The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1906-06-28
Annual Report Of the Librarian
Of Gilbert NJ. Simmons Ii.
brary Made Public
USE OF BOOKS
Number of Volumes on the Shelves is
Increasing Yearly and More Inter
est is Being Taken in the Library
by the People of the City

Herewith is submitted the sixth
annual report of Gilbert M. Simmons
Library for the year ending May 81,
1906:
No changes of any great import
ance have been made during the year,
all efforts being directed towards
developing the methods already es-
tablished. The general usefulness Of
the library seems to stand the test of
time, each department, with possibly
one exception, showing moderate
but healthy growth, either in quantity
or quality of material used. The
School Duplicate Collection, which we
believe to besinvaluable in it's oppor-
tunities for encouraging children to
become interested in good books
Especially those who are not natur-
ally readers), has fallen off somewhat
in circulation as compared with a
year ago. The number circulated
last year was 1857, while this year it
reached only 6,281. Most of the school
rooms having the use of these books
have kept up to the STANDARD of pre-
vious years, but in few cases the
books were scarcely used at all. This
is matter of great disappointment as
it eemsgsuch lost opportunity, but
we hopesfor more effective work an
other year in the few cases where its
importancesasee not to be quite
appreciated.
The only improvements worthy of
special mention are two in number.
One is the placing of four handsome
standards nnfor electric lights at the
north and south approaches to the
library, and thesother is the purchase
of chairs andEltab1es for the little
children, which have been placed in
the west end of the stack room, MAX
ing a very attractive ''chi1dren's
corner and attaining even greater
popnlaritysthan we had anticipated.
Doors havesbeen taken off and shelves
put into the lockers nearsthese tables,
making very convenient place for
displaying ebooks ton special subjects,
and many pictures and bulletins have
been hung ito adorn the walls, doing
much towards changing lthis space
into verye goodsss substitute for a
children's room.
The earnings from the Renting
Collection" have accumulated to suck
an extent that with the permission of
the board a valuable reference set
Bryan's "Dictionarysof Painters and
Engravers, IS vols-was purchased
from thissfund at a cost Of $500 and
presented tostheglibrary. Even with
this expenditure andEthe purchase of
81 new booksGfor the collection we
now haves$78.04 on hand.
We have issued 117 teachers cards
this year with circulation of SOL,
and 20 special study cards having
circulation of 2,164. These figures
speak for themselves, needing no
comment to show that in this i'm
portant branch of library work the
results are..good.
Readers fin the reading room have
increasedsin number from ~, $50 last
year to, 3O,19O this year, and 68,156
books were circulated as against 65,-
874 last 'year. We Ehave added 1854
new books and withdrawn 343, leav-
ing 1913 books,now on the shelves,
exclusive Rof the p School Duplicate
Collection, which addedrto the num-
Der in theBmainihbrary, gives total
of 1886 books. The additions for
the year include number.of valuable
works which are .worthy of special
mention, as follows:
Henry C1ay's Works, 10 vols. ............$ As 90
Alexander Hami1tons Works, IL vo1s.... 81 %
Complete sets of the two magazines, Mu-
nicipa1 Affairs, vols, and Arena,
"a A CO
Set of ssModern E1oouence,,' Is vo1s. % 20
Rand, McNa11y Atlas, 2 vols. ..........s.. 70 90
Lippincott's Gazetteer, new ed ............ "a
Wisconsin in Three Centuries, q vo1s..... 20 90
Readers Guide to Periodical Literature. Is 90
Mason's oIndianE Basketry,'' 2 vols . Ii Is
McC1el1an's Historic Dress in America 50
$3.50 %
Three books out of the 10 reported
missing from last years inventory
have beensfound. This year 's.inven-
tory shows A Ibooks missing, most
r p y n C