The herald., 1897-04-06
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

The board of public library directors,
which has lust assumed charge Of that
institution, has been appointed by the
mayor without regard to services rem
dered and experience acquired by the
members Of the former board. The pol
lev of the late Mayor RAIDER has been fol-
lowed by Mayor Snyder and the good,
old-fashioned principle of retiring only
a portion of a working board in order to
leave a minority in who have had
some experience, has been again ig-
nored.
That being the case, the new men who
are, by the bye, practical business and
professional men, will have to discharge
their duties with such assistance as may
be derived from their own study of the
rather complex workings of a much over
tasked institution. They are confronted
with a condition of things that may well
cause them to stop and ponder. That
the library has declined in its efficiency
during the past year or two is gener-
ally admitted fact, and this has no doubt
given color to the surmse that the new
board intends to engage the services of
a thoroughly experienced librarian
through some eastern channel of supply.
But the difficulties OF the library are
in part caused by circumstances that are
apparently beyond control. These cir
cumstances are (1) Want Of money, (2)
want of books, (3) want of space.
If the first named want could be ad-
equately supplied, the other two would
vanish without any difficulty. But the
Law allows only a maximum appropria-
ton for library purposes of five cents on
the dollar out of the money raised by city
taxation. Consequently the annual
amount available for library purposes
has never exceeded twenty y-five thousand
dollars, and has always been pared down
very considerably by the ruthless hands
of an unsympathetic council.
The library is kept open every week
day for a number of hours, equal to over
a day and half. 1t thus compels the
employment of three people where two
would be sufficient under an eight-hour
rule. 1t is kept open for eight hours on
Sundays, in addition. Even at the low
salaries paid the girls 1t takes about
one thousand dollars month for wages,
which has always swallowed up great
deal more than half the appropriation.
This does not leave enough to buy new
books, to pay for binding, to purchase
magazines, papers and general supplies,
to replace worn out and discarded vol
umes, nor to add to the stock of the refer
ence department.
The want of space prevents the eco
nomical handling of the books, the time
Of the attendants is greatly wasted, and
the patience of the public is exhausted.
Access to the shelves would get rid of
q large part of the existing difficulty, but
the pressure is so great, and the accom-
modations so limited, that it would seem
tmDOSS1Dle 10 devise satisfactory plan
short of an expansion of the premises.
With a total circulation of about fifty
thousand volumes a month, which i'm
plies the handling of twice that number,
1t is evident that any plan providing for
expansion must increase the expenses,
which is a serious matter to contemplate,
seeing that the maximum revenue from
the taxes is a fixed one, and inadequate
at that.
We think, however. that If the new
board has the courage to face the situa-
tion at the risk of giving offense to some
unthinking people, way may be found
out of the difficulty 1t is 4 conceded
fact that by far the larger half of the
library circulation is in the shape Of
works Of fiction, and that the large ma
5ority of the crowds who line the coun-
ter, demands of the attendants to be sup
piled with the latest works of fiction.
"we want something new. s~---.-'-e