Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-10-31

the huhafeus or young men, who arr
employed In the factories h~ereabouts
increase their knowledge along the
lines In which they are interested
This has been a very creditable Idea
There is no doubt that the library
has been a great help to such young
men. BY assisting such persons tc
attain a higher station in life the
library has served its purpose well
and not a penny on it has beer
wasted.
But a library filled with technical
works cannot be called a popular
library in the broad sense of the
| word. To really popularize 1t fiction
is needed, and this fiction must be
the latest fiction that is worth read
ing. A library to be popular will
contain all the books as soon as they
are published so that when a person
who loves to read learns that a new
book Is out by such and such an
author, he will think of the library
the first thing and he will not be
disappointed when he goes there to
secure the book.
An effort is being made to develop
the library more along this line at
present and we are told that 1t Is
meeting with a great deal of success.
Once the people learn that they can
get the latest book by any of the
popular authors, many who do not
now use the library will get interest
ed at once and its usefulness to the
community will be increased greatly.
We must remember that we read
sometimes to be entertained as we'll
as to be instructed.
But the field OF fiction is large and
the number of those who read fiction
is still larger. To buy n copy Of a
popular novel to be placed at the dis
posal of a city, of over 10000 people
is rather unsatisfactory. Only a few
would be able to get it as it would
be loaned out almost continuously as
long as it remained new. Books are
written SO frequently these days and
ones are making their appear
ance-so often that it costs money to
keep UP with them with even one
copy of each, not to mention two o.
three. To help overcome the problem
Of keeping the newest books Of
fiction on the shelves a new system
has been adopted which, when thor
understood, cannot help but
appeal to everyone as an excellent
plan.
There is now in vogue what is
known as the duplicate pay system.
The idea is that two copies of a book
by any well-known author is bought
promptly upon its publication-onTy
after someone in authority has read
it, however, to make sure that 1t is
worthy of being placed in the library,
One of these copies is placed at once
on the shelves of the library to be
taken out in the ordinary way. This
is all that is really required of a
library to make it a free institution.
The book is there and it is free for
you to take out provided you can find
it in when you call. But that is the
difficulty. A copy of the latest fiction
is almost certain to be in use all the
time. The library cannot afford to
buy two. books outright and offer
them to the free use of the public.
Therefore the second copy is secured
and placed ON a separate shelf. This
book can be had for the payment of
cent a day for every day that it
&c liant p,,t Thie n,aapa tbot if RI,
really want to read the book bad
enough to pay a cent a day to do so,
and when you call at the library the
free copy is out, you "a still crafty
your desire by taking advantage of
the duplicate pay system. Some
people will read the book through in
a day, others will finish it in two or
three days. At the most it will not
require an outlay of more than FIVE
cents for you to read the book when
you find that someone else has the
free copy, This one cent a day is
charged until the book is paid for.
If Textbook cost 81 it viii be kept on
the duplicate pay shelf until it has
been used 100 days. At the expira-
ton of that time 100 cents will have
been collected and the library will
have been refunded the amount spent