Evening journal., 1920-03-19
SPlRI7ISM BOOKS
ARE in DEMAND
New York Public Library Re
port Shows Call for Them
Greatly Increased
RECIPES FOR SPIRITS
ALSO REQUESTED

NEW YORK. March i9.-"Tell me
what you read and I'll tell you what
You are" What New York reads Is told
in the 1919 report OF the Public LIZ
brary. Just published. Can you tell
what New York thinks about from the
Information there that Literature is the
most popular subject In the main read
ms room. that economics runs an in
creasingly close second; that there
We're frequent calls for volumes on
brewing, disthling and wine-making
IN late 1919, and that the demand for
books on spiritismZhas gone up. while
that for books on religious subjects has
steadily decllnedf
The library officials cannot flnd that
the war has made any great change In
peoples thoughts as Indicated In their
reading. people. seem 10 be reading"
says the report. "in nearly the same
proportion the kind Of books they were
reading In 1914"
The people who were reading these
books In the New York Public Library
in 1919 one Is startled 10 learn. were
seven times as numerous as the read
ers who in the same period used the IL !
brary OF che British Museum. which (
IS probably the greatest reference IL 4
brary In the world. Yet both the Brit
ish Museum and the Bibliothedue Ma
ttionale In Paris have more than three
times as many volumes as the refer
snce department OF the New York Pub
lic Library, whose total Is doubled even
by the Library Of Congress at Wash
lngton.
In both the circulation department
and the reference department statistics
indicate an increased demand by the
public upon the facilities OF the IL
hrary. The number OF books issued for
home use IN 1919 was 9.S92 Gas, an in
crease Of 265iI3, or about per cent,
rs compared with the previous year.
ln the reference department. not count
ira the open shelves S92 29S readers
consulted 2.246452 volumes. In 1915
Tbt 5S7 readers used 2O6326i books
which shows an increase for 1919 Of
about II per cent. in readers and about
. ner cent. In the number Of volumes
drawn.
To the general reader the data Of
-it brary's statistic an showing what
bools are being worn out the fastest
WIN supply the chief interest OF the
4eia report. This stat'stcian is sur
81 scd 10 ind that tho demand for
WOES on history has shown q remark-i
talc drop between 1918 AID 1920 and
pu-7icd as 90 whether a steady decline
in tho demand for relig Gus works in
The last two years and a parallel
cain n The use Of volumes on philoso-
Thy means that philosophy has tri-
malhed ot the expense Of religion.
81. Read nv Three Glasses.
II this connection, he says, there
has been no more popular class Of
boo ION the new book shelves than
those about Immortality lifo after
fenih psychic phenomena - whether
learned or popular" He finds that the
itaaers IN ihc newspaper division seem
20 be dVid into three classes-those
MAO consult newspapers simply TO alb
Sob rcNa. those who use papers for /
hrsiner- rf'rDoees. such as the comnli-
alton Of statistics, and those who en-
81 h as. a s0u. ce OF atmosphere
~ ocal color FOR biographies, novels
pays or moving picture scenarios.
b view of recent statements shat
e's" n Now York have be getting y
lrir radical education In the public p
Aiaries, it IS interesting 90 note that '
.ae Slayou division OF the library re- r.
orls an Increase in It's collect on on
'se Russian revolutionary movements i
and the acquisition OF a great many l.
Underground pamphlets and periodi- Z
, 9. includ ng an entire little library D
owned by a local Socialist organiza-i
Son. D
~ iho some time the genealogy divi-
sion shows a marked increase In its ,
ca t.te- uu.ns 1919, when Il served ;,
3 is. more readers Than IN the previous =
year, found that the membership OF :
NV l0rk's patriotic societies had in q
creased largely as a result Of the war, n
and noted that New Workers were more 5
'nierestcd than ever In their ancestry.
u The records Of their ancestors In the
American military or naval service. and 8
% many special studies OF a patriotic II
nature. G.
NATIONAL THEATRE. IL