The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1890-06-07

berg Chronicle, printed IN l4n0. lie
"Epistles Of ST. Jof1n,7 in Latin; printed
at Lyons IN 1915. An autograph of Mar
tin Luther is parted into this volume.
The library has a copy of the Polyglot
Bible Of Cardinal Nineaes, printed in
1914. The Collection cS ezpUrgatoTy and
prohibitory indexes is very large, and
among them are several rare ea1rions.
The central reading room for period
icals is provided with seats Tor 100 read
ers. It has the best collection Of foreign
and American periodicals IN the coun-
try, and is amply furnished with books
of reference. AL conversation and avoid
able noise are strictly prohibited No
attendant Is allowed to converse il, this
room except on library business.
The he-ae use of books is confined 20
all inhabitants of Boston above the age
Of Is years; all clergymen aad teachers
who have permanent professional occC-
paions IN the city; also the members OF
such higher educational institutions IN
the city as the trustees may from time to
time permit, or any c&har inhzhtanS OF
Boston who deposits the sum requested
by the librarian for the volume desired,
II it be permitted 70 circulate, or for the
set to which It may belong. Al exa-nl-
nations of rare or costly works must be
made, if the librarian requests II, IN the
presence and with the assistance of an
attendant connected with the library.
Books unsaited for general circulation
and unbound periodicals can be used
only in the building.
In addition to the wealth Of literature
comprehended by the public library it
also contains the Test collection of en-
cravings, embracing nearly 6, 100 prints,
many interesting manuscripts and auto
graphs, such as the original parole Of
Burgoyne and Riedesel and their armies,
given st Cambridge subsequent to their
cgpitulation at Saratoga This is one
OF the most interesting manuscripts In
the hbrary's collection.
There is connected with the library a
patent specification and drawing de-
partment which contains documents
from all the progressive nations of the
earth and is of inestimable value to the
student OF science.
In regard to the circulation of books
significant fact Is presented in that dur
ing the year 1878 the home use was
60,326 volumes and the hall use 66,670,
while in 1887 the home use was only ST.
1873 volumes and the hall use 138, $40,
which shows that the library is becom-
ing more and more a consulting library.
The fact of the great increase IN private
libraries within few miles Of the pub
lic library Is also given as one Of the
causes which have reduced toe home
use. The books most in demand are
popular books in the English Language.
But to find such works published before
1850 has been difficult if not impracti-
cable. The result is that the library is
filling up with literature which nobody
calls for. This difficulty grows with the
years, and viii prove to be serious I'M
less some plan can be devised to meet it.
The highest circulation of the library
was in the years 1S17-79, when it reached
the number of 1 1888, 931, and the lowest
for the year 1887, when it fell off to
934, seq, loss of 1893 volumes. In
1883 of the volumes delivered to borrow
ers one in q, $50 was lost, which is the
largest average since 1850. The various
classes OF reading show the following
percentages: Fiction and juveniles, 1887;
history and biography, $50; travels and
voyages, $50; science, arts, fine and use
ful; theology, law, medicine, professions,
4 83; periodicals, 6.6j; foreign languages,
IA; miscellaneous, 4.52. There are if
teen branches Of the public library and
it requires 143 persons to run them.
The annual cost of maintaining the IL
brary is about $3.50, 600. The funds from
requests amount to $171, 700, from which
is realized an income of S7,14S per year.