The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-01-15
Tulsa's Public Library,
Grown to Big City Class,
Needs Books, More Room

tulsa stopped reading while Billy
sunday was here. Had 1t not beeu
,,r the sunday campaign. the Tulsa
ppbUr Library would have had "a
record year In 1921. As 1T was, the
circulation of books was greater
than ,bat of any previous year, but
,bo Increase was no more than n
normal one.
ludeug by the card records at
,b. library, Tulsa people laid aside
tbcir books and transferred their
,,,opiion to absorbed study on on
william \. Sunday during the six.
,rck pcriod between November 6
and December is. This was due In
large part to the fact that many
,Iubs d continued their meetings
= and their members allowed the ref
.r,pre books to stand undisturbed
n, Tho shelves. something that sol
5nr, happens IN the Tulsa library.
fbe temporary slump In Issuance NJ
h,oks for that time disappointed
Inc librarian Miss Alma McGlenn
i,sof1r ls the years record Is con.
Armed. as the circulation up 10 that
,Imo had indicated that all previous
recnrdg would be far exceeded. with
am adult circulation Of 7s.09S and
m.epir circulation Of 34,4SS. total
ing 81 $50. the circulation for 1921
.bow,d gain Of t6.052 over 1920.
Every book In tho library. with the
execution Of tho 5000 reference
hooks that never go out Of the build
Ing has been circulated during the
hasa wear Miss MCGlcnn said,
rouput.ug on the basis Of the num-
nor of books I'm the library and tho
CIRCULATION. the circulation Is five
and onc-half times for every book
In the library.
\ Good Record.
"Our library record sad Miss
NcGlenu FOR the year Just past
Is a turnover for every book six
Zines "a wear. What merchant could
show a similar record? Rasing nv
estimate upon the record for the
calendar wear. I am expecting that
the circulation for our fiscal year
, ending next July will be more than
100 600. YQh will notice that tho
number of adult books circulated In
1921 is nst about equal to the pon
ga,ion ~ Tulsa. We have 1900
volumes iu our library. This num-
her Is low per CaD'ta. In Compari-
SON with the Libraries Of other
! cities, but It is large por capita col
lection Few librarians have the an
rual turnover that ~e have hera.'
There were added to the shelves
4 u the library during the past year,
\volumes. n normal enrich
ment OF its reading resources. There
/ vsra 10 rplnrnpG rpnuirpH
More than 5000 Tulsa people
have acquired during the year that
has lust become history the read
Ing habit That is to say. thev read
regularly and depend upon the IL
brary for their material. To he
sSact the library has added to its
AS Of patrons. 5,040 names. But
me- people who present cards as an
0Den sesame to the delights OF the
library shelves are compa ~at!velv
small per cent OF the people who
make the library their reading head
quarters. There are r1anv whose
faces are familiar to the librarian
ana her ass s'stants because they are
habltues Of the reading room. VINO
q have no cards All day long the
chairs in the reading rooms arc
filed. 4 conservative compaCativ"
estimate places the number or peo-
pie who have used the reading room
during the year Just past at'42 ,02S.
" What the Library Needs.
Il Miss McGHenn was asked what the
q greatest needs of the library are.
II She answered promptly:
We need more hookss And we
n need extension. Seventeen thou
II and volumes for n city the size Of
i Tulsa is not enough. And we need
70 make deposits IN the outlying
q Nhools-perhaps IS or 100 volumes
n 20 the school. Then we need IL
II brary branch in West Tulsa. But
II % course. this requires money"
q Tulsa has levy OF one-fourth