight metropolitan parishes adopting the Acts before the district councils are launched. This ought to be possible, and it certainly is most desirable. The district councils will have to take the libraries as they find them, and individual parishes are likely, in many instances, to be better served by the commissioners elected by their own vestry deciding the pre- liminaries of where the library or libraries are to be erected. This is a matter of serious importance, and if the attention of the members on the vestries can be secured, and action towards the putting in operation of the Acts be decided upon, an excellent purpose will have been gained. A very earnest appeal is made to them to move in this matter at once, and so see that the library needs of their immediate district are met. In a limited few of the London vestries there has been the heartiest co-operation in this question ; but in others every species of obstacle has been placed in the way of gaining the adoption ; or, where this has been secured, every obstacle imaginable has been raised to thwart the wishes of the majority. This spirit of opposition is clearly declining, and that it may speedily disappear is devoutly to be wished. How much still remains to be done is shown by the following table : PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. Summary of a Return made \Utli April, 1889, to the House of Commons by the Local (joremment Hoard, showing the rates in the pound, the population, and the ratable value of the several jiin-ixhes of the Metropolis. The quinquennial valuation of 1890 has somewhat altered this table, but at the time of going to press (June, 1890) the Parliamentary return giving the amount of the gross rates of each parish was not published. The amount given as the yield from the rate is approximate, and may vary from the actual amount. -3 *f a S3 PARISH. I j|l t 3 - >88 IF. 5 >,| ( The parishes marked with an * i til _-- "-" ~~: *Q "o sjtg O cs 2*5 gS c o *> $~3 k s. d. St. Mary, Strand . . 1,989 39,750 3 7 165 St. James, Westminster 29,941 702,544 3 10 2,927 St. Martin-in-the-Fields 1887 17,508 468,527 3 10 1,952 St. Saviour, Southwark . 14,999 222,168 3 11 925 St. George, Hanover Sq. 89,573 1,743,308 3 1U 7,263 Islington . . 282,865 1,618,863 4 I-? 6.745 St. Thomas, Southwark . 781 14,962 4 2 62 St. Olave, Southwark . . 2,247 102,407 4 2 426 St. Clement Danes . . 10,280 170,055 4 2 708 St. Margaret and St. 1 John, Westminster ( 1856 59,926 740,596 4 2i 3,085 Horselydown 8,928 75,491 4 3 314 Paddington 107,218 1,275,024 4 4i 5,312 Kensington 1887 163,151 1,846,647 4 6J 7,694 St. John, Wapping . . . . 2,225 56,979 4 6i 237 Soho . . 16,608 117,387 4 6 489 St. Paul, Covent Garden 2,919 91,794 4 6| 382 St. Pancras 236,258 1,567,863 4 8 6,532 Stoke Newington 1890 22,781 184,052 4 8 766 Marylebone 154,910 1,431,719 4 10 5,965 Ratcliffe 16,107 65,052 4 10 271 Christ Ch., Southwark 1888 13,663 103,178 4 10A 429 *Camberwell 1889 186,593 1,018,45] 4 11" 4,243 Shoreditch . . 126,591 042,849 4 11 2,678 Hampstead 45,452 575,632 5 2,898 Streatham 1889 21,611 290,561 6 1,210 St. George-in-the-East.. 47,157 184,281 5 1 767 Chelsea 1887 88,128 613,723 5 2 2,667 Battersea 1887 107,262 646,681 5 2 I'.ti'.U Hackney 163,681 927,623 5 2 3,864 Holborn (St. Andrew & 1 St.Grge.-the-Mrtyr.) j 28,874 208,191 5 3 867 Kidbrook 2,166 21,839 5 3 90 Wandsworth . . . . 1883 . 28,004 227,603 5 4 948 292 PfBI.IC LIBRARIES. PARISH. ( Tli' i>nnah's marktd with an * Itin-r tiiloptrd t/if Arts.) Acts adopted. Population according to Census of 1881. Ha table value, accordinfr to Valuation Lists for 1887. Bates in the for the year ending Lady Day, 1888. A mte ol a penny in the per year on the KTOSS would produce s. d. 'Hammersmith 1887 71,939 490,853 5 4 2,045 Deptford (St. Paul) . . 76,752 438,955 5 4 1,828 Lambeth 1886 253,699 1,483,659 5 4^ 6,181 Bloomsbury (St. Giles I and St. George) \ 45,382 383,979 5 5 1,599 * \Yhitechapel 1889 30,709 176,325 5 5 734 Fulham 1886 42,900 343,572 5 5 1,431 *Bermondsey 1887 86,652 404,297 5 6 1,684 Rotherhithe . . 1887 36,024 206,319 5 6 854 Deptford (St. Nicholas) 7,901 52,620 5 6 219 Poplar 55,077 306,146 5 6^ 1,275 'Clapham 1887 36,380 250,205 5 6 1,042 Woolwich 36,665 142,069 5 7 591 Christ Ch., Whitechpl. ( (otherwise Sptlflds.) | 21,340 75,848 5 7 316 *Putney 1887 13,235 138,198 5 7i 575 *Clerkenwell 1887 69,076 350,128 5 8 1,458 Mile End (Old Town) . . 105,613 367,464 5 8 1,531 Newington (Surrey) . . 107,850 452,645 5 8 1,886 Saffron Hill 3,980 77,139 5 8 321 Plumstead 33,250 112,172 5 8 467 Minories . . 449 8,278 5 8 34 Limehouse 32,041 131,930 5 9 549 Charlton . . 8,764 57,061 5 9 237 St.George-the-Martyr, 1 Southwark . . ( 58,652 265,866 5 10 1,107 Lewisham 53,065 463,757 5 10 1,932 Eltham . . 5,048 47,496 5 11 197 Stratford (Bow) . . 37,074 148,539 6 618 Bethnal Green 126,961 400,923 6 2 1,670 St. Sepulchre (Holborn) . . 2,404 42,870 6 2 178 Lee 14,435 133,990 6 2 558 Mile End (New Town) . 10,673 30,898 6 2 128 Greenwich . . . . . . 46,580 252,216 6 3 1,050 Shadwell 8,170 48,759 6 3 203 Bromley-by-Bow . . 64,359 224,485 6 4 935 St. Luke, Finsbury 46,849 293,747 6 6 1,223 Tooting 3,942 24,936 6 6 103 Analysis : 1856, one ; 1883, one ; 1886, two ; 1887, ten ; 1888, one ; 1889, three ; 1890 (up to June), one ; total, nineteen. N.B. The average of the rates in the Metropolis, exclusive of the City, is 5s. 2d. in the pound. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 293 The parishes are mentioned in the order in which they have adopted the Acts. As most of them are only just beginning their work, few statistics have been quoted. Within a year or two a separate volume will be necessary to record the work of the London Libraries. AVESTMINSTEH. 1856. The parishes of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, moved in the matter immediately after the passing of the 1865 Act. Mr. VV. Page Wood, afterwards Lord Hatherley, took an active part in the formation of the library, and acted as a commissioner until his death. He gave considerable aid to get the bill through the two Houses of Parliament. There was a severe struggle to secure the adoption of the Acts, and the publip meeting called to decide the question was a case of confusion worse confounded. This can be easily understood, for even much later than May 19, 1856, the date on which Westminster settled the matter, statutory meetings called to decide the question were scenes of rowdyism and rascality let loose. Westminster has been very modest over being the first metropolitan parish to carry the Acts, but now that the turn of the tide has come, no stinted praise should be given to the place which, first in this large city, lifted aloft the Public Library banner. This is no light honour, and is one which redounds greatly to the credit of the parish lying under the very shadow of the two Houses of Parliament and England's pride the incomparable Abbey. The library had its origin in the local one founded in 1840, called the Westminster Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' Insti- tution. The history of the Westminster Institution is not unlike that of the Birkbeck Institution. It began with a view chiefly to the improvement of the working classes, with which Westminster was densely populated before the middle of the present century. Starting with the co-operation of all classes, who gave subscrip- tions in money and donations of books, temporary premises were engaged in Little Smith Street and an assembly room in Vincent Square. The establishment of reading-rooms, class-rooms, and lecture-room followed. These were maintained partly by volun- tary teachers and lecturers, and great servic2 was rendered to the working classes, for whom it was chiefly established. Prosperity was before it, and further efforts were made, resulting- in an abandonment of the former premises and securing a double house at the south-east corner of the then Great Smith Street, adjoining which was a piece of vacant ground capable of the erection thereon of a large lecture-room with class-rooms under it. There is some appropriateness in the fact that now, when so many new libraries are in course of construction or contemplated, Westminster should just be beginning to build a new home for its head-quarters, and so will by-and-bye have something to show instead of the inconvenient and overcrowded premises where they have been for so many years. On August 20, 1889, Mr. John Thornhill Harrison, C.B., Local Government Board 294 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. inspector, held an inquiry as to a proposed scheme to erect new public baths and wash-houses, and a Public Library attached, on MM i-vtrndfd site in (Jmit Smith Street. A good deal of local interest was taken in the inquiry, especially as the Ratepayers' Protection Association for the. united parishes decided to oppose the scheme, and issued notices throughout the parish to that effect. There was a large attendance of ratepayers. The removal of the library, it was alleged, had become imperative, on account of the Church House Committee having expressed a desire to terminate the present lease and occupy the premises themselves. The area required for the purposes of the library is 5,090 square feei, aad in addition (MJ square feet, which it is proposed to throw into the roadway, thus effecting a public improvement, the thoroughfare at present being narrow and dangerous. The baths and wash-houses were the first erected under the Act, some f orty- BATHS WESTMINSTER NEW PUBLIC LIBRARY. five years ago, and had become, according to a report submitted to the Vestry, so dilapidated as to be unfit for the present require- ments of the inhabitants. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners expressed their willingness to dispose of certain land and property to the Vestry at a lower price than they would to a private individual, as it was for public institutions. It is impossible here to refrain from expressing a wish that the Ecclesiastical Com- missioners could see their way to give sites for merely nominal sums for the purpose of building libraries upon them. The Commissioners are the great ground landlords of London. A large proportion of the funds administered by them are public funds, and there are no institutions so thoroughly public in their character as Public Libraries, and the gift of a site, or at all events of a reduction of fifty or seventy-five per cent, from the market value, would bring a great amount of prestige to the PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN LONDON'. 295 Commissioners, and they would be adopting a commendable act in applying public moneys to public uses such as that indicated. An elevation of the new building is shown. The frontage is severely plain, but that is necessitated by the street not being adapted for a large and showy building. Utility has been care- fully kept in view by the architect, Mr. F. J. Smith, and all the rooms for library purposes will be on the ground floor. The first floor will be occupied by the living rooms of the librarian, Mr. Henry E. Poole, who has been at Westminster for some ten years. A" constant stream of people goes in and out of the library and reading-room, and it is very satisfactory to note that the better- class Westminster people are beginning largely to use the library. The expenditure for the library portion of the new building will be about 12,000. During 1889-90 the number of books issued to borrowers was 163,358. There are now 22,347 books in the libraries, and the daily attendance averages 1,850. WANDSWOBTH. 1883. The library was opened two years after the adoption of the Acts, and has exhibited a rapid development in its work. Its suet-ess is owing largely to a local grand old man, Dr. Longstaff, who worked vigorously for the adoption of the Acts, and has all through been a good supporter of the institution, both financially and in other ways. With silvered hair and the weight of over eighty years, he still possesses immense energy ; and when on his favourite topic of education for working men, his voice rings out as loud and clear as it did fifty years ago. The unfortunate side of the Wandsworth work is that in the first instance a building should have been taken for the purpose of adapting it as a Public Library. This is not very centrally situated, and affords another of the many examples that adapted buildings are rarely ever successful when viewed from the standpoint of convenience and utility. Within a comparatively limited time after opening it was seen that an addition was necessary, and Dr. Longstaff, at his own expense, built a new wing for a reading-room, bearing the name of the venerable donor. At the end of 1889 the same gentleman promised to give 2,000 towards the debt of double that sum on the building, on condition that the balance was raised by a given date. Wandsworth is likely to see this burden lifted, and will then have the full use of the rate, which produces about 77o. Mr. Cecil T. Davis, the librarian, has charge of 10,822 volumes, the present stock of the library, and of these there is an annual turnover of some nine or ten times. There are frequently as many as 1,800 readers visit the library in a single day. The local press give good publicity to the work. Fi i. HAM. DECEMBEB, 1886. Fulham led the way among the London parishes, preceding Lambeth by a few days. Interest centred in the larger and better known parish, but it is greatly to the credit of Fulham that it should have taken so worthy a lead. The movement was admirably 296 PfBLIC LIBRARIES. generalled, and the votes in favour were nearly three to one. On October -20, 1888, the new building, erected at a cost of 6,000, was opened by the Bishop of London. The new building is on the main road to Putney and Richmond, in the centre of Fulham. Mr. J. G. Hall was the architect, and Mr. Charles Wall, of Chelsea, the builder. The reading-room is 70 ft. long, 30 ft. wide, and in height 22 ft. The ceiling was . beautifully decorated by a firm of Italian artists. In the front of the building are the lending and reference libraries, the ladies' reading-room, and the commissioners' room, on the first floor ; the remainder being occupied by Mr. H. Burns, the able librarian. The number of volumes is not yet lai'ge for a population of 77.000, being under 5,000, but this is a defect with which the commissioners are actively coping, seeing they spent nearly 300 in one year on books. The issues reach about 500 per day, so that the stock is turned over every fourteen days. The Fulhamites are evidently a reading people, and mean to get their full pennyworth out of the library, and for that decision they are not to be blamed. No fewer than a thousand people visit the various departments daily. This is by no means an indifferent record for so short a time. Some important alterations have become necessary, and the library will be closed for a time in the middle of 1890. LAMBETH. DECEMBER, 1886. The success of the Lambeth Public Libraries has exceeded the most sanguine expectations. The struggle to secure the adoption of the Acts was exceedingly arduous, and nothing but the indomitable energy and determination of the promoters carried the question through. Lambeth covers so vast an area that this presented a serious obstacle, and made it difficult to place before the ratepayers a scheme which would win the sympathy and approval of the majority of the people. The promoters, however, were brave men, and after the question having been lost on two previous occasions, it was, on the third time of asking, carried through to a satisfactory issue. Within reasonable time, after the adoption of the Acts, commissioners were appointed, with the Hon. and Rev. Canon Pelham, the rector of the parish, as chairman, and who all through has taken the warmest and most earnest in- terest in the development of the work. The commissioners early called to their aid a most experienced librarian in Mr. F. J. Bur- goyne, of the NeAvcastle-on-Tyne and Darlington Public Libraries, who has done himself great credit in his administration. Lambeth has been exceptionally fortunate in gifts, and the record of them will perhaps create a little heart-burning in other parishes. At the present time over 50,000 has been given for library buildings and sites, and about 5,000 volumes. This more than justifies the statement repeatedly made in these pages, that the generous giving for library purposes is wisely reserved by the donors for rate-supported libraries, where there is the best and most secure prospect of their gift having the widest and fullest use, and where the continuity in management is assured. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 297 In July, 1888, the first of the libraries was opened at West Norwood, by the Earl of Northbrook. The elevation presents a very attractive appearance, and it has been erected on a site given by Mr. F. Xettlefold. The front is faced with red bricks relieved with stone and terra-cotta, the arches and other parts being of gauged work. The roofs are tiled. The pilasters over the main entrance have busts of men eminent in literature all the other carving being emblematic of the use for which the building is erected. In the basement are lavatories, a large book- store, heating chamber, &c., and over the front portion is a librarian's house. The fittings have all been specially designed by the architect, and the book-shelves are adjustable to any size book. Every book in the library is shown on the Cotgreave indicator, which is on the counter. The floors are of wood blocks, and the ventilation, warming, and lighting, have been carefully considered. The architect is Mr. S. R. J. Smith. A.R.I.B.A. There is a reference room 40 ft. by 23 ft., and a periodical and newspaper and reading-room of a similar size, both top lighted ; in addition to which there is a ladies' reading-room and a book department for lending library capable of holding 23,000 books. The general style of the work is Flemish, and some what similar to buildings which one sees in Bruges, Ghent, and other Belgian towns. The architect selected this style on account of its picturesqueness and adaptability to the site on a hill. A most encouraging phenomenon was witnessed at this library in August, 1889. The buildings had been closed for a week for the ordinary purpose of cleaning and arranging, so that readers had been deprived of their privileges for that short period. "When the day of re-opening arrived the doors were surrounded by an eager crowd. At West Norwood the road was blocked by an expectant throng of three or four hundred people, long before the library was opened. All day long the people came in to borrow books, and at nightfall no fewer than 1,148 volumes had been taken out, about one-fifth of the Avhole stock the lending library possesses. In December of the same year there was opened the Tate Public Library, erected in South Lambeth Road, the site for which was purchased for 1,160 by Mr. Henry Tate, who also defrayed the cost of the building, which amounted to 4,800. It is very appro- priate that one of the Lambeth libraries should be placed in the South Lambeth Road. Close to the spot where the Tate Library stands, old John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I., established one of the first museums ever formed in England. The collection of curiosities formed by the Lambeth gardener passed into tha hands of Elias Ashmole, and ultimately this collection developed into the Ashmolean Museum, the pride of Oxford. At the open- ing of this Tate Library a letter was read from the donor, who was unable to be present at the ceremony, in which he referred to the great need which existed for a library at Brixton, and that the land and the buildings would cost some 10,000. He offered to provide half that sum if the remaining half was provided within three or four months from that time. 298 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. In November, 1889, the third of the Public Libraries was opened by Lord Rosebery. This building is situated in Lower Kenning- ton Lane, and has been erected from the designs of Mr. S. R. J. Smith. The whole cost of the building and site (about 10,000) has been defrayed by Miss J. Durning Smith, who is related to Mr. Edwin Laurence, one of the Lambeth Library commissioners. The front of the building is faced with red Fareham bricks and Portland stone, with granite columns to the porch and lead glazing in windows, several of the architectural features being in terra-cotta, with green slates to roof, and timberwork in upper portion of tower. The basement contains a large book store, heating chamber and coal cellars. On the ground floor are the reading and other rooms. There are magazine and reference rooms of similar size, each having hatches for inspection in direct communication with the central library, so that the librarian has full control over these rooms. There is also the lending depart- ment, 21 ft. by 55 ft., with a borrower's lobby communicating with the main corridor, which is arcaded and with glazed screens, and is 8 ft. wide throughout. There is also a women's reading- room, 13 ft. by 28 ft., communicating directly with lending library. The public rooms have brick facings in the interior. In the front part of the building are the librarian's apartments and committee room. The book-case fittings are in sequoia wood, and will accommodate 23,000 volumes. A further gift followed of a library now very soon to be opened, the gift of Mr. Minet, which is referred to under Camberwell. This will be under the joint control of Lambeth and Camberwell. The use of all these libraries, ever since they were opened, has grown most rapidly, and it is doubtful whether another parish in London receives so many tangible benefits out of a halfpenny rate as Lambeth. This is all that the promoters of the scheme in 1886 asked for, and all they were permitted to spend. The very success of the Lambeth movement brought such an influx of gifts that it was patent to all who take an interest in the move- ment that the halfpenny rate would be insufficient to maintain the libraries being erected at a rate so rapid and yet gratifying. In the autumn of 1889 there was an offer of 15,000 from Mr. John Xoble, of Henley-on-Thames, for a greatly needed central library, and there was attached to it a wise condition, that the ratepayers would sanction the full penny rate for the maintenance of this and its numerous branches. The issue was placed very clearly before the people, and in December, 1889, the poll was taken, but by a majority of 1988 it was rejected. This decision was to be deplored on many grounds. In the first place, the libraries' rate, unlike some other imposts, is one for which a visible and tangible equivalent is secured, and the increase in the Lambeth rates would have been small had the proposal been carried. Too many ratepayers, rendered suspicious by the extravagance of the public bodies in general, seem to forget the fact that the rate of a penny in the pound is the utmost allowed by the Acts of Parliament PUBLIC LIBRABIE8 IN LONDON. 299 regulating the establishment and support of Public Libraries. In this way, it may be, the Lambeth majority regarded the proposal for the halfpenny addition to the rate as only a forerunner of future attempts at further increases. It should, however, be borne in mind that libraries cannot be kept up efficiently, even when built by private munificence, without sufficient funds. It is a grudging spirit that accepts lands and buildings, and then hesitates to maintain these institutions in a fitting manner. It was to ensure that the proposed central library should not be starved for want of funds, that the gifts were made conditional on the ratepayers' approval of the penny rate. It is noteworthy that in the districts where the libraries have been already placed there was a solid vote in favour of the penny. This is decidedly instructive, and when the question comes forward again at the end of the present year it is to be hoped that a different result will be seen. Lambeth has done so well up to the present that there is too much good sense in the parish to spoil the ship for the proverbial ha'porth of tar. Nothing can ever rob the parish of having, with Fulham, been the first to give the new impulse which came to the movement in London. Every one of the fifteen other parishes which has since that time adopted the Acts owes something of its successful movement to the noble example set by Lambeth. It may be again said that the best educator in favour of Public Libraries is a successful rate-supported institu- tion in the near neighbourhood, where the people can for them- selves see the use made of all the departments which it provides. Lambeth bids fair to be a Public Library school for London, and it is essential that the school shall be well equipped, in order to set an example worth following. It can only do this by taxing itself to the full penny in order to avail itself of this very hand- some offer of site and building, and in addition to this to have two or three other branches erected in various parts of the parish. It is incumbent upon those who know the pleasures of books and reading, to perform their share of educating the people upon the pressing needs of this additional halfpenny. A thousand people visit daily the three libraries and newsrooms which have been opened at the date of writing. AVhen there is a central library and two or three more branches opened it is not improbable that, when they get in thorough working order, no fewer than 10,000 people will visit the libraries every day. Already the number of borrowers using the three institutions is over 10,600, and there is no reason why, under the bright prospects in store for the parish, this number should not reach 30,000 actual current borrowers availing themselves of the advantages of the library. The following scene took place at the Norwood Public Library : Enter wondering ratepayer : " Anything to pay ? " Attendant : " No, this is a Public Library, to which entrance is free." Rate- payer (in amazement) : Good gracious ! And can you read these books for nothing ? " Attendant : " All for nothing." Ratepayer : " And to think I was fool enough to vote against the libraries ! Why, I don't believe half the people who opposed the libraries 300 PUBLIC! LIBRARIES. had any idea what their vote meant." The same thing might be said of the London parishes where the movement has been defeated : that the people who vote against the adoption have no conception what they are opposing. The movement has many true friends in Lambeth, and the number of these friends is ever extending. The commissioners are all men of firm purpose, who have given time and thought and labour to the movement. The old friends of the movement like Mr. W. M. Symons and Mr. J. F. Bursill, one of the commissioners in a neighbouring parish, and many others, have through all the years from the time the movement was first introduced remained steadfast to it. The motto of all who have to do with the movement is " Advance Lambeth ! " The parish is six miles long, and there is a com- mendable desire that all in the parish shall be within reasonable distance of a library. The whole metropolis is watching Lambeth with considerable interest. ST. MABTIN-IN-THE-FIELDS. 1887. The question was carried through in this parish very quietly in the early part of 1887. The poll was not a large one, but there was an evident feeling, on the part of those who took an interest ST. MARTIN-IX-THE-FIELDS PUBLIC LIBRARY. in the question, that a parish with so many historical associations should not do less than Fulham and Lambeth, which had just preceded. In 1576, when the first poor-rate was levied, there were 164 ratepayers, and the amount realized 36. Now, a penny rate brings in" 2,000, and the tendency in ratable value is still upwards. A temporary newsroom was opened in Long Acre in LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 301 January, 1889, two years after the adoption of the Acts. The attendance has been considerable at this temporary rooin. On March 18, 1890, the Prince of Wales laid the foundation- stone of the new municipal buildings, and the memorial stone of the new library and reading-rooms. The library portion of this handsome pile of buildings is shown in the sketch on p. 300. The building will consist of four storeys. A half-basement, which will contain the lending library ; a ground floor room, 60 ft. long by 40 ft. wide, which will be the reading- room ; the next floor will be devoted to a large library of works of reference, rooms for the private perusal and study of such books, offices, and a board-room ; and the top floor is to be fitted as a residence for the librarian. Twelve months will be occupied in completing the building. The cost of the library building will be about 7,000. Mr. Thomas Mason is the librarian, and is an earnest worker in this movement. BATTBRSEA. MARCH, 1887. Within three years after the adoption of the Acts, the Battersea people see their new central library completed, and duly opened to the public. In 1883 a committee was formed, with Mr. George Harris as honorary secretary, for the purpose of promoting the adoption of the Acts, and in a quiet way this committee rendered good service, by bringing the question before the constituency. While not leading to the immediate adoption of the Acts, there is no doubt that it contributed towards that desirable result in 1887, when, out of a large poll, a very satisfactory majority declared in favour of the adoption of the Acts. The commissioners lost no time in appointing a good practical man as a librarian, and in July they selected, out of a large number of candidates, Mr. Lawrence Inkster, who had been for eight years librarian of the South Shields Public Library. The scheme of the commissioners was for a central library and two branches. In October, 1888, the first of these branches was opened. Prior to this, a temporary reading-room had been opened, and was much appreciated. At the Lammas Hall five rooms were rented by the commissioners, and about 4,600 books, with which the branch was opened, collected from various sources. The chairman, on that occasion, a well-known local man, said that he really could not understand how it was that London was so much behind the provinces in the matter of Public Libraries and other forward movements ; while the provinces were in turn far more backward than America, Canada, and Australia, where almost every village or hamlet had, if not a library, a reading- room. He regarded the Public Libraries now being established, as not only useful as places of instruction, but as affording means of recreation, as people who have been working hard all day, might be more benefited by reading something light and enter- taining, than by perusing more scholarly books. This branch is being exceedingly well used. The number of volumes is now not far short of 6,000, and the average daily issue is 347, required by 302 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. the 3,731 actual borrowers using the branch library, in January, 1889, permission was given to borrow for the purpose of building and stocking. This was followed in May of the same year, by the laying of the foundation-stone. On March 19, 1890, this building was opened by Mr. A. J. Mundella, M.P. The central library has been erected from the designs of Mr. E. W. Mountford. There are on the ground floor a newsroom, magazine room, and lending library, and on the floors above a large handsome reference library and book stores. The two reading rooms will accommodate 200 persons, and the reference library 100, making a total of 300 readers for whom provision is made, and the lending library is equal to the wants of 5,000 borrowers. The total cost of the building and site is about 10,000, which sum was borrowed, together with 2,000 for the Lurline C4ardens building, now in course of erection, and 2,000 for books, making a total debt of 14,000. The total number of volumes with which the library opened was 16,550, of which 10,115 are in the lending and 6,435 in the reference library. The newsroom has 1,034 ft. super., the magazine-room 890 ft. super., and the reference library 1,900 ft. super, of floor space. The accommodation is equal to 150,000 to 200,000 books, and so there is room in the library for growth. The style is Renaissance, but so designed that the building does not contrast in too marked a degree with the houses around the library. Battersea has thus now fairly begun its work, and means to hold its own in the library world of London. PUTNEY. MARCH, 1887. Putney early caught the Public Library fever, and declared in favour of the adoption of the Acts by 1,064 against 572. The temporary rooms were opened in March of the following year. Since then the number of volumes has been steadily advancing, and is now about 6,000. The first twelve months' use of the reference and magazine room was very encouraging. Between forty and fifty magazines and periodicals are taken, and in the newsroom there are about sixty newspapers and periodicals. The average daily number of visitors to all departments reaches about 750. Mr. C. F. Tweeney, the librarian, issued his first catalogue in August, 1889. The gifts have been over 2,500 volumes and about 200 in cash. CHELSEA. MAY, 1887. The provisional committee who conducted the contest meant to win. In no London parish was the issue placed better or more clearly before the constituency than in Chelsea. Looking back upon the literature distributed and the able advocacy given by the " West London Press " and other local papers, it would have been strange had success not attended efforts so well planned and so vigorous. Politicians of the fighting type from both sides were on the committee, and rendered excellent service. The requisition was signed by Earl Cadogan, Lord Monkeswell, the Right Hon. John Morley, M.P., the Rev. Gerald Blunt, the rector PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 303 oi the parish, and others, and the majority in favour was 1,031, out of a large poll. The number of blank and unsigned papers was rather large, but this could scarcely have been from a lack of instructions, as the friends of the movement issued a capital circular, making the way plain. Mr. B. AV. Findon, Mr. C. J. Corkran and the Kev. F. Helton, rendered excellent service. There were some initial difficulties over the collection of the rate, which led to the Amendment Bill of 1889 being brought forward U U UpD D D 1ILQ. B B B NEWS ROOM B B CHELSEA PUBLIC LIBBARY, GROUND FLOOR. and afterwards passed. This Act clearly lays down that the penny library rate cannot be charged with the poundage for collection. A temporary newsroom was opened in November, 18H7, in the Vestry Hall, and books were allowed for reference ; but no lending department for the central library will be opened until the new building is completed. The foundation stone of the permanent 304 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. building was laid by the Countess Cadogan, in February, 1890. The building 1 is in Manresa Road, King's Road, Chelsea. The entrance is through a handsome stone portico, supported by four columns, leading into a wide corridor, out of which there will be entrances t<> the principal departments on the ground floor viz., a general ivading-rooru for -2-20 readers, a boys' reading-room, a ladies' reading-room, and a lending library with shelving for 30,000 volumes. Some modification with regard to the ladies' and lx>ys' rooms will probably be made. A wide staircase will lead up to the reference library on the first floor, where will bo accommodation for 50,000 volumes, and a reading-room, designed for a quiet study, for eighty readers. The front elevation is of red brick, with white stone dressings, in the style of English Renaissance known as Queen Anne's, for which Chelsea enjoys a reputation. The designer and architect is Mr. J. M. Brydon, who was also the designer of the new Town Hall, Chelsea, the con- tractors being Messrs. Ilolloway Brothers. The total cost is estimated at about 10,000. The freehold site, valued at 2,500, together with the adjoining piece of land upon which is to be built the South- West Polytechnic, was the gift of Earl Cadogan to the people of the district. The Earl has also shown his interest in the library by a further gift of 350 for technical literature. Sir Charles Dilke, one of the commissioners, has given 500 and a number of valuable books, while Lady Lindsay and Mr. Councillor G. "W. Osborn have each given sums of money. About four miles from the boundary of the parish is an out- lying district known as Kensal Town, and here a branch library has been erected and was opened in January, 1890. It is under the charge of Mr. Preece, who came from the Barrow-in-Furness Library. On the ground floor are the newsf ooms, and a reference room, and the lending department is on the first floor. The elevation is very striking, and the future of the library is as bright and promising as can well be. Here there are about 5,000 volumes, which is a good beginning for a small library. As a London branch library, Kensal Town has some features worth noting. The site cost 2,000, and the best has been made of it that was possible. Where it is a choice of placing either the lending department or the newsroom on the ground floor, and the other on the first floor there can be no two questions that the newsroom should be there as at Kensal Town. The attendance of some 500 a day at the temporary reading- room in the Vestry Hall, is an earnest of what will be seen when the new building is completed. The chief librarian, Mr. J. Henry Quinn, who was for many years at the Liverpool Public Library, has his time well occupied in buying and cataloguing books. Chelsea means to have a good round number of volumes on the shelves by the time the doors of the new building are thrown open to the public, and in this decision they are acting wisely. The Rev. F. Relton has rendered useful service to the movement in London by visiting various parts of the Metropolis, and explaining points and giving suggestions to other Library Commissioners, PUBLIC LIBEABIES IN LONDON. 305 KENSINGTON. JUNK, 1887. There should be indelibly inscribed on the records of the Public Library movement in London the name of Mr. James Heywood, F.R.S. When in 1874 he opened his Public Library at Notting Hill, the Guildhall, British Museum, and Westminster libi'aries were the only libraries open free to the public in London. In 1878 the ratepayers of Kensington refused to adopt the Acts. Mr. Heywood and those who favoured the movement resolved to wait till the ratepayers were better informed. The Netting Hill Library was kept up by Mr. Heywood at his own expense, and in December, 1886, a new movement for the adoption of the Acts was set on foot, and probably one of the most influential and representative committees that has ever been got together in Kensington worked until, in June, the Acts were adopted by a large majority. The opposition at the last was very strong, but having been practically without leaders could not do the harm that was intended. Mr. Herbert Jones, who for fourteen years had been the librarian at Mr. Heywood's library, acted as honorary secretary of the provisional committee, and had been at work ceaselessly for months. He had secured the adhesion of every leading man, or by showing the strength of the committee, deterred waverers from joining the other side. He collected 1 ,300 towards the libraries, exclusive of Mi 1 . Heywood's gift. What was most to be feared was the apathy of the ratepayers and the example of Paddington, the next parish. Mr. Jones was an admirable organizer, and the success of the movement was largely owing to his untiring efforts. The appointment of this gentleman as librarian of the new Public Library was a most appropriate one, and there is every reason to think that he will do himself and the local public, whose servant he is, great credit by his administra- tion. In January, 1888, Mr. Heywood's library, valued at 500, was formally handed over. A committee was formed to consider the desirability of acknowledging in some suitable way his gift, and a bust of himself was decided upon. This is an admirable likeness oi Mr. Heywood, and has been placed in the Vestry Hall, which now forms one of the libraries. The Vestry Hall was declared open in December, 1889, by H.R.H. the Marchioness of Lome, at a very interesting ceremony. The first report presents an encouraging statement of what has been done up to date, and Kensington bids fair to get out of its half- penny rate per year, which produces 3,270, an excellent example of the multiplication of the infinitely little. The selection of books is admirable. Every taste has been carefully considered, and ultimately the reference department of the central library will be a strong feature of their work. The commissioners feel that Kensington has a reputation to maintain. With South Kensington Museum and the National History Museum situated in the parish, it is felt that in library work Kensington must in course of time occupy a prominent place. The two branches and the central library are now getting fairly under way with their work. The number of visitors daily to the various libraries and newsrooms is very large. 20 306 LIBRARIES. v II Hill I Many bet tor-class people use the libraries and reading-rooms, and the institutions have already fallen into their place in the local life of this the wealthiest parish in the whole of London, so far at least as the ratable value is concerned. Mr. Jones, the libra- rian, has displayed con- siderable ingenuity in the planning of library appliances. The peri- odical rack noticed in another chapter is the design of himself and another gentleman. lie has also planned a lad- der for use in libraries, which is shown in the sketch at side. This has a swing top, so that it always rests against the shelves and not the books. A port- able table is a capital addition to this. This fixes on to any step of the ladder, and for cleaning purposes, or for use when placing books back on the shelves, it is a capital contrivance. The card catalogue case is in use at Kensington, a drawer of which is here illustrated. The rod arrangement is very simple, and by turning a little catch at the back of the case PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 307 it prevents the borrower from taking out the drawer entirely. A further contrivance is a little brass frame to contain at one end the movable types for dating the indicator books, and at the other end a lead pencil. Mr. Jones is evidently a man with many library ideas. CLAPHAM. JULY, 1887. Clapham wisely decided not to open temporary rooms, but as there was a prospect of being able to immediately secure a site for building purposes the good folks of Clapham had to possess their souls in patience, and wait until they had a new building to call their own. This was not until October 31, 1889, on which date it was opened to the public. The whole matter was set moving in the spring of 1887 by the munificent offer of 2,000 towards a building if the Acts were adopted. This offer came from an anonymous individual, and to-day the same obscurity surrounds the gift that has prevailed from the first. Only one of the commissioners is aware who this anonymous friend is, to whom Clapham is indebted. Would that every parish in London had such a friend. The adoption of the Acts at Clapham was carried with a very large majority, and in due course the commissioners were appointed, who went quietly and efficiently to work. The site cost 1,100, and when this was decided upon the commissioners did not issue advertisements for designs, but invited six archi- tects to compete, each design being sent in under a motto. The decision that the commissioners arrived at was that the plans of Mr. E. B. I'Anson were most suited to their purpose, and these were accordingly chosen. Advertisements for tenders for the erection of the building were subsequently issued, and a local firm was successful. The tender was 3,865. The edifice is externally composed of red brick, with box-ground Bath stone dressings, the ground area occupied being 105 ft. by 60 ft. The elevations are very pleasing, although of no particular style, and the liberal introduction of bay-windows adds considerably to the general effect. The front facing the common has an extensive forecourt bounded by ornamental iron railings surmounting a coping and interspersed with ornamental red brick piers. A mosaic paved pathway leads to a pair of massive polished mahogany and plate-glass doors, through which a spacious vestibule of an oblong shape is reached. This is also paved in mosaic and lighted by a handsome lamp. Another pair of fold- ing doors lead to the entrance hall, from which a staircase leads to the large room above. This entrance hall has a wood block floor, and is very tastefully decorated. From the entrance hall the visitor passes into what is called the borrowers' lobby, on the back and right-hand sides of which is ranged a substantial counter in polished mahogany, with a sequoia teak, and deal front, over which books will be issued ; and this counter is surmounted by an indicator. This borrowers' lobby is also paved with wood blocks, and is artificially lighted with Wenham gas lamps. Behind this lobby, and without any structural separation, is the 906 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. great feature of the institution, the issuing room or lending library, with accommodation for some 27,000 volumes. This receives its light from above by three oblong lanterns, while all around the walls are shelves, and in the centre are spacious book- cases, many of which are awaiting- the burdens with which, no doubt, many generous donors will lade them, under the direction of the first librarian, Mr. J. Reed AVelch, who brought to the post all the various qualifications gained by a long experience in the north of England. From the borrowers' lobby two large swing doors open into the newsroom, devoted to the reading of the newspapers and periodicals. This is the largest room in the building, being 57 ft, by 27 ft., and occupies the greatest space in the building on the ground floor, and will comfortably hold over 150 persons. The light, in the daytime, is derived from a large bay window in the front, and two bays, and one other large window. The decorations of this room are typical of most of the others. The ceilings and walls are coloured cream-white, with a claret coloured dado surmounted by stencil ornaments. The floor is covered with linoleum to deaden the sound of footsteps, and the tables, chairs, and news-stands are of polished oak. Artificial light is given by twelve "NVenham lights, and the arrangements for ventilation are both ample in quantity and modern in character. This portion, and also the rest of the building, is heated by Keith's beating apparatus, and will doubtless prove to be most comfort- ITni.K' I.IT1RARIKS IV LONDON. '.M able. At the rear of the newsroom, and lighted by two bay windows from Orlando Road, and one window from the back, is the reference library. This is approached through the newsroom by means of swing doors, and also communicates directly with the issuing-room by means of a sliding sash, through which books will be supplied for reference. The decorations are similar to the newsroom, and artificial light is supplied by four Wenham lamps. Behind the issuing-room is a commodious office for the librarian, a binding room, a file-room, lavatories, &c. The staircase in the entrance-hall already mentioned, is massive of Portland stone, with ornamental iron railings and polished mahogany wood- work. From a spacious landing an entrance is obtained through large swing doors to a noble room 45 ft. by 24 ft., which extends over the entire front of the premises, suitable for a lecture-room CLAPHAM PUBLIC LIBRARY. GROUND FLOOR. or other purposes. The decorations are similar to those in the rest of the rooms, but patent ventilators are used in this case, while four powerful lamps afford a beautiful light. Ample accommoda- tion is provided for the librarian, and a suite of rooms extends over the hinder portion of the premises, with a separate entrance. For a building of the dimensions and cost of that at Clapham it would scarcely be possible to put up a better planned or more suitable building. There are a number of metropolitan parishes where the rate brings in about 1,000 a year, as at Clapham, and the very best plan which can be adopted will be to follow closely the plans for the ground and upper floors of this library. The total cost of the building was 4,000, and another 1,000 were spent upon fittings and furniture. It is a building which reflects the highest credit upon all concerned, and Clapham is reasonably very proud of its library, and is making a use of it which is com- :{]d PUBLIC I.IBRABIES. mendable. The total number of volumes is about 4,900, and taking a typical \ycck since its opening the issues stand as follow for one week: Theology, philosophy, and ecclesiastical history, 40; history and biography, 183 ; travels and topography, 73; arts and sciences, 93; poetry and the drama, 49; prose fiction, 1,017 ; mis- cellaneous literature, 92 ; juvenile works, 316. Total, 1,863. Daily average issue of volumes, 373. The total number of borrowers is rapidly going up to 4,000. There is every appear- ance that Clapham will more than hold its own in this move- ment. The commissioners have all through acted with zeal. During the progress of the building, several public meetings were held, for the purpose of placing before the people a resume of what was being done by the commissioners, and of raising additional funds for the purchase of books. The Rev. C. P. Greene, the Rev. G. Forrester, the Rev. J. Guinness Rogers, and Mr. Henry Bulcraig, did excellent work in awakening public interest in the library. BEBMONDSEY. OCTOBEB, 1887. The majority in favour of the Acts was more than two to one. The chief credit of the movement and its success was due to Dr. George Cooper, of Southwark Park Road, who, with Mr. George Oliver and other friends was untiring in his efforts. Skilful tactics throughout were shown, especially in the distribution of a well- compiled circular giving in a terse form a few leading facts, a copy of which was left at every house in the parish on the day before the poll was taken. This circular bore the name of many leading residents of all shades of political and religious opinion. In this parish there are two local governing bodies. In addition to the vestry there is a body called the governors' and directors' board, which is the rating authority of the parish. The vestry resolved to take a poll of the parish, acting on the advice of their clerk, who maintained that the vestry, and not the governors' and di- rectors' board, was the proper authority. But while arrangements were being made the governors' and directors issued the usual notice to the effect that they would take the poll, and accordingly this was done. The vestry were duly informed of this by the clerk to the governors and directors, with a view to the vestry proceeding with the appointment of the library commissioners. But that body, acting upon the advice of their law clerk, took objection to the governors and directors being the authority under the Act, and further raised the question as to whether the Act did not require a majority of the whole of the ratepayers of the parish, and not merely a majority of those who actually took the trouble to fill up and return the voting papers. The vestry thereupon decided to submit these two points to counsel, and the opinion of Mr. Lumley Smith, Q.C., was obtained. On the first point he said he considered the governors and directors were the authority within the meaning of the Act. On the second point he inclined to the view that a majority of those actually PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONBON. 311 voting, and not an absolute majority of the ratepayers, was all that the Act required. It was somewhat unfortunate for the movement that there should have been this fiasco in its early stages. A mass of matter lies at hand referring to the difficulties, but as these may be now relegated to the archives of ancient history, nothing more need be said. The election of a new vestry in June, 1889, facilitated matters considerably, and they forthwith proceeded to elect commissioners. At the Town Hall, Spa Road, Bermondsey, in May, 1890, Colonel Hasted held an inquiry on behalf of the Local Government Board, consequent upon a proposal of the library commissioners to borrow a sum of 8,000 for the purpose of building and furnish- ing a library. Mr. Harrison, the clerk to the commissioners, informed Colonel Hasted that a site, which had been partly given by the vestry, had been chosen contiguous to the Town Hall. The cost of that portion which would have to be bought up would amount, for the purchase of all interests, to 3,095. The building would cost some 4,000, and the balance of the loan of 8,000 would be spent in furniture and books. The population of Bermondsey was 86,000, and the ratable value of the parish 401,533. A penny rate would produce 1,460. Colonel Hasted pointed out that the commissioners had left themselves a very small margin for furnishing the library ; and, after some discu&sion, it was resolved to apply for 10,000 instead of 8,000. There was no opposition from the ratepayers. ROTHEBHITHE. NOVEMBER, 1887. Rotherhithe has been rather long in putting the Acts in opera- tion. The majority in favour of the Acts was 760, and the cost of the poll was 36 10s. In July, 1889, at the meeting of the London County Council, the finance committee reported that they had considered the application of the commissioners for Public Libraries and museums for Rotherhithe for an advance of 3,000. The commissioners had agreed to purchase a freehold site for 660, and to expend 2,000 in the erection of a library, and 340 for fittings and furniture, which they proposed should be repaid in fifty, thirty, and twelve years respectively. The committee there- fore recommended that, subject to all necessary consents being furnished, to the satisfaction of the solicitor, the application of the Commissioners for Public Libraries and Museums for the parish of Rotherhithe for a loan of 3,000, to defray the cost of purchasing a site and erecting and fitting up a building to be used as a Public Library, be granted. This building is now in course of erection. A librarian has been appointed, and so there is a prospect that the parish will soon be in line with its work. On May 20, 1890, at the meeting of the Vestry a statement was read relative to the appointment by the Library Commissioners of a librarian, which was to the effect that after the candidates' list had been eliminated so that six only remained out of a total of 312 prBi.ie LIBRARIES. 196, one commissioner secured the insertion in the list of one who had not been finally selected, and who was subsequently elected to fill the post. This led to the formal resignation of Messrs. Smith, Keeson, and Stuart, who now asked the Vestry to accept their resignations. A vestryman moved that the resignations be accepted, lie did so with great regret, but saw no other course open. This was seconded, and a long discussion ensued. GLERKENWELL. DECEMBER, 1887. "What one parish refused another parish gained, and so the Clerkenwell people were disposed to use the old proverb about its being an ill wind that blows nobody good ! Mr. II. M. Holborn offered Islington a gift of some 600 if the Acts were adopted, and on its refusal to do so he transferred his offer to Clerkenwell, which ultimately took the form of 300 in cash and over 1,000 volumes. This excellent offer, with an additional one of 600 from Captain Penton, M.P., practically brought about the adoption of the Acts, aided by the efforts of a strong and earnest committee, who set themselves the task of educating the con- stituency. The majority in favour was 321, and it was worthy of note that this was in a parish where the rates were two shillings in the pound higher than in Islington. The movement for the adoption of the Acts in this parish was inaugurated by Mr. Wm. Robson, who secured the co-operation of a majority of the vestry on a proposal to celebrate the Jubilee by the establishment of a Public Library. Only two public meetings were held in Clerkenwell, for the opposition had determined that these should be made so noisy, that the friends of the movement would per- haps become tired of their work. After this, active canvassing was adopted on a larger scale than previously, directed princi- pally by Mr. J. Johnson and Mr. W. Robson. now among the commissioners. They enlisted the aid of the clergy, ministers, representative working men, club representatives, teachers, &c. Nearly the whole of the parish was canvassed by volunteers, ministers were asked to announce to their congregations on the Sunday prior, the fact that the poll would be taken next day, leaving it to their judgment as to whether they enlarged on the theme or not. Some litigation followed the taking of the poll, and on June 11, 1888, Mr. Justice Field and Mr. Justice Wills were engaged in the Queen's Bench Division with the case of the Queen v. Morris and others, which came before their lordships in the form of a motion by way of quo warranto, calling upon the commissioners appointed under the Public Libraries' Act for the parish of St. James and St. John, Clerkenwell, to show cause why they should continue to act, it being asserted that the poll which was taken to decide whether the Act should be adopted in Clerkenwell was invalid, by reason of voting papers not being delivered to some ratepayers, and of their not being collected, and of being improperly dealt with. On the other hand, it was said the poll substantially re- presented the feeling of the parish. It appeared that 7,222 voting PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. .'US papers were issued, of which 1 ,791 were returned in favour of the library, and ],6oO against it. There were I,0:M> spoiled papers, of which 880 were blank. Mr. Jelf, Q.C., and Mr. Stokes appeared for the opponents of the library, while Mr. Channel!, Q.C., and Mr. Spokes represented the commissioners. In support of the rule for a yuo irarranto, it was contended that the facts set out in the affidavits were sufficient to show that the opinion of the rate- payers had not been properly ascertained, and that before this new rate was imposed for ever upon the parish, the parish should have another opportunity of expressing its sense upon the sub- ject. Mr. Justice Field, in giving judgment, said the first ques- tion raised, whether the commissioners were the prescribed local authorities for carrying out the provisions of the Public Libraries' Acts, but that being a very complicated and difficult question, Mr. CLERKENWELL PUBLIC LIBRARY, GROUND FLOOR. Jelf had very properly consented, in the interest of the parties, to allow it to pass in the present case, and therefore the only questions remaining were as to the mode in which the sense of the parish had been taken. In this case it was objected that voting papers were not sent to each ratepayer, that they were not properly collected, and that a scrutiny was refused ; and that even if those conditions had been properly complied with, the result had not been properly ascertained. His lordship then reviewed the facts of the case, and said that anxious as he was always to secure purity of election, he could not come to the conclusion that there was any improper or unfair dealing on the part of the promoters of the Public Library in this instance. There was a substantial majority of ratepayers in favour of the project, and there was nothing to show that the election had been otherwise 314 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. than fairly and honourably conducted. Mr. Justice Wills con- curred, and the rule was accordingly discharged. This settled the litigation for the time being, and on Novem- ber JO, 1888, temporary premises were opened in Tysoe Street. These have been well used, and will, no doubt, continue to be well patronized until the completion of the new building now in course of erection. The foundation-stone of this permanent building was laid on March 8, 1890, on a site given by the Skinners' Company. The building is being erected from the designs of Messrs. Karslake & Mortimer by Messrs. J. McCormick & Sons, and is estimated to cost about 6,500. It is situated within the most thickly-populated part of the parish. At the laying of the stone, the Rev. J. H. Rose, M.A., the chairman of the commissioners, said that somebody had complained that CLERKBNWELL PUBLIC LIBRARY, FIRST FLOOR. the number of volumes of poetry taken out from the library was very small, and raised a laugh by saying that, whoever had made that statement, if they would go and live in Clerkenwell it is probable they would have some of the poetry crushed out of them. The work is in charge of the energetic librarian, Mr. James D. Brown, and the organizing of the library has been exceedingly well carried out. HAMMERSMITH. DECEMBER, 1887. It is cheering to look back upon the attempt to get the Acts adopted in this parish of 100,000. The " West London Observer " and other papers threw open their columns for a full discussion of the subject. A provisional committee, with an excellent honorary secretary in Mr. R. P. Edwards, was formed, and the whole parish was made aware of what was going forward. Many thousands PITBUC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 816 oi leaflets were distributed, and when the vote was taken the majority in favour of the scheme was more than twice as large as the minority in opposition. During the time the question was in progress reformers \\cre made to the house in Kavenseourt Park, Hammersmith, being suitable for a library, and, after an interval of a little over two years, this has become an accomplished fact. The time between was absorbed in the acquisition of the park by the London County Council as a park for the people for ever. They then gave the commissioners the use of the house as a library and reading-room at a nominal rent, and on March 19, 1890, the library was declared open by Sir John Lubbock, M.P., who has had a busy time in tin's direction of late. The fine.old mansion where the library is housed has quite an interesting local history. The original mansion in the park seems to have dated back to about the fourteenth century. This is not the place to enter into its vicissitudes since then, but it has fallen to a happy and satis- factory use at last. In August, 1 889, several rooms were opened as reading-rooms, and have from the first been used by the public in a way to gratify the hearts of all who have taken an interest in the movement. Mr. Samuel Martin is the librarian. The chairman of the commissioners is the Rev. J. II. Snowden, and among the number are Mr. R. P. Edwards and Dr. Good. The prospects of the library are decidedly bright. SOUTHWABK (CHBIST CHUBCH). FEBBUABY, 1888. This is one of the smallest parishes, and the majority in favour of the adoption was 224. In April of 1888 the commissioners were appointed, and on October 1, 1889, the library and reading- room were opened at the Albert Institute, Charles Street, Black- friars Road. The library rate, however, only produces about 400 a year, and this was rather a small amount to commence operations with, seeing that premises had to be found and a stock of books secured. The commissioners found some difficulty in getting suitable premises, the question of cost presenting a great obstacle. Ultimately the trustees of the Albert Institute, which is an institution intended for working men, offered a portion of the building, and the lower portion of the premises has been obtained for the purposes of the library at a rental of 50 a year. There is a well-lighted reading-room, which is furnished with current literature, including the daily papers and principal magazines. About 2,200 volumes of varied literature constitute the library. The issue is at present small. CAMBEBWELL. JANUABY, 1889. The question was introduced here by the offer of Mr. George Livesey, made in March, 1888, of a site and a new building in the Old Kent Road. Thirteen years previously a vote was taken in Camberwell, and the question was answered in the negative by a considerable majority. In January, 1889, when the matter came again forward, the poll resulted in 11,407 ratepayers voting for the proposal, and 4,,%7 against. In addition to deciding the main i.i i:ii \itiKs (|iiesti17 said "yes " with alacrity that is, by two to one. Mr. Tate lives at the top of Streatham Common, and his handsome residence commands a fine view of the Surrey hills, even as far as Epsom Downs. lie is rich and benevolent, and distributes his benefactions with wisdom, and in the most unostentatious manner. The last thing that a rich Londoner thinks of is to make a benefaction in his lifetime to the public. Mr. Tate is surrounded at Streatham by merchant princes who have a good deal to learn from the cease- less and sensible philanthropy of their popular neighbour. Very wisely Mr. Tate made it a condition of his gift that the Acts should be adopted for maintenance. The new library has been commenced. The style of the building is Greek, and the whole of the facing is to be Portland stone, the most prominent feature being a large cupola (covered with copper and supporte'd on an arcade) over the main entrance. The floors of all the public rooms are to be of wood blocks, and the walls plastered and decorated, and the coved ceilings in fibrous plaster. The contractors for the building and fittings are "'ssi's. Higgs & Hill, and the cost (exclusive of site) will l>e about 6,000. WHITECHAPEL. DECEMBER, 1889. Well done, Whitechapel! A short, earnest and splendid agita- tion, followed by a success as distinct as it was creditable to all concerned. The votes in favour were 3,oo3, and the votes against were 93*5. The Rev. S. A. Barnett, B.A., one of the warmest and most devoted friends the people ever had anywhere, asked the public for 'o,000 towards the formation of the library, providing the Acts were adopted. There was a good response, and this, no doubt, helped the movement most materially. The main strength, however, came from a systematic canvass of the greater portion of the parish. This was done before the voting papers had been distributed, and again during the day on which they were actually in the houses of the voters. Nearly a hundred men and women were working hard on that day to secure a satisfactory poll, and it was greatly owing to the efforts of these voluntary workers that the poll was so large. The effects of systematic and vigorous canvass were never better illustrated in the entire history of the movement than in Whitechapel ; and in organizing this work Toynbee Hall rendered a valuable service. The little pamphlet specially addressed to working men by Mr. S. Hales, the librarian of the Toynbee Students' Library, pointing out the special utility of these institutions to working men, contributed, no doubt, to the encouraging result of the poll. There arc so many misconceptions about Public Libraries that a house-to-house canvass, where these institutions are unknown, and in a large parish, is very advisable. Objections can be answered as advanced, and altogether the plan tends to clear the air and to excite public interest in a way which leads greatly to the success of the library when once established. The commissioners were immediately appointed, and have been able to report progress: It is a pleasure 318 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. to commend the action of the Whitechapel Vestry. Some time prior to the poll a sub-committee of the vestry had been formed for the purpose of inquiring and reporting upon the adoption of the Acts in the parish. Acting as a body the vestry had rendered every facility, and if the vestries of the forty-seven parishes still to enrol will follow the plan of the Whitechapel Vestry we shall soon see London with a network of Public Libraries. Plans are being decided upon for a building in the High Street. ' The Rev. Dan Greatorex, B.D., vicar of St. Paul's, Dock Street, a member dt' the Whitechapel District Board of Works, has offered to the Library Commissioners his collection of relics, fossils, curios, works of art, &c., if it is intended to have in connection with the library a museum or art class. He has been collecting his museum for fifty years, and his exhibits would make a good beginning. STOKE XEWINGTON. FEBRUARY, 1890. This was the first parish in London Avhich adopted the Acts in 1890, and by the manner in which the proposal was taken up and carried through did itself infinite credit. The statutory meeting was largely attended, and in every way was representative of all classes and sections of the local community. Only a few hands were held up against the proposal that the Acts be adopted, and no poll was demanded. The Rev. J. Cartmel Robinson and others rendered excellent service in preparing the way for the movement coming to a head. The commissioners elected were : Mr. Joseph Beck, L.C.C., Mr. J. C. Collins, Mr. William Eve, Mr. Thomas Greenwood, Mr. J. J. Rtintz, Mr. E. A. Sage, Mr. John Samson, Mr. Matthew Shaw, and the Rev. Prebendary Shelford, rector, who was elected chairman. These are all keenly in touch with the purpose and uses of a Public Library. The commissioners are in the early stages of dis- cussing plans, but will be able to render an account of their stewardship when the time comes. THE GUILDHALL PUBLIC LIBRARY. The handsome and well-furnished reading-room of the Guildhall Library is a hive of readers and students from the time it is opened in the morning until 9 p.m., the hour of closing. The total number of volumes is now about 70,000, and as a reference library it stands in London second to the British Museum. All libraries have a history from the fact that they are the growth of years, and never cease to grow ; but the history of some libraries is exceptionally interesting, and that is the case with this library. The first mention of a library at the Guildhall was con- tained in the records of the Corporation of the year 1425, when the management of Richard Whittington's library and the building erected for it was placed in the hands of the executors of William Bury. Whittington's executor, John Carpenter, com- mon clerk, and founder of the City of London School, well supported the library, and bequeathed his own library to it, the books to be chained in the library. Unhappily not a trace of this LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 319 collection remains, for, according to Stow, in the reign of Edward VI., the Protector Somerset took away the books with a promise to restore them shortly, but they were never returned, This act of rapacity probably happened in 1559. Not a volume or even a catalogue is known to be preserved, but there is yet room for hope that some may be discovered in the MS. stores of some other library. From 1550 to 1S24 ho steps were taken to re- establish the library. But in the latter year the Court of Common Council unanimously referred it to a special committee to consider as to providing a library, and the rooms of the Irish Society were adapted with that object, 500 was voted for the outfit, and 200 annually for the maintenance. In 1828 the library was opened, witli 1,380 works in 1,700 volumes. In 1840 it became necessary to make extensive additions to the premises. In 1855 a meeting was convened at the Mansion House, the Lord Mayor presiding, but the proposition to establish a Public Library was rejected by the citizens. In 1856, however, the library was thrown open to readers by ticket, and members of the Corporation were permitted to boi'row books for home reading. In the year 1869 the Common Council carried a motion for the erection of a new library and museum, at a cost of 25,000, and in 1872 the new building was publicly opened. In the old library not more than twenty readers could be accommodated at a time. The -new building will accommodate 150 readers. The number of readers at once rose from 14,316 in 1868 to 173,559 in 1874, the first complete year of the new library. At the present time the number of visitors to the various departments reaches some 400,000 a year. All that is required for the privilege of using the library is the signing of a book on entering. Mi'. Charles Welch is the chief librarian, and has been on the staff of the library since 1864, graduating through the various stages until he has reached the highest post of all. The one pressing need in the city is for a lending library, a more commodious general reading-room, and better quarters for the museum. There is an especial want of a boys' reading-room, and Mr. Welch and his staff would be glad to see such a room established. The number of clerks, office and warehouse boys who would make use of a lending library, were one established, is legion. Is there no city man of wealth who will for 25,000 to 50,000 secure fame and immortality by offering to build premises for these sections of the Guildhall work ? If the streets of the sacred square mile are not paved with gold, there are at least a large number of men who in business premises along those streets have deeply lined their pockets with gold, to whom such a sum as that named would be but trivial. A special Act could easily be obtained for the City, and a farthing rate for the year would provide income enough for maintenance. THE PATENT OFFICE LIBRARY. The library, consisting of about 100,000 volumes, in the Patent Office buildings, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C., 320 PUBLIC LIBRABIES. and open free to the public, becomes the better appreciated the more it is known. It is not, however, confined exclusively to the English and foreign publications associated with patents, but there are some thousands of volumes dealing with every department of technical science. In addition to these the library is strong in sets of bound volumes of the learned societies, both home and foreign. It is essentially a library of technical and special literature, and as such it is a great boon to the public. A further section of the work of this useful library is the providing of a large selection of trade and class journals of English, American, and Continental origin. No other library in England, except the British Museum, has so good a collection of these technical publications, and refer- ence is made to them by a very large number of persons each day. The main hall of the library is divided into eight alcoves, and the arrangement of the books in classes in these alcoves is excellent. In the middle of the alcove is a table for the use of readers, witli pens and ink. There are also a considerable number of smaller rooms. The reader helps himself to the books, taking them down at will, and returning them to their places when he has done witli them. This is the Australian plan for reference libraries, and so far as the Patent Office Library is concerned it appears to work well. The library is maintained partly from the enormous revenue of the Patent Office, and for the purchase of current publications there is a small annual grant from Parliament. But in addition to this there are many items debited to the Stationery Office which really belong to this library. The Patents Department is one about which the British public know little so far as applies to its working. The annual statement of its accounts is not seen by many outside those immediately interested. The library and reading-room are nothing more than can reasonably be expected of the department with the large funds at their disposal. The rooms are open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The attendants are most obliging. During last year over 88,000 people used the library, about one-half the number visiting it in the evening. MOVEMENTS IN PROGRESS. DKPTFOR.D. Deptford refused to adopt the Acts in 1886, but the poll was by no means large, and the question was new. About twenty of the principal tradesmen and residents issued, just prior to the poll, the following notice : " Fellow-Ratepayers, In a few days you will be called upon to record your vote for or against the estab- lishment of a Public Library in this parish, for the use of the whole of the inhabitants. Public Libraries are not new things ; they already exist in most of our large towns, and, by universal consent, are found to be a great boon to the citizens. Some time ago the ratepayers of "Wandsworth, a neighbouring parish, were polled on the subject, and declared themselves in favour, by four votes out of every five given, and the result of their working shows an average attendance of 1,000 persons daily. Does not this prove PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN LONDON. 321 that the people of Wandsworth know how to appreciate a library ? And are the people of Deptford so very different ? We therefore appeal to you to record your vote in favour, so that we may realize the same advantage." The poll was against the adoption ; but, as the question now stands on a much higher level than was the case in 1886, Deptford, it is hoped, will try again. The move- ment has many earnest friends in the neighbourhood. HAMPSTEAD. The question is coming forward in this large parish, and the vote will be taken very shortly. There are over 7,000 ratepayers. Many earnest friends of the movement reside in the district, and it is to be hoped that these will set about educating the local public upon the subject before the vote is taken. HOI-BORN. The political clubs on both sides have introduced the subject, and are taking steps for bringing it to the front. It is to be hoped that in every way the political element will be kept out. The fact cannot be too prominently kept in view that in this question neither politics nor creeds are known. Holborn means to have its Public Library. ISLINGTON. Islington, with over a million and a half population, has made several attempts to carry the Acts, but has not yet succeeded. The last movement was in April, 1887. Out of 33,608 ratepayers, who were called upon to express an opinion, 25,928 only voted. Of these, 10,152 voted for the adoption of the Acts, and 15,776 against it. Those against did not form one-half of the total number of persons with a vote, being really 2,056 less than a moiety of the ratepayers. Thus, while the advocates of the library had the satisfaction of knowing that their opponents did not number a majority of the ratepayers, they had to lament that only 10,152 of those who are certainly not against them, and are presumably their friends, took the trouble to record a vote. It cannot be denied that much of this apathy was due to the fact that very little effort was made to enlighten the ratepayers on the subject at issue. To carry a measure such as a Public Library requires something more than the mere presentation of a requisi- tion to the overseers. There should have been an active canvass. This there was not, and those who had taken an interest in the matter saw afterwards the mistake which had been made. The question is again coming forward, and there is every probability that when the banns are again published there will be a happy marriage between this vast parish and the Public Library move- ment. Islington is making up its mind that it will not be left behind in this book race. LEE. In February, 1890, the question was introduced in the vestry of this parish. The ratable value is not large, but would be enough, 21 3-2'2 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. for preeent purposes. Some earnest friends are gathering together, and soon there will be an effort to carry the Acts. LEWISHAM. The matter is again coming steadily forward in Lewisham. The parish has a good ratable value, which will enable them to plant one central library and do something for the outlying parishes. A committee has been formed at the time of writing, and Lewisham will soon be added to the list. NEWINGTON. A poll was taken in February, 1888, with the result that a majority of 713 were against the adoption. Over one-third abstained from voting the result, it is to be feared, of a little undue haste in bringing the matter to an issue, and no serious step being taken to educate the people upon the subject. Try again, Newington, and next time with a better result. The one good feature about the movement was that the majority of the members were in favour of the movement. ST. GEORGE'S, HANOVER SQUARE. On several occasions during the latter part of 1888 and 1889, the question has been discussed in the vestry, but it was then thought that the time was not opportune. In the early part of 1890 the subject was again mentioned, and soon there is every prospect that one of the wealthiest parishes in all London will settle the question in favour of the adoption. An influential meeting was held in May, 1890, for the promotion of the movement. ST. PANCRAS. Near the large termini of Euston and St. Pancras a huge notice board used to announce the fact that a large piece of ground in the Euston Road was the site for a Public Library. Now, however, the notice has been withdrawn, and the site used for other purposes. There was founded in 1877 a small library in the Camden Hall within the parish, and this has been sup- ported from that time by voluntary contributions. The parish has a population of close upon a quarter of a million. When the movement was in progress in 1887-8 a strong committee worked vigorously to educate the people by means of ward meetings and a distribution of literature. The scheme was for two central libraries to be established, with a number of smaller branches. Liberal subscriptions were promised, and good work was done, but St. Pancras has not yet adopted the Acts. The old committee forms an excellent nucleus for again renewing the campaign, and it is to be hoped that this will be at an early date. St. Pancras cannot afford to be left behind in this movement. The scheme for large Polytechnics to be established in various centres of London has retarded the Public Library movement in St. Pancras, but the one vital difference between the proposed Polytechnics, if ever they are founded, and Public Libraries is, that the latter are under popular control, and the former are not. A halfpenny PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 323 rate in St. Pancras will solve the difficulty in a manner that the Polytechnics will never be able to accomplish. POPLAR. The proposal is coming forward here, and there is every prospect of success. Meetings are to be held in the middle of 1890. WOOLWICH AND PLUMSTEAD. These two adjoining parishes have several times discussed the question, and in April, 1887, took the vote. In Woolwich 4,773 papers were delivered, and of these 2,310 voted against the Acts, and 895 in favour of the adoption. Plumstead was almost as emphatic in its " No," and this is largely to be attributed to the landlords threatening if the poll was carried to raise the rents of their tenants. This is another of the evils of landlords paying the rates instead of the tenant. In May, 1890, a further attempt was made to carry the adoption of the Acts. The majority against the proposal was 566. More requires to be done to educate the local public upon the question. The following are outside the metropolitan area : CHISWICK, MARCH, 1890. The best educator of public opinion on this question is to have one or more Public Libraries in the near neighbourhood as object- lessons. This was the case at Chiswick, and on March 10, 1890, a public meeting of the ratepayers was held at the Vestry Hall, Turnham Green, in order to determine whether the Acts should l>e adopted for the urban sanitary district of Chiswick. The chairman of the Local Board presided over a large attendance. Dr. Gordon Hogg proposed, and Alderman B. Hardy seconded, a motion in favour of the adoption of the Acts, which, on being put to the meeting was earned, only five voting against it. One of the dissentients demanded a poll, which it is estimated will cost 50. The poll took place one week afterwards, with a result of some six to one in favour. The poll was not a large one. CROYDON. At the end of 1886 a poll was taken, and the majority against was seventy-three. This was sufficient reason why a further attempt should have been made in November, 1888. The litiga- tion which ensued, respecting compound householders having been permitted to vote, has been referred to in another chapter. This necessarily caused some delay, and it was unfortunate that following this, there should have been a further delay, owing to the illness and subsequent death of Mr. Hall, the librarian. Now, however, matters are assuming something like form, and the building was opened without ceremony on March 31, 1890. The movement for the adoption of the Acts was well and spiritedly conducted. The leaders were well aided by the chief local papers. 324 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. BALING. The library here is now housed in new quarters. On December 15, 1888, the Prince of Wales opened the new public buildings of which the library forms part. The library, in the east wing, is approached by a single doorway similar to the double doorway of the main entrance. On the ground floor are the reference library, 33 ft. by 22 ft. ; the lending department, 39 ft. by 28 ft. ; and at the north end the reading-room, 32 ft. by 26 ft. The whole of the area covered by these departments is half-basemented with two large class-rooms for the science and art department, the centre being devoted to the library, with a lift to the lending department. For some five or six years the work had been carried on in premises soon found to be inadequate to its requirements. The number of volumes is 6,929 in the lending department, and 850 for reference. The turnover for the year was 113,337 volumes, giving a daily average of 459 volumes for the 247 days on which the library was open. The attendance in the reading-room in the old premises averaged 400 per day. Now, in the better rooms, it is 600, which is a significant increase. Mr. Thomas Bonner is the librarian, and has just received a well-merited increase in his salary. RICHMOND. This library was founded in 1881, and has done and is doing a capital work. At the date of the last report there were 15,620 volumes, and these had been issued in the twelve months 106,965 times, and yet out of this large turnover not a volume was lost. An excellent feature of the work is 6,694 volumes in the reference section, which, for a small library, is very creditable. The amount derived from tines is over '70 a year. The rate only produces a moderate income, and about seventy persons pay a shilling monthly subscription, a plan which Mr. Frank Pacy, the librarian, has organized. STRATFORD. Stratford, or West Ham, thought that it had settled the question by statutory meeting in 1887 ; but there was, it is stated, some flaw in the calling of the meeting, and so an earnest effort is now being made to place the question on a firmer footing than was the case three years ago. The Ratepayers' Association here, as in many other London parishes, is doing a most useful work in educating the public mind upon the question. There is every appearance that success is assured. TWICKENHAM. Twickenham being the place of Alexander Pope, the committee of the Public Library, and the librarian, Mr. Maynard, have a laudable desire to establish a Pope Library. Tn 1888 there was a Pope Commemoration Festival, and this led to providing some funds for this purpose. The average number of volumes lent to each borrower from the lending department was twenty-seven, which gives a book a fortnight to each ticket-holder. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN LONDON. 326 WIMBLEDON. From the second annual report it is evident that when Sir John Lubbock prophesied at the opening ceremony, about two years ago, that he was certain the Wimbledonians were thirsting for such an institution, he was not far wrong. The total number of visits of readers has been 144,599, a daily average of 464. The number of magazines, periodicals, and newspapers supplied to the reading-room is 184, and the total number of volumes in the reference library is 1,562. The number of borrowers' tickets issued in connection with the lending library was 2,417, an increase for the year of 304, and the total issue of books for home reading was 84,993, a daily average of 294. Mr. T. II. Rabbitt is the librarian. UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS. ACTON. In March and April, 1887, an attempt was made to carry the Acts. The poll was hurried forward, and unwisely so. The poll taken in April of the year named showed a decided majority against the Acts. One of the opponents made much of a sugges- tion of his own, that Acton would find a good soup kitchen a greater attraction than a Public Library. Another speaker at a public meeting for the discussion of the question made much of the fact that between 1852 and 1881 in Manchester the expendi- ture of the libraries had grown from 1,390 to 10,000. The reasoning was manifestly unfair. In the first instance it was only the penny rate in 1852 and 1881, and instead of having at the first date one library there were in 1881 a very much larger number. Evidently more light on the question is required at Acton, and the three years which have intervened since the last attempt should make the question again ripe. TOTTENHAM. The question began to be seriously discussed here in October, 1889. Early in December of the same year a statutory meeting was called. The show of hands was in favour, but on a poll the question was lost. Tottenham greatly needs a Public Library and reading-rooms, and will, before very long, be among the places possessing these institutions. THE CHABITY COMMISSIONERS AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES. After some years of careful consideration the Charity Com- missioners published the draft of their scheme for the application and management of the funds and property of the City of London Parochial Charities. This scheme first came before the public in September, 1889, and must have been greatly disappointing to all who have taken an active interest in the l*ublic Library move- ment. There is not a single rate-supported library or institution to be founded or helped out of the vast funds at the disposal 326 of the Commissioners. Although they are a Government de- partment engaged in administering public money, they have aid only for charitable institutions, and prefer to pauperize, so far as books are concerned, rather than to stimulate self- help. The whole scheme of the Commissioners displays pro- found distrust of the principle of popular control, and in this there seems to lie the whole key of the situation. It is impossible to go minutely into the whole details of their plan, embracing as it does financial aid to City churches where the congregation usually reaches four and a small boy. A sum of 80,000 is to go in founding " Free " Libraries in connection with the charities belonging to St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, and St. Giles, Cripplegate. The central body appointed by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners and other nominees are to pay out of the income of the central or general fund an annual payment to the Bishopsgate "Free" Library of 2,000; to specified Polytechnics, 19,850; to other specified institutions and evening classes, 700 ; and to other Polytechnics or institutions, 5,000. A balder scheme, or more impracticable way of helping Public Libraries, was never launched. The Commissioners wash their hands of everything which cannot be controlled from Whitehall. Surely the day has passed when the people need to have their books and newspapers placed before them by means of charity. Fifty years ago such a plan would have done good ; but now, when people have learned how wisely the aggregate of the penny in the pound can be spent in well- planned and well-filled buildings, of which they and their families can make the fullest use, and to which they contribute their quota towards maintenance, they have ceased to care for the institutions which a kindly charity provides. The misappropriation of old educational endowments is a crying shame to us as a nation. The evils and abuses which now surround these old endowments are traceable to the absence of popular control by the elected repre- sentatives of the people. The perpetuation of such a rotten system by a Government department ought never to have been contem- plated. When these proposed libraries reach the brick-and- mortar stage, and get in actual working order, it will serve as a most useful lesson of contrast with the rate-supported libraries under popular control. The charity stamp will, unless we greatly misread the spirit and tendency of the age, paralyze the Cripplegate and Bishopsgate Libraries. NOTES FOB COMMISSIONERS. AVhen the commissioners are appointed one of their first duties will be that of selecting a seal. Designs can readily be obtained from some of the leading stationers. Xo precept for the rate will be granted by the vestry unless it bears the official seal of the commissioners. It is custoiiiaiy to keep the seal in a box fastened by two locks. The chairman and one of the com- missioners have each one of the two keys of one lock, and each of the remaining commissioners have a key of the other lock. Two have consequently to be present when the case is opened. PUBLIC LIBBABIES IN LONDON. 327 One of the first steps of the commissioners should be to divide themselves into sub-committees, comprising a book committee, a finance committee, and a building committee. The trans- actions of these sub-committees have of course to be reported and ratified by the whole body. There has been a tendency in the. ceremonies of laying founda- tion stones of some of the London Public Libraries, to precede the well and truly laying of the stone by a religious service. This is very good, but when that service is exclusively ecclesiastical and that of a High Church character, including a choir to give the responses, it would seem that this is carrying the matter a little too far. By all means let there be a religious service, but in that case a Nonconformist minister should be asked to take part in it. The Public Library is not a branch of the Church, even although the rector of the parish may occupy the position of chairman of the commissioners. The library is supported by all classes, and for the use of all classes, and every attempt to give a creed or a political cast to its proceedings or work is a wrong committed against the movement. The question of opening temporary premises during the erection of a permanent building is one which is perhaps more acutely felt- in London than in the provinces. Where there is a prospect of having a building erected and open within twelve or eighteen months from the time the Acts are adopted, it certainly does not seem necessary to open temporary premises, so long of course as there is some place where the books can be accumulated, and the work of cataloguing and general preparation be in progress. Temporary premises are rarely ever satisfactory, and they frequently prevent that prestige and eclat which attach to a new and specially erected building. The furniture, moreover, of temporary rooms is not often suited to the permanent structure, and lacks freshness when the time comes for removal. The expense again absorbed in the maintenance of temporary premises is considerable, and the advantages to the public are not commensurate with the expense. If the local public see that the commissioners are active in securing a site, and the building steadily in course of erection, there is every inducement to possess their souls in patience and await the opening of a new building with a growing interest. Temporary buildings have very often a contrary effect to whetting the reading appetites of the people. In some parishes the vestries have thrown considerable obstacles in the way of the commissioners peilorming their work. With regard to loans, the inquiry of the Local Government Board should be sufficient without its being necessary to first obtain the sanction of the vestry for permission to borrow. The first granting also of the precept for the rate should make it unnecessary to apply half-yraiiy or annually for the sanctioning of the rate. In these two matters the vestries, as the Acts at present exist, have too much power. These and many other sections of the Acts will require readjusting when the District Councils are formed. 328 PUBLIC LIBBABIES CHAPTER XIX. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN VILLAGES. HE book needs of our English villages were never greater than at the present time. Much has been said of late about the making of village life brighter and more interesting, in order that the people may be induced to remain in the rural districts, and so stem to some extent the tide of centralization which has during recent years flowed so rapidly into the towns. The whole subject lies closer to the roots of our national well-being than is generally thought. The parson and the squire have, between them, done much to choke village life, and now existence in many rural districts is, for the rank and file of humanity, very dull and uninteresting. Human nature rebels against remaining in the vicinity of boredom longer than can be helped, and hence one of the reasons why so many of our country folk take the first chance of remov- ing into towns. If it were not for the ever-extending number of organizations, an association for the encouragement of village life might be started, and would accomplish good. But a few earnest men with a given object in view and nothing to gain could in course of time do just as much good. The multiplication of books and reading-rooms will, on all hands, be looked upon as among the facilities which would help to make village life brighter. This is a reading age, and yet out of all the hundreds and thousands of English villages the number of those who have adopted the Public Libraries' Acts could almost be counted on the fingers of one hand. Many are struggling with village clubs and reading-rooms, but the saddest reading of reports which the present writer has had for years has been the annual statement of the accounts of some of these village reading- rooms. A large percentage of these institutions scarcely seem to mature to full and useful life. Of village museums supported out of the rates there is scarcely one. And yet it cannot be said that many villages would not welcome in their midst libraries and museums as free to them as their highways, and supported in the same way, if the step were practicable. The small yield of the penny rate for maintenance presents, however, an insur- mountable barrier at present, and the politician who will solve the problem of how to aid by Government grant villages to maintain municipal libraries and museums will rank with the Ewarts, Cobdens, and Brights as a public benefactor. While towns all over the country, and numerous metropolitan districts, have adopted the Libraries' Acts during the last few years, the villages are being left stranded high and dry on the beach in this movement, from no fault of their own. The group- ing of two or more villages together as suggested, and made possible by two small recent Acts of Parliament, scarcely meets the difficulty. Nearly every educational movement in the country PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN VILLAGES. 