The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-03-29
JERSEY City IN 4HELBAD
It Ranks First. in Point of
Patronage of the Public
Library.
IT'S, CERTAINLY, A LITERARY CENTRE
Librarian Cole Furnishes Some In
teresting Figures Which Will
Open the Eyes Of Many.

Librarian George watson Cole, ol tno
Free Public Library of Jersey City, has
submitted his second annual report to the
trustees of that institution. In his docu-
ment he states that the year has been
busy and successful one: that during the
time there have been 11,742 volumes ana
319 pamphlets added to the library, While
345, ,096 volumes have been circulated for
home reading, of which 172,225 were sent
through the delivery stations. and 7l,7o4
persons have made use OF the reading
room. According to Mr.. Coles report,
the library contained 10, 103 volumes at
the close of the fiscal year. The rate OF IN
crease averaging nearly l.00O Voiunles
month. l'he selection, classlf1catlon anu
cataloguiug of these new additions nave
taken much time and thought. This has
all been done in addition to the care OF the
| large circulation which has made It's daily
demands upon the entire corps OF as
| SiStants.
INCOMPLETE SETS OF WORKS.
| An effurt has been made to complete
| the sets of the hbrarY's most Important
| public documents. Among che sets which
have been completed are: The American
Achlves, edited by Peter Force, VOLS;
American State Papers. 80 vols; The
AnDals of Congress- AZ vols: The Con-
/
vols. J; and The Congressional Record 10
date, 12s vols. These sets form an almost
| COMPLETE record Of the proceedings OF the
| United States Congress from the 1ornla-
| tlon OF toe government IN Te9
| to the present time. or the regu-
| lar series of Congressional Documents
there are now in the library l,41o vol
| umes, forming au almost complete series
| from 1870 down to the present time, with
many OF earlier date. All the above and
many other sets, aS yet incomplete, have
besn checked in Mr.. John G. Ames' valu-
able LIST Of Congressional Documents
| and Finding List Of IDdtUidNdt Volumes.
| both of which may be found il the Rel
erence Room. and from which 1T can ut
| once be determined whether given vol
une is ia possession OF the Library.
A collection Of books relating TO New
Jersey aud especially TO Je:sey City has
been begun. The Library is indebted to
Mr. B. j. Ford Of Trenton. the Superinten-
dent of the State Capitol, for set OF the
Legislative Documents of the State, from
1881 TO date. A set Of the collections of
the New Jersey Historical Society has
also been secured, together with as many
of its proceedings as are in print.
valuable collection of t1le5 aud bound
copies of early Jersey City newspapers
| has been donated by DR.. Joseph Holt.
During the past six months about
eighty complete sets of these periodicals,
comprising nearly 5000 volumes, have
been added to the library. o hers will De
purchased as rai!idly as circumstances
| will permit uptll the collection is as COM
| plete as it eau be made. With The In
! dexes referred 10 above, they are await
| able to the reader as soon as placed upon
| the shelves of the library.
BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS.
| A tabulated SUN mary of the books and
| pamphlets now III the library also accom-
| panles the report.
Source. Volumes. Pamphlets.
Last annual report l9,lo3 s4o
| Purchases, Dec. !, lS11-Nov.
Gifts ifs 11 during the same period 1885 s1s
Total ............... s0,8l5 1895
| "The only printed lists of addiJions to
| the library circle, October |. 1881. are
| contained in the file OF the Library Rec
| ord. which has been printed from mouth
| to month to keep The patrons of The
| library apprised of what new books we
| have.
"a permanent catalogue has been kept
containing all the works added to the
library siuce October l, which Will form
! the basis of all subsequent catalogues or
finding lists The first editions OF both
| the Finding List 5000 copies) and Sup
| plement No l, q 900 copies) are exhaust
ed apd second edition of the Supple
ment q 900 copies) printed last spring. is
! nearly out or print II mere Is material
enough now in the card catalogue to
make another supplement- to the Finding
| List of about 800 pages"
VOLUMES FOR HOME READING.
| The total number of volumes circulated
for bone reading was 345, ,096, or nearly
| Two volumes to every inhabiuan5 Of the
CITY. no other library in parso#show-
ing so wide diffusion of Its resources.
the city most nearly approaching Jersey
CITY being Minneapolis, where IL vol
nmes were distributed per inhabitant;
Newark follows with 15 and Detroit
| with l3, while In Chicago and Baltimore,
the rate is about one volume each. In
point OF circulation, The library ranks
fourth among the free public libraries In
the country. Chicago. Boston and Balti-
more alone showing Il larger total circu-
ton.
The following table shows the number
and percentage OF each class of works Cir
culated.
Glass No. of Vols. Percentage.
| ceneral Works. SO o2