Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-12-19
The Public
Libraries
of Oregon
ANDREW CARNEGIE HAS GIVEN
NEARLY HALF 4 MILLION DOL
LARS TO THEM COMMISSION
MAKES ANNUAL REPORT

Andrew Carnegie has given library
buildings to Oregon aggregatIng cost
of $433, 900, according to figures shown
in the biennial report Of the state IL
brary commission. or these buildings
nine are new since the last report
some of them not yet being finished
No appropriations are asked in the re-
port,
The report is a resume Of the work
of the last two years 1t shows that
thousands Of volumes Of books are
sent broadcast over the state by the
commission each year, and that thou
sands of children and adults in out-of-
the-way corners Of the state are daily
benefited by the books. Trained libra
rians are employed, and the result is
that only the best books are being
read. The commission has no use for
cheap literature,
"The commission has a library Of
$4,000 books and pamphlets, and H.
300 classified clippings" says the re-
port "The work it does is that Of a
general state and reference library to-
gethcr with supervision Of the. school
library buying Of the state, which is
done by any other library It's actiy-
tiles may be divided into three groups.
a. It's work for the public schools,
acting as agent for the annual pur-
chase of books required by law, having
bought 5S,3SS volumes for them dur
ing the period covered by this report
at a saving of over S11 900 from this
centralized buying as compared with
buying by individual districts,
%, AS a state library in the crcu-
lation Of books and periodical articles
through its travelling Libraries, general
lean system, debate Libraries and fer
erence work, having n total record Of
44S49 books, pamphlets and clippings
shipped out in the last two years
49, AS an advisory office and clear
ing office for pupils libraries Of the
s. ate serving the small libraries by
means Of visits by q trained librarian,
distributions Of publications, blanks,
forms and book lists, by loans of books
singly and in groups to supplement
their local collections, and by advice
and help in regard to planning of
buildings and organization of libraries.
Location Of Libraries.
"There are now 19 public library
buildings and two college buildings in
the state, aside from the branch libra
ries in Portland, twelve of them hav-
ing been built with gifts from Mr.. Car
negie, the Multnomah county library
building having been built at the coun-
ty expense under the law passed at the
last session of the legislature. or
these buildings none are new since the
last report, some of them are not yet
finished, and the amount of the gifts
are as follows, Albany, $12,5OO; Dal-
las, $1,000; McMinnville, $4,000; Med
ford $4,000; Newberg, 100000; Ore
gon City $12,5OO; Salem, $27,5OO; I'm
ion, $500, Mr.. Carnegie has now Civ
en- Oregon $433,OOO in public library
buildings and $4,000 to Pacific uni
yersity for a library building.
"a good index to library progress is
the employment Of trained librarians.
There are now 10 Oregon public Ii
bIaries in charge of such librarians
who have been specially trained for
their work five Of these being new
oomers since the last report, Trained
assistants are also employed in Port
land and Salem. All of the state Ii
braries have trained assistants.
Books the People Like.
"The orders have been extremely
well filled, there being only As books
which the dealers were not able to
supply and about 10 errors in the
shipment Of 2S,9S4 books to the SO
counties in 1912. Most of the districts
made their own selections and evident
ly have an interest in building up their
libraries The most popular books in
1912 were:
Chapman, Story of Oregon; Carroll,
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland;
Powers, Famous Pictures; Ruskin.
King Of the Golden River; Carpenter
North America; Grover, Sunbonnet
Babies Primer. Cornapter Asio