329 is crippled for want of Government aid. Hundreds >t villages are absolutely without any facilities for book borrowing, except from the libraries of Sunday schools, and the books in these are usually of so unsuitable a character for general reading that it would be well if many of them were placed in a dark cupboard and charitably forgotten. Could not some of the thriving villages of the Northern and Midland Counties take the lead in providing municipal libraries and reading-rooms, and show what can be done in villages by these rate-supported institutions ? More than this 600 to 2,000 would erect a building for a library and stock it with books. A gift such as this to some village on condition that the Public Libraries' Acts are adopted, would give a new lease of brighter life to that district, and perhaps in no better way could the donor secure the greatest good of the greatest number. Much has been done in rural districts in the supplying of books by workmen's clubs, but the extension of the franchise to counties cannot fail to vastly extend the reading of books in the country, and this increased demand can only be met adequately by a Public Library. Much interesting information is given in the Duchess of Rutland's " Reading and Recreation Rooms and Public Libraries," and " Encouraging Experiences of Public Libraries, Reading and Recreation Rooms," as to what has been, and is still being done in the providing of village libraries and reading-rooms. How to make life pleasant in the country is a problem of far greater importance than is apparent on the face of it. This drifting away into the nearest large town, or, worse still, the metropolis, to swell the millions here of the youth of both sexes, is fraught with much that is not conducive to the best welfare of the nation. It will be a sorry day for dear old England when the homely virtues of its people, the simplicity in methods of living and in personal habits, become weakened and made less prominent by the contaminating influences of life in the large towns. The need for the establishment of Public Libraries in rural districts is a vital one, and the members of Local Boards, or other authorities will confer a permanent benefit on the district in which they reside, if they will discuss and bring to a successful issue this question. Life in the country has its compensations as well as its drawbacks. Rents and rates are low, but while this is an advantage to the residents, it presents an obstacle, for the total ratable value of most villages is not by any means large, so that a penny in the pound would not produce sufficient to stock and maintain a library. AVhilst bricks cannot be made without straw, libraries cannot be stocked and supported without the wherewithal which every object needs. The ratable value of an average-sized English village or villages under, say, the administration of a Local Board, is from 3,000 to 5,000. The smaller sum would produce from a penny 12 10s., and the larger amount 20 16s. 8d., and it will be at once seen from this how impossible it would be to do much in the way of furnishing and maintaining a library. 330 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. In the majority of English villages the gross rates do not reach 3s. 6d. in the pound another evident advantage over town life, considering that some towns have gross rates reach ing double this sum. The rural voter earnestly desires to know how things are moving in the world. He is not the passive sheep, blindly following a pot-house demagogue, some think him. Let him have books, newspapers, and magazines to inform himself, and depend upon it they will be used, and used well. Capt. Verney, M.P., whose father sat on the Public Libraries' Committee of inquiry in 1849-50, wrote a short time ago to one of the London daily papers to point out that the Public Libraries' Acts were available to the smallest country village. He added to his letter this significant sentence : " To have in a village a Public Library belonging to the people themselves, and managed by no section, but by duly elected representatives, is in itself an education usually frowned on by the squire, but utterly abhorred by the parson." The truth is a sad one, but it is nevertheless a fact. In all parts of the country regret has been expressed that there seems so little prospect of rural districts having these people's libraries placed in their midst, and those who are most strenu- ously opposed to it are the two classes just named. It is im- possible not to feel a tinge of sorrow that this should have to be stated, but it is a matter so serious that it demands attention. As long as these two most influential men as a rule in the parish set themselves resolutely against these rate-supported libraries, what can the people do but quietly submit, lest it should mean some difference in the amount of custom given to a local trades- man, or some other species of refined persecution with which village magnates seem so peculiai'ly familiar ? But we have no hope for any wide extension in the number of adoptions of the Public Libraries' Acts in the villages, until there is some prospect of a small grant from the State say from 10 to 25 a year, according to the needs and work done by the indi- vidual library. When our administrators have done wasting money in useless stores and reckless extravagance all round, and can give a few more thousands for educational purposes, then we may look forward to such a subsidiary grant to village libraries established under the Act, properly administered by the local authorities, and doing a useful work. A few pensions, rarely ever earned, the less ; a few clerks working from nine to five o'clock instead of ten to four and who knows how many holi- days ? less national waste, and these few thousands would be ready in the Exchequer for such a purpose as this. Oh ! mighty John Bull, how long will you quietly suffer your substance to be wasted, and your resources frittered away by the vast army of ofticemongers, who thrive and fatten on the labour of the people ? The national patience with extravagance in high places is simply amazing. Here is a sample of such expenditure, and it is only necessary to preface it by stating that whichever Government is in power, the same rate of expenditure goes along merrily. PUBLIC LTBRABIES IN VILLAGES. 331 There may be promises of economy but it is more show than anything else, as instanced by the House of Lords cutting down its expenditure last year by the dismissal of one or two maidservants. The report of Sir William Dunbar, the Comptroller and Auditor- General, upon the Navy Appropriation Accounts for 1885-86 con- tains some surprising information as to the way in which the Vote of Credit was spent. The Vote was granted on April 27, Is 1 --"), t< pay for the withdrawal of the British forces from the Soudan, and to prepare for a war with Russia, which then seemed immi- nent. The Vote was for eleven millions, three of them for the navy, and eight for the army. It is with the navy appropriation alone that Sir William Dunbar now deals. He remarks that, contrary to rule, no estimate was framed when the Vote was granted ; and he expresses the opinion that had there been any real, even imperfect, attempt to frame a scheme of proposed expenditure, excess might not have been avoided, but the causes of it would have been apparent, and the investigations of a select committee rendered unnecessary. The tendency, Sir William Dunbar says, was " to consider the Vote of Credit too much in the light of a sum placed at their disposal by Parliament to meet any expenditure unprovided for in the ordinary Votes. The expenditure out of the Vote of Credit to a considerable extent represents, perhaps un- avoidably, a dead loss to the public. Ships have been taken up at a great cost and never used, and the cable for the Baltic, manu- factured at a cost of 113,000, never left the contractors' premises, and was resold to them for 80,000." This is only quoted as one of many examples which might be given for the purpose of doing a little, if possible, to set thoughtful men inquiring into these matters. But surely if the Government can afford to spend such gigantic sums as this, there is some hope that by-and-bye the turn will come round for Public Libraries, and the few thousands of pounds a year will not be wanting. We are spending, not without a certain grudging, five and half millions of money on the better education and culture of our people. How comes it that the great national endowments for this purpose still remain so largely in private or sectarian control ? Altogether the expenditure for educational purposes is about eleven millions, and no village library under the Acts gets a single penny of this sum, which is not by any means large for the purposes for which it is expended. Request is earnestly made for gifts for village libraries. Trades- men in towns, business men in cities, do something for the villages where you were born and reared! Arrange to supply certain daily or Aveekly papers or magazines, or to give an annual subscrip- tion. In response to a letter in one of the religious periodicals, the author received numerous parcels of books and magazines for village libraries, and these it has been his pleasure to distribute to places where they will be used and appreciated. More pai'cels for a similar purpose will be acceptable. Some of the most successful men of business of the present day were born and received their education in country schools. Why should not 332 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. these do something in providing literature for the districts with which they were once associated ? Reference has been made to what is being done by the various unions of mechanics' institutes in the way of village .lending libraries ; but it is hoped that something may be done in the large number of villages in the Southern, Midland and Eastern Counties, which have not yet been touched by these unions. Where is the generous man who will give 5,000 or 10,000 volumes or the equivalent in value for the purpose ? Workmen's clubs have done much to bring pleasure into the somewhat dull and monotonous life in many an English village, but it is to be feared that some of these clubs degenerate into factions, and have not in any large number of instances accomplished the good reasonably expected of them. The secret of this lies in their irresponsibility except to a committee ; whereas, if they were administered by the elected authorities of that district, a healthier existence could not fail to be guaranteed them. They cannot, however, as workmen's clubs, be under the rates, but as Public Libraries they could come into this category. Many of these clubs, again, would form an ex- cellent nucleus for becoming " enfranchised " as Public Libraries, used as they now are by their present members, and would by such a step draw a larger constituency. Even while this chapter is being written a letter arrives from one of such villages greatly needing its local institute turned into a Public Library. It is illustrative of many similar cases, and is consequently quoted. The writer says, " We are not progressing. The fact is we have only 3,000 inhabitants, and we are pretty much in the power of one man, Lord , who appears to take but little interest as to 1 how his brethren fare.' In the present state of the district we cannot see how Public Libraries can be applied to places of the size of ours, and it is the opinion of the lord, the clergy, and the richer inhabitants that the poor are best ignorant. It may be possible to connect a Public Library with a workmen's club, but say the rate produces about 30, this will not pay all expenses for a "building devoted to that purpose, but if the proceeds of a workmen's club be added to it enough might be got together for rent, fire, lights, and attendance. Only two ways seem to me, first, as you suggest in your book that the Government (or County Council) should subsidize small towns, or that a larger rate be allowed in towns with under 6,000 inhabitants." Here is another letter from a village in the North of England : " Citizens in large towns may well feel proud of their privileges at this Avinter season of the year. One of the most charming places in the country district in summer is our village. Its beauties cannot be told for multitude, but the reverse is the order of things in winter. We are almost buried alive in darkness and solitary con- finement. Here we have no light of any kind, no art gallery, no Public Library, no lecture rooms, no public hall, no entertainments, nothing whereAvith to spend the long evenings and relieve the monotony of the situation. Our sons and daughters are left to PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN VILLAGES. 833 spend their time as best they may. Notwithstanding we are only thirteen miles from a highly exalted city, and whilst the great Stephenson civilizer cuts us in twain, still we are yet without the other developing forces. Hundreds of trippers hover around us in summer, but turn aside in the bleak days of winter, and then we begin to feel as though we had no link in the social chain, and no share in the great human heart of civilization. Our sires have endured this state of things for nearly half a century, whilst the world has been moving on ; but surely we, their sons, cannot be expected in these days of advanced thought and life to live on under the same regime. Where is our lord of the manor, so advanced in land law reform and other social subjects P Surely he will come to the rescue, and make some provision for the require- ments of the district which he owns for miles round ! Even we poor villagers want to reap in some measure the intellectual and social advantages which follow in the train of this nineteenth century.-" The desire to share in the social and intellectual advantages of the century is perfectly natural. If a village should possess " some mute, inglorious Milton," nothing is so likely to make him speak and open the road to glory as a village library. The grouping of villages together for Public Library purposes should be practicable. Two or more such districts acting together, and paying the same rate, could each have in their midst a library and reading-room, the library open certain nights of the week, and the news-room each evening the whole under the charge of one librarian with assistants. Another plan, which has not yet been carried into effect anywhere, is for villages to affiliate themselves to the nearest large town possessing a Public Library, by levying the penny rate and drawing their supplies from the parent library, and these distributed from some central depot. It would be possible by this means to have a constant change of books in the outlying districts. Reference has been made describing how the great Library at Melboui-ne sends out its wealth of knowledge and pleasure to the small places in the neighbourhood ; and there seems no reason why the Public Libraries in the principal towns of England should not send out their monthly chests of books to the small towns and villages there, to be issued and looked after by the schoolmaster or some such responsible person the school- house being used at night, too, as a reading-room, and the whole carried on at a very small cost, such as might be met by a small vote from the rates. In the Northern Counties where the co-operative movement has taken such deep root, a large number of these societies have lending libraries, and a most excellent work is being done by them. A certain portion of their profits is set aside for educa- tional purposes, and this is spent for books or in papers for the newsroom. Residents in the Southern and Western Counties have little conception of the good which is being accomplished by these libraries in connection with co-operative societies. In no part of the country are the barriers between the various classes of society more marked than in the country. There is :j:'>4 PUBMC LIBRARIES. still the curtseying and scraping to the village clergyman or the squire, or the blankets and soup are curtailed or dropped altogether. These institutions, wherever already established in villages, are doing more to break down these class barriers than is visible on the surface. The village newsroom is common ground, where squire, parson, and villager can all meet, and the more they meet together the better will they understand each other. Class prejudices exist because there has been no oppor- tunity of getting at the opinions of each other, and so arriving at a mutual understanding. The number of villages or small towns with a population under 5,000 which have already adopted the Acts is very small. Tarves, Aberdeenshire (the work of which is described in the chapter dealing with the Scotch libraries), Hucknall Torkard, Caulton, and Millom, may be named. Brief mention may be made of a few out of many cases where village libraries are in operation, but which are not under the Acts. At Petworth in Sussex they have an institute with a con- siderable membership. The librarian, Mr. Thomas Seward, publishes a little print wliich he has established to advocate adult education by the means of libraries, reading-rooms, museums, classes, picture galleries, and to circulate extracts from the works of the best authors. Two years ago a little village library was formed at Longf organ, near Dundee. The library has in it about 300 volumes, consisting of 127 volumes of Romance, Mythology, History, Biography, and Travel ; M volumes of Literature (Essays, Poetry, History of Literature) ; 49 volumes of Art, Morals, and Miscellaneous ; 26 volumes of Physical Science (Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics) ; 59 volumes of Zoology, Botany, Geology, and Agriculture. The library is designed principally for the use of the older school chil- dren and of the younger adults, and care was taken to have only the best of books, and these books, so far as possible, representative of the best writers. Examination of the details of the class of books read discloses one or two striking facts. In the first depart- ment such books as Stories from Homer, Roman antiquities, and history generally are not much read. In these days of ploughmen's grievances and land reform there has been but one issue of one or two little books on political economy ; in the midst of the great agricultural depression and competition, though the books are elementary, there has not been one reference to a text-book of chemistry, and there has been but one to the principles of agriculture. It is, however, gratifying to observe that so many of the lighter, racy books of science have been taken out, and no doubt the taste for closer study will grow. The schoolmaster of the village undertook the management of the library, and the care of a microscope given for use both in the school and by any capable of using it. The cost of the books, bookcase, stamp, microscope, &c., was about 50. The issues for one year were 1,012 volumes, exclusive of those issued for use during school hours. It is evident that this library has been a success. The success points to the PUBLIC I.IBBABIES IN VILLAGES. ,'W/) moral that the wealthy in any district have assuredly an easy way of giving great pleasure and conferring a great boon, or that a small community itself might with moderate effort and little outlay open a lasting spring of joy and good. The free village library at Bebington, near Birkenhead, is doing a very useful little work. It owes its origin to the late Joseph Mayer, who gave to the Liverpool Public Museum and Art Gallery his famed collection of art and antiquities valued at 80,000. In 1866 he opened a library for the free use of his neighbours in Bebington, where he resided. In 1870 Mr. Mayer bought an old farm-house with five and a-half acres of ground. By additions VILLAGE LIBBABY, BEBINGTON. and alterations he made this building into a handsome and commodious library. The character of the building will be seen from the sketch above. There are in it 19,410 volumes, and the issue reaches 360 per week. It is open on Monday and Friday evenings from 6 to 8 o'clock, and on Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m. The issue for eleven months during 1889, January to November inclusive, was ] 6,926 volumes. There were 823 borrowers during 1888. At present the library is in a transition state owing to the death of the founder. Mr. Mayer, the donor of the library, kept it entirely at his own 33(5 PUBLIC I.IBRAEIES. expense up to the date of his death in 1886, and by his will it was then vested in the hands of four ti'ustees, who, on behalf of the library, &c., were also made residuary legatees. Owing to difficulty in the disposal of Mr. Mayer's estate there has not yet been any statement of accounts presented by the executors, and consequently the trustees are unable to do more than just keep the library afloat. Since his death no new books have been purchased, and only 10 spent in binding. The issue is rather falling off owing to the lack of modern books. A large new works for the manufacture of soap has just been opened, and employs 1,000 work-people. It is hoped that the enterprising proprietors of these works will see their way to aid this excellent village insti- tution to be made into a rate-supported library. There is no better example of the difficulties which lie in the way of adopting the Acts in villages than the case of Monk Bretton, near Barnsley. It had a population at the last census of under 3,000, mostly miners, and these working men took up the question at the end of 1887. The vote was taken in January, 1888, and voting papers were issued to direct ratepayers only. The miners were very anxious to see the Acts adopted, and a building in the centre of the village oi'iginally erected by subscription for educational purposes used as a library and reading-room. They felt, however, before the vote was taken that there would be little prospect of winning the adoption. The " persons assessed to and paying the improvement rate " only are, however, specified in the Act, as being entitled to vote, and it was held in this case, though a different interpretation of the law has been given elsewhere and was upheld on appeal, that the restriction excluded all who pay their rates in their rent. This rendering of this clause in the Act was a peculiar hardship at Monk Bretton, and the vote went dead against the promoters. Here, as at many other places, two of the chief opponents of the movement were publicans who feed and fatten on the miners' earnings, and who are too prejudiced to see and feel the importance and necessity of education among working men. Monk Bretton, it is to be hoped, will yet have its Public Library. When the County Councils are supplemented by the formation of District Councils it may be reasonably expected that they will turn their attention to this very important matter. CHAPTER XX. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES ACTS AND THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. HERE is a general consensus of opinion, both among the l e a ^ profession and outside its sacred circle, that the P^lic Libraries' Acts are very badly drawn. To a non- legal mind, the phraseology of all Acts of Parliament is little more than a bewildering maze of words. The discussions and alterations when the Bill is in Committee THE ACTS AND THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. 337 on words and sentences is the cause of this uncertainty, and as long as we have such a preponderance of gentlemen of the legal persuasion in the House the same state of things will continue to exist. Short as the Public Libraries' Acts compara- tively are, and simple as one would naturally expect statute laws referring to Public Libraries to be, it has required on fewer than sixteen Acts of Parliament for our legislators to express their meaning. The need for one Consolidation and Amendment Act to rescue- them from this slovenly state was never more felt than at the present time. The amount of patchwork legislation which goes on at St. Stephen's is very puzzling to an ordinary mind. It is impossible not to be amazed at some of these Public Libraries' Amendment Acts. If the representatives at Westminster had been playing at legislation some of these Acts could not possibly be more vague than is the case. In one or two cases the Bill has been read a third time at 3 a.m., and so there is just exactly what might be expected, a mass of slipshod and indefinite wording, upon which scarcely two people reading them through would place the same interpretation. The Scotch Consolidation Act is clearer, and perhaps the best worded. In February of 1889 a. conference of commissioners from several of the metropolitan parishes which have adopted the Acts was held at Chelsea. The object of the conference was to discuss the bearing of certain portions of the Acts, and to see how far some difficulties which had arisen in the working of the Acts could be met. The collection of the rate, about which there had been sore trouble in Chelsea, was one of the main questions set down for consideration. The resolutions arrived at on this point were to the effect that the library rate should be collected as part of the poor rate ; that it should be levied, if practicable, in two moities ; that it should be collected by the usual rating authority, and that the vestry should have no power to regulate the amount after the decision of the ratepayers ; and that the cost of collecting the library rate should be borne by the poor rate. Other matters were also considered. It will be seen that one or two of the resolutions have been met by the Amendment Bill of 1889, which was brought forward and passed for the purpose of relieving Chelsea of the difficulty in which they found them- selves by the action of the vestry. In April, 1889, a third edition of " A Digest of the Law relating to Public Libraries and Museums, and Literary and Scientific Institutions," by Mr. George F. Chambers, Barrister-at-Law, was published. It was natural to think that on the issue of this work at least the rough places would be made plain, but even the legal author would seem to have given it up as a bad job, for there is scarcely a single disputed point which he clears up, and matters are very much as they were. A small sea of litigation has been passed through, and counsel never before were so much consulted upon the rendering of these Acts, as they have been during the last two years. Further than this, diametrically opposed opinions have been given on disputable points. One 22 338 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. eminent authority on Public Library matters, Mr. AV. E. A. Axon, goes so far as to say that the most useful thing would be the repeal of the Public Libraries' Acts from 1850 up to the present time. He holds that these Acts do not give any power that did not pre-exist in the case of the Municipality of London in the thirteenth century, and Manchester and Bristol in the seventeenth century. Those libraries were established without any reference whatever to Parliament. And so far as he knows, there was no statute which took away that power from the corporations and municipal authorities of this country. This would seem a sweep- ing method of dealing with the matter, but it has much to recommend it. The present writer quite concurs in the same gentleman's view when he says that " there is not the slightest fear that any Town Council or Local Board would ruin the rate- payers by extravagant expenditure upon books and libraries. In the interests of the real and higher education of the people it was a risk which those who wished well to this country might safely run." Certainly the time has arrived when the permissive and local option element may safely be abolished. It was somewhat to be regretted that the clauses referring to Public Libraries and kindred institutions should have been expunged from the Local Government Bill, for it is to these managing bodies that the power must ultimately come. Whatever is contemplated, however, it is greatly to be hoped that Public Library legislation will now be left alone until all sections of the friends of this movement have had an opportunity of expressing their opinions, and of discussing any proposed Con- solidation Bill which may be brought forward. This is vital. The legitimate source through which the Bill should filter is the Library Association ; but in any case the clauses should be most thoroughly sifted, and only united action on the matter be countenanced. The MacAlister Prize Bill of Mr. J. J. Ogle, and Mr. Tovargue is a beginning, and in some clauses will form an excellent ground- work. This is prospective, and the most that can be done with regard to the Acts as they stand is to summarize the leading litigation which has taken place, and to note the counsel's opinion where this is available. In September, 1887, Mr. Bradlaugh, M P., asked in the House of Commons, whether, under the Public Libraries' Act, 1855, the Warrington Library and Museum Committee were justified in requiring and receiving subscriptions from persons borrowing books from the Warrington Public Library, which library was supported from the rates ; and whether the library committee were legally justified in according privileges to subscribers in respect of the loan of books from that Library, which privileges were not accorded to ratepayers who did not pay special subscriptions. To this the Attorney-Creneral replied : " There is no authority under the Public Libraries' Act of 1855 for making any distinction between persons who subscribe and persons who do not. In my opinion the Act does not contem- THE ACTS AND THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. 339 plate the loan of books out of the library, and I think it doubtful whether such loan is legal. Assuming, however, that under Section '21, rules could be made permitting the loan of lx>oks, it would, in my opinion, be competent for the committee to require a reasonable deposit to ensure their safe return." In January, 1888, the Bermondsey Vestry had under discussion the opinion of counsel as to the legality of the poll of the parish with reference to the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts. The poll was taken upon a requisition served upon the overseers con- nected with a body known as" the governors and directors, and resulted in a large majority of those voting declaring in favour of adopting the Acts. The vestry were duly informed by the clerk to the governors and directors with a view to the vestry pro- ceeding with the appointment of the library commissioners; but, acting upon the advice of their law clerk, they took objection to the governors and directors being the authority under the Act, and further raised the question as to whether the Acts did not require a majority of the whole of the ratepayers of the parish, and not merely a majority of those who actually took the trouble to fill up and return the voting papers. The vestry decided to submit these two points to counsel, and the opinion of Mr. Lumley Smith, Q.C., was obtained. On the first point he said he considered the governors and directors were the authority within the meaning of the Act. On the second point, he inclined to the view that a majority of those actually voting, and not an absolute majority of the ratepayers, was all that the Act required; but in concluding his observations, he drew attention to the 764 voting papers given in the clerk's returns as undelivered, and to 1,699 voting papers returned as not collected, and pointed out that if the governors and directors had failed to do their duty as indicated by these figures, that might very well vitiate the pro- ceedings. His advice was that as there was a doubt as to what majority the Public Libraries Amendment Act, 1877, required, and as the non-delivery and non-collection of papers required explan- ation, it would be better and safer for the vestry not to act, but to have all the points decided on an application by any person interested for a mandamus to them to appoint commissioners for carrying the Libraries' Acts into execution. This has caused considerable delay in putting the Acts in operation in Bermondsey. In February, 1888, the question as to who can vote for the adop- tion of the Acts was raised at Tun bridge Wells, and the following is the opinion given by Mr. Glen, in reference to compound house- holders voting on the library question : " Inasmuch as the Public Library Assessment would be levied, if the Public Libraries' Acts were adopted, by means of a General District Kate within the Tunbridge Wells Improvement Act District ; and voting papers are only to be issued under the Public Libraries Amendment Act, 1877, sect. 1, to each ratepayer >., each inhabitant would have to pay the Free Libraries' asscs.-mem, Ib. s. 3, 1 am of opinion that the occupiers of small tenement-, in :;ji) PUBLIC LIBRARIES. iv-]Mvt of which the owners arc rated under section 211 of the Pul 'lie Health Act, 1875, would not be entitled to vote. " Under section 211 of the Public Health Act, 1875, the owners of small tenements are rated ' instead of ' the occupiers, and therefore, although the occupiers may indirectly pay the rates, there is no liability as between them and the Commissioners to pay the rates ; and I am, therefore, of opinion that they cannot be said to be persons who would have to pay the Free Library assessment in the event of the Act being adopted within the meaning of section .'i of the Public Libraries' Amendment Act, 1877. "W. CUNNING- HAM GLEN. March 1, 1888." As Mr. Glen was at one time the standing counsel for the Local Government Board the opinion is of weight. This opinion lias, however, been upset by the Croydon decision. A question arose in August, 1888, in Liverpool, as to the legal powers of the library committee. Although custom appears to have sanctioned it, and up to a recent period no serious question has been raised on the subject, it has been open to doubt whether the city lending libraries and reading-rooms were institutions, as such, that came within the meaning of the words " establishment and maintenance of a Public Library," as contained in the pro- visions of the Liverpool Library and Museum Act, 1852. The Town Clerk, on being appealed to at a meeting of the City Council for his opinion as to the construction of the law, cautiously intimated that the matter was open to grave doubt. The library, museum, and arts committee have, therefore, thought it prudent to take steps to have their position more clearly denned, and at a meeting it was resolved " That in the opinion of this committee it is desirable to obtain an amendment to the Liverpool Library and Museum Act, 1852, to the following effect, namely: That the establishment and maintenance of lending libraries and reading- rooms within the city of Liverpool shall be deemed to be within the meaning of the establishment and maintenance of a Public Library under the Liverpool Library and Museum Act, 1852, and all the provisions of that Act shall apply accordingly. Steps in this direction have been taken. In the early part of May, 1889, when the Liverpool Corporation Bill was under discussion, Mr. Pope said in reference to section 3, which referred to Public Libraries, the objections of the Local Government Board appeared to be directed to the power of borrowing. The effect of this clause would be to enable the Corporation to borrow, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 1852, for the purpose of lending libraries and reading-rooms. The board thought it right to draw the attention of the committee to the unsatisfactory provisions contained in that Act with respect to lx>rrowing and repayment of loans, and suggested that the provisions of the Act of 1852 with regard to the borrowing and repayment of loans should be repealed, and fresh powers more in accordance with recent legislation be substituted. What the promoters proposed in order to meet that view was that, without re-enacting fresh powers, there should be a proviso that if any moneys were borrowed they were not sure TIM-: .U'TS ANT> THK I.IOIiAI. ASI'KCTS OF TIM: IJCKSTIOX. .'> I 1 Unit they would require to borrow at the present moment such moneys should be repaid within forty years from the date of borrow in;;-. It was not clear in the Act of 1852 whether the power to borrow money for Public Libraries included lending libraries and reading-rooms, and the Bill proposed that this doubtful point should he cleared up. The committee fixed the period of repayment at thirty years, and agreed that the clause as amended stand part of the Bill. The ClerkenwelL case is, with the Croydon case, the most im- portant which has occurred. The poll was taken in December, 1887. There were s,:!2-l ratepayers, and 7,222 was the total numl>er of voting papers issued. Out of those 4,646 were collected, and when they were counted there were 1,971 in favour of the adoption of the Act, 1, (550 against, while the spoiled papers amounted to 1,025. Immediately after the poll was taken several members of the vestry questioned its legality and took action in the courts. On February 18, 18*8, the question came forward in the Queen's Bench Division, before Baron Huddleston and Mr. Justice Manisty. The application was on the part of ratepayers of St. James's and St. John's, Clerkenwell, to get rid of a vote by means of voting papers of ratepayers to adopt the Public Libraries' Act, on the ground of alleged irregularities in the mode in which the voting papers were issued and collected, and the votes of rate- payers taken. The parish itself, consisting of the two districts or wards of St. James's and St. John's, with an outlying district of Muswell Hill, several miles off contains a population of about 70,000, and there were at the last assessment (April, 1886) 8,324 assessments or assessed ratepayers. It appeared from the affidavits on the part of the applicants, certain ratepayers, that the vestry clerk issued only 7,222 voting papers, of which only 4,648 were collected, on which the vestry clerk declared the result to be 1,971 for the adop- tion of the Acts, 1,650 against it, and 1,025 voting papers " spoilt " ; but this was controverted, and on scrutiny being demanded and refused, this application was made, and the effect of the affidavits was to show that there were such irregularities in the way in which the voting papers were sent out and collected that it was wholly uncertain what was really the result of the voting. It was stated, for instance, that no voting papers were sent to the rate- payersof the outlying district of Muswell Hill, who, it wassuggested, would be likely to vote against the adoption of the Acts, as they were too far off to benefit by it. Moreover it was suggested that the overseers were the " prescribed local authorities " to conduct the voting. It was stated in the affidavits that the voting papers had not been properly collected ; that some which were marked " No" were not reckoned. Upon these grounds Mr. Jelf, Q.C. (with Mr. P. S. Stokes), moved on the part of several ratepayers for a rule for a quo warrant o to question the election, and in the result he obtained a rule calling on the commissioners appointed to show cause why a writ of quo irarrnnto should not issue command- ing them to show by what authority they exercise the office of 342 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. commissioners under the Public Libraries' Acts for the parish of St. James and St. John, Clerkenwell, upon the grounds (1) that tin 1 vestry and guardians or governors of the poor were not the prescribed local authority for the said parish for ascertaining the opinion of the majority of the ratepayers of the parish under the Public Libraries' Acts ; (2) that a voting paper was not issued to each ratepayer as required by the Acts ; (3) that the voting papers issued were not properly collected ; (4) that a scrutiny of the votes hud been refused, though lawfully demanded ; (o) that even if the proper authority acted, and the voting papers were properly issued and collected, this result was not properly ascertained within the meaning of the Acts. Their lordships granted a rule nisi. On May 15, 1888, the matter came again forward, and was adjourned. Then in June the question was argued out at length, and the report occupies some six columns of newspaper matter. The case was heard before Mr. Justice Field and Mr. Justice Wills as to whether the former ruling of rule nisi should not be reversed. Mr. Justice Field, in giving judgment, said it was objected that voting papers were not sent to each ratepayer; that they were not properly collected; and that a scrutiny was refused ; and that even if these conditions had been properly complied with, the result had not been properly ascertained in the meaning of the Acts. Anxious as he was always to secure purity of election, he could not come to the conclusion that there was any improper or unfair dealing on the part of the promoters of the Public Library in this instance. There was a substantial majority of ratepayers in favour of the project, and there was nothing to show that the election had been otherwise than fairly and honourably conducted. Mr. Justice Wills concurred. The rule was accordingly discharged. It will be seen that one or two doubtful points are cleared up by this case. It was held by the Judge that voters who declared for a library subject to the limitation of the rate to one half-penny are com- mitted to the penny rate if the majority have agreed to the higher figure. The effect of this decision may be to diminish the number of favourable votes in the first category, but it is only right that the strict conditions of the appeal should be understood. It has also been clearly laid down that the actual voters bind the whole parish or district, whatever proportion they may bear to the whole number of ratepayers. The costs of this litigation were very heavy, and fell upon the parish. It was largely the result of one representative who had the majority against him. In one Lancashire district, in December, 1888, counsel's opinion was obtained on the levying of the rate, and Dr. Pankhurst gave it as his opinion that the Local Board had full power to levy such rate, and had full power at any time after the adoption of the Acts. On April 9, 1889, the celebrated Ci'oydon case came before Mr. Justice Stirling. This was the Attorney-General v. Mayor, THE ACTS AND THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. .",4:! &c., of Croydon, and tlie case raised an important question as to the application of the Public Libraries' Acts in the borougli of Croydon. It was a motion by the Attorney-General at the relation of two inhabitants and ratepayers of the borough for an injunction to restrain the defendants from carrying into effect the Public Libraries' Acts on the ground that a poll taken by the defendants for the purpose of ascertaining the opinion of the majority of the ratepayers of the borough as to the adoption of the Acts was invalid. In October, 1888, upon service upon the defendants of a request in writing by ten ratepayers, pursuant to the Public Libraries' Amendment Act, 1866, calling upon them to ascertain the opinion of the majority of the ratepayers of the borough as to the adop- tion of the Public Libraries' Acts, the defendants issued voting papers to the occupiers of premises in the borough, and the result of the poll so taken, as declared by the mayor, was that the Acts had been adopted, and resolutions were accordingly passed by the Town Council to carry the Acts into effect. The plaintiffs contended that the voting papers were improperly issued, inasmuch as, according to the Public Libraries' Amend- ment Act, 1877, in cases where the owners of premises were rated instead of the occupiers, the voting papers should have been issued to the owners as the persons actually paying the rates, and not to the occupiers. For the defendants it was contended, in the first place, that the declaration of the mayor as to the result of the poll was conclusive, and, secondly, that according to the true construction of the Acts the persons entitled to vote were those who in reality bore the burden of the rates that was to say, the occupiers inasmuch as where the rate was actually paid by the owner it was charged against the occupier in the shape of additional rent. The question involved the consideration of a great number of complicated Acts of Parliament, and at the conclusion of the arguments his Lordship reserved his judgment. Judgment was given on April 16, 1889, and as it is important, a considerable portion is quoted, condensed from " The Times " report. Mr. Justice Stirling said it appeared that the borough was incorporated in March, 1883. The borough and parish were conterminous. A requisition was a short time ago made by certain ratepayers of the borough, addressed to the mayor, requiring him to ascertain the opinion of the ratepayers as to whether or not the Libraries' Acts should be adopted. Accordingly, the mayor issued voting papers to the rate- payers, and when these were collected the result appeared to be that there were 6,482 voters in favour of the adoption of the Acts, and 4,736 against it, giving a majority of 1,746 in favour of such adoption. Upon that the mayor and corporation had acted, and this action was brought to restrain them from proceeding further in the matter. It appeared that the voting papers had been issued to the occupiers upon the rate- book, although an order had been made by the Croydon Vestry, dated the 30th of November, 1869, directing that the owners of all ratable hereditaments to which sections 3 and 4 of the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, extended within the parish should be rated to the poor rate instead of the occupiers, and it was stated that if the owners had been furnished with voting papers instead of the occupiers there would have been a difference in the constituency of about 6,000, and that the opinion of the persons whose opinions ought by the Acts to have been ascertained had not been ascertained. That question depended upon the construction of the various Public Libraries' Acts, and in particular the Act of 1877. The Act of 1855 provided for the establishment of Public Libraries in three different classes of districts. The Act of 1855 was amended by an Act of 1866, which did not alter the class of district entitled to adopt the Act, but made variations in the mode of carrying it out for example, in PUBLIC 1 I.IBRAIUES. the mode of providing for the expenses of executing the Acts. Then section 4 pro- vided that parishes adjoining a borough, district, or parish might unite in adopting the Act. There was another Act in 1871, which enabled local boards to put the principal Act into execution. That was the last Act passed prior to the Act of 1877 which it would be necessary to consider in detail. It appeared, then, that there were four classes of public authorities which were entitled to adopt the Libraries' Acts (1) municipal boroughs, in the case of which the constituency to determine the question of adoption consisted of the burgesses ; (2) districts under Local Improve- ment Acts, the constituency being the persons assessed to and paying the improvement rates ; (3) local boards, the constituency being the persons paying the general district rate ; and (4) parishes, the determining constituency being the persons rated to the poor. Under these circumstances the Act of 1877 was passed. It was obvious that the preamble was not framed with very great care. It omitted to mention the Act of 1855 for England. That, however, was not now material, for by another Act passed in 1887 it was declared that the Act of 1877 should have effect as if the Act of 1855 had been therein recited. But beyond that the language was not very precise or accurate. For instance, it spoke of the "opinion of the ratepayers," as if in every case the ratepayers were the persons entitled to attend the meeting, whereas that was not so, because in municipal boroughs the constituency consisted of the burgesses, a class not co-extensive with the ratepayers. Then by the Act itself it was provided (section 1) that a local authority having power to adopt the Acte might ascertain the opinions of the majority of the ratepayers either by the prescribed public meeting or by the issue of a voting paper to each ratepayer and the subsequent collection and scrutiny thereof; and section 3 was as follows: " 'Ratepayer ' shall mean every inhabitant who would have to pay the Public Library assessment in event of the Act being adopted." It was contended that the object of the Act was not to change the constituency, but simply to provide a better mode of ascertaining the opinion of the voters, and his Lordship was asked to read the Act as if section 3 had not been inserted or did not apply to this particular case. The argument had considerable weight, but after giving every consideration to the matter it seemed to his Lordship that to adopt it would be to strain the language of the Act too much ; he, therefore, came to the conclusion that it ought not to be so read, but that section 1 ought to be read as follows : ' By the issue of a voting paper to every inhabitant who would have to pay the Public Library assessment in event of the Act being adopted." In other words, hia Lordship was not prepared to say that the Legislature had merely provided a new mode of ascertaining the opinion of the constituency, and had not . a ..? ew . m i?t* ^opti^.the^Act as a whole. The question then arose, who vent of the Act *t > was the , -6, and 147. , .__., provided that where the vestry of a parish makes, under section 4 of the Poor Rate Assessment and Collection Act, 1869, an order to the effect that the owners instead of the occupiers of such ratable hereditaments as therein mentioned shall be rated to the poor-rate in respect thereof, every such order shall be deemed to apply to and include rating to the borough rate with the same incidents, conditions, powers, liabilities, and remedies as if the borough rate were a poor-rate. In order to appreciate that it was necessary to turn to the Act of 1869, which provided in section 3 that owners might agree to pay the rate and be allowed a commission, and section 4 provided that vestries might order the owner to be rated instead of the occupier ; and section 7 was as follows : " Every payment of a rate by the occupier, notwithstanding the amount thereof, may be deducted from his rent as herein provided, and every payment of a rate by the owner, whether he is himself rated instead of the occupier, or has agreed with the occupier or with the overseers to pay such rate, and notwithstanding any allowance or deduction which the overseers are empowered to make from the rate", shall be deemed a payment of the full rate by the occupier for the purpose of any qualification or franchise which, s regards rating, depends upon the payment of the poor-rate." Then sectioa 19 directed the overseers in making out the rate to insert the names of all occupiers in the rate-book, and provided that the omission of an occupier's name should not deprive him of any qualification and franchise depending upon rating. Then further provisions to the same effect were contained in an Act of 1879 (42 Viet., c. 10), which was to be construed as one with the Act of 1869. Now these provisions demanded careful consideration. The Act of 18S9 provided in the first place that improvement rates were to be collected with the poor-rate, and that occupiers were not to be deprived ot any qualification or franchise depending upon rating. The Legislature could not have intended to introduce a false qualification. It could not have meant that those who were unqualified in substance should be qualified in some other way. , seemed clear that these sections were founded on the recognition by the Legislature that rates were always paid by the occupier, and the provisions of the Act amounted to this, that where rates were in substance paid by the occupier that should also be deemed in form payment by him although it was made by the hand of the owner. THE ACTS A\T) THE T.KOAT. ASPECTS OF THE QfESTIOX. 34.5 qu pay the assessment in event' of the Act being adopted." It was only hypothetical and not an actual payment, and in "Smith r. Overseers of Seghill " ("L.R." 10, Q.B., 422) Mi-. Justice Mellor said these sections ought to be construed in a liberal spirit. The question then was, what was the meaning of section 3 ? Two alternative interpretations were submitted to the Court. For the plaintiffs it was contended that it meant "those who would be legally liable to pay " ; while the defendants argued that it meant "those who in reality would have to bear the burden of the rates." The section fairly admitted of that construction. In the first place it was expressed in popular language " who would have to pay." In the next plane his Lordship could not see that the Legislature had any other object than that the determination of the question should rent with those on whom the rate would fall in substance. That was the construction which seemed preferable as giving full effect to the Acts. It also gave effect to the word " inhabitant " in section 3. The owner of land was not necessarily an inhabitant of the district in which it was situate, while it was only in exceptional cases that an occupier was not an inhabitant. For these reasons his Lordship thought that the voting papers were properly issued, and the motion must be refused, with costs. It will be seen that this is a valuable decision on the Acts. As the judge pointed out that the right to vote belonged to " every inhabitant, who would have to pay the assessment in the event of the Act being adopted," and held that those words did not mean merely " those who would lie legally liable to pay " so as to restrict the right to vote to the owners where they were rated pursuant to the Croydon Vestry order of 1869, but must be <-<>n- strued as referring to " those who in reality would have to bear the burden of the rates," viz., the occupier, on whom the burden would fall presumably in the shape of increased rent. In the Amendment Bill of 1887 one object is to encourage the formation of lending libraries in villages, where the ratable value is so small that the highest rate authorized by the Public Libraries' Acts namely, one penny in the pound would be insufficient to meet the expense of erecting a building, or even of renting a room for a regular " Public Library." The scheme, how- ever, is also applicable to towns and other districts as well as to villages. Thus a town is enabled to try the experiment of a lending library before incurring greater cost. The arrangement is that a lending library may be established by a library authority without a separate building being provided for containing it, and may be placed under the care and superintendence of such person as the authority think fit, and in a building or room neither appropriated for the purposes of the Libraries' Acts nor purchased or rented by the authority. In the metropolis the extension of Public Libraries lias been much checked by reason of the area prescribed being the parish. While some of the large metropolitan parishes constitute a suitable area, a feeling has prevailed in some of the smaller ones that if a Public Library were established there the inhabitants of neigh- bouring parishes would practically share in the enjoyment of the benefits, though the whole expense would fall on the ratepayers of the individual parish. For various administrative purposes the parishes are already grouped in district boards, and it has been suggested that the adoption of Public Libraries would be much encouraged by permitting the area adopted to be either the 346 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. parish or the district as may be preferred. Accordingly, the principal Act of 1855 is modified so as to enable the district board of works as well as the parish to establish a Public Library. The expense is to be defrayed out of the fund at the disposal of the district board. Special provision is made for exempting from a library rate metropolitan parishes which have already established a Public Library or may hereafter do so, the powers of parishes to establish a library being kept alive. .\c\v regulations are made with regard to the borrowing of money by a library authority, and the powers and duties of the Treasury with regard to sanctioning loans, &c., are transferred from the Treasury to the Board of Trade In the Amendment Act of 1889 a useful amendment has been effected. Hitherto the expenses of calling and holding the meeting of the ratepayers to decide whether the Public Libraries' Acts shall be adopted or not, and the expenses of carrying those Acts into execution in any parish, have been paid " out of a rate to be made and recovered in like manner as a poor rate." Now, those expenses are to be paid out of a rate to be raised with and as part of the poor rate. Hitherto every person occupying lands used as arable, meadow, or pasture ground only, or as woodlands, or market gardens, or nursery grounds, has been rated in respect of the same in the proportion of one-third part only of the full net annual value thereof respectively ; now, such a person will lie entitled to an allowance of two-thirds of the sum assessed upon him in respect of such lands for such expenses. More serviceable still is the provision now made for securing a joint library for several parishes. It is now to be lawful for the commissioners appointed under the Acts for any two or more adjoining parishes, with the consent of the vestries of such parishes, from time to time to agree to share, in such proportions and for such period as may be determined by the agreement, the cost of the purchase, erection, repair, and maintenance of any library building situate in one of such parishes, and also the cost of the purchase of books, periodicals, and newspapers for such library, and all other ex- penses connected with the same ; and the inhabitants of both or all the parishes, as the case may be, will be entitled to use the library so long as the agreement shall continue in force. And any such agreement may provide that upon its termination an adjust- ment shall be made of the interests of the several commissioners in the library, building, books, and other property to which they have contributed, and as to the mode in which such adjustment shall be reached. Further than this, poundage for collection of the library rate is now quite illegal. Among other points to be discussed in the framing of a Con- solidation Bill will be the following: The necessity of making it absolute law, and not a matter of local favour, to have Public Libraries exempt from local and imperial taxation. That the law of Mortmain shall not apply to Public Libraries. THE ACTS AND THE LEGAL ASPECTS OF THE QUESTION. 347 That the rate be allowed on the gross, and not on the ratable, value. That all public documents shall be presented free of all cost. That British Museum duplicates and South Kensington loans lie only to rate-supported Libraries and Museums. Taking the power out of the hands of the ratepayers for the adoption of the Acts, and transferring it to the governing lx>dy. The citizens would still have a voice through their representatives. This would often save the expense of a poll, and there would be other gains. That loans be for a period of sixty instead of thirty years. That loans be permitted for books, works of art, and objects for museums, as well as for sites, buildings, and fittings. The power to enforce the rate immediately after the adoption of the Acts. That committees shall be permitted to make such charges, for renewals of borrowers' cards, &c., as they deem necessary. There is a doubt whether, as the Acts are worded, such charges are legal. Clauses giving facilities to rural districts to affiliate with the nearest town for the supply of books and general library work. The maintaining of the rate at a penny for Public Libraries as at present, and a further penny for museums and art galleries. The present writer cherished the hope that the year 1890 would pass without any legislation affecting Public Libraries being brought into Parliament. With a desire, however, to assist in clearing up one or two doubtful points, Sir John Lubbock, M.P., has brought in a short Bill which proposes to substitute the county and borough electorate, as established by former Acts, for the electorate of ratepayers in whom the power of adopt- ing the Libraries' Acts is now vested. The Bill also pro- vides that, where the district for which the adoption of the Acts is proposed contains a population of .5,000 or more, the opinion of the voters is to be taken by voting papers alone. The option that was given by the Act of 1877 of proceeding either by voting papers or by public meeting would thus be confined to districts having a population of less than 5,000. Another pro- vision of the Bill is that the special condition which may be adopted may be either that the maximum rate is not to exceed a halfpenny or three farthings these exact sums being the only ones that may be specified. And subsequently either of these limitations might be removed, or the lower one raised to the higher. It is also proposed that the opinion of the majority of those who vote shall prevail, and not that a majority of the constituency shall be necessary. Moreover, when questions are put by voting papers both as to the adoption of the Acts and also as to 'limitation or the rate, the voter is enabled to give a valid vote upon either or upon both of these questions. Thus he may vote " No " as to the adoption of the Acts, and " Yes " as to limiting the rate to one-halfpenny. However, the district .'MS ITUI.ir UBRAIIIKS. authority arc forbidden to put any question as to the limitation of the rate in the voting paper or to the public meeting, unless some definite question on that point is raised by the requisitionists on their requiring steps to be taken for ascertaining the opinion of the electors. A final proposal is to extend section 3 of last year's Act, so as to enable library authorities not only to combine for the purposes of the Acts, but also to avail themselves, upon terms to be agreed upon, of the benefits of libraries maintained out of funds under the control of the Charity Commissioners. CHAPTER XXI. PUBLIC LIBRARY FUNDS, BUILDINGS, &c. T the vote is in favour of adopting the Acts the work of the provisional committee is at an end, so far as their imme- diate work is concerned, and the Town Council, or other governing body, will forthwith elect a library committee, to whose care the movement will be entrusted. It is very essential that the members of this committee should be men of close sympathy with the movement, and who are willing to take upon themselves the labour, which is not by any means light, of the formation of a library. One or two of these gentlemen should be deputed to visit the Public Libraries in some of the large centres, and so gain a practical insight into their working and management. Every librarian worth the name will only be too glad to answer questions and to show such visitors over the premises under his control. It is very essential that there should be on this committee a very fair percentage of burgesses. For many reasons this is wise. In most towns there are a number of shrewd, farseeing men of too retiring a disposition to seek municipal honours, who would on a library committee be a decided acquisition. They are not responsible to constituents, as are the representatives on the Council, and so look at some matters from a different standpoint. Most towns are now adopting the plan of having burgesses on this committee, and some towns have even gone to the extent of having five-sixths of the number elected from outside. The question of funds is, of course, the all-important one, and if the provisional committee have succeeded in securing a hand- some list of promises of donations, on condition that the Acts be adopted, all the better, and this will be found an immense lever in bringing the ratepayers to a satisfactory decision. Promises for such a fund as this become infectious, and, either in the form of so much cash or so many books, they aid most materially in lubricating the movement. The names of those who give books and money go down to posterity in the history of the library, for the names should be published in the first report. There is scarcely another object which could be named which so power- fully appeals to the benevolence of all sections of society as this. A church or a chapel appeals to a section. The Christianizing of I'l IM.IC I.HUtAUY hVNPS, BUILDINGS, ETC. 34!) coloured races appeals to ;i section. But a Public Library provides the charity which begins at home, and which, when established, is for all classes, and continues for all time. The spirit of emulation thus helps and popularizes the movement, and these appeals are rarely made in vain. The question of loans has been a somewhat troublesome one, but no serious difficulty in this direction has been experienced, with the exception of one or two instances, where there were special causes to account for it. A glance at the statistics at the end will show the indebtedness existing among these institutions, and from whence the loans have been obtained, and the terms of repayment. Two or three years ago a correspondence took place between the finance committee of the Birmingham Town Council and the Treasury, on the subject of the repayment of a loan for Public Library purposes, and as the principle involved and laid down is a very important one, the gist of these communications is here given. In accordance with the authority conferred by the Council, the committee caused to be presented to the Lords of I NT Majesty's Treasury, a memorial, in the name of the Corpora- tion, praying for their lordships' sanction to the borrowing by the Council of a loan of 6,150, for the following purposes, viz., for the purchase from the Council of the Midland Institute of certain portions of the institute building, for the purposes of the Central Public Libraries, 1,300; for defraying the cost to the institute of the alterations rendered necessary by the surrender of the said portions of the institute building, also of the cost to the Public Libraries of making the necessary alterations to divide the libraries from the institute building, together with the cost of connecting and adapting the new rooms to the purposes of the library, 1,500; for furnishing the wing of the reference library, temporarily used as an art gallery, with chairs, tables, and desks, for the accommodation of readers, 250 ; together, 3,050 ; for the purposes of the Constitution Hill Library, 400 ; for providing fittings, furniture, and casts for the School of Art, 2,700. In reply to this application a communication was received from the Treasury inquiring whether, if the proposed loan of 6,150, under the Public Libraries' Act of 1885, was consented to, the Corporation would undertake by formal resolution to pay it as follows, viz. : As to 1,300, 1,500, and 400, in thirty years from date of borrowing; and as to three sums, making up 2,950, in ten years from that date. On behalf of the committee the Town Clerk replied, "Your letter of the 27th August, 1885, has been laid before the finance committee of the Corporation, and I am directed to inquire under what statute the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury consider it to be their duty to impose conditions upon the Corporation with reference to the period for the repayment of the loans under the Public Libraries' Act, 1855, taken in connection with the Birmingham Corporation Consolida- tion Act, 1883. Hitherto the Corporation have been under the impression that the application for the loan having been passed by the Council, and public notice given of the same, and no 350 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. objection taken, the loan would be sanctioned by the Lords Commissioners, leaving the Council to determine the period for repayment, having due regard to the purposes for which the money is to be applied. As the period of ten years appears to the Corporation too short a time for the repayment of the sum of 2,600 for providing fittings and furniture for the School of Art, and 2oO for furnishing the new wing of the Reference Library, it is perhaps desirable that this question should now be raised." In answer to this communication, a letter was received from one of the secretaries to the Treasury, in which he said, " I am to state that in the opinion of this Board their general power under section 16 of the Act 18 and 19 Vic,, cap. 70, to require repayment within a certain period if they choose to attach such condition to their sanction, remains unaffected by the provisions of the Birmingham Local Act. The effect of section 87 of the latter Act is to enable the Corporation to raise any sum they choose for Public Library purposes, but that fact does not compel the Treasury to assent to whatever period of repayment the Corporation may desire to fix in the case of particular loans. The Town Clerk is correct in stating that it has hitherto been left to the Town Council to determine the period for repayment of Public Library loans, but circumstances have brought very forcibly before my Lords the great and increasing pressure of local taxation, and they consider it to be of much importance to assert in the case of Public Library loans the same principle as that suggested by Parliament in the Municipal Corporations' Act of 1882, sec. 112, viz., that the genera- tion which incurs the debt should also pay it whenever practi- cable. The Municipal Corporations' Act prescribes thirty years as the proper period of repayment of loans raised under that Act, and my Lords consider that Public Library loans generally should have no longer currency. With regard to furniture and fixtures the rule my Lords have acted on not infrequently, in connection with loans under various Acts, has been to require repayment in ten years, as it is manifest that a loan for the acquisition of articles liable to deterioration, breakage, &c., should not have an equal currency with loans for the acquisition of land or the erec- tion of substantial buildings. If, however, the fixtures in the present case are of a solid and durable character, my Lords would not refuse an extension to twenty years of the currency of that part of the loan which represents their value." The Town Clerk rejoined with a communication respecting the interpretation of the law, enclosing a memorandum by the chair- man of the finance committee, and, on the committee's behalf, stating, that, on the wholcj looking to the permanent character of the Midland Institute and Public Libraries buildings, he was instructed to ask that the sums to be borrowed for the purposes of purchase of buildings and structural alterations might be extended to sixty years, while the committee were willing to accept a period of twenty years as a reasonable period for the very sub- stantial furniture that will be placed in the libraries. The following is the memorandum prepared by the chairman of the PUBLIC LlBfiAftY FUNDS, BUILDINGS, ETC. 351 finance committee, referred to in the foregoing letter : " Public Libraries Loan. I have read the Treasury letter, and 1 think that the Corporation ought to press, as a matter of principle, for a term of at least sixty years, for such portions of the loan required as are to be expended upon works of a permanent character. The sum involved is not large, but the principle is important. The Treasury state that rhvum.stanees have brought forcibly before them the great and increasing pressure of local taxation. Capital expendi- ture, for the purposes of Public Libraries, is a necessity which it is impossible to avoid ; and the very way to make that expendi- ture burdensome is to place the charges in respect of it upon one generation only, by refusing to extend the loan over a term of years commensurate with the life of the works which it repre- sents. Since posterity will get the benefit of the improvements, it appears that those who have brought them about should be charged with no more than the use or hire of the means which effected the desirable result. Under the present system the men of to-day will make a free gift to the men of to-morrow. Why should they do this ? Let both parties share the burden fairly. Applying this principle to the items in the proposed loan, which represent permanent structure, it would clearly be unfair to accept the suggestion of the Treasury that the term of thirty years, laid down in the Municipal Corporations' Act, should be applied to portions of the present loan. Under all the circumstances, I am clear that the Treasury should be pressed to extend the term for portions of the proposed loan to sixty years ; and it would seem probable that they would not be indisposed to yield. To accept their present ruling would be to admit their right to determine the period of the loan ; while to contest it, would be to assert the right of the Corporation to, at any rate, a voice in the matter." The reply from the Treasury further contested the view of the finance committee, and said : "It is of course open to Parliament to fix any term of years that may seem good for the repayment of loans raised by Municipal Corporations, and to extend, or alter existing limits ; but my Lords hold that where, as in the Public Libraries' Act, Parliament has not seen fit to specify the duration of loans raised under it, but has expressly subjected them to Treasury approval, they have been invested with a discretionary power to limit the currency of such loans. The power to give or withhold approval implies the power to attach to the approval any conditions that are not inconsistent with other provisions in the Act. The enormous growth of local indebtedness during recent years, has led my Lords to consider it their duty, wherever prac- ticable, to apply to Public Library loans the same limit of thirty years that Parliament has indicated in the Municipal Corporations' Act as the maximum currency of ordinary loans raised by such corporations under Treasury sanction, even though they may be for the purchase of land, or erection of permanent buildings. As pointed out in the statement of your financial committee, such a limitation increases the immediate burthen of capital expenditure, but for that very reason its inevitable result is to restrict the :',."il' PUBLIC LIBRARIES. amount of that expenditure .... Expenditure on the libraries can easily be graduated according to the capacities of each generation ; they do not necessarily involve a large scheme of expenditure which must be carried out at once as a whole, if at all, as is often the case with such works as water supply or drain- age. My Lords, therefore, can only sanction the raising of a loan of 6,150 by the Corporation of Birmingham, under section 16 of the Public Libraries' Act of 1855, 18 and 19 Vic., cap. 70, repayable as follows, viz. : 3,200, for purchase of land and for buildings, repayable in thirty years from the date of borrowing ; 2,950, for furniture and fittings of a durable kind, repayable in twenty years from the date of borrowing." It is somewhat unfortunate that this correspondence should have arisen with the Birmingham libraries. The Public Library indebtedness of that town reached 78,000, repayable in a hundred years. It may be claimed with every reason that thirty years is too short a period for loans for sites and buildings. Sixty, or at least fifty, years should be the limit, and for this latter period the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, as well as some of the insurance companies, are prepared to advance loans for library purposes, on the security of the rates, at 8| per cent, and equal payments, extending over that period. The inspectors of the Local Govern- ment Board are disposed to look kindly upon loans for fifty instead of thirty years for these institutions. To many libraries the dif- ference in the repayments between thirty and fifty years makes a most vital difference. The question of adapted buildings has given a good deal of heart-burning. In the majority of cases the idea of purchasing a building, and adapting it, should not be entertained. Com- mittees have naturally to be bound by the means at their disposal, and the requirements of the particular district where the library is to exist. There are local circumstances attaching to every town, which make it impossible to lay down a general rule. The cost of adapting buildings is usually so great that by the time the premises are ready for occupation they have perhaps cost the price of a new and specially constructed building. It is not now a rare occurrence that mechanics' and literary institutes, and other buildings are offered on very advantageous terms for Public Library purposes, but it could scarcely be said of many of these buildings that they had been "adapted" for the new r proposes. Economy in public expenditure requires to be carefully watched, but there is no branch of our social system in which wise and courageous expenditure will more repay itself to the town or dis- trict than in that for educational purposes, and a Public Library is, in the truest sense of the term, an educational institution. Be determined then, in the first instance, to have a commodious build- ing designed expressly for the purposes of a Public Library, and your townsmen will, if they oppose such a scheme at first, be led, sooner or later, to see that this has been the wiser step. Let your Public Library be a public building doing credit to the intelligence PUBLIC LIBRABY FUNDS, BUILDINGS, ETC. 853 of the town, and upon which the citizens can look with pride and satisfaction. The requirements of a large library building are so numerous that no apology is required for devoting some space to a few matters of detail. The large library buildings of Derby, New- castle, Birmingham, Dundee and other places are conspicuous as monuments of the taste, culture, and architectural skill of the age. The paramount requirements of a large library building are : abundance of solar light, a generous provision of artificial light at night, plenty of pure air of a suitable temperature, well-designed protection against the ravages of fire and against the deleterious influences of dampness, proper ventilation, convenient interior arrangements, durability of building materials, and stability of construction. Other considerations play a most important part, namely : The proper selection of a site, which should be high and dry, for a book magazine requires the dryest soil and surroundings, as does a powder magazine. There should be such distance between the library building and the nearest high structure as to render possible every necessary use of the direct rays of the sun. The methods of ingress and egress should be limited in number, but very liberal in proportion. The supply of water should be copious, well distributed through the building, and easy of access. Ample provision for the expansion of the book-holding capacity of the building, in order that the demands for the enlargement of the building, owing to the growth of the library, may be post- poned to the farthest possible time. Easy approaches. In the reading-rooms fifteen square feet of space should be allowed to each reader. The production of a suitable design and style of architecture, which shall be in keeping with these requirements, and yet that the building have some points of architectural beauty, is a matter for the architects' competitions. Several of the leading architects in the country are making a speciality of Public Libraries and museums, and we are now rapidly reaching a condition of a distinctive style of architecture for these institutions. It is sig- nificant that the most important library buildings of Europe owed their origin to the generosity of princes or ecclesiastical dignitaries, who gave palaces and other large structures to subserve the inter- ests of learning. As these buildings were not originally intended for library purposes, they had to be adjusted to a new use, and from time to time enlarged. This has not tended to make them strikingly artistic buildings. The plan of asking six or more architects to send in designs is preferable to advertising for designs. Some time ago there was a controversy among librarians in the United States. The subject was whether the "alcove" or "stack" system of placing the books was the better, and several of the 23 354 PUBLIC LIBHARIES. leading librarians ot the country took part. Whether the indi- vidual racks upon which the books rest should be placed singly and flatly against the wall, which constitutes the rack system, or doubly, and at right angles to the wall, and project a small space into the room, say 5 ft., and placed, say 8ft. apart, which constitutes the alcove system; or whether the racks should be placed close to- gether, say 2 ft. apart, dividing the former alcoves into halves, which constitutes the semi-alcove system, between the alcove and the stack system ; or, finally, whether these racks should be placed, say 2^ ft. apart and extend across the room in parallel rows, which constitutes the stack system, is a matter of no concern to the architect, because whichever system for placing books is adopted must be acceptable to him, and he only wants time to make his arrangements to meet the preference demanded. In solving the problem just named an American architect, Mr. J. L. Smithmeyer, makes the following suggestions. He takes the case of a small library structure, to be put up to accommodate from 8,000 to 10,000 books, the interior arrangement to be so pliable that it will ultimately hold 26,000 books without enlarging or changing the building. As this matter has not been fully dealt with in any other chapter, it will be opportune to introduce it here. He takes a building one storey high for his purpose, 22 ft. by 40 ft. in the clear, and 10 ft. or 12ft. high, having a skylight and side lights above the bookcases, which are only 7 ft. high. Ten books per cubic foot will be a good average for such a library. Deduct- ing 4 ft. for the door at one end of the room, we have : 18-22-40-40 = 120 feet by 7 feet, height of rack. 120 by 7 feet = 840 feet. 840 feet by 10 books = 8,400 books. This number of books will be accommodated in single racks, put against the wall. The centre of this room may be used for read- ing purposes. Should a greater capacity for books become necessary, twelve racks, say each 5 ft. long and 7 ft. high, might be placed in the room at right angles to the side walls, say 8 ft. apart (forming alcove). 12 single racks by 5 feet long = 60 feet. 60 feet by 7 feet high = 420 feet. 420 feet by 10 books = 4,200 books. Deduct 12 square feet of wall space covered by racks 7 feet high at 10 books = 840 books. 3,360 books. The centre of this room may still be used as a reading-room. The next extension will, if needed, consist in the introduction of 16 more racks placed between the alcoves, and dividing them into halves. By this addition is gained 16 racks by 5 feet long = 80 feet. 8 1 feet by 7 feet = 560 feet. 560 feet by 10 books 5,600 books. Deduct 16 square feet of wall space covered by rack 7 feet high at 10 books = 1,120 books. 4,480 books. The centre of this room may still be used as a reading-room. PUBLIC LIBRARY FUNDS, BUILDINGS, ETC. 355 The last extension possible will be in the direction of abandoning the compartment type, and devoting the space now used for read- ing purposes to book racks. By this change will be gained fourteen more racks, or 9,800 books. These racks are placed in parallel lines the width of the room, say 3 ft. apart, with passages between them. 14 racks by 10 feet long ... = 140 feet. 140 feet by 7 feet = 980 feet. 980 feet by 10 books = 9,800 books. This will make a total of (1) 8,400; (2) 3,360; (3) 4,480; (4) 9,800. Total, 26,040 volumes. The plan suggested by Mr. Smithmeyer is rather ingenious, but is at the same time, practicable. In January of the present year a paper was read before the Architectural Association, contributed by Mr. Mountford, " On the planning of Public Libraries." Several London librarians were present, and took part in the discussion that followed. The fact of the paper being read shows the enhanced interest which, on all sides, is being taken in this question. Mr. Mountford considered the various apartments separately, and naturally began with the entrance-hall. As this is only a place of passage, he said that in arranging an economical plan, the tendency was to reduce the hall to a minimum. He urged that the hall should be as roomy as possible, on the plea that people coming and going to and from all the rooms opening out of it, probably often stopping to chat, a small hall must at times become inconveniently crowded. " It should," he said, " have an outer porch, wherein, before the library itself was opened in the morning, copies of the daily papers might be posted for the benefit of men who, being out of employment, want to see the advertisements in good time. The lending library must always be on the ground-floor, as near as might be to the principal entrance. Abundance of light was essential; and should top-lighting be out of the question, there must be plenty of windows, with reference to the position of which the book-cases would have to be arranged. The room should not be less than 13ft. high, the windows being kept up as high as possible in order to throw light over the tops of the bookcases, and to permit dwarf bookcases being placed against the wall beneath them." Mr. Mountford devoted a considerable portion of his paper to the shelving of books ; but, as this is dealt with in another chapter, it is unnecessary to again refer to it here. The need of the reference library being in the quietest part of the building is recognized by all. He leans to the view that the elevation should be rather of a municipal than domestic in character. It should be noted that in the reference department the volumes would be nine, and not ten to the lineal foot. Wherever possible, in the plans for new buildings, a lecture- hall should be included. This, however, should not be higher than a first floor, on account of ingress and egress, and if over a lending library, a special floor to prevent the noise from disturbing the readers below should be constructed. Where the site permits of 356 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. it a lecture-hall over the basement, and side by side with the lending-library might be arranged. This with galleries round would then be the same height as a ground-floor lending-library, with reference department as a first floor. Whilst referring to this matter, a suggestion of a Cambridge tutor, of a new design for librai'ies, which certainly possesses the merit of being novel, is given below. The nucleus of the building consists of a circular reading-room, lighted by means of tall windows under the dome, and communi- cating with the rest of the library by eight radiating passages. Round this room the library proper winds by the prolongation of one wall : the whole is but one spiral passage carried on to any convenient length, to which light is admitted from vertical sky- lights under the roof. The height of the walls is supposed to be 20 ft., and the width of the passage about 24 ft. ; this, however, is left an open question. Bookcases are fitted to the wall at right angles about 10 ft. in height, exceeding a little in depth the space dividing them. Both sides being used for storage of books, they afford as much accommodation as the adjacent division of the wall. Thus, for book accommodation, a wall to both sides of which these cases are attached represents (with the cases) a surface-measurement amounting to four times that of one side of it. Along the whole passage light galleries are intended to run, supported for the most part by the bookcases, by which means an easy access is afforded to the upper part of the walls. The practicability of this design for Public Library purposes may be doubted, but it is essential to build future libraries on such a plan as will allow of ready out- ward enlargement which may be necessitated by growth. If by any plan this can be effected economically, at the same time securing uninterrupted order and regularity in the internal ad- ministration, such a new departure in library construction as this PUBLIC LIBRARY FUNDS, BUILDINGS, ETC. 367 will have served a good purpose. The cost of erecting a circular building far exceeds the cost of ordinary buildings, so this is a matter which would have to be considered. The reading-rooms should be made cheerful by the presence on the walls of maps, engravings, &c., and pieces of statuary in the room. It is remarkable, when gifts of this nature are once set going, how much can be done in securing donations for such pur- poses as these from the better-class townsmen. The present writer is less in favour of separate reading-rooms for ladies and boys than would appear in the two former editions of this work. Where there is one good-sized room, say of oblong shape, the tables for boys should be at the end nearest the desk of the assistant or caretaker. This would ensure the boys keeping quiet a difficult thing to achieve sometimes when a separate room is alotted to their use. Our desire to see boys the rate-paying citizens of the future cared for in Public Library work is stronger than ever. But they learn quiet and orderly behav- iour by being in the presence of their elders. The tables for the ladies might be placed at the extreme end of the room, and their presence in a large room aids the general decorum, and gives an appearance of cheerfulness and brightness to a news and reading- room. To say that frivolities are likely to go on by the sexes being in the same room in this way, would be an assertion only made by those who have never been in a large reading-room where this plan is in operation. This would reduce the number of small rooms for the librarian, and his assistants to watch, and so their time would be economized for other work. A separate ladies' room means very often a good deal of gossip, and some- times it is from these rooms that fashion-sheets and plates from the monthlies are most missed. Ladies need not faint at this statement ; but it happens to be unfortunately true. The public lavatory accommodation for both sexes should be of a very limited character, if provided at all, and it is greatly open to question if it is advisable. If it is extensive and the places are easily accessible they will be quickly turned into public conveniences, and there is no reason why this provision should be made out of the penny library rate. Much difference of opinion and controversy has occurred between even practical authorities upon the subject of ventilation. One of the best methods of ventilation is to have gratings in the outside walls below the floors, and other gratings in the floors placed so as not to be near any of the readers, and then some outlets or ven- tilating chimneys placed as near the ceiling as possible ; by this arrangement not only are the rooms well ventilated, but the floors are also kept dry and free from rot. Where there is a chimney, a gas ventilation is frequently made use of ; but this is expensive, and not in our opinion so good as the other method. However, if in the lighting a sunlight be used, a funnel may be carried to the outside, and will materially aid in the ventila- tion at night without extra expense, when it is most required, owing to the increased attendance. A library needs quite as 3">8 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. much ventilation as a bedroom. The porous books absorb the impurities of the atmosphere as a sponge absorbs water. Piles of books, moreover, afford a multitude of crevices and crannies where impure air can stagnate. The electric light now coming into use in the lai'ge libraries is being found a decided boon. Where this is contemplated a basement for the engines is, as a rule, essential. As in some libraries it is necessary to keep lights burning all day between the book-racks and dark comers, accumulators can be provided for these. The supply for these lamps can be drawn from storage batteries during the day until the engine is started at night. The application of electric lighting is growing so rapidly in importance, that in course of a few years it is probable few of the larger libraries will be lighted by gas. The effects of gas upon books is an important question that has for a long time vaguely vexed the minds of gas engineers and others. Gas has often been accused of rotting the bindings of books exposed to its heat and fumes on the upper shelves of libraries ; but the impeach- ment has as often been repelled. Some experiments show that brown calf leather, when exposed for 1,000 hours in a close chamber filled with the fumes of burning gas, and kept by these at a temperature varying from 130 to 162 Fan., is seriously deteriorated ; its power of stretching being reduced by one-half, and its breaking strength in about the same proportion. It is also shown that heat alone is not the cause of these effects ; for the same kind of leather, when heated over steam pipes to an average temperature of 196 Fall., for 1,000 hours, only suffered a diminution of stretching power from 13 to 9 per cent., while its breaking strength was reduced in the ratio of 36 to 23. Even when kept at an average temperature of 142 Fall., or about the (same heat as the atmosphere of the close gas chamber, leather does not sustain any appreciable injury so long as the air is tolerably pure. All this is very strong against the use of open gas flames in close apartments containing books bound in calf leather. The cause of the deterioration of the leather under the influence of the products of combustion of coal gas is not far to seek. It is nothing more or less than sulphuric acid, round the hypothetical presence of which in the atmosphere of gas-lit rooms so much controversy has raged. The improvements made in lights for public buildings have during recent years been very numerous. Many good burners which greatly improve the light from gas, and render it far less injurious than the old burners, are in the market. Sugg's, Wenham, and Bray's lights and burners, among others, may be named. There is one thing could be strongly advised, and that is the placing of a main gas tap in each department, so that the gas can be easily regulated or turned on, without inconveniencing the readers. The heating of the building is an important matter, but there are so many systems in vogue that it is impossible to particularize them. Ordinary fire-places are useless in large institutions, when THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC LIBEAEIK8. 369 fifty or sixty persons are present at one time, as the first who arrive are certain to monopolize the fire, to the exclusion, of the great majority. By the hot air or hot water system the whole of the room is equally heated, and there is no smoke or dirt, and labour and fuel are greatly economized. CHAPTER XXII. THE FORMATION OP PUBLIC LIBRARIES. HE two following chapters are devoted to a brief descrip- tion of some of the principal methods of work adopted in British Public Libraries. It is not intended, nor would it be possible in the space, to present more than a series of short notes on those points which are con- nected with establishment and organization, and which should prove most serviceable in new libraries. There are so many different systems of management and such a variety of methods in vogue of dealing with minor points of detail, that to describe them all would be impossible in our limits, while to attempt to reconcile their divergences would be as hopeless as it would be unprofitable. It may be said, generally, that any system which fulfils the main objects of library administration, namely to record and supply, is quite effective for all purposes, and it matters little whether it has been built up from the results of experiment or evolved from the mind by a logical process. The librarian, on being appointed, will naturally make a careful survey of the quarters in which his library is to be housed, and order his arrangements in accordance with the architectural con- ditions of the building. Before proceeding to describe the various kinds of furnishings it may be well to mention a few general principles which should govern the whole scheme of arrangement. We shall embody these in the form of rules, with the reservation that the spaces given are the minimum for their several purposes. 1. No traffic should exist in any reading room save what is necessary for the service of books and seating of readers, and no public room should be made a thoroughfare. 2. No passage for public traffic should be less than 4 ft. wide. 3. The space between reading tables should be at least 6 ft. 4. The space between table ends should be 4 ft., and between table ends and walls the same, if there is a gang-way. 5. If possible, complete oversight of the news and reading rooms should be obtained by the staff while employed on their ordinary duties. 6. All exits from the public rooms should be within sight of the staff. 7. Each reader should have at least 2 ft. of elbow-room when seated at a table. 8. All arrangements should be made with due reference to good lighting as well as convenience. 