Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1918-04-17
Circulation Of Books Shows
Effect Of War EUents Upon
Public'S Choice of READING

II That history repeats itself Is a fact
wEtah is fan,Aiar O5eyery student of
human events. and ones.sillustration
IT, truth Is shown In the Influence
Of the present war upon the choice
sof reading matter. books, periodicals.
etc. The trend apparent in public
literary stastc5at Just this time is the
same as that which characterized
time of the Civil war, according
80 LIBRARIANS who have made u study
Of tendencies in the world of litera-
ture.
Statistics compiled by publishers
Indicate that, there was a considera-
blesdecrease insthe number Of books
issued during 1917 as compared to
and periodicals circulated by the. To-
cal public library. the falling off is
particularly evident in law books.
educational medical works. fine
arts. muse. Games. ge"era literature,
poetry. fiction, Juvenile literature,
etc. the term. general literature :,
is rather elastic. but is most f%reuuent-
~ taken to include numerous groups
OF books which have not been 9TH
crwise classified.
Fiction Decrease Slight.
1t was pointed out today thai the
most conspicuous losses occurred in
R LS uSeI!iiC ~ litSI StspSidpiS
and travel classes. Poetry and
drama apparently do not anpcal to
the general public as strongly as in
normal times. but the decreas" in
works Of fiction was very slight in
spite of the fact that the total NUM-
Der OF volumes Of this class sold dur
.ng the year is reported to have less
ned noticeahly.
On the other hand. there seems
"a .11p y rnccfnnt1- iprrn3 Sal 1on,nnf
'or sociological works and books of
military and naval arts and sciences.
The public library of Grand Forks,
although not a large institution. con
orises valuable collections Of l'tara-
lure in the most divergent fields.
n the student who is in quest of
Information is usually able to find
what he wants when he applies at
the information desk where trained
librarians are willing and able to
f,o.nt. ont the particular works want
ed in the curse of Il few minutes.
Abrcas, Of tho Times.
In accordance with it's established
policy. and with the highest purpose
Of all library work. the local institu-
ton hrs made an effort TO keen we'll
supplied at all times with books in
Cheating tho present current Of onin-
Ion and public desires. and new vol-
uneS are constantly ADDED IN the
varied collertio" o. hooks found on
tn" shelves Of the library.
1t is possible to conclude from the
Inquiries at the library that the class
OF literature which Just nov eScites
the greatest interest. is history-a
fact which is a necessary consequence
Of the conditions which surround the
people in an e when they see his
tory made before their eyes, Indeed,
s"a IL written every day in blood unon
the battlefields Of France ond Elan
1erA
international law attracts numer-
ans students. and the field of govern
mont and political science has WIDEN
ed perceptihly so as to include a lib
eral demand for books which throw
light on political conditions existing
N other countries.
Certain books of personal narra-
tivcs. which annot he strictly de-
sc-iN"d az fiction. %(althoreh the facts
set forth in them are often stranrer),
s''nh 80 "0ver the Ton" Garry On"
1.-THE First Hundred THOUSAND" and
similar works. naturally attract
great number Of readers. In this
connection it is possible. also. to de-
tect an increased demand fvr that
Glars OF lyrics and epics which Is
commonly known as war poetry.