The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-02-03

Marie, Grand Duchess of Russia is now running a close second. Books | on present day Russia and it's prob | lems, such as: Red Bread" and New Russia's Primer" are in great ' demand. Radio and moving pie lures as well as lecturers who como | 10 Waterbury all have their in- | nuence in reviving public interest | in books which. having enjoyed their first popularity, might other wise be taken from the shelves only two or three times year. | Andre Maurois' "Disraeli" Major Coulscon's "Mata Hari" and Eddie Cantor's My Life is in Your Hands are given as examples.
 Twice during the. year, in Jan uary with a circulation of 23,G31 and in March with circulation of | 24,552 this department attained record monthly circulations.
 The ChildrcE's Department.
 A loss in the number of books circulated from the central chil- dren's room, the classroom de- posits and the summer playgrounds has already been mentioned. It is
 
 the exact cause of a decline in circulation and although several reasons might be advanced, they are no more likely to be the true ones, when no real reason is seen. than is the weather which being seasonable or unreasonable would affect in one way or another the opportunity for outdoor recreation. The infantile paralysis epidemic was no doubt responsible for the loss In circulation reported from the summer playgrounds. A factor which may very well have played part in the loss, and it is given for what it may be worth. was a cut of almost fifty per cent in the amount of money that could be al- loted for the purchase of children's s books. We know that clean new copies of books are, to children especially, an inducement to read ing and it has been cited that supply of them is almost imme- diately reflected in an increased circulation. It is therefore reas- onable to suppose that a lack of clean and attractive books might have an adverse effect upon the circulation.
 As in former years instruction in the use of the library was given to the pupils in the eighth grade, these classes coming to the central library for this instruction. In ad- dition the sixth and seventh grades in the Brooklyn and Rose Hill districts visited the branch librar- ies. Through this group instruc- ton and through the personal ef- o.t ( h, pr with the individual child coming for aid, it is believed that a great many pupils in the upper grades have learned to use the dictionar- ies, encyclopedias and q few other simple reference tools.
 Story hours were held at the Rose Hill and Brooklyn branches. Miss Esther Hardy now in charge of the Rose Hill branch, but still q part-time assistant in the chiI- dren's room of the main library and until this year chief story teller for the department, conduct ed eighteen story hours at Rose Hill. Two newly trained members of the children's department staff were responsible for twenty five story hours held at the Brooklyn branch. At the central library a series of book reviews was given for older boys and girls to stimu- late their interest in worth while books and thus accomplish in a somewhat different way what we hope we are accomplishing through our story hours for younger chil- dren. That this innovation met with approval is testified by an average attendance of A at the eight talks given. A picture story hour for very little children was attempted on Saturday mornings. This was only in the nature of an experiment which Miss Kaufman hopes to develop further during the coming year.
 Good book week was celebrated this year by the showing of mo- tion picture film entitled Children of Many Lands. This film was procured through the courtesy of Davis X Nye, to whom it was sent by the National Association of Book Publishers, and was shown through the cooperation of the Y. M. C. A. to whom we are in- debted for the use of their gym nasium and for the services of q group of young men who helped Niti ''iS othtiii- "iib hocIolcd III keeping order. Some 800 boys and girls enjoyed seeing how children in foreign lands live and special lists compiled for the occasion were distributed calling attention to books and stories about children in other lands.
 During the summer months, the school deposit collection of 15,640 books, set up upon shelves for this period of disuSe, was completely rearranged to facilitate handling in packing the boxes which go out to the schools twice year, com plete inventory of the collection taken and a new shelf list made. The greatest need of the collec- tion is new titles. What signifi- canoe there may be between a lack of new books and a drop of 1000 in the circulation through these class room deposits we have al- ready speculated. A check up for the possible causes of losses in cir culation showed that IA of the 218 class rooms to which books were sent had kept no record of their circulation. It was readily seen however from their condition that the books had been used and a careful investigation revealed the fact that this was so, but because of crowded curriculum some teachers had kept no record of their use. A conservative estimate would place the loss from upkept records at about 4.000 which leaves a loss of about 5000 still unac- counted for. The recorded circula- ton through theses school deposits 1Uy, eJD unlJ1nlaS inc 113,030 in 1930.
 Collections of books were sent to the ploygroundS at Fulton ani Hamilton parks and to the North End Y. NJ. C. A. and circulated by a mem Der of the childrens depart ment one day week at each place during the months of July and August. The combined circulation a thcs.c hrcn nla ls. {.