Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-04-08
AN APPEAL.
The Library Directors Ask for Aid
In Their Work.

The Library Directors ASK for Aid
In Their Work.
To the Public at Large:
The Board of Directors of the Public
Library OF this city request the aid of the
citizens in establishing a library that
will not only be of service to The student
but to the general reader. In March last
the Board of Directors was appointed 10
take charge of the Library and to conduct
its affairs in the interest of the city. In
pursuance of their dHty the Directors
have made careful investigation OF the
property which was turned over to their
care. and upon such examination find
that their sole possessions consist OF
about 5000 books, many of which are of
the trashiest sort, few dilapidated
chairs, broken.down tables. unbound
volumes of newspapers, and three small,
ill-odored rooms, which few care to visit.
All of the Directors have, during their
lifetime, visited and inspected libraries
where such state of affairs would not
be allowed to exist for moment, and
they are, therefore, determined that if
they can receive the proper aid from the
citizens, the Library shall become what
it ought to bean educator of the people,
place where information can be OBJ
tanned, where students may learn, writ
ers may obtain references. school chill
dren receive proper literature, and, above
all, an institution of which the citizens
may be proud.
The first step taken in this direction
was in the selection of librarian, lady
who has spent many years in studying
| library work, and who has thoroughly
examined and inspected most of the
principal libraries OF the Union, and is
therefore capable of cooperating with
them in their efforts TO place the library
on its proper footing.
A few changes have been made in the
present library, but these are compare
lively unimportant, and the directors
have reached apoint where they can pro-
ceed no further without material aid
from the public.
In about a month the library will
move into new gu rters at the new City
Hall, where there will be room for many
thousand books. The purchase of these
books is what is now required, and to do
this considerable money will be needed.
The city funds are at their lowest ebb, SO
that no aid can be expected from that di
rection and the only hope of the directors is
in the generosity of the public, in which
the directors have the greatest faith but
they request that whatever is to be done
will be done quickly.
When the directors look at the cata-
logues of other libraries, such as the st.
Louis with 81 900 volumes, the Balti-
more with 94,093 volumes, the Chicago
with 1873, ,902 volumes, the New York
Mercantile with PIG, ,502 volumes, the
Birmingham with 1852, ,654 volumes, the
Boston Athen@um with 159,984 volumes,
the Worcester, Mass, with 70,350 vol
umes, the Cincinnati with 1885, ,444 vol
umes, the Cornell with 104, ,539 volumes,
and the Lowell with SO 1856 volumes, and
then at the insignificant library of not
more than 5000 volumes in Los Angeles,
they feel assured that the people will re-
spond heartily and in large amounts.
The history of libraries will show that
most of those which are of real and ac-
knowledged value have been supported,
in part at least, by endowment funds,
while those institutions which have been
entirely dependent upon city appropria-
tions have been of less value. The citi-
zens should therefore not only supply the
necessary funds for making the library
what it should be, but should take steps
to create an endowment fund to provide
for its future advancement. In urging
liberal donations the claim is put forward
on the ground that none OF the material
interests of city can certainly be more
important to its well being than the de-
velopment OF its citizens in intelligence,
in practical knowledge, in cultivated skill
and in power to apply to industrial pur-
suits the constantly increasing discov-
cries in science and the arts that no
money expended will bring such o rich
return as that which is devoted to secure
this development, and that no instru-