Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-01-23

been that country people read better
books than townfolks; they read bet
ter books, and get more out of them.
THE ultimate effect of aiding the
reading habit among the rural
citizens, therefore may readily be
not only to increase the number of
readers in this country but also to
raise the standard of reading, and
consequently the standard of life and
culture
DR. Claxtol went on to say that his
advocacy OF the count ylibrary was
based OH his personal observation of
the Brumback Library of Va Vert
county. Ohio, which is at present one
of the few institutions of it's kind in
the country. The Brumback County
Library is the result of the will of
late John Sanford Brumback, a mer-
chant and banker of Van Vert, who
directed that $4,000 from his estate
should be devoted to the erection and
furnishing of a library building as a
free gift to Van Vert County, if the
county would provide for its main
tenance and it's equipment of books.
Later MIR. Brumback's children and
heirs increased this donation to $50
900. With the money realized from
county-tax levy some 5000 books
were purchased in 1899, and these,
together with 1000 others turned over
by the merger of an existing library,
formed the nucleus of the present
collection.
The library building erected by the
Brumback estate was turned over to
the county in 1901. 1t is beautiful
structure in the Gothic4Romanesque
style of architecture, built of Bedford
blue sandstone, with tile and marble
interior. f1reproofed throughout. The
bookstacks have capacity of rs 900
volumes. With the handsome park in
which it is located, the Brumback
Library has become one of the show
places of Van Vert.
This Is the central depository for
the county's system OF branch libra
lies and school libraries. The
branches are in charge of librarians
who are paid $50 a year and are made
responsible for the safe keeping of
the books esent them. Rural mer-
chants and postmasters are generally
selected to conduct the branch librar-
les. as their establishments are most
centrally located and most frequently
visited. The collections of books in
their charge range from 100 to $50,
although II this is not a sufficient
number additional volumes will be
sent upon request. Four times year
or oftener, the branch librarian boxes
up the books for which he is response.
BILE and returns them to the central
depository, receiving at once another
collection.
The books thus forwarded are not
arbitrary hit-or-miss selection of the
head librarian, but conform to the de-
sires OF the local readers, as ascer-
tanned at the branc 11itself. Before
any books are sent out the branch
librarian receives a list Of the titles
In every available travelling collection
Each title Is accompanied with a note
explaining the character and conte
explaining the character and con-
tents of the books listed. The users
of the branch library then discuss
these lists and the box of books
which contains the greatest number
OF readers is the box called for. IL
the contents of no one box prove in.
teresting to the neighborhood. the
main library will make up special
lection upon request. In this way the
rural book lover can obtain practical.
ly any work he desires for which
there is an appreciate call.
The kind Of books read by the coun-
try people of Van Vert county are of
an unusually high character. On re-
preventative box contains a hundred
works. dealing with such varied sub
jects as philosophy, religion, sooiolo-
gy, language, science, the useful and
fine arts, literature, travel, biography
history and fiction. Books for young
people comprise about one.fourth
the entire list. Although these books