The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-17
Now Have Over 100000 Books
in Different Branches.
ALL GO 1T ALONE.
No System of Cooperation Is
Now Practlced.
May Ask Legislature for a
Special Building.

A plan for the consolidation OF all
the state house Libraries under one
management, and eventually for put
ting those libraries together Into one
huge state library building was formu-
lated Friday at Kansas City at the
meeting of the Kansas State Library
association ready for presentation at
the next session Of the legislature.
This meeting was attended by James
King, state librarian; George w. Mar
tin and Miss Zu Adams representing
the vast libraries of the Kansas State
Historical society; Joseph T. Lovewell
in charge of the Kansas Academy OF
Science library; Mrs. Greene, in charge
of the Kansas travelling libraries, and
many prominent librarians of the state
There are at present six different
libraries in the state house. They are
as follows:
State library. $1,000 volumes.
Historical society, $4,000 volumes.
Travelling libraries, 10000 volumes.
Academy Of science library, $500 vol
umes.
Horticultural society library. 1,ooC
volumes.
Agricultural society, 1000 volumes.
This is a total of over 100000 books,
but there is no system of cooperation
between the various libraries, and no
common source Of information ABOUT
what these libraries contain. The plan
is to ask the legislature to institute
a board of managers for the supervis-
ion of the six libraries, and to make
an appropriation sufficient to pay the
expense of making one card catalogue
covering all the books owned by the
state A person in search OF infor-
nation on any subject could then &c
to this common card catalogue, and
find out whether the state has, in any
of its libraries. the book or books con-
tanning the desired information.
Some Of the state house people think
that the state should at the next ses-
sion of the legislature make the pre-
liminary arrangements for erecting a
great state library building, which will
contain not only the libraries OF the
state, but the state historical society
and the various state museums.
The state has 100000 as a donation
from the federal government to pay
up some war claims as starter for
this building, but the plan is to use
at least half a million in the erection
of the building. This would remove
all the departments from the state
house and leave that building free for
the legislative, executive and judicial
branches of the government. The
building is now very much overcrowd-
ed.
The 1907 report of the secretary of
the Kansas Academy of Science dis
cussed the possibility of closer con-
solidation OF the various DOCK supplies
of the state as follows:
"Our academy is on record, more
than once, as favoring such a consoh-
dalton of all the book interests of the
state house as will insure a separation
into departments and complete cata-
loguing. by the Dewey system, OF all
\. the books found here.
Zone way of doing this is to extend
the authority of the state librarian sc
that he may divide the collections into
departments and have his catalogues
include them all. BY such an arrange
ment the duplication of books would
be avoided, which is now common
occurrence.
1.-The individuality of the academy
library and that of the historical soci-
ETY. would be modified from what il
now is but not destroyed, and each
organization would go on adding to its
collection, only each would be re-
stricted to it's own field. The mair
thought would be not to glorify this il
that department but to build up the
library as a whole"