The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-02-05

work she had done under reduced ianpropriations because of the lack of funds last year. The complete re- port Is as follows:
 Report of the Librarian
 10 the Board of Agents of the eilas Bronson Library:
 The report of the librarian for .ths year ending December 3l, 1895 .is herewith submitted. Throughout the year just ended the Bronson Lie sbrary, in common with public lie .braries almost everywhere, cont!n. .ued to record losses in book circu. slation. The net loss for the year, some 78,000 volumes, is approxi- sSnNteiy the same as that for 1884. Added to losses for 1885 and 1854 1t shows Q drop of 37 per cent to date from the unprecedented circulation of 6ee,466 volumes, reached in 1882 .at the peak of the depression.
 !. The total number of volumes cir sculated during the year 1885 was 'S70,660. This figure represents books .assued from the central library, the three branch libraries, deposit col- y1ectlonS in 2i0 classrooris and small collections in summer playgrounds, .casnps and vacation schools. This 'cifeulation was distributed as fol- .lowb:
 Adult departments of the central library 46 per cent; Children's room .of the central library l4h per cent; Brooklyn branch 6 per cent; Rose .IIill branch 5h per cent; Water- .ville branch per cent; school de- .posits 23h per cent; playgrounds .and other special deposits .00H per cent.
 . Adult Departments of the Library Although we entertained no real hope of maintaining the seemingly Abnormal circulations of the depres- .sion years, in the face of receding circulation 1t is gratifying to note in 1885 certain marks Of recovery and progress. Chief among these we list 13 per cent increase over 1884 in the number of adult regis tered borrowers at the central H. abrary, following losses in registra- .tion in 1883 and l934 and very def- mite proof of a trend toward the reading of more serious and thought provoking books, apparent in some degree from the earliest years of the depression. This last statement is based upon circulation figures for the year which show a loss of 2e,000 volumes of adult circulation with only 10 per cent of this loss falling in the so-called non-fiction classes and 90 per cent of 1t, in the fiction group. It might be interest ing to note here that at the Amer fcan Library Association Midwinter Conference for large public librar- .ies, held in Chicago late in Decem- Der, reports for 1885, from thirty three representative cities showed losses in circulation confined en- tirely within the field of fiction. At the Bronson Library there were marked gains in the circulation of books of philosophy, psychology and sociology, which last mentioned -cIass includes books on economies, forms of government, and educa- .tion. The total adult circulation from the central library was TO- sz76 volumes.
 The number of adult books issued from the branch libraries was 24.- -154, . net loss of 22 per cent as against a loss of only i4 per cent in adult circulation at the central lie brary. This larger loss in adult branch circulation is understand ak's in the face of declining fiction elrculatlons everywhere. for a con- siderable proportion of the adult collection at each of the branch II. braries has always been fiction With the apparently general shift of reading interests from books oi fiction to books of n0n-fiction | may be possible for lis during the coming year. to increase the per- eentage of non-fictien circulated al the branch libraries.
 Requests for information in the Mnin reference room numbered B. e97 of which PAPA were from high school students. This is . gain oi 9ob over the 1888 record. It M