nificant steps taken in recent library development. The whole trend, not only of legislation, but of efficient administration, is dependent on the availability of information-its presence at the proper spot; its proper classification and indexing, and the existence of a person who knows how to find and use it and to aid others in doing the same. Most of this information is not in books-rather in documents, reports, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers so that a library of this sort is largely one of pamphlet boxes and collections of clippings, with full card indexes prepared by an expert. Most such libraries have been established under separate auspices, but if a city is already maintaining a public library there is no reason why the legislative and administrative work should not be a part of its activity. It is to be so here in St Louis. The Public library here has always contained and made available a large amount of material of this sort, but experience shows that its efficient use by those who ought to use it depends on its proximity to the city offices. We are, accordingly, to establish a municipal reference branch in the City hall and the details of the plan are now being worked out. 5) Efforts to make the library a social center. These have gone furthest in the branch libraries, as is natural, owing to their local or neighborhood character. Each has an assembly room and one or more club rooms which are given free to any organizations desiring to use them for intellectual advancement or for legitimate forms of recreation, provided, of course, no admission fee is to be charged. The branch librarian makes an effort to get and keep in touch with all labor and industrial organizations in the vicinity, to consult their needs and wishes in the provision of reading matter and to make them feel in every way that the library is to be looked upon as an intellectual center in the community. The rooms are used by organizations of widely different elements and aims. We have entertained thus women's clubs, chess clubs, groups of foreign workingmen, political associations of socialists, classes in literature and philosophy, self-culture and reading circles, art or handicraft societies, athletic clubs, dramatic clubs, military organizations, ecclesiastical bodies, the Boy scouts, High-school alumni associations, classes for the study of English by recently arrived immigrants, and the public school patrons. In our rooms are held Christmas festivals, school-graduation exercises, cadet drills, the deliberative sessions of church assemblies and the regular meetings of the D. A. R. The beneficial effect of all this in localities where it was formerly difficult to obtain meeting-places, except in connection with a saloon, scarcely requires pointing out. Where no such clubs exist and there seems a need for them the library may take a hand in organizing them, especially in the children's department, but its later connection appears simply in its willingness to aid and to give quarters for meeting. All that we can do quietly to establish a connection between these activities and a love for books, we do, of course. House-to-house visitation, which has proved of value in other cities in connection with this distinctly social side of library work, has not been carried on extensively, although it has been begun in two ways-visitation of children's homes by the children's librarians, to get acquainted with the parents and make them familiar with the library as a place of resort for their little ones, and a personal canvas of professional and business men in a library neighborhood, to talk with them about the library, acquaint them with its aims and ask for suggestions. All this, of course, is also publicity work and shows the difficulty of determining an exact dividing line between the sections of this report. An important part of a branch library's community work consists in ascertaining special kinds or classes of books in demand, or likely to be in demand, in the neighborhood, and attempting to satisfy that demand. Books on a particular industry or trade or on some special subject that, for one reason or another, happens to be uppermost in the locality, may thus be appreciated, and the fact that the library has found this out and has acted promptly on its information is apt to constitute a strong reason for looking upon it, and trusting it, as a neighborhood center. Especially is this the case with the newly arrived foreigner, who understands little English, and who thus appreciates with a depth of feeling that it is hard fully to realize the provision of reading matter in his native tongue. In the past 10 years libraries all over our land have begun to buy books in hitherto unknown tongues-Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Bohemian, Slovak, Lithuanian, modern Greek, Roumanian. The reason for providing these is social quite as much as philological. The social features of a library come to the surface most strongly in the children's room, when the personal relations between the children and their "library teacher," as she is often called, may be very close. They go to her for advice, not about books only, but about lessons, play and personal conduct. She can control, if she will, their habits of thought, their personal cleanliness, the whole trend of character development. As an example of our efforts to make the right impression at the outset I may state that in our newest branch we have made the children sign a pledge before issuing their cards-a promise to obey the library's rules and care for its property. Each child reads the pledge aloud slowly and satisfies the assistant that its meaning is understood and that the promise is regarded as a serious undertaking. The whole problem of the branch library as a social center is, of course, a personal one. It rests on "the man behind" the book (he is generally a woman) to make it a success. We are endeavoring to emphasize this in the instruction given to our own training class. 