Evening star., 1895-06-05

A FREE LIBRARY
The Successful Institution is Munic-
ipally Controlled.
THE KIND WASHINGTON MUST HAVE
Not a Charity, but Part of the
City's Educational System.
MIR. PUTNAM'S APER
MR.. PUTNAM'S PAPER

OF especial interest to dwelers in Wash
ington, the only great city which is with
out a free public circulating library, with
reading rooms open at night. is the study
of the most approved methods of library
establishment. Shallow and insecure foun-
dations will never serve to uphold an edu-
cational edifice, such this community
needs and must ultimately have. Expert
ence has shown-so conclusively that there
is no room for argument-that the true
public library in the modern sense is not
that which is controlled even by the most
beneficent of private individuals The sue
cessful public library, and the kind OF a
public library Washington needs and must
have, is municipality controlled. To such
an institution the liberal rich will often
freely contribute; they realize the solidity
of the investment and have assurance of
public benefits to be derived therefrom
that cannot be secured through individual
or corporate control. There have been
times and places when and where-because
provided by the rich for the enlightenment
of the less financially fortunate-public IL
braries have been regarded as eieemosy-
nary affairs. The properly founded free
public library is in no sense charity: it
is part of the educational system of the
city or state and stands in every respect
On the same plane as do the public schools.
Should BE Supported as the Schools.
The public library should therefore be
supported as are the schools and the privi-
leges of the schools TO the children CT
school age. This is the stand taken by
the Washington board of trade; that rep
resentative body having easily and nat
urally reached the conclusion that public
money is nowhere more prolific of the high
est varieties of profit than when invested
in the free public library. The boards pro-
Ject does not neglect private contributions
of money for library purposes in addition
to what is paid from the taxes; but such
contributions from the wealthy and public
spirited which will be considerable in
amount are to be devoted to the purchase
of books to enrich the library, which, being
legslatively created and municipally con-
trolled will be like the public schools an
institution of, by and for the whole people.
In the June Forum is an interesting
sketch of the great libraries of the United
States, contributed by Herbert Putnam. Ii
brarian of the Boston public library. The
origin and character OF the public library
of the modern type are dealt with by one
who knows whereof he writes and the
conclusions reached are so lucldly stated as
to make plain to every rational mind the
true method of procedure as 10 establish
ment and conduct. Says Mr.. Putnam:
Two Libraries as Types.
With the passage almost contempo-
raneously in England and in two of the
United States, of the enabling acts which
authorized the formation of public libraries
supported by general taxation, another new
type was created. The act of Massachu-
setts was in 1S4S "a special act-a general
act followed in 1850: that of New Hamp-
shire in 1919; that Of Great Britain in 1850
The two libraries first to be established I'M
der these acts, the library Of Manchester
England, and the library of Boston, both
established in 1852. We're the pioneers of
this new type. Their example proved
amazingly attractive, SO that today the
Manchester is but one of 200 of its kind in
Great Britain, and the Boston but one of
more than 800 of its kind in the United
states. The characteristics of these two
libraries must, therefore, to some extent
represent the characteristics of two en-
tire groups. The libraries of Boston and
municipal institutions supported by general
representing the taxpayers at large; the
books that they purchase with municipal
funds are primarily books to interest the
to interest the specialist; they circulate
ly accessible for reference. If they differ
at all, it is not so much in their individual
constitution in their relation to other
departments of education. When the first
public libraries We're established in Great
school education to form at once their justi-
fcatfon and their complement. They were
created, as museums art galleries have
been created. as institutions of more or
less isolated function.