360 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. K i It should be noted that the spaces given above are merely for reading- rooms and not for public passages or staircases, for which the architect will doubtless provide ample and spacious accommodation . Shelving. As the provision of storage for books is the very earliest duty which will call for performance it may be well to describe such furnishings first. Good bookcases and fittings should invariably be provided for perma- nent buildings, as there is absolutely no eco- nomy in procuring cheap makeshift shelv- ing which will only last a year or two before falling to pieces. Very serviceable bookcases can be made from selected, well-seasoned yellow pine, dressed, stained, and varnished or polished. For the economical shelving of books standard cases or presses should be adopted in preference to cases all round the walls, which are not only wasteful as regards space, but always the cause of much unne- cessary labour to the staff. Standards have the advantage of af- fording shelf space on both sides, and in a lofty room can easily be provided with a glass and iron mezza- nine floor, carrying a duplicate series of cases to hold additions. Standard bookcases should be made to the dimensions shown in the annexed illustration, with mov- able shelves, which ought not to exceed three feet or three feet six inches in length. Lending or reference bookcases, wall or standard, should not exceed eight feet in height exclusive of cornice and plinth. Lower cases can be used if thought neces- sary, but if space is a consideration the height is not excessive when it is remembered that a middle sized person can reach the top shelf with a step nine inches to one foot high. Higher cases than eight feet should not be used without the intervention of a STANDARD BOOKCASE WITH SHELVES ON BOTH SIDES. THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 361 floor or gallery. Within the height of eight feet, and allowing fur thickness of shelves, which need not exceed one inch each, ten shelves can be placed, on an average, in a lending library where 8vo and 12mo books are chiefly kept. In a reference library nine shelves may be allowed for the same height in ordinary standard cases, but in wall cases where folios and quar- tos are stored, probably not more than eight shelves will be got. Wall cases should have a ledged base as in the illustration given be- low, and the enlarged shelf space thus ob- tained will be found of great service in storing large books. In very large libraries special means must be devised for the storage of folio volumes. The lower part of wall cases can easily be enlarged to two feet or more in depth in order to admit very wide folios, but it is a Aviscr plan to have such books placed in spe- cially-built cases not more than three feet high, the tops of Avhich can be used as work benches or for arrang- ing new books. Shelf fittings are made of various kinds both in wood and metal, but the most convenient and effective support is that made by Messrs. E. Tonks & Son. With this the shelves can be spaced at any interval from one inch upwards, Avithout the least trouble. This form of support consists of perforated metal strips into which small metal catches are fixed at intervals of one inch, on Avhich the shelves rest. If the shelves are made all one uniform length, as they should be Avhen possible, any altera- tions or re-spacing will be greatly facilitated. The fore-edges of all shelves should be rounded and polished. Dust protectors of scalloped cloth let in to the front under-sides of sheh'es are sometimes used. Leather for this purpose is not recommended, as it soon dries, becomes brittle, and crumbles to pieces. AVALL BOOKCASE WITH LEDGED BASE. 362 PUBLIC LIBBARIES. A space of 3 feet 6 inches should be left between each bookcase, and 4 feet between ends of cases where there is a gangway. Three feet of space will suffice between ends of cases and blank walls. In calculating the number of volumes which a case will hold, allow ten volumes per lineal foot of shelf in a lending library, and ten shelves in a height of 8 feet as above. Thus, a division of a case with shelves 3 feet long will accommodate 300 volumes. Reference books should be estimated at nine volumes per lineal foot. This is a simple and fairly accurate manner of calculating the capacity of shelves. Counters. The lending-library counter should be 32 inches high, and 18 inches wide, if an indicator is used. If not, 3 feet high by 2 feet wide. The length to be according to the size of indicator, and the service space required. A Cotgreave indicator occupies 5 lineal feet for every 4,000 volumes. A refer- ence-library counter should be 3 feet high by 2 feet wide. Both should be provided with wickets and flaps giving access to the public side, and should be fitted behind with a liberal supply of shelves, and drawers of various sizes. Indicators. There are several methods of showing to the public, by means of the device called the indicator, what books in a lending department are in use or on the shelves. There can be no question as to the utility of the indicator, not only as saving the time and labour of the staff, but as a convenient intermediary between the library officials and the public. By its use the need for elaborate systems of book-keeping is obviated, and greater rapidity and accuracy of service are attained. The principal object of every indicator is to display by means of numbers differently coloured, or numbered spaces left blank or otherwise, shown in a glazed frame facing the public, the books which are to be had for reading. Several mechanical devices have been used at various times to effect the objects above described, but it was not till 1870, when Mr. John Elliot, public librarian of Wolverhampton, brought forward his indicator, that anything of practical value was achieved. The contrivances used previous to 1870 were mere makeshifts for the use of the staff, and designed simply with the special object of saving the labour of looking for books which were in use. With this the readers had no concern, nor did it in any way assist their quest. The Elliot indicator is therefore the first invention which had any real value in the working of libraries, and was the pioneer of every subsequent device for the simplifi- cation of service ; and, it may be said, the improvement in the relations between reader and librarian. It is preferred by some librarians to any of the more recent systems, and has been worked successfully in a number of large libraries for many years. As is illustrated on p. 363, it has the book numbers arranged in consecutive order on a series of uprights, and against each number is a small vacant shelf or pigeon-hole. When a book is issued its number with the date is written in the borrower's card, which is placed on the shelf opposite the number of the work on THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 863 the indicator, and remains there till the book is returned. The presence of a card against a number of course indicates that the book so distinguished is out. The whole issues in a day are noted on a specially ruled sheet or book kept for the purpose. ELLIOT'S LIBRARY INDICATOR. The indicator designed by Mr. Alfred Cotgreave, public librarian of Guernsey, in 1879, consists of a large frame divided by tin slides into small compartments, in the manner shown below. Each compartment contains a small reversible metal case which holds a ledger representing a volume in the library, and for recording its issues. The ends of each case are turned up and carry the number of the book in two colours, one to face the public when the book is in, and the other when it is out. The illustrations on pp. 364, 365, show clearly the form of this case and ledger. As a means of detecting books which have been kept by readers beyond the period allowed, Mr. Cotgreave has invented an adjunct to his indicator in the form of small slides or clips of different colours for covering the numbers of books in use. For example, if 364 PUBLIC LIBBABIES. yellow slides are used to cover the numbers issued in one period, red the following, blue the next, and black the last period, it follows that any yellow slides remaining in the indicator when blue and black are current, denote books which are overdue. But there are other methods of showing the same thing in a less expensive and cumbersome manner described in the following COTGREAVE S INDICATOR. chapter. The record of daily issues, in most libraries using Cotgreave's indicator, is kept in a special book or on sheets. The " Duplex " is the name given to an indicator designed by Mr. A. "W. Robertson, public librarian, Aberdeen. It is a variety of the Elliot indicator, with modifications to save time at the moment of issuing books, and an automatic method of showing overdue volumes apart from the indicator itself. It occupies more space than the Cotgreave indicator, but has the advantage of THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC LIBKAIUK*. 366 serving as a rough catalogue. This advantage is capable of being applied to both the Elliot and Bonner indicators. Another form of indicator is that designed by Mr. Thomas Bonner, public librarian, Baling. It is claimed for it that over- dues can at once be distinguished without the use of the slide or olip of the Cotgreave system, and that its cost is about one fourth less. It has numbered octagonal blocks to represent works in the library, and should prove useful, if very carefully worked, in distinguishing delinquent borrowers. Each side of the block is differently coloured, and the variations of colour show overdues as in Cotgreave's slide system. Further particulars relating to the working of the indicator, and its application to the books in the library, will be found in the following chapter. Reference should be made to the " Magazine " indicator, recently introduced by Mr. John Elliot, of \Volverhampton. It is described as follows in the " Wolverhampton Express and Star": " . . . . The new indicator is on the same principle as the old ones, consisting of twelve narrow columns, in an enclosed wood frame, each column containing fifty small tinned receptacles for the insertion of the pass-books. At the head of each column are neatly printed the different months of the year from January 'to December, whilst down the outside wood margin at each end are the titles of the respective magazines taken in. It will thus be seen that as in the case of the ordinary library indicator, a would- be borrower can see at a glance what magazines have been lent out and those still available for issue ; whilst, on the other hand, the library assistants can readily ascertain in each case, by refer- ence to the pass-books, to whom any particular magazine has been 366 PI-HMO MBRAHIKS. lent, and it' detained beyond the time allowed for reading, can at once communicate with the borrower requesting its return." Tables, Chairs, Newspaper Stands, etc. Tables for the reading-rooms should not be too long or too narrow. Three feet broad by 10 feet long will be found very convenient dimensions, but the length must be decided by the size of the rooms. It is important to have them broad enough to admit of readers being seated on both sides, as a great amount of unobtrusive but effective oversight is gained by the readers overlooking each other. Magazine or news-room tables should be about 2 feet (> inches high, but in a reference library where much writing is done the tables can be made two or three inches lower, and a few should be made in the shape of desks. The framing of the tables should not be so deep as to interfere with the comfort of persons sitting at them. Chairs should not be too heavy or clumsy. Heavy chairs are very noisy, require great expenditure of energy to move, and, besides ,*. aV# 4^--_ & *.Q -v-fcjsJ being expensive, are ^ a source of endless trouble to keep clean. A strong, light chair without arms, having a seat 18 or 20 inches from the floor, with a hat-rail attached, and the legs shod with stout rubber to deaden the noise of moving, will be found admirably suited for all pur- poses. Newspaper stands should be made to hold papers opened out, on both sides. The illustration shown above will display better than can be described the dimensions and form of the ordinary type of stand. They should be very strongly made, with a base large enough to prevent overturning. Yellow pine is a suitable material. The newspapers should be secured by brass rods passing over the middle of the paper and fastened to the lower part of the desk. The slope of the desk ought not to be very great, because the more acute the pitch is, the easier are the papers read. A pitch of from 9 inches to 1 foot is ample. Racks are sometimes used for keeping the current numbers of periodicals and magazines together, instead of having them Utter- ing about and encumbering the tables. There are various kinds in use, including one patented by Mr. Cotgreave, the designer of the indicator previously described, but none seems so satisfactory as the rack of overlapping sloping shelves in use at the Kensington THK FOBMATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIKs. m, Public Libraries. This can be made to hold any number of periodicals in their covers, and is not expensive, nor does it occupy much space by projecting far into the room. PERIODICAL RACK. It is 'hardly needful to do more than mention such articles of furniture as desks and steps for the use of the staff, but there are two extremely useful articles which may be described. The first is the book-holder, for keeping rows of books erect, either on shelves or elsewhere, which is made in several varieties. The following illustrations are sufficient to indicate their styles. FIG. 1. FIG. 2. The metal book-holders of Mason (Fig. 1), and Uraby (Fig. i'), are by far the most satisfactory, neat, and serviceable. 368 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. The second article is the cloth-covered box for holding pamphlets or filing periodicals. These boxes can be made any size, and almost any box-maker can supply them. A most convenient and dust-proof box with index on flap is made by Messrs. Fincham & Co. in the style of the annexed illustration. The shape of the lid admits of the whole contents of the box being turaed over into it. These boxes numbered in a series and kept on shelves, will preserve pamphlets in an orderly and easily accessible manner at a cost mucli below binding. CLOTH-COVERED PAMPHLET-BOX. BOX-LID AND FLAP. Business Books. Besides the various forms of books required for keeping accounts, as ledger, cash book, petty cash book, fine book, &c., there are a number of other specially ruled books for registering the volumes in the library, the use made of them, &c. Of these the most important is the stock book, which records the history of every book in the collection, showing when, where, at what cost or otherwise all books were procured. The ruling designed by Mr. F. T. Barrett, Mitchell Library, Glasgow, is suitable for any library. Columns are provided for date of receipt, author and title, language, number, class letter, number of volumes, new work or continuation (to distinguish books from volumes), book or pamphlet, size, imprint, date of publication, condi- tion when received (binding), donor or vendor, price if purchased, discount, collation, special collections, remarks. There are other forms of ruling, but they are all somewhat similar. Some stock books classify the books page by page in specially ruled columns or by means of a cumulative system of numbering. In other cases the classes are abstracted annually on separate sheets, and copied into the last few pages of the stock book, or into a specially ruled classification book. Other necessary books are the issue book (for recording issues of books and attendance of readers), shelf register (a numerical list of books in the order in which they stand on the shelves), location book (the numerical finding list for use with the movable system of location), register of borrowers (alphabetical, but often kept on cards), proposal book, order book, donation book, and others, whose names sufficiently indicate their use. Book-buying. There are several points in connection with the selection and purchase of books which may be worth noting THE FORMATION OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 869 for the information of the general reader. It will usually be found, after the catalognes of existing libraries, publishers' lists, and personal stock of knowledge have been ransacked, that a list of perhaps 5,000 or 6,000 volumes has been brought together, and the question as to how these can best be got will next arise. In the first place, there will likely be included a large number of books not in print, and others very high in price. These should be taken out and placed on a separate list, for circulation among second-hand booksellers throughout the country, with a request for reports on the edition, price, condition, &c., of the books wanted. A comparison of these lists when returned usually results in most of the books being got in good condition at very moderate prices. New books can be purchased at discounts rang- ing from 25 per cent, to 33J per cent, off the published prices, according to the contract made with the local bookseller, but when l>u-~>ii)le, all books should be bought second-hand. The question of edition is rather an important one, especially as regards lending library books. An edition of a book quite good enough for circulation may be purchased for a shilling or two, if the librarian buys judiciously,while if he purchases without inquiry or knowledge, he may pay as many pounds for an expensive edition de Itt.ce quite unsuited for lending purposes. The works of such writers as Scott, Dickens, Kinglake, Tennyson, Thackeray, Beaconslield, and a host of other good writers are pub- lished in a variety of editions, some very expensive, and some very cheap and excellent. It goes without saying that a handy volume edition of Tennyson, practically complete for a few shillings is the one to purchase for a lending library, and not an edition in half a dozen or more volumes costing perhaps 8. For lending- library purposes all classes of books, but especially fiction, should be purchased in one-volume editions whenever possible. Indeed, it should be made an untransgressable rule never to purchase three-volume novels. They are expensive to buy and bind, dear at almost any money for the space they occupy, and a source of endless trouble as regards recording, and the difficulty they occasion in the matter of statistics. A novel which has any striking literary character or element of popularity will almost inevitably find its way into one-volume form, it may be three months after its original publication in three volumes costing 31s. 6d. (= say 18s.), and the probability is that it can then be bought for any sum between Is. 6d. and 4s. in the form most suitable for circulation. For this cheapening any public library can well afford to wait. The rule against books in more than one volume applies with almost equal force to a certain class of books issued as " library editions." Especially is this the case with the numerous inflated biographies of modern celebrities which are originally issued in a form out of all proportion to the importance of the subject. For these, a public library should wait till it is manifest that their merit or popularity warrants their reissue in cheap one-volume form. If this never happens, as is sometimes the case, surplus copies from subscription libraries like Mudie's, 24 370 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Smith's, or Douglas'and Foulis's, can'hc bought. Duplicate copies of books should be purchased very sparingly before a library is opened, and beyond duplicating such authors as Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, and a few others, no more than single copies of any work should be bought till it is found by experience what readers most constantly seek. Duplicate copies of novels by most writers of the day should be bought with especial care. In some of the older libraries it is a common thing to see shelf upon shelf of books by once popular authors, which were injudiciously over-multiplied to serve a temporary demand, stand- ing like dust-covered ghosts in silent reproach for their permanent neglect, and the misappropriation of public money! A public library should be a selector rather than a purveyor of fiction. The purchase of books for a reference library is quite a different matter, as the best and most complete editions, in a scholarly view, are by all means most desirable. Technical and scientific books should be got in the most recent editions, as there is a vast difference between what is out of date and up to date in the arts and sciences. There is nothing else to be said regarding book-buying save that it should in the first instance be left to a librarian of experience and knowledge, and that a special collection should be made of every book, map or print relating to the district in which the library is situated. Classification and Cataloguing. The two subjects forming the heading of this section are probably the most debatable in the whole range of bibliothecal science. Certainly there are none so prolific in the production of discussion and disputation. It may be possible to find two librarians who agree as to a few points in general administration, but on the question of classification every- one maintains a right to an ex cathedra judgment. The subject is very much complicated by the confusion which has arisen between the classification of human knowledge, and that best adapted to a collection of books, not to speak of the difficulty which exists through cataloguing and classification being con- founded. In general, the classifications of knowledge are un- suitable for a collection, which always means but a selection, of books, because of their elaboration and want of practical acquain- tance with the literature represented in a general library. For a public library any classification is satisfactory which adapts itself to purposes of arrangement and statistics, because the catalogue and not the shelves is the index to the contents of the collection. The classification of books no the shelves of an ordinary public library need not be either very minute or exact. It will be found of greater practical benefit to arrange the books more with eference to future get-at-ability than scientific relationship. For this purpose a classification with as few main divisions as possible is recommended. The following scheme of classification for books suggested in Edward's " Memoirs of Libraries " has been adopted in a number of libraries : THE FORMATION OK PUBLIC LlBRAttlKS. 371 A. Theology, Ecclesiastical His- E. Poetry and the Drama. tory, Philosophy. F. Linguistics. B. History, Travels, Biography, G. General works (including c. Law, Economics, Sociology, Fiction) or Politics. H. Fiction. D. Arts and Sciences. This exceedingly handy scheme has been objected to on grounds chiefly connected with what we might term the clash-ificn- ti,< of subjects. For this reason many librarians have sub- divided the classes B and i> in order to show more minutely the actual kinds of books read. Perhaps they have been also haunted by a sense of the incongruity arising from the juxta- position of two such works as Clinton's " Fasti Hellenici " and the " Life of Allan the Rothbury Piper," in class B ; and the queer association of billiards and botany, sculpture and soap-boiling in class D. As an alternative we therefore give an approximate to the classification which has been adopted in a large number of libraries : A. Theology,Philosophy,Church F. Fine and Recreative Arts. History. G. Useful Arts. B. Topography and Travels. H. Language and Literature, c. History and Biography. i. Poetry and the Drama. D. Law, Commerce, Economics, K. Prose Fiction. &c. L. Miscellaneous and collected E. Mathematical and Natural works. Sciences. Further than this it is dangerous to proceed on such a de- batable subject. It should be mentioned, however, that it is exceedingly hazardous to fix the class of any book by its binding. Grant's " Cavaliers of Fortune " and " Constable of France," with others which shall be nameless, are reckoned as fiction by nearly every librarian in the United Kingdom ! Are Messrs. Routledge to blame? Catalogues. The one point about which most librarians are agreed on this subject, is the dictionary or single alphabet form of arrangement. On every other detail connected with it, opinions are as various as books. A dictionary catalogue em- bodies in one alphabet the authors, subjects, and titles of books in the library, and no one need be at a loss to find at once what it does or does not contain under any of these heads, if he knows his alphabet. For many reasons, but chiefly having regard to public convenience and knowledge, the dictionary form of catalogue is strongly recommended for all new Public Libraries. A handy serviceable catalogue, printed in clear type across the page, on good paper, can be produced very cheaply. Unless the library is very large, possessing say 20,000 volumes or more, small type and double columns should be avoided. There is no advan- tage gained by crushing the information given in a catalogue into the smallest possible compass. Readers are often perplexed by the double columns and confused by the small type ; besides, 372 PUBLIC MBRABIES. the catalogue acquires a starved yet ambitious appearance, which suggests a fragment from some huge library catalogue of 100 000 volumes. Tin; books should be catalogued under their authors, subjects, and titles if sufficiently distinctive, on slips of paper, about 10 by 1 inches, and these must be left in the volumes till checked. It is" i\ very good plan to make the author slip serve for the stock book entry, by including on a separate line above the title, the particulars required by the form of stock book adopted. This often saves time when books are required for immediate cir- culation, as they can be entered in the stock book from the slips at any time. In cataloguing use the rules for author entries issued by the Library Association of the United Kingdom, and for subject or title entries, and all questions relating to arrangement, use the "Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue," prepared by Mr. C. A. Cutter, of Boston. This is published under the authority of the U. S. Government, and copies can generally be had on application to the Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C., U.S.A. It need hardly be said that for small libraries only such rules as are required should be adopted. For describing the sizes of books, if it is thought advisable, the excellent " Demy book scale," designed by Mr. Charles Madeley, public librarian, Warrington, will be found of great service. One or two important rules worthy of being kept in mind, though frequently overlooked, are these Make the date of publication part of every author and subject entry. This is often omitted under the erroneous impression that it is useless and occupies space. It is of the utmost importance that a reader should be able to tell by the catalogue, the earliest and latest books in the library on such subjects as Africa, Astronomy, Bible, Electricity, England, Physiology, &c., &c. Place books under their actual subjects without reference to words on the title, which merely describe the form in which they are written. For example put History of Oxford, Elements of Botany, Principles of Elocution, at Oxford, Botany and Elocution, but never at History, Elements or Principles. So with books whose subjects are not indicated by any word on the title. It is a very slipshod method of cataloguing to place such books as Jackson's "Fair Lusitania," Baker's "Is- mai'lia," or Ruskin's " Munera pulveris " only under these title words, and not at Portugal, Africa, and Political Economy. It is the adoption of this very perfunctory practice which makes so many of our Public Library cata- logues mere author and title lists, however much they may pretend to be subject-indexes. Repeat the names of different authors having the same surname. Only distinguish by a dash authors or subjects which are identical, e.g., I'llJI.If J.inRAHY ADMINISTRATION. 373 Johnson (Peter), History of Greece. 1879. History of Rome. 1880. Johnson (Samuel), Rasselas. 1820. Avoid the redundant headings, " Works by," &c., so often seen in the author entries of some catalogues, as there is a danger of umvllrctiiig readers being induced to think that the titles represent pictures or statuary ! Arrange subject headings when small by authors alpha- betically; by alphabet ot sub-heads or groups of related sub-divisions when large. Use capitals only for proper names or words which it is desirable to distinguish. There are many other points of importance connected with cataloguing, but it is impossible to notice them in our present space. Let the catalogue be made from the books themselves, and not from the work of some other librarian. Instead of a printed catalogue for reference libraries, there has been adopted by many librarians a system of cataloguing books on cards written by the staff. This has been found very advantageous in many respects, but especially where the ques- tions of expense and fulness of entry are concerned. These catalogues consist of a series of cards on which are written the authors, subjects and titles of the books, arranged alphabetically in drawers which are accessible to the public. Books can be catalogued to any extent and inserted in the alphabet at any time without cost or trouble. There are various kinds of cabinets for holding these card catalogues, and various ways of securing the cards and drawers so that they cannot be removed. There are good specimens of these catalogues to be seen in actual use at the Guildhall and Royal College of Surgeons, London, New- castle-upon-Tyne, and elsewhere ; but as they have not as yet been generally adopted it is not thought advisable to enter into a detailed description of any particular style. CHAPTER XXIII. PUBLIC LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION. II O far as the public are concerned, a great deal of the success of a library will be found to depend on the system of management adopted. As few impedimenta as possible should be placed in the way of the borrower or reader, and all restrictions should be as flexible as may be consistent with due safety and order. The points to be aimed at in both lending and reference libraries are rapidity and accuracy of service and record. To effect these aims every- thing connected with the numbering, recording, locating, and identification of the books should be as simple as possible. Some of the more common methods in use are described below, in the hope that they may prove suggestive. .',74 PUBLIC' T.IBRAHIES. Preparation and Placing of Books. All books on receipt should be examined or collated with a view to their completeness or otherwise, and compared with the invoice and order if they are purchased. Each volume should next receive a number in a consecutive series. A book called an Accessions or Loca- tion Book, with fifty lines to a folio, numbered 1 to 10,000 is sometimes used for this purpose in addition to the stock book or shelf llegister, and in this the volume being dealt with receives the first vacant number. This is called the accession number, and is used in some libraries simply as a reference to the place of the book in the stock book, where, as before stated, its history is preserved. In other libraries this number is used, in addition, for every process connected with the book, whether cataloguing or locating. The books should be stamped in certain fixed places with the official stamp of the library. Every plate, the title page, and the last page of letterpress should be stamped, in addition to two or more fixed pages throughout the book. Stamps may either be embossing, perforating, or ink, and may be square, oval, round, or any shape. Embossing and perforating stamps, as at present made, are clumsy, and occupy much time in use. Ink rubber stamps possess the advantages of cheapness, legibility, and rapidity of application. The leaves of every book should be carefully cut, well into the back, before being put in circula- lation. In lending libraries it is usual to paste on the inside of the front board a label bearing an abstract of the rules relating to the borrowing of books, and a label to show the dates on which the volume was issued, together with, in some cases, other particulars. In reference libraries a simple name label is most frequently used. When a book has undergone these several processes and has been catalogued, it only awaits locating or shelving to be ready for issue. There are very many methods of placing books on shelves so that they can be found without delay. The various plans are roughly divisible into two classes, which we may term fixed and movable locations. In the former, which is a survival of the pre-indicator period, when assistants were forced to run about with long lists of numbers in search of one which might chance to be in its place, the books receive in addition to their accession number, a press or shelf number which appears in the catalogue and directs to the position of the book on the shelves. It is customai-y by this system to set aside a certain number of bookcases for each class into which the library is divided, and to apply to each a certain series of numbers. Thus, class A may have reserved for it numbers 1 to 1000, class B 1001 to 3000, class C 3001 to 4000, and so on ; or each class may have an independent series of numbers from 1 to 1000 or over. In any case the assistant knows the presses allotted to each class, and a demand for, say G 300 is met by the assistant proceeding to the G press and picking out the number wanted. This system, sometimes with slight modifications, is in common use LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION. :'~:, in British and American libraries. Another method of fixed location is to number or letter the oases 1, -2, 3, &c. or A. B. C. c, and number the shelves in each press, and the books on each shelf. Thus, G. 621 points to press G, shelf sixth from top, and book -21 from left end of shelf; or as is done in the British Museum 3032 B, points to press 3032, second top shelf, or B, in alphabetical order. Yet another method of fixed location is to number the books in one sequence, set aside presses for each class, pick out the books of each class in numerical order as far as they go, and place them on the shelves in that order. Class A may therefore be arranged 35, 79, 301, 309, 311-15, 542, &c., but always preserving a numerical sequence. Reference need only be made to the very elaborate system adopted in some large libraries of shelving the books according to a fixed scheme of classifica- tion. There are several such schemes in existence, but that designed by Mr. Melvil Dewey, now of New York, is probably better known than any other. It should be mentioned, however, that the library authorities of Sion College, London, have developed a scheme from the actual arrangement of the books on the shelves, and not from mere theory. These systems of classification are not at all adapted for use in public lending libraries. In all the methods of arrangement by numbers above mentioned, it will be seen that in every one of them, saving the last, the number is a reference simply to the place of the book, and has no direct connection with the accession number which points to its history ; hence a reference between these two numbers is necessary. Such references are usually made in a column of the numerical list called the shelf register, and direct to the page of the stock book. The principal objections to the fixed system of location are these : Books cannot be accurately classified on the shelves after the original arrangement, and authors and subjects get widely separated. It is impossible to make any alterations in the relative positions of any series of volumes or to re-number any section without reprinting the catalogue and procuring new numbers for the indicator, if Cotgreave's is used. The preliminary work is always greater, as the whole of the books must be arranged in a fixed order and numbered inside and out before a single step can be made, while the duplication and confusion of numbers as between Accession number 30, Class A 30, B 30, C 30, D 30, &c., in one system, is a frequent cause of very annoying and serious blunders. When the movable system of location is used, one number only is applied to each book, which directs to the history of accession, its place on the shelves, and is representative of the book whether for cataloguing, registration, or finding purposes. 87() IMTH.ir I.THKARIES. The method is simply to number the shelves instead of re- numbering the books. The books are classed on the shelves as minutely as may be wished, and the number of the shelf is carried on to the label of each book and against its number in the location book previously described. The accession number, which is the number mentioned above, is used in the catalogue and indicator or ledger. In a lending library where the Cotgreave indicator is used, the borrrower asks for, say No. 9o2. The assistant proceeds to the indicator book No. 9->2, and while making the entry, notes the shelf number which is marked in the small ledger. He then proceeds to the shelf, nets, stamps, and issues the book. By this system books are not tied to any shelf in the library, so that any author or subject can be kept together or moved about to suit any requirement whether of space or convenience without in any way affecting aught save the shelf number inside the book itself and the location book. The main objection to this plan is the difficulty caused at first by the intervention of the location book before the exact place of the book can be discovered. This objection is one, however, which never has the least weight after a month's time, as the average assistant becomes so familiar with all the best-used books as to be quite able to dispense with the intermediate reference. If each shelf is arranged alphabetically, as is some- times done, books can be found without the slightest delay. Service, Oversight, &c. Any of the systems above described will be found workable, but the first mentioned of the fixed and the movable locations will be found to work most satisfactorily. Whichever system is adopted, it may safely be recommended to be worked in conjunction with an indicator. Of the various indicators which have been invented, Cotgreave's is probably as good as any for use as a basis, especially as its merits have been more generally tested and approved than any other. With this, as with other indicators, the use of ledgers is obviated, books are shown in or out instantaneously, endless trouble is saved borrowers and staff alike, and overdue books can be detected with little trouble. The methods of service are as follow : The borrower having ascertained from the catalogue the number of the book wanted, and by the indicator that it is in, asks the assistant librarian for the number, say 5,692, and hands in his card, without which he will not be served. The assistant goes to 5,692 on the indicator, removes the miniature ledger, and enters in it the number of the borrower's card and the current date. He next reverses the ledger to show the colour which represents books out, leaves the card in it, and procures the book. In most cases the date is next carried on to the date label of the book to indicate to the borrower when he had it, and after an entry is made of the book's number in a day book or sheet, it is issued to the reader. Another method is to have the borrower fill up an application form with the number, class, and title of the book wanted, and his name and ticket num- PCBLIC LIBBABY ADMIXISTBATION. 3/7 ber. This he hands to the assistant along with his card, and is served in the manner described above, save that no day book or sheet is needful, the application forms being made the basis of the issue statistics. This method has the advantage of enabling the assistant to serve more than one reader at a time, provides a check on what is being issued and to whom it is issued, and gives the very best possible data on which to base the record of issues. The further great advantage which it has of giving a sure means of detecting and tracing errors is not to be overlooked. It is always an objection to the viva voce method of calling for books, that errors are of continual occur- rence through the transposition of numbers, and that no check is possible till all the entries have been completed, and the book delivered. This objection is completely met by the use of the application form. The detection of books which are kept much beyond the period allowed for reading is rather important where the issue is large. This is effected on the Elliot indicator generally by means of the borrowers' cards which have the ends coloured differently say red and green. The red ends are turned towards the staff on the indicator during the first period, green the next, so that when the second period is drawing to a close, most of the tickets show- ing red remaining in the indicator ai'e overdue. This method of distinguishing overdues by borrowers' cards is also adapted to the Cotgreave indicator, sometimes with four colours to give a greater number of changes. There are two colours printed on each end of the ticket, half of the end to each colour, and the period in which any number has been issued is shown by the representative colour, which is turned right or left as may be decided. These colours are rather apt to rub off with the handling which the tickets get, and a shaped ticket has been introduced instead with success. Ordinary hard millboard cut into cards the size of, but about half an inch longer than the indicator books, and faced with white paper on one side only, is very serviceable for borrowers' tickets. If the cards have the corners of one end clipped off, four changes are got by simply turning the cards as with the colours, but the advantage lies of course in the non-effacement of the form. First period, clipped ends and white side up to face staff ; second period, white and square ; third period, clipped ends and dark side up, fourth period, square and dark. These variations are quite easily distinguishable on the Cotgreave indicator. The slides and clips made for the Cotgreave indicator are used for the same purpose, but require more work in handling. The leading feature of the Bonner indicator is the means for checking overdues, and the Duplex also has a special means of effecting a similar end which appears to be very efficient. The detection of overdues is only a secondary matter, however, and should not be regarded as the principal feature in an indicator. There are various forms of ledger used where indicators have not been adopted, though the indicator is sometimes 37* prtu.ic LIBRARIES. worked in conjunction with a series of ledgers. A common form of ledger, or rather day-book, consisted of a volume ruled fit'tv lines to a page holding a hundred entries, with columns showing the following particulars : consecutive number, class, luidk number, number of volumes, borrower's ticket number, date of return. Each page is headed with the current date. When a book is issued, its number &c, is entered in the ledger, and the date, and consecutive number carried on to the label of the volume. These direct to the ledger entry when the book has to be marked off on its return. All (statistics are compiled from this volume, and it is the only record apart from the entry made on the labels of the books issued. By this method it is impossible to tell who has a book which is out without very great trouble. Another form of ledger has also fifty lines per page, and is ruled into fifteen perpendicular columns of equal breadth. A page or more is given to each book in the library, which is entered in numerical order, and the columns are headed across the page ticket-number, date of issue, date of return. When a book is issued it is only necessary to turn up its number in the ledger, and enter the number of the borrower's card and the date. The books on return are simply marked or stamped off with the date. A single page holds the record of 250 issues of a book. This form of ledger shows who has any book, and how long it has been out, while the borrowers' cards if arranged in a series of dated compartments, can be made to show the overdues. If worked with application lists a single entry will suffice at the moment of issue. There are many other forms of ledgers, but the principle in all is much the same. Some keep an account of the books read by each reader, while others combine this with the systems above described. The ledger system is gradually going out of use in Britain, as it is found a serious inconvenience and hindrance to the staff, especially as regards the labour of searching through long lists of numbers for the first one in. This can with very little extra trouble be undertaken by each reader where there is an indicator. "With ledgers only the staff are open to continual complaints of favouritism, and ex- posed to the nuisance of sceptical murmurs on the question of books being out ; while the eternal trouble of " marking off " is a serious matter to be avoided if possible. Of course when the expense of an indicator cannot be borne there is no alter- native but to adopt a ledger, and the second form described is recommended. In the Appendix a variety of forms are given of applications, vouchers, rules, &c., and it is needless to say anything here regarding them. There are points in the management of a library connected with work-hours, borrowers' voucher forms, cards, fines, service, &c. which can only be discussed with due reference to the rules and regulations adopted. The reference is very similar to the lending library in its PI'BT.ir LIBRARY ADMINISTRATION. :'7 ( .< general working, hut as it is open to all readers without introduc- tion or guarantee, it follows that .great eare must be exercised in the issue of books which can only be read on the premises. Application forms are always used, on which the reader is required to give his or her name and full address, as well as particulars of the book wanted. It is usual to put the slip, for a book which has been issued, in the place vacated by the volume, where it remains till it is returned. The slips or forms are used after the books are replaced as the basis of the issue statistics. Binding. For public library purposes all bindings should be strong and durable ; finish being a secondary consideration. Various materials have been tried, and at one time it was thought that in buckram a cheap and lasting binding stuff had been discovered which would supersede everything, but there has since been good reason found to doubt its suitability. Among, leathers which have stood the tests of wear and tear as well as any, are good Persian morocco and pigskin. Some recent im- provements in the methods of dressing the latter have led to a very extensive adoption of this material. A book bound in half pigskin according to the following specification will stand almost anything short of use as a fire-brick. " Books to be well beaten or rolled. Sew one sheet on, on strong tapes, the first and last sheets or sections to be enclosed at back in linen strips. Tapes to be firmly secured between split- boards. Backs made close and flexible, without bands, but with blind fillets in imitation of bands. Half-bound in pig-skin, smooth cloth sides [and if thought necessary vellum corners]. Top edge to be cut, sprinkled and burnished, fore and bottom edges left with proof. End papers of stout coloured paper secured to linen strip which should be sewed with first and last sections, with at least one white leaf before and after printed matter. Cloth joints in all books, and plates to be mounted on linen guards. Lettered on back in gold with title, author, and number. Four tapes to be allowed to a 1\ inch 8vo, other sizes in proportion." Calf and Russia leathers should never be used on any account. It is well always to put books in circulation in the publishers' cloth bindings, and let popularity and use distinguish those which should be strongly bound in leather. There is absolutely no economy in buying 2s. novels in sheets for Is. 4d., and having them bound in leather for say Is. 4d. extra, making the first cost of the book 2s. 8d. It is much cheaper in the end and more judicious to take the wear out of the original binding even though it be only paper boards, as there is always a risk of books never being in demand, and the cost of binding them is thrown away, to say nothing of the disproportionate charge for binding thrown on the early years of the library. An ordinary railway novel costing say Is. 5d., will last six months and more with ordinary usage, and it is time enough to think of putting it into a strong binding when it has proved that it is necessary. NEWSROOMS. News and reading rooms are generally so familiar to most persons that little need be said regarding them. For a 380 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. simple newsroom, in which only periodicals are kept in addition to the newspapers, the need for a number of tables is almost unnecessary when a rack is used. Light arm-chairs will be found cheaper and quite as convenient as tables, so far as arm support for reading-cases if concerned. Covers should be provided for each periodical or magazine, made of stout millboard, bound in half pig-skin, and lettered with the title on both sides. Pei'iodicals allowed to lie about loosely soon acquire a dirty and ragged appearance, and always make a room untidy. The newsroom stock ought to consist of almost every variety of journal and periodical possible to be acquired by purchase or donation. The principal London, provincial, and, if possible, foreign news- papers ; weekly trade, commercial, technical, literary, and scien- tific periodicals ; monthly and quarterly magazines and miscellanies should be applied as abundantly as possible, so that the newsroom may be representative of every phase of thought and opinion, past and current political and scientific movement, and be, in general, a centre for the spread of information on every conceiv- able topic. There are many other minor points in connection with Public library administration, about which information could be given, but as they depend altogether upon the main system adopted, it will perhaps be best to leave the question of their settlement alone. There is nothing more salutary and suggestive than a visit to some neighbouring libraries, so far as the adoption of matters of detail is concerned. Indeed, there is probably no better advice to be given with regard to all matters connected with Library work, than to urge a frequent intercourse with every librarian within reach. CHAPTEK XXIV. BOARD SCHOOLS AS BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARIES. ||HERE is no waste in nature. It is only man who wastes and misapplies ; and the w r aste of power and material in England is a crying shame upon us which calls for immediate attention. Those who control churches and chapels content themselves with, as a rule, keeping these places open about six hours a week, while gin palaces and public-houses are open something like a hundred and twenty hours during the same time. Probably in no department of our national life is the waste (to which reference has been made) greater than in the allowing of Board Schools, which are the property of the people, to be unused from, say, five o'clock in the evening to school-time next morning. It is noteworthy that many of the old voluntary schools had a lending library attached to them for the benefit of the school children, but too often the books in them were of an unsatisfactory char* acter. They frequently relied for their collections on the voluntary contributions of the local residents, which meant BOARD SCHOOLS AS BRANCH ITBMC LIBRARIES. 381 usually that the school library became a receptacle for odd volumes, obsolete books, and the general rubbish of drawers and bookshelves. An odd volume of " Blackstone's Commen- taries" -was once sent to a library designed for children under sixteen, and in another case a quantity of Italian works were given for the same object. Volumes of sermons were a favourite donation, as they are to-day if books are solicited. These can be had at any time by the cart-load, at the price of waste paper, and it would require one of Sam Weller's " double million magnifying glasses " to discover what good a very large percentage of them have accomplished. The mere fact of there being school accommodation in England and Wales for '>,:}H.">,643 children for the year ending August 31, 18 -*8, and an average attendance of 3,633,094, shows, in a very brief form, the educational machinery which is in operation. The total number of schools receiving annual grants is 19,328, made up as follows : National, or Church of England 11,890 AVesleyan 55o Roman Catholic 917 British Undenominational 1,376 School Board 4,590 19,328 According to the last report (1888) of the Education Depart- ment, there were on the registers the names of 4,714,026 children, of whom 1 ,460,802 were under 7 years of age ; 3,027,884 between 7 and 13 ; 154,843 between 13 and 14 ; and 43,981 above 14. Of these, 3,614,967 were, on an average, in daily attendance throughout the year. Here are the readers for School Libraries, but where are the books " One-sixth of the entire population of England and Wales are at school, and it is to these that political, commercial, and social power will by-and-bye come. Let ratepayers in particular trunk of the influence for good which a well-selected library will have on the minds of the scholars. To schoolmasters and mistresses it is unnecessary to urge upon them the advisability of establishing school libraries, for they are already alive to the great need of them in schools. All this goes to show what an absolute necessity a good library is in our schools as well as in the universities. Fortunately, whether we look to England, Scotland, or Ireland, we find huge strides have been made within the last decade or two towards the improvement of university libraries. Unfortunately, this same march of progress has been by no means so regular and marked within the walls of our schools, both great and small. And yet, wherever youth is gathered in numbers to learn, 382 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. there should be found a collection of books, the voluntary univer- sity of these latter days, where the studious may retire to con- sult, " read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest " the lofty thoughts and useful knowledge poured forth by the illustrious dead on their behalf. For there is no room for doubt that a thoroughly good and popular school library is an incalculable boon to the scholars, and a great help to the teachers for they are silent counsellors who " fly not from the suppliant crowd," neither do they wax wrath nor laugh at the ignorant. This question of school libraries ought to be gone into very seriously by the vast army who have charge of our boys anil girls. To a certain extent, the future of the youth of our country is in their hands, and the spending of idle hours when the restraints of school discipline are not upon them may influence the whole of their after life. Athletics and outdoor exercise are by no means to be despised nor discouraged ; but then there are many boys who are not fitted for very much athletics, and, in our climate, we may always safely reckon on a certain percentage of wet days, and then the library will be recognized, both by boy and master, as a haven of rest where half hours may be passed that are far more enjoyable than some other modes of spending time. The librai'y should, therefore^ afford material for recrea- tion as well as downright hard wort.' There is in the Education Blue Book for 1888, consisting of nearly 700 pages, a strange absence of reference on the part of the various inspectors to the need of establishing School Libraries. In -former reports, one or two inspectors referred in brief paragraphs to this important matter. But whether official- ism has discouraged this or not it is impossible to say. The tone of those paragraphs was certainly to the effect that in schools where libraries are provided, the intelligence of the scholars is of a higher and more practical character than in schools where a library does not exist. In one of the Welsh divisions the inspector says that " school libraries, I am glad to say, are becoming common, and if the habit of reading at home could be established by their means, the work of the teacher in securing thoughtful reading would be greatly assisted." Why do not more inspectors direct their attention to this question of school libraries ? After a vain search through this voluminous report the only reference to libraries in elementary schools found by the author is the brief paragraph above, printed in small type, and sandwiched among a mass of other matter. Will the scholastic papers take up this point ? If this is done there will, no doubt, soon be a change, for inspectors are, as a body, too much in touch with their work to overlook the question when it is brought home to them. In some districts board school managers and teachers have taken up the question in a practical way, but the fringe of it has yet only been touched so far as the greater part of the country is concerned. At Laxfield, in Suffolk, there is a boys' endowed school with a library. This cost about 13, and con- BOARD SCHOOLS AS BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 383 tains 250 volumes. The money was obtained by concerts, sub- scriptions, and a grant from the school managers. The Religious Tract Society, the Pure Literature Society, and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge granted books at half-price, and the bookseller gave a discount of 2o per cent. The volumes are changed every other Friday afternoon, only those boys who have attended regularly during the previous fortnight being allowed to take a fresh book. To meet the expense of repairs, &c., residents in the village are allowed to join on payment of one penny per fortnight per volume. The average attendance for the winter quarter is 91 per cent, and the master attributes this greatly to the library. He also says that the attendance at the night schools has been better since the library was formed. At Ashton-under-Lyne, the question of libraries in Board Schools has been raised, but nothing special has yet resulted. The School Board loan library system has been worked in Birmingham with the most satisfactory results. At Norwich, a similar system is being worked, and at Lynn there were 1,000 volumes in each school. Mr. \V. H. K. Wright, the Borough Librarian of Plymouth, has this subject very much at heart. His plan is to obtain from the Public Library Committee a certain number of care- fully-selected books to be lent to the pupils of the school for the time being, instead of leaving to run riot undirected in the General Public Library. It is justly claimed for the system that it spreads the benefits of the Public Library over a larger area, with many conveniences to pupils who may live far from the main institution. Useful supervision and advice can be given to the pupils in the selection of books suitable to their ages and attainments, without unduly restricting individual preferences. Mr. Wright's main suggestion is that "In con- nection with each district library, such as that proposed, there should be a small collection of books approved by both library and school authorities for the use of the children attending that school ; and that those children should not be allowed the run of the central or general library, except at the special request of parents or teachers. This arrangement might be supplemented in various ways to suit the particular circum- stances of each case." According to the last report of the Ply- mouth Public Library 1,719 volumes are on loan among twelve Board Schools. In nearly every case the teachers take a warm interest in the matter, and do their utmost to preserve the books in good order and to encourage the children to be punctual in their return, as well as careful in their use. It is found that the books carried home by the children are in many cases read by other members of the family, and the advantages of the library are thus far more widely diffused than would otherwise be possible. The Leeds system of using their Board Schools is very frequently referred to and quoted as an example. Leeds has now 2o branches, but in stating this it should be remembered 384 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. that none of the branches are housed in specially-erected buildings, as are many of the Sheffield, Manchester, Birming- ham, Nottingham, and other branch libraries. Leeds covers an area roughly of thirty-three square miles, and a member of the Town Council made it a boast not long ago, there were not 10,000 out of the 370,000 inhabitants beyond six minutes' walk from a Public Library or news-room. This may appear a good thing of which to be proud, but it has its drawbacks; and it must be acknowledged that while the libraries and newsrooms in Leeds are doing a most excellent work, it is a serious question whether a smaller number would not have accomplished quite as much useful work.- Judging from an outsider's point of view it is really a case of too much of a good thing. It would appear that it owes its origin to the preponderance on the library committee for a number of years of members of the Council representing suburban constituencies, and to please these, and bring votes on the polling day. Letters from residents in the toAvn and personal observation reveal this fact ; and the evil, for it really has become an evil, has not ended, seeing that every year brings a number of new men in the Town Council, some of whom are placed on the Library Committee, and other districts through their representatives are crying out for a branch to be opened in their constituency. The boast of so many of the population being within six minutes' walk to a Public Library is really not a creditable one. If an institution is worth anything at all it is at least worth a little trouble to get to it. One good, strong and vigorous central library, and a few good branches would do a work equal in effect, and as useful in results in the majority of cases. This is said in order that towns adopting the Acts may not go in for too much discursiveness, and are urged not to take one town or district exclusively as an example for their plan of operations. It may be again stated that Leeds is doing Avith its branches at Board Schools an exceedingly good work. Twelve are held in Board Schools, and of these five are open from 6 to 9 p.m., on the evenings of Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays of each week. One is open four nights a week ; three are open two nights a week, and three are open one night a week from 6 to 9, or for an hour only in the middle of the day. They contain books varying in numbers from 3073 to 1500 volumes according to the size of the district, and six out of the twelve are supplied with copies of the local papers and popular magazines. Four Branch Libraries, containing about 1,000 volumes each, and consisting wholly of juvenile literature,, have, with the co-operation of the Board, been established, the Library Committee purchasing the books, and the Board under- taking the supplying of the bookcases, &c., and the manage- ment. These branches are open one hour on a certain day of the week to the scholars attending the schools and the children of the neighbourhood for the issuing and changing of books, this Avork being done by the teachers. In addition BOARD SCHOOLS AS BRANCH Pl~BMC LIBRARIES. 385 to the four juvenile branches, three brandies that had been established some years have been handed over to the Board, and these are also open one hour each week, and are worked by the staff of the schools. This makes the total number of Branch Libraries in Board Schools sixteen, as well as three held in church or other schools. No rent is charged by the School Board for the use of the various schools, nor is any charge made for cleaning, heating, or gas. It is entirely through this public spirit of the Board that the committee have been able to establish branch libraries in all parts of the borough, and the Board has done everything it could to help, rightly judging the establishment of libraries the keystone and completion of their work. The assistants at these branches receive Is. 8d. for each night open ; and Is. per night is also paid to the porter of the school, who removes the shutters of the bookcases, arranges the room, and preserves order during the time the library is open. At any branch where the work is too heavy for one assistant, a boy is engaged to help him, and he receives payment at the rate of Is. per night. The Board have not provided bookcases for any of the branches, except in the case of the three special juvenile branches. In Bradford the School Board charge the Library Committee a rent of 10 or 20 per annum for each school used. AVhy this should be deserves some explanation on the part of the Board. In 1878 the School Board for London decided to start a set of libraries, to change in rotation from school to school, for the use of teachers and scholars. The schools were arranged in groups, so that each group would represent a constituency of 10,000 children. For each group 120, afterwards raised to 144, was spent in the purchase of books, which were subdivided into as many libraries as there were schools. When a library had been in use for six months at one school it was moved on to the next in the group, to ensure a certain amount of change and variety in the literature available. This plan did not work very smoothly, and has been considerably modified. The division into groups has been abolished, and now the books, after a year's use in the school, are sent back into store, where they are revised and re- ticketed, lost ones replaced and perhaps new ones added. Each permanent school is provided with a lending library for the use of boys and girls of Standard III. and upwards, which is placed under the care of the head master. For the purchase of new books, a further expenditure, reckoned at the rate of id. per head per annum on scholars in average attendance in both" boys' and girls' departments is allowed up to a maximum of 12s. each department, except in the cases of large mixed departments, where the full amount of ^d. per head is allowed. The head teachers, both of boys' and girls' departments, must forward with the annual requisition for books and apparatus, the requisition for books to be added to the school library (such books to be selected ' LIBRARIES. t lie catalogue of books for school libraries). It is the duty of the head master to see that the library is rendered equally available both to boys and to girls. Managers are specially asked to see that the books are regularly given out, and made available both to boys and to girls ; and they are also requested to occa- sionally look into the working of the libraries, so as to ensure that the library registers are properly kept, and that full use is made of the libraries. The main regulations are : 1. That the books be kept at the school in a closed bookcase, especially supplied for the purpose, which shall be placed, whenever possible, in the managers' room. 2. That the library be placed in charge of the head master, but that the books be available to the girls equally with the boys, and also to pupil teachers of all departments. 3. That it be the duty of the master to see that the books are not mis- used, damaged, or lost by the children. 4. That any child injuring or losing a book the parent of the child be called upon to defray the cost of such injury or loss ; that the master make every effort to recover payment, and, failing this, the child be deprived of the use of the library for six months. 5. That the library be open for the exchange of books during one hour in each week, the hour being fixed by the managers. 6. That no book be retained by the same child for more than two weeks, but if not required by any other child renewal may be made. A child not returning his or her book within the required time shall be deprived of the use of the library at the discretion of the teacher. As to the quality of the reading thus brought within reach of the scholars, the libraries consist of works by Tennyson, Longfellow, Shakespeare, Spenser, Macaulay, Smiles, and others ; books of fiction by Dickens, Thackeray, and other great novelists ; boys' books from the popular pens of Kingston, Ballantyne, and Marryat; and bound volumes of magazines. It is interesting to see what is being done in France in the way of School Libraries. The " Bibliotheques Populaires des Ecoles Publiques " are a special class of libraries, established in schools, and connected with the elementary education department. They are for the free use of the scholars, and now number over 3o,200. The law which regulates them provides that in every elementary school there shall be a library, under the care of the teacher, which Library must contain a depot of class- books for the free use of the free scholars. Books are to be given by the Minister of Public Instruction and the general council for the department, and are received as donations from any one. The libraries are intended for the parents as well as the scholars, and are not absolutely free. In some cases the parents pay a voluntary subscription, 'and in all cases they are responsible for the care of the books. These libraries are not new institutions, although they have never been properly or- ganized until the Republic took them in hand. In 1831, a number of books were distributed by the Minister of Public Instruction among the schools. Between 1833 and 1844 more BOARD SCHOOLS AS BRANCH PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 387 than a million volumes were sent to the schools. But the libraries were then managed, or rather mismanaged, in such a way that by 18.50 the whole of the books had disappeared, and no trace of them has ever been found. Ten years later it was agreed to found the school libraries again, and in every new school built proper accommodation has been made for a library. In 1861 a decree was pronounced for the creation of a library in every boys' school. M. Duruy gave a great impulse to this branch of education. He considered that a library was abso- lutely necessary for a school. In 1861 the Minister sent out 62,000 volumes at a cost of about the same number of francs. In 1862 60,000, and in the following year 200,000 volumes were distributed. In 1865 there were 4,833 of these school libraries in France, and in 1869 14,395, containing 1,239,165 volumes. The loss of Alsace and Lorraine reduced the number, but in 1872 there were over 14,000. Three years later the number rose to 16,469, and in 1879 stood at 20,552 libraries, with 2,051,227 books. Now the libraries number over 35,200, and contain more than 4,000,000 volumes. The number of books in each library is not great, but then the readers are not numerous. The circle is restricted. The average number of books taken out during a year is about six per person. During 1885 25,200 was spent on the libraries, which would represent a considerable number of volumes, for the Minister of Public Instruction does not pay high for his books. In this direction America is taking a foremost place, and our cousins across the ferry are setting a worthy example to us in this direction. Not only by teachers, but by prominent men generally, much attention is given to the use of libraries in connection with the public schools. Once it was the complaint that, though the school and the library stood side by side, no bridge stretched from the one to the other. Now librarians and the trustees of libraries generally, are trying to co-operate with teachers and parents in directing into profitable channels the reading of children and youth. The younger children are helped to select interesting and instructing stories, and books of history and travel ; older ones are guided to the sources of history, the authorities in science, and the finest examples in literature. The choice of the books is aided by the acquaintance of the teacher with the tastes and capacities of his pupils, the discernment on the part of the librarian of their wants, and his knowledge of the books that will supply them, and by the increasing abilities of readers to choose for themselves. Many circumstances and influences must unite in order to produce the highest degree of mutual -helpfulness between the school and the linrary. It will be seen from the chapter referring to the Public Libraries in America, that the State of Massachusetts stands at the head of library work. In connection with the Public Library at Quincey in that State, the trustees adopted a few years ago a rule by which each of the schools might become practically a branch library, the master selecting a number of volumes from the 388 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. main library and circulating them among his scholars. In the Wells School, Boston, a plan has been devised for promoting the study of good literature. It involves the loan from the Public Library to the public school of copies of some one book, sufficient in number to enable the pupils of the school to read the same book at the same time. Once a week they are examined in a free conversational way as to the structure of the work, the relation of its parts, the spirit in which it was written, the excellence of its style and diction, and similar qualities. The use of libraries has been greatly increased in Cincinnati by interesting public school scholars in authors of unquestioned merit. The School District Libraries of California are meeting with marked success. The superintendent of the Boston schools says that the Public Library stands at the head of the educational system of the city, of which it forms a true part. And, on the other hand, he urges that the schools should give instruction in the best methods of reading good books : " Reading is an art which, with a little of almost everything, has been taught in the public schools immemorially ; but how to read a book an entire book is an acquisition made by few, and never system- atically taught in the public schools." One of the greatest helps to the popularity of a school library is that it should be liberally administered that it should not be filled with " goody-goody " books, to the exclusion of more sub- stantial fare and managed by a librarian who really knows and loves books ; indeed, it is upon this that the whole thing hinges. A true lover of books will be liberal in the choice of his friends, he will search far and wide, bring the treasures together, classify and put each in its proper place ; and then, too, what an in- valuable help a thorough knowledge of books enables the guardian to render the inquiring student ! But it is absolutely necessary the librarian should take a real interest in his books ; too great a stress cannot be laid upon this, for it must be remembered that a Librarian without a true love of books becomes merely an official, who will perform his duties as speedily as he can and with the least possible personal trouble. More general use might be made of Board Schools as branch libraries than has at present been the case. In many towns where there is a demand for branches and the penny rate will not afford the cost of building, stocking, and maintaining a branch, the Board School might with advantage be used. These buildings are public property, and there is no valid reason whatever why they should not be used in the way suggested. The cost of opening and maintaining them as newsrooms would be so infinitesimally small, that our wonder is candidates for School Boards have not made this a special feature in their addresses. One of the obstacles raised not only in London, but in the country, has been the cleaning of the schools after the rooms have been used as libraries ; but surely, between ten o'clock at night and nine the next morning, there would be ample time for this purpose. Labour for cleansing is cheap and at hand, and even BOAHT) SCHOOLS AS BRANCH Pl'BI.IC LIBRARIES. :',! were it necessary lor tin- whole night to be occupied, there could be no serious obstacle in the way. Plenty of ventilation by open doors and windows between the use of the building for teaching and Public Library purposes, would ensure the rooms being kept airy. A difficulty very frequently alleged, is that the scats and desks being constructed for children are not suitable for adults. This is an obstacle which has to be met. There might be a drawing closer together in their work of School Boards and the librarians and committees of Public Libraries. The latter continue in reality the work of the former. As Mr. Melvil Dewey says " We must struggle to teach our masses to read in our schools. Then they must become bread- winners; and if we carry on their education we must do it by providing Public Libraries, which shall serve as high schools and colleges for the people. Our schools at best will only furnish the tools (how rudimentary those tools for most people now !) ; but in the ideal libraries towards which we are looking to-day will be found the materials which with these tools may be worked up into good citizenship and higher living. The schools give the chisel, the libraries the marble ; there can be no statue without both." School Boards have a larger rate to deal with than Public Libraries, and they might reasonably be expected to do more in the way of providing school libraries than they at present do. This is a matter which comes more legitimately within their scope of operations, and if the Education Act or the Amendment Acts do not give them power to spend the small sums which would be necessary, there would be no difficulty in getting a Bill passed by which permission would be conferred. Librarians and committees would, there is every reason to believe, co-operate with them in every way possible, and would in most cases undertake the management of the libraries. The link between Board Schools and Public Libraries is becoming closer every year. Libraries free and open to the people are the real continuation schools, and are the only means by which the taste for reading which elementary education creates can be at all adequately met. The Society for the Promotion of Recreative Evening Classes has done, and is doing, a most useful work in assimilating instruction and recreation by a practical and agreeable method. Its aim is to get hold of children who have left school, and to provide evening occupation for them of a useful and attractive kind, which shall continue their education and prepare them for the actual life before them. In London alone no fewer than 80,000 children leave school every year, of whom only 4 per cent, are known to continue their education in any systematic way. The rest soon forget the greater part of what they have been taught, and are exposed in the evening to the hideous evils of London street life. What this means we all know. The work is purely educational, but the education is made interesting and attractive by means of musical drill, singing, and the extensive use of the lantern for illustrating lessons in history, geography, and simple 390 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. science. Girls are fitted to become good servants or to be other- wise useful by instruction in household sewing, the making and mending of garments, and cottage cookery. Boys are prepared for technical training in classes for drawing, designing, modelling, wood carving, &c. The teaching in all subjects is voluntary. During the winter of 1888, thirty schools were opened in London. This (1889-90) winter the recreative and practical classes are started in 80 out of the 128 evening schools under the London School Board, and in several national and other schools, while in the country at large about 50 towns of more or less import- ance have adopted the system. It is estimated that the efforts of the association have probably added 20,000 within twelve months to the attendance at the evening schools throughout the country. Nothing can be of more vital moment to the well-being of the nation than to provide some safe and healthy channel for the activities of this class of the population. It is a poor economy, which having educated them at a cost in London, counting none but rate-aided schools, of considerably over a million a year, to allow them to drift off uncared for, just when they most need a helping hand. A taste for reading, and the means for gratifying it, are perhaps the very best pre- servatives a lad can have against the degrading atti'actions of the London streets. CHAPTER XXV. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN AMERICA AND CANADA; > MER1C A has taken the lead in developing the usefulness of Public Libraries. In the United States these institu- tions form so much a part of the national life that their absence, particularly in the older districts, usually stamps a district as being in the rear in public spirit and enterprise. Where the striking of oil or silver creates a town, in a single round of the moon, money-making takes the lead, and libraries have to wait until the lining of pockets has been accomplished, and a demand from the citizens presents itself for something more intellectual than local newspapers in which the staple news is personal gossip. In the actual use made of the books in Public Libraries, England compares very favourably with America. But in library economy and administration we can learn many lessons from our progressive cousins on the other side of the Atlantic. In this as well as in other depart- ments of life, the old country and her strong offspring may plod along side by side in friendly emulation, each learning from the other, and determined that, come what may in the question of the partition of Europe and other parts of the world, both will steadily pursue those arts of peace and civilization which have made these countries what they now are. We may in one department take a lesson from our Transatlantic relatives, the adoption of which would be a distinct gain to the nation. The JTUUC I.imtAIUKS IN AMKItK'A AX1> CA\A1\. .'IHl Bureau of Education fulfils a service of great utility in the United States. In designing and maturing their constitution, George Washing mi and his co-workers, gave to education a very prominent place. The dictum of the first President that the virtue and intelligence of the people are the two indispens- able securities of republican institutions, has found its echo all through tlic Union in the form of free education, common schools and Public Libraries. In the department of the Interior there is a section called the Bureau of Education, the purpose and duties of which are to collect statistics and facts showing the condition and progress of education in the several states and territories. A further object is to disseminate such information respecting the organization and management of schools and school systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the people of the United States in the establishment and maintenance of efficient school systems, and otherwise promote the cause of education throughout the country. In the work of this office the Public Library system occupies a prominent place. The management of this Bureau of Education, subject to the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, is entrusted to a Commissioner of Education who is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. This Commissioner presents annually to Congress a report em- bodying the results of his investigations and labours, together with a statement of such facts and recommendations as will in his judgment subserve the purpose for which the office is established. The publications of this office are numerous and excellent. Through the kindness of the Secretary of the Depart- ment, copies of the books and pamphlets relating to Public Libraries and education generally are received by the present writer. The latest to hand bear the titles as here given. " His- tory of Higher Education in South Carolina," 247 pages ; " Higher Education in Wisconsin," 68 pages ; " History of Education in Florida," 54 pages ; " Education in Georgia," Io4 pages ; " Indus- trial Education in the South,' 86 pages; " Study of History in American Colleges and Universities," 300 pages ; " Education in the Industrial and Fine Arts in the United States," 842 pages. The annual report of the Commissioners of Education usually makes a volume of 800 pages. The special report of the Public Libraries in the United States, giving their history, condition and management, was published in two volumes in 1876-7 and the two together fill 1188 pages. Following these in 1886 was a supplementary publication consisting of a hundred pages giving statistics of Public Libraries in America. The last received is an interesting publication headed " Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue." The uniform size of these publications is demy octavo. lYom these particulars it will be gathered what is being done in the way of publications by this department. These are only a fraction of what could be named. Of the contents of the volumes, and of their great interest and value to all who concern themselves about matters of education, 892 IM r.i.K it would be difficult to speak too highly. It was as far back as 18(57 that the United States Government resolved to establish a Department of Education. Every year accordingly since 1870 there has, in addition to other literature, been issued a volume averaging about 1000 pages, in which have been recorded at length the several attempts made to grapple with the multifarious and difficult problems for the consideration of which the bureau was specially created. As they appeared, these volumes have been welcomed with gratitude by specialists in educational matters all the world over ; and this, not only because they marked the successive stages reached by the States in their own solution of a great social question, to the importance of which they have long been keenly alive, but also because they found in them a vast fund of information, drawn from the best available sources which shed an interesting and valuable light upon the educational conditions and expedients of most civilized countries worthy of note. It would be impossible here to give an adequate idea of the number and variety of the questions raised, and more or less successfully answered, in these volumes ; but merely to mention a few taken at random will suffice to show the comprehensive and suggestive character of the topics discussed. Such questions concern the relations of education to pauperism, crime, and insanity ; the principles and methods of the Kindergarten ; the industrial training of boys and girls; the higher education of women, and their admission to Universities ; the service and qualifications of School Boards ; the shortcomings and capabilities of Sunday and Mission Schools; the training of the blind, the deaf, and the dumb ; the different forms of manual and art train- ing ; and the establishment of schools of agriculture. As already indicated, however, the publications of the United States Bureau of Education have not been limited to annual reports. In addition to these, it has issued at irregular intervals a large number of bulletins, circulars, and special reports, in each of which some specific subject is discussed at length and with commendable thoroughness, generally by some recognized author- ity working with the best means of information at his command. The value of such special treatises in defining the problems, establishing ascertained knowledge, and stimulating further investigations, is evident on the face of them. Here again it will be sufficient to name a few of the topics handled to show the interesting and varied nature of the " light and leading " to be got from the volumes under notice. Such are : school architec- ture ; the training of teachers in Germany ; the history of medical education in the United States; training schools for nurses; industrial art in schools; natural science in secondary schools ; English rural schools ; the legal rights of children ; the construction of Public Library buildings ; college libraries as aids to instruction. The American Library Association is older by a few years than the Library Association on this side of the Atlantic. In side offshoots of Association work we are also somewhat behind. PfBUf l.imtARIES IX A.MKltli A AMi I'A.VADA. ".!:'. The Library Schools are beginning to hold a distinct place in the training of library assistants. The Columbia Library school at Albany, a pretty town in New York state, is the chief of these schools. A visit to the school is an impressive experience. It would be difficult to find any place where a soberer view is taken of library methods and responsibilities. The managers of it claim that they have been fortunate in their material from its beginning. The excellent assistants sent out prove that it has been of great advantage to have a course of technical instruction. The fact cannot be too acutely grasped in this country that the best librarians are those who have passed through an apprentice- ship of training at one of the Public Libraries in the country. Committees and Commissioners cannot over-estimate the import- ance of this matter. The Library Bureau for Public and Private Libraries is of recent formation. This is situated at 146, Franklin- street, Boston. Its departments are those for employment, con- sultation, publications, and supplies, and this will serve "to illustrate the character and scope of its work. The Bureau aims to make itself indispensable to the libraries and it has evidently before it a useful future. Nothing struck the late Matthew Arnold so much in one of his lecturing visits to the States as the sight of a ragged and almost shoeless little boy sitting in the reading-room of one of the Public Libraries, studying his book or newspaper with all the sang froid of a member of a West-end club. The sight was decidedly one which a democratic nation might be proud of, and one, moreover, which Englishmen should be anxious to see in their own country. The marvellous growth of the movement in America is extraordinary. Seventy years ago such things as Public Libraries were almost unknown in America, for prior to 1820 there were but ten of them in existence ; to-day they are as common as public schools. There is no town or village of any consequence that cannot boast of its Public Library, and some comparatively new communities have two or three. In the most recent report published, 1686 Public Libraries are named, containing 13,834,810 volumes. Of this number 424 are free lending libraries, supported wholly or partly by public moneys, and containing 3,721,191 volumes. Massachu- setts has much the larger number, viz., 176 libraries with 1,819,723 volumes; Rhode Island has 30 with 112,909 volumes; New York has only 16, Illinois 34, New Hampshire 33, and Michigan 28 ; and with these exceptions no other State has more than 13. Of free public reference libraries the number is 153, containing 3,066,099 volumes. There are 241 free corporate lending libraries containing 1,727,770 volumes, the largest being the Astor Library in the city of New York, which however, is free but not lending, and containing 226,602 volumes. Of libraries belonging to societies, associations and clubs, there are 341, containing 2,460,334 volumes the largest being the New York Mercantile. Of corporate lending libraries open to subscribers only, there are 452, with 2,(U4,911 volumes the :; present writer has noticed in more than one of them the noble words delivered by Sidney Smith at the Royal Institution inscribed in large letters upon the wall. " Therefore " such are the words in question " when I say, in conducting your under- standing, love knowledge with a great love, with a vehement love, with a love coeval with life, what do I say but love innocence, love purity love that which, if you are rich, will sanctify the blind fortune which made you so, and teach men to call it justice love that which, if you are poor, will make poverty respectable, and forbid the proudest to mock the meanness of your fortune love that which will comfort and adorn you, and open to you the kingdom of thought and all the boundless regions of conception. Therefore, if any young man has embarked his life in the pursuit of Knowledge, let him c go on without doubting the result. Let him not be daunted by her cheerless beginnings, or by the difficulties hoveling round her. Let him rather follow her as the angel that guards him, and the genius of his life. She will bring him out at last into the light of day, and exhibit him to the world comprehensive in argument, strong in reason- ing, paramount above his fellows in all his relations and offices of The first Public Library established in America dates back to 1700, and this was established by a clergyman who had been chaplain to the English governor of the then province of New York. It is somewhat remarkable that the first addition to this library was a gift, about thirty years afterwards, by the British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts. Other libraries followed, and about the year 1750, the public took up spiritedly the need of libraries, and a large subscription fund was commenced. It may be said that about the year 1850, there were within the United States 149 collegiate libraries, containing an aggregate of 1,083,954 volumes. Eleven years later, returns which extended to 117 only out of the 149, assigned to that portion of the collegiate libraries an aggregate of 1,222,148 volumes. Many of these libraries had been originally gathered by combined efforts of a very varied nature. Not a few of the books were contributed by Englishmen, and it is pleasant for us to contemplate that such was the case. It will be a sorry day for both countries when the community of feeling between us ceases to exist. It is one of the proudest distinctions of this great Republic that the custom of giving away money by rich citizens during their lifetime and nothing is harder for most men to part with, except prejudice is more common among the Americans than among any other people, and that the favourite direction of their munificence is towards the founding of colleges and libraries. What a list of American benefactors of this kind might we make out: the Astor and Lenox Libraries and Cooper Institute in "New York City; the Cornell University in New York State; the M'Cormick University in Virginia, the Lick Observatory and Stamford University in California, the countless Public Libraries 396 Pntl.K LIBRARIES. of New England, the Vanderbilt University in Tennessee these are but a tithe of the institutions which owe their origin wholly to the bounty of a single individual or partially to contributions from what, in the chapels of Oxford and Cambridge, are called pious benefactors. The most princely of all givers for Public Library purposes, whether on this side or the American side of the Atlantic, is Mr. Andrew Carnegie. Fortunately for Great Britain, Mr. Carnegie is a Scotchman, and his library favours are divided between the two countries. Tabulating what he has done for these institutions, it may lie stated as follows : Alleghany City Library ...... 60,000 Camegie Library, Braddocks, Penn. . . 20,000 Johnstown Library, destroyed by the Conemaugh floods in 1889, and being rebuilt by Mr. Carnegie ........ Pittsburgh Library, to cost Edinburgh Public Library Carnegie Library, Diuifermline Several smaller contributions to other libraries, about ........ 14,000 360,000 Mr. Carnegie's offer to Pittsburgh was originally 100,000, but he has told the committee that he is prepared to spend a million dollars upon the institution. From this it will be seen that a most handsome building will very shortly be completed. The most beautiful building he has had anything to do with is the Alleghany City Library and Hall. This is built of a light grey granite and stands upon one quarter of a small public park. The City Hall occupies another quarter. The two buildings occupy some 200 feet square, and the two principal streets cross at right angles. The City Library is a beautiful building, and was opened to the public on February 20, 1890, by President Harrison. Xo wonder that letters should frequently reach the author saying "would that we had a local Mr. Carnegie to help us ! " Each State makes its own laws for the establishment of Public Libraries. But in 1851 the special provision which had been made on behalf of the city of Boston was made general through- out the Commonwealth, and took the form of "An Act to Authorize Cities and Towns to Establish and Maintain Public Libraries." The main powers of this Act ran as follows : " Any city or town of this Commonwealth is hereby authorized to establish and maintain a Public Library within the same, and with or without branches, for the use of the inhabitants thereof, and to provide suitable rooms therefor, under such regulations for the government of said Library as may from time to time be prescribed by the city council of such city, or the inhabitants of such town." The Act further provided " that any city or town could appropriate for the foundation and commencement of such library as aforesaid a sum not exceeding one dollar (roughly four shillings) for each of its ratable polls in the year next preceding PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN AMERICA AND CANADA. 397 that on which such appropriation shall be made ; and may also appropriate annually, for the maintenance and increase of such library, a sum not exceeding one shilling for each of its ratepayers in the year next preceding that in which such appropriation shall be made. Any town or city may receive, in its corporate capacity, and hold or manage any devise, bequest, or donation for the establishment, increase, or maintenance of a Public Library within the same." New Bedford, in Massachusetts, was the first town to establish, in 1851, a Public Library under this Act ; and the library commenced with less than 6,000 volumes. It has now 50,000. As indicative of State library legislation, a few recent Acts may be quoted. In Illinois an Act was approved June 17, 1887, amending an Act authorizing cities and towns to establish and maintain Public Libraries and reading-rooms, passed in 1872, by increasing the amount levied for library purposes, in the annual tax levy of cities of less than 100,000 inhabitants, to two mills on one dollar. It was formerly one and a-half mills, which still remains the rate in cities of over 100,000 population, with the proviso that the library taxes shall not be included in the aggregate amount of taxes limited in the Act relative to the incorporation of cities. In New Jersey on March 6, 1886, an act was approved, amend- ing the law of 1879, to provide that when a Public Library has been established in any incorporated city, pursuant to that Act, and shall have existed three years or more, and possess property of the value of $30,000 or more, the directors shall annually certify to the common council of such city the amount required for the maintenance of such library for the ensuing year, not exceeding half-mill on the dollar ; and the council shall cause to be assessed and raised, by tax, the amount so certified. In New York State an Act was approved on June 15, 1886, and provides that any incorporated library association in any city, own- ing real estate of the value of 4,000, and at least 10,000 volumes, and maintaining the same for free circulation of books, among the inhabitants of said city, and shall have actually circulated 75,000 in the preceding twelve months, may apply to the common council for an appropriation of a sum not exceeding 1,000. Any like library which has circulated, in addition to the 75,000 specified, more than 100,000 volumes, is authorized to apply for a further appropriation of 1,000 for each 100,000 volumes so circulated, in addition to the 75,000 first specified. The common council is empowered to make proper provision for the payment of this appropriation. In the city of New York this applies to any library meeting the foregoing requirements, with the restriction that not more than 8,000 shall be paid to any one library in any one year. On May 13, 1887, an Act was approved to encourage Public Libraries in the villages and smaller cities of the State, which applies to cities not exceeding 30,000 population. This Act contains provisions similar to those of the foregoing Act, though on a reduced scale. The required value of real estate is 800, or 398 PI 'BUT LIBRARIES. an annual rental of 60. The number of volumes must be not less than o,000, and the annual circulation lo,000. The appropria- tion is 200, with an additional 200 for every lo,000 of circulation. On May 19, 1888, the Act of 1872, providing for the formation of Public Libraries, was amended by increasing the limit of annual appropriations from fifty to seventy cents per capita of legal voters. In Pennsylvania an Act was proved on May 23, 1887, which appropriates the dog tax to Public Libraries which maintain free reading-rooms. This Act also empowers cities to take and hold donations of money, books, and other property for establishing I*ublic Libraries, and to make annual appropriations for the maintenance of such libraries. It will be noticed in the foregoing paragraph that there is a reference to the appropriation of the dog tax. In some States there is an annual tax of two dollars on each dog kept, and the bulk of this tax goes for library purposes. To us it seems a little singular to make the keepers of dogs the chief maintainers of the Public Library. The library world of America has produced some excellent men. Standing out foremost are Mr. C. A. Cutter, the present President of the American Library Association, and its secretary, Mr. Melvil Dewey. The last-named librarian recently expressed a confident opinion that "the Public Library is an institution whose importance is not recognized by the mass of the people. It is our purpose to show it to be of equal value with the public school and the church, these three forming a grand trinity as means of public education and advancement. Most people now look upon the library as a good thing to have in a community, but by no means an essential. This idea is to be done away with. In the small town of the future the library will be recognized as one of the prime necessities. There is no way of reaching the public so effectively as by the printed pages. It far exceeds the pulpit or the rostrum in force and power of extension. Here, then, is the trinity. The public school makes the base, giving the foundation for education : the church forms one of the sides by its moral teachings and its care for the spiritual man ; and the Public Library makes the other side by its broad and general training of all classes and sects. It will not be many years before the Public Library will be recognized at its full value, and the little libraries will be found wherever churches and school-houses are. Every small town will have its library. That this change is surely coming is proved by the communications which our association is constantly receiving from cities and towns all over the country, where Public Libraries are contemplated. In most of the cases somebody has left an endowment, large or small, as a Public Library fund, or the nucleus for one, and the people want information how to begin. One aim of our organization is to give just this information, for we have learned that experi- ence and -wisdom directed towards the proper starting of a Public Library yield splendid returns, and are a source of perpetual MHHARIKS IN AMERICA AND CANADA. 