, 1860-03-24

Young Mems Assc zatton.
Editors Press aud Tribune:
As the notice ior the meeting Of this Associa!!
hon stntts that one Of the measures to be acted
upon will be the question OF. changing the PIE
ent afratgeinsnt Of the Library room. pre:
sumo this wi.hdraws that exciting issue from
the election of officers and transfers it to the
consideration of all tile members at their annual
meeting, for 6ra! aCtiDn. This il o. Il should
be, since perceive that both tickets ii the Eaid
have upou them supporters Of, and opponents
to. the present arrangement, and the election
OF the one OF the other board does not render it
certain that any change would take. place. T.;
therefore, propose to present a few reasons in
support Of the present counter for the receipt
and delivery Of the books Of the library. TWAS
ascersained, I have been informed, that under
the old arrapgepent, books, were constantly be:
Ing lost, and many, forming parts Of. complete
sets, we're gone and could cot be replaced. The
Library Committee Zone Of whom Is running
as candidate for Corresponding Secretary en-
the Opposition ticket, and will doubtless con:
frm this statemenD because satisfied from &C.
tual observation, that when the whole library
was thrown open SO that its conteuts could ba
handled by every one, books got sadly mis-
placed by being taken, for examination, from
one shell and being put upon another in some
possibility OF the Librarian keeping them in
any sort Of order, or being able to know where
tiiey were. Actual observers (the writer among
the numbcr) have seen twelve or fifteen persons
at once, engaged in handling hooks in this cares
less and ipdiscrimluats manner, and must hava
been, and were, convinced that dozen Libra:
rlans could not attend to affairs properly under
such an arrangement 88
That many volumes were stolen there can Be
no doubt. This is g grave charge to bring
against members Of the Association, but it must
be borne in mind that many 20 to the librarY
who have no right to, and when the library was
generally accessible, many used it who we're
one is uniform as to the difficulty of getting
books back even when private property and
lent to friends; and in d society of hundreds of
members, many careless, and some perhaps not
very scrupulous, the difficulty oflpreserving
the library intact Increased in a tenfold degree;
TO SAY nothing Of the effect Of allowing those
having no right, 10 handle the library as much
as they desired. It is true that the ladies have.
complained to SOME extent through the papers
that they "could not cnjoy that social inter.
course which they did Of old"
Whoever has been in the rooms of similar
institution either in New York, Philadelphia,
Boston, st. Louis, or Cincinnati, could not have
failed to notice the entire silence that is strictly
maintained in the different apartments. Neither
could an observer have failed to perceive that
all these libraries are kept SO that their contents
can not be generally handled, Il public reading
room, moreover, is no place to meet for social
enjoyment, since there silence is the great de-:
sideratum, and is usually enforced. The CON-
fort Of ladies' should, OF course, be studied ut
all times and all places, but there are certain
thugs whose use should not be perverted to
other purposes. On any pleasant day the rooms
Of the Association, from ten to twelve and from.
two till four o'clock, we're crowded and many
reading, and, under the old system, more were:
ta}king aud laughing.
T. L.