Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1900-04-19
WILMINGTON FREE LIBRARY.


The Institute Annual Meeting Shows Inter-
esting Results--An Increase Along All
Lines--old officers 1se-elected.
That the people Of Wilmington ap.
preciate the free library was shown ty
reports submitted at annual meeting,
Tuesday, OF the board of managers
OF the Wilmington Institute. An in
crease In circulation, oh increase In tho
number Of borrowers and an increase
in number of books were all set forth.
Not tho least interesting fact was the
smallness OF the number Of missing
volumes @
William p. Taylor was reelected
president and Frederic III. Robinson
was reelected secretary and treasurer.
The annual reports Of the librarian
and standing committees wero sub
mitted and were ordered printed. tH
The finance committee reported re-
oeipts Of Sl4, 94l.90, of which SO, 800
was from rentals, and %, 594. % from
appropriations from the Board Of Edu-
cation. The expenditures were sl3,-
S62. Sc.
The library and reading room com.
mittee reported an increase in their use
to very gratifying extent.
Librarian Doan's report drew atten-
tion to the fact that for the first time
in the history OF the library, German
books had been provIded--l49 volumes
of poetry, drama and fiction and their
value was shown by the eagerness with
which they have been sought. Sys-
tematic additions have been needed
and have been made in hygiene, re-
ligion, United States history and
biography, particularly of Americans.
Many Juveniles have been added.
The total number OF volumes added
was 3, 1877, of which 1906 were by pur-
chase, and 232 by gift On March lst,
the total number Of volumes in the
library was sc, ego, exclusive of maya
zines in Temporary bindings for cirou.
lation.
In the course Of the year, IS volumes
were lost and aid for, and nine reported
as missing and are believed TO be lost.
Since its beginning as free library,
six years ago. the Institute has regis
tered 1926 borrowers, and 1l,0i2 are
still on the list, net gain of 1907
for. the year. There were 48O non-resi.
dent ticketholders January lst and 112
teachers special cards have been issued.
The total number OF volumes loaned
In the year was IT'S, 45S, an increase of
6,S6S. Fiction dropped from 81 to ST.
per cent, and Juveniles rose from 81. 5
to 1915.
The reading and reference rooms are
growing in use. OF bound magazines,
the library has 4,441 in the reference
equipment. #s
The Rockford branch borrowed q, All
books in the year, a decrease of 141,
but there was gain in attendants. 1t
has about 1900 volumes belonging to
Rockford and Sic to the Institute.
The plan of sending selected lists of
books to school teachers is working
we'll, and II school room Libraries have
been loaned, comprising 478 books.
This plan is likely to be extended
The card catalogue is kept up to date.
In the year l2, 001 cards for 1914 titles
were added. The entire contents of
the catalogue, February 2Sth, was AZ. 492
cards for l3.577 titles.
Among the donations received were
245 maps from the United States
government. Mr.. Doan returns thanks
for bound numbers CT magazines re-
oeiyed. 5F
Miss Mnrot's time as cataloguer ex-
piied last October her work was
eminontly satisfactory.
Horace q. Eastburn resigned last
September to 60 to Yale Law School.
For two years he was an assistant at
the library. Mr.. Doan says OF him !:
His genial manners and ready services
made many friends for himself and the
library. His old position Is now
being satisfactorily filed by George Fl.
AlcGovern. Mr.. Doan says that the
members Of the staff have performed
Their duties with commendable dill
gence and with that courteous atten-
tion to the public which is one of the
requisites OF library service.
In his report for March, Librarian
Doan announced that the ejaculation
branch was 1920, the highest yet
reached. The nearest approach to this
was that of January, Is, lS1. ~