Omaha daily bee., 1899-02-14
MEETING OF LIBRARY BOARD
Member Baird is Persistent and Scores
His Point
BOOKS FOR THE PRISONERS IN THE JAIL
Librarian Is Ordered to Purchase
One Hundred md Thirty VOL
umes of New standard
Literature.
BOOKS FOR THE PRISONERS IN THE JAIL

At the meeting of the Board OF Trustees
of the public library yesterday AFTERNOON
Member Baird brought up the matter Oh
the library furnishing reading matter 10
the prisoners in the county and city JAMS
1t has been the custom Tor years past loi
the librarian to distribute among the nos
pitals of the city magazines and perloulcals
as soon as withdrawn from general circu-
lation. Member Baird believed that some
Of them should be sent to the prisoners
in the county and city jails. Since being
,rnointad on the Board of Trustees ne mas
received several requests from the county
iail that reading matter be furnlsheu tue
prisoners there The supplying OF the prs
oners with reading matter such as tne
magazines and periodicals Will prove III ni
oninion n direct benefit to the pupilc at
large as IT will tend to make better clll-
zens of the inmates of these jails'
Miss Peterson, the librarian, stated that
her experience had been that IN oruer 10 se.
the magazines to the prisoners they wiz
have to be presented to the jail authorities
on "a silver plate" Books nave peeh Vi
fered for the use of prisoners, but no one
cares to take the trouble to come for them
Mr. Baird said If the board will authorize
the distribution he will to it personally
that the books reach the prisoners he
carried his point and the distribution was
authorized
Another matter that brought forth con-
siderable discussion was that OF the lnsur-
ance on the library. At present the library
is insured for $13,500, the policies pelhS
carried in nine different companies. SIX OF
these policies came up for renewal yester-
day and Judge Walter l. Smith suggested
that the amount of the insurance be re-
duced to nine policies of $l,2OO each, max
ing in all $10,S0O, which he believed to De
annie The reduction in the insurance
was opposed by Member Rohrer and on the
motion being put to the vote it was lost
and the policies at the old amount were
ordered renewed
Chairman Ednnunson of the book commit
tee submitted list of new books for pur-
chase, amounting to 1927. President
Bloomer objected to several books on the
list costing from S. to $40 each, which in
his opinion the library is unable TO al1oru
in the present condition of its finances.
After some discussion "a Trip Through
Asia" at $40, was struck from the list, but
the others were allowed to go through and
the librarian was instructed to order them.
The list contains about 130 books, twenty
four of which are works of fiction and
thirty for children, while the rest are
works of travel, essays, biography and SCI
| ence.
Complaint has been made that persons
| are in the habit of monopolizing the daily
| papers to the exclusion Of other patrons
! of the library and it was decided to pur-
chase n standing desk on which the papers
will hereafter be filed. This, it is believed,
| If the party has to stand to read them, will
| tend to discourage certain persons from the
| habit which they have contracted.
The report of the librarian for January
showed the following: Total visitors. $500;
visitors on Sundays, 294; registered book
takers, SO73; books taken, 1856. The books
taken were classified as follows: Philoso-
ply. 159; theology, 1923; natural science, $40;
fiction, 4274; poetry and essays, 944; his
tory and biography, $780, travels. 652, and
magazines, 602
During the month twenty-five volumes
and twenty seven pamphlets were added to
the library The number of books in the
library on February l was 2l,5S4, being
II O45 in the circulating and 4,539 in the
| government library.