6) Special facilities for social workers. In recognition of the fact that the. library is itself an institution for social service, an effort is being made to place our facilities with special promptitude and care, at the disposal of those who are doing work of the same type. Ways of doing this are indicated above in what has been said of coöperation with educational and other institutions. In particular, at the request of the officers of this conference, we have recently set apart, in the public reference room, shelves bearing several hundred works on subjects that should particularly interest the social workers of this city. These are at all times accessible to such workers, and, in addition, members of our staff stand ready at all times to answer such special questions as they may be asked on the subjects in which they are interested, to compile special lists of books, to assist in following up special lines of investigation and to furnish the books themselves in quantity, in the form of a deposit, should this be desired. As has been said above, every detail of a public library's work is a contribution toward the performance of a social service, but those here enumerated will, perhaps, appeal to members of this conference as of special interest. Newspapers in Libraries I have observed a tendency in some districts to abolish the newspaper reading room. I think, on the contrary, that they should be made a very useful part of every popular library. I mean by that, that a collection of the best newspapers from selected districts of the United States, and in the case of cities of over 1,000,000 inhabitants of the world, are the most actively educating influences which can be brought to bear against the mass of ignorance which it is the business of public libraries to dissipate. Books, as applied to the condition of today, are generally far behind; the best exponent of daily events would be the spoken voice of an expert; next to that comes the daily expression of an opinion on the daily history of events as collected by expert members of the press. It is a matter of much regret to me that all attempts to supply a monthly newspaper index have failed. Time after time we have subscribed to such undertaking, but for want of support they have ceased to exist. The annuals for which we once could rely on Appleton, were to a certain extent annual newspaper indexes. Their new publication scarcely supplies the place. WILLIAM BEER, Librarian. Howard memorial library, New Orleans, La. Looks Misleading Recently this library has received, at intervals of a few days, two copies of a circular offering a set of Scott, listed at $31, and, as a premium, a set of the Encyclopedia of United States History in 10 volumes, also listed at $31, for the price of one set, $31. This seems, on the face of it, very generous; the librarian is disposed to snap it up as a bargain offer. But the publisher does not explain that the Encyclopedia of United States History, so far from selling at its list price, has been on the market for years at a mere fraction of its list price. Once a month, I presume, the work has been offered to me, by many dealers, at prices ranging from $6 to $12 for the set, and last week brought a quotation at $3. The $31 premium, therefore, reduces to $3, amounting to a discount of a little less than 10 per cent on the list price of the Scott. "An extraordinary opportunity," indeed. This does not seem legitimate business practice. WILLIAM H. POWERS. Brookings, S. D. Avoiding Net Prices Editor of PUBLIC LIBRARIES: It is not my purpose to discuss the question of net books, either in general literature or in fiction, nor the question of the monetary advantage of the system and to whom it accrues-publisher, retailer, or author. From the very start I foresaw that it would be a serious detriment to libraries, and specially to those of limited income-and now that it has been extended to fiction, I am convinced that it affects the purchasing power of our appropriations at least 20 per cent. My first experience of the new system was with a work two volumes of which I had bought at $2 less 14, or $1.50. The last two volumes cost me $2 net less IO per cent, or $1.80. My first plan to meet the loss was to wait until the protection expired and I could buy the work at 14 off or better. My boast to my people had always been: As soon as a book is issued you will find it on our shelves. Now I had to ask them to wait a full year for the service. I do not mean to say that I made this a hard and fast rule, applied absolutely to every book to be bought. In some cases, where immediate purchase seemed to be necessary, I took my medicine, as the saying is, and submitted to what I considered an extortion, the result of one of the present-day combinations. larged-but I still suffered from res Time went on; my operations were enaugusta