Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-11-14

T1T FLErVHEE Free LiUH NI;Y.
why is il CLOSED ?--rhr Conditions of Its
Gifl--Nomc Facts and Figures.
10 the Editor oi the Free Press and Times.
The fourth article in tine condition. of
donation cf She Fletcher Free Library to
the city Of burlington reads us follows;
Said Library ehHl at all reasonable times and
under proper regulations, be- open to the pub
lie without charge.
With proper respect to the distinguished
gentlemen who compose thu hoard of trIs-
tees of the Library | would like to ask
them why article four of the terms of gift
has been tranSgrcsscd for more than II
month The city paid for the services of IA
librarian up to his resignation on Novcm-
Der first at n salary of $1,000 II Near-two
hundred dollars more than the salary con
templatcd in the deed of gft--and his sal
AIRY. so. 81, for the month during which the
Library was closed was paid on the day
he resigned. The city also provided fuel
am told that so worth of fuel has been
bought and paid for this season and that
there actually is a supply of fuel ON hand
With librarian and fuel provided why is
it not possible to keep the Library open
during the day, closing it evenings till
funds are available for light lnasmuch
as the Library has been opened to the pub
lie only three evenings Il week aud even that
accommodation has been granted but Il
short time, the public would not considerit
Il great hardship to find it closed evenings.
But they do object to finding il closed en-
trcly.
\ librarian and fuel being provided by
B. the city, can not understand why the in
stitution has not been open for the past
month. 1t must he that the trustees
, either closed il in Il pet or because they
, consider one man incompetent To the task
, of runningit even temporarily When the
, gift was accepted by the city it seems one
man was thought enough to take full
charge of the library. Only one librarian
was provided for and the city obligated
= itself to pay him $500. The city has actu-
, ally paid for three librarians, the nominal
librarian and two assistants. In other
libraries of equal and even greater size
, one man is thought to be, and actually is
} competent to manage the library and per
sonally loan and receive an average of l31
books daily. The daily average OF the
Fletcher Free Library is about -.
1t will be difficult to convince the aver
I age business man, salesman or bOOkkccpcr
who works, steadily with brain and hands
ten hours Il day, the year round. that an
ablc-b0diCd man, or woman either, cannot
f 90 into that library at 9o'clock each morn
+ ing, tor the next two months at least. till
funds are available, keep if open till
twelve, 90 to dinner, return at one
| and keep it open till five and
- easily take care of the average daily loan
= of books. ! have no doubt that Miss
- Moore, the former assistant, can Ito il and
/ if she Is not engaged at once it viii be a
;, notice to the citizen. that the library will
not he opened till the trustees get all the
a money they ask tor-not merely what is
necessary The terms of the gilt are such
that the city Is bound to pay for a libra
riau'S services if one is provided, whether
F the appropriation is exhausted or not.
The public has heard much, very much,
, about the value OF the late librarian to the
literary people OF burlington. lie Is
= thought by some to be alivngcycIopediit-
e Il walking catalogue OF the library. lie
h doubtless has Il large superficial acquain-
ia lance with books, and the trustccs evident
!, ly lhOught he should be kept ut the cN
II peuse of the city to dole out what he had
4 or could hunt up OF useful, with a great
O deal of useless, information To anybody
not see why they should be taxed thou
= sand dollars a year to provide man Il
e hunt mp facts for every individual VIII,
| has a hobby to ride suppose some stu
/ dent of San>krit should want to locate q
y quotation from that dcHd language, OF N
; embryo arChWolOgiSt should want to fin,
I ont the width Of certain street in AN
lie cient Troy, or a couple of youths shoult
want To settle Il bet ~ tOthc age of DAME
. Pratt, is il the duty Of the taNpayers to pro
, vide II man to answer these and thou
sands of similar foolish questions: O
would the trustees he outraged and tn,
r librurys usefulness destroyed if the seek
~ crs hunted up their own useless facts |
l., is so very easy for anybody, purely for hi
~ own qualification, to ask enough question
III in five minutes to keep il librarian Il Wrcl
st in looking up that have no doubt man,
IS indulge in the amusement. But is tina
~ what the taxpayers employ Il Librarian
n for
1t admit that there are perhaps fifty per
r. sons in Burlington who. in stulymg hal
ot itually 90 to the librarian and get valua
Is bile information. Suppose thar double o
W treble that number get the librarian Il
Il write their essays. is it proper for The cit,
t. to pay for it The librarian should q
courSe he person of enough intellgenc
and have IA large enough acquaintance
with books to guide honest seekers int
III the right path but not of necessity t