The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-20
AN INCREASE OF 1863
IN NUMBER OF BOOKS TAKEN
FROM LIBRARY LAST MONTH.
4o4 CARDS WERE ISSUED
BY LIBRARIAN SINCE THE LAST
MEETING OF MANAGERS.

Nearly 10000 Persons Have Visited
the Library Since Its Opening and
over 1000 Cards Have Been Is
sued-BOOks on Lower Floor All
POcketed and Those on Upper
Floor Renrranged and Classified.
Finance Committees Budget for
1904.
The November meeting of the Board
of Managers of the Public Library was
held last night. The managers present
were Messrs. Lawrence, Cunningham,
Ashmore, Travis, Thomas, and Gamble.
The report of Mr.. Otis Ashmore, chair
man of the Library Committee, and the
presentation by the Finance Committee
of the 1904 budget were the principal
items of interest.
The report summed up the work that
had been done in the library since the
last meeting of the board of man
ayers, and also gave a summary of
the work since the library opened,
May Is. The report was a glowing
one in all respects. The library is now
in full swing and all it's shelves are
open to the public. Considerable in
terest is being taken in it as shown by
the circulation of the books and the
number of visitors to the reading room.
The children's department, which is be-
ing given special attention, is being
| freely patronized.
1878 Visitors.
Since May Is, there have been 49,
| 773 visitors to the building. OF this
number a large part have become reg
ular visitors and many of them hold
cards for the withdrawal of books.
The total number of cards issued to
date is 2,O1S.
For the past month the report shows
a gratifying increase in the number of
| books taken out and also in the num-
| Der, which visited the library. Since
| the last report of Mr.. Ashmore 404
cards have been issued to citizens of
| Savannah. There have been 1895
| books taken out, an increase of 1868
over the number withdrawn last month
| The number of visitors to the library
| was 5,305, while the report last month
showed that only a few more than A.
900 had visited the rooms.
| Mr.. AshmOre's report also stated that
all the books on the lower floor had
been pocketed and were ready for is
suing. On the upper floor the books
had been re-arranged and properly
placed on the shelves. All had been
classified properly and listed The Ii
brary is now open to the public from
10 o'clock in the morning until the
same hour at night, and the corps of
Librarians have all points at their fin
ger ends, and are doing all in their
power to make the library pleasant for
its many visitors.
Budget for 1904.
Other than the report of the Library
Committee the report in which there
was the greatest interest taken, was
that of the Finance Committee. AS
was predicted, they handed in their
budget for the year 1904. The budget
was approved by the board as present.
ed. There were no unusual features
about the budget, all the items being
| based on the expenditures and re-
ceipts of this year. No salaries were
| cut.
Next year the expenses of the Ii
| brary will not be as heavy as they
| were this, owing to the fact that the
repairs, the heaviest expense this year,
will be absent. This year there were
several book cases and shelves to buy
and many of the books had to be re-
! bound. Other repairs ran the expense
account up rapidly and very little was
left for the purchasing of books. Z be
shelves are now we'll stocked with
books of all divisions of literature and
the additions which can be made from
time to time will soon make it the
ranking library of the South.
No action was taken by the board
regarding the rumored asking of as
sistance from the county. The sug-
gestion had been made that the county
be asked to contribute a certain sum
each year to the library fund and that
in exchange for this books would be
issued to persons living outside the
city limits. The suggestion was made
to different members of the board by
one of the assistant librarians.