Evening star., 1920-12-06

Public Library. The visit occurred
shortly before 3 pm. on a Wednesday,
afternoon. At o'clock a gong sound
ed and the building was emptied of
all readers. The Commissioners were
informed that the library had been
closed each Wednesday at pm. for
several months and that this closing
and other curtailment of service had
been rendered necessary by the in
crease In the work. which had grown
beyond the power of the present staff
to handle. The Commissioners feel
that the closing of the library in the
middle of a weekday afternoon is
quite inappropriate in a city of the
importance of the National Capital,
having a population which outnum- =
bers that found in each of seven
states of the Union. That the Library
of Congress is situated in Washing
ton in no way affects the fact that
many more than 100000 persons are
dependent upon the Public Library
for book-borrowing privileges. The
Commissioners are convinced Of the
educational value of the library's s
service to the community. and be,
Heve that the Public Library should
have sufficient appropriations to rem
der to the residents Of Washington
the same service that is customarily
given to citizens Of other large cities.
Library's vital Needs.
''In order to give this customary
their annual report with which is
included that of the librarian to the
truStees) that they must have Cd a
larger staff at better salaries, and (2)
branch Libraries which shall put read
ing facilities within more convenient
Il Is--
tance from the central building.
TN spite of the increase of work
there were no increases in library
positions last year, and four only the
year before, although the trustees
recommended eleven additional posi-
tions in their estimates both for the
fiscal years Of 1919 and 1920. Larger
duce the turnover, which has been
excessive in the last three years,
amounting to 80 per cent in 1918,
SO. per cent in 1919 and 40 per cent
in 1920. So high a turnover greatly
reduces the efficiency Of the staff,
Of the resources of the library are
acquired only by experience and
length Of service. A bad feature Of
the large number Of designations was
the necessity OF appointing unframed
workers, further reducing the ef-
ficiency of the stan by the draining
of the energy of the older assistants
members.
Rehabilitation for Libraries.
'The reduction Of percentage Of
turnover to 49 per cent, still much
too high not to result in serious Grip
ping of the stan, has come about
largely through the hope of better re-
muneration which the reclassification
movement holds out. The librarian
served as chairman of the library ad-
assist the joint congressional commits
sion on the reclassihcation Of salaries.
and reports that he and the assist
ant librarian put large proportion
Of the years thought into the work
OF that committee, SO important did he
regard, in the face Of the menace to
the library in the low salaries, any
The trustees. in submitting esti.
mates for the coming year. state that
they have based them upon the recon-
mendations contained In the reclassi-
fcation commissions report, upon the
substitute classification for the pro-
fessional library stan presented by
the library advisory wage committee
and upon the Nolan minimum
bill standards.
Need Of Branch Libraries.
'The need Of several branches in
populous residential sections is OBJ
vious. Il. ought not to be necessary
for hundreds OF citizens to pay carfare
or walk miles to do a little reading
at the public library in their leisure
hours. An extra 16 cents for carfare
soon counts up. and is .prohibitive to a
the library. The matter of carfare
and the danger from traflic seriously
affects the use Of the library by chill
dren, by whom the forming Of the
library habit is most important. WASH
ington has at present one branch only.
In the thirty y-nve other cities Of the
United States having q population of
100000 or over the average number
is fifteen.
sThe correspondence with Mr.. Car.
negie and with the Carnegie Cor
poration given at length in the trus-
tees report would indicate that money
is available for branch library build
tance and maintenance can be secured
from Copgress.
Branch for Southeast Section.
TN 1919 Chairman Mapes of the
House District committee, at the re-
quest Of the library trustees. intro
duced a bill (H. r. 966s) authorizing
the acceptance of free site and Of
not less than $4,000 from the Car
negie Corporation for the erection of
a branch library building in South
east Washington. The search for a
site brought to light the fact that
the old naval hospital at 9Th street
and Pennsylvania avenue southeast
had for several years been disused.
An effort is being made by the Com
missioners, with the cooperation Of
IA -
site and building. The Commission
ers and the library trustees urge the
speedy enactment Of the Mapes bill.
in the hope Of establishing the South
east Washington branch library in
the near future.
'aThe librarys book collection was
enlarged by tho addition Of 1861
volumes. making . total of 223,516
volumes. The registered users Of the
library. numbering 61.627 persons. OF
whom 1854 were added during the
past year, drew for home use S9S.51a
volumes and 66.S4s pictures. Exten-
sion work was carried on through l54
agencies with the circulation through
4S2 school classrooms Of 18S. .448 vol.
umes. and through high schools Nand
stations in government departments
settlements. etc. OF 77.o6o volumes"
Allowance Il ssgIeste1.
A suggestion that members Of the
force be given an allowance for uni-
forms is contained in that section Of
the report devoted to the police de-
partment. It is pointed out to Con-
Krese that under existing prices the
cost Of uniforms is ono OF the fore
most thoughts in the minds of mer
tice is followed In Q number Of other
cities, the report states. Tho cost OF
uniforms 'is believed to be, one rea-
son why there arc 90 many vacancies
on the police force today.
The total number OF arrests made
during the fiscal year was 4S.934, as
compared with 53.356 during the pre-
cedinR tWAlYe rN0nfhS.