309 satisfaction in the later career of the library." Mr. Dewey is well-known in the library world on this side of the Atlantic. Boston was among the first American cities to adopt Public Libraries, and it would have been somewhat strange had it been otherwise, for this city has no small ground for claiming to represent the intelligence of the American nation. Boston refine- ment and culture rank equal to that of the West End of London, and it is from this city and the other New England States that most of the efforts have come for the benefit of the American community. The proximity of Cambridge, a suburb of Boston, where the Harvard University is situated, no doubt largely aids to make the Bostonians proud of their intellectual attainments. This college is the Alma Mater of such prominent Americans as Mr. James Russell Lowell, who has presented the Harvard Library with some hundreds of volumes. The stamp of the Puritans is still unmistakably left on these New England States. There is a solidity about them lacking in other parts. Educationally, politically, and commercially, they take the lead of any state in the Union. It was from here came the impetus for the Civil War for the abolition of slavery, and it is in these States that most of America's best men were born and lived, and these again are not slow to acknowledge themselves as descendants of sterling English blood, driven out of our country by kingly intolerance and cruelty. Most of the American writers of note had or have their homes in these States, and the majority of these again in Boston or within easy distance of that city. With such a literary reputation, Boston would have lacked some of its great glory had it not taken the lead in establishing Public Libraries, as distinct from the school and the State libraries. In 1847 Josiah Quincy, the then mayor of the city, intimated to the city council that " a citizen offered to give to the city a thousand pounds for the purpose of founding a Public Library on condition that a further sum of 2,500 should be raised by a public sub- scription, and that the library when formed should be opened to the public in as full a manner as may be consistent with the safety of the property." The council replied " that the City of Boston will accept any donation from citizens or others for the purpose of commencing a Public Library, and further, that whenever the library shall be of the value of 6,000 it \vill be expedient for the city to provide a suitable place and arrangements to enable it to be used by the citizens with as great a freedom as the security of the property will permit." This was quickly followed by an Act passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts empowering the council to "establish and maintain a Public Library for the use of its inhabitants," but it was not until a few years afterwards that it was put into effect. Nations influence nations, and individuals influence individuals, for weal or woe, and an offer which came in 18*52 from a Bostonian, Mr. Joshua Bates, who offered to contribute books to the value of 10,000, was sure to be emulated. The Public Library had then just been opened in Manchester, the first under the Act in England, 400 IMBI.IC LIBRARIES. and an amount of public attention was thus called to the matter which gave an impetus to the attention at that time being devoted to the subject in Boston. Givers of books, and other philanthropists who bestow gifts for the use of the public, are the names which live in local history. And Mr. Joshua Bates' name will go down to posterity blessed and revered by the countless numbers whom his action aided to confer a privilege on the community. So spiritedly did the Bostonians take up the matter, that he gave 26,000 volumes of books in addition to the 10,000 previously offered, and which was funded for the maintenance of the library. Between the years 1855 and 1860 Boston spent in founding her great Public Library more than eight shillings for each man, woman, and child within her limits, and she has sustained it to this day with great spirit and liberality. Many various bequests have been made to it or its various branches from time to time. It has been the pleasure of the author to spend many happy hours in the old Bates' Library and the reading-rooms. Long ago this building became inadequate to the requirements of the public, and the advisability and necessity of extension were discussed for many years, but it was not until November 28, 1888, that the corner-stone of the new library buildings on Copley-square was laid. By the terms of the contract the basement and story were to be finished by the autumn of 1889, and at the present time active progress is being made with the structure. The character of the building will be seen from the accompanying engraving, which gives a view fi-om the square. Mr. Mellen Chamberlain, the accomplished librarian, has sent copies of the annual reports from 1877 to 1889 inclusive, and copies also of some other publications of the library. These are most instructive and interesting reading. The quarterly bulletins issued by many of the American libraries are now familiar to the leading English librarians. Boston was the first to adopt the issue of these bulletins, and the idea originated with Mr. M. Chamberlain. The one sent consists of over 100 pages small foolscap, and is packed with information about the library. It also gives the accession books during the quarter. These quarterly bulletins are made the vehicle of bibliographical communications of special interest to studious classes. Copies are sent to such for the purpose of enlarging the circle of patrons. On December 31, 1888, the library and its branches contained 505,872 volumes and 354,256 pamphlets ; the number in the Central Library being 367,995 volumes. In the first year of the existence of the Bates' Hall, 1852-53, the number of books was 9,688. In 1888 the library was open 304 days, and the total issue was 1,013,847 volumes from the Central Library and nine branches. This gives an average issue of 3,335 daily. At the Central Library the issue was, for home use 226,240 volumes, and for reference, 201,020 books. Fiction and juvenile literature are classed together, but it is well to remember that in juvenile literature a very large number of books cannot be designated as fiction. Taking these PI HI. 1C 1.IHHAIUKS IN AMKItK A ANT) CANAI'A. 401 40:? prm.io LIBRARIES. two sections together the percentage is 70-87 of the entire issues. It is significant that English history, topography, biography, travel, and polite literature stood in isss nt 12-7. Xorth and South American history was 12-32, showing an equal interest between the histories of the two sides of the Atlantic. Natural history and science were 2-80 and metaphysics and social science 5-13 of the issues. A little book of 42 pages gives the Acts and ordinances relating to the Boston Public Library. In 1885 there was a clause in an Act imposing upon the board of trustees the duty of anmially appointing an examining committee of not less than five persons, not members of the said board, who, together with one of the trustees acting as chairman, should examine the library and make a report of its condition. The hand-book for readei's gives in 1,52 pages the regulations of the library with an account of the catalogue, indexes to notes about books, and other information. Mention is made of the special privilege cards by which residents may make application entitling the holder to draw more books and to keep them longer than the rules allow. Such cards, however, are granted only in the interests of citizens at large, and not for the advancement merely of private studies. Authors, teachers, lecturers, and editors are considered among the privileged classes. There is thus a slight difference between the term as applied in this country and America. Four books and four weeks are the limits of a special privilege. Among the " cautions " there is one that gentlemen must remain uncovered while in the building. The total number of borrowers at the Central Library is 26,482, and at the branches 26,618, making a total of 53,100. Of these applications 4,988 were sent to the police for verification of addresses another new feature in library administration. It will also be of interest to English librarians to learn that the librarian and his assistants in Boston and the other lai'ge cities are usually sworn as special constables, so that in case of any reader damaging a book or purloining a periodical, he may be, if caught in the act, at once arrested and charged. We have not yet reached this high state of library administration on this side. Will it be libelling the American libraries by stating that notices to the effect that, " The use of tobacco is forbidden in this room," become somewhat monotonous after a dozen or so in one reading- room have been counted ? A special volume would be necessary to do anything like justice to the American libraries, and as this is not practicable, reference can only be made to a few others. Massachussetts takes the lead for Public Libraries, and this one state has more than all England added together. In this State one of the most compact and well arranged libraries visited by the present writer is that of Concord. Situated about fifteen miles from Boston, it bears the name and well sustains the character of the literary village. It was here that Hawthorne and Emerson lived neighbours, and their graves are neighbours in the beautiful cemetery of Sleepy Hollow. As PUBLIC LTBBABIE8 IX AMERICA AND CAXAPA. 403 far back as 1672 there are records of literary characteristics of this pretty little town of some 3,000 inhabitants ; and in 1851 a Social Library which existed was merged into the Town Library. Two other collections the Parish Library and the Agricultural Library were afterwards added to the Town Library, and in 1873 all were transferred to the present Concord Public Library. The building shown in the sketch was given by a worthy citizen, William Munroe, at a cost of some 12,000, and it was opened in 1873, Ralph Waldo Emerson delivering, on that occasion, the address of dedication, and in which address he commenced by saying that literature is the record of the best CONCORD PUBLIC LIBRARY. thoughts. Every attainment and discipline which increases a man's acquaintance with the invisible world lifts his being. Everything that gives him a new perception of beauty, multiplies his pure enjoyments. A river of thought is always running out of the invisible world into the mind of man. Shall not they who received the largest streams spread abroad the healing waters ? " Mr. Emerson was for many years, and up to the time of his death, a member of the Public Library committee, and the librarian, who by the way is a lady, gave the author some very interesting reminiscences of this distinguished author. He was most assiduous in his attendance at the committee meetings, and took the warmest interest in the welfare of the library. All the 404 HI UI.IC I.1HRARIES. books are alphabetically arranged, and classified under the names of authors, titles and subjects, with many cross references. On the shelves the books are all classified, each subject and each division of a subject being by itself. One alcove in the library is devoted exclusively to the books, pamphlets, &c., relating to Concord, and the entire library has a capacity for 35,000 volumes. How one is tempted to wish that every English village of 3,000 or more inhabitants possessed such a comfortable and picturesque Public Library as that in Concord ! The State is Massachusetts, which has over 200 Public Libraries. Many of these are architecturally very striking, and in almost PUBLIC LIBRARY, NORTHAMPTON, MASS. every instance the building has been specially erected for the purpose of a Public Library, so that every necessary convenience has received attention. The building at Northampton in this State shown in the engraving is one which reflects credit upon the town, and of which they are justly proud. It was founded in 1860 and has over 15,000 volumes, with an annual issue of over 20,000 volumes. New York City is not lacking either in the quantity or quality of her books. But at the same time it would be idle to attempt to deny a fact which becomes more patent each year, PUBLIC LIBBABIBS IN AMEBICA AND CANADA. 405 that she sorely needs to consolidate her treasures and establish a great Public Library which will supply the needs of her citizens and reflect credit upon the city. Samuel J. Tilden's barrel of money used to be a joke in American politics sometimes illustrated facetiously, and commonly gibed at in colloquial journalism. He was a millionaire and very ambitious, and his money was very generally considered at the service of any of the Democratic party that would " hoe his row " to win the Presidency. Mr. Tilden intended to make a good use of his money in his solemn will and testament. He left one million sterling to form and maintain a Public Library. Such imusual generosity by an old man to the public could not, of course, pass unchallenged. The nephew, who went to law bent upon establishing that the old man must have been insane to pass him by for the sake of deluging posterity with free literature, has so far been successful, for the Supreme Court of New York decided that although a great lawyer he did not know how to make a will leaving his estate in trust for the founding of Public Libraries in New York. "What a striking lesson this teaches that the best time to use money for the public good is during the lifetime of the owner. When all the Public Libraries of New York City are counted, and including those in connection with Young Men's Christian A>sociations and other institutions, there are no fewer than 95 with an aggregate of 1,400,000 books. Of these, however, only about a tenth are free to the people. All but about a dozen belong to clubs, societies or educational institutions, and are, therefore, of no value to the general public. Of the ten or twelve open to all there are two classes one devoted to consultation and refer- ence only, the other to general circulation, while this latter class can be divided into free and subscription libraries. Of the first class mentioned, the Astor is the largest and most important, and yet, although it is the third largest library in America and contains nearly 250,000 volumes, it is of compara- tively very little value. No books can be taken from the library, and they cannot even be consulted except between the hours of 9 a.m. and 12 o'clock and from 4 to 5 p.m. For five weeks in the summer it is closed altogether. The average of daily readers is about two hundred and fifty. Rather a small showing for a fund of 300,000. The next library of importance, or rather of value is the Lenox, on Fifth Avenue, occupying nearly all the space between Seventy and Seventy-first Streets. Here is a building and a most extraor- dinary collection of books, pamphlets and manuscripts, valued at over 200,000, and yet how valueless it is to the people ! It is open only from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and admission can only be had by first writing to the Superintendent for a card. Tho next two most important libraries from the standpoint of number of volumes are those of the New York Society, with 80,000, and of the New York Historical Society with 75,000. The hours of these libraries are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and are, of 406 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. course open only to members, who pay membership fee* and annual dues. Another library of the same kind is that of the American Institute, containing 12,750 volumes. Though containing the smallest number of books, yet of the class described it is the library of the Cooper Union that is of the greatest value. It is open to all, day and evening, and with only 25,000 books there over 230,000 yearly readers, making a daily average of between 600 and 700 books used. This is more than all the large libraries combined, simply because it is accessible at all hours. The class of readers in the evening are superior to those of the daytime, showing again the value of giving the people an opportunity to read at other hours that when engaged in daily duties. Of the second class of libraries mentioned the Mercantile ranks first. It is the largest (but one) circulating library in America and contained last May 1,214,336 books. But it is not free, and only members who can afford 20s. a year can have the use of this collection of books. There are now 5,553 members, but the average number of books taken daily is less than five hundred. But of far more value than any of the libraries mentioned are the Apprentices' Library and the Bond Street Free Circulating Library and its Ottendorfer branch of Second Avenue. The Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen made the Apprentices' Library free to all two or three years ago, and the result has been most satisfactory. The number of books now in the library is over 70,000, and the daily average number of books taken out is 690, and is constantly on the increase. The Free Circulating Library of Bond Street has now been in operation nine years, and has far exceeded the expectation of its founders. The Ottendorfer branch was opened December 8, 1884, and its circulation has already exceeded that of the Bond Street Library. The number of books contained in both libraries is about 30,000, while the daily average circulation is 654. The libraries are open evenings as well as Sundays. The whole num- ber of books given in one year was 234,448. Thus it will be seen that of the 1,400,000 books in the libraries of that city only about 100,000 are accessible to any and every one, and the New York leading citizens are taking this seriously to heart. What is the reason for this great lack of library facilities in the largest city of America ? This question was asked of librarians, and the replies were much the same. Some thought it due to the close attention to business and consequent lack of interest in such matters. Others thought the city legis- lators were too busy looking out for their o\vn interests and sug- gested lack of faith in them by the taxpayers to entrust any such undertaking to men some of whom can hardly read or write. The city does, however, do something towards maintaining the free circulating libraries in operation. According to a Bill passed in the Legislature already referred to, such libraries can draw from the city 1,000 for the first circulation of 75,000 volumes, and 1,000 additional for each 100,000 circulation above this. PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN AMERICA AND CANADA. 407 Private benevolence is doing much to supply the deficiency. Mr. George Yanderbilt, a young and bachelor scion of the wealthy American family of that name, is a hard student, with a fondness for rare pictures and old books, lie is able to gratify his tastes to any extent. He is generous to a fault. Not long a i i a friend pointed out to him that a certain poor district in New York wanted a Public Library and reading-room, and wanted it badly. Mr. Vanderbilt supplied the need without waiting for co-operation at a cost to himself of 60,000. No inducement could persuade him to be present on the opening day. As he explained to the committee who waited upon him, he " would rather be thrashed than listen to the speakers saying kind things about him." A Miss Bruce has given a library in memory of her father. A Children's Library Association has l>een formed in New York for the purpose of supplying children with good healthy books, a room in which to read, and means of showing them how to read, handle, and select books. The trustees of the New York Free Library have voted to give the a.sMK-iation the use of the third floor of their new building. It is instructive that many of the Public Libraries dependent entirely upon subscriptions for support are languishing. This is the case with the one at Brooklyn, just across the East River from New York. The circulation of books in 1888 was 104,597, or 4,114 less than during the preceding year. The diminution does not seem to be regarded as discouraging, but certainly in this great and growing city the figures should be larger and cnustantly increasing. The Sunday attendance at the reading- room shows a slight gain, the average being 88. It is not pleasant to know that the directors have rented a part of the building for commercial purposes. Even if its former occupation was a matter of convenience rather than of necessity, and although the managers were warranted in availing themselves of the rental to eke out their slender resources, it is a pity that any part of the structure should be diverted from its intended uses, and the fact that an eking-out process has to be resorted to is not creditable to Brooklyn. It seems uncomfortably clear that, after all 1hese years, the library is still a struggling insti- tution. The president says it needs a large endowment to put it " on a purely benevolent basis." The income from its fund is about 1,200. This is scarcely enough for the service of its 3,000 patrons, says the president. In a city of 800,000 inhabi- tants the collection of 100,672 volumes should be brought within the reach of more than one person in 266. The first attempt at a founding of a library of a public character in Philadelphia was made by a small association, composed of Benjamin Franklin and his friends, who called it the Junto. This society, out of which grew, in after years, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the American Philosophical Society, was established about 1727, when the future philosopher was twenty-one or twenty-two years old. It was a debating society to a certain degree, inasmuch as the regular exercises 408 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. included statements and communications upon current subjects of interest among the people, with conversation, remarks and expression of opinion thereon. In the course of its proceedings the members of the Junto found that it was necessary to have a small library, by the use of which they might add to the force of their arguments, and open up more completely whatever points of interest, connected with the subject under discussion, were imperfectly known to them. Books were brought to the meeting room. The custom was followed by agreement to establish a library at their place of meeting for their own convenience. The library remained there for about a year, when, in consequence of some of the books having been injured, the individual owners became dissatisfied and took them away. This action destroyed the value of the collection, but the circumstance induced Franklin and some of his companions to enter into a much larger experiment, the establishment of a general library for use by all who might be disposed to avail themselves of the advantages of participation in such a scheme. Before that time, most of the large libraries in Europe were only used for consultation, the books to be examined only in the library halls and not to be taken away. The Franklin plan was to diffuse knowledge and to associate the members of the company together, not only for the accu- mulation of books but to make them practically useful by allowing subscribers to take them to their own homes, there to be read at their leisure. There are now a number of Public Libraries in Philadelphia, and including libraries of every description Pennsylvania has 433 libraries with a gross total of 1,965,093 volumes. The Congressional Library at Washington, now in course of erection, will be the largest national library in any country when completed. The foundations alone have cost 100,000, and there is some discussion about the cost of the entire building being likely to reach over two-and-a-quarter millions sterling. The plans were adopted in 1886, and the completed structure will afford storage capacity for eight to ten million volumes. The principal feature of the building the heart, so to speak, around which everything centres is the reading-room. In shape it is octagonal, and the diameter is 100 feet, which is four feet larger than the rotunda of the Capitol. From floor to dome the measurement is 90 feet. It is lighted from eight large semi-circular windows, each 36 feet in diameter, located above the roofs of the book re- positories, adjacent to the reading-room, some 50 feet from the floor. In addition to the flood of daylight thus admitted there will be a lantern light, 30 feet in diameter, set in the crown of the roof. In the reading-room of the National Library in Paris there is one square foot of light to 428 cubic feet of space, and in the British Museum one foot of light has to do duty for 191 cubic feet of space. Thus the reading-room of the Con- gressional Library will be better lighted than either. The centre of the reading-room floor Avill be occupied by a circular PUBLIC LIBB.AHIE8 IN AMERICA AND CANADA. 409 enclosure of catalogue counters, in the central portion of which will be the desk of the librarian in charge. Radiating from the centre there will be sixteen reading tables, each 2 feet long, and fashioned after those in use in the British Museum. The tables have a partition on them, running lengthwise, so that readers on one side do not disturb those who sit facing them at the same table. The sixteen tables will accommodate 350 readers. In the eight screened recesses around the room there are located sixteen book alcoves, two storeys high, in which will be kept such books as are in frequent use. The Chicago Public Library has an arrangement for the con- venience of citizens living at remote distances from the main collection, by which stations have been established: Book lists can be left at these stations, and are collected by the library messengers, who afterwards leave the books to be called for by those who have ordered them. This plans appears to work well. The book rooms are on the fourth storey of the City Hall, but it is hoped that a permanent home for the collection will ultimately be found at Dearborn Park. This movement has not yet taken deep root in Canada. There are a considerable number of small libraries attached to mechanics' institutes, scattered throughout the dominion, but at the present time there are only some six (Free) Public Libraries in all Canada. The province of Ontario displays the most widespread interest in educational matters, and the province of Quebec is decidedly in the rear. In the whole of this latter province there is no so-called Public Library, although in Montreal there are one or two libraries open free to the public. Whether the French and Kornan Catholic influence has kept back the progress of education in the province of Quebec may be a matter of opinion ; but cer- tainly the province, both in educational and commercial affairs, is far behind Ontario. There are some seventy-eight mechanics' institutes in Ontario, each with an average of 2,500 volumes. The one Public Library in the whole of Canada, which over- shadows all libraries open to the public, is the Public Library of Toronto, with its five branches. The work is in charge of Mr. James Bain, jun., and it is in every way in good hands. It is cheering to know that after six years' working the past year has been one of marked progress. Commencing with the month of January, a steady and continuous increase has taken place in the number of books circulated, and of readers at the different reading-rooms. The number of books issued in 1888 was 279,160; in 1889, 310,945, showing an increase of 31,785, or about 11 per cent. Fiction stands at 56'3 of the issues. During the past session of the Provincial Parliament, an amendment was made to the "Public Libraries' Act," empowering the boards of management of Public Libraries to organize and manage evening classes for artisans, mechanics and working men, in such subjects as might promote a knowledge of the mechanical and manufac- turing arts. By resolution of the City Council, July 8, 1889, the board of management was asked to take the necessary steps for 410 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES OF AUSTRALASIA. 411 establishing such evening classes, and the sum of '400 was passed as a special grant for this purpose. During the past year, 5,040 volumes have been added to the library, which now contains 57,832 volumes. The rate produces about 6,840, and to this there is a grant from the legislature of 40. The building is admirably adapted for its work, and there is every prospect that it will soon experi- ence more extended and useful labours. The library of the Dominion legislature in Ottawa is an exceedingly prepossessing building, octagonal in shape, with alcoves, and lighted from the dome, the effect is very striking. CHAPTER XXVI. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES OP AUSTRALASIA. , UR Colonies are decidedly forging ahead in the way of Public Libraries. Less than three years ago the Chief Justice of Victoria, in opening a Public Library at Brighton, near Melbourne, made the statement that in the colony of Victoria there was a Public Library for one in every 4,800 of their population as against one for every 277,000 in the United Kingdom. Whether the comparison is a fair and accurate one need not be questioned, but certain it is that in the matter of these public institutions our colonies have grasped their vast importance, and are determined that they will learn a lesson from the old country's lethargy. So far they have succeeded admirably, and their Public Libraries are, without almost an exception, doing a work of which the colonies them- selves may not alone be proud, but the old parent may look on with admiration at the rapid strides which her strong and vigorous offshoots are making in this direction. Up to within a comparatively recent date little was heard or known in this country about the Public Libraries at the Antipodes. One institution alone had been heard much of, and that the Melbourne Public Library. Now, however, our information is more com- plete, and we in this country are indebted for that almost entirely to Mr. Clifford W. Holgate, M.A., Barrister, of Lincoln's Inn, who, in the year 1884, visited Australia and took a special interest in seeing for himself what the Public Libraries there were doing. The results of his observations were published in 1886, in two pamphlets, one headed "An account of the Chief Libraries of Australia and Tasmania," and the other " An account of the Chief Libraries of New Zealand." The library world is thus indebted for the dissemination of information in this case, as it is in other departments, to the enthusiasm and warm interest in the subject of a private individual and not to any government or association. The present writer hopes to soon visit the Australasian libraries. The Melbourne Public Library was founded in 1853, under a management of five trustees, and aided by a grant of 10,000 for 412 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. building purposes, and 3,000 for the purchase of books. From the date of opening in 1856 down to 1869 the work developed very satisfactorily, and in the latter year it became apparent that the library, museum, and art gallery could no longer be ad- ministered by the original five trustees, and an Act of Incorpora- tion was passed by which the government of this institution was vested in a board of not less than fifteen trustees. In the same year the Copyright Act of "Victoria was passed, granting to the Library similar privileges to those held by the British Museum Library. The colony shows its democratic spirit in library work as in other sections of its life. No books are allowed to be removed from the rooms, and as a supplementary rule to this, all books must be returned to the shelf from whence they were taken by the reader. This plan saves considerable labour to the attendants, but it is not clear that from a librarian's point of view it works well. The public have access to every work in the library with the exception of certain valuable manuscripts and works of art kept in the librarian's room, and a certain portion of the gallery devoted to medical works. The library contained in 1888 114,868 volumes and 115,871 pamphlets and parts. It was visited during that year by 405,390 persons, nearly double the number of those who used the library in 1882. From the year just named the electric light has been in operation with satisfaction to all concerned. The system of lending books to country libraries has been carried out with much success. In 1888 the number of country libraries receiving loans was thirty- seven, and the number of volumes lent was 6,150. The library has for this department 125 cases of books, and from one to six at a time are lent to the provincial libraries in the colony, free of all charge to them except the cartage to and from the railway stations. The loan can be renewed at the end of the twelve months, or other cases may be sent at the option of the borrowers. Each case contains fifty volumes, and the case itself is fitted up with shelves, so that the local institutions are sent at the same time the books and the necessary shelves for them. The trustees of the library insure at their own expense the whole of the lending library books, and the borrowers enter into a bond to replace any books damaged or to pay for any loss. A dictionary catalogue has been completed and is now in use as well as the large pi*intecl alphabetical catalogue of authors. This has been compiled by Mr. T. F. Bride, LL.D., the librarian. A new wing has very recently been added to the building. No fewer than 314 Public Libraries, athenaeums, and mechanics' institutes furnished statistics to the Government statist for the year 1887, showing that their total receipts were 42,884, of which the Victorian Government contributed 11,303. The number of volumes in the libraries of the institutions which made returns was 391,720, and the estimated number of visits to them 3,670,000. It seems, however, that it is a case of cum grano salts in this as well as other things. Some peculiar discoveries THK Pl'RI.K 1 1. 1 HI!. \HIK.i OF A I s) HA I. ASIA. II-'! made in the early part of 1888, when the Chief Secretai'y had his attention directed to the laxity prevailing amongst com- mittees of management of Public Libraries throughout the colony in the expenditure of the annual grant of 7,000 voted by Parliament for the purchase of new books. According to the facts disclosed close inquiry is needed into the management of the Public Libraries established in many of the principal towns throughout the colony. Five cases are quoted as samples of the rest, and certainly there is need for inquiry. In one case a sum of 206 was available for the purchase of new books, and yet the number of books was less by ninety-three in 1887 than in the previous year. In the next instance there is neither increase nor decrease in the number of books, but the secretary states that only 12 of the amount contributed by the Government had been available for the purchase of books and periodicals, the rest having been absorbed in working expenses. In another case the increase in the books, after presumably spending the Government grant, was nine. Later on we have a decrease of 113 after spending Government money. And so it is clear that some system is required whereby the authorities shall satisfy them- selves that the grant is expended for the purpose for which it is intended. A little necessary supervision would have saved all these disclosures. The Public Libraries of South Australia are developing. The number of Public Libraries, athenaeums, and mechanics' institutes, which made returns for the year 1 888, was 1 34. These showed a total number of books of 118,484 with a gross circulation of 200,996. On June 30, 1889, the Adelaide Public Library contained 26,653 volumes and parts, and had had 62,898 visitors for the half year then ended. In the official report for 1 888 a regret is expressed that an Act has not yet been passed to authorize and regulate the transfer of institutes to corporations or district councils. Over a page of foolscap-size paper of this Government report is occupied by a detailed list of the cost for the year of every newspaper and periodical taken for the newsroom of the library. This list is very comprehensive, and embraces many periodicals which would not usually be found on the tables of the newsrooms of English Public Libraries. All the letters of the alphabet are absorbed in the cataloguing, as will be seen from the table below, but the advantages of such a discursive method are not by any means patent. The divisions are : A. Encyclopedias, Directories, i. Agriculture, Botany, &c. Catalogues, &c. K. History, Chronology, &c. B. Mathematics, Physics, &c. L. Useful Arts, Technology, &c. c. Education and Philology. M. Fine Arts, including Photo- D. Medical Societies' Reports. graphy. E. Topography, Travels, &c. N. Moral and Mental Philoso- F. Physiology, Zoology, &c. phy> Bibles, &c. o. Biography. o. JurispVudence,Commerce,&c. H. Geology, Chemistry, &c. P. Poetry and the Drama. 414 I'l BI.IC UBRAKU>. Q. Ancient Classics, including w. State Papers, English and translations. Colonial. it. (iciici-al Literature. x. Societies, Proceedings and s. Foreign Literature, Modern. Reports of. T. Exhibitions. Y. Newspapers, Bound. u. Rolls Publications. z. Patent Specifications and v. Magazine Literature. Indices thereto. The Adelaide Public Library, the main institution of its kind in South Australia, is a handsome structure. It is, in conjunction with the Museum and Art Gallery, modelled on the lines of the British Museum. The reference reading-room is 43 feet by 30 feet, and a magazine room about the same size. The room in which the library is placed is 120 feet by 40 feet. The room is well proportioned, ventilated, and lighted. It has two galleries. The presses and shelves are of deal and cedar. The public have access to every .part of the library except to the top gallery, where valuable illustrated and other works are kept. At the end of 1887 a Public Libraries' Bill was passed. This Bill instituted a new departure so far as South Australia is con- cerned. From the Bill it seems that Public Libraries may be established in a municipality or district council, except in Adelaide, " and for that purpose the existing institute within such municipality or district council and the real and personal estate of such institute may be taken over by the corporation or district council within which it is situate in the manner and subject to the conditions and restrictions hereinafter prescribed." The process is a comparatively simple one. Ten ratepayers of the municipality are to sign a requisition asking the mayor to convene a meeting to decide whether a Public Library shall be established in the municipality. The mayor is thereupon to call a meeting of ratepayers, stating in his notice the object of the meeting, and whether it is proposed to take over any existing institute. The meeting may be adjourned, and if a vote is carried at the first or the adjourned meeting by a majority of two- thirds of the ratepayers present, the Governor may at any time thereafter by proclamation declare that a Public Library shall be established in the municipality. No poll is to be taken ; but the decision of the meeting is to be final. When the Public Library is thus instituted the local council are to declare a "Library rate," without appeal to the ratepayers, of not less than one half- penny and not more than one penny on the ratable property. If at the meeting, or any adjournment of it, it is decided not to establish a Public Library, the question is not again to be discussed for a year at least, unless a majority of those present decide " that the matter may be again brought forward and con- sidered within that period." The foregoing provisions are also to apply to district councils. As we read the measure, each district council will have power to establish only one Public Library. When the Library is established in accordance with the pro- cedure already described, it is to be managed by a committee of THK prmjC LIBRARIES OF AUSTRALASIA. I I "> ten, half of whom are to be appointed by the corporation or district council, and the other half to be elected by the rate- payers at a meeting assembled for the purpose. At least three of the committee are to be members of the council or corporation, and all are to hold office for a year, but will be eligible for re- appointment or re-election. The committee will have the power to make rules and regulations which, however, will have no force until approved by the Minister of Education. The Library is to be free to every ratepayer in the municipality. If it is to be decided to take over an existing institute notice of this resolution is to be sent to the Minister of Education for his approval. He is then to find out if the members of the institute are willing to. hand over the property to the municipality. If he is satisfied that they are willing, and believes the transfer will be generally beneficial, he is to signify his approval, and is to publish an order in the " Gazette " to that effect, and thereupon the institute is to become the pro- perty of the municipality. The South Australian Institute circulates among the provincial institutes certain books belonging to a separate and special department of the Library. These are sent out in boxes con- taining about thirty volumes each. There are at present about 166 English book boxes, and twenty-three German book boxes in circulation. The advantages offered to institutes which become affiliated to the South Australian Institute are : A share of the annual Government grant; the loan of boxes of books ; power of subscribing as an institute to the South Australian Institute circulating library ; aid in procuring and paying for lectures ; and a copy of the Government " Gazette," Acts of Parliament, and other official papers. In order to participate in the grant to the amount of 20 per annum, they are compelled to keep their reading-room open free to the public on Saturdays from 6 to 10 p.m. A very large quantity of matter respecting the Public Libraries of Xew South Wales has reached the author from the Agent-General in London. In 1887 there were said to be 150 Public Libraries, athenaeums or mechanics' institutes in the colony of New South Wales. In the Government returns to hand there is no record of what these provincial libraries are doing. This is unfortunate, as the real criterion of library work lies quite as much in what is being done by country towns and villages as in what provision is made in the large centres of population. It is satisfactory to know that nearly all the pro- vincial towns in the colony of any importance have either a mechanics' institute or a school of art with a library. Of the work of the Sydney Public Library there is ample data. The new buildings of the Public Library in Bent Street have been opened since 1884. They cost 15,000, and will accom- modate 80,000 volumes, and 200 extra readers. A new reading- room is in course of construction. The new building is shown in the accompanying sketch. Under date of December 13, 1889, Mr. II. C. Walker, the principal librarian, writes to say that they H6 IM IU.IC I.I I!H AIM KS. at that time in a transition state, removing the greater portion of their collection from the wing in Bent Street into the new library in Macquarie Street. The removal and replacing of over 30,000 volumes required much care and attention. The Public Library was established on October 1, 1869, when the building and books of the Australian Subscrip- tion Library were purchased by the Government. The books thus acquired formed the nucleus of the present library. The number of volumes originally purchased was about 16,000, and on December 31, 1888, they had increased to 82,343, including those in the lending branch, or lent to country libraries. The lending branch was established in 1879, to meet a growing public want, and, under the present system any person may, on the recommendation of a clergyman, SYDNEY PUBLIC LIBRARY. magistrate, or other responsible person, obtain under certain simple regulations, the loan of any of the works on the shelves, free of charge. The scope of this institution was further ex- tended by the introduction of a system by which country libraries and mechanics' institutes may obtain on loan works of a select kind, which in many instances would be too expen- sive for them to purchase on account of the slender funds at their disposal. Under this system, boxes are made up containing from 60 to 100 books, and forwarded to the country libraries on application, to be returned or exchanged within four months. This system, although only initiated within the last few years, has already met with a large measure of success. In the course of 1888, 84 boxes of books were forwarded to 60 institutions, some of them at considerable distances from the metropolis of TIIK ri in.ir i.ir.it.uiiES OP AUSTRALASIA. 417 the colony. The distance which these books were carried in 1888 amounted to 84,868 miles, being on an average 416 miles for each box, an enormous distance, partly accounted for by the fact that some places to which books are sent are most readily accessible through the other colonies. All the charges in con- nection with the despatch and return of books, insurance, &c., are defrayed by the State, and the system in vogue in New South Wales is' the most liberal of its kind in existence. The conditions upon which books in boxes, each containing lots of about 60 volumes, are lent by the trustees of the Public Library, Sydney, to libraries in country districts of New South Wales, are as follow : 1. Books will be lent only to trustees or committees of Public Libraries, schools of arts, mechanics' institutes, or libraries of municipalities, that may be beyond the boundary of the City of Sydney. 2. All books authorized to be lent under these conditions shall be bound in good strong binding, placed in boxes constructed of nearly uniform size, and numbered from 1 upwards. Each box shall contain about 60 volumes, according to its catalogue, in which no alteration can be made. 3. Printed catalogue slips of the contents of each box, stating the value of each book, together with forms of application for loans are supplied. 4. Trustees or committees of country libraries, &c., wishing to obtain books on loan, must make application in writing, stating which particular box of books they desire to borrow ; and their application must be accom- panied by an undertaking in the form approved by the trustees of the Public Library, Sydney, to indemnify them against loss. 5. Borrowers in their applications must give a full description of the library, room, or building in or from which it is proposed to deposit or lend the books, and must specify the time for which they desire to retain the use of the books. They must also submit, for the approval of the Trustees, the conditions or regulations under which it is proposed to lend any books so obtained from the trustees, who reserve to themselves the right of refusing any application without assigning any reason therefor. All works of fiction are excluded from these boxes. The popularity of the Public Library is clearly proved by the number of persons availing themselves of its privileges. In 1870 there were 59,786 visits, and in 1880, 134,462 visits. In 1888 the number stood at 149,425. The institution forms a separate department, and is under the control of the Minister of Public Instruction. Its cost to the State was, during 1886, salaries 4,095, maintenance 572, and books 3,583, making a total oi 8.190. During 1888, both the reference and lending depart- ments were open on Sundays. The daily average of visitors during the fifty-two Sundays the reference department was open was 81, who used a total of 6,414 books. Periodical and serial literature stood highest, the issue being 1587. Natural philoso- phy ranks next, the issue of which was 1,313. The average number of borrowers in the lending department on Sundays was 55. In the reference department all persons over eighteen year-- of age, are allowed access to the shelves, and may take out any number of works, but when done with they must leave 21 418 PUBLIC LIBRAUIKS. them on the library tables to be put away by the attendants, and books are not allowed to be removed from the building. In 1886, the number of Public Libraries, &c., in New Zealand which made returns was 303, and the aggregate number of volumes among these was 292,108. They had a gross number of 1 3,0*4 subscribers. In the return published on the 23rd of August, ls*i;. the number of libraries which received grants was 361. The amount granted was about 4,000, and the amount to cadi was based on the income of the individual institution, the income being derived from rates, subscriptions, donations, net proceeds of lectures, entertainments, &c. Some new regulations with regard to these grants were made in 1888. It seems that of the last 6,000 vote, granted in aid of country libraries, &c., a goodly proportion of it was expended in the purchase of novels, instead of reference works on agricultural subjects. Complaint was made that the books cost the country libraries more than would have been the case had they been purchased at head- quarters, and made grants of books instead of money. For tiiese reasons, the Parliament refused to vote the grant, but it is hoped that when some new plan has been devised, these small subsidies will be again established. It is noteworthy that in the colony of New Zealand, there are Public Libraries for the school children in connection with the system of education administered by the Education Depart- ment. The great library event in New Zealand during recent years, was the opening of the Public Library at Auckland, in March, 1887, and the deposit in it of the valuable collection of Sir George Grey, K.C.B. In 1873, the committee of the Auckland Mechanics' Institute petitioned the General Assembly, urging the absolute necessity for the establishment of a Public Library as a means of education and of preserving the status of the people. The petitioners were referred to the Public Libraries' Acts as a means by which the desired object might be obtained. These Acts are permissive as with us in England, and in 1880 the Acts were adopted and d. in the pound was levied to support the library. Considerable additions have been made to the books since then. The gift of Sir George Grey of art and literary treasures was a very valuable one, particularly in early South Seas literature. The number of volumes presented by this veteran colonial statesman was between 8,000, and 9,000, but the mere number insufficiently describes what has been given. One who has seen them says that no description could make intelligible the rare beauty and value to bookmen of some of the books and missals. One of them dates from the ninth century, and many others are of great antiquity. In addition to books and manu- scripts there is a collection of native carvings in wood from the South Sea Islands, and others by the natives of New Zealand. The gift which is known as the "Sir George Grey collection," was given during the lifetime of this distinguished colonist. He thus set an example which will, it may be THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES OF AUSTRALASIA. 419 hoped, be followed by other colonists. Auckland is thus determined not to be behind Melbourne and Sydney in its Public Library, and it has already established a position of sound educational value, and created a real taste for reading and study which no schools could ever have done. It is visited daily by from 600 to 700 people, and on Sunday afternoons by about half this number. The cost of the building including the approaches was 24,375, and for fittings and furniture about '3,000 was spent. Some of the conditions of the lending branch of the Public Library are a little singular. The sum of 6s. per annum has to be paid for use of books, and 6s. deposit for safety of book or against damage, except in case of valuable books, when the price of the book has to be deposited. Among the further conditions are that books kept over ten days, excluding the day of issue, render the borrower liable to a fine of 6d. per day ; no person under fourteen years of age will be eligible to borrow books, except by the librarian's permission ; borrowers leaving the district are to get their tickets cancelled, or they will be held responsible for any books taken out in their names ; books cannot be exchanged on the day of issue, neither can books be re-entered on the day of return. In Queensland it does not appear that as yet there are any Public Libraries, but there is a school of art in almost every town and village, consisting of a library and reading-room, and the nucleus of a museum, which are all much frequented by the inhabitants of the respective towns. Nearly all of these institu- tions are aided by grants from the Government. The gross number of these is about fifty-seven, showing an aggregate of 81,423 books and 6,212 subscribers. The capital city of Brisbane has not a Public Library, but it has at last been determined to build one. In Tasmania, in 1887, thirty-three Public Libraries made returns showing an aggregate of 65,000 volumes. The trustees of the Tasmanian Public Library, in Hobart, have long had under consideration the want of a classified index or catalogue of the 10,000 volumes contained in the National Library of Tasmania. Some months ago a commitfee was appointed to consider the question, to decide on the best form for a catalogue which should be a complete guide to the general reader, and to the special student, and to superintend its compilation. The committee, in conjunction with the librarian, have carefully considered and compared some of the best modern library catalogues, and have decided on the compilation of an entirely new catalogue on what is known as the " dictionary " principle. The new catalogue will comprise in one alphabet : (1) author's name, with full title of work ; (2) short title of work under one or more leading words ; (3) lists of books on special subjects under subject headings, e.g., Tasmanian mineralogy, English history. The trustees and the librarian are to be congratulated on having undertaken to supply a long-felt want, and on the choice of a form for their catalogue 420 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. which is well up to the most approved modern models. This Public Library of Tasmania was .started in its present form in 1870. It is for reference only. In 1872 a penny rate was imposed in behalf of the library, but subsequently this was altered, and it has since been maintained by the Municipal Council out of the rates. CHAPTER XXVII. PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. appear, as a nation, to be taking giant strides to overtake the arrears in our national education. In no respects is this more patent than in the universal spirit of inquiry into the relation between Public Libraries and technical instruction. The passing of the Ministerial Bill at the fag end of the session of 1889 illustrates this very forcibly. This Bill for the promotion of technical instruction is a slightly wider measure than that of the previous year, providing as it does for manual education as well as merely theoretical instruction. The powers given by the Bill will be exercised chiefly by School Boards and such local authorities as are empowered to carry out the Public Libraries' Acts. Library and museum committees will ere long have to take up the question of technical education. And as these bodies already have the management of educational institutions there is little doubt that the carrying out of a scheme of technical instruction falls most suitably in the hands of these committees. The Bill lays it down that the rate for the purposes of technical instruction, whether it be levied by the School Board or by any other local authority, must not exceed a specified sum. No one will complain that this amount is unreasonable, in view of the recognized necessity for this kind of legislation. The Government have by no means acted in advance of popular feeling. It is to be hoped that the permissive character of the measure will not militate against its effectiveness. The land system has, by its ruinous effects upon the prosperity of the country districts, constantly driven into the already congested labour market a quantity of unskilled labour. This has had the double effect of reducing wages and depreciating the standard of work done. The foreign workman has thus seen his opportunity, and the competition of foreign goods becomes keener and keener. Technical instruction will do much in the way of gaining back for us the ground we have lost much more than would the carrying out of the suggestions of Protectionists and Fair Traders. The children will not be taught the practice of any specific trade. They will be instructed in the principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the application of special branches of science and art to specific industries. They will thus approach the actual handling of tools with an intelligence which, PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 421 without the preliminary training, they could not be expected to possess. Notwithstanding the endless variety of superior apparatus for school purposes now in the market, our National schools have very little to attract attention, excite interest, or train the observation of the pupils. Maps and diagrams do duty until they fall off the walls from the effects of mildew and damp. How seldom do we see a good map on the walls. The Ordnance and Geological Surveys have published valuable maps at the public expense. It surely would not be too much to supply every national school with the maps of its own locality, that the children may learn the physical geography around their own homes, and the geography of their own country, and thereby the practical value of maps in general. The total absence of suggestive objects, natural or manufactured, is a most radical defect in our elementary schools, for without them our youths are brought up incapable of appreciating the phenomena of the natural world, and in complete ignorance of the industrial world or its requirements, and consequently know nothing of the various channels into which their own labour might hereafter be practically directed. Hence, when it is time for lads to leave school, both they and their parents are too often utterly at a loss to know what the lad is to be put to, or for what he is fit. He has been taught to work hard to get result fees for his teacher, and he is glad to be relieved from this labour. When we consider that this little country of ours these small islands annually export 230 million pounds' worth of manufac- tured goods chiefly, we must feel, looking back upon the last half century, that we have a glorious past, and when we consider the marvellous rapidity of our trade and commerce, it must make us feel somewhat jealous, and nervous, perhaps, lest, by any means, or by negligence on our part, we should allow this grand result to fall away from ourselves. We hear a great deal about Continental competition, and that the Germans in particular are running us quite out of the market, and it makes us somewhat alarmed less we are allowing our trade and commerce to suffer through any fault on our part. The Commissions appointed to inquire into this matter, have almost invariably recorded that our education is very much lacking, especially technical education, which is almost in its infancy in this country. After the child has attended the elementary schools and is just beginning to think and to use his brains, and to reason, he should be introduced to some sort of application whereby he can bring the thoughts in his mind into substance, and especially in the form of producing some article. There is another consideration, and that is, that the child should be able to follow his proclivities for certain handi- crafts. There is now a universal recognition of the fact that we are far behind the century in this matter of technical instruction. To glance at one district only, one of the directors of South Kensington saw at a technical school in Milan 600 men and youths of all 422 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. trades masons, painters, and joiners all of them working away drawing and modelling things which were of practical use in the trades which they might follow. And what was a still more astonishing fact in that particular school there were hundreds waiting for admission whenever there was a vacancy. This is only one of many such evidences which could be cited. As indicative of the acute interest which librarians are taking in this subject, Mr. Alfred Lancaster, the librarian of the St. Helen's Public Library, read a paper on this subject before the Library Association last year. In the course of his paper, he said that " the Public Library can be made subservient to and help in a great measure, indirectly, the cause of technical instruction. Wo all know how desirable it is to have on our library shelves copies of all the most important and useful books on the staple industries of the district in which the library is placed, and a reference to the number of times such works are issued will prove how greatly they are used. In St. Helens the principal industries are in glass, chemicals, and metals; mining is also carried on largely. It is our aim, therefore, to procure all the best books we can get which treat on those branches of industry. Librarians might co-operate with teachers of science and art classes, and with masters, managers, and foremen of works with a view to obtaining for the library the best and most serviceable books on scientific subjects, of which in many cases they have a personal knowledge. Too much importance cannot be attached to the desirability of having in our Public Libraries a good supply of books in all the higher branches of literature ; but we ought not to overlook the fact that in St. Helens and similar manufacturing centres, where a large proportion of the persons who use the library belongs to the working class, and where some of the occupations followed are of a routine kind, not necessarily requiring much skill, it may be expected that the demand for light reading will be rather large. It is very gratifying to see decorators, designers, and others visiting our reference departments, and looking over fine art works in order to get new ideas to help them in their work. I am always pleased to see such making use of the library, and if a new work on decoration or ornamental art is added to the library they are delighted to be informed, and lose no time in looking over it." The part which trade journals are taking in this most important question cannot be over-estimated. The author is a member of a firm who own the largest number of monthly technical journals, and is well aware how largely trade journals generally have aided to disseminate technical knowledge among the workmen. More than this the truth has been forced home again and again upon employers that if we are, as a manufacturing nation, to maintain our ground, technical instruction and skill will require to occupy a very first place in our attention. The bill which has now become law (see Appendices) is far from being all that could be desired, arid differs materially from that previously brought forward by Sir Henry Roscoe, M.P., but it is PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 423 a good beginning. This may be said even when its clumsy ph rases and frightful phraseology are taken into considera- tion. Among the communities where technical instruction is now re- ceiving practical attention are Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Birmingham, Southampton, Dundee, Warrington, Bootle, and Wolverhampton. These are not all under the new Act. It would seem that the Act has been already adopted by the Maidstone Town Council, which has voted a small sum to the School of Art ; by the Wrexham Town Council, which has decided to levy ^d. rate in support of the art classes ; and by the Bolton Town Council in aid of the new Technical School. The Covent?^ City Council has appointed a committee under the Act to manage the Technical Institute, and, if successful, a rate will be levied m aid of annual expenses. Many other local authorities are also taking action. The Manchester School Board has appointed a committee on the subject, and a meeting, inaugurated by the Technical School, has been held of influential persons interested in the movement, who have resolved to present a memorial to the City Council embodying a scheme for the distribution of any rate that may be raised. The Bradford Technical College has applied for a grant of 1,500 from the Bradford Town Council. The Liverpool School Board has recommended that the City Council should be requested to use their powers. The Association for Technical Education in Liverpool has held a conference with the School Board, and various local bodies have also been moving in the matter. The Salford School Board has a scheme for carrying out the Act. The Birmingham City Council has received a memorial from the Midland Institute asking for aid, and has appointed a committee to consider the subject. The Oswestry School Board has requested the Town Council to confer as to the best means of adopting the Act, and the Town Council has agreed to the conference. At New Mills a joint meeting of the School Board and Local Board expressed itself in favour of adopting the Act and enlarging the Board Schools for that purpose. The Leek Commissioners are taking preliminary steps towards adopting the Act. The Newcastle-on-Tyne School Board called a conference, which decided to approach the City Council with the view of adopting the Act. The Oxford School Board has appointed a committee to confer with the science and art schools on the subject. Application is being made to the Hastings Town Council by the School of Science and Art. The Leeds Association has held a conference, and has appointed a committee to consider the best means of adopting the Act, and this course has also been followed by several County Councils, such as the West and North Riding Councils and others. The subject of the Act has also been considered by the School Boards at Stafford, Ipswich, Warwick, Swansea, Festiniog, and elsewhere, and has been brought before the Dublin Corporation. The Town Councils of Ashton-under- Lyne, Staleybridge, and Sheffield are also moving in the matter. This list shows conclusively that the Act is not going to be Ji'4 iTBur j-iiiRAi: IE- allowed to be a dead letter. The next thing to ensure is that it shall be worked in the most effective manner possible. The Manchester scheme, as placed before the conference on the working- of the Technical Instruction, held in that city on November 26, 1889, may be outlined as follows: "1. That all the efficient board schools for science and art instruction now existing be recommended for support out of the local rate under the Act. and with a view to their further development according to the requirements of the localities in which they are situate. '2. That all the efficient schools of science and art instruction in the city now in receipt of aid from the Science and Art Department be recommended for support out of the local rate in proportion to the nature and amount of efficient technical and manual instruc- tion supplied by these schools or institutions respectively, and with a view to their further development under the Act and having regard to the requirements of the city. 3. That each of such schools be requested to submit to this conference its own suggestions as to the amount and character of the aid desired from the local rate. 4. That in framing the scheme to be submitted it shall be shown that no undue competition of schools in any locality is permitted, and that the instruction in the lower science and art schools shall be contributory to the higher art and technical schools. 5. That the amount of the rate to be levied in the first instance shall not exceed one halfpenny hi the pound, and shall not be more than adequate to provide for efficient instruction in the schools now existing such amount to be determined after the school managers have furnished the conference with their requirements." At that conference Sir II. E. Roscoe, M.P., and Mr. W. Mather. M. P., emphasized the fact that it was felt by those who took part in the conference that it would enable the Local Authority to arrive at a quick conclusion as to its duty if a scheme were presented to them containing the practically unanimous opinion of all those interested in the carrying out of the Act. It- would prevent a great deal of discussion in the Town Council, and probably a scheme so submitted would receive their assent at once. The whole question was the possibility of School 'Boards taking advantage of the Act to constitute themselves secondary educa- tional authorities. Since he had something to do with the pro- posing of those amendments which brought the School Board in, he might say that there was no doubt on the part of the authorities to whom any question would finally be submitted as to the inter- pretation of the Act so far as the position of the School Board was concerned. Hitherto School Boards had been able to carry out science and art instruction only by a sort of underhand method ; but in the Act as it now stood the School Boards were no longer regarded simply as self-constituted committees to carry out science and art instruction, but they were bond fide authorities whose business it would be to carry on secondary education under the provisions contained in the Act. Each locality must determine for itself the best way of bringing the Act into force, for the Act recognized local option as its first principle. If the local authority PUBLIC LIBRARIES ANT> TKfHXICAI. KIHTATIoy. 42o was not inclined to move, the ratepayers could move for themselves, and if they prepared a definite scheme the local authority would submit to the will of their constituents and carry out the Act in all its integrity for the benefit of the general community. As one of the most recent evidences of the spirit of emulation in this department which is making itself felt, the case of Stockport may be cited. Here a large number of industries are carried on, ranging from the making of jam to the building of boilers and engines. The Stockport people have agreed among themselves that the building, which was opened by Sir John Lubbock, M.P., in November, 1889, is the most handsome building in their town. This admirable institution owes its origin chiefly to a thrice Mayor of Stockport, Joseph Leigh, Alderman, J.P., who, in 1886, suggested that a number of local gentlemen should consider the best means of providing the industrial population of Stock- port and the neighbourhood with efficient means for obtaining technical and art instruction. A joint committee was formed, a deputation from which visited the principal technical schools in the kingdom in order to ascertain how to best provide for the special needs of Stockport. The Mayor further said that if the question were taken up heartily, and 7,000 or 8,000 raised as an endowment fund, he and an unknown friend would contribute a sum of money sufficient to erect the building. Local patriotism lies deeply embedded in the heart of Alderman Joseph Leigh, and he has in many ways done what one would like to see other successful manufacturers doing. He has allowed his native town to participate in his success in life. This handsome building has a frontage of 97 feet, and from front to back is 1 4o feet. It is the design of Mr. G. Sedger, and is a simple treatment of English Renaissance. Internally the building is noticeable for one thing in particular adaptation to requirements. The latest improvement are introduced, even to the door knobs. The work of the school is divided into two distinct departments designed to meet the requirements of different classes of students. For those students who have a sufficient amount of time at their disposal during the day the curriculum provided in the department of day classes will probably be found most advantageous, inasmuch as the time devoted to each subject is generally greater than can be allowed in the evening classes. On the other hand the department of evening classes will be found to provide efficient training in the higher branches of knowledge for the numerous class of students whose daily occupations prevent their attending the day classes. In the department of day classes provision has been made for instruction in the following branches : Art and design, chemistry, dyeing, and mathematical and physical science. In tlic' department of evening classes the following branches of science, technology, and art, and of literary and commercial know- ledge, and domestic economy will be fully provided for : Science Mathematical and physical science, chemistry and metallurgy, and natural science. Technology Building trades, mechanical 426 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. engineering, dyeing, bleaching, and calico printing, textile industries, and hat manufacture. Art Drawing, painting, modelling, and designing. Commerce and Literature Com- mercial geography and arithmetic, grammar and composition, shorthand and bookkeeping, and French and German. Domestic Economy Dressmaking and millinery, art needlework, and cook- ing. This illustrates the thoroughly comprehensive scope which has been mapped out, and it is very satisfactory to note that some 800 students have joined the different classes, some of them coining from a distance. This school bids fair to take a first place among the technical institutions of the country. Stockport has ever been among the most progressive towns of the country, and the establishment of this school proves that in the march of technical instruction the town means to occupy a prominent position. The Act has been adopted for its maintenance. The schools at Keighley and Huddersfield are doing excellent work, and altogether a universal spirit of inquiry is abroad as to the bringing into operation of this new Act. By far the best plan, however, is to set the Public Libraries Acts in force first, and the latter to be the outcome and corollary of the older institutions. CHAPTER XXVIII. PUBLIC LIBRARY LECTURES AND SCIENCE AND ART CLASSES. O better index to the rapidly developing work of Public Libraries could be found than in the ever-extending number of these institutions, which are including as part of their operations lectures and science and art- classes. Future historians will have to record that one of the most notable evidences of national progress in the closing years of the nineteenth century, is the practical efforts made for the education of the people, and foremost among these efforts will stand forth the instruction derived through and by rate-supported Public Libraries. Far and wide is the love of books spreading, but up to a comparatively recent date the stores of knowledge laid up in Public Libraries, have to a certain extent been undrawn upon because readers with only the library catalogue to guide them, have not had before them indications of any specified line of study, and so have groped about hopelessly. To this, absence of finger posts to direct readers as to the best and most profitable lines of reading, may be attributed to a very large extent the preponderance of fiction over other classes of literature. But now much of the time lost in former years is being rapidly over- taken, and we appear to be within measurable distance of the period when no Public Library will be considered to have a com- plete record unless it has within its ramifications of work winter lectures and, in one way or another, science and art classes associated with its efforts. Those who imagine that the attendants at the Public Library LECTURES AND SCIENCE AND ART CLASSES. 427 lectures already in vogue have been drawn entirely from the working classes should, if possible, convince themselves to the contrary by attending one of them. All classes have been more or less represented, and the attention given and evident interest in them is sufficient proof how thoroughly they are appreciated. From a list of some of the subjects given, it will be seen that these are not of a class organized simply for the amusement of a scratch audience, but that solid information has been conveyed, giving, in a large number of instances, a direct incentive to the perusal of special books. This is one reason why it has been urged that in the planning of new buildings for Public Library purposes, lecture halls should be looked upon as a necessary adjunct where space and means will permit. As a source of income by the letting of the hall it is a matter of considerable importance. Townsmen have very frequently been the lecturers, and in other cases paid professional lecturers. As suggestive to other committees the lecture work at a few Public Libraries is indicated, but to direct attention to everything which is now being done in this way would require much more space than there is at disposal. Among other lectures at Liverpool, as part of their Public Library work during the past autumn, there may be mentioned the following : Rev. Dr. W. II. Dallinger, LL.D., F.R.S., two lectures, " The World of the Minutest Life ; " Sir Robert Ball, M.A., LL.D., Astronomer Royal of Ireland, four lectures, " Story ot the Heavens," " The Elements of Astronomy " (2), and " Experimental Mechanics : " Mr. Wm. Hewitt, science teacher of the Liverpool School Board, four lectures on " The Principles of Geography ; " and Dr. W. Boyd Dawkins, Owens College, Man- chester, two lectures, " Cave Hunting " and " Early Man in Britain." The Manchester work in this department is well to the front. Among other subjects there may be named those by Mr. George Harwood on " Books as Friends," who looked on books as friends in six lights : as they gave us recreation, correction, instruction, stimulation, consolation, and elevation. A man got more recrea- tion from books than anything else, because they changed his mind. Mr. George Milner discoursed on "Ballad Literature." The Rev. P. T. Forsyth had for his subject " Popular Religious Literature," and Mr. Charles Rowley lectured on " General Reading for Busy Men." Professor "VVilkins gave his views on " Modern Fiction," and Mr. Sowerbutts told a large audience what went towards " The Making of Geography." Mr. C. W. Sutton, the chief librarian, has taken his place at the lecturer's desk, and among many Manchester friends of Public Libraries and popular education there stands out prominently, Mr. "W. E. A. Axon, who has for many years beep one of the staunchest and most active workers for these institutions. As a literary man Mr. Axon, has by his pen done yeoman service for the movement ; but it is, perhaps, as a lecturer in connection with Public 428 PrBLIO LIBRARIES. Libraries and kindred institutions that lie is exerting a most wide and beneficial influence. Throughout Lancashire, Cheshire, and a good part of Yorkshire, and the other neighbouring counties his voice has been raised to direct public attention to the far- reaching utility of Public Libraries, and to the stores of literature contained on the shelves of these institutions. Through a long series of years he has advocated the extension of these institu- tions. There is, it is to be hoped, a long period of active life still before him, but when the roll of Public Library worthies comes to be written the name of Mr. W. E. A. Axoii must be given a first place. One of his Public Library lectures in Manchester recently was on " The Story of Manchester," in which he traced the history of Manchester from the earliest period until the present time, concluding by expressing the hope that each citizen might always endeavour to enable others to liA r e healthy and happy lives, all united together in the bonds of brotherly love, and rejoicing in the general contentment and prosperity. It was little use boasting about our wealth, population, and greatness unless all the people were provided with healthy and comfortable homes. Another of his lectures on " Books Ancient and Modern " excited considerable interest. He spoke of the great libraries of the world. Those at Alexandria must have contained at one time no less than 700,000 books, although a book in those remote times would be the equivalent of only a small portion of a modern volume. The number of books in existence to-day had been estimated at 10,000,000, and this was being very rapidly increased. The number of new books published last year in England was over 5,000 ; and in America fully as many ; while in France it was much higher ; and in Italy it reached the total of 11,000. It was impossible to become acquainted with more than a small fraction of this great mass of literature. To read well all the books in their own library in King Street he calculated would occupy the student 960 years. Hence the necessity for a wise selection. It was a pity that the subject of the choice of books could not be taught in our schools. The advice he would give to the beginner would be that he should follow his own bent in the books he read, and since no subject was complete in itself, the mind could by working from any particular state in the map of human know- ledge gradually come into contact with all other departments of human knowledge. In literature as in religion, they must work out their own salvation. In a lecture delivered only a short time ago at the Public Library, Denton, one of the numerous places near Manchester which have within the last two or three years adopted the Acts, he took for his subject "The Educational Uses of Public Libraries." He urged that the rate-supported library should be a centre of educational influence, a place which should be a university for the people. The old " rule of thumb " would have to give way : it had given way in some of the Continental states, and if England was to maintain her industrial supremacy, and if I.Ki'Tt'RES ANT) SCIENCE AND ART CLASSES. 429 she was to maintain her hold on the markets of the world, if she was to remain as she had been in the past, a great workshop for the whole of the world, her people must learn science, and not depend as they had done largely in the past, upon the mere rule of thumb. It is to be wished that every county had such a vigorous champion for its library work as Mr. Axon. It is worth while remembering that Manchester led the way in this matter of Public Library lectures, and that in the first year of its existence there were lectures delivered in the Public Library at Campfield shortly after its opening. One was given by Professor A. J. Scott on " The Literature of Poetry and Fiction ; " a second by the Rev. Dr. Vaughan on " The Use and Study of History;" and the third by Dr. Grace Calvert. A letter was written as early as September 7, 18o2, and was addressed by Professor Scott to Sir John Potter, the then chairman of the Public Libraries. In this the Professor, after referring to the opening of the library in Campfield, suggested a series of biblio- graphical lectures, dealing with the different departments of literature. Numerous other Public Libraries have had lectures during the past winter. The series at Widnes have, for a small librai'y, been remarkably successful. Those at Wigan equally popular. Those at Birmingham and Watford are growing more and more successful each year. At Oldham they are regretting the bad accommodation which they have for lectures another proof that building com- mittees should keep this feature clearly in view. The series of lectures delivered there during the past winter have been as varied as could be desired, as some of the subjects selected will show, Professor A. W. Hare, M.B., "Germs" (illustrated by the oxy- hydrogen lantern) ; Mr. Alan S. Cole, " Recent Discoveries in Egypt of Ornamental Weavings " (illustrated by the oxy-hydro- gen lantern) ; Mr. J. E. Phythian, " History of Architecture " (illustrated by the oxy-hydrogen lantern) ; Mr. W. TVallis, " The Treasures of Herculaneum " (illustrated by the oxy-hydrogen lantern) ; Mr. A. G. Symonds, " Comic Characters of Shake- speare ;" the Rev. H. E. Dowson, B.A., "Charlotte Bronte." At Liverpool, Bootle (Lancashire), Handsworth, and Aston (near Birmingham), the lectures are growing in popularity with each succeeding season. At the latter place their expenses under this head are limited to 15 per annum, and, as they pay no fees to lecturers, this amply covers all expenses incurred. If there is a public hall, of which the Library Committee can make free use, the expenses might come even below that amount. The travelling expenses of lecturers, cost of printing bills, and; hire of lantern slides for illustrating lectures, have of course to be defrayed. This chapter would be very incomplete without special reference being made to the Oxford University Extension Lectures. Many of these lectures are most suitable for Public Libraries. A chief aim of University Extension Teaching is to form and encourage permanent habits of continuous and systematic reading and study. It is believed that these lectures will increase the useful- 430 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. ness and popularity of Public Libraries by providing an additional means of guiding readers to the best books in each subject. Each course is delivered by an experienced lecturer. These lecturers are appointed by a University Board, and form in fact the staff of an itinerant university college, maintained by the co-operation of more than sixty towns. The course consists of from six to twelve lectures and classes. Each course is illustrated by a printed syllabus, interleaved for notes, and giving an analysis of the lectures and lists of books recommended for private study. The following are a few subjects of courses adapted to Public Libraries : I. LITERATURE. 1. Chaucer. 5. Literature of the XVIII. 2. Spenser. Century. 3. Elizabethan Literature. 6. The English Essayists. 4. Milton and his Contem- 7. Modern Poets. poraries. 8. Carlyle and Ruskin. II. HISTORY. 1. Great English Kings. 6. The History of Ireland. 2. The English Parliament. 7. The French Revolution. 3. The Age of Elizabeth. 8. Europe since Waterloo. 4. The Puritan Revolution. 9. The Rise and Progress of the 5. England in the XVIII. English Colonies. Century. 10. Social Reformers. IH.-ART. 1. English Painters (illustrated). 2. The Great Schools of Art (illustrated). IV. SCIENCE. 1. The Life Work of Great English 4. Physical and Political Geo- Scien title Men. graphy. 2. The Darwinian advancement of 5. Physiography. Knowledge. 6. Germs and their Relations to 3. Life on the Surface of the Earth. Disease. V. POLITICAL ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIAL HISTORY. 1. Wealth and Industry. 3. Epochs of English Industry. 2. The Great Economists and their 4. The Industrial Revolution. Times. At Wolverhampton Public Library they have had a series on economical history by Mr. Hewins, University Extension Lecturer. At this library they have also had a series of Gilchrist Lectures on " The Life-History of the Earth." At Hereford a series on " The English Colonies " has been given by one of the University lecturers. The Library Committee at Runcorn have rendered valuable aid to the cause of University Extension Lectures, by purchasing duplicates of all the standard books sent down in the travelling library, and placed them on one side for the special use of University Extension students attending the course. There is sent out in connection with the courses a travelling library containing about forty standard volumes recommended LECTfllKS AM) SCIENCE AM) AttT CLASSES. 43] by the lecturer for .study doing his course. Eighty of those libraries are in circulation, and we are constantly hearing from the students of the great value they derive from this system. During a course of lectures on "The Social History of England," at Cambridge the books recommended to be read by students attending the course were presented to the Public Library for the use of the students, and by the permission! of the library committee were allowed to lie upon the counter in the reading- room for their use at any time. The books were not removed from the library, but read at the tables, and returned to the counter when done with. This facility proved of great assistance to many of the students, and the reading-room was seldom entered during the weeks in which the course was being held without finding the books in use. Committees and others who organize these lectures at Public Libraries, should at once place themselves in communication with Mr. J. (''. Sadler, B.A., University Extension Office, High Street, Oxford, from whom every information can be obtained. Committees may greatly assist University Extension students by providing during the delivery of a course of lectures in a town a University Extension Table containing the books recom- mended in the lecturer's syllabus. What, it may be asked, are the purposes of Public Library lectures ? The answer is twofold to stimulate intellectual curiosity, and to show how it can be satisfied in the most profit- able manner. It may seem superfluous that the praise of books should be said or sung in an age when the printing press turns them out in myriad copies daily, and yet it is certain that there are many men, women, and children who would be the better for the friendship of literature. Nor is the reading that is done always of the class that might be desired. Hence the advantage when a specialist comes forward and explains the charms and importance of his own line of study, and advises as to the best books to be read by those who wish also to become familiar with it. A little judicious counsel from a veteran may save the recruit of learning much useless toil and unprofitable endeavour. Lectures which have a direct bearing upon the books contained in the libraries are obviously the most appropriate and are likely to be the most useful. Who can gauge the intelligence which has been quickened, the solid information which has been gained, and the evenings which have been well and profitably spent by these lectures:- With our friends across the Atlantic the lecturing system has become quite an institution, but we have surpassed them in coupling them with Public Libraries. There is in this country a growing appreciation of high-class lectures, and there is no reason why they should not reach the same standard of popularity which they have attained in the States. Since the issue of the last edition the number of Public Libraries having science and art classes as part of their work has been enlarged. The aim and object of these classes arc 432 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. of a most important nature, and these schools have had an influence on public taste and the catering for artistic taste on the part of manufacturers which cannot be over-estimated. In all parts of the country they have proved in a hundred ways their usefulness. Although under the designation of Schools of Art they are of modern growth ; yet there are at the present time attending these classes throughout the country many thousands of students. In the Science Division there are 112,808 pupils under instruction. The number of art schools and classes has grown to 667 and 35,405 have attended them. Of Schools of Art there are 213 schools with 41,263 students. There is scarcely an industry of prominence which has not in some way benefited by Schools of Art, and in some trades, particularly in pottery, glass, textiles (lace, &c.), silver, iron, brass, and electro-plated ware, the effect of these schools has been so marked that they have now become most necessary, and have in numerous ways exercised a vitalizing influence. To what extent these schools have been the means of supplanting foreign designs by English designers, is known only to those immediately associated with them ; and had no other good come out of them than this, their existence would have been more than justified, for there is a distinctly British taste which has only been catered for successfully by British designers. The majority of these various art classes, scattered throughout the country, provide vigorous centres of art, and are aided by occasional loan objects of art from the national collection at South Kensington. Our contention is, that if art occupied some place, however small, in the earlier education of boys and girls, the number of students would be trebled and quadrupled in a few years. Instead of, as at present, these being the ultimate school of the few, they would be the resort of the many. This is the desired end, and any means which lead up to this cannot fail to have a beneficial effect generally, and give a still greater impetus to the demand for art manufactures, and a spirited competition to produce work of a satisfactory character to meet that demand. The aim of all education should be to remove from the mind all feeling that the process of education is mere routine where so much has to be committed to memory, and no schools have given so much inspiration and so much new life to all other studies as the immediate studies connected with schools of art. Their expansion will be a national boon, and, perhaps more than anything else, they will enable us to retain that commercial supremacy which we have so long enjoyed, but which in the future every effort will have to be strained to maintain. They have encouraged higher standards of excellence, and have produced a wholesome emulation which has made its results evident in manufactures. These Government schools were originally designed for the artisan classes, and such among them as showed ability to rise to the higher grade in their own particular trade, and from that to advance, if they showed that still further ability to LECTURES AND SCIENCE AND ART CLASSES. 