The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-02-20
Montana State University Ii

Montana State University IL
brary.... -. ........'... o'oVo ~,
Red Lodge
Public reading room and library. 300
Sand Coulee Library association. 1000
Twin Bridges
Library of Montana State
Home for Orphans ......... 100
Public library...... -. ........ 500
White Sulphur Springs
w. c. T. U. library. 800
Montana school district libraries. II, 900
Many of these libraries are supported
with the money of the state. There Is
the state library 1.-TWO departments), with
| its 10000 volumes and several thousand
pamphlets. And there are libraries at
| the state university, the state college of
| agriculture and mechanic arts and the
| state normal school. The state prison, re-
| form school, deaf and dumb school. or
| phans' home and soldiers home have each
managed to acquire small libraries with
out the use of money. The College of
| Montana, Montana Wesleyan university
and ST. Vincents academy are private
| educational institutions that support IL
| ulty. There are a number of libraries
supported by library associations, clubs
| and other organizations. OF public libra
| ries in the strictest sense, that Is, those
supported by cities and towns with pub
| lie money, and made free to all residents,
| there are now six in Montana. The cities
OF Butte, Dillon, Helena and Missoula
| each devote a tax of l mill on the dollar
| to the support Of their libraries. Boze-
man and Great Falls do not set apart as
much as this for their libraries. The peo-
| pie of Billings, Livingston and other Places
are agtating the project of forming pub
lie libraries. The elegant library struc-
| ture at Anaconda was donated to that
city by Mrs. P. A. Hearst, and the iasti-
tuition is wholly supported by her as a
gift to the people of that city.
| The best library buildings in the state
| are those at Anaconda and Butte. The
| Butte library building was erected by the
4 city as a cost Of about 100000. The fine
| library building at Great Falls was given
to the city by Mrs. Paris Gibson. The
Helena library building was built by the
| city in 1892 at cost, exclusive of the
| library shelving and furniture, of about
| 100000 The Bozeman library has rooms
adequate for its use and the Missoula
| library occupies rented rooms.
| The libraries supported by local tax
| alton and the Hearst library are the ones
that have the large popular use. These
| libraries are the only considerable gen
| eral collections of books between Mime
| apolis and Puget sound, and they have
become known as well-selected libraries.
They have now a goodly number of vol
umes each and are rapidly growing. The
| call for books in these city Is a very diver
sfied one all conceivable subjects of both
scholarly and popular interest being rep
resented. People come from long distances
| to use the resources of these libraries. In
many instances the annual issue for home
| use amounts to an average OF about SIX
volumes for each man, woman and child
| Il Is believed that there are not more
| than four or five cities in the United
States that have a larger per capita USE
| All of the popular libraries of Montana
are year by year becoming larger educa-
| tional factors in their respective commun-
1 tiles.
Nowadays it is everywhere true that
1.-The well-managed public library makes
| itself especially useful to the teachers and
pupils of the public schools and devotes
| itself increasingly to the interests of the
young. Under good management the
| quality of use library gets will improve
continually. That community does best
for itself that provides literally for put
| ting the management of its public library
| in the hands of. educated, professional
workers, able to make the institution felt
| as an educational force in Its locality.
| The most prosperous libraries are those
| that are provided with a steady revenue
and board of management with full
power whose membership changes slowly.
| To build up any educational institution
| there must be consecutive management so
| that general policies and plans once de-
cided upon may be pursued steadily
| through many years. And the managing
| power must have an income that can be
relied upon as regular and continuous.
| Experience in many states and for many
| years seems to show that the steady reve-
nue. can best be secured by having a regu-
| lar rate of taxation fixed upon by vote of
| the people, to be changed only by the
same vote. Similarly, experience shows
| that the board of management should be
| of moderate size, say five or seven men,
bers, each serving four or five years, with
| terms so arranged that one, or, at most
| two. members retire each year. Appoint
| ment by the mayor, with the approval
| of the council, is probably better than
| election by popular vote. The plan under
which the Butte public library had it's in
| ception is an exceptionally good one. Mr..
| Larrabee offered $4,000 If the citizens
would raise $4,000 more to put with it..
| This was accomplished, and the friends
| of the library project then offered this
| SEQ 900 to the city for a book fund. on con-
dition that the city build library build
| ing and support the library. The city
| erected 100000 building and regularly
gives the library a 1-mill tax, and some
| times more. Thus Butte speedily came
| into possession of an excellent and WELL
equipped library, the pride of the city
|