The Waterbury Democrat., 1940-02-07
Waterburians KeenLy Interested Ln
 World EUents Reports Librarian
356,236. Books Borrowed During l039; Agents
 Hold Annual Meet

rop, treasurer; and Judge John L. Gaffney, secretary.
 Miss Emelyn Barrett, who sub mitted her annual report to the board yesterday, was elected to an- other term as librarian. E. Vincent Maloney, publisher of The Demo- crat, and John c. Gilmartin, princi- pal of Duggan and Begnal gram mar schools, were named again to the executive committee, and John M. Hutchinson was chosen the new member of that committee. Judge Gaffney, MT. Fitzpatrick and MT. Maloney were reelected members of the committee directing the Samuel Holmes scholarship fund. John A. Coe, Elton s. Wayland and MT. Fitzpatrick were elected to the n- nance committee for one year.
 MT. Fitzpatrick, retired principal of Croft grammar school, is the senior member of the board. He served as a library agent for the past 48 years.
 MT. Northrop's financial report showed expenditures of $36, ,141. AS by the city and $25, ,600.O4 from income and endowment funds during 1889.
 356,256 Books Borrowed
 Miss Barrett, in her report, said that during the year there were 356, ,256 books borrowed from the library and its branches. The ref erence and information service was widely used, she said, inquiries of all descriptions being answered.
 Miss Barrett's report follows in part:
 To the Board of Agents of the SilaS Bronson Library:
 One measurement of pubic li- brary's usefulness in a community is the number of books which it cir culates per day, week, month, or 1 year. During 1889, the people of Wa terbury borrowed 356,236 books from the Bronson Library. This is an av- craze of 1900 volumes loaned each day. This number of books if piled one on top of the other would ex- tend 150 feet into the air and the pile every second day would be 20 feet higher than the top of the railroad station tower. No statistics are kept on the use of books, mag azines and newspapers in the var iouS reading rooms of the central l- brary or any of the branches. It is estimated that this use of the book collection would almost equal that of book circulation.
 Adult Book Circulation
 A comparison Of reading interests with those of decade ago shows a drop of AZ per cent in the circula- tion of fiction, gain of 40 per cent in the circulation of books on the useful arts, a gain of 38 per cent in the use of books on the fine arts and gain of g per cent in the circulation of books on economics and social questions. People today are reading not only for recreation but for information which they need and use in earning a living, in home making or in educating themselves
 Everything which happens in the world today is reflected in the re- serve list of books in demand at the library. People are eager to under stand the why" and wherefore" of every new situation in world af- fairs. First it was Germany, then Czechoslovakia, then Poland. now Finland. Such books as John Gun ther's Inside Europe" and Inside Asia"-Dorothy Thompson's Let the Record Speak - Vincent Sheeans' Not Peace but Sword and Nora Waln's Reaching for the Stars" have been in constant demand since publication, as have been also, Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Herman Rauschning' $ "The Revolution of Nihilism". Novels dealing with conditions in present day Germany take first place on the reserve list. Outstanding among these are: Phyllis Bottome's "The Mortal Storm" - Mary Borden's Passport for a Girr'-and Ethel Vance's Escape. The exception is perhaps Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, which probbaly heads the reserve list of every library in the country.
 Despite a leaning toward reality, there is a very definite need for more escape literature" pleasant light romances and mystery and western stories.
 Interest in books on photography has grown by leaps and bounds, due to the marvellous things being done with this art today, even by ama- teurs.
 Books on Music
 There is live and growing inter- est also in books on music and mu- sicians fostered undoubtedly by the WPA Adult Education Program with its Learning to Listen" music ap- preciation course. This course has been held on Monday and Tuesday evenings since July in a room on the top floor of the Library, with all average attendance of 35 people. A Waterbury Pops Concert" evening, added on Wednesday nights, is now drawing an even larger attendance These courses give people an op- portunity to hear recordings of the worlds finest music played on a Capehart concert grand machine On Monday and Tuesday evenings the music is analysed and people are taught the essentials of form, Instrumentation and the history of the music heard. On Wednesday evening this information is included on an annotated concert program which is distributed to those at- tending.
 A ten per cent reduction in the City appropriation for the year cur tained book purchases by about Al per cent and book binding by about 60 per cent. Any reduction in the net income means a drastic reduc- tion in book purchases and binding, because most other items of the budget are either already set at the lowest possible estimate or are fixed charges such as heat, light and tel ephone. A public library, if 1t is to render anything like satisfactory service, must have on its shelves a sufficient number of books to sat- 1 isfv rresenk ilSerS of the library at