Litchfield enquirer., 1859-06-23
THE COMMON SCHOOL LIBRARY SYSTEM OF WISCONSIN
 From the Chenango Village Times

! A>A~~ O0AA4AO4N GOhOOh JlDI6Ah l SYSTEM OF WISCONSIN.
 From the Chenango Village Times
 The new State of Wisconsin has made a wide advancing stride in the great common School system, now so generally adopted in the States of the civilized world. It is in the foundation of widely laid system of circula- ting libraries, to be established in every town throughout the State. The great importance, the grandeur of such an undertaking cannot but strike the mind with admiration-the es- tablshment of a circulating library in every rural and village district belonging to the peo- pie thereof The act provides for "perma- nent town school library fund, by setting apart ten per cent. of the school fund income annu, ally :; together with special tax, to be levied each year, of one-tenth of one mill on the dol lar valuation of taxable property" This has the advantage, at the least possible item of cost, to make the local library the peoples own peculiar property, and giving them a pride and pleasure in the absolute ownership of it. The act then provides that this sum shall be set apart specifically, for the establish ing and replenishiDg town scnool libraries It also provides that the books of these libraries shall be purchased by public authority and not by the local school boards.
 This last must strike the reader as wise and admirable provision-as the diverse tastes of local boards and frequently incompetent judges, from want of liberal education and ex- tended reading, it prevents the introduction of improper, injudicious, and a too wide diversity of books for the study of youth, for whose al : most exclusive be left the books are intended Ou the State Superintendent of Instruction 1 the duty of selection will most likely fall, who always has been, and most likely will always be, man of more or less education, talents and responsibility of character, capable of a judicious selection, and giving uniformity of character to the works selected. Fourthly |: The act also provides that an extra number of the Laws, Journals and Documents shall be printed by the State, and delivered to the State Superintendent of Instruction, and bound under his direction, sufficient to supply each town and city library with set.
 MT. Lyman c. Draper, the we'll known his- torian, and at present Superintendent of Pub lie Instruction of the State, and to whom, we may justly say, it is indebted for this noble project, says that this lLibrary School Fund will amount to $40, 1000 year, and yearly in crease, with the increase of the School Fund and that of taxable property that the first year of it's operation, (Is60,) it will give an average of $53 fer books to each of the $50 towns and cities in the State This amount will be added every year, increasing with the amount of taxable property, giving an annual infusion of new books and a new reading, and which must in comparatively few years, give to each minute district of the State, library of almost incalculabe value. Can we too much admire the grandeur and beauty of such a system-so simple in it's project-so perma- nent in it's foundation-so cheaply attained by its means-but above all, so rich in its vast stores of information and education. A large and extensive circulating library as this, must soon become in every township in the State be- 1 longing, not to the State, nor even to any mo- ble-miuded benefactor, but to the people of tue township alone, and at so almost an in- conceivable smallness of cost
 l. may be regarded we think justly, as an ! infusion of life and light into the common school establishment of every State and coun- 1 try, and an example, sooner or later to be fol- lowed everywhere where the diffusion of knowl- edge is valued and prized. In some other States, the library system has been incorpora- ! ted with that of the common schools, but no where on so broad-permanent or admirably organized manner-so cheap too, yet so effect i've in all its wise and most noble purposes. 1 To the honor of the Legislature of Wisconsin, MT. Draper writes that the subject, though recommended in his last annual Report, was only brought into the legislature at its last session, eight working days before it's final ad- journment, yet the bill passed the Senate 19 to 3 :; aud the House 51 to 10 remarkable for it's unanimity in popular assemblies for the passage of permanent tax bill. But the tax, every man understood. It was toy for the prattler on his knee, but such toy as to better bis condition in all after life-that would pleasa santy and proftably occupy his time in youth, and fit him for the nobler paths of life 1 in manhood.
 MT. Draper says that "a single volume may serve as many as twenty-six persons in a year, each using it two weeks. Many school libraries have reported twelve times the num- Der of books loaned annually that there were in the library each volume, upon an average, having been taken out once month during the entire year." In the State of Indiana, they have common school library attached to their system, upon more or less perfect model, from which we learn that nearly all !! the books have been drawn out as many as twenty-five times-many of them oftener, and quite number of books are not permitted tc remain in the library an hour, and library is doing more good than anything that has ev CT been done by the Legislature of this State and the greatest interest is manifested in il here. No one that can read, or wishes te read, but will subscribe to the truth of this Have we no one in our State to start 9 simi lar system