Smyrna times., 1902-02-12
COMMUNICATED
Some Facts Concerning the Wilmington Iusti-
tute Free Library.


tute Free Library.
Delaware had no general or State
law providing for public libraries when
the Wilmington Library was estab-
lished. The law under which it is op-
Grated was a special act, which was
drawn up by public-spirited citizens
| of the town in the winter of 1892 -93,
in consultation with the Mayor and
City Council and a committee of the
| board of education. 1t specified that
from and after the time that the In
stitute Free Library should be open to
the free use of the inhabitants of Will
mington," the board of public educa.
ton should pay each year an amount
to the treasurer of the library to be
applied solely to the maintenance and
support of the library. The whole
law ended in a provision that it was
not to become mandatory until it was
approved by the Wilmington City
Council. That body accepted it
promptly and unanimously. The Lii
brary in 1900 was receiving about
$64OO annually from the board of pub
lie education.
The Wilmington Library was orig
inally subscription Library. From
the Morning Ne,Us we have the fol-
lowing interesting account of the plans
and methods of that institution.
Mention has been made from time
to time in the Morning NelO8 of the
improvements at the Wilmington In
stitute Free Library, as applied to the
children's department. The policy
has been to make that section of the
library as cheerful and beautiful for
the children as possible. The results
have fully justified the labor and ex-
pense devoted to this end. The same
policy has recently been applied to the
Rockford branch of the library so that
now the children of that section of the
city have corner of the library espe-
clally devoted to their interests.
''Some time after the library of the
Wilmington Institute was made free,
the Rockford Library, also a propri-
etary library, was turned over to the
Wilmington Institute Free Library.
and by an arrangement became a
branch of this institution. The library
is housed in large room on the Sec
ond floor of a building on the Rock
ford road. The original library was
composed of about 1900 we'll selected
volumes, to which have been added
from time to time enough to make the
total collection number about 5000.
There is likewise a small, but we'll
selected reference collection at the
Rockford branch.
'In passing, it is interesting to note
the effect produced upon the circulation
at the Rockford branch by removing
the covers from the books. Some
months ago, it was found that nearly
all the books that formed the original
collection of the Rockford branch were
covered with dark linen covers These
covers not only helped to make the
room dark and gloomy, but also pro-
tected the books all too we'll for readers
who examined the shelves did NOT
realize that those covers hid from view
attractively bound and interesting
books. The result was that when the
covers were removed, books that had
never before been out, were almost
instantly taken out by borrowers.
"In addition to the we'll selected H.
brary of the branch, there will also he
found constantly on file, five daily
papers-one from New York, two from
Philadelphia and two from Whining
ton-seven weekly periodicals and
fourteen monthly magazines. Unfor-
tunatelly this branch is at present
opened only from to 0 in the even
Ing. This no doubt somewhat curta;Is
It's usefulness. Notwithstanding that
iact large number of children and
their parents living in Rockford. To.
gether with adults from the Highlands
Forty Acres and the vicinity west of
the u. d o. railroad make use of fins
library" LIBRARY CoMMrrrrv s"i'