The San Francisco call., 1898-02-23
TREMBLING LIBRARIES

N . / can Monthly Review of Reviews gives an in
 terestlng account of the work and present ex tent o the travelling library system in the Eastern o'ates where 1t has been adopted The facts cited snow that the system has supplied an urgent need o American life, and its operation is exnand;no with remarkable rapidity
 At the present time the system is in oner ation on an extensive scale in New York Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin. It has also been adopted by some of the larger rail- ways of the East for the benefit of their emploves and 1t Is said the circulating library of employees of the Baltimore and Ohio IS perhaps the most impor- tant institution of the kind in the world
 Inc eager demand on the part of the rural popu- ation ot the country for such advantages as are af orded by the system is proven by statistics showing the rate of expansion. The first appropriation for travelling libraries made in New York in 1So2 and n that year ortysix such libraries were sent ont In the second year I3o libraries were necessary to meetthe demand and last year no less than 1A7 were circulated. To supply these libraries the State has 36,ooo volumes which circulated in sets of from 50 to 100 volumes each.
 In other States the system is not SO extensive as IT New York, but in all of them it is growing Mich igan is now circulating libraries of fifty volumes each Iowa crculates fifty libraries and there are ap- phcat1ons on nle TOT 200. In Wisconsin the move ment started by the munificence of private eff; gen. and to this day the State has made no appropria tion for it, but nevertheless upwards of 100 libraries with varying number of books are being circulated and there IS demand for more
 It is significant of the importance of the work that demand for libraries has been found in localities where the people were supposed be wholly indfer- ent to literature or incompetent to profit by it. An instance is cited of hamlet in Wisconsin made un of a railway station, store, blacksmith shop a saloon and dozen houses. The people were of the kind called tough and the young men generally found their amusement in getting drunk The store keeper agreed to keep library and circulate it. and the result soon showed that the people of the com munity appreciated the advantages offered The number of books called for at the place soon ex- cceded that required for several other communities of equal size that were considered much more cultured The topic IS one of timely interest to California Our State is so sparsey settled that thousands of cu tured people live remote from cities and have few or no advantages in the way of books At the same time the State has at Sacramento of the largest and best State libraries in the Union This library is maintained at the expense of all the people of the commonwealth, and yet it is of benefit under present conditions only to the residents of Sacramento or to those who visit that city
 Why not put large number of the hooks belono- ing to the people into circulation SO that all may have some benefit of them? Why not be one of the first States o the Union to adopt the travelling libi sry system instead of waiting to be one of the last?