Evening star., 1955-09-13
Library Budget Seeks
More Funds for Books

The District Public Library,
which has seen its book collection
fall steadily behind those of
other cities since the war. is ask
ing for $2.225,070 next year.
The budget request. $192.610
greater than the appropriation
for this year. was released today
by the Commissioners.
There are two principal items
in the library request, prepared
by District Librarian Harry N.
Petersen, to account for the in
crease:
/. A total of $98,593 in pay
raises ordered by the last session
Of Congress.
2. An increase of 100000 in
the fund to m maintain the
library's book collection.
$S6O,O0O for Branch
Included in the request is
$360,000 to build a new branch
library in the Washington High
lands area Of Southeast WASH
ington and $35.000 to buy a site
for a new branch in the Fort
Davis area Of Southeast. The
total capital outlay request is
$395, 900. compared to this years
appropriation of $423, 900, which
included construction money for
the new Woodbridge branch, and
money for sites at Tenley and
Washington Highlands.
In explaining details of the
budget request to the Commits
sioners, Mr.. Peterson laid special
emphasis on the need for a
greater book fund.
Apart from the fact that the
District Public Library book fund
was not adequate to begin with,
book prices have been mounting
steadily since World War H."
the librarian pointed out. Since
1910, he said, average prices of
books and periodicals have in
creased up to 112 per cent. but
the hbrary's book fund has not
grown accordingly. In addition.
he said, books are now made Of
cheaper materials and wear out
faster.
AS q result, Mr.. Peterson said
services to the public have had
to be curtailed. For example,
some books much in demand
have been withdrawn from cir
culation and put on the reference
shelves for consultation only. be-
cause the library could not pur-I
chase enough copies to go around.
Compares Collections
Mr.. Peterson also presented
stasticS comparing his lbrary'sI
book collection with those in all
other United States cities in the
same population group-800, 600
to / million. Washington as $780,
900 volumes. while Baltimore and
st. Louis each has more than l
million, Boston more than 2!
million and Cleveland nearly 81
million.
The amount spent yearly on
books in each Of the cities pre-
sents q similar pattern st.
Louis. 100000; Washington.
$l38, 600; Baltimore. S289. 900:
Boston. $344, 900. and Cleveland,
$303,000. On a per capita basis,
Washington spends less on its
library each year than any Of the
cities except for st. Louis. The
Washington figure is $1.91, COM
pared to st. Louis, $l.49; Balti-
more. $2.10; Boston, SALT. and
Cleveland. $4.64.
These figures are even more |
impressive, Mr.. Petersen said. in
view of the "conspicuously high"
educational level of the popula- |
tion of Washington. Studies
show, he said. that the more
education a person has, the
more books he reads.
ID. c. on Top
These are the figures for the
number of years of schooling the
average person has had in each |
Of the cities: Washington, on
top with IL years (high SCHOOL, : |
Boston. 10.7 years: Cleveland,
81; Baltimore, 8.6, and st. Louis,
81. In Washington, 68,115 per-
sons have completed four or more
years Of college, more than twice
the number in any Of the other
cities, Mr.. Petersen said.
The request to raise the book
fund by 100000 would do little
more than enable Washington tol