Evening star., 1937-09-18
By Cedric Larson.

~ OST national capitals contain
N n the best library facilities the
nation boasts, and Washing
Il ton is no exception. The COM
plexity OF modern administration and
legislation is such that the most COM
plete reference collections obtainable
are essential to efficiency.
In q recent survey under the
auspices of the American Library As
sociation. figures showed that there
were available for purposes Of scholar
ship in the Capital City 12,5s7,l33
volumes. OF this number, volumes in
1866 governmental libraries accounted
for 10,830, 900 volumes, of which 4, ,275,-
646 we're housed in the Library OF
Congress. Today the total number of
volumes is probably close to Is million.
Almost unnoticed have been the
changes In the reading habits OF the
city Of Washington. -Four decades ago.
nearly, when the first figures were
tabulated, the fiction percentage of the
total number OF books read in the Pub
lie Library stood at 81, whereas today
it is around Al, and each year it seems
to hit a new low. just at a glance
this would seem to indicate that the
people of the District were getting
more highbrow. but there are definite
reasons for this persistent down.
swing.
The first reason why the "sugary
sweets las many librarians refer TO
light fction) have taken it on the
chin has been due to Old Man De-
preston, the "crittur' who fiourished
from 1929 to 1893, and still turks in
dark corners. During this period the
clientele of the library, many of whom
were forced out of employment, de-
manded bread-and-b butter books-or
trades, new vocations, industry, busi-
ness and the like-and studied them
carefully. Once this purposeful read
ing OF serious bent was established
1t became almost habitual with large
sections Of the reading public.
Ii EDUCATIONAL work on the part of
the library staff has been further
responsible for the increase in circula-
ton Of factual books. In the old DAYS
the people simply browsed around and
simply picked OF the shelf such tones
as took their fancy. Many readers
lived on diet Of fiction only because
no one suggested anything different.
Today there are readers advisers to
recommend all types of books, and
their aim is not to decry fiction, but
simply to give the borrower a balanced
ration. Patrons have learned to seek
the advice Of advisers and usually fol-
low their recommendations.
Another factor in the situation in
the District OF Columbia is that the
Library Is now cashing in on its
work with children. Great numbers
OF yesterdays youngsters borrowed
persistently from the books of the
childrens collection, and under the
surveillance OF specialists in juvenile
literature had good reading habits
formed. They are now adults with
well balanced reading tastes. and
many Of them have families of their
own.
Other factors have been the steadily
rising hteracy level Of the general
public, due to an increasing per-
centage of young people going through
high school and university, and also
the absence from the District of any
considerable body of unaAsimilated
foreign-speaking groups.
Prophets of gloom have always pre-
dicted that such inventions-to 60
back q ways-as the bicycle, the au-
tomobiles and more recently the radio
and talkie, would rapidly empty the
libraries, which would rapidly become
landmarks of the past, festooned with
cobwebs. Strange to say, these dismal
forebodines have not only failed to
materialize, but they seem to have
had the opposite effect.
INHE District of Columbia, where
there are probably more auto-
mobiles per capita than any other
comparable area in the -orld, has
more than 125,000 registered library
users and the home circulation of
books hovers around the three-million
mark. These figures represent in
creases Of more than 10 per cent in
a decade. The book collections of
the Public Library number about
525, 900, including the main building
and six branches and five subbranches.
A branch on the average will cir
culate = hundred thousand volumes
= year.
The type Of reading done at various
times of the year is influenced by
many factors. During the school
months the reading is by and large
of serious character, while in the
Summer months the circulation of fic-
ton is accelerated. At the period
Of Lent books on religion and philoso-
ply are in demand.
Publishers, too, are responsible for
betterment OF reading habits of the
American people generally. A few
years back a publisher took . hyer
and brought out book on philosophy