433 rise, to the practice of ornamental and inventive art. It can with every truth be said that they have had, however, an even greater utility than this, for they have been creative of designs and ornamentations which have given beauty to the eye and work to the operative. When we turn to art in the leading industries, we find that the best of this has been the immediate product in one form or another of the schools of art. In no art industry is this probably more evident than in lace, pottery, and glass. In one case where an immense industry has arisen, it is stated, and stated with good reason, that it owes its very existence to the influence of a neighbouring school of art, and distinctly new classes of both pottery and glass have been the outcome. In these wares there is an originality of conception and treatment which has led to an immense sale. A similar result has taken place in other industries. In lace curtains and wall papers, instead of sprawling palm trees and flowers to which it would be impossible to give a name, huddled together in ugly confusion, there are now curtains and papers cheaper in price than these horrible abortions, and possessing considerable artistic merit. It is said that one firm alone in Nottingham pay as much as 5,000 a year to seventy designers and apprentices. In metal work again these schools have exercised a most beneficial influence. A sum of money is annually granted by Parliament for instruc- tion in art in the United Kingdom, and is administered by the Science and Art Department. The object of the grant is to promote instruction in drawing, painting, and modelling, and designing for architecture, manufactures, and decoration, especially among the industrial classes. The amount is liable to be decreased and eventually withdrawn. Payments to teachers therefore must not be looked upon as perpetual, or in any way conferring on the teacher a claim to any payments beyond those offered from time to time. To effect this object, the Department gives aid towards the teaching of elementary drawing in elementary day schools and training colleges; towards the teaching of drawing in art classes ; towards instruction in art in schools of art ; and towards the training of art teachers. The art library and collections of decorative art at South Kensington are also made available for the purposes of instruction in schools of art. No undertaking should be commenced in general reliance ui)nii aid from the Parliamentary grant. An application for such aid should, in the first instance, be addressed to the Secretary, Science and Art Department, London, S. W. With regard to grants towards new buildings erected for the purpose of a Public Library and for a school of art, the plan is for the secretary to inform the Department of the project, and plans must be submitted showing the rooms to be devoted to the purposes of a school of art. The Department may offer one or two suggestions as to the arrangement of the rooms, and upon this will depend the grant given. Four rooms must be devoted to art, in addition to an apparatus room; one room 28 434 PUBLIC LIBBARIES. partly devoted to art, and another room partly devoted to science. The four permanent rooms should measure not less than as follows : Elementary and Life Class Room, 30 ft. by 19 ft. ; Antique Itoom, 23 ft. by 12 ft, ; Painting Room, 18 ft. 16 ft, ; Art Master's Room ; 16 ft by 10 ft. The Amendment Act of 1884, given in the appendix, empowers any authority acting under the Public Libraries' Acts to accept a grant from the Committee of Council on Education towards the purchase of sites or the provision of premises or furniture for schools for science or art. These grants vary from 100 to 500. The official book, giving full instructions, is the " Art Directory," published at sixpence, and as this book goes so fully into the formation of these classes, it is unnecessary to quote the general regulations. So thoroughly is the extension of Public Libraries permeating the public mind that the compilers of this directory have included in their last issue a synopsis of the law of Public Libraries. It is well to keep in mind that where a Public Library, a public museum, a school or schools for science or art, or an art gallery has been already established under any Act relating to Public Libraries or museums, a similar institution may be established in connection therewith without further proceedings being taken under the Acts. At the South Shields Public Library there are science and art classes which are being attended by over 1 50 students. In com- parison with other similar classes in the town the Public Library classes have not only maintained but have strengthened their position. At Norwich Public Library they have these classes, and some beautiful work has been done by the more advanced students. The Hanley Public Library science classes are more than justifying their existence. For these classes they had in February last year a gift of 220 from Mr. Huntbach. The classes at the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Public Library are gaining ground, but though they are technically connected with the Public Library they are practically a survival of the old mechanics' institution. That institution had suffered decay before the Library took possession of its premises. At Wolverhampton and Gateshead there are some excellent classes which meet in the library buildings. There are science and art classes at the Hartley Institute in Southampton, which is indirectly under corporation control, and the Public Library is doing all it can to help that institution on by providing books in their lending department for the use of the students. Only a limited section of Public Libraries where this work is carried on have been named. Others are adding themselves to the list, and it will soon be . looked upon as an indispensable feature of the work of these institutions. THE BRITISH MI'SEfM LIBRARY AND ITS WORK. 43-5 CHAPTKK XXIX. THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY AND ITS WORK. HE British Museum Library will challenge comparison w ^h an y ^her national library in the world. So much may be unhesitatingly claimed for it, not only with regard to this institution as a library, but in the use made of it, and in every other department of its work. Of all the public institutions which go to make London what it is, there is none which plays a more important part than the British Museum. No library in Great Britain, not even in any of the universities, nor the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh, or the Bodleian in Oxford can for an instant compare with that at Bloomsbury. Learned Berlin has nothing worthy of pitting against it. The Vatican Library is, no doubt, rich in ecclesiastical history, but is poorer in every other department 'of literature. Paris alone is superior to the British Museum Library so far as the number of books is concerned, though in the entire manage- ment the Bibliotheque Nationale is infinitely behind that in the metropolis of this nation of shopkeepers. Further than that the reader at the British Museum borrows twice as many books as the French reader. But notwithstanding the two million books and nearly two hundred thousand pamphlets in the national library in Paris, the British Museum is by far the richest in English books, as, of course, should be the case. But in French, Italian, Slavonic, and German literature, it is only second, if second, to the Public Libraries of France, Italy, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. Scholars from all parts of the world come to consult its Oriental treasures. Neither Cairo, nor Stamboul, nor Bagdad, or Bokhara has such a store of Korannic commentaries, and in his recently-published " Bibliography of the Eskimo Language," Mr. Pilling notes with some amazement that he found the finest collection of texts in that hyperborean tongue in a private library in Washington, while the next finest was not in Copenhagen as one might have expected from the relation of the Danes to Greenland, and the fact that Rink, the greatest of Arctic authorities, worked there but in the capital of Great Britain. Yet of all the great libraries that which is pre-eminently national is perhaps the youngest. It began long after the academical collections had assumed shape, and it was houseless and practically unincorporated when many of the semi-private and professional ones had grown to respectable proportions. The truth is that it was only until a century ago or thereabouts that any great need was felt for a Public Library. Books were printed in comparatively small numbers, and a capacity to read any except in English or Latin was vouchsafed to only a limited number of individuals. Scholars had their college and university collections, or they purchased what they required for their own PUBLIC LIBBARIBS. NORTH LIBRARY PLAN OF READING-ROOM, BRITISH MUSEUM. A Superintendent. B Catalogue Tables. C Readers' Tables. D Access for Attendants. E Entrance from Royal Library. F Entrance from North Library. G For Registration of Copyrights. H Ladies' Cloak Room. J Attendants' Room. K Gentlemen's Cloak Room. L For Gentlemen. M Umbrella Room. N Assistants' Room. THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY AND ITS WORK. 437 438 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. studies. But on the part of the people generally education was scant, and the desire to read far from being universal. It is only thirty-five years ago that the magnificent reading- room was commenced. Years before that the pressing need of increased accommodation had been brought repeatedly before the House of Commons ; but a few stickleback advocates for economy opposed any additional outlay, and the indecision or indifference of the Government helped to delay the matter from year to year. What a world of hampered national progress lies at the door of these false economists who have from time immemorial turned down their thumbs when a few extra thousands of pounds have been required for our national institutes, and when the expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds has been under discussion they have been found far too frequently, when the division bell rang, recuperating their presumably exhausted nature in the dining-room or the smoke room of the House of Commons. In 1854 a Vote was got through for 101,142 for new buildings and fittings, and within three years the vast structure was completed. It is a well-known fact that the reading-room is circular. It contains some 1,250,000 cubic feet of space, and its surrounding libraries 750,000 cubic feet. As Public Libraries are beginning to follow the style and character of the Museum reading-room a ground plan of it is shown. The cylinder which sustains the dome presents a continuous circular wall of books, which are accessible from the floor, or from low galleries running round the apartment; it comprises in the part open to the readers about 20,000 fblumes of books of reference and standard works, and in the part round the galleries more than 50,000 volumes of the principal sets of periodical publications, old and new, and in various languages. The floor of the room is occupied with nineteen large and sixteen smaller tables, fitted up with ample accommodation for 360 readers; two of these afe reserved for the exclusive use of ladies, but ladies can take seats at any of the other tables. By the simple expedient of raising the partition down the middle of each of the larger tables so high that a reader cannot see his 07} osite neigh- bour, privacy is secured, and on entering the room wh m it is quite full, a stranger might at first suppose that it was nearly empty. The tables are all arranged so as to converge towards the centre of the room, as will be seen from the page engraving, near which are two circular ranges of stands for the gigantic manuscript catalogue. Every attention is paid to the comfort of readers. More uniform civility and courtesy on the part of the officials could not be found in any public building in the world. This is the case with those in the most subordinate posts to the very highest in the museum. It would almost appear that the entire staff had entered into a solemn compact among themselves that this national institution should be noted for this conspicuous feature in its management. Whether that be so or not, the fact should be chronicled far and wide, especially among other librarians. The staff of the British Museum Library have acutely grasped the fact that they are THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBRARY AND ITS WORK. 43d public servants administering a public institution supported out of public money. It cannot be other than satisfactory that the highest institution of its kind should be so conspicuously noted in this respect, and the lesson will have its effect through all the ramifications of this now ever-extending profession. In no capital in Europe is admission granted to the national library with so free a hand as at the British Museum. A nominal guarantee of respectability is all that is required to give any one above the age of twenty-one ready access to incomparably the best library in the world. Any book asked for is immediately handed to the reader, and practically no limit is put to the number of books he may ask for at the same time. An official, chosen out of a staff of men of unusual attainments for his intimate knowledge of books and his wide acquaintance with the literature of the world, is seated in the room to answer questions and to help students in their literary researches. It is, therefore, a paradise for scholars and students. There is a copybook heading somewhere which says something about the unwisdom of making comparisons, but while the Bibliotheque Nationale is the largest library in the world at present it is the worst managed. There is not only a long time to wait for the books as an invariable rule, and the time may be several days in some cases, but every reader seems to be regarded as a questionable character whose pilfering propensities have to be closely watched. When a would-be-reader enters the student's room, which is about half the size of the British Museum reading-room, a functionary hands him a ticket, on which name and address must be written, but not the title of the book wanted. This ticket No. 1 is handed to an assistant librarian, who gives another ticket, on which again is written the name and address and the title of the book required. If the book is not in the catalogue of historical works, or in a catalogue of books published since 1881 the only catalogue accessible to readers it is requisite to see that the place and date of publication are on the ticket, otherwise the reader may have to wait weeks for it. When the work is found, it does not come to the reader direct. It is taken by the attendant who found it to another, who transcribes the title, press mark, c., on to ticket No. 1. The work is carried to you by another uniformed official. When you wish to go out, you must get ticket No. 1 stamped to indicate that the "book has been returned. The man at the door will not allow you to pass out unless you return the paper he gave you with the mark of the official seal opposite the title of each book. Not only so, but he will not allow you to pass with anything in the shape of a book, though your own property, without a pennit note signed by a librarian. Added to all this is a system of espionage in the form of an individual dressed in a gold-braided uniform and cocked hat. This gorgeous janitor goes struinping about the reading-room awing the readers as he looks from one to another with quick glances from his military eye. The restrictions with regard to ink are decidedly French, and there are other restrictions and formalities that cause wonder 440 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. at once to cease that the British Museum reading-room should be infinitely more used than that of the national library in Paris. The statistics of the British Museum reading-room for last year show the remarkable extent to which the public is availing itself of the benefits of that institution. The number of readers using the room was 188,432, being 5,654 more than the previous year, showing a daily average of 604. The following figures show the progressive increase during successive years over those preced- ing: 1882, 12,618; 1883, 6,092; 1884, 1,746;. 1885, 4,611; 1886, 17,553; 1887, 5,885; giving an increase of very nearly 50,000 readers in the six years. The daily average of readers has increased steadily from 455 in 1881 to 622 in the past year. Coincident with this is the increase in the tickets for books placed in the baskets in the centre of the room. The daily average of these tickets in 1884 was 964; in 1885, 1,055; in 1886, 1,087 ; in 1887, 1,163 ; showing an average increase of 199 works each day since 1884. As the staff of the reading- room has not been increased since the latter year, it would naturally be expected that the average time taken to procure the books would increase likewise, and this is found to be the case. In 1884 the average time taken by the attendants to supply a work was fourteen minutes, it was sixteen minutes last year. Prior to 1875 the average time was between half-an-hour and three-quarters, although the number of readers never exceeded 300, or the number of tickets 5,500 ; but in that year Dr. Garnett, then superintendent of the reading-room, organized the attendants into sections, the tickets being sorted and distributed to the attendants of the respective sections of the library. It is worthy of note that although the number of readers has increased, the number of books supplied has decreased. During the past year the total number of volumes supplied was 1 ,208,709 against 1>221,298 in 1887. The printing of the catalogue began in 1881, and according to Dr. Garnett nearly one-third of it has been completed. This third comprises about 950,000 titles. As 40,000 volumes, on an average, are added to the library every year, the catalogue is subject to constant alterations and additions. Formerly these were inserted in the shape of written slips, but the volumes of the catalogue became so bulky and numerous that it was found impossible to provide room for them. The space available for the printed catalogue will, it is estimated, suffice for the wants of three centuries to come. The compilation of this catalogue is costing 4,000^. a year. Dr. Garnett says that one thing strikes him in looking over the names of those who attended the library in the past, and this is that there were a great many more distinguished men than there are among those who go to the library now-a-days. As most literary men of distinction employ assistants to work for them at the Museum, this is intelligible enough. Among the earlier readers were Johnson, Hume, Gray, and Bishop Hoadly. There is space in the shelving in the centre of the reading-room THE BRITISH MUSEUM LIBBABY AND ITS WORK. 141 for :?,000 volumes, in which it will be possible to record eighteen million titles, or, in other words, the accumulation of three cen- turies to come. There is no fear, therefore, of the catalogue being cramped. It is more difficult to understand where all the books to which the aforesaid titles will apply are be disposed. It is stated that the authorities are negotiating for the purchase of some property close at hand, with a view to carrying out a considerable extension of the library. In the middle of 1888 the resignation of Dr. Edward A. Bond was announced. For fifty-two years he had been a member of the stall', and for ten years had occupied the post of principal librarian. It is to Dr. Bond that readers owed the introduction of the electric light into the reading-room. This improvement, so grateful during the dark winter days, was followed by a considerable extension of the hours when the room was available, and by the removal of certain regulations respecting the renewal of tickets of admission. The appointment of a successor was watched with keen interest on the part of the public. The choice fell on Mr. Edward Maunde Thompson, nephew to Sir James Poole, the ex-mayor of Liverpool. Mr. Thompson has a world-wide reputa- tion for erudition, and his career, in a scholarly sense, has been a distinguished one. lie was at Rugby School from 1853 to 1859, the head masters in his time being Dr. Golbourn, now Dean of Norwich, and Dr. Temple, now Bishop of London. Mr. Thompson entered the Museum in 1861, and, with the exception of the first few months when he was in the secretary's office, he has been all the time in the department of manuscripts. He is Hon. LL.D. of St. Andrew's, and Hon. D.C.L. of Durham. Coming into this distinguished position in all the vigour of manhood, and with every sympathy with the book needs of the public, great things may be reasonably expected of him. The two years which have elapsed since his appointment as principal librarian have proved him to be a man of distinct ability, and in library administration he is making his mark in a manner reflecting credit upon himself and that part of the work of the British Museum of which he has charge. Now that the new regulations with regard to fiction have had a fair margin to see how they work, and the storm raised by their promulgation has quieted down, it is feasible to see what led to these new and somewhat stringent regulations. The secret of the decree was found in the fact that a number of the men and women who were accustomed to gather daily beneath the dome did so merely to pass away the time. Some of them did not possess homes, but merely places in which to pass the night, and in the strictest sense they could be numbered among the unemployed. Thought and the acquisition of knowledge were utterly beyond these fashionable loungers, but fiction they loved, and of this they could have enough and to spare in the Bloomsbury buildings. This was becoming an intolerable nuisance. And the abuse of its privileges on the part of many of these public-building parasites was notorious. Literary men engaged in genuine research were 442 PUBLIC LIBRAIUI.S. pressed out, and thoso desiring to make rei'erence to some work or works could not find a vacant chair or desk. As many as 200 of such readers might be excluded in a single day by even twenty of the fiction, vampires, who would take up their position imme- diately the doors were opened in the morning, and monopolize places for the entire day. Some of these gentry would go out to lunch at twelve and return at three, leaving their places occupied by the books and papers upon the desk. The offenders were watched, their wants Avere for a time supplied. Then came the decree which sent dismay through their number, that no fiction should be supplied which was not five years old, and more than this the reader would be required to state his reasons in writing should he require a modern work of fiction. Dr. Thompson was severely handled by some part of the press at the time. He was reminded of the proverb about new brooms sweeping clean, but he deserves the thanks of the genuine and legitimate users, of whom the number is legion. More than that, an example has been set to Public Librarians throughout the country to watch the loafers and loungers who are to be found almost everywhere. A new rescript issued at the time of writing will be welcomed by all who care for the true welfare of this noble institution. It is to the effect that henceforward unoccupied seats, even should there be books on the table, will not be reserved for anyone under any circumstances whatever. At first sight it certainly seems hard that a reader who may be temporarily called away, should be liable to have his seat confiscated by anyone on the look-out for a comfortable resting-place. But it must be remembered that under the old system it was a most common practice for selfish people who live in the neighbourhood, to hasten to the library in the morning, and, after reserving a place, to go away and perhaps never return for hours. This was a distinct hardship upon legiti- mate workers, many of whom are dependent for their living upon the National Library, and who perhaps are unable to arrive until the day is well advanced. By all such the rule in question will be welcomed, as not only desirable, but a necessary restric- tion upon a practice which had long ceased to be merely objectionable. There are other classes who frequent the British Museum read- ing-room, who will have to be dealt with. The reading-room is not free from a very unsavourj' number, who make it exceedingly disagreeable for those who have to work in their immediate neighbourhood. There is still another class. Official statistics tell us that insanity is on the increase. It seems that a regular practice has grown up among middle-class families in London, who happen to have a lunatic member, of procuring a ticket for the reading- room for that member if sufficiently harmless. The patient is thus cheaply provided for during many hours of the day. It is difficult to find a fair mode of limiting the number of readers without encroaching upon the few rights of those not rich. A great deal was done when the files of newspapers were removed to another room. A similar removal of the Post Office Directories THK BRITISH MISKI M LIBRARY ANI> ITS WORK. 443 would eliminate many persons who come to address envelopes. Stricter conditions as to age or purpose in the issue of tickets, even a little delay in their issue except in special circumstances, and a return to the old system, by which they had to be renewed every six months, would improve matters. A sentence or two about the presence in the room of employes of " next of kin " and similar commercial undertakings. Is it not straining the privi- leges accorded to the community in making use of the reading- room, to have the time of public servants taken up in continually attending to the demands of persons who are not there for the purpose of literary research or study, but solely in the interests of employers outside, who are conducting businesses of dubious advantage to the bulk of the population ? No one would grumble at any reader occasionally applying for a book of which he had no pressing want ; but when the newspaper room is used daily, all the year round, for a purpose that surely was never bargained for or foreseen when that addition to the readers' accommodation was instituted, we submit, in the public interest, that some action should be taken in the matter. The one great need is that Public Libraries with their reference departments shall be established all over London. It is utterly impossible for the British Museum reading-room to meet the grow- ing demands made upon the space available for readers, and the only possible way of meeting the difficulty will be fy opening other sources of supply. That, however, is coming, tor London has experienced a wave of IMblic Library enthusiasm. Some considerable misconception has prevailed among the Public Libraries of the country as to the number of duplicate copies of books which are available for distribution. With regard to foreign works this has only occurred when presentation copies have been sent by foreign authors, and the same works have been purchased out of the sum set aside annually for the puivha>e of toreign books. Of English works some authors send copies to the British Museum, and the publishers do the same, so that duplicates and at times triplicates find their way to that institution. These are distributed to the various Public Libraries in the country. But it must not be imagined that the supply is unlimited, and it is very certain that the demand far exceeds the supply. It is quite unnecessary to impress upon the principal librarian the wis- dom of sending these duplicates only to rate- supported libraries. That is a necessity of which he is already fully aware. This is seen from a circular which is sent to Public Libraries making application, in returning which librarians have to state the amount of the rate, and what the rate produces, and how it is spent. 444 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. CHAPTER XXX. OBJECT LESSONS IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES. HIS title is used in order to distinguish libraries, most of which are being conducted with an express object in view. Jn some of these places unsuccessful attempts have been made to adopt the Acts, and friends of the movement have been unwilling that the districts should go without Public Libraries, and have started them supported by voluntary contributions or subscriptions. In the truest sense of the term, the majority of them are object lessons established to give the inhabit- ants a taste for Public Libraries, and to illustrate what are the manifold uses of these institutions. They are only intended to fill up the gap during the interval, and sooner or later the whole of them will come under the Acts. The process of educating these individual districts should not be slow, and the inhabitants will consult their true interests by accepting the gifts, and so making them in the fullest sense people's libraries. ARBROATH. In 1873 steps were taken with the view of securing to Arbroath the benefits of the Public Libraries' Acts. A leading part was taken in the promotion of the scheme by a number of the pro- minent gentlemen of the town, including the large ratepayers. A public meeting was held, and the subject was discussed, but the opponents succeeded in defeating the proposal by a great majority. The defeat of the Acts caused considerable disappoint- ment to a large number, and in order, as far as possible, to meet their views, the managers of the Arbroath library entered into negotiations with the shareholders of the Arbroath subscription library with the view of securing the books belonging to them, and the premises occupied by them, as the nucleus of a Public Library. The consent of the shareholders was obtained, and, under certain conditions, the whole books and property were handed over to the new managers along with the sum of 1,160, which was subscribed by a number of gentlemen for the purchase of books. In order to give the community an opportunity of becoming possessed of so valuable an institution, the promoters made it a condition that if the Public Libraries' Acts were adopted before January 1, 18K), all the books, fittings, and money should be transferred to the managers under these Acts. In 1879 the movement was again revived to secure the adoption of the Acts, and a requisition was got up and presented to the magistrates in terms of the Act, and accordingly in December of that year voting papers were issued, which resulted in a majority of 666 against the adoption of the Acts, the numbers being, for, 966, against 1,632. There has been no further movement made since that date. The number of books is 16,000, and the subscrip- tion is 2s. 6d. a year. The issue averages seventy-five per day, and of OBJECT LESSONS IN ITBLIC LIBRARIES. 446 these eighty per cent, are fiction. Arbroath should bring forward the question once again, and so place itself in line with all the progressive towns of Scotland. BAILLIE, MITCHELL, AND STIRLING LIBRARIES. I The Glasgow people are truly a penny-wise and pound-foolish community. Had the citizens of this large capital of the North been wise on the last occasion, they might have seen to-day a large central library erected, or a portion of the new municipal buildings set apart for a central library, instead of being taken over by the Water Commissioners. With the magnificent libraries, which would have been handed over to the city on the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts, it is difficult to see why the unusually hard-headed dwellers in Glasgow said " No " to so well-sugared a plum. The Glasgow libraries have been so well dwelt upon by a former librarian of one of these institutions that it would be superfluous to do anything but give the brief facts. On September 29, 1887, there was opened what is called Baillie's Institution, and which is in effect an addition to Stirling's Library. There are now in Glasgow three public collection of books besides the library of the University, which, of course, is not public, and if these three were gathered together and suitably housed, the library accommodation would be mode- rately fair. What is now wanted is some 30,000 or 40,000 to erect a building, and some Glasgow merchant might very wisely follow Mr. Carnegie's example and stipulate for the adoption of the Libraries' Acts. There are plenty of very wealthy men in Glasgow who might fittingly complete the work that Stirling and Mitchell and Baillie have begun and carried on. There lacks only the will. The Mitchell Library, founded in 1874, is valuable and useful. But, being only a consulting library, it does not meet the reading wants of more than a fraction of the community. This great collection of about 81,000 books and pamphlets is practically locked away from the majority. In one of their recent reports the library committee make a remark which is to the point at the present time. They refer to libraries in other cities which have benefited by the operation of the Libraries' Acts, in failing to take advantage of which Glasgow now stands alone among our great communities. This is the simple fact, and it is a standing reproach to the city. Half the education of the children of the masses, which has been pro- vided at such a heavy cost, is being absolutely wasted, because they cannot get books to sustain or extend their knowledge, and to enable them to put education to its most delightful uses. In the desire to do something in the way of putting the Mitchell Library on a much more satisfactory footing, as regards accommo- dation, than that on which it has hitherto been compelled to remain from sheer wants of funds, the Town Council appointed, during 1889, a special committee to consider the whole question of ways and means, so that the institution may be maintained in 446 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. a position somewhat worthy of the city. It has, for the present, been closed pending the removal to more suitable buildings. This is one good result from the work of the committee. The new home will be in the old Corporation Water Trust Offices, at '2-\ Miller Street. Acting under some not altogether com- mendable influences, the ratepayers have hitherto declined to sanction the adoption of the Acts, and consequently the institu- tion in question must be starved, and not healthily supported, if something be not done in the shape of Parliamentary action, stimulated by the Town Council. The special committee re- ferred to is a highly representative body. Stirling's Public Library was founded by Walter Stirling, merchant and magistrate in the City of Glasgow, in 1791, and is open daily free to the public for consultation from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m. There is a lending department attached, which is kept up by a yearly subscription. In 1871 the Glasgow Public Library (founded in 1804), got up by private subscriptions, was amalga- mated with Stirling's, and the two now form the Stirling's and Glasgow Public Library. Mr. F. T. Barrett is the librarian of the Mitchell Library, and Mr. William Hutton of the Stirling's and Glasgow Library. The report for the year ending March 31, 1890, showed that the total number of books issued in the lending and reference departments had been 207,543, giving an increase over last year of 9,672. The daily average for 30o days was 680. During the year, 920 books had been added by purchase and donation. There are now ^885 subscribers to the libi'ary. At the beginning of the year the overdraft on the library's bank account was 1,967 19s. 6d., but on an appeal being made to the Lord Provost and other citizens a sum of 967 lls. was received, reducing the debt to about 1,000. The report concluded by saying "The directors are aware that they will have much more difficulty in procuring the balance of the overdraft than they have had in procuring the large sum already collected." BARNET, HERTS. By the will of Mrs. Julia Hyde, lady of the manor of Hadley, Barnet, the sum of 10,000 was bequeathed for the purpose of providing a library for the parishes of Hadley and Bamet. The trustees have leased premises in Barnet, for a newsroom, reading- rooms, and library containing upwards of 4,000 volumes. BETHNAL GREEN. The Bethnal Green Library secures a A-ast amount of cheap advertising. If a member of the Royal family sends a small parcel of books or another takes the chair at the annual festival banquet the entire country is soon made acquainted with the fact by means of paragraphs which go the complete round of the press. There never was in the entire history of Public Libraries so much begging as there has been, and still is, for the Bethnal Green Library. It has the distinguished, but somewhat ques- tionable, honour of being the only library, known to us at OBJECT LESSONS IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 447 least, where begging boxes have followed a miscellaneous pro- cession through the leading thoroughfares of the East-end. It is the proud lx>ast of its long list of patronesses, vice-presidents, trustees, committee, &c., that the institution is supported entirely by voluntary contributions, and these tell out to between 1,500 and 1,600 a year. The whole of the report is one long list of donations of money, books, and pamphlets, culminating in the first resolution at the thirteenth annual meeting, held in March, 1889, duly moved and seconded: "That this meeting, on re- ceiving the report of the Bethnal Green Public- Library, recom- mends that it be printed and circulated under the direction of the committee, and records its gratification on account of the success which it has received during the past year ; also recognizes the Divine favour which it continues to enjoy." The latter part is, no doubt, a pious acknowledgment for the "siller," which has been so liberally placed on the plate. When figures showing the actual and real working of the libi^ary are concerned, these are as scarce as blackberries in a Devonshire lane in November. The statistics are decidedly lumped, and there has to be contentment with the bald fact that about 50,000 people visited the institution last year, and that this was an increase upon the previous year of 8,000. There are brief paragraphs devoted to particulars of " Free Popular Concerts and Lectures," " Evening Classes," and " Science Chats with Boys." There never was, in the entire history of libraries, so much cry and so little wool. Taking the number of days open as 300, these 50,000 visits melt down to alxmt 170 as a daily average. The cost of maintenance for the year was 837 14s. 8d. Of this sum 16 15s. 8d. was actually spent in the purchase of books, magazines, and newspapers. Could absurdity go further ? Printing and stationery absorbed 101 11s. 6d. ; carriage of parcels, advertising, postage, petty cash, cost of special appeal, sundries, &c., reached 257 19s lid. ; and salaries 357 2s. These 50,000 visits during 1888-9 cost the donors and subscribers over 4d. for each visitor on every occasion when a visit was made to the institution. The most handsome offer of Mr. Passmore Edwards of 20,000 towards a new building was made known in May, 1890. Years ago, when the Public Library movement in London seemed as dead as a door-nail, there was some need of a library supported by voluntary contributions, but that need is now long since past. To bring this library under the rates, and levy an infinitesimal pait of a penny for its maintenance, would bring it under popular contol, which it now is not, and would rescue it from being what it unquestionably is a charitable institution. Bethnal Green has paraded its work so profusely and so con- stantly that the time has now arrived when the public have a right to know more about it. The question is left here for the present, but it is too important to be allowed to rest. CHIPPENHAM. A small reading-room and library was opened here about]f our 448 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. years ago. Reports of the speeches made at one of the annual meetings are before the writer. To judge from the tone of these speeches the library must surely be an adjunct to one of the political parties in the town, for they were of a strongly partisan character. If the library were brought under the Acts this would be next to impossible. Any attempt to give i-ate- suppDrted libraries a party or creed character should be at once nipped in the bud, no matter where it is. There must be many people in Chippenhara who would value a real Public Library open to those of all political parties, for then there would be no annual meetings, which at present are turned into electioneering propaganda. HA WARDEN. A neat structure of corrugated iron, wood-lined, with a spire, has been erected near the grammar school, Ha warden, as a library and reading-room. It is one of the finest private libraries in the country, and consists, of more than 20,000 volumes. Contrary to the usual practice obtaining in private libraries, Mr. Gladstone allows his books to be sent out to almost anyone in the neigh- bourhood who wishes to read them. At one time this liberty was unlimited : anyone could take out a book, and keep it an indefinite period, provided that he simply left an acknowledgment of having borrowed the book. This privilege, however, was so much abused by some persons that a few years ago a rule was laid down limit- ing the time for which a book might be kept to one month. The author's conviction becomes deepened that the only way to secure for all time private gifts of this nature for the fullest use of the public, is by the reasonable request that the people will maintain them by a self-imposed rate. HIGH WYCOMBE. The library in this town was founded by Mr. J. O. Griffits, Q.C., Recorder of Reading and J.P. for this borough. The building was purchased and altered by this gentleman, who also subscribed largely to the endowment fund. The fund was raised by sub- scriptions and the proceeds of a fancy fair, and amounted to 3,030. On the completion of the endowment fund, Mr. Griffits presented the building and its contents to the Town Council for the use of the inhabitants, the only restriction in the conveyance being that no rate should be levied for its maintenance ; if so, the property reverts back to Mr Griffits. The wisdom of the stipu- lation that no rate should be levied may be doubted. A better plan would have been to bring it under the Act and levy -^d., or any fraction of the penny for the matter of that. The institution would then, in the truest sense, be the people's property. HORWICH (LAXC.) For a number of years a ground rent belonging to the township had been accumulating, and the trustees were willing to devote the same to a public purpose. A hospital for infectious diseases OBJECT LESSONS IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 449 was spoken of as being a suitable object. After mature deliber- ation it was decided to establish a free lending library. For this purpose a room was fitted up in the Public Hall, and 1,500 volumes were purchased. The library is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. The income from cards, cata- logues, fines, and bank interest, meets the expenses for librarian's salary, &c. Horwich should bring its little institution under the Acts. It would then have a healthier existence. HULL. Hull is one of the few remaining very large towns which have not yet adopted the Acts. For more than thirty years a certain determined and undaunted class of the community in Hull have been contending with their fellow-ratepayers for the establish- ment in their midst of a Public Library. They will take no denial, and in their fight for the cause in which they are associated they acknowledge no defeat. Four times has the movement sprung into vigorous life, and four times have the townspeople decreed its extinction. Hull was first agitated by the consideration of this question as long ago as 1857, and at that time the proposal seems to have been so decisively vetoed that not until 1872 did the advocates of the system once more muster sufficient courage to place their forlorn hope in the forefront of municipal politics. Again the cause was lost, and an interval of ten years was allowed to elapse before another attack was contemplated on the prejudices, or principles, or purses of the ratepayers. This plebiscite took place in 1882 ; but the third time of trying was attended with no better success than its predecessors. Out of twelve wards only four showed majorities in favour of the pro- posal, and in these cases the proportion of " Ayes " was altogether inferior to the excess of " Noes " in the eight remaining con- stituencies. The votes recorded reached a total of 1 0,101 , of which 5,889 were given against and 4,212 for the proposal, the majority being 1 ,677. In the face even of this reverse the leaders of the movement continued to cherish their project with unconquerable zeal, and now for the fourth time within the present generation Hull found itself called upon to say yea or nay to a question that will probably never be finally answered until the ratepayers, either from slow conviction or weariness of spirit, respond in the affirmative. On this occasion the fight was short and sharp, and most ably generalled. The whole town was well and carefully mapped out and actively canvassed by an army of voluntary workers. But the result in September, 1888, when the poll was taken, was dis- heartening. For the adoption of the Acts, the number stood at 5,370 and against 13,604. The number of papers void was 7,926, and the doubtful votes reached 117. There are a couple of comforting facts contained in these figures. The first is the magnitude of the poll : 27,077 papers returned out of a constituency of 36,000, is remarkably good. The second is that the promoters have not lost ground. On the previous occasion Hull polled 4,212 in favour, this time 5,370, or 1,148 increase. The result of so over- 29 450 PUBLIC! LIBRARIES. whelming a majority was a blow, not less to those who defeated it than to those who promoted it. The people of Hull declined to profit by one of the greatest opportunities for self-improvement which the Parliament of this country has ever provided. They elected to remain under a disability which every other town of the same size in England has succeeded in removing. The figures were unhappily so plain in their significance that there was no room .to attribute the result to accident or exceptional circumstances. It is written large in the result of the poll that a great majority of Hull ratepayers are unwilling to make the trifling sacrifice which the establishment of a Public Librai'y involves. Their opinion has been taken twice in six years, and the last result is less favourable than the first. There is no denying that this is a sore discouragement to many who laboured well and bravely in the cause of popular education in Hull. But if the defeat produced disappointment it also created a firm determination that sooner or later those Acts should be adopted in Hull. Among the numerous gentlemen in Hull who keenly felt the defeat was Mr. James Keckitt, J.P., Swanland Manor, near Hull, who has for so many years been intimately associated with the trade in East Hull. About the end of September, Mr. Reckitt called a few gentlemen together, and, after expressing his regret at the vote on the Public Library question, which he regarded as a public calamity, said he had determined to remedy that defect so far as possible. With this object in view, he undertook to provide the necessary buildings and books, and the entire cost of maintaining and work- ing a Public Library for the use of those persons residing in Eastern Hull, where his works are situated. Mr. Ileckitt was wishful to prove that a Public Library could be maintained out of a rate of Id. in the , and therefore offered to subscribe an amount equal to a penny rate on the whole of the property in the borough on the east side of the river. This munificent offer was received with acclamation by all classes, and a committee was at once formed to carry out the details. This committee was appointed on a purely non-political basis, and consisted of representatives of all classes and all shades of opinion in the district. That gentleman has erected a beautiful and suitable building for the purpose, stocked it with 8,000 volumes of the best books, and provided the wherewithal for cari-ying on the scheme. The benefits of the institution are to be confined to East Hull, Mr. Reckitt believing that in time its advantages to that part of the borough will be so apparent and so much appreciated that the ratepayers will, in other parts of the town, establish for themselves like institutions. It was a condition of the scheme that no more should be spent in establishing and maintaining the library than will be represented by a penny rate on the ratable value of the district. The library is entered through a wide arched doorway in the centre of the front, opening into a vestibule with mosaic and tesselated floor and dado. A pair of swing glass doors on the right lead into the ante-room, in front of the librarian's counter. OBJECT LESSON'S IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 451 A reference reading-room is on the left hand, and to the right is the corridor leading to the reading-room, which is a large apart- ment occupying the whole width available at the back of the building. The library is between the front and the reading-room All the divisions of reading-room, library, reference-room, and THE JAMES RECKITT PUBLIC LIBRARY, HULL. corridor are made of light wood screens filled in with glass, so that the librarian can see all over these rooms from the library. The reading-room is a very large and well-proportioned room, about 50 ft. long by 32 ft. wide, with an open timbered roof ceiled across at the collar beams, at a height of 23 ft. from the floor. On each 452 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. side are four pairs of square-headed windows, and at the end three large Gothic-headed windows extending well up into the gable, and ensuring a plentiful supply of the newspaper student's deside- ratum light. A marble water fountain is built into the wall immediately opposite the glass doors. The walls are divided into bays, and are lined with selected match-boarding up to the window-sills, where a neat capping completes the dado. The style of architecture is Gothic, with pointed arches and simple mouldings. The front elevation is evenly balanced, having a deeply recessed arch in the centre forming the entrance, with three arched windows on each side. The same arrangement of windows is continued on the first floor, and in the centre over the doorway is a bold oriel window, above which is a three-light mullioned window, and the four corners of the tower, 65 ft. high, have octagonal stone turrets, and a stone parapet above the main cornice. The internal arrangement is most commodious and suitable. The ratable value of the property on the east side of the river Hull is about 126,700, and a penny rate produces 528 per year. It will thus be seen that Mr. Reckitt's gift to the town amounts to over 10,000, as this amount capitalized would not yield his intended annual contribution of 528. It may be mentioned that the population in East Hull is about 40,000. In the event, at any time, of the Public Libraries' Acts coming into force in Hull, Mr. Reckitt will hand over to the town, free of charge, the building and books. The town, of course, would then provide for the maintenance out of the library rate. To provide for the initial expenses Mr. Reckitt has made other payments, augmenting his gift to about 12,000. The Marquis of Ripon was invited to perform the opening ceremony, and this he did in December, 1889, in a very graceful manner. He remarked, in the course of his speech, that it was to him a source of no little regret when he found that the efforts made to obtain the sanction of the ratepayers to the establishment of a Public Library out of the public rates were not crowned with success. Then at a later period of his speech, he said that : Public Libraries were calculated to benefit two classes of persons. The first was those who might be designated as students, and then those who might be looked upon as general readers. Of the student class and the advantages they would derive from an institution of that kind it was need- less he should speak, because to dwell on the advantages of a great library, and a libiary containing volumes which took upwards of 400 pages in the catalogue, was quite superfluous. He would rather turn to the general readers, and ask them to look for a few moments upon the benefits which a library was calculated to confer upon those who had not the desire or perhaps even the inclination, to be designated by the honourable distinction of students, but who, nevertheless, would derive from that institution many agreeable hours' intercourse. But it would be a great mistake to suppose that a Public Library of that kind, where books might be and were obtained for home reading, was to be confined to those only who could give some hours in the day to their studies of any description. Those OBJECT LESSONS IN PUBLIC LIBBAHIES. 453 who could give a much more limited time than that might derive the greatest advantage from a library of that kind. He had often heard it said by those who were unfavourable, or wished to criticise in a hostile spirit Public Libraries, that the only books that were read there were works of fiction. He mentioned this argument because he thought it was one which had a certain substance in it, and to which it was desirable to reply. They would remember he had not confined the use of a Public Library merely to purposes of study. He looked upon it as most appli- cable for purposes of recreation, and for those purposes there could be no doubt that the reading of fiction was more efficient than any other study, and that it did afford one of the best means of elevating a man out of that daily routine which pressed on all and tended to depress their higher aspirations. Mr. AVilliam Linney acts as honorary secretary, and the library has begun a career of long and indisputable usefulness. Hull will thus have before its eyes an object lesson of the best character, and when the time comes for a fifth attempt to adopt the Acts a very different result is sure to be seen. LUTON. No place in the county of Bedfordshire more needs a rate- supported library than Luton. For some years there has been a small library supported by voluntary subscriptions, but it has for a long time been felt that until it was brought under the Acts it would only languish, and its best efforts do little to meet the reading requirements of the people. In 1881 an unsuccessful attempt was made to adopt the Acts, and it was felt that a further trial of strength might be made in May, 1888, prior to which the friends of the movement had worked energetically to educate the people, and some capital meetings had been held. A mortgage of 1,400 on the present building appeared to frighten a great many people from siding with the movement, but it was pointed out at the meetings that the town would get value of at least 4,000, as the site is in the very centre of the town. The library is well arranged, and only requires a settled income, with the other advantages which would naturally accrue if the Acts were adopted. The present trustees worked ardently for the adoption of the Acts, and the people of Luton will, when this desirable end is accomplished, have a building and library ready made. The rate would yield about 350. For the poll in May, 1888, 6,102 papers were issued and about 5,000 of them were collected. The voting was for the adoption of the Acts 992, and against 2,856; nearlyl,000 papers were blank or informal ; 33 stipulated that the rate should not exceed |d. in the pound ; 14 went as far as |d., and 445 approved the Id. rate. Roughly speaking, the opponents of the measure are as 3 to 1 ; in 1881, when a poll was taken, the pro- portion against was 4 to 1. The papers from the principal streets were almost uniformly in favour of the Acts, and those voting " No " came from the small cottage occupiers. With a large industrial population, such as there is in Luton, this was to be greatly regretted. In the districts in America, 4o-t PUBLIC LIBRARIES, where the straw plait industry is carried on, they have their l*ublic Libraries, and why should Luton take a back seat to any of these places ? Since the poll was then taken many friends have been won over, and on the next attempt there is good reason to hope that the movement will be crowned with success. MARYLEBONE (LONDON). In no place have the results of an object lesson in Public Library work been so encouraging as in Marylebone. The vote taken in 1888 went against the adoption of the Acts, notwithstand- ing the fact that a large sum was promised towards the erection of buildings. Since then, however, many things have happened in the Public Library world, especially in the Metropolis, and those who formerly opposed the adoption of the Acts in London have all come round to see that after all there is something in these institu- tions. With a most influential organization and well-marshalled forces the promoters of the movement worked in a business- like manner, and, although beaten, they were not discouraged. The leaders wisely determined that although Marylebone had declared against a Public Library it should have one of these institutions on a moderate scale, and so provide friends and foes with ocular demonstration of the large and ever-extending use made of the reading-room and the books in the lending library. A better decision could not have been arrived at, and the entire method of procedure could not have been improved upon in any way. To Alderman Frank Uebenham is due the credit of initiating the scheme, and to him much is due for generous support in other ways. Immediately the plan was launched subscriptions were promised, and a suitable habitation was found in a block of modern buildings which has lately been constructed in Lisson Grove. These were opened on August 12, 1889, by a quiet ceremony, and there is no question about the library and reading- room being genuinely useful. Some 536 people visit it daily, and in the evening the place presents an air and appearance of solid business. The reading-stands and the tables are well occupied, and not unfrequently there are over 100 readers in the rooms at one time. A good selection of newspapers and magazines is provided. In the lending department there are 3,600 volumes of thoroughly good and readable literature. Every class of literature is represented, and greater care and discretion could not have been exercised in the selection of materials for the reading tastes of Marylebone. The nucleus of a reference department has been formed, and already there are 800 books in this section. The issue is over 150 per day, and the appreciation of the library is extending with each succeed- ing day. So much so that a branch for another part of the parish has been started in Mortimer Street, the Duke of Fife performing the ceremony on May 1st last. The organization and method in both libraries are excellent, and reflect credit upon Mr. \V. K. Doubleday, the chief librarian, and Mr. W. H. Bennett, the honorary secretary. When the movement for the adoption of the Acts was in pro- OBJECT LESSONS IN PUBLIC LIBRA HIES. 465 gress two years ago, those who were not favourable said that a Public Library was not wanted, was not asked for, would not be appreciated, and would be sure to fail if started. The experience at Marylebone, as everywhere else, proves exactly the reverse. There, as elsewhere, it is the supply which creates the demand, and the Marylebone object lesson has undoubtedly more than realized the expectations which were held out with regard to it. Success is stamped upon the very face of it, and Avhen the Acts come to be adopted in Marylebone, as adopted they will be, it is these little libraries which will have accomplished the conversion of the parish. Quietly and unostentatiously they are pursuing their work of usefulness. Readers crowd the stands and the tables, and all ages and classes use its books. It is easy to see what will be the immediate expansion in its work when a large central library and several branches are opened. All in the parish who care for true and lasting progress, and who give a single thought to the reading requirements of the day, will work for this object, and side with those who have at heart the general good of the community in which they live. PADDINGTON (LONDON). The failure of the attempt to carry the Acts in March, 1887, in Paddington, came as a surprise to many. The majority against was 4,193. Of the 1 1,626 papers delivered, 7,497 were returned with an answer to the question, "Do you vote in favour of the adoption of the Public Libraries' Acts for the parish of Paddington ? " 5,845 replies being in the negative and 1 ,652 in the affirmative. A greater interest was taken than at the annual election of guardians, but it may be observed that 4,129 persons did not vote at all. An analysis shows that, comparing the Northern Ward, inhabitated by a working- class population, with those districts adjacent to Hyde Park, there ' was the same degree of apathy among the rich as there was reluctance on the part of the poor to give a decided vote. It was only proposed to levy a halfpenny rate, but this the opponents represented would soon be insufficient, and a request for more would be made. The movement had many warm and earnest friends, and while they accepted the defeat with a good grace they determined that notwithstanding the refusal to adopt the Acts Paddington should have an object lesson in library work. Liberal subscriptions were promised, and a large house was taken for a term of five years at 70 a year. An appeal was made for subscriptions and books, to which there was a fair response. The committee wisely called to their aid a practical librarian, Mr. Alfred Caddie, who for some ten years had been at the Stoke-upon-Trent Public Library and Museum. In June, 1888, the building was opened to the public by the Lord Chief Justice, who still remains president of the library. About 3,200 books have been given, and this is the number of volumes in the library at the present time. It is a very common experience, when books are asked for for a library, that the ordinary run of mortals do not send their best books. Those who make giving a principle of life send useful and readable books ; 456 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. but too many, unfortunately, looking around their shelves, consider that a library may be a mausoleum of dead literature, as it has been expressed, and get rid of what they can most spare from their own collection. It is not being argued that books should not be asked for or accepted when sent. By no means, for out of a number sent some are sure to be worth placing upon the shelves, and cataloguing. If, however, the books in the Paddington library represent the high-water mark of Paddington book giving, the sooner the Acts are adopted and a good selection of books bought the better. A gift of 500 volumes from Mr. Passmore Edwards to Paddington is a gift worthy of the man, and there are some other sets of books which reflect the practical character of the donors. The library has much more than justified its existence. Some 200 people use it each day. The placing of the advertisement- pages of several of the London dailies at an early hour each morning in a very accessible place leading to the main entrance is a decided boon for the unemployed, and a facility of which large and increasing use is made. Paddington has an opportunity of its appetite being whetted, and the time is fast ripening for again bringing the movement before the ratepayers. The whole question in London stands on a higher platform than was the case in the early part of 1887. Place after place has adopted the Acts, and the people who really think about the matter at all see the need of these libraries and their genuine utility among the people. If only the apathy among the rich in Padding- ton can be conquered success is assured. With a ratable value ranking the seventh highest among the sixty-seven parishes of the Metropolis, and with exceptionally low rates, few districts are in a more favoured condition for adding the infinitesimally small burden which an additional halfpenny rate would entail. Will the wealthy districts of the West allow themselves to be placed in the shade by the struggling parishes of the East ? Paddington will not do justice to its intelligence and culture if it allows itself to be taught a lesson in educational progress by districts smaller and less important. The whole of London will watch Paddington very closely in its next attempt, and with the eyes of London and the country upon it, there will be in all probability a very different result when the question comes again to the poll. On all hands within the parish the movement has gained friends. If some of those possessing the means would give a practical illustration of the Gospel of Wealth the whole question would be lubricated. ROCHESTER. At Rochester there is a Jubilee Free Library which is not yet under the Acts. This institution had its origin in a subscription raised during 1887 in connection with the Jubilee. In all a sum of 671 was raised, and with this sum and the handing over of a small library which had belonged to a workmen's club, operations were commenced in the library room of the Com Exchange, the use of which was given by the Town Council. The library was OBJECT LESSON'S IN PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 457 opened in June, 1888. and now consists of 2,100 vols., with an average weekly issue of 500. A book for every twelve persons of the population cannot, of course, be the extent of the ambition of the influential library committee whose names appear on the report. The average of fiction in the issues is 74 per cent., and the managers console themselves by saying that the issues of fiction range from 60 to 90 per cent. This is not quite correct, the average is from 40 to 80, which is slightly different. Kent has not yet taken its place in this Public Library movement, and Rochester might take a worthy step by showing the way to some of the other Kentish towns. To be enrolled among enfranchised towns should be the aim of the mayor and those who act with him on the committee. The library, if dependent on subscriptions, will only starve. SALTNEY, NEAR CHESTER. There is a literary society and workman's library here. For two years the committee and members were endeavouring to raise funds to enable them to build new library and reading- rooms, the old room being not only too small but quite incon- venient for the purpose. Mr. Gladstone opened these rooms on October 26, 1889, in a speech on " The Workman and his Oppor- tunities," in the course of which he referred to the usefulness of Public Libraries. The committee have since been raising funds with which to furnish the building and renovate the lecture hall, and have appealed to the public for monetary aid. The district is a growing one, and the population is largely a working-class one. The inhabitants number 2,300. If the institution were to come under the Acts it would greatly enhance its utility to all classes. STROUD. An earnest attempt was made in 1887 to adopt the Acts, but Stroud was not able to add itself to the list. Mr. J. C4. Strachan bought the town grammar school for 800, and presented it to the town, and gave an additional 600 for the necessary alterations. There were some other large gifts, bringing the amount up to a total of 3,500. The opening ceremony took place in September. 1888. The structural alterations and the internal fittings of the library cost about 700. A handsome portico was added to the building, and rooms for the librarian were built at the back. Busts of Shakspere and Milton are carved in bas-relief above the portico. The interior is divided by pitch pine and glazed partitions into three compartments, one containing the books, a librarian's counter and an indicator, the second the news reading desks, and the third the tables for book and periodical reading. The library has accommodation for about 6,000 volumes, and of these some 3,500 are now on the shelves, and are being well used. A sum of 1,000 was invested as an endow- ment, and in addition to this something like 250 is guaranteed annually for five years. Stroud has thus got its Public Library, and Mr. John Libby, who has taken an active interest in the matter, states that the work is rapidly extending. Long before the 468 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. five years have expired, there is every reason to think that Stroud will have seen the error of its ways, and will adopt the Acts with a canter when next the question comes to a vote. GUERNSEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS. The Guille-Alles Library here has a very interesting history. In 1834, Mr. Guille, a native of Guernsey, then a boy of sixteen, was serving his apprenticeship with a well-known firm in New York, and he enjoyed the privilege of access to a very extensive library in that city, founded by a wealthy corporation known as the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen. The pleasure and profit he derived from this source were so great, and made such a deep impression on his mind, that the resolution took possession of him that should his business career prove prosper- ous, and his position enable him to do so, he would found a similar institution in Guernsey. As the years rolled along this intention was present with him, and commencing at once, in spite of his then limited means, to purchase books which should form the nucleus of the anticipated collection, he began to lay the foundation of the literary treasures which now fill the shelves of the Guille-Alles Library. Nor was he less mindful of the advan- tages of a museum, which he wisely considered would be a valu- able addition in illustrating the matter contained in the works on natural science, of which it was his especial desire to obtain a large and valuable collection. It would take too long a time to relate how this gentleman progressed in his self-appointed task, or the many difficulties and heart-burnings he experienced in frequently seeing works he coveted for his laudable enterprise put up at a price beyond his means, and purchased by wealthy individuals or highly endowed institutions. After many years, fortune smiled upon Mr. Guille, and he returned to Guernsey full of eagerness to put in work his long-cherished and long-laboured- for design. He was joined by his business partner and life- long friend, Mr. F. M. Alles, who also wished to be identified with the work, and who has materially assisted the original founder both with money and personal effort. The cost of carrying out this undertaking, including the erection of buildings, purchase of books, fittings, &c., has already amounted to, up to now, about 40,000, and the outlay shows no signs of cessation. In addition to these expenses there is an endowment fund, and for this the munificent donors intend to set apart a sum to which the above amount bears but a small proportion. So that altogether the Guernsey community will be indebted to them for an educational foundation worth a magnificent figure in money value alone. There are now in it about 60,000 volumes, and these have been classified and catalogued by Mr. A. Cotgreave, a librarian well known in England, who has had many years of practical experience in library administration. The catalogue contains about 1,300 pages, and displays the infinite care and labour with which it has been compiled. Two gentlemen, Mr. THB SUNDAY OPENING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 469 J. L. Pitts and Mr. John Whitehead, have, as honorary curators, rendered very valuable service in the arranging of the library. A subscription of ten francs a year is charged to adults for the use of the library and reading-room, and for the lending library only six francs. In this section 34,266 volumes were lent last year. The Channel Islands do not yet possess a rate-supported library. CHAPTER XXXI. THE SUNDAY OPENING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. IIIS is rapidly becoming one of the pressing questions of ^^ e ^ av ' ^- anv prominent men who have hitherto hesi- tated about expressing an opinion on the subject no longer find themselves able to maintain a neutral position. It is well that this should be the case, for the matter is of too great importance for anyone who really takes an interest in national progress to stand aloof and allow things to take their course. It is undeniable that many earnest Christian men have been compelled reluctantly, perhaps, in some cases to come to the conclusion that it is both wise and politic to give non-church goers a choice between the street or public-house and libraries, museums, and art galleries on the Sunday. The question will be discussed impartially, and the views pro and con upon the matter of a few well-known people will be given. The opening of Public Libraries, art galleries, and museums on the Sunday is resisted in this country rather from tradition than on principle. Nobody can point to any moral deterioration likely to arise from such a concession. Most of the experiments yet made in the direction of bringing the treasures of literature, art, and antiquity within reach of the people on the day when they have most time available have been crowned with success. Many who resist such a step in modern progress derive their impulse rather from the past than the present. Their ideas are a survival of Puritanism, or so much as is left of it. However, the hands of the clock cannot stand still, and it is impossible to scotch the march of progress, or yet the growing self-reliance of the people. It may, no doubt, be taken as an axiom that the alienation of the sympathies of the working classes from places of worship is one of the most deplorable signs of the times. Very many nonconformist ministers and clergymen of all sections recognize this fact as acutely as do any sections of society. Further, they have strained every nerve and adopted every means to stem this tide of abstention from churches and chapels, but without any appreciable success. Many of those who come in close contact with the working classes, and have thus had opportunities of learning some of the causes of this state of things, have come to the conclusion that the abstention from religious services on the part of the working classes does not arise from any antipathy LlBRAltlhs. against the church or yet any anti-religious feeling they may hold. The two primary causes are, first, the need of physical rest after the work and worry of the week are over ; and, secondly, the deeply-rooted feeling that the occupants of high-backed and cushioned pews look so much askance at the presence of the sons of toil worshipping side by side with them. It is a pleasant fiction to say that all stand equal in the Church as worshippers of the Almighty, so far, at least, as the estimation of men is concerned. How much irreligion pews, pulpits, gowns, and " man millinery " en bloc have caused it is impossible to conceive. It may reasonably be asked, Why is there such an enormous waste of force in the churches ? Surely there is a terrible anomaly in the fact that churches and chapels should be open, say, six hours in the week and public-houses open some- thing like 134 hours. The waste, again, of force in not utilizing an intelligent laity to a far greater extent is most lamentable. The evils arising from a one-man ministry, whether applied to the Establishment or Nonconformity, are considerable. It is certain that matters must continue to remain very much out of joint until we readjust these and other anomalies with regard to Church life. In the meantime the appearance of dismally-empty churches must continue to present itself to our gaze, to the sincere regret of all who have the true welfare of the nation at heart. The position of the nominal Christians on the subject has to be largely taken into account. We are, as a nation, perpetually prating about our Christianity, and there is much in our national life which is as far removed from the true spirit of the Teacher of Nazareth as light from darkness. It may reasonably be asked, by what right do Christians indulge in their own pleasure and deny those same pleasures to others ? They have only the right of might, and surely Christians should be the last to exercise such a right ! The musical have the melodious songs of the Church, the peals of the organ and the harmony of the string instruments in which to indulge themselves on the Sunday ; the literary man has the use of books belonging either to himself or to some of the libraries to which he is able to subscribe, through which to commune with the great of the past and the present ; those who love a good dinner on Sunday as well as on the other days of the week do not feel it necessary to give their domestics instructions not to stay at home on that day to cook it while they go to church. The man who loves to commune with nature has the green fields and pleasant woods in which he can take refuge and study on the Sunday. To sketch a flower or tree on Sunday is counted by many a crime ; yet those same censors will sometimes pass hours in the criticism of their neighbour's bonnet, or in the circulation of silly and mischievous scandal, or in the verbal planning of a dress, or the arrangement of balls and parties for the ensuing week. There seems to be no clear or definite idea where the sanctity of the Sunday begins or ends among many people ; but on one point they all seem firmly agreed, and that THK Sr\PAY OPEMINO OF PT"BIJC LIBRARIES. 461 is that the opening of a Public Library, a picture gallery, or a museum is an offence against the law of the good old English Sunday. Such should remember the lines of Tom Hood "A man may cry Church! Church! at ev'ry word, With no more piety than other people A daw's not reckon'd a religious bird Because it keeps a-cawing from a steeple." According to the views of many of these good people the admirer of paintings, and natural science, is not to cast his eye upon these beautiful objects because, through no fault of his own, he is not able to go where they are on any day but the first day of the week. Public Libraries, museums, and picture galleries belong to the people, and not to only a portion of them. Con- sequently their convenience as to when their institutions shall be open should be taken into account. Sunday must ever be mainly a day of repose to those who undergo hard intellectual or manual labour. It is obviously a sin against himself, and ultimately against the community, if a man goes on with his work on a Sunday. He utterly ruins his higher powers, and brings himself down as nearly as possible to the level of the brutes. It is the duty of everyone to try and bring his fellow- creatures into such a position that they could have the advantage of studying nature in some way or other, and we have now reached in education a point at which something more on the Sunday than the teaching of churches, chapels, and Sunday- schools has become absolutely necessary. People must be brought under the influence of pictures and other beautiful objects, and books. It is not creditable to our boasted civilization that in this time of the life of the world we should calmly allow so many of our fellow-creatures to live so little above the level of savages, when there are so many things in our civilization which, if only used aright, would tend to raise them high above their present condition. How can all the instruments of civilization be used if they are not to be used on the Sunday as well as on other days ? To the mass of people Sunday is the only day of leisure, and every opportunity should be given for their getting on that day the best kinds of mental and intellectual recreation. If people are to get the full benefits from the study of books, pictures, and the contents of Public Libraries and museums, such places ought to be opened for certain hours on the Sunday. There are many good Christians who do not consider themselves called upon by any divine law, nor yet by any consideration of what is best for their own interests, to devote the whole of the day to religious duties. Even among those whose orthodoxy is beyond question there is a great difference of opinion regarding Christian obligations in reference to the Sabbath. Some people consider it sinful even to go for a walk on Sunday, though this strict view of duty is not in accord with what was the practice of the Founder of the Christian faith. AVhat is or what is not 462 Pl'BUC LIBRARIES. allowable in an orthodox Christian becomes purely a question of degree. It is permissible to read in one's own house on Sunday, and, except on an untenable Sabbatarian view, to read anything that may be profitably or innocently read on a week-day. Does the place make any difference ? Is it unlawful from a religious point of view, or socially inexpedient to do in a public institution on the first day of the week what may be done on the other six days, and what may still be done on the first day of the week at home ? Few people, as a matter of fact, now oppose Sunday opening on purely religious grounds ; but they rather base their opposition on considerations connected with the question of Sunday labour. It is not to be denied that if libraries, museums, and picture galleries were opened on Sunday some amount of Sunday labour would be necessary. But we do not forbid the work that is done in connection with churches, private houses, hotels, clubs, railways, tramways, and numerous other organiza- tions that are " going " on Sundays; and the question is whether the good outweighs the evil. It is well known that, for want of the means of rational enjoyment, large numbers of people literally get into evil courses ; and the advocates of the policy of Sunday opening believe that much mischief and much positive sin would be prevented if the masses could go to libraries, picture galleries, and museums to spend their hours of leisure on the day of rest. There are some people who oppose the Sunday opening of libraries, and kindred institutions from considerations wholly irrespective of the religious feelings connected with the Sabbath. The one main reason why many are so much opposed to the Sunday opening of Museums is that it may be the getting in of the thin end of the wedge to continentalize our Sunday. The statement is very frequently made that if we open libraries, museums and picture galleries, on the Sunday, as a logical sequence theatres must also be opened. But it does not at all follow that we must fall into the groove which unfortunately characterizes the Con- tinent in the method of spending the Sabbath. The reverential feeling is far more deeply rooted in the minds of the English- speaking peoples than of any other nation on the face of the earth. This is sufficient safeguard for the proper and reasonable extension of the opportunities for a rational spending of Sunday. Again, what Public Libraries, museums and picture galleries, give us are absolute necessaries of mental and moral life. This cannot be said of the theatre, the first article of faith of which is to amuse. Libraries and museums, with other kindred institutions, are national property, and there is no money-making element in the question, but with theatres the question is different. Conse- quently the opening of these two descriptions of institutions stands on a totally dissimilar footing. With regard to the opening of theatres on Sunday Mr. Irving has stated that if this were pro- posed, actors and actresses would be the very first to oppose any such suggestion. In Paris all the public museums and galleries are open on THE St'NDAY OPENING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 463 Sundays, and even in those instances in which they are only open on two or three days a week, Sunday is always one of those days. In Berlin such institutions are open on Sundays, but for somewhat shorter hours than on weekdays. In Amsterdam the famous Ryks Gallery, containing the pictures of the great Dutch masters, is open every day, Monday excepted. On Sundays its staff is supplemented with twelve soldiers, in view of the fact of the number of visitors on that day being always greatly augmented. In the Amsterdam Fodor museum, which is the property of the municipality, the charge on weekdays is 10d., on Sundays 5d. only. The small cost of superintendence in France is remarkable. The task of watching and keeping order in the four great national museums, the Louvre, the Luxembourg, Versailles, and St. Germains, is confided to a staff of 158 men. The two chiefs receive only 80 a year, while 132 of the number are engaged at salaries varying from 54 to 66. It will be opportune to call attention to the general position of the question, and to the expressions of opinions of some public men. A few years ago, when the matter was before the House of Lords, the Bishops were conspicuous either by their absence or silence. Out of twenty-six, seven only were present, and these do not seem to have made any exertion to express their opinion upon the matter. Following this, a Royal Commission declared that the Sunday opening ot museums and art galleries has exerted a salutary influence on the moral and intellectual condition of the people. Immediately after the report of this Commission was published Sir Henry Roscoe asked the House of Commons to recognize the justice and expediency of opening the Natural History Museum at South Kensington and the Bethnal Green Museum in East London on Sundays without further delay, thus extending to London the advantages already provided at Kew, Hampton Court, Greenwich, Dublin, Birmingham, Manchester, and ten other provincial towns. Sir Henry Roscoe, M.P., mentioned these places where Sunday opening has been in practice for some time with excellent results. Dublin holds a foremost place for liberality in this respect. The collection in that city, of painting, sculpture, archaeology, and zoology, is free of access on the Sunday, and a fine Sunday attracts a larger number of people than all the other days of the week combined. If it be objected that Dublin, being in another country, is not a convincing example for England to follow, we have the home illustrations of Manchester, Bradford, Birmingham, Newcastle-on-Tyne, London (partially), and several other places, and not a single evidence that anything but advantage has resulted. The long discussion which took place during the latter part of 1887 and the early part of 1888 as to the opening of the Salford Museum and Public Libraries on Sundays has given the question a great impetus. Mr. B. Armitage was the pi'ime mover through- out, and championed the question, notwithstanding much obloquy, in a manner highly creditable to him. The cost of the poll 464 PUBLIC- LIBRARIES. reached a very large sum, which Mr. Armitage paid. Over this expenditure there was a great deal <>t discussion. The following is a summary of the particulars of the costs incurred by the returning officer in connection with the poll : For printing, publishing and posting of bills, notices, forms, and ballot papers, including stationery, &c., 33 Is. 7d. ; for erecting and fitting up polling stations, taking down same, and removing fittings to Town Hall again, 57 11s. lOd. ; for use of thirty-nine schools and a house as polling stations, including the erection of a booth at Broom Lane, Broughton, 89 4s. 3d. ; for forty-four presiding officers, including their attendance at counting, 77 ; for fifty poll clerks, including the like attendance, 50; for services of police constables, and allowance to them in lieu of refreshment, 15 Is. lid. ; for refreshments to joiners fitting up polling stations and to returning officer and staff on the day of the election, 8 7s. 6d. ; for cabs taking ballot boxes to the various polling stations and bringing same back to Town Hall, 18 2s. 6d. ; for sundry other expenses, including clerks' overtime, messengers, cab fares, &c., 8 3s. ; for professional services and assistance in the conduct of the poll, 52 10s. ; total, 409 2s. 6d. So ridiculously insignificant was the number of electors who took the trouble to record their votes, that the expenditure of several hundred pounds in connection with the operation was well calculated to annoy those who had to find the money, especially as it is known that it would have been easy to obtain twice the number of signatures to a petition either for or against the Sunday opening for the expenditure of about 10. Out of a total number of voters of 29,847 there were in favour of Sunday opening 3,445 ; against, 3,162 ; showing a majority in favour of 283, but also dis- closing the fact that 23,240 of the voters were utterly indifferent about the matter, and did not take the trouble to record their votes. An analysis of the cost of the number of votes polled shows that these 6,607 votes cost Is. 2fd. each. This is so very instructive that other districts should hesitate before taking a poll on this question. The Public Libraries at Salf ord were opened on Sundays for the first time in September, 1888. The attendance was not very large. The hours were from two o'clock to nine, the same hours as in Manchester. At Peel Park there were thirty-five visitors during the first hour, forty-one the next hour, thirty-nine from four o'clock to five, thirty-two between five and six, twenty-six between six and seven, and fifty-nine from seven to eight. Very few books were asked for, the visitors occupying themselves mainly with magazines and newspapers. At the branch library in Regent Road the number of visitors up to seven o'clock was about ninety. A special room is set apart in this library for boys, and between five o'clock and seven fourteen boys made use of it. At the Greengate branch, which stands in the heart of working Salf ord, the attendance had reached 128 at eight o'clock. To the 128 eighteen books were issued such books as " Robinson Crusoe," " Uncle Tom's Cabin," " Under Two Flags," the " Illus- THE SUNDAY OPENING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 466 trated London News," "The Old Curiosity Shop," "Household Medicine," and an "Encyclopaedia." The late John Bright, M.P., writing in March, 1888, said : " I have noticed the discussion on the question of opening the Free Libraries in your borough on Sunday afternoons and evenings. If I were a dweller in your town, and one of your Town Council, I should be one of your supporters on the question in which you have taken so much interest. I hope you may succeed, and that the results of your success may convert many who are now your opponents." Mr. Thomas Burt, the miners' representative, wrote : " I entirely approve of your action in trying to have the Reading Rooms of the Public Libraries at Salford open on Sunday afternoons and evenings, and I wish you every success." The late Dean Oakley wrote : " Free access to useful and harmless books in a comfortable room on the one day of leisure in the week plainly adds to the means of moral and mental improvement, which is the business of a Christian Sunday, in addition to rest and after the worship of Almighty God. Besides this positive gain, we are fighting against an irrational, indeed an irreligious idea of Sunday. Whatever be the issue of the appeal to the rate- payers to know what they wish to do with their own books and their own buildings on the only day when most of their owners can make use of them, we may fairly demand recognition of our own belief that we are fighting the battle of reasonable religion and Christian liberty." Sir John Harwood, then Mayor of Manchester, of high standing as a Methodist, and of unimpeachable orthodoxy, said : " Why should the people be compelled to read in dark, dingy dwellings, when they paid for commodious halls that stood empty ? To enlarge the idea of Sunday, to embrace healthy relaxation and intellectual exercise, was to help to make a happier, more sober and contented people, and to strengthen the fibre and raise the tone of this great nation. ' Dr. Fraser, the late Bishop of Manchester, whilst he never " publicly and formally" (the phrase is his own) advocated Sunday opening, never opposed it ; he did justice to the motives of those who desired it, and preserved all along an attitude of " benevolent neutrality." Thus in his address as President of the Social Science Congress, he gave the statistics of the first year of Sunday open- ing at the Manchester Libraries. He did so without one word of disapproval. " AVe must be taught by experience," said Bishop Fraser; and, taught by experience, the present Bishop of Manchester adds the weight of his ecclesiastical status, his intellectual power, his high character and practical philanthropy in favour of Sunday opening. This is what he said : "I heartily support your effort to secure the opening of the Public Library at convenient hours on Sunday. No one more prizes than I do the rest of the Sunday, and no one would oppose more strenuously any effort to deprive the working classes of that advantage. It is for this reason that I have always opposed all attempts to organize amusements or to call into action any large amount of labour on the Lord's Day, But when I was a layman I always found that quiet reading added to the 30 466 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. profit and pleasure of my Sundays. Now, I know that there are hundreds and thousands of young men in Manchester who, living in lodgings or in narrow and populous homes, have neither the books to read nor oppor- tunities for reading. To these the opening of the Public Libraries would be a priceless boon, and it would be easy to prevent any too great infringe- ment of the rest of the ordinary employes of the library." Mr. Howorth, M.P. for Salford,has strong views on the subject, as will be seen from his words : " I have always held the same view on this question, and took an active part in opening the Manchester Libraries on Sunday, and have never regretted the step I took. There are a great many people who do not go to church or chapel ; there are many others who go only once. Many of these are young men in lodgings. It seems to me that to compel them to find their only Sunday occupation in the public-house or the club is neither Christianity nor is it even rational. On the other hand, there are classes, like the railway servants and cabmen, who can only read, if they read at all, on Sunday. The argument about employing people in libraries on Sunday is to me a very hollow one. The veiy men who raise it employ postmen and railway guards in large numbers, and read their Monday's paper (the result of Sunday labour) quite comfortably." The experience of the Rev. S. A. Barnett in his work in the East End in the Sunday opening of his annual picture exhibition, has more than confirmed him in the wisdom of the step. In a letter received by the present writer from him in October last, he says : " In the interest of religion, it seems to me that the words of the great teachers ought to be accessible on Sundays. Town life has so destroyed many of the means by which God spoke in old days that it is incumbent on us to provide libraries and to make the books accessible by which He speaks in these later days. Our people cannot become students of nature, but they all might become students of mind." Another London clergyman, deeply in touch with the needs of the day, and one who has taken an active interest in the promotion of the Public Library movement in the metropolis, the Rev. Canon Pelham,B. A., Rector of Lambeth, and son of the Earl of Chichester, writes to the author, as follows : " As to Sunday opening, I am cer- tainly in favour of it as long as it is limited to the reading-rooms, and that the librarians are not employed on Sundays. Quite irrespective of the moral question of using books on Sunday, I could not bear the idea of a library being shut while the public- house is open ! I am of opinion that religious biographies, such as that of Lord Shaftesbury, and magazines (bound up) such as the 'Quiver,' should be put under the title 'Theology, which too often is a class made up with sermons and dry-books only, instead of containing all kinds of popular religious books." There certainly might be cross headings under Theology from these magazines and other books. The Rev. Bernard J. Snell, a Nonconformist minister in Salford, in preaching from the texts, " The Sabbath is made for man," and " It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath Day," said : " The value of Sunday in giving opportunity for the development of THE SITXDAY OPEN'ING OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 467 those faculties which lie dormant under life's drudgery was too keenly appreciated for practical men to throw it away ; but Sunday was not kept holy by being kept empty and dull. The dismalness of Sunday was the great cause of Sunday intemperance ; men were fatigued with too muah idleness, and in sheer despair of anything better to nand, soaked them- selves in liquor. On the Continent public galleries, for which the admis- sion charge on week-days was a franc, were free as air on Sundays, and thronged with working folk. Our museums and Public Libraries were among the finest results of civilization, and it was remarkably thriftless that in a free nation like ours these places were not accessible at the most convenient times." The Roman Catholic Bishop of Salford says : " In a quiet way I went round myself to several of the City Libraries on Sunday evening some two years ago, or thereabouts, for the purpose of seeing how much they were used, and was very favourably impressed with what I witnessed. I was more struck by the number of boys I found in the reading-rooms than with anything else, and with their quiet de- meanour. I asked myself Is it better that they should be here than in the streets ? Is it reasonable to expect them to spend the whole evening in church ? Is there any positive obligation that they should spend even one hour of the evening in the church ? How many of those persons seated quietly in the reading-rooms would go to the church to say prayers were the reading-rooms closed ? The answers to these questions are obvious. What do they want who desire to close the reading-rooms on Sunday evening ? Surely not to compel everyone to go to church willy- nilly twice a day ; and, if not, why not encourage the quiet and improving occupation of reading ? Suggest to the young what they should read as much as you please. Encourage the reading of religious books if you please. But do not say you may hang about the streets, you may go to the public-house, you may invent your own way of whiling away the Sunday evening, but you shall not spend the time in reading your own books in your own library, because both the books and the library are not private but public property." Lord Hobhouse said at Bolton when the discussion a some- what fierce one by the way was going on over this question : "The principle of the Lord's Day was rest, recreation, and worship. Sunday was not a day of dulness but brightness. The question that arose was one of service contrary to the law of God. Service might be qualified by works of mercy and necessity. The public ought to be more consistent than they were. They used the railways and the post-office. Had they ever thought of the number of men employed in the gasworks and of the number of police on Sunday. Why did they not do away with gas and have a paraffin lamp ? Did not their friends in the churches and Sunday schools labour on the Sunday in lighting and cleaning and so on. The spirit found its best rest in God, and he knew of no better rest fqr the mind than to take up a book and read it. What he held was that to open a library on Sunday was a work of mercy. What did they want those libraries open for ? For the benefit of those who had no libraries of their own. Was it a sin to read books on a Sunday ? Could there he anything wrong in reading astronomy, history, or even a book by Charles Dickens. He would ask those who objected whether they themselves were better employed on the Sunday than those who would be employed reading in the libraries. Where, he would ask, were the working rl 468 1TBI.IC LIBRARIES. on the Sunday evenings. Some people said they ought to be at church and chapel, but why did they not get them there ? But many of them were found in public-houses, and by opening libraries on a Sunday they would, whilst not getting at the fuddlers, be able to prevent many from beginning to go to the public-house." Charles Kingsleysaid that libraries should be open on Sundays, and he, with nearly '200 other eminent clergymen, signed a petition to the House of Commons stating that '" the opening of museums, libraries, and art galleries on the afternoon of Sunday would greatly promote the moral and intellectual improvement of large classes of Her Majesty's subjects, and is thoroughly in accordance with the object and meaning of the Christian Sunday." Sir "Win. Houldsworth, M.P., is in favour of opening libraries and museums on Sundays, on the ground " that reading and a contemplation of the works of God were exercises in every way in harmony with the true character and object of the Christian Sabbath ; and to thousands in our towns these Sunday occupa- tions were only possible in such institutions as Public Libraries and museums." The advocates of the opening of Public Libraries, art galleries, and museums on Sundays have just received an acquisition of strength from a quarter in which they have hitherto been opposed. The Trade Unions Congress passed a resolution in favour of this proposal. Previous congresses of the representatives of the labour organizations of the country have declined to sanction the Sunday opening of our national treasures of art, science, and literature, on the ground that to approve of such an innovation would be to recognize the legitimacy of Sunday labour. The delegates to the Congress have abandoned this Anew, and by the resolution they adopted at the final meeting on Saturday have shown that they have no fear of the true Sabbatarian principle of rest from labour being violated by the adoption of the policy of the Sunday League. The number of people whom it would be necessary to employ as attendants and caretakers at museums and art galleries on Sunday, were these institutions thrown open on that day, would be very small, and probably would be more than balanced by the number of other workmen who would be relieved in this event. So far from the Sunday opening of public collections of science and art treasures involving any violation of the principle of Sabbatarian limitation of labour, we believe it would have the directly opposite effect. "Were workmen afforded opportunities for contemplating on Sundays the objective results of scientific research and the noblest efforts of human genius, they would feel their need of leisure all the more. The Trade Unions Congress, in fact, by passing a resolution in favour of the Sunday opening of Public Libraries, museums, and art galleries, has taken a step in the direction of the realization of that reduction of the hours of toil at which it aims. The fact that the resolution was adopted by forty-five votes to twenty-four that is to say, by the substantial majority of twenty-one indicates the great advance which public opinion is making on this question. The adoption of the proposal THK SrXDAY OPKNIXG OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. 