New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-01-21
THE NEB-BEDFORD FREE LIBRARY.

In ,pte Of the facilities afforded tho book .resdiog
publc Of New-York by the Aston Mercantile, Society,
Apprentice. and other or Less acceptable libra
ries several cities in Massachusetts, have, what We
have not, library common TO all citizens az the
streets and the schools and from which books can
be taken OF all reasonable hours. These libraries have
sprung up under o general act Of the Legislature OF
that State passed in May 1851, authorizing cities aud
towns to their Tatable polls one dollar each TO es-
tabsh and twenty We cents annually to MAINTAIN, IL
brories for The use of their Inhabitants.
New Bedford was first TO avail herself Of the provis
ions Of tbs act and handsome library building which
We saw there the other day sttests the earnestness
with which this project is being carried out This
building Is Of brick and freestone, with basement of
dark Quincy granite, and nearly as large as the recent
ly completed building ofthe New York S);iey Library
in University place. 1t is to bs ready for in April
and will cost s OOO exclusive Of the ground on which
it stands.
The library itself s claimed by the citizens to be
the first free library opened bys free people to
themselves. 1t consists at present Of 10000 volumes.
The Eew.Bedford Society Library, an institution about
fifty year. old transferred it's collection of $500 vol
pmes TO the city in 1852, for a noniosl sum- Some.
thing more than a thousand books have .ince then
been added annually by the city. readingrcom at
tached furnishes all citizens opportunity Of seeing
the leading periodicals Of Europe well America,
and it 10 Voc attended In the building there will
be reading-room for ladies well for gentle
men, More than 25 900 books taken from the IL
bray yearly by about 1000 persons, and the number
Of persons taking books is increasing at the rate Of
nearly twenty five per cent per annum
In itself the library is not remarkable in ts freedom
and ito feet on the culture Of the city is uCrivaed
BY its regulations all adult residents Of the city
entitled 10 the privilege Of taking books from the
"Ibrary" and all minors, an order from resident
adult There is distinction Of color or sex; all citi-
zeps sixteen years old participate freely in the advsn-
tsges Of the library subject TO nothing but implied
engagement to observe the regulations Of the nsttu
ton and children less than sixteen may take books by
leaving deposit Of books money in they can
find no adult 20 become responsible for them. 1t has
Away. been urged by the opponents on free libraries
that people who pay nothing individually for the use
Of books careless about returning them. This IS
found TO be fallacy When forty thousand volumes
had been taken from this Library by everybody who
cared to spply, examination disclosed the astound-
inc fact that that but sixty volumes we're missing
The ANIMAL reports Of the Board OF Trustees written
Nv Mr.. J. b. COngdon, Cashier of the Merchants
Bank in New Bedford, who has devoted much time to
The foundation and supervision Of the library, say,
smoDg other things:
striking and delightful feature of our operations,
"a the large number Of females who visit the as both
ss takers of our books and readers of periodicals
Nearly cDehalf Of the names upon our books are
those Of females. The convenient location OF the Ll-
brSry the beraity of its arrangements aud ths quiet
aud decorum which pervade the place, have a.
traoted thither that class Of the population which
has hitherto seldom been found visiting our public
hbrafies.
riednable TO the inhabitants Of city, that du'Og
the year NO indecorum, no breach of the rules for
maintaining order, quiet and Hea,neSs IN the rooms,
have nterfeTed with their pleasant and profitable use
By any portion of our people.
Two thousand dollars year appropriated an
huay by the city to the library; one-ha goes toward
10 current expenses the sher toward new books. The
entire expenditure incurred for it has been nearly
ST. OOO And when we consider that the 1000 persons
who take books represent more than half the house
holds of the city, and that the Is 600 volumes which
are taken out during the year are many OF them read
by two or three persons we cannot think that the CITY
made bad investment. 1t is but carrying ont the
ides that the city should educate the citizens little
further than day and evening schools 1t is but placing
in the hands Of all the people means OF pursuing the
education they have commenced in the public schools.
II acts directly on at least Oue-ffh of the pOpula-
ton. and With far greater effect than could free
academy or university, which would not be accessible
10 twentieth part Of the number, and which would
coet ten times as much. The single librarian in his
$4,000 scboolhOuse there, by the side of the City
Hall does more for the general culture Of the city, and
consequently for its material prosperity than even the
hundred teachers of the public schools The =, 900 or
a. 600 spent on the Free Library viii than ds-
pcate the efficiency Of the $4,000 expended for Free
Schools.