Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-30

| OF special ana endowed coliectlonS OF
| books and newspapers, to which the
| namess Of donors may be attached, keep
| ing them forever in the grateful remem-
brance Of the public. In the newspaper
| visitor Immediately on entering sees this
inscription in gilt letters: The news
papers subscribed for are the gift OF
William C. Todd Of Atkinson, N. H, who
has put at the disposal of the library a
| fund of $4,000 for that purpose. In the
| other wing of this building, corresponding
| in size and arrangement to the hall In
| which we are assembled, is the so-called
| newspaper and periodical room. ready to
be stocked and suitably equipped for the
| benefit of the people of the capital Who
New Hampshire. will attach his name to
| this room and It's useful contents in perpet-
ual memorial? Who will similarly endow the
| children's library? Who will honor him.
self by supplying with books of perma-
nent value and authority Bates Hall for
| Washington. like that in the Boston
| library?'
purchase of books is asked by the trus-
| tees in their estimates for the next nscai
| year.
(c) The year has been marked by a
| gratifying, practical advance in the move
ment to secure for the public use mis-
cellaneous circulating books IN the gov
eminent collections in Washington.
Transfer of Books.
Under the provisions of a paragraph In
the law making appropriation for the leg
| islative, executive and judicial branches OF
the government, passed at the last ses-
sion of Congress, 600 miscellaneous DOCKS
have been turned over to the Library OF
Congress. Under the authority of another
paragraph of the same act. the Librarian
has turned about 800 of these DOCKS over
to the Washington Public Library.
The authority for this transfer given In
the law, and the action which has been
taken under 1t, constitute the first practlcaa
results of a long campaign on the part OF
the trustees Of the Washington Public LII
brary, to the end that the books stored
away in the various government depart
ments and bureaus might be made avail
able for the use of the general puoHc III
the city of Washington.
The law in question is as follows:
"The head Of any executive depart
ment or bureau or any commission OF the
government is hereby authorized from
time to time to turn over to the librarian
of Congress, for the use of the Library
of Congress, any books, maps or other
material in the library of the depart
ment, bureau or commission no longer
needed for it's use, and in the Judgment
OF the librarian of Congress appropriate
to the uses of the Library of Congress.
ANY books of miscellaneous charac-
ter no longer required for the use OF
such department, bureau or COMMISSION
and not deemed an advisable addition to
the Library of Congress, shall, II apPro-
pirate to the uses or the Free Public
Library of the District Of Columbia, be
turned over to that library for general
use as part thereof.
The books which have been trans
ferred under authority of the law
quoted, were a part of the library OF the
Department of Labor, one of the smallest
of the departmental collections. Moss o.
the books were works of fiction, and IT
was not deemed necessary to hold them
in the Library of Congress. particularly
as they were duplicates of books a!ready
\ ,nf no drn w
reading public, under the regulations OF
the Congressional Library. SOD
With this large percentage of the LOO
books turned over for the benefit of the
circulating library by the great refer
ence library of the national capital some
idea may be had of the increase when
would result in the book supply OF the
Washington Public Library should the
miscellaneous non-technical books In the
other departments and bureau libraries
be released for general use In the same
in the departmental and bureau libraries
in this city. Most of these volumes, OF
course, have special reference Value IN
connection with the work OF the depart
ment or bureau in which they have been
collected but there are thousands of them
which are not of this character and are
available and valuable primarily for popu-
lar circulating purposes.
| The earliest efforts to secure the or
ganization of a tax-sustained circulating
library for the District, which began
more than ten years ago. were based IN
large part upon the fact that the various
departmental book collections were
available to a very small number of peo-
pie only, and to them for only portion
of the day. 1t was believed then, and
the thought was persistently presented
in each of the annual reports or the
Board of Trade committee on puDllc
library, under whose auspices the aglta-
ton for this organization was maintain
ed that these departmental BOOKS or a
miscellaneous character would be or
greater value to the entire community
ii placed in the custody of some central
distributing agency such as the Public
Library was conceived to be. SO that
before the law creating the library was
passed in 1896 the attention of Congress
was repeatedly called to these books as
a possible nucleus for the circulating
collection, and likewise after the enact
ment of the organizing law the same
proposition was pressed.
The trustees of the library in the an
nual report of 1900 thus stated the case:
These books, accessible in the main
only to the clerks in three OF the de-
partments and accessible to them only
SO far as the fraction contained in their
own library is concerned, would, II col
lected in the Washington Public Library,
be, open to all the clerks, and great
hody of government employees would en-
low privileges of which they are now
entirely deprived. The establishment or
such a general departmental library,
omen also to the public would save the
government the expensive duplication OF
books in numerous small collections and
would also economic in the room space
devoted to the departmental library pur-
poses"
Accession of 900 Volumes.
The accession of 900 volumes from
the library of the Department of Labor
doubtless will be followed by similar
transfers on the part of the heads of
other departments ana bureaus of the
ooyarpment where book collections
exist.
Furthermore. there is reason to expect
that the precedent made by this new
law will result in the opening OF an
other source of book supply. These
books are to reach the Public Library
from the Library of Congress. where
now rest many thousands of books of
the very sort of which the former is now
in need, and for which the latter has no
real use. Upward of twenty thousand Of
these are duplicate copies OF uncopy-
righted works, the transfer of which to
the Public Library is presumably within
the power of the librarian of Congress
without further enactment of law. There
are in addition a much larger number OF