469 by botli Houses of Parliament is only a question of time. Hitherto the opponents of it have been able to make a strong point by insisting that the Trade Unions Congress was on their side. This argument can no longer be trotted out. The recognized repre- sentatives of the working classes have pronounced demonstratively in favour of the advocacy of the rational enjoyment of part of the day of rest. Some opinions against Sunday opening are here given. Lord Harrowby says : " I beg to convey my best thanks to the directors of the Glasgow Working Men's and West of Scotland Sabbath Protection Association for their friendly communication to me respecting my action in favour of maintaining the integrity of the Lord's Day. It is a subject I have deeply at heart, as I believe that its maintenance as a sacred day of rest in obedience to the Divine institution is a matter of paramount importance to the British Empire, and to each individual member of it. I indeed rejoice with you and with your association that, after many years' struggle, the British Museum is opened at night on week days. I trust that before long all such institutions in our towns which ai'e maintained out of the public resources will be opened at night on week days, so that our labouring population may have the fullest possible opportunity of enjoying them without infringing upon our precious birthright of the Lord's Day of Rest." Dr. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool, says : " 1 heartily wish success to the movement for opposing the opening of museums, &c., on Sunday. I am fighting the same battle here in Liverpool to the best of my ability. The advocates of the unhappy movement which we oppose mean well, I believe, and think they are doing God's service and benefiting the working classes. In my opinion they are totally mistaken. Our old English Sunday is one of the greatest blessings which God has given to this country, and if the working classes of Great Britain allowed themselves to be deprived of it they would soon find to their cost that they had made an enormous mistake." Canon Stowell, of Manchester, says : " The advocates of Sunday opening lay great stress on the importance of providing a counter- attraction to the public-house, and plead for it in the interests of temperance. I would suggest that a more excellent way of promoting those interests would be to close the public-houses on Sundays. If the gentlemen who so earnestly advocate the adoption of this remedy would take half as much pains to secure the removal of the evil as they are doing to counteract its effects, it would soon cease to exist." Canon Stowell made much of the failures where Sunday opening had been tried and had not been found successful. In September, 1884, the Town Council of Chester resolved to open their Public Library on Sundays. After three months' experience the Town Council resolved to close it again on Sundays, with only three dissentients out of twenty-eight members present. After four years' experience in Stoke-on-Trent, the librarian 470 Pt'TlI.TC l.nsit.YHIKS. wrote to the Mayor, in November, 1885, a letter, in which the following statements were made: " 1. The persons the opening was Intended to benefit are conspicuous by their absence. The thing lias degenerated into a promenade and conversazione for children on their dismissal from school. These children, besides running about and making a noise, do more damage to the books, periodicals, &c., than would be done in a year by the ordinary visitors. 4. There are several members of the Council who are prepared, to confirm these statements." In December, 1886, the public Library was finally closed on Sundays. In May, 1884, the Town Council of Worcester resolved by eight votes against four to open their museum on Sundays. At the meeting of the Council, in June, after a month's experience of Sunday opening, it was resolved by sixteen votes against fourteen to close the museum on Sundays. The Court of Common Council, London, is evidently not yet in the way to make its mind up on the still somewhat vexed question of the opening of libraries, museums, and art galleries during some portion of Sunday. Some nine or ten years ago a resolution was proposed, having for its object such opening ; and in a court mustering but 120 members or so, out of '232, the proposal was defeated by a majority of seventy-two. Very lately the subject was reopened, though in a more modified form, the proposer simply asking for a refer- ence to obtain the opinion of the Library Committee on the subject. For some two hours the battle raged fast and furious, albeit again in a scanty court, showing that plentiful lack of interest on the point at issue still prevails. Eventually the "previous question " was carried by eighty-three to forty-two, and the hotly-supported and opposed argument of benefit and Sunday relaxation to the 50,000 " sleepers in the City " is again upon the shelf. The Norwich Town Council, at a meeting held in January last, adopted a report presented by the Public Library Committee, which recommended the opening of the institution from three to nine p.m. on Sundays. The Council was unanimous on the question. None of the week-day staff of the library are engaged for this Sunday duty, for which one man is employed at a small payment. There is no circulation of books, but some useful works are put on the tables for the day, along with the current periodicals. The committee was instructed to report in not less than three months on the working of the experiment. The trustees of the British Museum, it is anticipated, will soon allow the museum to be open during certain hours on Sundays. Museums, art galleries, and Public Libraries should be opened whenever and wherever this is necessary to meet the needs of the badly housed, the homeless, and the working classes in large towns and cities. Whether observed ecclesiastically or otherwise, the Sunday is too valuable a boon to be wasted in low self-indulg- ence. When we consider the incessant toil and sacrifice that are ever necessary to counteract the tendencies and temptations to careless living, the Sabbath ought to be jealously guarded and respected as a day consecrated to social, moral, and religious THKIR RELATION' TO MECHANICS' IXSTITUTES, ETC. 471 culture, when the HATEVER feeling of rivalry and antipathy there was at one time on the part of the managers of mechanics' institutes, and other similar institutions, appears to be rapidly disappearing, if indeed it lias not already become a thing of the past. It is impossible to question the fact that mechanics' institutes have 472 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. occupied a most important place in the education of the people. Too much praise cannot be given to the real work which has been accomplished by them. Previous to the establishment of these institutions the means of education among the working classes were of a scanty nature ; and about sixty years ago, when the need for increased educational facilities began to be more acutely felt than at any previous period, mechanics' institutes were established, and it was felt that they would soon take their places as colleges for working men. The highest hopes were entertained respecting them, and many of these expectations have been realized. More than this, there are not a few mechanics' institutes which may to-day be reasonably proud of the work they are doing. But even the most sanguine friends of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs would not claim for them that they have fulfilled every promise and every hope which was held out with regard to them. The causes of the apparent failure are not far to seek. The phrase " apparent failure " is used for the reason that over and above whatever appearance of failure there may be, the good record which lies behind them has been so vital that no educa- tional history of the last half century would be complete which did not fully recognize the place they have filled. The origin of mechanics' institutes is interesting. SomeAvhere about fifty or sixty years ago, Dr. Birkbeck was acting as Professor of Natural Philosophy at the Andersonian Institution, Glasgow. Some apparatus, required to elucidate one of his lectures, was out of repair, and two or three artisans were sent for by him to remedy the defects. After he had given them the necessary directions, one of the men observed " How much better we should be able to do this work, if we understood the objects of these instruments, and the principles upon which they are constructed." The Professor replied, " My friends, will you listen to me if I try to explain them to you ? " " Oh yes, sir, certainly, if we stay till to-morrow morning," was the answer. It was given in so sincere and thankful a tone, that, although it was then late at night, the benevolent Doctor commenced an elaborate explanation, and the rays of the next morning's sun were shining, when that group separated one going to his repose, the others to their daily toil. The readiness and the zeal of these craftsmen to acquire intellectual information produced such an effect upon the Doctor, that he invited all the artisans of Glasgow to attend his lectures gratuitously. A mechanics' class was subsequently formed, and not long after mechanics' institutes sprang up in various localities. Thus it will be seen how small an incident may lead to a great public good. One of the chief causes which have militated against them is that they have not been made sufficiently practical in the sense that the artisan classes understand that term. It has not been enough for a working man with his limited means to be told that if he became a member of one of these institutes, he would so increase his knowledge as to render it probable that he might thereby improve his condition. That has not gone fsp enough ; THEin RRT.ATION TO MRCHANICS' INSTITUTES, ETf. I , '! and small as the quarterly subscription has been, before parting with it he has tried to see pretty clearly that he would derive some immediate advantage equal to the outlay. Others again have said that the subscription was too low, and that the education which can be procured for little money is but indifferently valued. This is not a particularly good argument, especially at the present time, when on all hands education has progressed by leaps and bounds, and the need for far greater educational facilities is being expressed on all sides. A more important drawback associated with them is that amusement and recreation have very largely usurped the educational work of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs. But this again is only partially true, and had these institutes been bereft of rational amusements, and left to possess the sombre character of the cloister, the probabilities are that there would be more to lament with regai'd to them than is heard at the present time. Still, so strong has the recreative element become that the draught and chess boards, billiard tables, and dramatic performances have only too frequently elbowed aside the educational character of these institutions, and now many of them are little more than respectable lounges for men fairly well-off, who dislike the smoke room of the public house or hotel, and prefer the quieter and less objectionable place. The library and reading facilities afforded by these institutions have not been and are not particularly great. The libraries have consisted too largely of fiction and other books gathered together indiscriminately, and the newsroom has been so indifferently supplied with a comprehensive choice of periodical literature, that what has been supplied has often made the poverty in the stock of ephemeral literature the more apparent. The one fatal obstacle, however, is that there is no continuity of life in the management of these institutes. The individual mechanics' institute or workmen's ciub invariably owes its existence to the activity and energy of two or more individuals, who have galvanized the whole idea into life and useful existence, and the place begins with all the enthusiasm and publicity possible. As long as these heads and originators remain all has gone well. By-and-bye, however, as death and removals have decimated the ranks of those who brought the whole thing into completion, a change in the spirit of management has come about, and decay has set its talons upon the institution. The roll of membership has in very many instances declined, and debt and restricted resources are fast accomplishing utter congestion and collapse of all the original purposes of the institution. Far too large a number of them have fallen almost entirely in the hands of cliques, and it is to be feared that in some cases personal ends dictate what shall be done. The one vital difference between mechanics' institutes, work- men's clubs and rate-supported Public Libraries, is that the management of the two former has no representative character attaching to it, whereas in the other case the continuity is assured by the corporate nature of the institution. A Public Library forms part of the corporate life of the town and is 474 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. administered by the elected representatives of the people, who have to give an account of their stewardship to those who elect them to the governing body in which they sit. This applies to the smallest parish which may adopt the Acts up to the very Inrgi'st city. And hence the main reason why Public Libraries arc so rapidly extending and taking the place of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs. The subscription character of the latter lias tended to restrict the membership, and the national and universal character of Public Libraries has been the keystone of their life and vigour. The purpose of this chapter is to indicate how the educational character of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs can be maintained, and these institutions fill the true place for which they were originally intended. To save them from misuse and falling into the hands of cliques is the earnest desire of many who have at heart the welfare of the buildings in which they have been so long interested. A very considerable number of these institutions have formed the nucleus of Public Libraries, and an excellent beginning has thus been made by a happy wedding of the old love with its creditable past and the new love with its enlarged prospects and solid chances of success. A new lease of life has thus been secured. The managers of other institutions are seriously contemplating what can best ensure a useful future for their institutions. It is to these that a sincere hope may be expressed as to the step which they will ultimately take. Although in some respects mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs are proprietary institutions they are in another sense public property, inasmuch as subscriptions from the general public were solicited and obtained when the institution was first launched. Consequently the private benefit which here and there is accruing is a wrong to the original promoters, and an injustice to the local public who have a general interest in the institution. This is sufficient ground why present managers may well take into consideration what are the best steps to adopt. The re- strictive character of their trust deeds is, of course, the line upon which they have to act, but even in this respect there are, as a rule, no serious insurmountable obstacles. In no better way can these buildings be preserved for the educational benefit of the public and also for rational amusement than by turning them into Public Libraries. In scores of towns and districts the Acts would at once be adopted if such an offer as this were made. It cannot be too well borne in mind that rate-supported Public Libraries are not antagonistic to mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs. But they certainly are endeavouring to do on a larger and more practical scale the work which those institutions originally set themselves out to accomplish. Difficulties with regard to the staff of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs, should such a step as that indicated be adopted, could be met by a general understanding that the matter should be seriously borne in mind if the Acts are adopted TII r.u: i:i-:i.. \TIOV -I'd MKru.vxrrs' rxsTirrrKS. KTP. 475 and the institution becomes the property ol the people. Sonic librarians of Public Libraries arc known to the present writer who were in the same building librarian for the mechanics' institutes, and this is a proof that this obstacle is one which can be met. All public appointments should be thrown open, but in such instances it cannot infrequently happen that the best men for librarian and assistants are those who have had charge of the place up to the time of the change being made. This is a question of such importance to the future of the Public Library movement, that the subject is one which may be earnestly pressed upon the attention of committees and trustees of the institutions under discussion. There is no control on the part of the public on the character of the men who may occupy their place at a later date. Would it not be truly wise to ensure the future of their building by placing it under the control of their local public ? If there is a debt upon it, which is so fre- quently the case, this could be taken over with the building, and by the placing of representatives from the old committee of management of the mechanics' institute on the library com- mittee, and the transference of the officials where this may be advisable and practicable, the main difficulties would be bridged, provided, of course, that the step is in accordance with the spirit and rendering of the trust deeds. It is opportune to now call attention to the strength and work of existing institutions under these designations. First and foremost there stands the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Insti- tutes, which celebrated its jubilee about two years ago. For life and vigour this union surpasses all other unions of these institutes. Its secretary and lecturer, Mr. Frank Curzon, is such a host within himself that to know him is to know the secret of the success of this Yorkshire Union. Its present strength may be briefly summarized by stating that there are 274 institutes affiliated to the union, with an aggregate of 58,100 members. Its village library consists of 30,000 volumes, and the books find their way to some of the most remote villages of the huge county of York. Two hundred villages in Yorkshire are now availing themselves of its facilities. The books have been largely given from friends of the union, and boxes of books are named after generous donors. The subscription is a guinea a year for 200 volumes in fifty volumes exchanged each quarter, A weekly record of the circulation is kept by the local institute, and there can be no doubt that these books have been the means of bringing to thousands of Yorkshire village homes pleasure and instruction. But the reasonable contention is that the book needs of no village can be met by the changing of fifty books once a quarter. All honour to the Yorkshire Village Library for the work that it has done and is doing. It is occupying the ground famously until the larger step is seen to be practicable, and that, it is to be feared so far as villages are concerned, is not yet within measure- able distance. In filling the breach to supply the book needs of the village people, the Yorkshire Union deserves the thanks of 476 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. all friends of provincial life, and if any reader feels touched at the lack of books in villages, and would like to do something to rnakc it less so, he cannot do better than communicate with Mr. (Airzon, at Victoria Chambers, Leeds, and so establish a few boxes of books known by his name. The use of the books in this village library work is shown by the issue for last year being 33,950 volumes. The subscriptions to the individual institutes asso- ciated with the union vary from 4s. to 21s. a year per member. A large number of the affiliated institutes are doing an excellent work, and it is noteworthy that the most successful of them are in towns where rate-supported libraries are already in existence. This is especially the case at Bradford, where there are 1,500 members. At Doncaster there is a Railway Institute with 3,060 members. The mechanics' institute at Halifax has 1,099 mem- bers, and the one at Leeds has 1,339 members, and others could also be named. This shows that Public Libraries and mechanics' institutes in the large centres go hand in hand and work together for the common good. It is refreshing to peruse the last report of the union, for it reveals a power at work in Yorkshire in these institutes which must produce good throughout the county. Of the 274 affiliated institutes and clubs who gave particulars in this section, 42 are exempt from local rates and 46 are not, whilst a few are partially exempt. The work done is to be commended, but it is patent that there are a considerable number whose income is diminishing, a,nd the future of which is far from bright and encouraging. May the hope not be expresssed that for these some development into Public Libraries under the rates will sooner or later come about? There are five other associations of these institutes in the country, but the Yorkshire Union is so influential when compared with these that it makes the indications of declining power much more evident. The next strongest association is the Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes. This was established in 1839 by the efforts of the late Richard Cobden and other gentlemen. Its record of work for fifty years is excellent in the organizing of lectures, holding examinations, diffusing information and helping deserving artisans to obtain a collegiate education. Fifty-five institutes are in union with this organization, with a gross membership of over 50,000. As an old secretary of one of the societies affiliated with the union, the present winter knows how large has been the impetus given to adult education in Lanca- shire and Cheshire by the work of this union in bygone days, before the passing of the Elementary Education Act of 1870. Its work is still very useful, especially in welding together the interests of the smaller sections, such as mutual improvement societies and literary clubs. The next in order in the provinces is the Northern Union of Mechanics' Institutions. Sixty-nine institutes are affiliated with it, and it is gratifying to note that one of the objects of this union is to promote the welfare of mechanics' institutions, Public Libraries, working men's clubs and reading-rooms throughout the counties of Northumberland THEIB RELATION TO MECHANICS' INSTITUTES, ETC. 477 and Durham. It was established in 1848 and quite a number of its affiliated societies are strong and healthy. Another of these associations is the Worcestershire Union of Mechanic.s' Institutes. The Working Men's Club and Institute Union, with its head- quart ers at loO, IIolbom,E.C., has, after twenty- six years' existence as a voluntary organization, become a corporate body under the Industrial and Provident Societies' Act of 1876. The number of clubs and institutes affiliated with the union is very large. Many of them are political clubs, and in its vigorous work and splendid organization the union is accomplishing work of a most useful character. Public Libraries under the Acts will never do away with these unions, but on the contrary there will be some strength in working together. Members of these various institutes and unions should all be friends of the Public Library movement, for in numerous instances libraries such as those no\v being advocated can only be the outcome of clubs and institutes. In banding them together, and so creating a community of interests, a new infusion of life has come, and it is noteworthy that the most conspicuous failures among clubs and institutes have been among the societies not affiliated with any union. Public Libraries are simply an extension of their work. They are in the truest sense pro bono publico, whilst clubs and institutes are for subscription members only. The work of elevating and educating the people is so large that neither libraries nor any other organizations can by themselves carry on the task. There is then room for all, and some of the most earnest supporters of Public Libraries come from the ranks of these clubs and other similar bodies of men. If it will not be considered intrusive, attention may be called to a few of many mechanics' institutes which would form an admirable nucleus for Public Libraries where they do not already exist. But this is purely suggestive, and all initiative must natu- rally come from the committees of management of the several institutions. The town of Jarrow-on-Tyne, with a population of ^o,469, has a mechanics' institute with 500 members. They are anxious to make it 5,000. At the winter classes there has been a large attendance, and 690 students presented themselves for examination a by no means bad record. They are appealing to the tradesmen of Jarrow to buy tickets for their assistants. The vice-chairman of the Carlisle Mechanics' Institute is rather hopeful about the future of that venerable association. The library is his sheet anchor. The report, however, contains too many signs of decay. The falling-off in membership is something serious ; the decrease in the number of books issued has naturally followed, and the departments have now been reduced to the library and the reading-room. One of the speakers at a recent meet- ing did venture to hint that it would find its salvation in being made the basis of a Public Library, and that has been its legitimate end, for the Acts were adopted on June 9, 1890. The institution was made to pay its way last year, and the wise 478 PUBLIC LIBAAHIKs. will be to continue upon the same lines until the establishment of a rate-supported library. Sleaford has a literary institute which seems to be making progress. There is also here a town library, the books of which have been chiefly bought by funds subscribed by the local public. Sleaford has a population of over 4,000. It would be well if all towns possessing libraries not under the Acts would designate them Town Libraries, as is done at Sleaford, so that there might be no confusion, but it is to be hoped that Sleaford will ere long have its Public Library. Accrington is a busy Lancashire town where the question of a Public Library is not new. A year or two ago the resolution passed by the directors of the Mechanics' Institution in response to the inquiry from the Town Council as to whether the members would be willing to hand over their undertaking to the town, to be carried on as a Public Library and School of Science and Art, under the Public Libraries' Acts, was considered at a meeting of the Council in committee. The directors suggested in their resolution that the Council should raise a sufficient sum of money " to cover the cost of the necessary alterations and extensions, and furnish such an endowment as, with a penny rate, will enable the Town Council to increase the efficiency of the work at present carried on by the Institution." The feeling of the Town Council was that nothing could be guaranteed, and no pledge could be given in the shape of raising a certain amount of money, but a resolution was passed to the effect that if the members of the institution are willing to hand over their undertaking the Council would do all in its power to carry on the educational work of the institution more efficiently than it is carried on now. At Xew Swindon, in Wiltshire, there is the Great Western Ptailway Mechanics' Institution, which is doing good work. Wiltshire does not yet possess a library under the Acts, and there would be some appropriateness in Swindon becoming the first place to adopt the Acts. Barnard Castle, Castleford, Cleckheaton, Goole, Keighley, Malton, and Ripon, have all mechanics' institutes but no Public Libraries, and all these places need these rate-supported institutions. In Weymouth there is a working men's club, and some of its members would like to see it turned into a Public Library. The club is very central, close to the Guildhall, and was built at the cost of Sir H. Edwards, then M.P., for its specific purpose. It contains an excellent reading- room and billiard-room on the ground floor, and over these a room capable of seating 300 or 400 persons. There is an excellent foundation in this club for a Public Library, and Weymouth should set a good example, and lead the way in that part of the country. These are but a few cases. Very many others could be cited. In Todmorden they have been discussing the advisability of adopting the Acts, and it is much to be regretted that the Co- operative Society should have come to an adverse decision in respect to a Public Library tor Todmorden, recently when the PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONERS. 479 question was to the front. Some of the members thought they should be very chary in giving away the library. Another, in blissful forgetfulness of the adoption of the Act, made the astounding assertion that by giving the library to the town they would lessen the advantages of the persons who had the privilege of using the library at present, as it would certainly increase the number of readers! Adopting the Act is the grand object of creating readers at a less cost, adding to the number of suitable books and other conveniences in harmony with the age in which we live, and, in a word, to make life more desirable. About 8 a year may be taken as a fair average of the rent of the houses in Todmorden and neighbourhood, so that the contribution in the penny rate would not be extravagant. Whilst reference is being made to this part of the subject there is another branch so closely allied that reference may be made to it here. Young Men's Christian Associations possess some libraries, and in small towns where these organizations exist the excuse is sometimes made to those seeking to promote the adoption of the Acts that there are already libraries existing in such institutions as those just mentioned. But without for a moment seeking to question the usefulness of Young Men's Christian Associations, it can scarcely be said that their libraries meet the book needs of the districts where they are situated. Young Men's Christian Associations occupy a place of importance, but it is straining the argument considerably when opponents of the Public Libraries movement are told that there are already plenty of books for the public stored in such institu- tions as those to which reference is now being made. Whitehaven, North and South Shields, Barnsley, and a number of other places have their Public Libraries housed in buildings which were formerly mechanics' institutes. Nottingham took over the Artisans' Library for its Public Library, and occupied the same building until the library was removed to larger premises. What has been done in these towns may be hoped to have its in- fluence upon other places to take a similar step. The progress of the movement in very many towns depends in the immediate future upon the public spirit of the committees of management of mechanics' institutes and workmen's clubs. The matter is commended to their thoughtful and earnest consideration. CHAPTER XXXIII. PUBLIC LIBBARY COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONERS. IiHE majority of the members of these bodies are acutely * sensible of the purposes and work of Public Libraries. Too often, however, the constitution of the committee is such as tends rather to hinder the work of these institutions than to help it, and it is most essential that town councils and other governing bodies should see to it that only men in sympathy with the work and who will give the 480 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. necessary time to it are elected. It must be acknowledged that town councillors are seldom bookmen but always politicians ; and in not a few cases the penny in the pound for the library is regarded as unproductive and useless, and with them the time spent in com- mittee attending is looked upon as time lost, and not unfrequently the business is hurried over and little thought bestowed upon it. Wherever the political element prevails, no matter on which side it may be, there is sure to be congestion, and it may be unhesi- tatingly stated that the Public Library governed by a committee whose work and deliberations are always tinged with a political bias is as good as lost. There is no part of the operations of a town council or other governing body which ought to be more removed from a political cast and character than in connection with these libraries. They are institutions supported by all classes, for the benefit of all, and should be administered in the interests of all. It is impossible for this to be so, if political prejudice and idiosyncrasies are perpetually influencing the decisions of those who control them. The library committee's minutes ought" not to be necessarily submitted to the council for confirmation, as the burgess members having no vote (in council) their deliberations are liable to be negatived, and their time thrown away. The book- lovers on the committee, therefore, are apt to stay away, and thus the library goes down. Another result of a preponderance of council members is that the chairman is always chosen because he is a member of the corporation, and it sometimes happens that he has no other qualification for the position at all. The Public Library committee should have a secretary who should be eyes, ears, hands, and brain, to the institution, instead of which the town clerk is frequently the secretary, and the work is done in a merely perfunctory manner. The librarian is speech- less, ; and can only answer questions when asked. The plan of electing a proportion of the committee from outside the council is fast becoming general, as will be seen from the list below, which might be made more complete were it necessary to do so. Members Non- Members of nf Council. OI Council. Airdrie 12 8 Barrow-in-Furness 15 5 Bii'kenhead .. 11 7 Blackburn . . .. 9 13 Blackpool . . .. 6 9 Bolton 9 2 Bradford . . 8 Clitheroe . . .. 3 9 Derby .. 11 7 Doncaster . . 9 8 Folkestone .. 19 14 Hanley .. 13 9 Members ,,fl??:_ t of nuauoen of l Council ' Council. Leeds 21 6 Manchester 14 Newcastle-on-Tyne 25 9 North Shields . . 12 12 Nottingham 13 2 Reading 13 7 Rochdale . . 8 2 Rotherham 24 6 Sheffield . . 9 6 Shrewsbury 19 5 South Shields . . 13 11 Southport 12 7 TO PUBLIC LIBKAHY COMMITTEES AN'P COMMISSIONERS. -M Some of these committees are unduly large. It is a well- recognized fact, that a .small working committee, the members of which attend to their duties, is infinitely preferable to a huge body often very 'unwieldy, and whose deliberations are too likely to degenerate into a sea of talk. Much could be said in favour of electing members from outside the governing body. There are in many towns men thoroughly in touch with the educational needs of to-day, and with Public Library work, who shirk the ex- citement and worry of contested municipal elections, but who would be an acquisition to any Public Library committee. Care should, of course, be exercised that suitable men are selected. In one large town the plan has not been very successful, because men of indifferent education have pushed themselves into the com- mittee by the vigorous touting for votes to which they have resorted. The commissioners of the London Public Libraries are not so extensive in number as are the provincial committees, and the plan from the first has been adopted of going partly outside the vestry for representatives. The more definite wording of the Act in this particular applying to the Metro- polis perhaps accounts for this. The only object sought to be gained, both in committees and commissioners, by co-operation of this character, is to render the management as an adminis- trative body more efficient, and to ensure the more complete confidence of the public in its work. The London commissioners possess the advantage of having greater power and freedom from control than is the case in the provinces, and their number is limited to nine. The duties of a librarian are becoming increasingly impor- tant, and the need that the standard of the men should be main- tained is becoming more and more necessary. Librarianship is now justly recognized as a profession, and such being the case, committees and commissioners may reasonably be expected to take an enhanced view of his work. He is in far too many cases the worst paid of any public official, and when it comes to the question of soliciting an advance in salary, and the question going through the mill of the committee, and worse still the pulverizing machinery of ratification by the town council, the whole process is so spirit-crushing that many librarians prefer to go struggling on year after year with an income far too small for the labour and the responsibility of the office, than to pass through this ordeal. If an advance is asked for by a gas manager, where the gasworks are the pro- perty of the corporation, a sanitary inspector, or a chief of police, how different is the process. In these cases the application tor an advance is usually carried through with a canter, because, forsooth, their work is looked upon as an absolute necessity, and for these posts good men have to be secured, and good men should be paid satisfactory salaries. All the parsimony and carping criticism within a council centres too frequently around the Public Library and its officials, and it is only 31 482 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. gradually that a change is coming about in the views held res- pecting these institutions. And for this change the vigour and interest which librarians have thrown into the work has had as much to do as the increased educational facilities of the day, and the advancing regard for a higher civil life. Surely the work of a librarian is not of less importance than that, of a gas manager or a sanitary inspector, or even the head con- stable. The time has passed when he should take a second place to these officials, for the work of a librarian tends infinitely more to the development of the real life of the town than the labour of any one of the departments just named. The time is hastening when the librarian will be looked upon as the most necessary official in a town next to the chief magis- trate. When this desirable change in public opinion arrives, the salary and position of these officials will be greatly enhanced. As a body they are shockingly paid, and applications for a read- justment in this particular are delayed so long that a good man keeps his eyes and ears open for the posts in his profession which are now and again open. It must be manifestly to the interest of a library and a town to retain the services of an efficient man. Only those who are familiar with the inner duties of a Public Library are cognizant of the vast mass of details in the work. The same amount of energy, perseverance, and attention to duty devoted to other walks of life would mean an infinitely larger income to many librarians than they at pre- sent receive. Committees and commissioners would find the best and truest interests of the library served by giving greater power to the librarian. Committees may come and go, but the librarian remains, and many of these officials would work with greater zest and interest if more latitude were given, and the true nature of their work were better understood, by the average committees. One* word more. If the funds will not permit of a better salary, the librarian should be permitted to re- ceive tradesmen's advertisements for the catalogue. This is a commercial as well as a reading age, and if this is permitted he can increase his own salary without taxing the ratepayers or spending the time he should give to the library for his own purposes. Perhaps the most trying and yet the most important work of a committee or body of commissioners is the appointment of a librarian. The shoals of applications are so numerous that the task often becomes bewildering and perplexing. These appli- cations have reached in number as high as 450, for only a third or fourth-rate post, and invariably include soldiers, sailors, pensioners, clerks, teachers, booksellers, and from every class and section of society. But only too many of these applicants would, as a rule, be dear at half the salary offered. The same qualities in other departments of life which go to make a man successful tend to produce an equally meritorious success as a librarian. The present writer unhesitatingly and emphatically affirms that the best librarians are the men who have been trained in public TO PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONERS. 483 libraries, and who have grown up in the work. It is just as necessary to receive a training for these posts as it is to be able to follow efficiently any other business of life. Many of the average applicants for these positions who have had no previous expe- rience in library work, imagine that the post is an easy way to a respectable position in society, or that it affords an opportunity for private study. Both ideas are erroneous, for with many evenings being absorbed in library duties, librarians have as little chance as anyone for the cultivation of social acquaintances ; and with regard to the second class there are few bodies of men who really have less time for reading than librarians. It is an oft- quoted saying that " the librarian who reads is lost," but it may be unhesitatingly affirmed that, in these days of univnsul culture and the ever-extending work of these institutions, the librarian who does not read is lost. The desire to serve some personal friend by voting for him when these vacancies are being discussed should be strictly kept in check. Politics or self-interest of one kind or another far too frequently enter into the appointment, but with one or two marked exceptions, of late committees and commissioners are beginning to grasp what the position really means, and are using every care and consideration to get hold of the best man available. But still there have been too many cases where professional experience and ability seem to be nowhere with committees and boards, and the interests of the ratepayers and credit of the town are sacrificed without hesi- tation to gratify any caprice or susceptibility of their own, or to smuggle into a snug berth some local partisan or reduced friend, who may be totally unfit for the position. If these people were regulating a business of their own that they knew very little about, but wished to make profitable, their first action would be to appoint the best and most practical manager they could find. And if they would act thus in their own interest, should they not act in a similar spirit with the ratepayers' interests which are confided to them ? If they think not, then they are unworthy of the position to which they have been elected. Of course the good of the community is the main question concerned ; but there is a great injustice done to good practical men, who have spent their lives almost in public library work, when they see themselves passed over for men whose only claim is local influence. All agree that the post should be thrown open to the public : but frequently much heart-burning and disappointment would be saved among local candidates, and it would also obviate a plethora of applications from nondescript people, if the advertise- ment stated that experience in a Public Library was absolutely essential. Taken as a body, librarians are most keenly in touch with their duties. They desire to woi'k with and help the public in every way which lies in their power. The place in the education of the people which these institutions are now occupying, and the still more important place which they are destined to fill, has for a long time been recognized by the librarians. But, as in every other 484 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. body of men, there are exceptions ; and the mystery is how some men got into their present posts. Some of these are erroneously under the idea that the libraries over Avhich they rule, are pro- prietary institutions, and that the public have no right to inquire into the working of the libraries or anything about them. Others a iv grossly unbusinesslike and careless, and perform their duties in a way neither creditable to themselves nor the public, of which they are servants. "Where there are congestion and laxity in the operations of the library, the fault lies only too frequently with the librarian. The most successful of these institutions are in the charge of men who are smart and energetic, and possess habits of business, and those institutions which are decaying are too often in the charge of men who neither do justice nor honour to the profession. The duties of librarians are so multifarious that it is not easy to indicate what are the qualifications of a librarian. He caters not only for juveniles but for adults. If is duty is towards the whole reading population of the locality to which he is attached. He is to a large extent their intellectual provider. The man of letters does not necessarily make the best librarian, but there is a grow- ing need for an acquaintance with the contents of books as well as the backs and titles, if he is to fulfil his duties to the highest advan- tage. For one of the first of those duties obviously is to perfect the collection which is put in his charge. He is called upon to make constant additions to his library, and in order to do this efficiently he ought to possess a considerable knowledge of litera- ture. He ought to be able, in the first place, to distinguish the mode in which the blanks in the library should be filled up. Such blanks exist in every collection, and yet they ought not to be there. The ideal librarian's first care should be to give completeness to all the leading departments of his treasures to see that every pro- minent author is thoroughly well represented, and that every great author is represented by all his works, and by the best editions of them. No good library should ever have any serious vacuum. The student and the general reader should be in a position to find in it every standard book on every ordinary subject. This, however, is a matter which more particularly applies to the larger libraries than those of the rank and file. Great discrimination is necessary in the acquisition of new books in selecting those which are certain to be of permanent interest, and rejecting those which are of purely temporary value. A good deal of judgment, too, can be shoAvn in the choice of the editions which are purchased, the first issue being by no means always the most desirable. Again, the ideal librarian can do very much to guide the taste and direct the studies of the readers who apply to him ; but obviously he cannot do that unless his reading has been and still is wide. How often a librarian is asked to recommend a book or books. If, in addition to being a custodian of books, he were a master of their contents, he could deliver occasional lectures, giving the results of his experience as a student and his conclusions as a critic. 'In IMIJI.IC UIUIAUY COMMITTKKS AMi COMMISSIONERS. 485 This is already being done to no small extent, and there need be no fear about librarians rising equal to whatever needs may be made upon them. The intellectual life of a town is fast centering around these institutions, and librarians have been among the first to recognize this enhanced life and public utility. Those who occupy the highest places in the profession are ever glad to assist students and scholars in their researches, and the literary man often tinils in them obliging helpmates. Everyday we hear or read of some writer or editor acknowledging the good offices of those librarians whose knowledge of books goes beyond the titles and outsides of them. l>nt beyond this the librarians of Public Libraries and assistants, who come most closely in contact with the general, ordinary reader, and are most fully acquainted with his or her wants, and his or her manner of explaining them, are frequently giving help to the reader. The general public can hardly be aware of the extent to which a reading taste is directed by the humble library assistant. A girl or youth comes up to the counter primed with the names of works which he or she desires to read. It may be that all of them are " out," and then the applicant is disposed, after much thumbing of the catalogue, to give up the task of selection in despair, and throw himself or herself upon the gentle mercy of the librarian. " Can you recom- mend to me a nice book?" "Do you remember the name of any other of So-and-So's works ? " Such queries are of the commonest occurrence. In the engaging of assistants and boys, committees and com- missioners would do well to make strict inquiries as to whether these have made up their minds to adopt it as a profession. The assistants' examinations in connection with the Library Associa- tion are doing excellent work, and chief librarians should encourage t heir assistants to enter for them. The certificate of efficiency from this body will soon rank as an indispensable accessory of a librarian's qualifications. It may be again reiterated that the best training school for a future librarian is in a library. The ordinary appren- ticeship rules should be made to apply to the boys and assistants in these institutions. There is no doubt that ladies make very efficient assistants and librarians, and their services are being sought more generally. In one large centre from forty to fifty female assistants are employed. Of these, some sixteen receive 18s. per week, and the others vary, according to length of service, from 12s. to >s. per week. Lady librarians are appreciated on the other side of the Atlantic, and have a wider field of employment than they have in (ireat Britain, where they are not employed in State libraries. An American librarian gives the highest testimony to the energy and enthusiasm of women librarians whom he had known in America. One clever little woman, a student at the Librarians' Training College, to whom a fortnight's leave of absence was granted in order that she might start a library, found her services in such request that her fortnight's leave was extended to two years, during which time she helped to start or improve no fewer 186 PI in.ro than UK) libraries, in one case raising a sum of 50,000 dollars, instead of 5.000 originally proposed by tin- town. Another lady managed lier library so successfully, that she was olTcred three times her salary to undertake the post of librarian to a large new library in an adjacent town, none of the male candidates being considered so competent. The purchase of books has been dealt with in another chapter, hut a further reference here will not be out of place. Local book- sellers are quite unable to give the terms which can be obtained in London and Manchester. Where a large number of new books are to be purchased at one time, it is well to advertise for contract offers, or to write to a few firms requesting them to estimate. These should be bought at a discount of 33^ per cent, from the published prices. Public Libraries should unquestionably be considered as wholesale buyers. For second-hand books a dis- count of not less than 10 per cent, should be obtained. It frequently happens that libraries have offered to them five to fifteen hundred volumes of second-hand books at an all-round price of 4d. to 8d. a volume. These are often worth buying, although there may be much rubbish among the number. The ballast can be sifted and re-sold, sometimes for the original cost. For newspapers and periodicals it is well to advertise locally for estimates. From 10 to 15 per cent, discount should be obtained. Morning papers are required early, and a local tradesman can meet this need where one at a distance would perhaps be unable to do so. Gifts of books are distributed to rate-supported libraries by the British Museum ; the Record Office, of books of historical state papers ; the Clarendon Press, Oxford ; the India Office, of books respecting the old creeds of the Oriental peoples ; the Bureau of Education, Washington ; the Smithsonian Institute, Philadelphia. Axithors and publishers very frequently send copies of books and publications. All libraries should be enrolled as members of the Library Association, and chief librarians, and in some cases head assis- tants, should be not only permitted, but urged to attend the annual meetings of the Association, and their expenses paid in order that they may do so. The opportunity of interchanging ideas with their fellow-professionals is most valuable. The methods of library administration are being constantly improved, and it is impossible for librarians to keep abreast of this expan- sion unless they are in personal touch with their colleagues in all parts of the country. The Library Association is now beginning to occupy its true place, and there is before it a long and useful future. As an addition to the work of the parent Association, District Associations are being formed. That of the Mersey district was the first, and already some helpful and enjoyable meetings have taken place. The conferences are held quarterly, when one of the libraries within the district is visited. Some capital papers have been read, and various questions of library administration discussed. The second of these District Associa- TO PUBLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONERS. 487 tions was formed on March 26, 1890, when the North Midland Library Association held its first meeting at the Nottingham Central Library, under the chairmanship of Mr. J. Potter Briscoc. There are required to complete the circle, District Associations for Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and West of England, Yorkshire, and the Cleveland district. In most libraries, notwithstanding all the care which may be exercised, duplicates and uncatalogued books will accumu- late, and what to do with these is ofttimes a troublesome question. There is no reason why a system of exchanging duplicates and surplusage should not be adopted. Nothing exists in the Acts to prevent it, so long as the books are not sold for any individual advantage, and this is not by any means probable. It is very questionable whether the aid of the Press has been sufficiently sought in giving publicity to the work of libraries. This is a matter of vital importance, and there are not a few editors and managers of the local newspapers who would gladly give all the aid which lies in their power were they solicited to do so. Some libraries are benefiting greatly from this press publicity. Next to the best step of placing the recent additions in a special case which can be easily seen by the readers, is the plan of giving a list of the new books, with title and author's name and the library number, in the local press. Explanatory notes are sometimes also given which are helpful to borrowers. In one case the list covers two columns of the newspaper, and the editor may well advise, as he does, readers to cut these lists out as they appear, and place them at the end of their catalogues, as they will in this way be able to secure a complete list of the books on the shelves of the Public Library. Information of the week's workings should be sent systematically to the papers, and intimation of all matters of interest affecting the library. The local press are capable of being the best possible friends to these institutions. In many cases this can already be said of them, but there is room for expansion in this direction. Some superior individuals affect to sneer at the local papers. They might just as well turn up their noses at the sun, for the influence of the local press is great, and ever becoming greater. The suggestion may be carried a step further. By printing, say the reference catalogue, piecemeal in this way the necessity for a catalogue of this department for a small library would be obviated, for after printing it in the newspaper, a certain num- ber of impressions could be struck off while the type is standing. More might be done in the way of supplying small printed slips of books on special subjects, say when a lecture is to be delivered, or at other times. General rules for reading and hints to readers might be printed. In the printing of catalogues, a plan not generally adopted might be more frequently tried. There would, as a rule, be no difficulty in finding a local firm owning and print- ing a newspaper who would take all the risks of producing a catalogue providing they are permitted to insert advertisements J-^ PUBLIC LIBRARIES. at each end, the library to be supplied with copies for sale less the usual discount. This would often save a heavy item fof printing falling upon the income. The question of reports is a serious one at some libraries where the revenue is limited. Why should not the report be presented in manuscript, and then after being passed, appear in e.rtenao in the local papers. The purchase of a number of copies containing it, or some reprints struck off, would often save con- siderable outlay. This does not apply to the very large centres, but might with advantage be adopted at the average-sized insti- tution. J3y the printing of the catalogues and reports being given to the newspaper offices much good for the library would bo socurod. Where this is done no tinge of political favouritism should characterize it, and in order to remove the least ground for this charge the work should be given alternately to one and the other representing all political parties. While referring to these reports it may be advised that the report of the working of the library written by the librarian should always find a place. Many useful hints could be given by them in indicating where the work is weak or strong, and much could by this means be done to develop the public interest in their own institution. In course of time these reports will cease to be the mass of dry statistics which is now the main characteristic of many of them. Gifts ought to be sought and encouraged. Should rare and valuable books be offered, they should be received with open arms. No individual member of a library committee can better signalize his interest in the library than by a gift of some useful and suitable books. Make it well known to your public that gifts of books will be acceptable, and in the case of a newly- established library give an idea of what kind of books are wanted. State in advance that paper-back and elaborately boarded novels, sermons, and the goody-goody kind are not wanted. Intimate that good engravings, paintings, tapestry, statuary, would be acceptable for the reading-room. Gifts such as these are often not made because they are never solicited. If more were done in this way we should have brighter and more cheerful rooms rooms which invite occupants by their prepossessing appearance, and elevate those habituating them. Committees and commis- sioners can with the fullest force point out that they are public custodians of an institution used by all classes in their community. As part of the subject of making rooms cheerful and inviting, the interior decoration should be in keeping with the character of the building. This is an art age, and the day of the grotesque and repugnant in decoration is over. There is no doubt that buildings which are in themselves artistically beautiful, and where all is in keeping with this character have a most perceptible influence on the users. They become instinctively clean in themselves, careful in their use of books and papers, and the surroundings tend to pro- mote studiousness. There is no reason why the casts of statuary from the Science and Art Department at South Kensington and TO Pt'BLIC LIBRARY COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONERS. 489 the British Museum, should not be as available for Public Libraries as for schools of art and museums. Committees and commissioners find it difficult sometimes to keep a middle course in the selection of the newspapers and periodicals. At some libraries there is the charge made that the newspapers of one particular shade and colouring, largely pre- ponderate over the others of the opposite side. This ought not to be. 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O *N O OO O OS CO t~^ O O O in OS rH OOCOfNl-- CO m rH i I CN rH rH tOO^ (N->" ^--'' "o ^~^ ^ sc>3 5 'o"S^ei pi ea(a(.3 .5 sH a ' r SS^ H S ,_ TT-Xl-H h-ril^lhrtl-HUHhH^Tl _ P-l'j I 1 ^ * ^ -~ ** * (KKKXKK X -**< >4 r4 fi ii I i 1 i i A 1 ^ 8 s 2 I a s -a O '"0 I : iflR II '-. r- 3 3 i S X Z Z a a ' -U 3 O 5 fc I a> 'S a a ^ 2-5 ;/ 12,, 259 h 27 to 30. j Building, etc. j Under old Museums Act for Museum ; adoption under 18.10 Act fo Library not necessary. k 3d. for Library, and Jd. for Museum and Art Gallerj'. / Organizing. m Very large n 20 to 100. o Additional id. for Museum. p Building and 90 per year. q 5 Evening reading-rooms. SJl-^W JZJO ^IH P- 4 < 5^ 00 > " * cc "" r ! r ;I-H^,O . . t> O O 15. rH > rH kO 00 i i CO O OS CO I-H kO : : k-'j rH C-J f f O JO O S " S rH -IN CO Oi : : (N CO rH -0 jJS "* : : ..<*>. a> . . a) i 1O ..... o> a> >>>, n o 1 .- s s >>>- o oo i CO co co : eo * -rj oo OS rH :<=>:: : eo : : rH CO CM CO k5 CO * " CO * OS S5 CO rH W . 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Ulill .113 iddlewich (Cheshire'] I ^5| i IfiilliiiJ iilMiill ^:-2 S 1 ^ s-^a-^w a f d ;uuiix(U(Idy 1 ~o o o ston. ... Not appointed. 3000'jas. Matthews. cu x 33 c5 _ = iC S "1 | p< O * K cS .^3 60 . "o . . 8 QJ Q5 || fljjfljj |1 c? r- - O O O O . ^5* H[O O O O ^ " " OO -1 O) O t 1 ^ ^jO a I-H 01 01 1 _5 o I b Included in lending stock, c Special Act. d Lato Local Board paid expenses, c Board Schools arc used, ending ; 2 Evening reading rooms. g 1200 and building. h .'!, etc. i 8797 voluni.-s. sauurBg jo .unoaiB BSO.IQV g OS 00 to O (>J CO : o I-H co o O OOCOOCOCO . . i-H CO ^J* ^1 Ol CO Ol co S ,8 jo -ox | * CO tH l& l?Z OO t (N ooii-Hooeooocoooio . I-H rO IM to 00 O Ttl lO *-* pdstui ajH jo Itmbure SSOJQ S o oo >.-: cr. ri o J^ O t^ O ** IM O .~ >~ oo co \a ' CO OO OO T * ^ CO CO CO sa.mo.ijog jo -ox oo CO 2 I 1 o o CO eo OS O ' ^ : os co o : I-H co rc co co a. OOOOGOOOO-NO :coojr-iooooooi'* ' * i-H Ol t-. CO CO I-H i-H o CO JS/K! ia CO 1-H o eo r 1 *!* OO O ; r-H CO <* O O CO .5 OS OS OS C7 01 CO 01 CO r-H OJ CO COOOOi-HOOrHO OSOOOOIOOOOOJ ' CO Ol " ~ r-l Ol p-l 77OOOOOOOCO : .-ooooooosos is co u- o eo oc co I-H oc o 'M O 00 00 00 . . . 1-H ' oo oo 06 oo : locoooooooooooooooo -M cc 1-H p,>^(jopv siov *>. 00 CO 00 00 o 00 t O IO O t--. oo co oo m co ; oo oo oo oo oo OO OlOli-HkTJOOOOOSOS oo ^oooooooooooooooo ' noiiijn iiIo,T 00 Ol 00 o (M OO CO K> OS O O CO CO oc o o -*r >o I-H O C OO CO OS OJ ^ t 1 ** CO ' C4 IO r 1 OO OO I-l I-H 1-H X Vj CO fi Now building. / Juvenile branch 1 5 o ,2 1^ Newcastle- under-Lyim M ~^% ' ' a I cS ^ HJ H A s> x ^fG ; os o til & S.% -J3 & aS 5 = ^g liiiil 61 ! a) "-i O o o o o M* s *1 : Isl D II iilliiiii^ Rochdale . . . Jno. Ridal. .1. D. Jones. C. Plowman. A. Lancaster. Not appointed. 1 ^ 3 SI Thos. Newman. tolll Ills i W. T. Frascr. F. Hughes. Not appointed. G. PressnelL jl s oo ft I : : : O : o . o o o : ; o o * . . m co IN I-H O CO I-H eo : : co : 1 i 1 'MOO S**"* o OS 00 . 00 (N O ^ iO CO O : - ft rH S ?s? * a? oo t^- > o CO CO i : :SlC CO o : I-H co m >" - : J2I2 S t^ O CO *fi (N O O O 00 CO CO . CO r-H o o ; l rH 05 OS OS O 0^1 CO CO OS O OS O CO I-H oo 00 I-H O O 't O rH O OS OO OS O CO 1O rH O (N CO CO co CM : 10 I-H O O TJ< eo rH . . 07 Jj I 1 O i" O ~ O -T O OS o i^. m cc I-H CO : S : o o >a * rH 00 CO O i-H CM I C^ T* CO IN ' m C 7-1 n in oo o ; o : I-H : oo . I-H 1^ l- 00 i-H rH I rH CO 3 H >. OS O lO 7-1 TT i-- 1^ CO CO O ft - GO ^f --r 7^ : o o cc -r t^. o co os f: rH O O O SC CO w # oo OS C CO 00 (N O O 1 : . :-" : . w * i i S s i ** : : O 74 CO l>- oo oo oo - : CO SO CO OO - . 00 I* CO 10 00 i-H in Os r^ CO OS oo co ^ t^. oo 00 CO CO 00 CO 00 (N OS lO f- 00 00 1^1^ 00 CO CO 00 OO t 00 C4 (N OO 00 00 OO CO i-H rH r-l CO OO oo oo to T i rH 1^. 00 CO l^- 1^ CO OO OO OO OO CO 00 rH O s. oo co co t^ OO GC CO 00 in 00 O IN ^H ^M ^H C 8tuoca-s.tt.aj! JI SJOM.OJUOCT | O jo -o N j 2 (NOr-li-HJ^O OO >O OO .OO OO -O - O>O rH coo ;o OCO .O CO(Nl-H . <* I-H r-t i-H i-H I-H CX i-H ^i oooooooooooo loooooeooooooooco oooo tOkO"*Ot^-t OOJ--.OOOOI- t^-OOmOO Dt>.C3iOO oooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooco oo oo oo oo OOiOOOW OOO5O5OOOOOO COOlrtO O t^ OOOO^O OO(N 1 "i - c I * 1 J ='!*'! - -I '-5 I-H .(N .- -! . * .t^Otr-lOO -^f OSO^OO'V ' OOOO OOOO -INOOO -*. 1 05 I-H 00 O ; ^ I-H 01 : : oo : : i ' 01 05 ' ' OO .000 . i 1 CO i oo oo e :oooooooooooooo oooooooooo do .5 3 i a^nmixoaddy . O o g' HH ij 3 S K -coo. d 1 OJ Q HI S*)B1 88OJ) -t -pasnu ajBH jo y ui ^utiorav "* .. O CO r I Oi OOO O OO O : O rl O O STATISTICS OF PUBLIC LIBRARI] aSit&r 1-1 tfrv-i co -co ^ * HmOOJ.-3M.9yi fl ^> gj Q O ' i 1 : notjoij^traojaj : o i-~- : : : : : co 8J3.ao.uog; i-l i-l CO 1 t^ ; i < anssi Xirep a^iuaAB IKJOJ, < O co I-H ^H ?i : 77 O*O O i < O CO OS CO r-l r-t 1C! CO CO ; i 'annaAnp 51 O o . : o : : CO i-l to co : ; Si -aouaiaa" K O "^ TT .-i 00 . Oi _ r. oo o oo rH ' .-: i^ IN o : " rH >~ !N O < O CO . o g o r-I HH Hi -et-ft -r, . rH ' . Oi oo to o o o o O) O tfj CO OJ l * * : rH 3 : 1 ^ s >>>>>>" (>>>>>> I : H o ; co : : :{2 : c >o ; . i^ i^ . .-. x co to : g : to CO 00 . O ; o . . . (N CO . CO (N ' (N * ' 00 O . O CO CO O rH IO 00 s : CO CO CN co : . * CO CO CO 00 o O 00 O O O - to CO i-l CO Oi CM . . * O O CO CO O O O O l^ CO O .OO OO O t>- Ci O5 OO t^> O OO OO OO CO 'OOOCO OO 00 00 Oi CO OO GO co .000000 co co co co oo 00 co cocococooo oooooooooooooooo to CO CO CO 00 CO OOCOCOOOOOOOOOOO OO CO OOCOOOOO OOOOOSOOC^O CO 00 CO O rH CO rH ri O O CO rH i^ S o3 : w. r ~t* 'o 3 : o I O 5 PUBLIC LIBRARIES ESTABLISHED UNDER SPECIAL ACTS, OR WHICH HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BY A LOCAL IMPROVEMENT ACT. Birmingham, Brighton, Leeds (applying), Liverpool (contemplated), Manchester, Norwich, Oldham, Oxford, Preston, St. Helens, Walsall (applying), Wigan, Wolverhampton, Swansea, Dublin. PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND LOCAL RATES. There is much diversity in this matter. Some are totally exempt, some partially exempt, and some have to pay all local rates. All should be exempt. This is the clear and emphatic meaning of 6 & 7 Yict. , c. 36. The following are totally exempt : Aston, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Blackburn, Brierley Hill, Cambridge, Canterbury, Clitheroe, Coventry, Darlington, Derby, Doncaster, Exeter, Folkestone, Gateshead, Hanley, Harrogate, Kidderminster, Leek, Leicester, Loughborough, Macclesfield, Manchester, Newport, Northampton, Norwich, Plymouth, Richmond, Rochdale, Sheffield, Southampton, Southport, Truro, Warwick, Watford, Wednesbury, Whitehaven, Wigan, Winsford, Yarmouth, Aberdeen, Hawick, Thurso, Wick, Cardiff, Dundalk, Fulham, Lambeth, Westminster. The following are partially exempt : Blackpool, Bolton, Bristol, Fleetwood, Newcastle-on-Tyne, South Shields, Worcester. The following pay all local rates : Barking, Barrow, Bootle, Bradford, Bridgwater, Cheltenham, Denton, Baling, Halifax, Hertford, Ipswich, Leeds, Middlesbrough, Nelson, Northwich, Oldham, Rotherham, Salford, Stockton, Tynemouth, Walsall, Wimbledon, Dumbarton, Dunfermline, Forfar, Paisley, Selkirk, Bangor, Swansea. PUBLIC LIBRARY LOANS. The following are the loans in connection with Public Libraries, rate of interest, terms of repayment, and source from whence obtained : Birmingham, .78,000, for 100 years, from various sources, at 2f to 3i per cent. ; Blackburn, 8,000, Police Superannuation Fund, for forty years, at 4 per cent. ; Bolton, 3,000, Preston Savings' Bank ; Bootle, 7,400, for thirty years, at 4 per cent., and two smaller loans for ten and twenty years ; Bristol, 8,000, private loan for five, seven and ten years, at 3g per cent. ; Brixton, 1,730, for thirty years, at3f percent. ; Cheltenham, 10,000, Royal Liver Friendly Society, for thirty years, at 3f per cent. ; Chesterfield, 1,000, Royal London Friendly Society, at 4 per cent. ; Derby, 500, from private source, at 4i per cent. ; Dudley, 2,000, for thirty years, at 4J per cent. ; Ealing, 2,000, Friends' Provident Institution, at 3f percent. ; Exeter, 1,630, for thirty years ; Folkestone, 6,500 ; Gateshead, 7,850, from private persons, at 3g per cent. ; Handsworth, 3,000; Manchester, 18,530; Newcastle-on-Tyne, 24,000, private sources, at 3J per cent. ; Northampton, 3,500, Hull Savings' Bank for thirty years, and 2,500 for sixty years ; Richmond, 4,099 ; Rochdale, 6,500 ; Rotherham, 1,900, for thirty years ; Sheffield, 31,959, from Superannuation Fund, at 2\ per cent., repayment 500 annually ; Shrewsbury, 2,000, Lords Commissioners of H. M. Treasury ; South Shields, 2,825, at 4 per cent. ; Stockton, 2,266, Friends' Provident Institution 4 per cent., repay l-20th yearly; Stoke, 1,500, for fifty years, 4 per cent. ; Walsall, 1,000 ; Warwick, 1,600, at 4 per cent. ; West Bromwich, 2,500, for thirty years; Whitehaven, 650, for thirty years, at 3f per cent. ; Widnes, .700, at 4 per cent. ; Wimbledon, 4,000, from Prudential Assurance Company; Yarmouth, 2, 850, private source, forthirty years, at 3J per cent. ; Aberdeen, ,2,400, STATISTICS. .V , i private source, at 3i per cent., aunual rejiaymeiit 50 ; Dumbarton 600, Caledonian Insurance Company, for thirty years, at 4 per cent. ; Edinburgh, 4,500 for books, repayable in five yearly instalments ; Grangemouth, 800, repaid by annual instalments of 50 ; Cardiff,' 10,000, fcr eighty years, at 3$ per cent, and 4 per cent ; Swansea! 18,567, Corporation Loan Fund, at 3 per cent ; Hattereea, 14,000 London County Council, at 3 per cent., 3,000 repayable in fifty years, 8,650 in thirty years, 2,650 in ten years ; Chelsea, 17,500 ; Clapham, 4,350, London County Council, at 3J per cent., 3,300 for thirty years and 1,000 for ten years ; Clerkenwell, 6,000, Order of Foresters, 3J per cent., 5,500 repayable in thirty years, 500 in ten years; 6,000, Metropolitan Board of Works for thirty years, at 3 J per cent. ; Hammer- smith, 1,500, London County Council for five years, at 3$ per cent. ; Kensington, 4,150; Wandsworth, 3,700, for thirty years. SALARIES OF CHIEF LIBRARIANS. Barrow, 150 ; Belfast, 220 ; Birkenhead, 200 ; Birmingham, 500 ; Bootle, ,175 ; Bradford, 200 ; Burslem, 70 ; Derby, 200 and house, coal and gas ; Dudley, 100 ; Folkestone, 100 and rooms ; Harrogate, 70 ; Heywood, 78 ; Kidderminster, 105, but pays assist- ant and for cleaning library ; Leeds, .300 ; Leicester, 180 ; Liverpool, 400 ; Loughborough, 65 ; Poole, 30 ; llacclesfield, 100 ; Manchester, 350 ; Marykbone, .1 20 ; Newcastle-on-Tyne, 300 ; Nottingham 225 ; Oldham, 200 ; St. Helens, 150 ; Warrington, 155 and house, etc. ; Whitehaven, 60 and house, etc. ; "VVolverhampton, 175 ; Clapham, 200 and house ; Chelsea, 200 ; Fulham, 170, house, coal, and gas. INCOME FROM FINES, AND VOUCHERS ou TICKETS, AND AMOUNT SPENT ANNUALLY FOR PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS. Abbreviations F., Fines; V., Vouchers ; P., Periodicals and Newspapers. Ashton, P. 95 ; Aston, F. 35, P. 50 ; Barrow, F. 45, V. 18, P. 83 ; Bilston, F. and V. 56, P. 40 ; Birkenhead, F. 54, V. 15, P. 109 ; Birmingham, F. V. and Catalogues 652, P. 438 ; Blackburn, P. 46 ; Blackpool, P. 53 ; Bolton, F. 53 ; Bootle, P. 40 ; Bradford, F. 159, V. 38, P. 312 ; Bridgewater, P. 45 ; Brierley Hill, P. 27 ; Bristol, F., V. and Catalogues 468, P. 369 ; Cambridge, F. 45, P. 118 ; Carlton, P. 10 ; Cheltenham, F. 78, V. 22, P. 55 ; Clitheroe, P. 13 ; Coventry, P. 47 ; Darlington, F. 30, V. 12, P. 64 ; Derby, F. 50, V. 9, P. 86 ; Doncaster, F. 28, V. 40; P. 59 ; Dudley, P. 46 ; Baling, F. 80, P. 44 ; Fleetwood, P. 30 ; Gateshead, F. 40, P. 65 ; Handsworth, P. 53 ; Hanley, F. 46 ; Harrogate, F. and V. 30, P. 40 ; Hinckley, P. 45^; Kingston, F. 20, P. 45 ; Leamington, P. 69 ; Leeds, F. 346, V. 200, P. 482 ; Leicester, F. 91, P. 93; F. 30; Loughborough, P. 23; Man- chester, P. 2,053 ; Millom, P. 40 ; Newark, P. 36 ; Newcastle, F. 159, V. 19, P. 113 ; Northampton, P. 50 ; Northwich, F. 28 ; Norwich, F. 58, P. 68 ; Nottingham, F. 114 ; Plymouth, F. 50 ; Portsmouth, F. 50, P. 65 ; Preston, F. 50, V. 10, P. 82 ; Reading, F. 34, P. 100 ; Richmond, P. 58 ; Sheffield, F. 237, V. 66, P. 250 ; South Shields, F. 47, P. 71 ; Southampton, P. 75 ; Southport, F. 22, V. 20, P. 60 ; Stafford, P. 32 ; Stockport, P. 55 ; St. Helens, F. 34, P. 78 ; Warwick, P. 28 ; Wednesbury, F. 12, P. 40; Whitehaven, F. 24, P. 60; Wigan, F. 28, P. 65; Yarmouth, F. 33, V. 12, P. 50 ; Aberdeen, F. 144, V. 41, P. 89 510 PUBLIC LIBBAIUES. Alloa, P. 40 ; Hawick, P. 35 ; Cardiff, F. 112, V. 22, P. 102 ; Wrexham, P. 47 ; Dundalk, P. 25. DIMENSIONS OF MAIN ROOMS. The following are the dimensions of the main rooms in a few repre- sentative libraries. Abbreviations L. L., lending library; R. L., reference library ; N. R. , newsroom : Barrow, L. L. 35ft. x 40ft., N. R. 60ft. x 40ft. Birkenhead, L. L. 52ft. x 24ft., N. R. 65ft. x 40ft. Blackburn, L. L. 65ft. x 20ft., R. L. 68ft. x 34ft., students' rooms 17ft. x 16ft., 16ft. x 15ft. Brixton, L. L. 24ft. x 18ft., N. R. 45ft. x 30ft. Coventry, L. L. 30ft. x 22ft., N. R. 62ft. x 32ft. Denton, L. L. 39ft. x 24ft. Folkestone, N. R. 60ft. x 30ft. Ipswich, R. L. and N. R. 75ft. x 36ft. Loughborough, N. R. 45ft. x 26ft. Macclesfield, N. R. 46ft. x 30ft. Nottingham, L. and N. R. 88ft. x 44ft., R. L. 88ft. x 44ft. Oldham, L. L. 60ft. x 30tt., R. L. and N. R. each 60ft. x 25ft. Rochdale, N. R. 54ft. x 30ft. Sunderland, N. R. 65ft. x 35ft. Wednesbury, N. R. 40ft. x 27ft. Wigan, R. L. 81ft. x 37ft. , N. R. 45ft. x 36ft. Yarmouth. N. R. 50ft. x 25ft. APPENDIX I. .-,11 APPENDIX I. [Suitable for Handbills.] WHY SHOULD EVERY TOWN HAVE A PUBLIC LIBRARY 1 I. Because a rate-supported Public Library is as necessary for the mental and moral health of the citizens as good sanitary arrange- ments, water supply, and street lighting are for the physical health and comfort of the people. II. Because the rate for its support is very small : the utmost amount permitted by the Public Libraries' Acts being One Penny in the Pound per Year on the Ratable Value. III. Because a Public Library is town property, into which any person can enter during the recognized hours without let or hindrance. IV. Because it is the University of the working classes. V. Because it is open to ALL classes, rich and poor, and where Public Libraries exist they are actually used by all classes, from the professional man to the humblest working man. VI. Because it is an educational institution ; and education deepens the sense of the duties and privileges of citizenship. VII. Because the existence or absence of a Public Library in a town is being accepted as a standard of the intelligence and public spirit manifested in that town. VIII. Because the newsrooms attached to Public Libraries afford a place of rest, recreation, and improvement, without any charge for admission. IX. Because for young people of both sexes a Public Library affords some place to which they can go, instead of loitering aimlessly about the public streets. X. Because a Public Library is one of the best investments a district can make for the welfare of its citizens. XI. Because there is no rate for which there is an immediate and tangible benefit as out of the penny rate for the support of a Public Library. XII. Because it brings the vast stores of our noble English literature within the reach of all. XIII. Because it cultivates habits of reading, and reading brightens life and makes the home more cheerful and attractive. XIV. Because all progressive towns have adopted the Public Libraries' Acts, and no town or village alive to the needs of to-day should be without one of these admirable institutions. XV. Because in no town where they have been established is the rate felt as a burden, and it is, in fact, in many cases the most cheerfully paid item in the rate-paper. XVI. Because Public Library buildings always improve the adjoining property. Some tradesmen advertise their Business as being within so many minutes' walk of the Public Library. 512 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. XVII. Because we do not want Old England to be behind other countries, and the United States, France, Germany, and the Australian Colonies, have long ago accepted Public Libraries as absolute necessities. XVIII. Because the great usefulness of Public Libraries in towns where they are established has been proved beyond any possible doubt. XIX. Because a Public Library provides a place of reference for Patents, Maps, and Technical Books, Government Documents, &c., to winch the artisans in every town should have easy means of access. XX. Because it is said that the workmen of some other countries are better educated than ours, and Englishmen are determined that this shall not be so ; and as one forward step in this direction every town ought to have a Public Library. THOMAS GREENWOOD, Author of " Public Libraries." THE EARLIEST APPEAL FOB PUBLIC LIBRARIES. [The following is the earliest appeal for Public Libraries in England of which there is any record. It was iirst published in 1699. The antique character of the spelling has been maintained.] AN OVERTURE FOR ESTABLISHING OF BIBLIOTHECKS IN EVERY PAROCH THROUGHOUT THIS KINGDOM. IT is as essential to the nature of Mankind to be desirous of Knowledge, as it is for them to be rational Creatures, for we see no other end or use for our Reason, but to seek out and search for the Knowledge of all these things of which we are Ignorant. For this sore travel luith God given to tJie sotis of men, to be cwrcised therewith. That being born Naked, Indigent and Ignorant, we should be forced to enquire by the help of Reason, into the Nature and Knowledge of all these things which are about us, and to Invent and Perfect all such Arts and Manufactories, as are necessary for the support of our Lives. All which things are so numerous, and the ways of attaining to the Knowledge of them so difficult, longsome and uncertain, that it would be but a very small Degree even of the meanest Art or Science, which any man could attain unto by his own particular Study and Observation, if he were destitute of all these Helps we receive from others, by Word and Writing. Therefore to facilitat this sore Travel, God hath endued Mankind with a Faculty of Speech, whereby they may Teach and Communicat to one another, all such Knowledges and Observations as shall be found out by any one of them ; that so every one studying a part, and contributing the small Mite of his Observations into the publick Stock, they might at length advance Knowledge and Learning to that Degree, which Humane Nature in this lapsed Estate is capable of. And that there might be some considerable Progress made in this Work at first ; God did bestow upon the first Men long Lives, with vigorous Imaginations and solid Judgments, that thereby they might both acquire great Stocks of Knowledge and Observations, and might convoy them, or communicat them to many Degrees of their Posterity. But Men abusing this Blessing of long Life, and exercising their Thoughts only upon Evil and that continually : God in his Justice, was provoked to shorten their Lives, and to confound their Languages, APPENDIX I. .*,l;i whereby this way of conveying Knowledge by Word of Mouth, au<) Tradition became very imperfect, and lyable to many Inconveniencies : and therefore that these Means of encreasing Knowledge, and of searching out all the Works of God might be still continued amongst Men ; God in his Infinite Mercy, was graciously pleased to teach Men a new Way of communicating their Thoughts and Words, by Writing ; which he did when he did write the Law with his own Finger, upon the two Tabled of Stone in Mount Sinai, that thereby Men might more easily and universally communicat their Observations to all the rest of Mankind, and might more certainly preserve them to all Posterity. By this Art of Writing, Knowledge and Learning were very much advanced : till Books became so numerous, and the way of writing with a Pen being both dear and slow, Students could acquire only a small number of them, whereby many Books were neglected and lost, and Learning came to a stand, and then at length fell into a great Decay, for Men turned their Wits and Studies, rather to collect and understand the Writings and Opinions of the Ancients, than to enquire into the Nature of the things themselves, in so much that all Philosophy was turned into the Opinions of Aristotle and Plato ; and all Theology was lodged in the Opinion of the Church, or in the Pope's Infallibility. Yea, Ignorance prevailed to that Degree, that it was encouraged and preached up as the Mother of Devotion. But at length Printing, which is a more easy, speedy and cheap way than Writing, was Invented ; which remedied all these Inconveniencies of Writing, and so recovered Learning at its last Gasp, out of its long continued and almost fatal Decay. Since which time, Learning hath taken on as it were a new growth, and though it be not as yet recovered in several Parts, j'et many Arts and Sciences are advanced to a far greater Degree, than what they had attained unto amongst the Ancients. From all which Course of Providence, we may clearly perceive, that it is the Will and Design of our Lord and Maker, that by sore Travel, we should search out and know all his wonderful Works, that we may Admire and Adore his Infinite Wisdom, Goodness, and other Perfections in them. As also, we may perceive that a full and universal communicating of our Thoughts and Observations to one another, is the necessary and ordinary Means appointed by God, whereby we may Attain unto this natural Knowledge ; so that whatsoever Inconveniencies do obstruct this free and universal communicating our Thoughts and In- structions to one another, or do hinder Students from Attaining the Know- ledge of all that hath been Discovered before them, must of necessity much retard the Advancement of Learning, and hinder the encrease of Know- ledge amongst us ; and therefore do deserve our serious Thoughts, and utmost Endeavours to remove them. Some of these Inconveniencies are, 1. Books are so vastly multiplied, and do so encrease dayly, that most part of Students either want Money to buy any moderat Collection of them ; or 2ly, they want Convenience to k*>ep them, for Books aie very troublesome to Transport from place to plac-3 ; or 3/y, they have tbrm not in due time, while they are young and free from Cares ; for after a Man is settled in the World, then the Cares of his Family, and the Affairs of his Calling, do so take up his Mind, that he can have no time nor heart to study. 4. The Money that is bestowed upon Books must be looked upon as lost ; and this certainly is a great Discouragement, 5. Many Books which a Student shall happen to buy, will after perusal be found little worth, at least for his purpose, whereby he is lamentably disappointed, and loseth both his Money and time. 6. We live at much distance from these famous Towns where most part of Books are Printed, 614 PT'BI.IC LIBRARIES. that there are many useful new Books Printed which we never hear of, and these we hear of, cannot be brought home to us without great Expenses and Trouble. 7. Although a Student had all the Advantage! that can be reasonably expected in one man, yet he cannot Acquire all the Books in the World, that may relate to the Subject he studies ; and so he will still be uneasie and suspicious, that there may be something worth his Knowledge in these Books he wants. And it is not to be expected, that any man can advance or improve any Art or Science to a full Degree, till first he have a full and comprehensive Knowledge of all that hath been written and discovered of that Subject before him ; and therefore compleat and free Libraries are absolutely necessary for the Improving of Arts and Sciences, and for Advancing of Learning amongst us. For effectuating of this, and for remeding all the fore-named Incon- veniencies, it is modestly conceived with submission to better Judgments, that the Founding and Maintaining of Bibliothecks in every Paroch within this Kingdom, will be a most effectual means, for thereby a Student will have compleat Libraries within a few Miles of the place where he shall happen to reside, out of which he may easily furnish himself from time to time, of all sorts of Books fit for his purpose without Money, and that in his youth, while he hath health and strength to Study, and is free from the cares of the World, neither can he be troubled with useless Books, seing he may presently return them to the Bibliotheck and take others ; and Lastly, These Libraries in a few years will be full and compleat, being furnished, not only with all the valuable and usefull Old Books in any Art or Science, but also with all the valuable New Books, so soon as ever they are heard of or seen in the World, as will clearly be demonstrat after- wards. The Method and particulars which I think necessary for this Founding and Maintaining of Bibliothecks in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom, are these. 1st. A convenient place in every Paroch must be set a part, and fitted for keeping of Books. 2Zi/. Every present Minister must give in all his Books, to the Biblio- theck of his own Paroch, at the sight of the Heretors of the Paroch, who- shall cause rank them conform to their volumns, and shall cause take exact Alphabetical Catalogues of them, with the place where, and the time when they are Printed, of which Catalogues, there must be four principal Coppies subscribed by the Minister and Heretors of each Paroch ; whereof one Copy shall be kept by the Minister, as an obligation upon the Paroch till he be paid for his Books, another shall be kept by the Heretors in a little Chist in the Bibliotheck. that it may be an obligation upon the Keeper of the Bibliotheck, to be answerable for all these Books ; the third must be kept in the Bibliotheck openly, that any Heretor of the Paroch, or Minister of the Presbyterie may get a double of it when they please ; and the fourth Copy shall be sent to the principal Library at Edinbin-f/l), to be kept there for several uses. M/y. For avoiding all debates and difficulties, that may arise between Heretors and Ministers in valuing these Books, it will be fit that some Ministers and Heretors be appointed to draw out a general Catalogue of all the Books in the Kingdom, out of those particular Catalogues that shall be sent in to Edinburgh from every Paroch, and to set a certain price upon each Book ; which general Catalogues with the price affixed to each Book, shall be Printed and distributed through every Paroch of the Kingdom, conform to which Catalogue, the Books iu everr Paroch APPENDIX I. shall b valued : or there may be laid down some general rules for valuing of Books at so much per Sheet, and so much for Binding. ithly. When any Minister shall die, or be removed from one Kirk to an other, then he or his Heirs or Assigueys, shall have right to all the Stipends of that Paroch to which he gave in his Books, ay and while he be payed of their full value conform to the Catalogue : and the Ministers of the Presbytery shall supply that Kirk during that time, but if the Paroch cannot conveniently want a Minister so long, then the succeeding Minister shall want such a proportional part of the Stipend as shall be thought fit, which shall be payed yearly to the first Minister, his Heirs or assigneys, till the full value of his Books be payed. 5Aly. Where the Kirks are vacant, the Ministers of the Presbyterie with the Heretors of the Paroch, shall have power to bestow all the vacant Sipends of that Kirk, upon such Books as they shall think most fit and necessary for the Bibliotheck of that Kirk. Sthly. Each Presbyterie shall endeavour to be a compleat Library within ittself, that is, they shall endeavour to have one Copy at least, of every valuable Book extant in some one Bibliotheck or other within their bounds ; wherefore it will be necessar that all the Ministers in one Presbyterie, compare their Catalogues, and consider of what Books they have more Coppies then are needful amongst them, and what Books they think useful ; of which they have no Coppies at all, that they may exchange the Books they have for these they want, conform to the value set on each Book by the general Catalogue. 7 f fill/. The keeper of the Bibleotheck, who may be the Reader or School-master of the Paroch, most find caution to the Minister and Heretors, to be faithful in keeping the Books, and in preserving them from all inconveniencies ; and he shall not lend out any Book but to an Heretor of the Paroch, or to a Minister of the Presbyterie, or to such persons residing within the Paroch as shall find sufficient caution for all the Books they get out of the Library, and he shall take obligations from them all, that they shall restore the Books in good condition, and within such a set time as may be sufficient for reading the Book, but within one Moneth at farthest ; that so an Heretor may not defraud the rest of the use of any Book. And for preventing the imbazling the Books of thir Libraries, it is fit there be a note written upon the reverse of the Title page, and on the last leaf of each Book Subscribed by the Minister, declaring that the Book belongeth to the Bibleotheck of such a Paroch, so that wherever any book shall be found wanting the Title page and the last leaf, it may be suspected to be stollen from the Libraries, and so may be confiscat to their use. Sthly. It will be convenient that there be a Book binder in every Presbyterie, to bind all the Books that belong to that Presbyterie, for which end he must be provided with a House, and all the Instruments fit for his Trade, and with some sma'l Stipend yearly to maintain him ; and then whatsoever Books he shall bind he shall be payed only for the materials, but nothing for his work ; or the keepers of the BiMeotheck or Ministers Servants may be taught to bind Books, and may easiely bind all the new Books that shall he given in to that Library in Sheets. 9tMy. It will be convenient that all the Bibliothicks in the Kingdom observe the same method of ranking and placeiug their Books, which method may be to rank the Books according to their name and number, in the general Catalogue, which name and number must be written noon a piece of paper, and battered to the back of the Book, or to some leaf of it, that it may be easiely seen and read, by any person that come* in to 516 i'i r.i.ic LIBRARIES. the Bibliothick, that so Ministers or Students, when they shall happen to remove from one Paroch or Bibliothick to another, they may not be at a loss where to find any Book, for by this method they will peresently know in what place every Book should stand. These are all the particulars which I think necessary for the present for founding of Bibliothicks in every Paroch, but for the maintaining and promoting these it will be necessary further, that IQtfdy. One Moneths Cess to be payed yearly, to be settled as a Fond for buying and Printing, all such Books New or Old, as shall be judged valuable and usefull to be distributed through the Kingdom, and every Bibliotheck in the Kingdom shall get a Copy of every Book that shall be printed : the one half of this Moneths Cess must be payed by the Heretors conform to their Valuations, the other half by the Ministers conform to the proportions of their Stipends. \\thhj. This Money or Fond must be entrusted to some honest Person or Persons, who shall therewith Erect a Printing-Housc, and Paper Manufactory, and shall settle and maintain a Correspondence with all the Printing presses abroad throughout Europe, and shall bring home some Coppies of all the Books that shall be Printed, as soon as possible, and shall Re-print all such Books whether New or Old, as shall be judged fitting, or worthy to be distributed through the Kingdom, and they shall be oblidged to give up Accompts how the Money is bestowed, from time to time to such Ministers and others, as shall be appointed to receive, and examine the same. \Wily. A Commission of the General Assembly must be appointed, to Revise all the New Books that are brought home from time to time, and to give some short account of them in Print, or to employ such persons as they shall judge most fit for that Work : and to Revise all the Old Books, and to determine what Books shall be Printed every Moneth, and to receive and examine the Printers Accompts. This is a Method which I think will be both easie and effectual for establishing, and promoting of Bibliothecks in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom, neither do I foresee any material Objection, that can be made against any particular Article of it. For it shall be Objected against the second Article, by some of the present Ministers, that if they shall happen hereafter to be removed from their paroch to another, they will be at a great loss for want of these Books, with which they have been accustomed of a long time. This is easily answered, for when a Minister is removed from one Paroch to another, he will immediatly have a right to all, or at least a part^of the Stipends of that paroch, till he be payed for his Books, and then with that Money he may buy what Books he thinks most necessary for himself, and give in to the Library of that paroch to which he shall be Transplanted, and be payed for them after his removal. It may be further Objected by the Ministers, that when the publick is Debitor, it is sometimes difficult to get payment ; but this Objection is groundless here for in this case the publick is not Debitor, but every privat man is Debitor for his proportion of the vacant Stipends, to the Minister himself, or his Heirs and Assigneys, ay and while he be payed for all the Books he gave in to the Bibliotheck of that paroch. But that which should move the Ministers to comply willing with this Article is, that thereby they both retain the use of their Books, and also secure the value of them, to themselves or their Heirs, whereas otherwise they might be lost or Sold for very little. It may be Objected by others against the tenth Article, that one APPENDIX I. .,17 Moneths Cess, which amounts to 72,000 pounds Scots by year, will be too great a Fond for buying and printing of Books yearly. To this I answer, that if it be too great it must be so, either in respect of the Books it will buy and print, or in respect of the Persons that may pay it ; but it is not too great in respect of the liooks it will buy and print, but rather too little, for the printing of an large Book as the five volumns of Pools Criticks upon the Bible, will more than exhaust all, and then what shall bring home New Books and Re-print them, and what shall maintain the Correspondence with all the printing places in EurojK f Neither is it too great in respect of the Persons that must pay it, for the half of it which is to be payed by the Heretors, is only the 120 part of their valued Rent, and their valued Rent is ordinarly but the third part of their real Rent, so that an Heretor of one thousand and two hundred pounds Scots of valued Rent which is commonly 3600 pounds of real Rent, shall pay only ten pounds Scots yearly, for maintaining and promoting of these Bibliothecks. And certainly it would be very unworthy of any Gentleman of such a Rent, to grudge the paying of ten pound Scvts yearly, when for it, he, his Children and Tennents may have the free use of a well furnished Library and of all the new Books & Gazets so soon as ever they are Printed. And I believe most part of Gentlemen bestow more than this Proportion of their Rents upon Books yearly, & yet are but very insufficiently provided. Yea, many Noblemen and Gentlemen bestow more upon News ; so that this half Months Cess will be no new Bnrdi-n upon them, but a more effectual and profitable way of bestowing that Money upon Books and News, which now is expended to little or no purpose. As for the other half Months Cess which is to be payed by the Ministers certainly none of them will grudge at it, seing any Ministers Share of it (even although it were divided amongst them by equal Parts) will amount only to 36 pounds Scots, which is not so much as the yearly Annualrent of that Sum, which now a Minister must necessarly be supposed to bestow upon Books, before he can be any way tolerably furnished for his Studies. For supposing there be 1000 Ministers in Scotland that shall have Libraries for their own use ; then each Ministers Share of this 36000 pounds Scots, will be only 36 pound, which is only the Annualrent of 600 pounds Scots : and I believe there are few present Ministers, but have bestowed more than this Sum upon Books, so that the half Months Cess upon them, is not to be looked upon as a Burthen, but as a way to preserve the Money, seing by this Method, the yearly Annualrent of a small Sum of Money, will furnish them with a compleat Library, and incomparably more Books, than both the Stock and Annualrent of a far greater Sum can do otherways. But further, there are several other Considerations which may make the Ministers willing condescend to this Article ; for either they may prevail with the king & parliament to ordain this half Months Cess to be payed out of the Bishops Rents, or to lay it on upon the Teiuds of the Kingdom, which do justly belong to the Maintenance of the Worship of God, or some honest hearted patron Titular of the Teinds, may Gift or Mortifie as much as may free his Minister of his Proportion of it. But though none of these should succeed at present, yet the Tacks of the Teinds must run out at length, and. then the Kirk will be sufficiently provided, not only to pay this half Months Cess, but even to pay the WHOLE, and free the Heretors of their SHARE of it. It may be objected by others, that the Fond will be too little, and the Work will be but small and contemptible. But it is answered, That 518 1TBLIC LIBRARIES. though it may be small at the beginning, yet it will not'be despicable, for we know that Rome was not all built in one day, and it is demonstrable, that these Libraries will by this Fond in a few years become very great and considerable, so that the very meanest of them may compare with the most famous Libraries in the World ; for this Fond will Print nine or ten Sheets of Paper dayly, which is enough for any man to read ; and this 10 Sheets dayly, will be 3000 Sheets yearly, which will be ten large Volumns of 300 Sheets to each Volumn ; so that in 100 years, this will be 1000 large Volumns, consisting of three hundred thousand Sheets of Paper ; which with the Books that will be given in to the Libraries from time to time, by the Ministers and Heretors, may do much to comprehend all the valuable Books extant. But further, this Degree of Perfection in these Libraries, may be much sooner attained, if the King aud Parliament shall think fit to Augment this Cess upon the Heretors for some years, or for Printing of some select Books ; or if a more easie and speedy way of Printing can be Invented than what is now in use, which I am perswaded may be done, if men of Sense were encouraged to apply themselves unto it. Lastly, it may be objected that the. different Perswasions amongst Ministers may mar all this Work ; But it is answered, That though the different Perswasions amongst Ministers, may obstruct the free borrow- ing and lending of Books amongst them, yet that need be no hinderance to the settling and increasing of the Biliothecks in every Paroch, or to the paying of their Shares for maintaining of the Printing House, and for Printing such Books as shall be thought most necessary. What hath been said, I hope is sufficient to convince any man, that there is no difficulty in this Work, if we be willing to set about it. Therefore I shall in the next place, lay before you some Considerations taken, 1. From the Advantagiousness of the Work. 2. From the Honour- ableness of it. And 3. From the Duty that lies upon us to provide our Ministers in all things necessary for their Ministry, which may serve for Arguments to perswade all persons willingly and cordially to set about this Work. 1. This Establishing of Bibliothecks in every Paroch, will not only remedy the forementioned Inconveuiencies and Difficulties of Students, but it will be several ways Advantageous to the Countrey, For 1. It will be a considerable Manufactory, and will Maintain many People at Work. 2. It will keep all that Money in the Kingdom, which now goes out for buying of Books and Paper. 