The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-23
BOSTON'S PUBLIC LIBRARY;
EFFORTS TO BRING IT WITHIN THE
REACH or READERS.
Books That Are Not Meant to stay on tho
shelves but TO Be Elaborate Delivery
s~ystem-Library Kept Up by city Appro-
pIIaIIon How nuaton Culture Il luluNated.

shelves but TO BE Read-Eiaborate Delivery
system-Library Kept Up by city Appro-
piiation How Boston Culture IL Cultivated.
Boston Is Justly proud Of It's famous public
library Not only Of tho new 5000, 900 build
ing viii it, artistic decorations and modern
improvements. but Of the library system. which
has been at work now for nearly half a century.
and which has served rs a model TO be Initiated
by cities great and small throughout the United
States. The forty-eighth annual report OF
the trustees, recently published. together with
that Of the librarian. Mr. James l. whitney.
IA a record Of steady progress with sugges-
tions for future Improvement and enlarged
usefulness. Several pecullarities Of the Boston
Public Library will be Of interest TO a wider
public. particularly TO New Workers. who will
soon have the problems of their own great en-
dowed free library 10 work out.
In the first place the Public Library Ia a city
library In the sense that from the beginning
1t has had to depend for Its maintenance al
most entirely on annual appropriations made
by the Common Council Of the city. IL has
received 20 be sure frequent gifts OF books and
even OF money in smal sums. and It has also
received endowments. one, that Of Joshua
Bates. notably. at the very beginning when
IL could do the most good Yet the funds es-
tablished have been small comparatively, they
amount now. after fifty years. to S273.7+0 In
all, Of which sum one-half has been contrib
uted within the last eleven The Bates gift.
made In 1853. was of $4,000, and only two other
gilt, OF equal size have been received since, ono
IN 1850. the other in 1897; there are seven gifts OF
$4,000, the others are for much smaller amour Is.
While rich BOstonian- have beQueathed very
large sums u the half century TO Harvard Col-
lege, 10 the Museum Of Fine Arts. the Institute
OF Technology and other institutions, and have
occasionally given their books To The Pubic
Library, they seem To have overlooked the bene-
TT, that their money would confer omit
In spite Of this the library has grown from
the e.ess volumes Of 1928 with which II
started to 746. $50 volumes In l~Sg0-lpOO.
In the second place the Boston Public Library
l. not merely q reference library, II il a CirCu-
latlng library as well and every EFFORT Is made
To make its books ~ accessible as possible
10 the people Of Boston. Books are taken
home from the library by a system OF cards
and az. SSl persons out Of Boston'S population
Of 10000 make use Of the cards, that j. TO say,
one person In every eight. 4 record Il kept
of the holders, classified by age and sex. 2e,ANl
males took books home, Of these 1893 we're
over and II, 5s7 under2l years Of age, the number
Of females using cards Nas 81, 4Ol, divided into
2s.9l2 over ri year. of age and 10, 4s9 under that
age. Among these were 9le grammar school
boys and girls under ~ years Of age. The total
number Of volumes taken from the library and
Its branches during the year was 1881 Sal,
To facilitate the circulation and dist ibutton
OF books and TO suit the convenience Of citizens
who do not care 10 make the Journey 10 the CEN
trail library there is an elaborate system Of
branch libraries or delivery stations. and Of
deposits Of books In schools aud other places.
The branch libraries spring from the separate
towns that have been annexed from time To
time Ia Boston. There are ten ofthen now at East
Boston, sub oston, ROIbury, tharleStown,
Brighton Dorchester, the South End, the Vest
End. Jamaica Plain and We-t Roxbury. In several
cases the nucleus for a branch existed in an
already established town or city. library. The
RoNbury branch is practically a local endowed
private library association now administered
BY the central library At more remote points
Ike Milton iowsr Mili1 M9,lapan, M2Hnt
rooms. with books Of reference, and fifteen
other places whore books are delivered. Books
are sent n ba'Ghe' Too, to hIsces Where , taey
Of books we're sent tO the vacation schools.
70 the Municipal Camp az Long Island and 10
Deer Island for the use OF the boys In the House
The efforts to bring the books to the readers
are many and interesting. AZ a consequence
Of the deposits in the schools the library. con-
tains many duplicates, and the number OF vol
umes In the central library, 657,e24. is probably
a fairer measure Of the real wealth In books oil
the library.
Tic central library contains some innova-
tions. Besides the great Bates Hall for the uss
OF readers and the newspaper aud pc riodical
rooms. there il a reading room for children
and In addition a reference. room for Them
topics to which they have been directed BY
Their -choolteachers Then there are the
acccss, like the George Ticknor collection,
the Barton Library. the Brown Library OF
Music and the Fine Arts collection,
The city of Boston appropriated t255.OoO last
year 10 tho use ~ the library. Part Of this.
however. goes into the building, which H. not
yet completed or fully furnished; some Of the
Sargent and Abbey paintings. for instance.
have yet to go in. A large portion Of the ap-
preparation goes for maintenance of the build
IngS and service, and III" amount lGft for new
books il small. However. what with purchases
ard what with gifts. tho library increases at
the rate Of from 2u,uDU 10 1000 volumes year.
The present Librarian, James l.. Whitney.
has heeu connected with the Boston Putuo
Library since 1863, lhe il a brother II the Int
Prof William Dwight Whitney ui lae. the
Harvard. the geOloCi-t.
Among The additions to tho artistic treasures
Of the library last year was Boston's musical
palladium, Crawford's statue Of Beethoven.
owned by the iisndel and Haydn Society,
that stood for many years In front of the big
organ IN the old Boston Music Hal,