Morning journal and courier., 1891-01-09
ruE RusH Fon HOOKS.

!. The New Free Public Library Build-
 ing Besieged by Hundreds of Young
 People-The Improvements Over tho
 old Building-The Reading Rooms
 Filled With Readers.
 Since the new free public library build ing was opened it has been besieged from morning till far into the evening with book fanciers, mostly young people. The librarians and assistants have been kept busy during every minute of the time dur ing which the building has been open. The rush for books upon the first few days was enormous, and the number of books given out each day since the new building was opened has been almost as large as the largest number given out upon any day of the preceding year. Last Saturday 1,170 books were given out, and upon the Saturday after the blizzard about 1000 books were taken by those who held circu- lation cards. The rush has ceased some what now and the librarians consider that the circulation has nearly settled down to it's usual figure The cause for this great increase in the circulation during the past few days was, of course, the closing of the library entirely during the period of it's re- moval from the old to the new building. This occupied only few days, but the in crease which followed the reopening of the library was remarkably good test of the popularity which the library has gained among all classes of citizens and of the great interest which is taken in it.
 The new building seems to please the patrons of the library in every respect. The manner of obtaining books is simpliied and rendered much more easy. The three entrances to the building in place of the one in the old building renders crowding at all times out of the question, and the spacious hall within and the absence of long flight of steps to climb, are the most pleasing features to the ladies who come for books. The reading rooms are finely furnished with convenient paper, desks and chairs and will accommodate hundreds of readers. The ventilation is bad aad has been complained of by many, but this will soon be remedied, as the directors believe, by plan which the building committee is considering.
 The day upon which the most books are taken from the library is Saturday. Upon this day the school children, who are among the most constant book takers, flock by the hundreds and Librarian Stet- son and his assistants are kept very busy
 
 just how to obtain their books and just what books they want and they do not need scarcely more attention than the older book takers. After school hours in the afternoon and in the early morning is also busy time at the library with the children. Most of them take light stories of fiction by the popular writers of juvenile stories and this branch of the ibrarys circulation is large and active one.
 During the afternoon and evening is also time when the young ladies come to the library in large numbers. They are among the steady patrons of the library and se- lect their books with a great deal of delib- eration and ,are They fancy, as rule, the current novels, and rarely take a book twice, as is often the case with the chill dren. Standard works of fiction by the popular novel writers are among the books which it is always hard to find in the i- brary, and they never have an opportunity to get dusty upon the shelves. In fact, adult fiction leads the entire class of circu- lation. The librarians report for 1890 showed that 69, 722 volumes of this charac- juvenile fiction there were 29,116, of gen of history 4,115, of biography lOO, Ol sIaNOlS c,OoO, oA uooL NA arts 1 ,552, of natural sciences l, 1,612, of re- ligion 809, of philosophy 622, of sociology 786 and of philology 187 The total circu- ! lation for last year was 12O,S45 volumes. This total was 4, ,482 less than the year be- fore, but for 1891 the indications are that the circulation will far exceed this num- Der.
 The time of the year has another bear ing upon the circulation. During the win ter and early spring months people stay at home during the long and cold evenings and do more reading: The circulation fer | each of the six months from November to April averages from 2,OOO to 4,O00 above l that for the months of the other half of 1 the year.
 The number of volumes in circulation is ! comparatively small. It does not reach | 15, 900, hardly more than the number of 1 books issued during the busy months. | The works of juvenile fiction are taken ! out, upon the average, about thirty times | each during the year while the works of | adult fiction are issued not over twenty 1 two times each. The others range, upon | the average from one to five times each. | The school teachers are most interest
 ing class of book drawers. They display
 tastes of all varities but most of them
 take at least one or two solid substantial
 volumes upon scientific or educa-
 tional subjects. A large number
 have ava1led themselves of the privilege o1
 taking out cards entitling them to five | books at the same time for school use. II l seems to be the general opinion among libraries that the public benefit of such privileges is amply sufficient to justify the granting of this privilege. In some libra
 ries the number of books allowed each
 is ten or even fifteen. In addition to this
 some libraries have purchased several hun
 dreds of duplicates and place them in the
 schools themselves The valuable results
 which follow amply compensate for the
 outlay. But there is no immediate pros pect that this course will be practicable
 for this library, nor that the number o1
 books allowed can be soon increased.
 The books added within the past few
 months have been the principal new booki
 of general interest besides standard work
 and some important sets. Among thu
 more noticeable may be mentioned the fol
 lowing: Johnson's Cyclop@dia in eigh ! volumes; Cambridge Bible for schools, ,ove 25 volumes; Littell's Living Age, 175 vol
 umes; Atlantic Monthly, 35 volumes tt
 complete the set; considerable portion O
 Bohn's Libraries, Deutscher Novellen
 Schatz, AS volumes; Scientific American
 nearly complete set; McClintock
 Strong's Cyclop@dia of Biblical Lit
 erature, 1s volumes; Beuton's Debate
 of Congress, 16 volumes; Knight
 English Cyclopadia, 23 volumes; Supple
 ment to Encyclopedia Britannica, vol
 umes; Quarterly Review, 143 volumes
 Jones' Grammar of Ornament; Franklin l Works, 10 volumes; 12 years' numbers O.
 the Revue des deux Mondes; 9 volumes o
 Library Journal, completing the set. { large proportion of the books purchased only filled the place of others worn out , About one-ffth of the number has to b deducted to give the number of real ad , l ditions; that is about l, 1900 new books ad , ded by purchase. The cause of so man l books being worn out is readily seen in tn | number of times that the fiction is issued II Another notable fact is that the numbe
 of persons holding circulation cards : about the same as the total number c books The average number of books tak en by each borrower during year is fro1 l twenty to thirty. Librarian Stetson COT
 siders that the new quarters will greatl l increase the public interest in the ibrar l and elevate it's tone as well as the ments life of the book takers. As the
 read they call for higher grad
 of books and perhaps wide
 range in character of books. tsIt
 expected" he says, "that more and mo1
 costly and many rare books will be calle
 for. Therefore any great addition to th