3. It will encourage young Men to follow their Studies in their own Countrey, and thereby prevent their spending their Fortunes Abroad, and many other considerable Inconveniencies that young Men are exposed unto in strange Countreys. 4. It will allure and provoke Gentlemen to bestow their spare Hours in reading of new Books, which may prove a good Means to restrain them from Gaming and Drinking, by preventing that uneasie and wearisome Idleness of Mind, which is the Parent of these, and many other Enormities. 5. It will in a short time, carry away the whole Trade of Printing from all the rest of Europe. But 2. As this Establishing of Bibliothecks in every Paroch will be Advantageous, so it will be very Honourable to this Countrey. For 1. We shall not only be the first and the only Nation for a while, that shall have this regular and useful plenty of Books. But 2. Hereby all sorts of Learning will mightily encrease and flourish amongst us, and though we be not a great or a rich People, yet we may be a wise and a learned People. Yea further, these Libraries in two or three hundred years will be so full APPENDIX I. 519 and compleat, that the Most Famous and Magnificent Libraries in the World, shall not outdo the meanest Library in any Paroch of this Kingdom, for numbers of valuable and useful Books, as hath been already demonstrat. 3. If it be our Duty to provide our Ministers with all things necessary for them as a competent Stipend, Manse and Gleib, that they being free from worldly Cares, may have time to study and Instruct their People. Then certainly it must much more be our Duty, to provide them with competent Libraries of the most useful Books, seing without these they cannot study, nor be fitted sufficiently for Instructing their People in the Truths of their Religion. Ithly. Seing God hath made all men by nature desirous of Know- ledge, undoubtedly the satisfying of this desire, must be a considerable part of our natural felicity ; for the only delight of our Souls, which are our better part, in which the Body doth not partake, is the delight she taketh in Knowledge and Contemplation. And seing God hath so ordered it, that the most part of our Knowledge should be communicat to us from our Fore-fathers, and Contemporaries, especially by their Books and Writings, It doth necessarly follow that the establishing and promoting of Libraries in every Paroch, whereby the use of assorts of BOOKS may be rendered most free and universal, and may be perfectly secured to all our posterity, will be a very effectual means of increasing Knowledge and Learning amongst us, and of helping us, and our jiosterity to search out all the Works of our God, that we may admire and adore his Infinit Wisdom and Goodness, in making them such, and in so wonderfully disposing of them for his own purposes and Glory, which seems to be one principal end, for which our Blessed Maker hath made us rational Creatures. These things being duely considered, I hope what hath been said will be sufficient, to perswade all lovers, and encouragers of Learning, that this founding and promoting of Bibliothecks in every Paroch throughout this Kingdom, is both necessary and easie, advautagious and honourable, our Interest and our Duty. THE OPINIONS OF SOME LEADING MEN ON PUBLIC LIBBARIES. [Many of these liave not previously appeared in print.] [WILL FORM SUITABLE PARAGRAPHS FOR CIRCULARS, ETC.] Sir Charles W. Dilke. No one who has the smallest acquaintance with these institutions can doubt their value. The late Lord Iddesleigh. All that I have seen of these institutions is encouraging, except the smallness of their number. Mr. Sydney Buxton, M.P. Anything which helps to promote the Public Libraries movement will always have my wannest sympathy. The Eev. C. H. Spurgeon. I am in favour of Public Libraries every- where. Their cost is small and the benefits great. Mr. Samuel Plimsoll. The movement for establishing Public Libraries has my hearty sympathy, as I consider it a valuble means of helping upwards the working classes. Mr. J. A. Fronde. Public Libraries, if the right books are in them, will be of immense value. But we read more and more nowadays for amusement, and the most absurd books are the most popular. .")!' i i nn.lc i.iun.u:i i.:-. The Hon. C. Ritchie, M.P. There is no more abiding pleasure, in my opinion, than that to be derived from reading, and I would gladly see the facilities for the pursuit of this pleasure, in the shape of Public Libraries, largely extended. The Eev. J. Clifford, D.D., ex-President of the Baptist Association. I rejoice in the progress of the movement on behalf of Public Libraries, and trust that the day is not far distant when their benefits will be rendered accessible to every English man, woman, and child. Mr. Justin McCarthy, M.P. I think a Public Library is one of the greatest blessings with which a community can be endowed. I should almost wish to test the civilization of every population by asking What is your number, and how many Public Libraries have you ? Sir Frederick Leighton, ex-President of the Royal Academy. It seems to me that the uses of Public Libraries are so obvious, and so generally recognized, that no words can be needed to emphasise them. Such Libraries, if properly used, should be powerful engines of civilization. The Duke of Argyll. No one can doubt the value of Public Libraries who admits the value of education at all. Unless education is to stop at the " three R's " the self-education of adults by careful reading is an essential. The difficulty is to make reading at all systematic, and so really instructive. Mr. Henry Broadhurst, M.P. Without doubt, money cannot be more profitably spent than in placing knowledge of the highest kind within the reach of all who care to avail themselves of it. Next to good sanitation, there are few sources of public expenditure more justifiable than in provid- ing good libraries for the people. Mr. L. J. Jennings, M.P., for Stockport. There are few institutions likely to be of greater service to working men and their families than Public Libraries. The taste for reading is the only one which never palls; in youth or age, and I do not know how it is to be gratified among the poor except by the establishment of Public Libraries. Mr. Frederic Harrison. The Public Library movement is perfectly free from suspicion of belonging to party, class, or sect. Of all the Acts passed in the last fifty years there is none which has done more quiet good with less burden on the country, absolutelj 7 without hitch or complaint, than the Public Libraries Act. Sir Charles Russell, M.P. I have a high opinion of the great advan- tages to be derived from Public Libraries, and I think it a matter of regret that the Public Libraries Acts have been availed of to so limited an extent. I think this is to be attributed not to indifference amongst the public, but to unwillingness to add to the already enormous burden of taxation. The late Henry Ward Beecher. A man that should establish in Brooklyn a Public Library for the common people would be a regenerator of the city ; and if he pleased to have his name inscribed, that name could never go below the horizon. He might not see the result ; for the visible effect would be nothing as compared with the unseen. The com- plex effect would appear in generation after generation, and his name would be glorious. Mr. Thomas Burt, M.P. I attach the utmost importance to the Public Libraries movement. It is certainly amazing, and not at all creditable, that thirty years after the commencement of the Act so few towns have adopted it. In Newcastle-on-Tyne we had a long and rather severe fight. AIM'KXItlX I. .*,.'! We won, and at present an excellent institution is established, and is doing valuable work. Mr. Robert Giffen, LL.D. (of the Board of Trade), in his address, as President of the Statistical Society, on "The Progress of the Working Classes in the Last Half-Century," said : To a great deal of this expendi- ture we may attach the highest value. It does not give bread or cl<>thin to the working man, but it all helps to make life sweeter and IM tt-r, and so opens out careers even to the poorest. The value of the Public Library, lor instance, in a large city is simply incalculable. The late Eight Hon. John Bright. There is no blessing that can In- given to an artisan's family more than a love of books. The home intluemv of such a possession is one that will guard them from many temptations and from many evils. To the young especially this is of great importance ; for if there be no seed time there will certainly be no harvest. It is impossible for anybody to confer upon young men a greater blessing than to stimulate them to associate themselves constantly with a Public Library, and draw from it any book they like. Lord Granville. As a Londoner I must own that I sometimes feel ashamed at the contrast which London presents to provincial cities in availing itself so little of the Public Libraries Act. I hope that when London has something like a municipal government, accompanied by that public spirit and by that esprit, de corps which always go with it, it will not lag behind the provinces in this important and intellectual race. The possession of a Public Library is a proof of the intelligence and the public spirit of the towns which possess them. The Bishop of London. I look upon Public Libraries everywhere as being of the highest importance and value for the cultivation of the great body of people at large. No doubt there will be a perpetually increas- ing number of those who would be glad to have the opportunity of read- ing books which it is impossible for them to buy or hire. It is a very excellent arrangement that there should be, for common good, Libraries of the kind to which all may resort Libraries which are open to the highest and the lowest, the richest and the poorest. Mr. Henry George. There would be a great and increasing surplus revenue from the taxation of land values, for material progress, which would go on with greatly accelerated rapidity, would tend constantly to increase rent. This revenue arising from the common property could be applied to the common benefit, as were the revenues of Sparta. We might not establish public tables they would be unnecessary ; but we could establish public baths, museums, libraries, gardens, lecture-rooms, music and dancing halls, theatres, universities, technical schools, play- grounds, gymnasiums, &c. The Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M.P. I am a great believer in the advantages of a miscellaneous reading. I believe that by it we open our minds to new ideas ; we widen our sympathies, and expand our intellectual and moral horizon ; and I know, also, that for the student who desires to pursue thoroughly any subject, it is absolutely necessary that he should have access to books, many of which are costly, many of which are very difficult to obtain, even to the richest of single individuals, but which it is in the power of a community to provide for all Us numbers alike. And in this possession there is no favour conferred ; it is a right which is enjoyed by all. The Archbishop of Canterbury. Public Libraries are a necessity of the n2 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. time, and I shall be glad to see them freely used. Social institutions, these Libraries are, of the most important kind, but that does not imply Social- istic, any more than the word chart implies Chartist. I would also remind you that these Libraries would not have been possible in England thirty years ago, not merely on account of the prejudices entertained against them, but still more in consequence of the lack of that elementary education which would have enabled people to use them with enjoyment or profit ; but our present system of elementary education has rendered these Libraries a necessity. The Bishop of Rochester. Sooner or later you must succeed in what is but the proper completion of the Elementary Education Act of 1870, and the true safeguarding of that memorable extension of the franchise, from which a new era of English history will assuredly begin. Your effort is but the duty of wise men, who love their country, who do not fear knowledge of any kind, so long as it is exact and complete ; who feel that the education a man gives himself is far more valuable than any other ; who expect, not without reason, that in course of time the trifling additional expense from a halfpenny rate will be more than saved by a diminution of the public charges. The United States have long been ahead of us in this question of Public Libraries, as I well know from personal observa- tion. Eight Hon. A. J. Balfoar, M.P. I hail with satisfaction the establish- ment in other towns of a Public Library like that which I see around us, and I could wish no better fortune for my old friends and constituents of Hertford, than that they may one and all acquire that taste for litera- ture, and that habit of reading which can be satisfied in a Library like this in which we are seated, and which will, I am convinced and I speak from no narrow personal experience, but from a knowledge of what many have felt in all generations of mankind prove a source of satisfaction, which will not fail them in times of care or trouble, which are independent of seasons, which are independent of the favour or disfavour of mankind, and which are perhaps the most precious heritage which has been given to mankind by the invention of printing. Lord Coleridge. The time has gone by when it was necessary to defend libraries and reading. I remember when it was said if you instructed the people in reading, all sorts of difficult consequences to society would result. We have got past all those notions now, and have come to feel the enormous advantage of reading and of Public Libraries, and I trust that we have got on so far as to realize that it was our plain duty to extend to other people the advantages we ourselves enjoy. Every man who does not acquaint himself with what others have said must at last be- come a very common-place and dreary individual. The most agreeable men are those whose minds are enriched by culture and education. A great library enables men to appreciate these points ; makes a workman better capable of doing his work, and appreciating the thoughts and opinions of the great men who lived before ou rtime. Whatever tends to enlarge and liberalize the mind has a practical bearing upon that in which we are all interested namely, the supremacy of this great country. Mr. John Morley, M.P. It is profoundly true, as Burke said, that education is not reading a parcel of books, but exercising restraint, discipline, virtue, and justice. The parcel of books, however, if well chosen, reconciles us to the discipline, interprets the virtue and justice, and awakens within us the diviner mind as to what is best in others and ourselves. There is much to make people question whether the APPE.vnix I. .1i':{ spread of literature, as now understood, does awake the diviner mind. The statistics of the books taken out of public libraries are not all that could be wished. In one great town of the north, fiction forms 76 per cent, of the books borrowed ; in other great towns it is respectively 82 per cent., 84 per cent., and 67 per cent. The average in this country is about 70 per cent., whereas in the United States it is only 60. In Scotland also there is a larger demand than in England for books that are called serious. I am myself a voracious reader of fiction, and only wish to see the amount read reduced from 70 to about 40 per cent, of the reading of the people, the difference being made up by other literature. Sir Edward Clarke, M. P. There is no better way of combating intem- perance in this country than by the increase of education. The necessary idleness of much of the day with those who are engaged in manual labour, and the limit of space in their homes caused by the pressure of population, tend to drive .men into habits of intemperance ; but these are things which can be met in a very large degree by the creation of Public Libraries. In the provincial towns these libraries exist to a much greater extent than in London, and wherever they have been established they are found to be so popular, and increasingly popular, that towns which have them would be astonished and appalled at the idea that they in future should be without them. In many parts of London the homes of the working men are so uncomfortable, and so far from being places where they can have any sort of useful recreation, that there is hardly any choice with the men between their little and uncomfortable homes and the public-house. I am convinced that Public Libraries will be a source of great and abiding and steadily increasing benefit to the community. A penny rate will not be sufficient in itself to establish and equip them. Such an addition to the rates is extremely small, and if the proposal meant a really serious burden to the ratepayers I would not advocate it ; but it will be so small in comparison with the benefits to be received that I hope every parish will not hesitate by a great maiority to accept the proposition. I further believe that these libraries will tend to reduce the burden of rates, because they will help to reduce pauperism and crime. The Bt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P. Without the blessing of reading, the burden of life for many of us would almost be intolerable, and the riches of life would be reduced to the merest penury. . . . I am one of those who look with more, I think, than a common interest upon municipal institutions, and who attach to them a value that I can hardly express. But I will put in one sentence what I have to say : I am firmly convinced that without municipal institutions England would not have been England that is to say, it would have been a fundament- ally different England to the England that it now is. I admit that centres of population give facilities for the work of a Public Library which it cannot enjoy where they ar more diffused ; but at the same time in this country it is quite plain that we must have a very large population outside of our municipalities, a population that is not included in the municipalities, yet will, in many cases, be considerably centred ; and I look forward with pleasure and satisfaction to the day when millions of persons who cannot enjoy the advantages will, through t enactment of a sound and solid system of local government, embracing th whole of the rural, the whole of the non-civic and non-municipal districts of the country, be placed within the reach of multitudes of benefits and Ol'i TL'liLIC L1BHA1UKN. advantages from which they are now in a considerable degree excluded ; and will likewise have that inestimable profit which has been enjoyed in our municipal towns of a regular education in public duties, reaching downwards through all ranks, and embracing masses of the population, and giving to the English character much of its firmness and tenacity of tissue. The Eight Hon. A. J. Mundella, M.P. The public are manifesting an appetite for knowledge, and unless pure literature is provided there is a great danger that iks place will be taken by impure literature. I am bound to say that I do not think that literature of the worst kind is circulated to any extent among the masses of the people. Occasionally I have purchased publications at small shops in the lowest neighbourhoods, and I have found that they were not so gross and bad as intolerably dull. Such publications are altogether without literary merit, and 1 maintain that a youth who has had access to Oliver Goldsmith, Thackeray, Dickens, and other such writers, would not condescend to touch the pitiful rubbish to which I have alluded. I believe that the very best antidote for impure literature is pure literature, and in my opinion the way to elevate a man, to keep him in the paths of virtue, purity, and nobility, is to make him a reading man. No secular blessing is better than a taste for reading, which taste, of all others, is the most refining and the cheapest. The pleasures that debase a man are those 7iiost cost!}' to the body, soul, and pocket, while the pleasures that elevate him are happily becoming cheaper every day. Let no ratepayer begrudge his education rate and his penny for the Public Libraries. These are his best investments. Let them observe how, during recent years, the criminal population have diminished how the diminution is especially noticeable among criminals under thirty years of age ; observe the decrease in the amount paid for outdoor relief ; and, lastly, observe the reduced consumption of alcoholic drinks. Education has done more than anything else to bring these happy results about. There must be higher and better education, and a continuity of it, and they must have more night schools and more Public Libraries. Testimony of Mayors. In reply to letters respecting the use and influence of Public Libraries in their towns, these letters of a few Mayors will be read with interest. It would have been an easy task. to greatly extend the number, but these are representative of others received. The Mayor of Birmingham says : The closing of the libraries, if it were proposed, would " excite the most violent opposition." The Lord Provost of Aberdeen says : To all appearance the belief in the advantages, direct and indirect, of the libraries established in this city is " universal and strong." The Mayor of Beading writes: I have pleasure in saying that the Public Library in this town has been an unqualified success, and has conferred signal advantages upon the inhabitants. The Mayor of Northampton says : During our late strike in the staple trade the libraries became a capital counteractive to the public-houses, being literally thronged from morning till night. The Mayor of Leeds says : The Public Library in this borough has been established for upwards of fifteen years. It has been very successful in AIM'KXIHX I. 52fi its operations, and has proved itself to be one of the most important educational institutions in the borough. The Mayor of Newcastle-on-Tyne writes : There can be no question that the Public Library in Newcastle has been a great benefit to the inhabitants, and is more used by the citizens of all classes than the Corporation ever contemplated as probable when it was initiated. I think there is only one opinion in the city as to its value. The Mayor of Manchester says : The operation of the Acts in this city city has unquestionably been advantageous to the best interests of the community, and I think it improbable that the closing of the libraries would have any support whatever, as they are among the most popular and most indispensable institutions of the city." The Provost of Dundee says that the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery exert a powerful, refining, educational influence on the com- munity, and that a proposal to suspend the Act would meet not only with strong but practically unanimous opposition. Similar testimonies to the operations of the Act have been received from the Mayors of Liverpool, Norwich, Coventry, Chester, Cambridge, and Reading, the Provosts of Galashiels, Dunfermline, and Forfar, and from forty-one other English and Scotch towns. PARAGRAPHS FOB HANDBILLS. It is good to see so many Public Libraries starting in various towns. It indicates a growing taste for good reading, and a well-stocked library will cultivate that taste. Then it is such an inestimable privilege to people who are too poor to buy all the books they want, and to young people still attending school ; in fact, it is a benefit to every one but the loafer at the corner. There is an analogy between the creation of a Public Library and the lighting of the streets. When it was first proposed to light the public streets, there were probably some of our forefathers who met the proposal with very specious objections. The facilities for walking the streets at night had been enough for them, and were really enough for all needful purposes. To light the streets would only be to provide at the public cost a temptation to people to go about the streets at night when they ought to be performing family duties at the fireside. The arguments now advanced against Public Libraries are. just as groundless as those first advanced against street-lighting. Public Libraries are "continuation schools." If a boy or girl, after attaining the requisite standard, was plunged into hard and laborious life without the opportunity of continuing the education begun in any form, the result too often was, that in a very few years there was a loss of the knowledge and power already attained, and almost inevitably a loss of the appreciation of the advantages of that education. There is no continu- ation school which could be so good as a Public Library, which would give to every citizen the opportunity of continuing his or her education to the end of his or her life. A Public Library is true fairyland, says Sir John Lubbock, a very palace of delight, a haven of repose from the storms and troubles of the world. Rich and poor can enjoy it equally, for here, at least, wealth gives no ;V2fi rrr.ur LJIVRARIKS. advantage. You can transport yourself without delay and without expense to any part of the globe, or even into the regions of the skies. You can call up the greatest men of the past or the present, of this or any other country. Surely to the works of Englishmen, at least, Englishmen have some right. The literature of England is the birthright and inherit- ance of every Englishman. England has produced, and is producing, some of the greatest of poets, of philosophers, ot men of science. No country can boast a brighter, purer, or nobler literature, richer than our commerce, more powerful than our arms, the true pride and glory of our country. To this literature the very poorest of our fellow-townsmen have access. There may be persons in the trade who suppose that a Public Library would lessen the demand for books which they lay themselves out to supply. A very little inquiry will satisfy them that experience has shown that there is no fear of such a result. A Public Library has been found to create and foster a taste for reading and a desire of possessing books, and thus to benefit the bookselling trade. Of the argument as to the unfair incidence of taxation on shopkeepers, enough has already been said. But we may add here that even if the grievance were real, it is simply foolish to fight it on the narrow and certainly losing ground of a Library-tax. The prudent policy would be to accept the tax and the credit for public spirit which its acceptance will bring, and to raise the whole question of the taxation of shops in the general form. If the grievance is real, it comprehends much more than the Library-tax ; but the imposition of the Library-tax will make a small addition to it, which will strengthen the position of those who may agitate against it. We have already endeavoured to show that the grievance is imaginary ; but if it is not, there could be no greater mistake than to nibble at a mere fringe of it like the Library-tax, instead of dealing with it as a whole and fighting it in Parliament. Within a few years the whole of the people of this country will be educated, and when education is universal, the educated class will no longer constitute a kind of intellectual aristocracy, claiming all the higher positions of life as a matter of right in virtue of their education, leaving only the humblest occupations for the illiterate. Within a very few years the very lowest occupations of life will be occupied by intelligent men, educated up to a point as high as that of the middle classes now. Depend upon it this will produce startling results, and, I believe, will very likely change the whole aspect of society, for we are on the verge of a great upheaval of the masses into a higher level of intellectual being, that will make their mental horizon widen far beyond the bound of their daily toil. For although they will be educated, with all their intelligence and knowledge, they will still be comparatively poor, and they will have as much difficulty in rising from the lower occupations into the higher as the existing race of labourers now has. We have brought these results on ourselves. For a moment we brushed aside all ignoble feelings, and resolved to educate the people and pass the Education Acts. That moment we planted the seeds of revolution, and we must be prepared to face a new order of things. The Public Library Acts are a natural sequence of the Education Acts. As time rolls on, this will become so evident, that I believe the Public Libraries Acts must be universally adopted. The following is a poem specially written for recital at the opening ceremony of a Public Library in the United States : APPKNPIX I. Good Books. " As a sky that has no constellations, As a country unwatered by brooks, As a house that is empty of kindred, Unillumined by loving looks, So dull is the life of the people Who know not the blessing of books. Good books are the best of companions, They help us to see with the eyes Of the great ones in ages historic ; Dead saints at their bidding arise From the moss-mounded graveyards to teach us That the truth which is lived never dies. Good books are the kindest of neighbours ; They help us to know one another ; They show how the words ' man ' and ' woman ' Have always meant ' sister ' and ' brother. ' So they fan to life feelings fraternal That the dust of the work-day might smother. The hooks that we cherish are human ; They are written from heart unto heart ; Now they move us to singing and laughter ; Now they cause the warm tear-drop to start : We feel as we read their fresh pages By the rose-breath of love blown apart. Good books are an inspiration ; A spirit within stirs their leaves With the sigh of a burden prophetic, That warms, and rejoices, and grieves ; And the ear that is open to hear it The word of the vision receives. Good books who can measure their blessing Tell how it begins, where it ends ? How they interweave Past, Present, Future, Until Time with Eternity blends ! They are more than companions and neighbours : Good books are the truest of friends. Good books they who build them a shelter A place among people to stay As helpers and guides and inspirers, Our best benefactors are they. And therefore the heart of this village To our friends is grateful to-day." HOW TO POPULAKIZE AND EXTEND THE WORK OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES. The Opinions of a few Librarian!. Barrow-in-Furness (Mr. Frowde). Increase the rate to 1 Ad. or 2d. no that branches might be opened. Some say this would lead to the rejection of the Acts in certain places. My plan would bo to let the rate Ol>8 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. remain at Id. until the Central Library is a proved success, then that the work may be extended and paid for out of the increased rate. It might be optional for Councils or Library Committees to levy the increased rate at will. Birkenhead (Mr. May). To advertise in the widest manner the advantages of using the Library. To advertise the Library the same as any other business seems to have been lost sight of. A new Library is thrown open and the people are expected to guess what is contained therein. Blackburn (Mr. Ashton). The special features of Libraries, etc., depend to a great extent upon its relations to the town, and if it carries out its own special work, such as assisting the people in their own branch of industry. If this is done the work must be appreciated. Bootle (Mr. J. J. Ogle). (1) The better payment of the right men. (2) The encouragement of certificated Library Assistants. (3) The spread of a broader and higher ideal of the functions of a Public Library. By the right men I mean men in full sympathy with working people and with earnest young students, as well as good organizers and of wide general reading and thorough knowledge of library history and general literary history. To secure this type of man for the movement will require the offer of better salaries than are usually given. I'think, with existing legal restrictions even, a very great deal can be done by the right men. Bradford (Mr. Wood). All burdens of rent, rates, lighting, etc., should be removed, or at least not paid for out of the penny rate. A penny in the pound is not sufficient to maintain branches and the Central Library. Clitheroe (Mr. Robinson). I should say that a librarian might fulfil a useful service by directing the attention of borrowers to the best works. With boys especially a great deal might be done in the way of advising and directing the choice of books. Denton (Mr. Sutcliffe). By impressing upon all local authorities the necessity of such institutions and the great benefits derived from them, especially to the rising generation. A lecture we had in this district on ' ' Public Libraries and their Uses " appears to have aroused the inhabitants, for the attendance has been very much increased. Great Yarmouth (Mr. Carter). The distribution of reports of successful Public Libraries in places where the Acts have not been adopted. Halifax (Mr. Whiteley). A better style of education at the Board Schools. The pupils of these schools seem to leave with a singularly imperfect knowledge of their own language, making them totally incapable of understanding anything like high-class literature. Harrogate (Mr. Harrison). By co-operation. That is, the committee with the librarian, and the governing body with the public. Northampton (Mr. George). -Too much attention cannot be paid to the rising generation. By getting hold of the boys and girls before they have left school, and so encouraging and guiding a taste for reading. Norwich (Messrs. Easter and Tennant). Recognizing the utility of trade advertising. Lectures should be regularly given a-i to the contents and usefulness of the books, and announcements made of the new additions. The circulation of a two-page leaflet yearly throughout the district, explaining the arrangements and facilities connected with the library. Plymouth (Mr. Wright). By establishing branch reading-rooms in the i. 529 Board Schools for evening use, so that every district of a township be supplied. By circulating books by the same medium to the children attending the public elementary schools. And by assisting districts where no such libraries exist to recognize the value of these institutions. Preston (Mr. Bramwell). For existing libraries an active chairman and liberal committee, supporting and strengthening the work of an industrious and faithful librarian, give solidity and increasing interest to the work. St. Helens (Mr. Lancaster). Free lectures on the different classes of literature tend to popularize and increase the usefulness of the library. Attention could thus be directed to the best books on various subjects. This would increase the demand for these books. Watford (Mr. Woolman). Better legislation. With a consolidation make and collect the Rate for the Relief of the Poor of the Parish, and acting instead of Overseers of the Poor ; " Board " APPENDIX II. .-;;| shall mean the Commissioners, Trustees, or other Body of Person*, by whatever Name distinguished, for the Time being in Office and acting in the Execution of any Improvement Act, being an Act for draining, cleansing, paving, lighting, watching, or otherwise improving a Place or for any of those Purposes ; " Improvement Rates " shall mean the Rates, Tolls, Rents, Income, and other Monies whatsoever which under the Provisions of any such Improvement Act shall be applicable for the general Purposes of such Act. Town Councils. IV. The Mayor of any Municipal Borough the Population of which, according to the then last Census thereof, shall exceed Five Thousand Persons, shall, on the Request of the Town Council convene a Public Meeting of the Burgesses of the Borough, in order to determine whether this Act shall be adopted for the Municipal Borough, and Ten Days' Notice at least of the Time, Place, and Object of the Meeting shall be given by affixing the same on or near the Door of every Church and Chapel within the Borough, and also by advertising the same in One or more of the Newspapers published or circulated within the Borough, Seven Days at least before the Day appointed for such Meeting ; and if at such Meeting Two-thirds of such Persons as aforesaid then present shall determine that this Act ought to be adopted for the Borough, the same shall thenceforth take effect and come into operation in such Borough, and shall be carried into execution in accordance with the Laws for the Time being in force relating to the Municipal Corporation of such Borough. Provided always, that the Mayor, or, in his Absence, the Chairman of the Meeting, shall cause a Minute to be made of the Resolu- tions of the Meeting, and shall sign the same ; and the Resolutions so signed shall be conclusive Evidence that the Meeting was duly convened, and the Vote thereat duly taken, and that the Minute contains a true Account of the Proceedings thereat. Expenses. V. The Expenses incurred in calling and holding the Meeting, whether this Act shall be adopted or not, and the Expenses of carrying this Act into execution in such Borough, may be paid out of the Borough Fund, and the Council may levy by a separate Rate, to be called a Library Rate, to be made and recoverable in the Manner hereinafter provided, all Monies from Time to Time necessary for defraying such Expenses ; and distinct Accounts shall be kept of the Receipts, Payments, and Liabilities of the Council with reference to the Execution of this Act. Local Boards. VI. The Board of any District, being a Place within the Limits of any Improvement Act, and having such a Population as aforesaid, shall, upon the Requisition in Writing of at least Ten Persons assessed to and paying the Improvement Rate, appoint a Time not less than Ten Days nor more than Twenty Days from the Time of receiving such Requisition for a Public Meeting of the Persons assessed to and paying such Rate in order to determine whether this Act shall be adopted for such District, and Ten Days' Notice at least of the Time, Place, and Object of such Meeting shall be given by affixing the same on or near the Door of every Church and Chapel within the District, and also by advertising the same in One or more of the Newspapers published or circulated within the District, Seven Days at least before the Day appointed for the Meeting ; and if at such Meeting Two-thirds of such Persons as aforesaid then present shall determine that this Act ought to be adopted for the District, the same shall thenceforth take effect, and come into operation in such District, and shall be carried into . according to the Laws for the Time being in force relating to such Board. 0->-2 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. VII. The Expenses incurred in calling and holding the Meeting, whether this Act shall be adopted or not, and the Expenses of carrying this Act into execution in any such District, shall be paid out of the Improvement Rate, and the Board may levy as Part of the Improvement Rate, or by a separate Rate to be assessed and recovered in like Manner as an Improvement Rate, such Sums of Money as shall be from Time to Time necessary for defraying such Expenses : and the Board shall keep distinct Accounts of their Receipts, Payments, Credits, and Liabilities with reference to the Execution of this Act, which Accounts shall be audited in the same Way as Accounts are -directed to be audited under the Improve- ment Act. Parishes. VIII. Upon the Requisition in Writing of at least Ten Rate- payers of any Parish having such a Population as aforesaid, the Overseers of the Poor shall appoint a Time, not less than Ten Days nor more than Twenty Days from the Time of receiving such Requisition, for a Public Meeting of the Ratepayers in order to determine whether this Act shall be adopted for the Parish ; and Ten Days' Notice at least of the Time, Place, and Object of the Meeting shall be given by affixing the same on or near the Door of every Church and Chapel within the Parish, and also by advertising the same in One or more of the Newspapers published or circulated within the Parish, Seven Days at least before the Day appointed for the Meeting ; and if at such Meeting Two-thirds of the Ratepayers then present shall determine that this Act ought to be adopted for such Parish, the same shall come into operation in such Parish, and the Vestry shall forthwith appoint not less than Three nor more than Nine Rate- payers Commissioners for carrying the Act into execution, who shall be a Body Corporate by the name of " The Commissioners for Public Libraries and Museums for the Parish of , in the County of ," and by that name may sue and be sued, and hold and dispose of Lands, and use a Common Seal : Provided always, that in any Parish where there shall not be a greater Population than Eight thousand Inhabitants by the then last Census, it shall be lawful for any Ten Ratepayers to deliver a Requisition by them signed, and describing their Place of Residence, to the Overseers or one of the Overseers of the said Parish, requiring the Votes of the Ratepayers at such Meeting to be taken according to the Provisions of the Act passed in the Fifty-eighth Year of the Reign of King George the Third, Chapter Sixty-nine, and the Votes at such Meeting shall thereupon be taken according to the Provisions of the said last- mentioned Act of Parliament, and not otherwise. Retiring from Office. IX. At the Termination of every Year (the Year being reckoned from and exclusive of the Day of the First Appoint- ment of Commissioners) a Meeting of the Vestry shall be held, at which Meeting One-third or as nearly as may be One-third of the Commissioners, to be determined by Ballot, shall go out of Office, and the Vestry shall appoint other Commissioners in their Place, but the outgoing Com- missioners may be re-elected ; and the Vestry shall fill up every Vacancy among the Commissioners, whether occurring by Death, Resignation, or otherwise, as soon as possible after the same occurs. Meetings of Commissioners. X. The Commissioners shall meet at least once iii every Calendar Month, and at such other Times as they think fit, at the Public Library or Museum or some other convenient Place ; and any one Commissioner may summon a Special Meeting of the Com- missioners by giving Three clear Days' Notice in Writing to each Coiiiinissinier, specifying therein the Purpose for which the Meeting is AIM'KXMX H. called : and no Business shall be transacted at any Meeting of the Com- missioners unless at least Two Commissioners shall be present Minutes of Proceedings. XI. All Orders and Proceedings of the Commissioners shall be entered in Books to be kept l>y them for that Purpose, and shall be signed by the Commissioners or any Two of them ; and all such Orders and Proceedings so entered, and purporting to be so signed, shall be deemed to be original Orders and Proceedings, and such Books may be produced and read as Evidence of all such Orders and Proceedings upon any judicial Proceeding whatsoever. Accounts. XII. The Commissioners shall keep distinct and regular Accounts of their Receipts, Payments, Credits, and Liabilities with refer- ence to the Execution of this Act, which Accounts shall be audited yearly by the Poor Law Auditor, if the Accounts of Poor Rate Expenditure of the parish be audited by a Poor Law Auditor, but if not so audited, then byTwo Auditors not b3ing Commissioner*, who shall be yearly appointed by the Vestry, and the Auditor or Auditors shall report thereon, and such Report shall be laid before the Vestry by the Commissioners. Expenses. XIII. The Expenses of calling and holding the Meeting of the Ratepayers, whether this Act shall be adopted or not, and the Expenses of carrying this Act into execution in any Parish, to su>-h Amount as shall be from time to time sanctioned by the Vestry, shall be paid out of a Rate to be made and recovered in like Manner as a Poor Rate, except that every Person occupying Lands used as Arable, Meadow, or Pasture Ground only, or as Woodlands or Market Gardens, or Nursery Grounds, shall be rated in respect of the same in the Proportion of One-Third part only of the full net annual Value thereof respectively ; the Vestiy to be called for the Purpose of sanctioning the Amount shall be convened in the Manner usual in the Parish : the Amount for the Time being proposed to be raised for such Expenses shall be expressed in the Notice convening the Vestry, and shall l>e paid, according to the Order of the Vestry, to such Person as shall be appointed by the Commissioners to receive the same : Provided always, that in the Notices requiring the Payment of the Rate there shall bo stated the Proportion which the Amount to be thereby raised for the Purposes of this Act shall bear to the total Amount of the Bite. Vestries combining. XIV. The Vestries of any Two or more neigh- bouring Parishes having according to the then last Census an aggregate Population exceeding Five thousand Persons may adopt this Act, in like Manner as if the Population of each of those Parishes according to the then last Census exceeded Five thousand, and may concur in carrying the same into execution in such Parishes for such Time as they shall mutually agree ; and such Vestries may decide that a Public Library or Museum, or both, shall be erected in any One of such Parishes, and that the Expenses of carrying this Act into execution with reference to the same shall be borne by such Parishes in such Proportions as such Vestries shall mutually approve ; the Proportion for each of such Parishes of such Expenses shall be paid out of the Monies to be raised for the Relief of th Poor of the same respective Parishes accordingly ; but no more than Three Commissioners shall be appointed for each Parish ; and the Commissioners so appointed for each of such Parishes shall in the Management of the said Public Library and Museum form One Body of Commissioners, and shall act accordingly in the Execution of this Act ; and the Accounts of the Commissioners shall be examined and reported on by the Auditor or Auditors of each of such Parishes ; and the surplus ~>:\-\ 1TB1.U- LIBRARIES. Money at the Disposal as aforesaid of such Coin missioners shall be paid t<> tin- Overseers of such Parishes respectively, m the proportion in which snc-li 1'aiishes shall be liable to such Expenses. Rates levied. XV. The Amount of the Rate to be levied in any Borough, District, or Parish in any One Year for the Purposes of this Act shall not exceed the Sum of One Penny in the Pound ; and for the pur- poses of the Library R-ite all the Clauses of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, with respect to the Manner of making Rates, to the Appeal to be made against any Rate, and to the Recovery of Rates, shall be incorporated with this Act ; and whenever the Words " Special Act " occur in the Act so incorporated they shall mean " The Public Libraries Act, 1855." Accounts of Board. The Accounts of the said Board and Commis- sioners respectively, with reference to the Execution of this Act, shall at all reasonable Times be open, without Charge, to the Inspection of every Person rated to the Improvement Rate or to the Rates for the Relief of the Poor of the Parish, as the Case may be, who may make Copies of or Extracts from such Accounts, without paying for the same ; and in case the Board or the Commissioners, or any of them respectively, or any of their respective Officers or Servants having the Custody of such Accounts, shall not permit the same Accounts to be inspected, or Copies of or Extracts from the same to be made, every Person so offending shall for every such Offence forfeit any Sum not exceeding Five Pounds. Power to Borrow. XVI. For carrying this Act into execution, the Council, Board, or Commissioners respectively may, with the Approval of Her Majesty's Treasury (and as to the Commissioners, with the Sanction also of the Vestry and the Poor Law Board), from Time to Time borrow at Interest, on the Security of a Mortgage or Bond of the Borough Fund, or of the Rates levied in pursuance of this Act, such Sums of Money as maybe by them respectively required, and the Commissioners for carrying into execution the Act of the Ninth and Tenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Eighty, may from Time to Time advance and lend any such Sums of Money. Provisions of Borrowing. XVII. The Clauses and Provisions of "The Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845," with respect to the borrow- ing of Money on Mortgage or Bond, and the Accountability of Officers, and the Recovery of Damages and Penalties, so far as such Provisions may respectively be applicable to the Purposes of this Act, shall be respectively incorporated with this Act. Lands, &c., appropriated. XVIII. The Council of any Borough and the Board of any District respectively may from Time to Time, with the Approval of Her Majesty's Treasury, appropriate for the purposes of this Act any Lands vested, as the Case may be, in a Borough, in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, and in a District in the Board ; and the Council, Board, and Commissioners respectively may also, with such Approval, purchase or rent any Lands or any suitable Buildings ; and the Council and Board and Commissioners respectively may, upon any Lands so appropriated, purchased, or rented respectively, erect any Buildings suitable for Public Libraries or Museums, or both, or for Schools for Science or Art, and may apply, take down, alter, and extend any buildings for such Purposes, and rebuild, repair, and improve the same respectively, and fit up, furnish, and supply the same respectively with all requisite Furniture, Fittings, and Conveniences. AIM'KVMX II. 535 XIX. "The Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845," shall be incor- porated with this Act ; but the Council, Board, and Commissioner* respectively shall not purchase or take any Lands otherwise than by Agreement. Lands Sold, Ac. XX. The Council, Board, and Commissioners aforesaid respectively may, with the like Approval as is required for the Purchase of Lands, sell any Lands vested in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, or Board, or Commissioners respectively, for the Pur|x>ses of this Act, or exchange the same for any Lands better adapted for the Purposes ; and the Monies to arise from such Sale, or to be received for Equality of Exchange, or a sufficient Part thereof, shall be applied in or towards the Purchase of other Lauds better adapted for such Purposes. General Management. XXI. The general Management, Regulation, and Control of such Libraries and Museums, Schools for Science and Art, shall be, as to any Borough, vested in and exercised by the Council, and as to any District in and by the Board, and as to any Parish or Parishes in and by the Commissioners or such Committee as such Council or Board may from Time to Time appoint, the Members whereof need not be members of the Council or Board or be Commissioners, who may from Time to Time purchase and provide the necessary Fuel, Lighting, and other similar Matters, Books, Newspapers, Maps, and Specimens of Art and Science, for the Use of the Library or Museum, or School, and cause the same to be bound or repaired when necessary, and appoint salaried Officers and Servants, and dismiss the same, and make Rules and Regulations for the Safety and Use of the Libraries and Museums, and Schools, and for the Admission of th Public. Property Vested. XXII. The Lands and Buildings so to be ap- propriated, purchased, or rented as aforesaid, and all other Real and Personal Property whatever presented to or purchased for any Library or Museum established under this Act, or School, shall be vested, in the Case of a Borough in the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses, in tke Case of a District in the Board, and in the case of a Parish or Parishes in the Commissioners. XXIII. If any Meeting called as aforesaid to determine as to the Adoption of this Act for any Borough, District, or Parish shall determine against the Adoption, no Meeting for a similar Purpose shall be held for the Space of One Year at least from the Time of holding the previous Meeting. City of London. XXIV. The Lord Mayor of the City of London shall, on the Request of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons of the City of London, in Common Council assembled, convene a Public Meeting in manner hereinbefore mentioned of all Persons rated and assessed to the Consolidated Rate in the City of London, in order to determine whether this Act shall be adopted in the said City ; and if at such Meeting Two-thirds of such Persons then present shall deter- mine that this Act ought to be adopted for the City of London, the same shall thenceforth take effect and come into operation in the City of London, and shall be carried into execution in accordance with the Laws for the Time being in force relating to the City of London : I'rovided always, that the Resolution of such Public Meeting, signed by the Lord Mayor, shall be reported to the said Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons, in Common Council assembled, and entered on the Minutes thereof, and that such Entry shall be Evidence : the Expenses incurred 588 ITV.MC LIBRARIES. in calling and holding the Meeting, whether this Act shall be adopted or not, and the expenses of carrying this Act into execution in the City of London shall be paid out of the Consolidated Rate, and the Commissioners of Sewers of the City of London may levy a Part of the Consolidated Rate, or, by a separate Rate, to be assessed and recovered in like Manner as the Consolidated Rate, all Monies from Time to Time necessary for defraying such Expenses, and distinct Accounts shall be kept of the Receipts, Payments, and Liabilities of the said Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Commons with reference to the Execution of the Act. XXV. The Admission to all Libraries and Museums established under this Act shall be open to the Public free of all Charge. XXVI. This Act shall not extend to Ireland or Scotland. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' AMENDMENT ACT (ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND), 1866. 29 AND 30 VICTORIA, CAP. CXIV. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Act. [10th August, 1866.] WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the Public Libraries Act, 1855, and to assimilate the Laws relating to Public Libraries in England and Scotland : Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows : 1. So much of the Section Fifteen of the said Public Libraries Act, 1855, as incorporates with that Act certain Clauses of the Towns Improve- ment Clauses Act, 1847, shall, so far as the same relates to or concerns Municipal Boroughs, be repealed. Clauses Repealed. 2. Section Five of the said Act, except so much thereof as relates to keeping distinct Accounts, shall be repealed ; and the Expenses incurred in calling and holding the Meeting, whether the said Act shall be adopted or not, and the Expenses of carrying the said Act into execution in any Municipal Borough, may be paid out of the Borough Rate of such Borough, or by and out of a Rate to be made and recovered in such Borough, in like Manner as a Borough Rate may be made and recovered therein, but the Amount so paid in such Borough in any One Year shall not exceed the Sum of One Penny in the Pound upon the Annual Value of the Property in such Borough rateable to a Borough Rate : Provided always, that nothing in this Act shall interfere with the Operation of the Act Twenty-eighth and Twenty-ninth Victoria, Chapter One hundred and eight, so far as it relates to the Collection of a Rate for a Public Library in the City of Oxford. In Boroughs. 3. The Public Meeting mentioned in Section 4 of the said Public Libraries Act, 1855, shall be called either on the Request of the Town Council, or on the Request in Writing of Ten Ratepayers residing in the Borough. Parishes. 4. Any Parish, of whatever Population, adjoining any Borough, District, or Parish which shall have adopted or shall contem- plate the Adoption of the said Public Libraries Act, 1855, may, with the Consent of more than One-half of the Ratepayers thereof present at a Meeting to be convened in manner directed by the said Act with reference to Meetings of Ratepayers, and with the Consent also of the Town Council APPPA'DIX II. of such Borough; or the Board of such District, or the Commissioners of such Parish, as the Case may be, determine that such adjoining I'aruh shall for the Purposes of the said Act form Part of such Borough, District, or Parish, and thereupon the Vestry of such adjoining Parish shall forth' with appoint Three Ratepayers Commissioners for such Parish, One-third of whom shall go out of Office and the Vacancies be tilled up as provided by the said Act with respect to the Commissioners of a Parish, and such Commissioners for the Time being shall for the Purposes of the said Act be considered as Part of such Town Council, Board, or Commissioners as the Case may be ; and the Expenses of calling the Meeting, and the Pro- portion of the Expenses of such adjoining Parish of carrying the said Act into execution shall be paid out of the Poor Rates thereof to such Person as the Commissioners of the said adjoining Parish shall appoint to receive the same. A Majority of One-half. 5. The Majority necessary to be obtained for the Adoption of the said Act or the Public Libraries Act (Scotland), 1854, shall be more than One-half of the Persons present at the Meeting, instead of Two-thirds of such Persons as now required. Act may be adopted whatever Amount of Population. 6. The Public Libraries Act (1855) and the Public Libraries Act (Scotland) (1854) shall be applicable to any Borough, District, or Parish, or Burgh, of whatever Population. 7. So much of Section 6 of the Public Libraries Act (Scotland), 1854, as authorizes the demanding of a Poll and Sections Seven and Eight of the said Act, are hereby repealed. 8. If any Meeting called as provided by the said last-mentioned Act shall determine against the Adoption of the Act in any Burgh, no Meeting for a similar Purpose shall be held for the Space of One Year at least from the Time of holding the previous Meeting. Borrowing. 9. The Clauses and Provisions of the Companies Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act (1845) with respect to the borrowing of Money upon Mortgage or Bond, and the Accountability of Officers, and the Recovery of Damages and Penalties, so far as such Provisions may respectively be applicable to the Purposes of the said Public Libraries Act (Scotland) (1854), shall be respectively incorporated with that Act. Museums. 10. Wherever a Public Museum or Library has been estab- lished under any Act relating to Public Libraries or Museums, or shall hereafter be established under either of the said before-mentioned Acts, a Public Library or Museum, as the Case may be, may at any time be established in connection therewith without any further Proceedings being taken under the said Acts. 11. This Act may be cited as The Public Libraries Amendment Act (England and Scotland), 1866, and shall be taken to be Part of the said Public Libraries Act, 1855, and shall be construed accordingly. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT (1855) AMENDMENT ACT, 1871. 34 AND 35 VICTORIA, CAP. LXXI. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Act, 1855. [14th August, 1871.] WHEREAS it is expedient to amend and extend the Public Libraries Act, 1855, hereinafter referred to as the " principal Act : " Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and .538 TM'ni.ir i,nmAiuKs. with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : 1. Every local board, under the Public Health Act, 1848, and the Local Government Act, 1858, or either of them, is empowered, in like manner as a board under any Improvement Act, to adopt and carry into execution the principal Act. Interpretation of Terms. 2. For the purposes aforesaid, the following words in the principal Act shall have the following extended significa- tions, viz., the word " board" shall mean any such local board as afore- said ; the words " improvement rate " shall mean the general district rate levied by any such board ; the word "ratepayers" shall mean all persons assessed to and paying such general district rate ; the word "district" shall mean the district in which such local board has authority to levy a general district rate ; the term " Improvement Act " shall mean the Local Government Act, 1858. 3. So much of section fifteen of the principal Act as refers to the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, shall not apply to rates made by local boards under the principal Act ; but nothing herein contained shall enable local boards to levy or expend for the purposes of the principal Act any greater sum in any year than one penny in the pound. Borrowing Powers. 4. For carrying into execution the principal Act, every such local board may borrow upon mortgage of the general district rate or any separate rate to be levied under the principal Act ; and such borrowing shall be effected in conformity with the provisions as to borrowing contained in the Local Government Act, 1858, and the Acts incorporated therewith, in lieu of the provisions as to borrowing contained in the principal Act. 5. This Act shall not apply to any district the whole or any part of which is within any municipal borough, or within the jurisdiction of commissioners under any Improvement Act. 6. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Public Libraries Act (1855) Amendment Act, 1871." PUBLIC LIBRARIES' AMENDMENT ACT, 1877. 40 AND 41 VICTORIA, CAP. LIV. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Acts. [14th August, 1877.] TTTHEREAS by the Public Libraries Acts, 18 & 19 Victoria, c. 40, VV for Ireland ; 29 & 30 Victoria, c. 114, for England ; and 30 & 31 Victoria, c. 37, for Scotland, the mode by which the Act is to be adopted is prescribed to be by public meeting, and it has been found that in many cases a public meeting is a most incorrect and unsatis- factory mode, and fails to indicate the general opinion of the rate- payers, and it is desirable to ascertain these opinions more correctly : Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : Voting Papers. 1. It shall be competent for the prescribed local authority in any place or community which has the power to adopt one of the above recited Acts, to ascertain the opinions of the majority of the -\pi>r:N-i>ix IT. 539 ratepayers either by the prescribed public meeting or by the issue of a voting paper to each ratepayer, and the subsequent collection and scrutiny thereof, and any expense in connection with such voting papers shall he borne in the same way as the expense of a public meeting would be borne, and the decision of the majority so ascertained shall be equally binding. Assessment. 2. In addition to the simple vote "Yes" or "No "to the adoption of the Act, .such voting paper may stipulate that its adoption shall be subject to a limitation to some lower rate of assessment than the maximum allowed by Act of Parliament in force at the time, and such lower limit, if once adopted, shall not be subsequently altered except by public vote similarly taken. 3. "Ratepayer" shall mean every inhabitant who would have to pay the Free Library assessment in event of the Act being adopted. 4. This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries Amendment Act, 1877. MALICIOUS INJURIES TO PROPERTY ACT (1861) (ENGLAND AND IRELAND). 24 AND 25 VICTORIA, CAP. XCVIL, 39. "ITTHOEVER shall unlawfully and maliciously destroy or damage any VV Book, Manuscript, Picture, Print, Statue, Bust or Vase, or any other Article or Thing kept for the purposes of Art, Science, or Literature, or as an Object of Curiosity, in any Museum, Gallery, Cabinet, Library, or other Repository, which .Museum, Gallery, Cabinet, Library, or other Repository is either at all Times or from Time to Time open for the Admission of the Public or of any considerable Number of Persons to view the same, either by the permission of the Proprietor thereof or by the Payment of Money before entering the same, or any Picture, Statue, Monument, or other Memorial of the Dead, Painted Glass, or other Ornament or Work of Art, in any Church, Chapel, Meeting House, or other Place of Divine Worship, or in any Building belonging to the Queen, or to any County, Riding, Division, City, Borough, Poor-Law Union, Parish, or Place, or to any University, or College, or Hall of any University, or to any Inn of Court, or to any Street, Square, Churchyard, Burial Ground, Public Garden or Ground, or any Statue or Monument exposed to Public View, or any Ornament, Railing, or Fence surrounding such Statue or Monument, shall be guilty of a Misdemeanour, and being convicted thereof, shall be liable to be imprisoned for any Term not exceeding Six Months, with or without Hard Labour, and, if a Male under the Age of Sixteen Years, with or without Whipping : provided that nothing herein con- tained shall be deemed to affect the Right of any Person to recover, by Action of Law, Damages for the Injury so committed. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT, 1884. 47 AND 48 VICTORIA, CAP. XXXVII. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Acts. [28th July, 1884.] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temj>oral, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows ; 540 prm.ir LIBRARIES. School* Oi' Art. -- 1. Whereas doubts have arisen as to whether authori- ties acting under the Public Libraries Acts have power to fulfil the conditions required for a parliamentary grant in aid of the establishment of a School of Science and Art, and it is expedient to remove such doubts : It is therefore hereby declared and enacted that, Where any authority acting under the Public Libraries Acts accepts a grant out of moneys provided by Parliament from any Committee of the Privy Council on Education towards the purchase of the site, or the erection, enlargement, or repair of any School for Science and Art, or School for Science, or School for Art, or of the residence of any teacher in such school, or towards the furnishing of any such school, such authority shall have power to accept such grant upon the conditions prescribed for the acceptance thereof by the said Committee, and to execute such instruments as may be required by the said Committee for carrying into effect such conditions, and upon payment of the grant shall, together with their successors, be bound by such conditions and instrument, and have power and be bound to fulfil and observe the same. 2. Whereas section eighteen of the Public Libraries Act, 1855, as regards England, and section nine of the Public Libraries Act (Ireland), 1855, as regards Ireland, provide for the erection of buildings " suitable for Public Libraries, or Museums, or both, or for Schools for Science or Art " : And whereas section ten of the Public Libraries Act (Scotland), 1.867, provides for the erection of buildings "suitable for Public Libraries, Art Galleries, or Museums, or each respectively," and doubts are entertained as to the meaning of those provisions : Now, therefore, it is hereby declared and enacted that Buildings may under the said sections be erected for Public Libraries, Public Museums, Schools for Science, Art Galleries, and Schools for Art, or for any one or more of those objects. Power to establish Museum. 3. (1.) Where any of the following institutions, namely, a Public Museum, a Public Library, a School for Science and Art, a School for Science, a School for Art, or an Art Gallery, has been established either before or after the passing of this Act under the Public Libraries Acts, or any of them, there may at any time be established in connection therewith any other of the said institutions without any further proceedings being taken under the said Acts. (2.) Section ten of the Public Libraries Amendment Act (England and Scotland), 1866, and section seventeen of the Public Libraries Act (Scotland), 1867, are hereby repealed, without prejudice to anything done under those sections. 4. In this Act, The expression " Public Libraries Acts " means as respects England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively, the Acts mentioned in the first, second, and third parts respectively of the schedule to this Act. The expression "authority acting under the Public Libraries Acts " means the council, board, magistrates, or commissioners acting in execution of the said Public Libraries Acts. 5. This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries Act, 1884. The Acts mentioned in the first part of the schedule to this Act may be cited together with this Act as the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1884. The Acts mentioned in the second part of the schedule to this Act may be cited together with this Act as the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, 1867 to 1884. APPKXWX II. .,] The Acts mentioned in the third part of the schedule to this Act may be cited together with this Act as the Public Libraries ( Ireland) Acts, 1855 to 1884. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1887. 50 AND 51 VICTORIA, CAP. XXII. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Acts. [8th August, 1887.] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : Preliminary, Short Titles. 1. This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries Acte Amendment Act, 1887, and may, together with the Acts mentioned in the schedule hereto, be cited as the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1887. Construction of Act. 2. This Act shall be construed with the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1884, and expressions used in this Act shall, unless the context requires a different construction, have the same meaning as in those Acts, and where any section in any of those Acts has been modified by a subsequent Act, the reference herein made to such section shall be construed to refer to the section so modified, and the reference shall have effect accordingly. Extent of Act. 3. This Act shall not apply to Scotland, Ireland, or the city of London. Definitions. 4. In this Act "Metropolis" shall mean the metropolis as defined by the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, excluding the city of London ; "Library Authority" means the Council, Commissioners, Board, or other persons or authority carrying into execution the Public Libraries Acts. 1 ' District Board " means a district board constituted under the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and "District" shall have a correspond- ing signification. lending Library. 5. The power to erect, establish, and maintain a library, given by the Public Libraries Act, 1855 (hereinafter called the principal Act), shall be extended so as to empower the library authority to establish and maintain a lending library without providing any separate building for containing the same, and to enable them to place such lending library under the care and superintendence of such person as they shafl think fit, and in a building or room not appropriated for the puqioses of the said Act, or erected, purchased, or rented by the library authority, and all the powers of the said Acts shall be applicable for the purpOMi of. this section. Amendment of Acts. 6. So much of section fifteen of the principal Act as incorporates with that Act certain clauses of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847, is hereby repealed. The Public Libraries Amendment Act, 18/7, shall have etlect as if Public Libraries A:t, 1855, were recited therein. 642 PUBLIC LIBRABIKs. General Provision.*. Borrowing by Library Authorities. 7. Sections two hundred and thirty-three, two hundred and thirty-four, and two hundred and thirty- six to two hundred and thirty-nine, both inclusive, of the Public Health Act, 1875, shall apply, with the necessary modifications, to all money borrowed by any library authority after the passing of this Act, as if the library authority wei e an urban sanitary authority and as if references to the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1887, were substituted in those sections and in the forms therein mentioned for references to the Sanitary Acts or the Public Health Act, 1875. So much of section seventeen of the principal Act as incorporates the clauses and provisions of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, with respect to the borrowing of money on mortgage or bond is hereby repealed except as to any money borrowed before the passing of this Act. Transfer to Local Government Board. 8. The powers and duties of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury under the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1887, shall from and after the passing of this Act be transferred to the Local Government Board, and sections sixteen and eighteen of the principal Act shall be construed and have effect as if a reference to the approval of the Local Government Board were therein substituted for a reference to the approval of Her Majesty's Treasury. Provision as to Parish. 9. Where any parish is partly within and partly without any borough or district which shall have adopted or shall contemplate the adoption of the principal Act, the part of such parish without the borough or district shall, for the purposes of the fourth section of the Public Libraries Amendment Act (England and Scotland), 1866, be considered a parish within the meaning of the said section ; and the overseers of the poor for the said parish shafl, for the purposes of the said section, be considered the overseers of the part of the parish situate without the borough or district, and the expenses referred to in the said section shall, so far as such part of the parish is concerned, be defrayed out of a rate to be levied by the overseers in such part of the parish, either as an addition to the poor rate, or as a separate rate to be made and recovered in the same way as a poor rate, and to be subject to the same rights of appeal. Pi'ovisw>is qffcctiiiy tic. Metropolis only. Power for District. 10. In the metropolis any district shall have power to adopt the principal Act, and for such purpose the said Act shall be altered and have effect as follows : (1.) Sections eight, nine, twelve, fifteen, twenty-one, and twenty-two, shall be read as if the word " district" was substituted for the word "parish"; and the words "district board" instead of the word "overseers" and the word "vestry," as the case may be. (2.) Section thirteen shall not apply, and instead thereof the following provisions shall have effect : The expenses of calling and holding the meeting of the ratepayers, whether the principal Act shall be adopted or not, and the expenses incurred by the Commissioners in carrying the said Act and the Acts amending the same into execution in any dis- trict, to such amount as shall be from time to time sanctioned by the district board, shall he paid out of the funds of the dis- trict board applicable to the general expenses incurred by them APPKNDIX II. .',!.; in the execution of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855, and the sums required for the purpose of defraying the expense* incurred by the Commissioners as aforesaid shall be paid by the district board to such person as shall be appointed by the Com- missioners to receive the same, but nothing herein contained shall enable district boards to levy or expend lor the purposes of the principal Act and the Acts amending the same any greater sum in any year than one penny in the pound. (3.) Section fourteen shall be read as if the words "district boards" were substituted for the word "vestries"; the word "district" for "parish"; and "funds applicable to the general expenses incurred by the district board in the execution of the Metropolis Management Act, 1855," for " money to be raised for the relief of the poor," and section sixteen shall be read as if the words " district board" were substituted for the word "vestry," and the words "rates out of which the expenses of the Commissioners are payable" for the words "rates levied in pursuance of this Act." (4.) Where any parish has, previously to the passing of this Act, adopted the principal Act, or shall subsequently adopt the same : (a.) No person shall, by reason of being a ratepayer of such parish, be accounted as a ratepayer of the district of which it forms a part. (b. ) No representative on the district board for such parish shall take any part in any proceedings under this section. (c. ) Such parish shall not be called upon to contribute towards any expenses incurred, and no part of the funds of such parish shall be expended in or towards calling or holding the meeting of the ratepayers of the district, or carrying the Act into execution in the district. (d.) And, in every respect, such parish shall, for the purposes of this section, be treated as if it were outside the district. (c.) Any question of accounts arising between such parish and the other parishes in the district, or between such parish anil the district, in consequence of this section, shall be decided finally by the Local Government Board. Power of Parish. 11. This Act shall not deprive any parish in the metropolis of the power of adopting the principal Act, but after any district shall have adopted the said Act, no parish within such district shall also adopt it in manner provided by section one of the Public Libraries Amendment Act, 1877, or hold a meeting for considering its adoption, without the consent of the Local Government Board. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' CONSOLIDATION (SCOTLAND) ACT, 1887. 50 AND 51 VICTORIA, CAP. XLII. An Act to amend and consolidate the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acta. [16th September, 1887.] WHEREAS it is expedient to amend and consolidate the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, 1867 to 1884 : Be it therefor* enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Tem]>oral, and Commons, in this present Pailianieiit assembled, and bv the authority of the same, as follows : Short Title. 1. This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887, and shall apply to Scotland only. Definitions. 2. The following words and expressions in this Act shall have the meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction ; that is to say, "Burgh" shall include royal burgh, parliamentary burgh, burgh incorporated by Act of Parliament, burgh of regality, burgh of barony, and any populous place or police burgh administered wholly or partly under any general or local police Act, and the boundaries of such burgh shall, for the purposes of this Act, be the boundaries to which such general or local police Act extends : " Parish" shall mean a parish for which a separate poor rate is or can be imposed, or for which a separate parochial board is or can be appointed, and shall be exclusive of the area of any burgh or part of a burgh situated therein : " Householders " shall mean, in the case of a burgh, all persons whose names are entered on the municipal register, and in the case of a parish, all persons entitled to a vote in the election of a school board in such parish, under the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and any Act amending the same : "Magistrates and council" shall be applied collectively, and not separately, and shall include provost, magistrates, and town council, magistrates and commissioners of police, and any other body of pei-sons for the time being in office, by authority of whom the burgh general assessment is levied ; and where in any burgh the magistrates and council form a corporate body, and there is also in the same burgh a board of commissioners of police by whom the burgh general assessment is levied, the words " magistrates and council ' shall, as regards the levying and recovering of the library rate, apply to such commissioners of police, but in every other respect it shall apply to such corporate body of magistrates and council ' "Chief magistrate" shall include provost, and shall apply to any magistrate legally acting as chief magistrate for the time being : "Board " shall mean the parochial board acting under the Act eighth and ninth Victoria, chapter eighty -three, and any Act amending the same: " Committee " shall mean the committee appointed under any Public Libraries Act affecting Scotland for the time being, or this Act : 1 ' Municipal register " shall mean the register, list, or roll of persons entitled to vote in an election of town councillors or commissioners of police, in a burgh, made up according to the law in force for the time being : "Burgh general assessment" shall mean an assessment which, under any general or local police Act, shall be applicable to the general purposes of such Act : " Library rate " shall mean the rate or assessment authorized by this Act for the purpose of carrying the Act into execution : " Libraries and museums " and " libraries or museums " shall include schools for science, art galleries, and schools for art, and these expressions, or either of them, when used in the singular, shall include a school for science, an art gallery, and a school for art : Words importing the masculine gender shall, when applied to house- holders, include female householders. Repeal Clauses. 3. The Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts, 1867 to 1884, AIM'KXIlIX II. .-(.-, so far as the same relate to Scotland, are hereby repealed ; but such repeal shall not invalidate or affect anything already done in pursuance of these Acts, or any ->f them, and all burghs and parishes in Scotland whi.-h before the passing of this Act have adopted the recited Acts shall tin-n- affer be subject to the provisions of this Act : Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall prejudice or affect the provisions of the Edinburgh Public Library Assessment Act, 1887. Adoption of Act. 4. Upon the requisition in writing of the magistrates and council of any burgh, or of ten or more householders in any burgh or parish, the chief magistrate of such burgh, or in the case of a parish, the sheriff of the county in which such parisn or the greater part of the area thereof is situated, shall ascertain the opinions of the householders in such burgh or parish as to the adoption of this Act in the manner set forth in Schedules (A.) or (B.) hereto annexed, which schedules shall be construed and have effect as part of this Act, provided that where in any burgh the number of householders exceeds three thousand, the chief magistrate shall adopt the procedure, by way of voting paper, set forth in Schedule (A.), but in any other case it shall be optional to the chief magistrate or to the sheriff, as the case may be, to adopt such procedure by way of voting paper, or the procedure by way of public meeting, set forth in Schedule (B.). If not adopted. 5. In the event of the householders determining by a majority of votes that this Act shall be adopted in any burgh or parish, the same shall from thenceforth come into operation therein ; but if by a majority of votes they shall determine against the adoption, the like pro- cedure shall not take place for the space of at least two years from the date of such determination. Expenses of Determining. 6, The expense of the procedure for deter- mining as to the adoption of this Act shall, if the Act be not adopted, be paid, in the case of a burgh, out of the borough general assessment, and in the case of a parish, out of the assessment for the relief of the poor in such parish, or where there is no such assessment, by a rate which the board are hereby empowered to levy and recover for this purpose, in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as are applicable to the library rate ; but if the Act shall have been adopted the expenses of the Srocedure under which it has been adopted shall be payable out of the brary rate, and it shall be in the power of the chief magistrate or of the sheriff, as the case may be, immediately upon the adoption of the Act to borrow such sum or sums as may be necessary to defray such expenses on the security of the library rate to be afterwards levied. Expenses of Carrying. 7. The expenses of carrying this Act into exe- cution, when adopted, including all sums payable in respect of interest and sinking fund for money authorized to be borrowed, and all sums necessary for the maintenance and management of the libraries and museums established under this Art, or to which this Act applies, or for the purchase of the articles and things authorized by this Act to be pur- chased, shall be paid out of the library rate, which shall be levied and recovered, in the case of a burgh, by the magistrates and council, from the same description of persons and property, and with and under the like powers, provisions, and exceptions as the burgh general assessment, and in the case of a parish by the board, from the same description of persons and property, and with and under the like powers, provisions, and exceptions as the assessment leviable under the Act eighth and ninth Victoria, chapter eighty-three. O4li Prill. 1C I.IBR.U!II>. Rate. 8. The amount of the library rate to be levied in any year shall in no case exceed the sum of one penny in the pound of yearly rent or annual value as appearing on the valuation roll, and where, under the provisions of any general or local police Act, the burgh general assessment is or may be levied at a higher rate upon lands or premises above a certain fixed rent than upon lower rented lands or premises, such provisions, so far as they authorize such differential rate, shall not be applicable to or alFect the library rate. Accounts. 9. The magistrates and council of a burgh, or the board of a parish, as the case may be, shall provide and keep books in which shall be entered true and regular accounts of their receipts, payments, and liabilities with reference to the execution of this Act, which books shall, at all reasonable times, be open, without fee or reward, to the inspection of every person liable to be assessed for the library rate ; and the magis- trates and council or board, as the case may be, shall cause such accounts to be annually audited by one or more competent auditors, not being members of the committee, after which audit the accounts shall be signed by two of the magistrates and council, or two members of the board, as the case may be, and an abstract thereof similarly signed shall be printed and shall be inserted in one or more newspapers published or circulated in the burgh or parish. Lands, &c., may be Appropriated. 10. The magistrates and council or board, as the case may be, may from time to time appropriate, for the purposes of this Act, any lands or buildings vested in them, and may, out of the library rate, or out of money borrowed as herein provided, purchase, feu, or rent any land, or any suitable building j and may, upon the land so appropriated, rented, feued, or purchased, erect any building suitable for public libraries, public museums, schools for science, art galleries, and schools for art, or for any one or more of those objects, and may alter or extend any buildings for such purposes, and repair and improve the same respectively, and fit up, furnish, and supply the same respectively with all requisite furniture, fittings, and conveniences. Parts of 8&9Vict., c. 19, Incorporated. 11. The clauses and pro- visions of the Lands Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act. 1845, with respect to the purchase of lands by agreement, and with respect to the purchase money or compensation coming to parties having limited interests, or prevented from treating or not making title, and with respect to con- veyances of lands, so far as such clauses and provisions are applicable to purchases, feus, or leases authorized by this Act, and are not herein expressly varied, shall be incorporated with this Act ; and the expression " the special Act " used in such clauses and provisions shall be construed to 7nean this Act ; and the expression ' ' the promoters of the undertaking " used in such clauses and provisions shall be construed to mean the magis- trates and council, or the board, as the case mav be. Lands, &c., may be Sold. 12. The magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, may sell any lands, buildings, or other pro- perty vested in them for the purposes of this Act, or exchange the same for any lands, buildings, or other property better adapted for such pur- poses, and the money arising from such sale, and the property received in exchange, shall be applied and held for the purposes of this Act. Lands, &c., Vested, Ac. 13. The lands and buildings so to be appro- priated, purchased, or rented, and all other real or personal property whatever, presented to or purchased for any library or museum established AI'I'KMHX II. .-, J7 under this Act or to which this Act applies, shall in the case of a burgh be vested in the magistrates and council, and in the case of a parish in the board. Powers of Borrowing 14. The magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, may from time to time borrow at interest on mortgage or bond on the security of the rate to be levied in pursuance of this Act, for the purposes thereof, a sum or sums of money not exceeding the capita! sum represented by one- fourth part of the library rate, authorized by this Act, capitalized at the rate of twenty years' purchase of such sum ; and on repayment of such sum or sums, or any part thereof, they may from tinn- to time re-borrow in manner and for the purposes aforesaid, but so that the whole sum borrowed at any one time shall not exceed the amount of the said capital sum after deducting therefrom any sums set apart as a sinking fund as hereinafter provided. Sinking Fund. 15. The magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, are hereby required to set apart annually, as a sinking fund for the extinction of capital sums borrowed under the authority of any library Act in force for the time being, or of this Act, a sum equal to a't least one-fiftieth part of the money so borrowed, and such sinking fund shall be from time to time applied in repayment of the money so borrou !, and to no other purpose whatever, and shall be lodged in a joint stock bank of issue in Scotland, or invested in Government securities, or lent out at interest in the name and at the discretion of the magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, until the same be applied for the purpose before specified. Farts of 10 & 11 Viet. c. 16, Incorporated. 16. The clauses and pro- visions of the Commissioners Clauses Act, 1847, with respect to the liabilities of the commissioners, and to legal proceedings by or against the commissioners, and with respect to mortgages to be executed by the commissioners, excepting sections eighty-four, eighty-six, and eighty- seven, shall, unless herein expressly varied, be incorporated with this Act, and the several words and expressions, to which by the last recited Act meanings are assigned, shall in this Act have the same respective mean- ings, unless there be something in the subject or context repugnant to such construction ; and the expression " the special Act " used in such clauses and provisions herewith incorporated shall mean this Act : and the expression "the commissioners" shall mean the magistrates and council or board and the committee in the discharge of their respective duties under this Act. Parliamentary Grant. When the magistrates and council, or board, as the case may be, accept a grant out of moneys provided by Parliament, from any Committee of the Privy Council on Education, towards the purchase of the site, or the erection, enlargement, or repair of any school tor science and art, or school for science, or school for art. or of the residence of any teacher in such school, or towards the furnishing of any such school, they shall have power to accept such grant upon the condi- tions prescribed for the acceptance thereof by the said commit tie, and to execute such instruments as may be required by the said committee for carrying into effect such conditions, and upon payment of the graut shall, together with their successors, be bound by such conditions and instru- ment, and have power and be bound to fulfil and observe the same. Committee. 18. The magistrates and council of any burgh, or one board of any parish where this Act has been adopted shall, within the .")|,< prnur i.i mi AH IKS. month after its adoption, and thereafter from year to year, in the case of a burgh, at the first meeting after the annual election of town councillors or commissioners of police, and in the case of a parish, at the first meeting after the annual meeting for the election of representative members of the parochial board, appoint a committee, consisting of not less than ten nor more than twenty members, half of whom shall be chosen from amongst the magistrates and council, or board, as the case may be, and the remain- ing half from amongst the householders of the burgh or parish other than the magistrates and council, or board, and three members of such com- mittee shall form a quorum. Appoint Vacancies in Committee. 19. Any member of committee shall have power to resign office upon giving at least fourteen days previous notice to the clerk of the committee of his intention so to resign ; and in the event of any vacancy occurring in the committee during their term of office by the resignation or death of any member, the committee shall forthwith cause the same to be intimated to the magistrates and council, or board, and the magistrates and council, or board, as the case may be, may at a meeting thereafter elect from among themselves, or from among the householders other than themselves, according to the class in which the vacancy has arisen, a member of committee in place of the member so resigning or dying, provided that no proceedings of the committee shall be invalidated or be illegal in consequence of a vacancy or vacancies in the number of the committee. Meetings of Committee, &c. 20. The'committee appointed as aforesaid shall, in the case of a burgh, meet once in every three months, or oitener if necessary, and in the case of a parish, as often as may be necessary, to determine as to any business falling to be transacted by them, and shall appoint a chairman from among their own number, who shall hold office until next election of committee ; and such chairman shall, in case of equality, have a casting vote in addition to his vote as an individual ; provided that, in the event of a vacancy occurring in the office of chair- man, the committee shall at their first meeting thereafter appoint a new chairman, and in the absence of the chairman of committee at any meet- ing, the meeting shall appoint a chairman for the time being, who at that meeting shall exercise the privileges of the chairman of committee. Powers of Committee, 21. The committee shall manage, regulate, and control all libraries and museums established under this Act, or to which this Act applies ; and shall have power to do all things necessary for such management, including the following powers ; that is to say, To appoint sub-committees of their own number : To appoint a salaried clerk, and salaried librarians, officers, and servants to act during the pleasure of the committee, and to pay and dismiss them : To purchase books, newspapers, reviews, magazines, and other periodi- cals, statuary, pictures, engravings, maps, specimens of art and science, and sucn other articles and things as may be necessary for the establishment, increase, and use of the libraries and museums under their control, and to do all things necessary for keeping the same in a proper state of preservation and repair : To provide from time to time the necessary fuel, lighting, and other matters : To sell or exchange any books, works of art, or other property of which there may be duplicates, provided that the money arising from such II. .