The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-18
LIBRARIES
THAT MOVE ABOUT
Copyright 1869. The Christian Herald.
New York;

Copyright, 1862 The Christian Herald.
New York;
The sending of travelling Ebraries'' to
villages ard towns which have no public
library of their own, has proved boon to
hundreds of thousands of people through
out the United States. By the intrOdflc-
uon OF these lurerant collections Of books
people IN the remOtest sections of the
country are furnished with the best read
ing without indiViduaf cost. This system
OF helping rural populations i'm an educa-
1882 N III
In that year, MelviI Dewey. librarian of
IRE NeW YORK state library. secured an
appropriation TO inaugurdte a new system
OF library extension. which was so simple
and practical that IL was immediately sue
eeSsiul. and has since been followed in
thirty states. Mr. Dewey Bought d num-
Der of small libraries of 1O9 volumes each
stations Tor them were made in q num-
Der OF villages. A library Vas sent to
q NlatloH 10 remain SIX months. and. at
the end of that period it was returned to
Nl9anE- 70 ne sent out 10 another sta
ton Thus they became known as tray
ton ard safe return of the books Mr.
Dewey demanded certain pledges Tn com
munlties hdVinE no public library or ac-
cIeuiteu SchOOl ne required a guarantee
signed by tWeutE-SiX taxpayers Each
hprary was sent out in chest With il
went a horary case, Ct charging outfit and
a NUMBER OF small annotated catalogues
The work in New York has been sfead-
lily growing. and last year the state
uoldry In Albany alone sent out nearly
5Uj travelling libraries. There are now
about $50 different kinds of libraries for
special students and study classes in
many branches of literature science and
art as well as for the general reader. A
uIilIOIm lee OF 50 Is charged for the use
OF "A library of 100 volumes Smaller foes
are charged for smaller libraries NOT
only may any school or circle of readers
have the use of a travelling hbrarv b,,4
any citizen may have even single boot
sent TO him in the remotest corner of the
state.
There are now about 2.5o1 TRAVELLING Ii
brarles. containing about 1850 volumes
scattered IN thirty states. About : 100 of
these were equipped and maintained by
state ald- The remainder were Uurcbas-
ed by private individuals or assocfa tiOns
The ease with which the new DIsn of
library extension may be adapted to meet
various needs may be shown IN a rapid
summary OF the work done by a few svs-
tens Of travelling Libraries In New Ter
sey, they have used them t0 tighten the
long winter days and evenings of tbe
brave men who belong to The Hfe-savina-
service, and that state has nov "a ken mn
the travelling library as 2 definite part OF
the work Of ITS state library. Women in
Salt Lake City send them regularly to re-
mote va leys i'm Utah A number of state
declarations OF women CLUBS use them to
fuFhlsh books for study TO isolated clubs
One woman in Georgia is devoting her
self % the supervision Of system which
reaches a number of small villages on the
Sea-board Air line. IN five So1lf horn
states. An association N washington u
g., puts libraries on the canal boats which
ply on the Washington & Potomas
canal On the summer and cite mn IL,
small hamiets in the Blue Ridge noun
tains in the winter The coiOred graduates
OF Hampton Institute carry libraries to
the schools for their own people at the
base Of the Cumberland mountains while
to the mountain whites Libraries are
sent by the WOmeu's clubs In Kentucky
tennessee and Alaglma. Tn Idaho Calf
lOrnias Nebraska, Kansas. illinois, Mis-
souri,. Minnesota and MANY other states
women s clubs are doing the same work
for miners, lumbermen, farmers and
sailors.