The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-03-17
LIBRARY PATRONS
NOT READING 50
MUCH FICTION
Encouraging Feature Of Instltu-
tion's Work During Last Year
32s new VOLUMES ADDED
Treasurer's Report Shows That As
sociation Has Balance on Hand
$131.77.

The annual meeting OF the Young
! Mems Association, which has the man
agement OF the Free Library and di-
| rects the affairs OF the property con-
| nected Herewith, will be held on Mon
| day, March 90
| In compliance with the provisions OF
| the deed of trust, the following report
| is presented by the Board OF Manag-
ers for the year just ending:
We mention with sorrow the death
| in the mid summer OF Miss Josephine
| Keeler, who for nearly two years as
chief assistant in the Library and for
| two years more as Librarian fulfilled
| in an exceptional manner the duties
Of her position and was most highly
| regarded by all the patrons of the
Library Elsewhere has been record
| ed In particular reference this loss sus.
| tanned by the Library and the COM
munity
Succeeding Miss Keeler, Miss
Esther Merrill of BenniEton very ac
| ceptably acted as librarian for several
months. After careful searching the
| Board of Managers called permanently
| to the position Miss Mary A. Patch,
graduate of the Springfield, (Mass.,)
| Library School, who with several
years experience came to us directly
| from the State House Library, Boston.
We invite special attention to her ac-
curate and informing report, as print
| ed below.
The five year lease Of the hall held
| by Mr. Harte expiring in September.
bids were invited by published notice.
The Civic League, now the Public
Welfare Association, was granted the
lease for Sne year. This continues to
| the Y. N.. A. the same income,
| from this source, and has conveniently
provided q much needed place for the
| organized Indoor sports and recreation
| of our voting people. o2izs% 9l1o'f g.
I se'y@ librarians Report. sa.s.9 ( y =
TO the a'rusteesi of the Bennington
Free Library and the people OF the
town of Bennington: - 7i'''S'lAi
have the honor to present to you
the annuaIreport of the Bennington
Free Library-for the year ending
/ March l, 1916 s t. s.
1 hlS uutiCo 90 Lioi a. iAh
OH October 18th, and Immediately be-
gan to familiarize myself with the
work of the Library and to become
acquainted with the people of the
village.
There are 1855 volumes now in the
Library, not including about 400 bound
government publications. During the
| year, 1926 new volumes have been
added, 261 by purchase and IS by
| gift.
353 new borrowers have registered
| during the year, in addition to many
| temporary cards issued in the sum-
! mer for the use OF non-residents.
A comparison of the circulation rec
| ords for the years 1915 and 1916 show
| that there has not been any increase,
although it has been nearly equal to
that of the preceding year. This is
! due in part to weather conditions; an
unusual amount of illness; and to the
I fact that the Library has been closed
on more days this year, and OH one
more evening in each week. One en-
| couraging fact in the circulation de-
crease is that the decrease was among
| the fiction readers, while there was
! an increase of 1045 in the issue of
adult non-tiction. great many books
are read in the reading room, no
, record of which is kept. The largest
circulation per month was 1921. in
July: the smallest 1921, in September.
The largest circulation per day was
! 366, the smallest 26.
Adul:
1otc Lyot;oo Mon
23.603 4,S42
1915 25,354 3,797
Juvenile
1916 1907 1894
1915 S,157 3,023
1916 District schools, Inter
Library loans, etc, 2236
1915 District schools, Inter
Library loans, ETC., 1850
1916 Total circulation 41,0S2
1915 Total circulation 41,691
55 Periodicals and newspapers are
received regularly.
For the Reference Department, the
Library is buying the latest edition of
the new International Encyclopedia,
having received 1S volumes,-al that
have been published to date, Eleven
books in the Yiddish language have
been added to the Library, being paid
for by the fine money" These books
have been enthusiastically received by
the Jewish people. An experiment
has been tried with the Duplicate
Pay Collection" A duplicate copy of
of the most popular new fiction was
purchased and lent for one cent day.
When these copies have paid for them
Continued on Page 6.
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