El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-11-01
PRICES EFFECT
LIBRARY WORK
Mrs. Sullivan Says Many
Books Worn and Stolen
Yearly; Funds Limited.


Down in a sunny room IN the base
ment Of the public library. which is
itself crowded 10 the ceiling with
books. the librarian, Mrs ". n sui
livan was found indeSinE and taking
stock Of her treasures. This is .
hard job and a discouraEinr one" she
said. looking up with a bright SMILE
FOR every year we find so many
books that have earned long rest
Eooks that have simply gone TO
pieces from much usiu-. and more
discOuraEinE Sfil, Books that have
disappeared, that have been stolen by
some enterprisiuE persons who wish
70 enlarge their own libraries by
fair means @r foul Last year we
had over 600 books lost and useless
This Is an added expense that we
are not considered to have. The new
books are always remembered, and
the expense Of buying those, but the
old favorites, the worth while ones
that should be on every library cata-
logue. are a heavy expense 20 replace
The library work Is as difficult as
fhe problem of the housewife for we
have 70 stretch the dollars. 7 have
$500 over the salary budget TO run
the library on each month This in
cludes coal and all things ueedful for
the library work We have had big
problems TO solve fin the past few
wears Our budget is the same now /
as il was m 1912. and everything has 4
gone up in price 7 think I minded .
the rise in the price OF paste more I
than anything else. as we use so much /
Of it, In 1912 we shelved a whole i
room for So and in 1917 we shelyed I
part of wall for the same price, and I
even the ianitOr had TO stain the I
shelves. That shows most wildly, I /
believe. the way the rise in prices mas +
affected US
Governments Advice Available.
"-rhe library work is interesting .
and the strong desire OF every true
librarian is 10 get people in 10 make
them come oftener and oftener for
books / think that the books which
viii help a man earn more IN his pro
Tession OF trade are the most import
ant ones and I always feel very badly
when We have not the books In STOCK
which are asked for. AZ almost In
credible number of men come here 70
study books which viii further them
in their work The government room
Is orr especial delight. Everything IS
arranged in such way tnaL u is
a7silv reached and hundreds OF peo-
Die study there one reason that we
have made that work so strong a
part Of the library IS because We can
not afford to buy the books when
will give the same Information as the
many Government bulletins Whcl
have been prepared by experts ana
there are all kinds Of bulletins there,
form those interesting the farmer the
soldier. the trader interested in trade
conditions in South and Central Amer
lea TO splendid little pamphlets On
cco1zinE and some OF the best little
booklets that have ever been written
on the care Of babies and children
CouId't Help Library Fund.
Il felt badly when I had 20 write
the American Library association that
FL Paso could not help with the ral5-
ing Of the $I.00H-oo0 fund for placing
libraries in the army camps ana can
comments. There is such great neel
for real library work among ile se--
dfers The librarian at DeminC told
me he had q splendid place % p4L
books. but no books. One day ne Ielt
very happy because an immense BOX
came from the north, and it was 50
heavy that ne felt sure there were
really fine. interesting DOCKS l'i IL
When he opened u he had heart
breaking ppointmenL u
filled with old copies Of vogue an
ether time some kind woman win
more kindness than sense sent Dim a
box Of old Ladies Home Journals
Give Soldiers Good Reading.
Ell Paso certainly did spleuolQlE II
sumner and We had great many
really worth while books, the kinas
OF books that the soldiers would IKE
from really good fiction. including
Stevenson and klpllnE TO a - noe el--
tiou Of the Harvard CLASSICS
"OT our 1900 volumes, about tUgv
circulate. and for the number Of vol
umes that we have we have the big
zest circulation OF any city in texas
Even Have Trench Libraries.
MANY interesting stores come 10
rs Of the good that Librarians can Go
Ia the war. 7 have q friend who IS
librarian in one of the hospitals in
England who writes Of the scrap
9iers who are too i'll TO hold books
They are filled with the pictures cut
from current magazines, 5okeS and
short stories There are also trench
Libraries which contain Ine Ns+
-avest novels and the most absorb
nE detective stories, TO keep the
mems minds of the grim reaEties
about them for a few moments