Los Angeles herald., 1907-12-29

should make an enormous change In the
forestation of this our outdoor reading
room which has become famous through
out the library profession.
Deposit Stations
While the library is not able to afford
rent, attendant, light and the other heavy
expenses of further branches at present,
and while this city is already, In proper
tion to its population and size and re-
sources of It's library, far better supplied
with branches than Boston, New York
or any other city, 1t has been found pos
sible this year to increase the library
service to large extent through the null
tiplying of its deposit stations.
To these the library gives floating or
permanent loans Qn some cases) In the
ordinary case fifty volumes at time,
to be renewed monthly or whenever re-
quired. These volumes are cared for and
circulated by institutions responsible for
the safety of the books.
This was one of the first public libraries
in the United States to circulate music,
and this function is still popular and
growing. This year It's standards have
been much raised by the assistance of
Prof Theo. j. Irwin, who has assisted
In systematizing the music and In rec
ommending purchases to be made to make
the collection more representative s.nd
useful He has not only given this as
sistance, but free consultation with mu-
sical students at call.
Dscards
While it had been for many years the
practice of this library to give away its
discarded books, this was not legal
procedure.
These books are still city property,
which should not be disposed Of except
by specific authority. The city attorney
prepared an ordinance which was passed
by the city council (new series No. 15s44)
and approved by Mayor Harper, author
izing the sale of discards which are sal
able and the giving away of the rest to
institutions but not to individuals. The
ordinance provides that each discarded
book thus disposed of shall be stamped
both on the book plate and title page
LOS Angeles public library discarded.
Under the authority OF this ordinance
the departments were Weeded or their
discarded books and the discards Drought
together, stamped and processed. There
were 173 Juveniles and 449 works Of fiction.
Following the example of the st. Louis
public library a public sale of these dis
cards was inaugurated November %, 1907,
when 300 of these books were sold,
the net receipts being $685. This sale
satisfactorily showed what books had any
market value. The rest will be given
away to public institutions and the or
ganzations as heretofore. The gain OF
the new arrangement Is not SO much the
cash receipts as the fact that this whole
routing of discarded books Is now. lawful.
The following shows the use of discards
this year: Los Angeles county farm l5O,
Los Angeles county asylum 100, Los An
geles county Jail 100, Violet street play
ground, 112, Newsboys' home rs, Alpine
street Orphans home 15O. Los Angeles
orphan asylum $50, Los Angeles aque-
duct 100.
The latter is one of the gratifying uses
of discards The city has many hundred
men at work on the line of the great
Owens river aqueduct
Men and Women
Taking the new registration as basis
there were 1872 women and 44o8 men,
On the other hand, while the line at
the fiction desk is Overwhelmingly fem
mine everyone familiar with the library
Is aware that the two great rooms for
reading and study are preponderatingly
patronized by men. There are great
many women, but the aspect of either
of these rooms at any time Is distinctly
male. A count kept at the entrance for
sixty-one days (not consecutive) gave a
visitation of 93,S20 men and 91,763 women
Librarian Lummis recommends that the
| age limit be abolished. 1t is now 10 years
| for children.
Answers from leading public libraries
in the United States show that out OF
fifty only nine Libraries maintain an age
limit at all, though these include the
venerable examples of Boston, Cleveland,
Louisville and Jersey City.
On the other hand, New York, Buffalo,
Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, In
dianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Min
neapolis, Newark, Pittsburg, Providence,
ST. Louis Springfield and score of the
other most progressive libraries have no
age limit.
Financed and Recessions
The four mills on the dollar allowed by
the city charter amounts this year to
$1O3, ,942.27. This puts us about on a par
financially with Minneapolis, which is of
approximately the same population, but
has q larger library by so per cent.
In spite of our necessary curtailment
the library has added this year 7216 books,
or BOG more than last year. OF these,
$500 were added to the circulating de-
partment and 2O16 to reference. For the
preceding eight years the average acces-
sions have been 9414, including donations.
but excluding the school fund. This
years purchases will more than double
that figure.
Total number of volumes based on the
figures of last years inventory, plus ad-
ditions, minus losses, would be 105,679.
Present inventory, concluded coincident
with the date of this report, gives us
1O3,11S, leaving 2561 volumes unaccounted
for, 562 school books not included in last
years transfer have been found and
turned over to the library of the public
schools.
To this total number of books should
be added, in fact, 2750 unbound volumes
of magazines and 1870 unbound volumes
of newspapers. In both cases these items
are tied ready for binding and are vol
umes."
The most important donations of the
year have been the Edelman collection
(first loaned and then bequeathed to this
library by the late Rabbi A. w. Edel-
NAM, the first rabbi of an established
synagogue in Los Angeles. a judicious
nucleus of several hundred volumes on
Jewish history, literature, theology, phil
ology, ETC., 1O9 volumes of WAR of the
Rebellion Record from Gen. Adna r.
Chaffee, and the invaluable files of early
California newspapers and other titles
from the Historical Society of Southern
Il