Evening journal., 1901-04-17
FREE LIBRARY
IS FLOURISHINC
Reports Made by Mr.. Bower.
man Are Interesting
MR.. NORRIS NAMED DIRECTOR
Monthly Report Shows a Marked In
crease in the Number Of
Borrowers

Directors of the Wilmington Librar!
met in monthly and in annual meeting
In the library building last evening.
The report of George f. Bowerman
librarian, for March, showed an addi
tion of 157 volumes to the library, an,
a circulation of 19,4Sl books as com
pared with a circulation of 1S,200 70
the corresponding month of last year
Professor George l.. Norris was nameC
a director to succeed William Michae
Byrne.
At the annual meeting of the boarC
William p. Taylor was elected presi
dent, and F. H. Robinson, secretary
Mr.. Bowerman reported as follows:
TO the President and Board of Managers
of the Wilmington Institute;
The librarian presents the report of the
activities of the Wilmington Institute
Free Library for the year March ], 1900,
10 February 2S, 1901, the seventh Of its
administration as a free library As this
period closed before the present librarian
took charge his report viii for the most
part consist of the suhjoined tables to-
gether with certain comments upon them.
In addition a few recommendations for
future activities are offered. AS the lat
ter are based on n very brief acquainr-
ance with the library and the community,
they are submitted with difidence and
are most certainly subject to revision and
amendment as all early impressions are.
CONTENTS AND ACCESSIONS.
At the close Of the year the library pos
sessed 39S64 volumes, or. counting the
1.727 volumes which formed the original
agl Ford rtsl.r a
over to the Institute and not yet access
stoned here, Al 1,591 volumes These fig
ures exclude magazines in temporary
bindings for circulation. OF this grand
total, 1883 volumes form the permanent
collection OF the Rockford branch.
or the volumes added 2S9 were given
and 1929 were purchaseda total OF 1872.
From these accessions 1903 volumes must
be deducted to cover Withdrawals max
ing a net increase OF S.204 volumes. An
attempt was made to replace $50 OF these
Withdrawals by new books, while 537 vol
umes were withdrawn absolutely. Seven
teen books were lost and paid for and
four others We're lost and not paid for.
This great number Of Withdrawals last
year-1,S0S as against 1863 OF the year be-
fore-was chiefly in fiction (12S volumes)
and Juvenile (513 volumes). This is ac-
counted for by the fact that many books
in these classes which had been bought
when the library was made free had
through increased use come to the end of
their lives.
The total accessions included 6s7 vol
umes actually purchased as replacements
and 1,769 added copies Of works already on
the shelves. A large portion Of these ad-
ditional copies (1,271 v0lumesl was pur-
IL. a.. all lt,t n
few OF which books were sent out to
them at the beginning Of the school year.
1t is evident that considerably less than
one-half Of the purchases l2056 volumesl,
represents new titles Of books added to the
vollection. The provision made by the
library for the children within the library
and at the schools is also shown by table
A, where it is seen that the Juvenile ac-
cessions were 2,O64 volumes.
LIBRARY AND THE SCHOOLS.
The appended table shows that early in
the present school year 1,271 volumes
were bought solely for the use Of the pri-
mary schools Of the city OF these Iii
volumes were sent out on the requests @!
teachers Of primary grades Of twenty
four schools. Late applications from pri-
many schools had to be denied beeaus,
the extra books had gone into genera
circulation. The library also received ap-
plications from grammar schools and had
no books at its disposal for them. Fol
the most part these collections were got
ten up in Libraries Of about thirty vol
umes designed for two successive grades
Eight schools took only one Of these H.
braries each, while No. Is took 80 vol
umes. All Of the teachers with whom th'
librarian has been able to confer on thi'
subject regard these books as almost
godsend to their children, most of whom
never come to the central library. Thes.
books do not circulate Except occasion
ally from Friday to Monday but ar
used in the schools. Judging from thi
experience Of these. teachers whose opin
ions have been obtained, il may be wis
to exchange the libraries at the end o
January instead Of leaving them tn
whole year. Otherwise, the resources o
the little collections are exhausted b.
the children long before the close of tn
year and their book hunger is unsatisfied
This would probably require an Increase
number Of books. Considering that NOR
than one-fourth OF the number of book
added to the library were purchased ex
pressly for the schools and that applica
tions for exchanges were made during tn
year that could not be satisfied. il is evi
dent that the library, so far as its re
sources will admit, is in this work an ef
ficient adjunct to the public school sys
TEN. Its benefits should be extended s
far as funds permit and interest in
creases.
THE JUVENILE DEPARTMENT.
Closely allied with this work for til
schools is that Of the children's depart
ment OF the central library. At the be
ginning OF the year there were 4,s43 vol
umes in this department and 6.4s4 at ii
close. Although the latter number form
only one-sixth of the total library yet IN
circulation Of juvenile literature (6l 81
y0lnmesl was one-third of the total circu
lation Of the library. 1t should be remen