-,|'l sale, and the property received in exchange shall be applied and held for the purposes of this Act : To provide suitable rooms in the libraries within which the books, periodicals, and newspapers may be read : To lend out, for the purpose of being read by the householders and inhabitants of the burgh or parish in and for which the committee has been appointed, the books of any library under their control, or such of them as they may consider proper ; and at their discretion to grant the same privilege to the inmates of industrial schools, training ships, reformatories, barracks, and other similar institutions, established for or in the burgh or parish ; and also to any person carrying on business within the limits of the burgh or parish, or to any employee engaged in employment therein, although such person or employee may not be a householder, and may not reside within such limits : To compile and print catalogues of all or any books, articles, and things in the libraries or museums under their control, and reports of their proceedings, and to sell the same, the proceeds to be applied for the purposes of this Act. To make Bye-laws. 22. It shall be lawful for the committee to make bye-laws for regulating all or any matters and things whatsoever connected with the control, management, protection, and use of any property, arti- cles, or things under their control for the purposes of this Act, and to impose such penalties for breaches of such bye-laws, not exceeding five pounds for each offence, as may be considered expedient ; and from time to time, as they shall think fit, to repeal, alter, vary, or re-enact any such bye-laws, provided always that such bye-laws and alterations thereof shall not be repugnant to the law of Scotland, and before being acted on shall be signed by a quorum of the committee, and, except in so far as they relate solely to the officers or servants of the committee, such bye-laws shall be approved of by the magistrates and council, or the board, as the case may be, and shall be approved of and confirmed by the sheriff of the county in which the burgh or parish, or the greater part of the area thereof, is situated : Provided also, that nothing herein contained shall preclude the magistrates and council, or board, as the case may be, from recovering the value of articles or things damaged, or the amount of the damage sustained, against all parties liable for the same. Newspaper Publication of Bye-laws, &c. 23. No bye-laws or altera- tions thereof requiring confirmation shall be confirmed, as before men- tioned, unless notice of the intention to apply for confirmation of the same shall have been given in one or more newspapers published and circulated in the district one month at least before the hearing of the application for confirmation, and any party aggrieved by any such bye- laws or alterations thereof, on giving notice of the nature of his objection to the clerk to the committee ten days before the hearing of the applica- tion for confirmation, may, by himself or his counsel, attorney, or agent, be heard thereon, but not so as to allow more than one party to be heard upon the same matter of objection. Exhibition of Bye-laws. 24. For one month at least before any such application for confirmation of any bye-laws or alterations thereof, a copy of such proposed bye-laws or alterations shall be kept at the office of th clerk to the committee, and shall also be put up in some conspicuous place in each of the libraries and museums of the committee, and all persons may, at all reasonable times, inspect such copy without fee or reward ; .V)! I PUBLIC LIBRARIES and the clerk to the committee shall furnish e\ ery person who shall apply for the same with a copy thereof, or of any part thereof, on payment of sixpence for every one hundred words so to be copied. Printed Copy of Bye-laws. 25. The clerk to the committee shall give a printed copy of the confirmed bye-laws, for the time being in force, to every person applying for the same, without charge ; and a copy thereof shall be painted or placed on boards, and put up in some conspicuous part of each of the libraries and museums of the committee, and such boards with the bye-laws thereon shall be renewed from time to time as occasion shall require, and shall be open to inspection without fee or reward. Bye-laws when Confirmed, &c. 26. All bye-laws or alterations thereof made and confirmed according to the provisions of this Act, when so pub- lished and put up. shall be binding upon and be observed by all parties, and shall be a sufficient warrant for all persons acting under the same. Evidence of Bye-laws. 27. The production of a written or printed copy of the bye-laws requiring confirmation as aforesaid, authenticated by the signature of the sheriff who shall have confirmed the same, and a written or printed copy of the bye-laws not requiring such confirmation, authenticated by the common seal of the committee, and signed by the chairman of the committee at the time when the same were made, shall be evidence of the existence and making of such bye-laws in all cases for prosecution under the same, without proof of the signature of such sheriff, or the common seal of the committee, or the signature of their chairman ; and with respect to the proof of the publication of such bye-laws it shall be sufficient to prove that a board containing a copy thereof was put up and continued in manner by this Act directed. Recovery of Penalties. 28. All penalties and forfeitures exigible under this Act, and the Acts incorporated wholly or partially herewith, or under any bye-law made in pursuance thereof may be recovered by an ordinary small-debt action in the name of the clerk to the committee for the time being before either the sheriff or justices of the district ; and the same shall be payable to the committee, and shall, when recovered, be applied by them for the purposes of this Act ; and in any prosecution under this Act an excerpt from the books of the committee, certified by the clerk or other proper officer, shall be held equivalent to the books of the committee, and all entries in the books of the committee bearing that any book or books mentioned or referred to therein has or have been borrowed by the person complained against shall be taken and received as evidence of the fact, and the onus probandi shall be thrown on the party complained against, and if decree passes against such party, he shall be found liable in costs. Actions. 29. All actions at the instance of the committee shall be brought in name of the clerk to the committee, and in all actions against the committee, it shall be sufficient to call the clerk to the committee for the time being as defender, and service on him shall be sufficient service ; and all actions brought by or against the clerk to the committee in his official character shall be continued by or against his successors in office without any action of transference. Estimates 30. The committee shall in the month of April in every year make up, or cause to be made up, an estimate of the sums required in order to defray the interest of any money borrowed, the payment of the sinking fund, and the expense of maintaining and managing all libraries or museums under their control for the year after Whitsunday then next AIM'KNWX II. 551 to couic, anil for the purpose of purchasing tho books, articles, and tiling* authorized by this Act to be purchased for such libraries or museums, and shall report the same to the magistrates and council in the ca- burgh, or to the board in the case of a parish, and the magistrates and council or the board, as the case may be, shall provide the amount required out of the library rate to be levied by them, and shall na\ to the committee tho sum necessary for the annual expenditure by them in terms of their estimate. Power to Add, &c. 31. Where any of the following institutions, namely, a Public Library, a public museum, a school for science and art, a school for science, a school for art, or an art gallery has been established under any Public Library Act in force for the time being, or under tlr there may at any time he established, in connection therewith, any other of the said institutions without further proceedings being taken for the adoption of this Act. Libraries, &c. to be Free. 32. All libraries, museums, or art galleries established under this Act, or to which this Act applies, shall be open to the public free of charge, and no charge shall be made for the use of books or magazines issued for home reading. SCHEDULES. SCHEDULE (A). PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINIM; I;Y VOTING PATER AS TO THE ADOPTION OK THE ACT. (1.) Upon receipt of the requisition specified in the Act, the chief magistrate or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall, without unnecessary delay, cause to be printed, and to be delivered or sent by post to each householder an intimation and a voting paper, in the respective forms appended hereto, and the intimation may be prefixed to the voting paper and on the same paper therewith, or may be printed separately, provided it be delivered or posted simultaneously with the voting paper. (2.) In the case of a burgh, the voting paper shall bear the number of the householder on the municipal register, and where the burgh is divided into wards, the number of the ward : and in the case of a parish the voting paper shall bear a number relative to the entry of the householder ill a copy of the valuation roll applicable to such parish, or in a list of the householders in such parish, which copy or list, distinguishing the amount of rental at which each person is assessed, the assessor, under the Acts in force for the valuation of lands and heritages in Scotland, is hereby required to make, certify, and furnish to the sheriff, within fourteen days of an application by him to that effect, on payment of a fee of not more than one shilling for each hundred names ; and such copy or list, certified as aforesaid, shall be sufficient proof of the qualification of the householders named therein. (3.) The intimation aforesaid shall specify the place at which the voting paper is to be collected, and shall also specify a day for collection, herein- after called the day of the noil, being not less than three lawful nor more than ten days from the last date of the delivery or of the posting of the voting papers to the householders. (4.) The chief magistrate or the sheriff, as the case may be, bhall, before the issue of such voting papers, appoint a competent person as collector thereof, on such terms and for sucn remuneration as may lw reasonable ; and he shall also, by himself or through the collector aforesaid, at any time before or during the collection or scrutiny of tjie voting papers, ~>'2 PfULIC Uim.VHIKS. appoint such number of assistant collectors as may be necessary for carrying out the procedure herein specified. (5. ) The chief magistrate or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall, at least three days previous to the day of the poll, intimate such day and place or places and hours fixed for collecting such votes by advertisement in one or more newspapers published or circulating in the burgh or parish ; and the said advertisement shall also specify the name of the collector appointed as aforesaid, and an address where voting papers may be received from such collector, in terras of the immediately succeeding article. (6.) The collector, or an assistant collector, shall attend at the address specified in such advertisement for at least three specified hours of each of the two lawful days immediately preceding the day of the poll, and shall, on the application of any householder, and on being satisfied that such householder has not already received a voting paper, supply a voting paper to such applicant ; and the collector, or any assistant collector, shall at any time after the issue of the voting papers, and before seven o'clock afternoon of the day of the poll, on being satisfied that a voting paper has been inadvertently lost, destroyed, or rendered useless, have power to supply a duplicate voting paper, which shall be marked "duplicate" before being issued. (7.) Voting papers duly filled up and subscribed by the householders to whom the same are respectively applicable, may be transmitted by post to the collector, at the address specified in the aforesaid advertisement, provided that such voting papers reach the collector before eight o'clock of the afternoon of the day of the poll, and that the householders so transmitting prepay the postage thereof, otherwise the same shall not be received. (8.) On the day of the poll the chief magistrate, or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall cause the place or places specified in the intimation accompanying the voting paper to be kept open from eight o'clock morning till eight o'clock afternoon, and such place, or each of such places, if more than one, shall be under the charge of the collector, or of an assistant collector, who shall give his personal attendance during the hours specified for the purpose of receiving all voting papers which may be handed to him. (9.) In the case of a burgh divided into wards, there shall be at least one place for the collection of voting papers in each ward, and in any burgh or parish where more than one place for collection shall have been appointed, the collection in all of such places shall take place on the same day, and the intimation accompanying the voting paper shall specify the particular place where such voting paper is to be collected. The collector, or assistant collector, in charge of any such place for collection shall not be bound to receive a voting paper which shall have been directed to be lodged at some other such place. (10.) Where any householder is unable to write, he may attach his mark to the voting paper, provided that such voting paper be signed by a witness, whose address shall be appended to his signature. (11.) Any person fabricating a voting paper, or presenting or returning a fabricated voting paper, or any voting paper, knowing that the same does not bear the true signature of the householder to whom such voting paper is intended to apply, shall be guilty of personation, and shall be liable to the penalties of that offence as set forth in the Ballot Act, 1872. (12.) No voting paper shall be received after eight o'clock afternoon of the day of the poll ; and in the event of there being more than one place AI'I'KXDIX II. for collection, each assistant collector shall immediately after the close of the poll transmit the voting papers received by him to the collector, ami the whole voting papers shall thereafter be under the charge of the collector subject to the directions of the chief magistrate, or of tin- sheriff, as the case may be. (13.) The collector, subject as aforesaid, shall, as soon as may be after the conclusion of the poll, proceed to a scrutiny of the voting ia|K!rs, and shall, with such assistance as may be necessary, compare the same with the municipal register, or with the copy roll, or list of householders, as the case may be, and shall ascertain how far the voting papers have been filli-d up in terms of the directions thereon, and have been duly signed by the householders to whom such voting papers were respectively issued ; and immediately on the conclusion of such scrutiny he shall report to the chief magistrate, or to the sheriff, as the case may be, the number of householders who have voted for the adoption of the Act, and the number who have voted against its adoption. He shall also report the total number of voting papers received, and the number, if any, which have been rejected by him, and the cause of such rejection. (14). Upon receiving the report of the collector, the chief magistrate, or the sheriff', as the case may be, shall, if satisfied of the accuracy of such report, cause the result of the poll to be made public in such manner as he shall think most expedient. FORM OF INTIMATION. Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887. Burgh [or parish] of No. [insert number of householder on register, roll, or list]. [Insert place and dale of issue]. To [insert name of householder}. In terms of the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887, I have to intimate that a requisition having been presented to me by the prescribed number of householders of the burgh [or parish] of to take the opinion of the householders as to whether the Act should be adopted in said burgh [or parish], I have caused the subjoined [or accompanying] voting paper to be issued to you as a householder of said burgh [or parish], which voting paper, duly filled up and subscribed by you, will be received within [name of place] on the day of next, between the hours of eight o'clock morning and eight o'clock afternoon. The voting paper may be delivered personally or by a messenger, provided it bear your signature. In lieu of delivery of the voting paper in manner above mentioned, it is competent to any householder to post it addressed to [>ui>ne and address of collector], provided the postage be preixud, and that the voting paper reach the collector before eight o'clock afternoon of the said [insert day of jwll\. The risk of delivery before the hour specified rests with the house- holder adopting this method of return. (Signed) A.B., Chief Magistrate, [or Sheriff]. FORM OF VOTING PAPEK. Public Libraries' Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887. Burgh [or parish] of No. [insert number of householder on register, roll, or l%st.\ 554 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. VOTING PAPER. To be delivered on the day of 18 [insert day of poll] between the hours of eight o'clock morning and eight o'clock afternoon, at [insert place, of collection], In reply to the question whether the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887, should be adopted by the burgh [or parish] of I vote [Insert Yes or No.] [Signature of householder.] NOTE. Any person fabricating a voting paper, or presenting or return- ing a fabricated voting paper, or any voting paper, knowing that the same does not bear the true signature of the householder to whom such voting paper is intended to apply, is guilty of personation, and is liable to the penalties of that offence as set forth in the Ballot Act, 1872. SCHEDULE (B). PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINING BY PUBLIC MEETING AS TO THE ADOPTION OF THE ACT. (1.) Upon receipt of the requisition specified in the Act, the chief magistrate, or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall convene a meeting of the householders in some convenient place within the burgh or the parish, as the case may be, for the purpose of determining whether the Act shall be adopted within such burgh or parish. (2. ) Such meeting shall be held on a day not less than fourteen days or more than thirty days after the receipt of the requisition, and notice of the meeting shall be given not less than seven days preceding its date by posting within the burgh or parish, as the case may be, handbills in the form annexed hereto, and also by advertisement, in the said form, inserted at least once in every daily newspaper published within the burgh or parish, as the case may be, and in the event of there being no daily newspaper so published, then at least once in one or more news- papers published or circulating within the burgh or parish. (3.) The chief magistrate, in the case of a burgh, shall provide himself with a copy of the municipal register, and the sheriff, in the case of a parish, shall provide himself witli a copy of the valuation roll applicable to such parish, or a list of the householders therein, which copy or list shall be made, certified, and furnished to the sheriff on his application in the manner directed in Schedule (A.). (4.) At the meeting called as aforesaid all householders on the municipal register, in the case of a burgh, or on the copy or list furnished and certified as aforesaid, in the case of a parish, shall be entitled to vote, and no other person or persons whatever shall be so entitled, and the chief magistrate, or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall take such measures as may be necessary for the exclusion of non- qualified persons from the meeting, or for preventing such persons from voting, and for securing that the votes of such persons, if given, shall not be counted ; and, if necessary for this puq>ose, he may require that eveiy householder intending to be present at the meeting, or present thereat, shall enter his name and address on a card to be furnished to him, and that all such cards shall be delivered up before entering the meeting, or before the votes are recorded ; and every person knowingly and falsely representing himself to be a householder in such burgh or parish, and as such entitled to vote, shall be guilty of personation, and shall be liable to the penalties of that offence as set forth in the Ballot Act, 1872. (5.) The chief magistrate, or the sheriff, as the case may be, shall attend and shall preside at the meeting, and shall appoint a clerk who shall make regular minutes of the proceedings thereof, and the chief APPENDIX II. magistrate, or sheriff, as the case may be, shall in case of equality have a casting vote. (6.) The result of the vote, whether for or against the adoption of the Act, shall be announced by the chief magistrate, or sheriff, as the case may be, at the meeting itself, or in any other way he may think moat expedient, provided such announcement be made without unnecessary delay. FORM OF NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING. Burgh [or parish] of Notice is hereby given, that under and in virtue of the powers contained in the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887, the house- holders of the burgh [or parish] of are required to meet upon the day of next, at o'clock, witnin when a vote will be taken as to whether the Act shall be adopted by the said burgh [or parish]. [In the cafe of a burgh add~\ By the Act " householders" are denned to mean " all persons entered on the municipal register," and "municipal register" is defined to mean " the register, list, or roll of persons entitled to vote in an " election of town councillors or commissioners of police in a burgh, made up according to the law in force for the time being." [In the case of a parish add] By the Act " householders" are denned to mean "all persons entitled to vote in the election of a school board in a parish under the provisions of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1872, and any Act amending the same." [The chief magistrate, or sheriff, as the case may be, may append any regulations he may think expedient for securing order, and for effecting the purpose of the meeting.] Dated at the day of 18 . (Signed) A.B., Chief Magistrate, [or Sheriff]. PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS AMENDMENT ACT, 1889. 52 VICTORIA. CHAPTER 9. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Act, 1855. [31st Mav > 1889.] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com- mons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of tho same, as follows : Eepeal of 18 & 19 Viet. c. 70. s. 13. 1. Section thirteen of the Public Libraries Act, 1855, shall be repealed, and in place thereof the following provisions shall have effect. The expenses of calling and holding the meeting of the ratepayers, whether the Public Libraries Acts shall be adopted or not, and tho expenses of carrying those Acts into execution in any parish, to such amount as shall be from time to time sanctioned by the vestry, shall paid out of a rate to be raised with and as part of the poor rate ; prov that every person assessed to such rate in respect of lands used as arable, meadow, or pasture ground only, or as woodlands or market gardens, or nursery grounds, shall be entitled to an allowance of two-thirds sum assessed npon him in respect of such lands for such expenses ; tl vestry to be called for the purpose of sanctioning the amount shall I vened in the manner usual in the parish ; and the amount for being proposed to be raised for such expenses shall .be expra JLIBBABIES. notice convening the vestry, and shall be paid according to the order of the vestry, to such person as shall be appointed by the Commissioners to receive the same : Provided also, that in the notices requiring the pay- ment of the rate there shall be stated the proportion which the amount to be thereby raised for the purposes of the said Acts shall bear to the total amount of the rate. Proviso as to Bate. 2. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to invali- date nuy rate made prior to the passing thereof, and any expenses to which section thirteen of the Public Libraries Act, 1855, applied may be paid out of any such rate as if this Act had not passed. Joint Library. 3. It shall be lawful for the Commissioners separately appointed under the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1887, for any two or more adjoining parishes, with the consent of the vestries of such parishes, from time to time to agree to share in such proportions and for such period as may be determined by the agreement, the cost of the purchase, erection, repair, and maintenance of any library building situate in one of such parishes, and also the cost of the purchase of books, peiiodicals, and newspapers for such library, and all other expenses connected with the same ; and the inhabitants of both or all the said parishes, as the case may be, shall be entitled to use the said library so long as the agreement shall continue in force. And any such agreement may provide that upon its termination an adjustment shall be made of the interests of the several Commissioners in the library building, books, and other property to which they have contributed, and as to the mode in which such adjustment shall be arrived at. Short title. 4. This Act may be cited as the Public Libraries Acts Amendment Act, 1889, and this Act and the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1885 to 1887, shall be read and construed together as one Act, and may be cited together as the Public Libraries (England) Acts, 1855 to 1889. TECHNICAL INSTRUCTION ACT, 1889. 52 AND 53 VICTORIA, CAP. 76. An Act to facilitate the Provision of Technical Instruction. [30th August, 1889.] BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : Power for Local Authority. 1. (1.) A local authority may from time to time, out of the local rate, supply or aid the supply of technical or manual instruction, to such extent and on such terms as the authority think expedient, subject to the following restrictions, namely : (a. ) The local authority shall not out of the local rate supply or aid the supply of technical or manual instruction to scholars receiving instruction at an elementary school in the obligatory or standard subjects prescribed by the minutes of the Education Department for the time being in force ; (b.) It shall not be required, as a condition of any scholar being admitted into or continuing in any school aided out of the local rate, and receiving technical or manual instruction under this Act, that he shall attend at or abstain from attending any Sunday school ii. .;:,- or any place of religious worship, or that he shall attend any religious observance or any instruction in religious subject* in the school or elsewhere : Provided that in any school, the erection of which has been aided under this A t, it shall not be required, as a condition of any scholar being admitted into or con- tinuing in such school, that he shall attend at or abstain from attending any Sunday school or any place of religious worship, or that he shall attend any religious observance or any instruction in religious subjects in the school or elsewhere ; (f.) No religious catechism or religious formulary, which is distinctive of any particular denomination, shall be taught at any school aic|.-.l out of the local rate, to a scholar attending only for the punxwea of technical or manual instruction under this Act, and the times for prayer or religious worship, or for any lesson or series of lessons on a religious subject, shall be conveniently arranged for the piirjwac of allowing the withdrawal of such scholar therefrom ; (d. ) A local authority may, on the request of the school board for its district or any part of its district, or of any other managers of a school or institution within its district for the time being in receipt of aid from the Department of Science and Art, make, out of any local rate raised in pursuance of this Act, to such extent as may be reasonably sufficient, having regard to the requirements of the district, but subject to the conditions and restrictions contained in this section, provision in aid of the technical and manual instruction for the time being supplied in schools or institutions within its district, and shall distribute the provision so made in proportion to the nature and amount of efficient technical or manual instruction supplied by those schools or institutions respectively ; (c.) Where such other managers of a school or institution receive aid from a local authority in pursuance of this section, the local authority shall, for the purposes of this Act, be represented on the governing body of the school or institution in such proportion as will, as nearly as may be, correspond to the proportion which the aid given by the local authority bears to the contribution made from all sources other than the local rate and money provided by Parlia- ment to the cost of the technical or manual instruction given in the school or institution aided ; (/.) If any question arises as to the sufficiency of the provision made under this section, or as to the qualification of any school or institution to participate in any such provision, or as to the amount to be allotted to each school or institution, or as to the extent to which, or mode in which, the local authority is to be represented on the governing body of any such school or institution, the question shall be determined by the Department of Science and Art : Pruvidt-d that no such provision, out of any rate raised in pursuance of this Act, shall be made in aid of technical or manual instruction in any school conducted for private profit ; and (g.) The amount of the rate to be raised in any one year by a local authority for the purposes of this Act shall not exceed the sum of one penny in the pound. (2.) A local authority may for the puq>oses of this Act appoint a com- mittee consisting either wholly or partly of members of the local authority and may delegate to any such committee any nowera exercise- able by the authority under this Act, except the power of raising a rate or borrowing money. 568 IM'BTJC MBRATUKS. (3.) Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to interfere with any existing powers of school boards with respect to the provision of technical and manual instruction. Provision for Eatrance Examination 2. It shall be competent for any school board or local authority, should they think fit, to institute an entrance examination for persons desirous of attending technical schools or classes under their management or to which they contribute. Parliamentary Grants. 3. The conditions on which parliamentary grants may be made in aid of technical or manual instruction shall bo those contained in the minutes of the Department of Science and Art in force for the time being. Provisions as to Local Authorities. 4. (1.) For the purposes of this Act the expression ' ' local authority " shall mean the council of any county or borough, and any urban sanitary authority within the meaning of the Public Health Acts. (2.) The local rate for the purposes of this Act shall be (a. ) In the case of a county council, the county fund ; (b.) In the case of a borough council, the borough fund or borough rate ; (c.) In the case of an urban sanitary authority not being a borough council, the district fund and general district rate, or other fund or rate applicable to the general purposes of the Public Health Acts ; (3. ) A county council may charge any expenses incurred by them under this Act on any part of their county for the requirements of which such expenses have been incurred. (4. ) A local authority may borrow for the purposes of this Act (a. ) In the case of a county council, in manner provided by the Local Government Act, 1888 : (b.) In the case of a borough council, as if the purposes of this Act were purposes for which they are authorized by section one hundred and six of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882, to borrow : (c.) In the case of an urban sanitary authority not being a borough council, as if the purposes of this Act were purposes for which they are authorized to borrow under the Public Health Acts. Audit of Accounts. 5. Where the managers of a school or institution receive aid from a local authority in pursuance of this Act, they shall render to the local authority such accounts relating to the application of the money granted in aid, and those accounts shall be verified and audited in such manner as the local authority may require, and the managers shall be personally liable to refund to the local authority any money granted under this Act, and not shown to be properly applied for the purposes for which it was granted. Accounts of Urban. 6. The accounts of the receipts and expenditure of an urban sanitary authority under this Act shall be audited in like manner and with the like incidents and consequences, as the accounts of their receipts and expenditure under the Public Health Act, 1875. Application to Ireland. 7. In the application of this Act to Ireland (1.) The expression " local authority " shall mean the urban or rural sanitary authority, as the case may be, within the meaning of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878. APPENDIX III. 00 (2.) The local rate for the purposes of this Act shall be (a) In the case of an urban sanitary authority, the rate or fund applicable to the expenses incurred or payable by such authority in the execution of the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878, under the provisions of the said Act ; (b) In the case of a rural sanitary authority, the rate or rates out of which special expenses incurred in respect of any contribu- tory place or places are payable under the provisions of the said Act. (3.) A local authority may borrow for the purposes of this Act as if the purposes of this Act were purposes for which the sanitary authority are authorized to borrow under the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878. (4.) Any reference to the Public Health Act, 1875, shall be construed as a reference to the Public Health (Ireland) Act, 1878. Meaning of Technical and Manual Instruction. 8. In this Act The expression "technical instruction" shall mean instruction in the principles of science and art applicable to industries, and in the application of special branches of science and art to specific industries or employments. It shall not include teaching the practice of any trade or industry or employment, but, save as aforesaid, shall include instruction in the branches of science and art with respect to which grants are for the time being made by the Department of Science and Art, and any other form of instruction (including modern languages and commercial and agricultural subjects), which may for the time being be sanctioned by that Department by a minute laid before Parliament and made on the representation of a local authority that such a form of instruction is required by the circumstances of its district. The expression " manual instruction " shall mean instruction in the use of tools, processes of agriculture, and modelling in clay, wood, or other material. Extent of Act. 9. This Act shall not extend to Scotland. Short Title. 10. This Act may be cited as the Technical Instruction Act, 1889. APPENDIX III. COPY OF REQUISITION TO CALL PUBLIC MEETING IN A DISTRICT GOVERNED BY A LOCAL BOARD. To the Local Board for the district of , being the Urban Sanitary Authority for the same District. The Petition of the undersigned, being persons assessed to and paying the General District Rate levied by the said Board. We the undersigned do hereby request you, the said Board, to appoint a day for a public meeting of the persons assessed to and paying such general district rate, in order to determine whether the Public Libraries' Act, 1855, and Acts amending the same shall be adopted for the District of , and also to convene and hold such meeting as directed by the said Acts. Dated this day of 189 (Then follow the signatures.) ">P>0 PUBLIC i.iBn.vniF.s. NOTICE CONVENING MEETING OF RATEPAYERS. THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1875, AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT, 1855, AND ACTS AMENDING THE SAME. District of . Whereas ten and more persons assessed to and paying the General District Rate, made and levied by the Local Hoard of the District of in the County of , being the Urban Sanitary Autho- rity for the said district, have presented a Requisition to the said Board to call a Public Meeting of the persons assessed to and paying such District Rate, in order to determine whether the Public Libraries Act, 1855, and all other Acts relating thereto for promoting the establishment of Public Libraries, shall be adopted for the District of ; And whereas the said Local Board has decided that the opinions of the majority of the ratepayers shall be ascertained by the prescribed Public Meeting ; Notice is hereby given that the said Board has appointed that a meet- ing of ratepayers, of the said district of shall be held at the on the , at the hour of half-past-seven o'clock in the evening, for the purpose of taking into consideration and deciding upon the subject matter of the Requisition, and the adoption of the said Public Libraries Act, 1855, and the Acts amending the same and relating thereto. Given under the seal of the Board, at a meeting of the Board, held on the day of , 189 , in the presence of , Chairman of the meeting. , Clerk. COPY OF PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT WHEN A POLL HAS BEEN DEMANDED AT A STATUTORY MEETING. THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1875. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT, 1855, AND ACTS AMENDING THE SAME. At a meeting of ratepayers of the Local Government District of , in the county of , held in the on , the day of , 189, convened under the provisions of the Public Libraries Act, 1855, and the Acts amending the same, for the purpose of taking into consideration and deciding as to the adoption of the said Acts. I the undersigned being a person assessed to and paying the General District Rate, made and levied by the Local Board ; for the District of in the county of , being the Urban Sanitary Authority for the said district, do hereby demand a poll of the persons assessd to and paying such General District Rate, in order to determine whether or not the said Acts shall be adopted for the said district. As witness my hand this day of , 189. Signature Residence Occupation Witnt-ss CERTIFICATE OF BILL POSTER. LOCAL BOARD. I hereby certify that on the day of , 189 , I duly posted APPENDIX III. 661 copies of the annexed notice (marked A) on the principal doors of the following churches and chapels in the above-mentioned district, namely : On the same day I also posted copies of the said notice in the other places in the said district where public notices are usually posted. As witness my hand this day of 18 . (Signed) NOTICE OF POLL. PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1875, AND THE PUBLIC. LIBRARIES' ACT, 1855, AND ACTS AMENDING THE SAME. District of Whereas a meeting was held in the , on Monday, the twenty-eighth day of , 18 , pursuant to notice duly given, for the purpose of taking into consideration and deciding upon the subject matter of a requisition therein mentioned, and the adoption for the district of of the Public Libraries Act of 1855, and Acts amending the same and relating thereto. Aud whereas at such meeting a resolution adopting the said Acts was carried by a show of hands, but a Poll was demanded. This is to give notice that the said Poll will take place at the , on Monday, the 4th day of , 18 , and that the hours for such Poll will be from ten o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock at night, when and where all persons entitled to vote at such Poll must attend to record their votes. Dated this day of 18 . (Signed) Chairman of the meeting and Chairman of the Local Board. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ADOPTION OF THE ACT. THE PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1875, THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACT, 1855, AND ACTS AMENDING THE SAME. I, the undersigned, being the chairman of the local board for the district of , in the county of , do hereby certify that at a meeting of ratepayers within the said district convened under the provisions of the Act 18 and 19 Viet. Cap. 70, entitled " The Public Libraries' Act, 1855," and the Acts amending the same in the on , the 28th day of , 189 , at half-past seven o'clock in the evening, the following resolution was proposed by Mr. , seconded by Mr. , and supported by others: " That this meeting of persons assessed to, and paying the general district rate, made and levied by the local board for the district of , in the county of , being the Urban sanitary authority for the said district, hereby determines that the Public Libraries Act, 1855, and the Acts amending the same, shall be adopted for the said district of And I further certify and declare that at the meeting the resolution was passed by a large majority. 36 A Poll was demanded by Mr. , and the meeting adjourned to Monday, the , so that the poll might be taken at the And I do hereby further certify and declare that such poll was taken by me at the , aforesaid on" the , and that there were recorded votes in favour of the resolution, and against it, and I certify and declare that the resolution was carried. Dated this Chairman. COPY OF REQUISITION FOR PARISH OVERSEERS. To THE OVERSEERS or THE PARISH OF IN THE COUNTY OF Note. The word "parish " means every place maintaining its own poor : [The Public Libraries Acts, 1855, and all Acts amending the same.] Whereas by an Act of Parliament passed in the 18th and 19th years of Queen Victoria, chapter 70, intituled " The Public Libraries Act, 1855," it is provided that " That the overseers of any parish shall, upon the Requisition in writing of at least ten ratepayers of such parish, appoint a time not less than ten days nor more than twenty days from the time of receiving such Requisition for a Public Meeting of the rate- payers of such parish, in order to determine whether these Acts shall be adopted for such parish. We, the undersigned, being ratepayers of the said parish of , do hereby respectfully request you to issue Voting Papers, or call a Meeting of ratepayers of the said parish, for the purpose of determining whether or not the above-mentioned Acts shall be adopted for such parish, in manner provided by the said Acts. FORM OF REQUISITION FOR SCOTLAND. In ordinary Burghs the address would run thus : To A. B., Esquire, Provost (or Chief Magistrate of the Burgh of ) [The undernoted form of a Requisition to the Sheriff is from Sheriff Lees' Handbook of Sheriff Court Styles] : Unto the Honourable the sheriff of the County of , or any of his substitutes : My Lord, We, the undersigned, being ten householders in the parish of , require you, in terms of " The Public Libraries (Scotland) Act, 1867," to convene a meeting of the householders of said parish, for the purpose of considering whether said Act, as amended by Acts passed in the years 1871, 1877, and 1887, shall be adopted by said parish ; and to take the other steps provided by said Acts to ascertain the opinion of the majority of the ratepayers of said parish in regard to the adoption of said Act, so amended, and to give effect to such opinion, if favourable to its adoption. We are, Your Lordship's obedient servants. APPENDIX III. 563 FORM OF PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT FOR BOROUGHS. BOROUGH OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS 1855, AND ALL ACTS AMENDING THE SAME. Whereas by a request in writing duly signed by the requisite number of ratepayers of the borough of residing in the said borough, I have been requested to take the opinions of the majority of the ratepayers of the said borough by the issue of a voting paper to each ratepayer, and the subsequent collection and scrutiny thereof, upon the question whether the Public Libraries Act, 1855, and all other Acts amending the same, shall be adopted for the borough of Now therefore I give notice as follows : 1. I shall cause a voting paper to be delivered, by persons appointed by me for that purpose, to all persons enrolled as burgesses of the said borough, at the place of abode stated in the Burgess Roll of each such person, on 2. Any person enrolled as a burgess of the said borough who shall not have received such voting paper on that day, will be entitled on personal application to the town clerk, at his office in the Town Hall, on any of the three following days, between the hours of 10 in .the morning and 4 in the afternoon, to receive a voting paper and to fill up the same in the town clerk's presence, and then and there to deliver the same to him. 3. The voting papers will be called for and collected by the persons appointed by me for that purpose, on , between the hours of 8 in the forenoon and 7 in the afternoon, and if any voting paper duly delivered shall not have been collected through the default of the person appointed to collect the same, the voter in person may deliver such voting paper to me at the Town Hall, before on the day of , 18 . 4. The scrutiny of such voting papers will commence at the Town Hall, in the said borough, on the day of , at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, and be continued until completed. Dated this day of , 18. Mayor. Where intimidation is being practised the following bill should be circulated : WARNING. Whereas the promoters of the Public Library movement are informed that certain voting papers have been filled up, and what purports to be the names or marks of the voters written thereon, at times when such voters were not present, and without the sanction of such voters. Now this is to give notice to all whom it may concern that the promoters will object to all such voting papers at the time of the count- ing, and further, will institute proceedings against the person or persons (whose names are now or may hereafter be in their possession) who have been guilty, either as principals or accessories, of forgery as aforesaid. yoticc. Forgery is a felony, and punished by penal servitude for life ; the knowingly uttering a forged document is punished as forgery. A sample case has been submitted for legal opinion, and declared to be a forgery. Legal proceedings are being instituted against the offender. The promoters will be obliged by intimation of any papers that have been filled up against the wish or in the absence of the voters. 564 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. District PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS VOTING PAPER. Name of place. Consecutive No. Name. Address . Date wheii left Hour at which left. If not left, state why. Date when collected Hour at which collected... If not collected, state why. THE PUBLIC LIBRARIES' ACTS, 1855, AND ALL ACTS AMENDING THE SAME. Name of Voter. Address of Voter. The Overseers of the Parish of (being the local authority) having received a *Requisition from the Ratepayers, are thereby required to ascertain the opinions of the majority of the ratepayers of the said parish for determining whether the Public Libraries Acts (England) shall be adopted for this and you are desired to answer the question herewith in writing on this Voting Paper. Town Clerk. Do you vote for the adoption of the Public Libraries Acts for the ? Write "Yes" or "No" after the word *Answer, and sign your name on the line beneath. * Answer Dated this day of , 18. Signature of Voter. Or the Mark of Voter Witness to the Mark Address of the Witness If the voter cannot write he or she must make his or her mark, and such mark must be attested by a witness, who must write the answer "Yes" or "No" on the Voting paper. * The " Requisition" states the amount to be levied for the Parish Rates under the Public Libraries Act shall not exceed in the on the Ratable Value. This paper will be called for by a Police Constable on ANOTHER FORM BOROUGH OF Name of Voter P'ace of Abode of Voter as stated in the Burgess Roll OF .VOTING PAPER. Ward. APPENDIX III. >>> Do you vote in favour of the adoption Insert here " Yes " or " No." of the Public Libraries Act, 1885, and the various Acts amending the same, for the borough of Signature or Mark of Voter Place of Abode of Voter as stated in the Burgess Roll If Voter makes / Name of Witness to Mark his Mark | Address of Witness to Mark DIRECTIONS TO THE VOTER. The voter must write the word " Yes " or "No " opposite the enquiry whether he votes for the adoption of the Public Libraries Acts, according as he wishes to vote, and must subscribe his name and his place of abode as stated in the Burgess Roll. In addition to the simple vote "Yes" or "No" to the adoption of the Acts, the voting paper may stipulate that their adoption shall be subject to a limitation to some lower rate of assessment than the maximum allowed by the Acts of Parliament now in force, i.e., Id. in the on the annual value of the property in the Borough ratable to a Borough rate. If the voter cannot write : the word " Yes " or " No," or such stipula- tion as above mentioned, may be inserted by any person at the request of the voter, who must make his mark instead of subscribing his name, and the person inserting the word " Yes " or " No," or such stipulation, must witness the voter making his mark, and must subscribe his name and address as a witness thereto. This paper will be collected on , between the hours of 8 in the forenoon and 7 in the afternoon, and if any voting paper duly delivered shall not have been collected through the default of the person appointed to collect the same, the voter in person may deliver such voting paper to the Mayor, at the Town Hall, before 12 o'clock at noon, on PUBLIC LIBRARY MOVEMENT. INSTRUCTIONS TO CANVASSERS AND OTHERS. [Useful where there is a large number of workers.] 1. You are entrusted with the duties of ascertaining how every voter in your district intends to vote on this question ; of seeing that every voter who is in favour of a Public Library does vote ; of endeavouring to secure the adhesion of every doubtful voter ; and of trying to convert any voter opposed to the library, or to, at least, obtain a promise of neutrality. 2. Remember that the Committee regards you as personally responsible for the voters in your district. You must obtain the assistance of as many Sersons to help you as necessary. Select those best acquainted with your istrict. 3. From time to time report the result of your work to the Ward Chair- man. If you require further assistance do not fail to ask for it. ")lili IM lil.IC MUUARIES. 4. Unpledged or doubtful voters, and the back streets, courts, and terraces in your district, should receive very special and careful atten- tion. f>. Keep yourself well supplied with the various leaflets issued by the committee, and leave one or more at every house in your district. They may be obtained at the Central Committee Room. 6. Any instances of improper practices on the part of our opponents, especially intimidation of voters, and threats to raise the rent, should be carefully noted in writing, and at once sent to , with the names and addresses of any witnesses. 7. Carefully ascertain whether any voter in your district is unable to personally fill up his voting paper. Otter to fill it up for him, and witness his mark thereto. Be sure that you closely follow the directions printed on the voting paper. 8. The Central Committee Room is at and is open from a.m. to p.m. Any information or help you may require may be there obtained. 9. The following arguments in favour of a Public Library may be useful to you. Put them as clearly as you can to any doubtful voter in your district : (a.) The rate cannot exceed Id. in the on the ratable value of the voter's premises. (b.) It is no more under the Public Libraries Acts in any town in England. (c.) This limit of Id. in the is fixed by Act of Parliament, unlike the School Board rate, which is not limited by any Act of Parliament. (d.) If the rent is 5s. a week, the rate will be Is. a year, or Id. a month. If the rent is 4s. a week, the rate will be less than lOd. a year. If the rent is 2s. 6d. a week the rate will only be d. a month. Other examples. LIBRARY RATE. Rental per Year. Per Year. Per Quarter. Per Month. 8 8d. 2d. |d. 10 lOd. 2d. id. 12 Is. Od. 3d. Id. 16 Is. 4d. 4d. l$d. 20 Is. 8d. 5d. l|d. 24 2s. Od. 6d. 2d. 30 2s. 6d. 7d. 2Jd. 36 3s. Od. 9d. 3d. (e. ) The voter and his family will have the use of the reference library, the use of the newsroom, and the use of books at home. (/. ) Who use the Library ? In Leeds, seven working-men to one professional man. The same is the case elsewhere. (gr.) Will the library be much used ? In Bradford and Nottingham 3,000 people visit the library daily in each town ; that is over 1,000,000 a year. (h.) It is said that the library will be filled with " trashy novels." APPRXDIX IV. 567 This is untrue. Remember that worthless novels will not be admitted by the library committee. (i.) It is said that books are so cheap that the working man can afford to buy them. How many books can a working man buy for the Is., which he will pay in a year to the library rate if his rent amounts to 5s. a week ? (j.) Existing libraries are not injured. Inmost cases the shares go up, not down. (k.) It is said that men, especially the unemployed, will frequent the newsrooms instead of the public-houses. So much the better ! NOT A SINGLE VOTE MUST BE LOST. Let WORK, good honest WORK be your watchword. Every householder on the Burgess List will have one vote. N.B. The Voting Papers will be delivered on , and will be collected on . You must use your utmost endeavours to induce the voters to fill them up in favour of the library as soon as possible after the delivery. APPENDIX IV. RULES AND REGULATIONS SUITABLE FOR PUBLIC LIBRARIES, WITH FORMS IN USE, Ac. PUBLIC LENDING LIBRARIES. RULES AND REGULATIONS. 1 . The chief librarian shall have the general charge of the libraries, and shall be responsible for the safe keeping of the books, and of all other property belonging thereto. 2. The newsrooms shall be open to the public, every day (Christmas Day and Good Friday excepted), from nine o'clock a.m. to ten o'clock E.m., and the library from ten o'clock a.m. to nine o'clock p.m. On undays from eleven a.m. to nine p.m. 3. No person shall be admitted who is in a state of intoxication ; nor shall any audible conversation be permitted in the rooms ; nor shall any person be allowed to partake of refreshments therein. Any person who shall offend against these regulations, or shall be guilty of any misconduct, shall not be allowed to remain within the building. 4. No person shall be allowed to pass within the enclosure of the libraries, or to take any book from the shelves, except by permission of the librarian. 5. Persons enrolled as burgesses of the borough of shall be entitled to borrow books on their own responsibility. Persons not so enrolled shall be required to obtain the signature of one burgess. Any person having signed this engagement, wno shall afterwards desire to withdraw from the same, must give notice thereof in writing to the librarian, who will give a release as soon as he shall have ascertained that no loss has been incurred, ."568 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. This voucher must be delivered to the librarian three days before the first issue of books to the person recommended. 6. All books borrowed must be returned to the libraries within the time specified on the respective covers, under a penalty of one penny for the whole or any portion of the first week, and one penny for each week or portion of a week afterwards. 7. The librarian shall carefully examine, or cause to be examined, each book returned, and if the same be found to have sustained any injury or damage, he shall require the person to whom the same was delivered, or his guarantor, to pay the amount of damage or injury done, or otherwise to procure a new copy of the book of equal value, and in the latter case such person shall be entitled to the damaged copy on depositing the new one. 8. All books borrowed from the libraries must be returned, irrespective of the time allowed for reading, at the half-yearly dates specified on the printed labels at the beginning of each book. Borrowers neglecting to comply with this regulation will risk the forfeiture of their privilege of borrowing books. 9. Borrowers leaving town, or ceasing to use the libraries, are requested to return their tickets to the librarian, in order to have them cancelled, otherwise they and their guarantors will be held responsible for any book taken out in their names. 10. Borrowers, when they change their residence, are required to hand in their ticket with their present address to the librarian, otherwise they will lose their right of borrowing books. 11. Borrowers are cautioned against losing their tickets, as they will be held responsible for any book or books that may be taken out of the libraries in their names. 12. No borrower will be allowed to have more than one work at the same time. 13. No book can be renewed more than once, if required by another borrower. 14. No borrower will be allowed to make use of more than one of the lending libraries at the same time. 15. The librarian shall have the power to refuse books to any borrower who shall neglect to comply with the rules and regulations of the library ; but any person so refused shall have liberty to appeal to the library committee. PUBLIC REFERENCE LIBRARIES. No person will be allowed to obtain a book without signing a " Reader's Ticket," and such signature shall be taken and considered to be an assent to the rules and regulations of the library. Readers cannot obtain more than one volume on the same ticket, but the extra labour can be curtailed by stating the additional volumes required on blank tickets. Readers giving a false name and address will be held responsible for the consequences. It is expressly forbidden to take out of the reading-room any book, APPHXTUX IV. .569 magazine, or other article belonging to the library ; or to write or make any marks upon the same. Ratepayers desirous of proposing books not already in the library may do so by entering the same in the proposition book (quoting price, &c.), which is periodically submitted to the committee for con- sideration. No person will be admitted to the library who is intoxicated or in a dirty condition, nor will any audible conversation be permitted in the room. No person is allowed to pass within the enclosure, except by special permission of the public librarian. Persons under fourteen years of age are not admitted to the reference room, except for special purposes, to be determined by the librarian, or his assistant in charge. Readers are particularly requested not to soil or injure illustrations by fingering or laying their hands on them. The use of ink for copying extracts, &c., is not permitted, as serious injury to plates and books has resulted therefrom. Illustrated and other works are issued only on written application to the committee, the titles of which are distinguished in the catalogue by an asterisk (*). Open daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The issue of books discontinued at 9.15 p.m. FORM FOR GUARANTOR. PUBLIC LIBRARY. LENDING LIBRARY. Persons desiring to borrow books must first return this Guarantee, signed by an Elector of the Municipal Borough of I, , of Street, in Ward, engage to pay in respect of any Book belonging to the Corpo- ration of , which shall be issued in the name of of Street, and which shall be lost, injured, or not duly returned, according to the rules and regula- tions of the Public Library, such sum of money as may be imposed as a fine, or payment for lost or damaged books. This agreement is in force for two years only. If the person who may have signed this agreement desires to withdraw from it, he may do so by giving notice to the Librarian, who will cancel it if no liability under the same exists. Chief Librarian. N. B. One penny will be charged for the Borrower's Ticket. [This part to be filled up by the Librarian.] No. of Ticket. Date of issue . Admit the Applicant, Signed, Librarian. Date 570 prm.rr LIBRARIES. ELECTOR'S GUARANTEE. BOROUGH OF PUBLIC LIBRARY. LENDING LIBRARY. I, the undersigned, being an elector of the Municipal Borough of , and being desirous of borrowing books for home reading, hereby make application for a Borrower's Ticket, entitling me to borrow books. Should any book issued in my name be lost, damaged, or detained beyond the time allowed for reading, I engage to pay such sum of money to the Corporation as will pay for the loss, damage, or undue detention of the book ; and, further, I engage to con- form to the rules and regulations of the Public Library. Dated this day of Name Occupation Address or Residence Ward Signature of Librarian N. B. This application must be signed in the presence of one of the Librarians, and left with him for examination. This guarantee is in force for two years only. Chief Librarian. One penny will be charged for the Borrower's card. [This part to be filled up by the Librarian.] No. of Ticket. Date of Issue. Admit the Applicant, Signed, Librarian. Date RENEWAL OR POST CARD SLIP WHEN INDICATOR is USED. PUBLIC LIBRARY, LENDING DEPARTMENT. RENEWAL SLIP. , Librarian. This slip is designed to save borrowers the inconvenience of carrying a book to and from the library when it is required to renew the terra for which the book has been issued. Please fill in the particulars opposite Class \ ^ from the charging label at the end Letter J of the book, giving the class-letter, number, and the last row of figures entered on the label. When the work is in more than one volume the figures requisite will be found at the end of the first or earliest volume. When the figures have been filled in, as required, the presentation of the slip at the library will ensure renewal. Borrower' s\ Ticket No. / Day Number. Month. Day. APPENDIX iv. 571 Should a further renewal be required this slip must be produced again. When the book is returned after renewal this slip must be returned at the same time, and a failure to comply with this latter condition will cause the renewal date to be cancelled and the enforcing of a fine. It is reserved to the librarian to decline the renewal of any book in demand by other readers. Copies of this renewal slip to be obtained at the Library. [SUITABLE FOR HANDBILL TO DISTRIBUTE AMONG BORROWERS.] HOW TO USE THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. A SERIES OF SUGGESTIONS FOK THE USE OF READERS. Text-Books as a Basis of Beading. In much of your use of the library you will do well to make your text-books the basis. That is, you will feel an interest in some subject which is touched upon in your lesson, and will wish for more information about it than is found there. Such information you can find in some larger and more complete work in the library, which, perhaps, may be quoted, or in some way referred to in your text-book. Do not undertake to read all of the works thus referred to, but make yourselves masters of what you do read and consult. Use of Reference Books. Become familiar, also, with the use of works of reference, particularly such as are arranged in dictionary or alphabetical form. These are not designed to be read through, but to be consulted for information which one part of the volume may contain, independently of all other parts. In the same way, you should form the habit of using maps and atlases when reading any work which is concerned with the location of places. Beading for an Essay. In making use of the library for the preparation of an essay, seek for that which will be suggestive. That is, when you come to write, let it be something which youliave thought out for your- selves from the statements you consulted, rather than something trans- ferred bodily to your pages, with no mental effort. You will find your- selves just so much stronger mentally for every effort you make to think for yourselves. Habits of Beading. Strive to acquire wholesome habits of reading, and to maintain them. Come to the library with a definite book or subject in mind, rather than with an aimless desire for " some book no matter what." Concentrate your attention on the subject you are reading about, for it is worse than useless to dawdle through it. Read carefully and thoroughly, so as to be able to digest one subject in your mind before passing to another. Do not form the habit of returning your books every two or three days. Such a practice, if persisted in, will make your reading a morbid habit, rather than a benefit. Imaginative Literature. It is not intended that you should be limited in your reading to books which simply contain information. It will be well for you to become familiar with the best works of poetry, fiction, and other departments of literature in which the imagination is the chief element. Ask your teacher for suggestions about books of this class. He will be glad to direct you to some work which you will find it a positive benefit to read. Do not forget, however, that, of all the powers of the mind, the imagination is one that is most easily abused, and do not allow this class of reading to claim too much of your time. li'2 PUBLIC UHKAIUKS. Excessive Beading. A proper ambition is commendable in reading, as in other things, but there is nothing meritorious in the mere act of read- ing, apart from any good results. Remember that one book, thorough!}' digested, is letter than twenty quickly hurried through, and then as quickly forgotten. Nor should your reading interfere with your ordinary school duties, but be made supplementary to them. So, also, it should not interfere with your regular out-door exercise. Some pupils, certainly, will not need this caution, but it is of great importance that it should be heeded by those who do need it. Assistance. While you will gain much in making yourselves inde- pendent of assistance in the simpler matters of study and research, do not hesitate to ask for help when you really need it. The librarian and his assistants will be very glad to give you help or suggestions on any matter about which you are seeking for information, and you will find them interested to help you. Reviewing. It will be well for you occasionally to review your reading for a series of weeks or months, noting down what new ideas you have gained from the books you have read, and noticing whether your advance has been, on the whole, in the right direction. If it has not been, begin at once to correct the error. It will be useful practice for you to enter in a note-book, from time to time, such facts or memoranda as you con- sider of special value to you. The very act of writing will tend to fix them in your memory, even though you should never look at the memo- randum again. Life is too short to read many books through but once, but you will occasionally find a book which so impresses you that you wish to go through it a second time. You will be surprised to find not only how your interest is almost doubled on the second reading, but how the two views you have obtained of the book, supplementing each other, have served to fix an image of its main ideas in your mind. In brief, then 1. Begin by basing your reading on your school text-books. 2. Learn the proper use of reference-books. 3. Use books that you may obtain and express ideas of your own. 4. Acquire wholesome habits of reading. 5. Use imaginative literature, but not immoderately. 6. Do not try to cover too much ground. 7. Do not hesitate to ask for assistance and suggestions, at the library. 8. See that you make your reading a definite gain to you, in some direction. [WOULD MAKE UP INTO A VERY NEAT AND EFFECTIVE 4-PAGE 8vo. CIRCULAR.] CIRCULAR OF INFORMATION CONCERNING THE PUBLIC LIBRARY. NOTE. This circular is designed by the library committee to stimulate the inhabitants of the Borough to make greater use of the advantages the Public Library otfers. All persons interested in the work of the library will help the committee by handing this circular to any acquaintance they may know to be unaware of the facilities given for reading and study. Copies of this circular, for distribution, may be obtained at the library. APPENDIX IV. .->} PUBLIC LIBRARY, STREET. LENDING DEPARTMENT. Open daily 10 ani. to 9 p.m. This department of the library is formed for the issue of books for home reading and contains over volumes, every one available for iasue to borrowers. The works comprise a liberal and wide selection of the best literature of all classes, and recent books of interest are constantly being added. Every person wishing to borrow books has only to obtain a library ticket entitling them to take lx>oks home. The committee has placed as few restrictions as possible in the way of obtaining this, and it is only necessary that a guarantee form, properly filled up, with the signatures of two rate- payers of the borough should be left at the library. The printed guarantee forms may be had gratis at the library. Call, or send for one. There is also attached a Juvenile Lending Library with some volufltes of literature for the young, containing many of the best modern books for boys and girls. READERS' PROPOSAL BOOK. In this book, it is open to readers and borrowers to enter the particulars of any book they may deem desirable to be placed in the library. These proposals are submitted to the committee at each meeting. The librarian and his assistants are always ready to give readers any reasonable help in searching for books on particular or special subjects. REFERENCE LIBRARY, NEWS ROOM, fcc. Open daily, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. This department is open freely to everyone. The only requisite to obtain the most valuable books for perusal within the building, is the filling up of an application form for each book wanted, with title and number of book required, and name and address of reader. The REFERENCE LIBRARY is not quite a repository for dictionaries, directories, almanacs, &c., which it is sometimes thought a reference library is, but it is also a collection of the most valuable works in all branches of literature, which, on account of their rarity or value, cannot be issued for home reading, or have some other reasons for being consulted within the building only. There are more than volumes, many of them very beautiful works on the fine arts, and the best books on orna- mental design, architecture, engineering, &c. The library is rich in general English topographical works, county histories, &c., and has a particularly good collection of local books and works on Shakespeare. NEWS ROOM. Displayed on stands in the reading-room is a varied selection of the leading newspapers, London, local, and provincial. MAGAZINES AND PERIODICALS. A comprehensive selection of magazine and periodical literature is taken regularly, including the leading trade and technical journals, the popular monthly and quarterly magazines and reviews. STUDENTS' ROOM. There is also a separate room for students, for which the ticket of admission may be easily obtained. [Then would follow prices and particulars of catalogues, and the names of the librarian, assistants, and library committee.] PUBLIC LIBRA T?TI>. FORM OF BEQUEStf. I bequeath out of such part of my personal Estate as may by Laic be bequeathed for such purposes, to the Mayor, Alderman, and Burgesses, of the Borough of , in the County of , the sum of , free from Legacy Duty, for the benefit of the Public Libraries of the said Borough, to be expended in such way as they may deem expedient ; and I direct that the Receipt of the Tovm Clerk of the said Borough shall be an effectual discharge for the same Legacy. INDEX. Aberdeen Public Library, 224 226 Aberystwyth Public Library, 261 Act, Local Improvement, 149 fiscal Government, influence of the, 289 Public Library Amendment, 222, 346 Public Libraries' Consolida- tion (Scotland), 1887, 543551 special, for Oldham, 126 Technical Instruction, of 1889, 72, 193, 556559 Acts, Public Libraries', 530543, 555, badly drawn, 336 confusion regarding the, 71, 81, 115, 195 governing bodies with power to adopt the, 71, 72 litigation concerning the, 338345 not adopted, 281287 main features of the, 81 rejection of the , 71, 248, 269, 270, 281287, 325, 449, 453457 vagueness of the, 338 of Australia, 414 of the United States, 396 398 Adapted buildings for libraries, 352 Additions, recent, to stock, 262 Adelaide Public Library, 413 Administration of libraries, 374 Advantages of reading, 24, 85 Advertisements in catalogues, 264 Advertisements, newspaper, in libraries, 150 Advocates' Library, Edinburgh, 238 Agitating for the adoption of the Acts, 76 Airdrie Public Library, 226 Alloa Public Library, 226228 Altrincham adopts the Acts, 142 Amendment Bill of 1887, 345 , Libraries', Act of 1855, 59 American benefactors to libraries, 395 idea of Public Libraries, 33 libraries, 3 Public Libraries, 390 public school libraries, 887 Ancient libraries, 340 Apathy and the library movement, 71,72 Arbroath Voluntary Library, 444 Archbishop of York on Public Libraries, 137 Architectural plans of libraries, 94, 96 Architecture, library, 127, 217, 231, 297 Arguments in favour of Public Libraries, 511, 525 Arrangement of reading-rooms, 359 Art galleries, 108, 126, 193, 257, 265 Art schools and libraries, 101, 125 Art, schools of, 166, 187, 193, 357 Artisans as readers, 67, 104 Ash ton -under- Lyne Library, 85, 273 Associations, local, of librarians. 223 Aston Public Library, 144, 145. 273 Attendance, method of estimating the, 137 Auckland Public Library, 418 Australian branch libraries, 412, 416 Public Libraries, 411418 Austrian libraries, 2 Average cost of books, 169 Axon (Mr. W. E. A. ) and Public- Libraries, 110, \-27 Pt'BhlC LIBRARIES. B Baillie Library, Glasgow, 445 Balfour (Rt. Hon. A. J.) opens a library, 165 Bangor Public Library, 261 Banking accounts, 264 Barking adopts the Acts, 194 Barnet Voluntary Library, 446 Barnsley adopts the Acts, 85 Barrow-in-Furness Library, 86, 273 Bath rejects the Acts, 281 Battersea Public Library, 301 Bebington Public Library, 335 Bedford adopts the Acts, 145 Bequest, partial failure of a, 138 Bequests to libraries, 124, 126 Bermondsey and the library move- ment, 339 Bespoke books, 162 Bethnal Green and the vote for the Acts, 80 Voluntary Library, 446 Bilston Public Library, 145 Binding for Public Libraries, 379 Bingley adopts the Acts, 88 Birkdale, movement at, 281 Birkeuhead Public Library, 146, 147 Birmingham Public Library, 6, 29, 36, 123, 147154, 349352 Blackburn Public Library, 89 Blackpool Public Library, 88 Blind, libraries for the, 114, 184, 247, 264, 495 Blue books, 12 Board School branch libraries, 105, 106, 219, 380-390 evils of, 106 Board School library rules, 386 scholars, 18, 24 Board Schools, 9, 18, 115 Bodleian Library, 41 Bodley, Sir Thomas, 42 Bolton Free Public Library, 90 Book disinfector, 128 Book buying, 368370 Bookcases, 360362 Book clubs at Free Libraries, 125 Books, arrangement of, 375 average cost of, 169 cheapness of, 27 cost of, 189 expensive, 69 influence of, 66, 265 Books, percentage of income spent on, 116 percentage of, to the popula- tion, 273, 288 Bookselling trade and Public Li- braries, 27, 32 Borrow, power to, 534, 537, 538 Borrowers, hints to, 571 occupations of, 191 outside, 101, 115, 118, 137, 155, 185, 188, 324 outside, legality of, 338 Boston Library (U.S.A. ) and fiction, 278 (U.S.A.) Public Library, 399 402 Boys at the Derby Library, 160 Boys' reading-rooms, 91, 114, 129, 304 Bram well's book disinfector, 128, 495 Branch libraries, 106, 108, 109, 113, 132, 148, 149, 183, 217, 262, 266 and the penny rate, 76 Brassey's (Lord) gift to Hastings, 283 Brechiu adopts the Acts, 228 Brentford adopts the Acts, 194 Bright (Rt. Hon. John) on the Libraries' Acts, 67 Brierley Hill Public Library, 146 Brighton Public Library, 195198 Briscoe (Mr. J. Potter) and "Li- braries for the Young," 183 as a library missionary, 157 Bristol Public Library, 29, 43, 271, 272 British Museum Library, 288, 435 443 maintenance, 22 Brotherton (Mr. J.) and the "Ewart Bill," 56 and the Salford Library, 65 Brotherton's (Mr. J. ) assistance to the movement, 131 Brown (Sir W.) and the Liverpool Public Library, 108 Browne (Mr. J. de Maine), 261 Bruuner (Mr., M.P.) on Public Libraries, 144 Buildings, defective, 180 Buildings for Public Libraries, 353 I.VI'KK. Burgesses on library committees, 348 Burnley, library movement at, 282 Burns as a founder of libraries, 65 lUirslcm Public Library, 184 Burton Latimer and the move- ment, 28; Bury (William), 45 Business books, 368 Buxton Public Library, 154, 155 Cambridge Public Library, 35, 156 - University and P'ublic Li- braries, 94 Campfield Public Library, Man Chester, 64 Canadian Public Libraries, 409 411 Canterbury Public Library, 198 Canvassing for the adoption of the Acts, 565 Card catalogues, 373 Cardiff Public Library, 262-264 Carlton adopts the Acts, 157 ; cited, 334 Carlyle and Public Libraries, 8 Carmarthen, movement at, 269 Carnarvon Public Library, 264 Carnegie's (Mr. A.) munificence to libraries, 223, 226, 231, 234, 240, 396 Catalogue advertisements, 264 Catalogues Birmingham, 150; Newcastle, 123 ; Nottingham, 183 ; Wigan, 140 Cataloguing, 371 Central libraries v. branch libraries, 108 Chambers's "Digest of the Law relating to Public Libraries and Museums," &c., 337 Charity Commissioners and Public Libraries, 325 Charters, records, and documents and Public Libraries, 35 Cheapness of books, 27 Cheshire Public Libraries, 185 Chesterfield Public Library, 155 Chetham Library, Manchester, 45 48 Chicago Public Library, 409 Chippenham Voluntary Library, 447 Chinese libraries, 14 Chiswick adopts the Act*. 323 Church, the, and Public Libraries, 76 Circulars of library information, 93, 147, 572 City " Free " Libraries, 325 Classification of books. 370 Clergymen and the library move- ment, 76, 142, 265, 302, 327 Clcrkenwell, litigation at, 311 Clitheroe Public Library, 94 Clubs and libraries, 85, 332, 471 479 Colchester, scheme fails at, 281 Coleraine adopts the Acts, 257 Collection of the rate, 337 Commissioners, notes for, 326 Committees and Commissioner i, 87, 268, 271, 348, 479, 532 Committee meetings reported, 169 Comparison of libraries, 271, 273 of rates, 19 Comparisons, unreliability of, 274 Concerts in aid of libraries, 19, 192 Concord (U.S.A.) Public Library 402404 Confusion of the Libraries' Acts 71, 81, 115, 195 Consolidation Act of 1887, 222 need for a, 337 (Scotland), 1871, 543 551 Bill prize, 92 suggestions for a, 346 of the Libraries' Acts, 71 Continental libraries, 2 Cork adopts the Acts, 257 Corporations and libraries, 7 Corpus Christi Library, Cambridge, 40 Corrupt practices, 83 Cost of books, 169, 189 of libraries, 272 per head, 220 of taking the poll, 73 Cotgreave's library indicator, 364 Councils and libraries, friction be- tween, 130, 135 Coventry Public Library, 158 Cowell (Mr. P.) on central libraries, 108 Credland (Mr. W. R.) on the Man- chester Libraries, 110 on library work, 113 578 ITBIJC Crestodoro (Dr.) and the Manches- ter Public Libraries, 112 Criminal statistics, 26 Criticism on Public Libraries, 274 Croydon adopts the Acts, 323 - decision as to voters, 142, 342345 Cutter's rules for a dictionary catalogue, 372 Danger of high shelving, 171 Darlaston Public Library, 159 Darlington Public Library, 271, 272 Darwen Public Library, 94 Decrease of issues, causes of, 161 Defective buildings, 180 Defence of fiction, 165, 279 Demanding a poll, 80 Dent (Mr. R. K. ) and library lec- tures, 145 Denton Public Library, 99 Deputation to Lord Iddesleigh, 36 Derby Public Library, 160162 Derbyshire Public Libraries, 154, 160162 Dewey (Mr. Melvil) on public school libraries, 389 Dewsbury Public Library, 100 Dickens(Charles)at the Manchester Public Library, 66 Dimensions of library rooms, 510 Disinfection of books, 128, 493 496 Documents and manuscripts in Public Libraries, 37 Donations, 226, 228, 230234 Doncaster Public Library, 100 Donors of books, 39 to libraries, 85, 88, 91, 96, 103, 108, 126, 159, 160, 164, 170, 174, 179, 180, 185, 221, 223, 228, 230, 242, 244, 295, 297, 298, 304, 407, 449, 458 Douglas Public Library, 260 Dublin Public Libraries, 258 Duchess of Rutland and Public Libraries, 166 Dudley Public Library, 146, 273 Dumbarton Public Library, 229 Dundalk Public Library, 259 Dundee Public Library, 229 Dunfermline Public Library, 231 Duty of the State with regard to libraries, 23 E Baling Public Library, 324 Early advocate of parochial libraries, 49 Eastbourne and the library move- ment, 282 Ecclesiastical Commissioners and the movement, 294 Edinburgh Public Library, 233 239 Education Act, 8 Education versus crime, 9, 26 Education a necessity, 24 Edwards's (E.) evidence on Public Libraries, 50, 51, 53 Effect of library lectures. 273 Effect of the state of trade on libraries, 109 Effect of weather on library statistics, 273 Electric light in libraries, 123, 358, 412 Elgin, library movement at, 249 Elliot's (Mr.) reading-room table, 191 Employment obtained through advertisements in the library, 150 Encyclopaedias, 34 Endowed Public Libraries, 174 Enemies to the library movement, 73, 75, 78 Essex Public Libraries, 194 Evening libraries, 110 Evils of Board School branch libraries, 106 Ewart Bill, the, 49, 5359 Ewart, Mr. W., life of, 6062 Excessive rents, 135, 136 Exmouth and the library move- ment, 282 Expenses of taking the poll, 73, 81, 536 Expensive books, 69 Extension of library work, 146 Falkirk, library movement at, 249 Farnworth, library movement at, 282 Fiction defended, 165, 279 in Public Libraries, 24 issue of, 123, 126, 129, 133, 154, 166, 172, 179, 185, 193,217, 274, 278 Fiasco at a statutory meeting, 89 Finance, 264 Fine for turning leaves down, 89 Fin. -sat Public Libraries, 121, 225, 509 Fire at the Birmingham Library, 150 First Free Library, 43 48 Fittings for Public Libraries, 353 368 Fleetwood Public Library, 86 Folkestone Public Library, 198 Forfar Public Library, 239 Free education and Public Libraries, 275 grants to Public Libraries, 37 " Free " Libraries a misnomer, 20, 21 Free Libraries' Acts, 12 "Free Libraries and Museums," 148 French libraries, 2 public school libraries, 386 Friends to the library movement, 76 Fulham Public Library, 288, 295 Future of Public Libraries, 275 G Gas, effect of, on books, 358 Gateshead Public Library. Generosity to libraries, 85, 88, 91, 96, 103, 125, 126, 136, 160, 164, 170, 174, 179,226,228, 230,234, 296298, 304, 407, 449, 458 German libraries, 3 Gifts of publications, 39 Gifts to irresponsible bodies, 87 Gilstrap's (Sir W.) gift to Newark, 174 Gladstone (Rt. Hon. W. E.) and Public Libraries, 23, 265 Glasgow and the library movement, 249253 and the vote for the Acts, 80 Voluntary Libraries, 445 Gloucester rejcrts the Acts, 282 "Good Books, "527 Government aid required, 15S. 2.17 260 Government grants to Australian libraries, 412, 415 Government Publications and Public Libraries, 36 Governing boUies and the libraries' question, 7174 Grant wanted to start a library. 257 Grants of Parliamentary Papers to Public Libraries, 37 Granville (Earl) opens a Public Library, 185 Guarantors, question of, 167 Guille - Alles Library, Guernsey, 458 Gutter literature, 277, 279 Haggerston's (Mr. W. J.) work at Newcastle, 123 Halfpenny rate, 260, 268 Hand's (Mr. G. W.) work at Old- ham, 126 Handbills, suggestions for, 525 Handbook to the library, 110 Hand-lists of books, 147 Handsworth Public Library, 162 Hanley Public Library, 184 Harris Institute at Preston, 127 Harrogate Public Library, 28, 103 Hartington (Marquis of) on Public Libraries, 86, 154 Harvey's (Mr. C.) gift to Barnsley, 85 Hastings rejects the Acts, 283 Hasty polling, effect of, 286 Ha warden (Air. Gladstone's) library, 448 Hawick Public Library, 239 Heating of libraries, 130, 174, 358 Heavy taxes, 260 Hendon, movement at, 283 Hereford Public Library, 163 Hertford Public Library, 165 High Wycombe Voluntary Library, 448 Hinckley Public Library, 166 Hindley Public Library, 103 Hobart Public Library, 419 o80 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Holmes (0. W.) and Public Libraries, 6 Home reading, 94 - Reading Union, 188, 276 Horwich Voluntary Library, 448 Hours of Public Libraries, 496 House of Commons Report on Public Libraries, 1849, 50 , How to use the library, 571 Hucknall Torkard Public Library, 157, 334 Hull and the library vote, 83 Voluntary Library, 449 453 Iddesleigh (Lord) on grants to libraries, 37 Idiosyncrasies, library, 271 Imperial taxation for libraries, 276 Importance of Public Libraries, 398 Incentives to good reading, 276 Income, various additional sources of, 125, 137, 158, 162, 166, 188, 189, 191, 192, 259, 324, 489, 509 increase of, 162 Indicators, 362366, 376 Increase of the Library Rate, 76, 141, 299 Indifference, effect of, on the library movement, 71, 269 Influence of books, 66 of libraries, 34, 265 Institutes and libraries, 268, 269. See "Mechanics." Insurance of libraries, 493 Intimidation of voters, 83, 563 Inverness Public Library, 241 Ireland (Mr. Alexander) and the Manchester Public Library move- men t, 70 Isle of Man Public Library, 260 Isle of Wight, failure of the move- ment at, 283 Isleworth, movement at, 284 Issue of books, 33, 179, 273 ledgers, 378 Issues, causes of the decrease of, 161 percentage of, 271 Italian libraries, 3, 12 Jackson (Mr. G.) on " The means of improving public taste," 54 Japanese libraries, 14 Jevons (Mr. W. S.) on Public Libraries, 33 Jubilee of the " Ewart Act," 280 Juvenile borrowers, 157 - Public Libraries, 100, 119, 143, 166, 456 - libraries, 86, 95, 102, 114, 121, 129, 183, 264, 278, 495 literature, 34 K Kendal and the library movement, 284 Kidderminster Public Library, 168 Kirkby's (Mr. C. V.) work at Leicester, 172 Kirkwall adopts the Acts, 242 Kirkwood's early advocacy of paro- chial libraries, 49 Knight (Charles) on Public Libra- ries, 68 Labouchere (Mr.) and the " Ewart Bill," 57 Ladies' rooms, 357 Lady librarians, 88, 485 Laggards in the library movement, 281287 Lambeth Public Libraries, 14, 288, 296300 Lancaster (Mr. A.) on technical education, 422 Lavatories, 357 Laws relating to Public Libraries, 337 Leaflets on library work, 164 Leamington Public Library, 169 Lectures at libraries, 126, 133, 141, 145, 162, 163, 171, 191,426, 431 extension, 166, 171 library, effect of, 273 Leeds Public Library, 6, 29, 103 106, 123, 271, 272, 383385 Leek Public Library, 169 Legality of admitting outside bor- rowers, 156 Leicester Public Library, 171, 271 Leicestershire Public Libraries, 1 66, 172 INDEX. 581 Leigh and the library movement, 284 Lending library books, 369 Leominster Public Library, 164 Liberty and Property Defence League, 21 Librarians and lihrarianship, 481 485 as public officials, 30 as " Special Constables," 402 Libraries, influence of the, 84 and Socialism, 21 and the Church, 76 as crime-reducing institutions, 25 for the blind, 114, 184 247, 264, 495 of local literature, 36, 90 on probation, 345 - Public, arguments in favour of, 511525 Public, criticism on, 270 Public, how to popularize, 527530 Public, opinions on, 519 525 v. crime, 260 Library architecture, 127, 217, 231, 297 Association, the, 338, 486 Blue- Books, 52 committees, 87, 268 plans, 94, 96 work, comprehensive view of, 497507 Light reading, 274 Lighting of libraries, 123, 186, 358 Limerick, library movement at, 259 Lincolnshire without one Public Library, 194 Litigation concerning the Acts, 338 345 Liverpool Library and Museum Act, 1852, 340 Public Library, 6, 29, 106 110, 177, 271 Llandudno, movement defeated at, 269 Llangollen, private library at, 269 Loafers in the library, 30 Loans for Public Library purposes, 176, 349352, 508 official inquiries concerning, 162 Local Boards, 531 Local charters and Public Libraries. 35 literature, 36, 140, 147 rates, 10 taxation, 10 London Board School libraries, 385 - compared to Paris and Berlin, 288 future library movement in, 289 - libraries, 435, 446, 454, 456 progress of the library move- ment in, 287 vestries and the movement, 290, 327 Longton, movement at, 284 Lost books, 116 Loughborough Public Library, 167 Lowestoft, library scheme at, 284 Lubbock's(SirJ.) Amendment Bill, 347 Luton, library movement at, 453 Lytton (Lord) on Public Libraries, 65 MacAlister Prize Bill, 93 Macclesfield, turnover at, 273 Manchester Public Libraries, 6, 29, 36, 43, 62, 110115, 123, 271, 272 scheme of technical education, 424 " Manchester School," 66 Manchester Suburban Libraries, 119 Mansfield adopts the Acts, 174 MS. in libraries, 243 Marylebone Voluntary Libraries, 454 May's (Mr.) renewal slips, 147 Mechanics and libraries, 30, 32 as readers, 67, 104 Mechanics' Institutes and Public Libraries, 27,78,85,88, 100, 118, 119, 125, 136, 141, 158, 184, 225, 471479 institutes, origin of, 472 Meetings, statutory, 72, 79, 116, 170, 174, 184, 187, 224, 233, 235, 537, 560 Melbourne Public Library, 333, 411 682 PUBLIC LIBRARIES. Methods of library work, 271 Middlesborough Public Library, 115 Middleton Public Library, 117 Middlewich adopts the Acts, 142 Millom Public Library, 117, 334 Milnes, R. M. (Lord Houghton), on Public Libraries, 67 Minister of Public Instruction, 11 Misstatements about the Library Rate, 143, 149, 163, 180, 285 Mitchell Library, Glasgow, 445 Monks and manuscripts, 43 Morley's (Mr. S.) gift to Notting- ham, 183 Moss Side's adoption questioned, 119 Mountain Ash rejects the Acts, 270 Much Wool ton adopts the Acts, 119 Mullins's (Mr. J. D.) library work, 147, 148 Museums and Public Libraries, 62, 86, 89, 92, 118, 125, 126, 130, 132, 135, 163, 170, 177, 180,188, 230, 257, 269, 337 Music in libraries, 162, 166, 184,264 N Nautwich adopts the Acts, 142 National Gallery maintenance, 22 Nelson adopts the Acts, 119 New South Wales Public Libraries, 415 New York Public Libraries, 405 New Zealand Public Libraries, 418 Newark Public Library, 174176 Newbury and the library move- ment, 285 Newcastle catalogue, 123 Newcastle-on-Tyne Public Library, 24, 29, 36, 38, 120-125, 271 Newcastle-under-Lyme adopts the Acts, 176 Necessity of branch libraries, 149 Newport (Mon.), turnover at, 273 Newspaper stands, 366 Newspapers and the library move- ment, 74 Newsrooms, 29, 35, 36 Newsham's (Mr. R. ) bequest to Preston, 126 Newton Heath Public Library, 119 Nicholson Institute, Leek, 169 JVums deplume, 123 North of England, library move- ment in the, 83 Northampton Public Library, 176 jyg 273 Northampton (U. S. A. ) Public Library, 404 North wich Public Library, 179 Norwich quoted, 271 Nottingham Public Libraries, 6, 29, 36, 123, 177, 179184, '271 Nottinghamshire Public Libraries, 157, 174, 179 Novels, value of, 278 Number of Public Libraries, 1, 2, 8, 280 Objections to the library rate, 18, 78 to the popular vote, 73 to Public Libraries, 75 Objectors to the Library Rate, 73, 75, 78 Occupations of borrowers, 20, 191 of readers, 273 Occupiers have the right to vote, 81 Old documents in Public Libraries, 92 Ogle's (Mr. J. J.) Consolidation Bill, 92 Oldbury adopts the Acts, 159 Oldham Public Library, 125 Opening the first Public Library, Manchester, 63 Opinions on Public Libraries, 519 525 Origin of the "Ewart Bill," 53 Osborne (Mr. Bernal) and the "Ewart Bill," 56 Oswestry adopts the Acts, 265 Outside borrowers, 101, 115, 118, 137, 155, 185, 188, 324 , legality of, 156, 338 Overdue books, how to detect, 377 " Overture for founding and main- taining of Bibliothecks," 49, 512 519 Oxford extension lectures for libra- ries, 429431 Paddington voluntary library, 454 INDKX. 1'aislev Public Library, 242211 Pamphlet box, 368 Panizzi's (Mr.) evidence on Public Libraries, 52 Parker's (Archbishop) library, 41 Parliamentary (Library) Returns, 12 Papers, 37 Patent Office publications, 37 Pauperism, decrease of, 26 Pease (Sir J.), 96 Peculiar position of the Dublin libraries, 258 Penny rate, 19, 76 Penrith Public Library, 117 Pensions, 13 Penzance, movement at, 221 Percentage of issues, 271 Periodicals, &c. , cost of, in libraries, 509 Periodical rack, 367 Peterhead adopts the Acts, 244 Peterborough and the library move- ment, 285 Pictures presented to libraries, 138 Pictures (Sir A. J.) and the Liver- pool Public Library, 106 Plans of libraries, 173, 174, 187, 236, 237, 303, 356, 436 Plant's (Major) work at Peel Park, 130 Plymouth Public Library, 36, 219, 271, 272, 383 Board School Library system, 383 Poll demanded by the defeated party, 80 Poll, expenses of the, 82, 536 Popular vote wanted, 71, 73 Popularization of libraries, 527 530 Potter (Sir John) and the Man- chester Public Library, 65 Potteries, libraries in the, 184 Preparation and placing of books, 374 Press, the, and library work, 92, 95, 112, 261, 263, 302, 487 Preston Public Library, 126128, 271, 272 Prior (Mat) at Wimborue Library, 42 Prison, a, turned into a library, 244, Prize for suggested Consolidation Bill, 93 Probationary Public Libraries, 345 -,-.; I, 250, Propagandist work, 71, 525, 659, 565 Public education, need of, 21 subscriptions, 264 Publicans and the library v> 336 Publishers' donations to libraries. 124 Putiu-y Public Library, 302 Q Quaker literature, 99 Rate, collection of the, 337, 555 extension of the, 114 halfpenny, 260 increase of the, 76, 125, 141, 299 irregularity of the, 272 limitation of the, 190 misrepresentations regarding the, 143, 149 partly held back, 188 - reforms, 19 twopenny, 125, 141 used for Museum and School of Art, 257 voting for the amount of the, 342 without voting, 72 Rates compared, 19 of English towns, 10 Rate-supported without the vote, 258, 259 Rathgar Public Library, 260 Rathmines Public Library, 260 Rating of London parishes, 291 of Public Libraries, 491, 508 Raw marsh and the library move- ment, 285 Rawson (Mr. H.) and the Man- chester library, 111 Readers, hints to, 571 occupations of, 273 Readers' tickets, number of, 271 Reading an education, 24, 85 classes at libraries, 184 improved character of, 122 light, 274 Reading Public Library, 205 I'l BI.IC I.II3KAIUKS. Reading-room, arrangement of, 359 dispensed with, 134 Reading, solid, increase of, 274 Record Office publications, 137 Recreative evening classes, 389 Redwood's Library, Bristol, 44 Reference libraries, 29 importance of, 138 Reforms of rates, 19 Reform of the method wanted, 71 Reg. v. St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, 80 Reg. v. Wimbledon Local Board, 80 Rejection of the Acts, 248, 269, 270, 281, 287, 325, 449, 453457 Renewal slips, 147 Rents, excessive, 135, 136 Repeal of the Libraries' Acts wanted, 71 of the Acts advocated, 338 Reports, 488 Reprints, 27, 277 Requisition, forms of, 559, 562 Richmond Public Library, 324 Riddell's(Mr. H. P. A. B. ) bequest to the Newcastle Library, 124 Right, the, to vote, 81 Ripon (Marquis of) on Public Libraries, 452 Rochdale Public Library, 129 271, 272 Rochester Voluntary Library, 456 Rosebery (Earl of) opens a library, 231 Rotherham Public Library, 129, 273 Rules of Archbishop Parker's library, 41 for cataloguing, 372 for Public Libraries, 567 Runcorn Public Library, 185 Russian libraries, 4 Rutland (Duchess of) and Public Libraries, 166 St. Helen's Public Library, 134, 135 St. Martin-in-the- Fields Public Library, 300 Salaries of librarians, 509 ^question of, 123 Sale adopts the Acts, 188 Salford Public Library. 65, 130, 131, 464 Saltney Public Library, 23 Scene at the re-opening of a Lam- beth library, 14 Schedules of procedure for polling, 551 Scholars, number of, 381 Schools and sshool accommoda- tion, 381 Schools of Art and libraries, 101, 125 Science and Art classes, 101, 102, 125, 191, 431, 434 Science and Art schools freed from the Library Rate, 263 Secretaries of libraries, 480 Sectarian literature in public news- rooms, 35 Selborne (Lord) on the " Ewart Bill," 58 Selkirk Public Library, 244 Sermon in favour of a library, 142 Shaftesbury (Earl) and the Man- chester Public Library, 64 Shakespearian Library at Birming- ham, 151, 152 Sheepscar Branch Library, 106 Sheffield Public Library, 132. 133, 271 Shelving in libraries, 171, 360 Shields, North, Public Library, 125 Shields, South, Public Library, 133, 273 Shrewsbury Public Library, 188, 273 Sibthorpe's (Col.) opposition to the "Ewart Bill," 56 Sites given by corporations, 177 Size notation, 372 Slater's (M. J.) generosity to Dar- laston, 159 Sleepers in the library, 31 Sligo Public Library, 260 Smethwick Public Library, 189 Smiles, R. W., 112 Smith (Aid. W.)and the Manchester Library, 111 Socialism and Public Libraries, 21 Somerset without a Public Library, 285 Southport Public Library, 88 Spencer (Mr. Herbert) on State socialism, 21 Staley bridge adopts the Acts, 134 State aid, need of, 13, 22 socialism, 22 duty of the, with regard to public enlightenment, 8 Statistics of crime, 26 of libraries, 271, 497507 Statutory meetings, results of, 79, 80, 117, 134, 141, 142, 159, 170, 174, 184, 187, 224, 233, 235, 285, 537, 560 Stephens (Sir James) on Public Libraries, 67 Stirling's (Mr. Justice) decision as to voters, 343345 Library, Glasgow, 445 Stock ill kept, 116 objections to Public Libraries, 75 of various libraries, 271,273 turnover of, 121, 273, 497 507 Stockport Public Libraiy, 79, 135, 273 Stoke Public Library, 185 Stonehouse, library movement at, 285 Stratford, library movement at, 324 Stroud Voluntary Library, 457 Structural defects in libraries, 121 Struggle for the " Ewart Bill," 56 Students at the library, 263 Students' rooms at libraries, 31 Subscription libraries and Public Libraries, 27, 28, 78, 100 interests of, 196 within Public Libraries, 158, 191 rooms, private, in libraries, 166 public, to libraries, 264 Subscriptions plus the rate, 259 Suburban libraries (London) adopt the Acts, 288 Button (Mr, C. W.)on the Man- chester libraries, 110 Sunday attendances at libraries, 114, 141, 190 issues, Ir4, 153 opening, a failure, 469 opening of libraries, 87, 92, 102, 121, 459471 Swansea Public Library, 177, 265 268 Sydney Public Library, 415418 T. Table for the reading-room, Mr. Elliott's, 191 Tables of comparison, 271, 273 Tarves Public Library, 245, 334, Tasmanian Publu Libraries, 419 Taste for books fostered by 1'uMir Libraries, 33 Taunton, 285 Taxation, Imperial, for libraries. 276 local, 10 Taylor (Mr. J.) on the firt Free Libraries, 43 Technical books, 136 education and Public Libraries, 420426 Instruction Act of 1889, 72, 193, 263, 556559 instruction at St. Helen's, 422 ; at Stockport, 425 schools, 127 treatises in libraries, 36, 90 Temporary premises for libraries, 327, 492 Testimony to the use of libraries, 265 Thackeray at the opening of the Manchester Public Library, 66, 68 Thomlinson's (Rev. R.) bequest to Newcastle, 124 Thurso Public Library, 246 Tickets and vouchers, sale of, 509 Toronto Public Library, 409411 Torquay movement at, 286 Tottenham rejects the Acts, 286 Town clerks and the library move- ment, 77 Towns without Public Libraries, 281, 287 Trade influence, 144 effect of, on libraries, 109, 144 Tradesmen and the library move- ment, 77 Trash v. Libraries, 277 Travel, books of, in Public Librariw, 35 Travelling libraries, 106 Truro Public Library, 221 Tunstall Public Library, 185 Turnover of stock, 121, 273, 497 507 Twickenham Public Library, 324 1'UBLIC LIBRARIES. Tyneiiiouth institution handed over to the Free Library, 125 Two-penny rate, 141 rate at Oldham, 125 r Unfair comparisons, 274 United States Public Libraries' Acts, 396, 398 University extension lectures, 166, 171, 276 Unreliability of statistics, 274 Unlimited rate, an, 125, Value of fiction, 165, 274, 278 Ventilation of libraries, 135, 357 Verney (Capt.) on village libraries, 330 Vestries, combination of, for library purposes, 533, 556 Village library, a, 335 libraries established, 334 how to aid, 331 schemes for, 245, 333 Public Libraries, 245 Voluntary rate, 141 Voluntarily - supported Public Libraries, 249, 286, 444 Vote, popular, objections to the, 73 Voters, decision of Mr. Justice Stirling as to the, 343345 , question of the, 81, 195, 339 Voting by post, 80 , cost of, 73 on the library question, 71 papers, 72, 80, 553, 554 system, 339, 341 W Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 108 Walsall Public Library, 190 Wandsworth Public Library, 273, 288, 295 Warrington Museum and Reference Library, 62, 273 Washington Congressional Library, 408 Watering places, need of Public Libraries at, 261 Watford Public Libraries, 165 Weather, effect of, on libraries, 273 Wednesbury Public Library, 190 Welch (Mr. C.) on Whittington's Library, 45 Welsh libraries, number of, 261 literature, 266 Welsbpool adopts the Acts, 268 Westminster Public Library, 60, 288, 293295 Weston-super-Mare adopts the Acts, 221 Weymouth rejects the Acts, 286 Whitehaven adopts the Acts, 136 Wick Public Library, 247 Wigan Library, 35, 49 Public Library, 137141 reference catalogue, 139, 140 Wimbledon Public Library, 80, 325 Wimborne, old library at, 42 Windows, stained, in libraries, 264 Winsford Public Library, 185188 Winton's (Sir Francis de) list of books, 121 Withington and the library move- ment, 286 Wolverhampton Public Library, 177, 191193, 271, 272 Worcester Public Library, 193 Worcestershire Public Libraries, 168 Workingtou adopts the Acts, 141 Workmen as readers, 67, 104 Wrexham Public Library, 268 Wright (Mr. W. H. K.) and branch libraries, 219 Yates (Mr. J.) and branch libraries, 106 York rejects the Acts, 286 Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes, 475 it- fin i HI. Printers, \fine Ofice Court. ?lf*t Strvt. London, ti.C. A dvertisements. EVERY PUBLIC LIBRARY SHOULD POSSESS The Koyal Atlas of Modern Geography -660 The Howard Vincent Map of the British Empire, showing the possessions through- out the World of the British people, 72 x 63 inches - 1 1 For full details of W. & A. K. JOHNSTON'S Wall Maps, Wall Illustrations, Atlases, Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, Scientific Works, &c. &c. SEE THEIR CATALOGUE, WHICH IS POSTED GRATIS TO ANY ADDRESS. W.&A. K, JOHNSTON, Geographers to the Queen, Educational and General Publithert, (ESTABLISHED 1825.) Edina Works, Easter Road, and 16, South St. Andrew Street, Edinburgh ; 5, White Hart Street, Warwick Lane, London, E.G. 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