bibliotheca, and had to watch the expenditure of every cent with jeal ous eye. Then I took the steps that I still pursue and which I recommend my brother will receive nothing but satisfaction. The librarians to follow, and from which they key to the situation is the import of books from the great circulating libraries of England at a half-a fourth a third of their publication prices. These books are sometimes entirely new, sometimes slightly used, but always sufficiently stanch to be put into immediate circulation. You buy valuable books in belleslettres, in biography, in history, science and art for a song. Saving money on every purchase, you are enabled to buy more extensively than you would under other circumstances, and you give greater satisfaction to your patrons. I will note two works which I received in my last lot: Roose's Dutch painters of the 19th century, 4 v., $3.13; Chignell's Life and paintings of Vicat Cole, R. A., $1.88. These were practically new and I would never for a moment have considered their purchase at original prices. In these catalogs you find the newer works in all departments from six months to a year after issue. I have orders out now in London for books pub lished the latter part of 1910. The real fiction question with librarians nowadays is not whether people ought to read novels, but how the libraries can get enough for them to devour. The wear and tear is immense the replaces often as costly as the originals; the duplicates eat up income. Mudie & Smith settle this question in more ways than one. In the first place, they offer fairly good stories that are never republished in or imported to this country. Then they offer "replaces" and duplicates ali along the line, some newly bound, some slightly used, some entirely new, and you will find the price, not $1.35 net less 1-10, $1.22, but 25 cents, 37 cents, 50 cents, and possibly 63 cents. To those librarians who have never tried this method of getting around high prices and small discounts I would suggest that they write Mudies, 30 New Oxford st., London W. C., and W. H. Smith & Sons, 186 Strand, London, for catalogs. My importation orders are placed with a New York firm at a fixed rate of 25 cents (a shilling)-f. o. b. New York-they paying ocean freight and all expenses to that port. I pay the domestic freight. I will be satisfied for the trouble I have had in writing this letter if only one library receives the gratification that I have had from this method of book purchase. Yours truly, LIBRARIAN. Coöperation Sought The very unusual collections of the New York state library and library school, in bibliography, library economy and American library history, were totally destroyed by the fire of March 29. It is the purpose of the library to get together, as rapidly as may be, another such collection, and it is glad to believe that to this end it may confidently rely upon the coöperation of many friends who have, in the past two weeks, been so generous and so quick with offers of help, and to whose substantial and continuous past aid we were chiefly indebted for the collections that were lost. The library will be glad to receive the following: 1) Sets of publications (reports, bulletins, etc.) of libraries, library schools, library commissions, associations, etc., including blanks and forms. 2) Books, pamphlets, papers, clippings, etc., relating to libraries, library work and bibliography. 3) From alumni of the New York state library school for students' work collection, an extra copy of material included in paragraphs 1-2, prepared by former students. 4) Pictures, picture postcards and plans of library buildings. 5) Photographs of librarians, including alumni of the New York state library school; A. L. A. officers, groups, etc. 6) Duplicates of any New York state library blanks, forms, and publications, especially bibliography and library school bulletins. Shipments may be made to New York state library, 162 State street, Albany, N. Y. JAMES I. WYER, JR, Director. A Dishonest Book-Agent A book agent here in Massachusetts, whose business enterprise much exceeds her discretion, is selling a very extensive juvenile encyclopedia in over 20 v. It is the very cheapest style of subscription book, so obviously unfit for a library that I hardly spent five minutes in examining it. This agent is now trying to help her sales by stating that the Brookof books. line public library has bought the set One librarian has just been cautious enough to telephone to ask me whether this was true! I am so very unlikely to buy subscription books that I shall feel very sorry if any librarian is overpersuaded by this zealous agent to buy her books. LOUISA M. HOOPER. If you wish success in life make perseverance you bosom friend, experience your wise counsellor, caution your elder brother, and hope your guardian genius. -Addison. When a change of address is ordered, both the new and the old address must be given. The notice should be sent two weeks before the change is to take effect. If a subscriber wishes his copy of the magazine discontinued at the expiration of his subscription, notice to that effect should be sent. Otherwise it is assumed that a continuance of the subscription is desired. Coples failing to reach subscribers, through loss in the mails, will be duplicated without charge if request to do so is received within 30 days after publication. Later than that duplicate copies can be supplied only at regular rates A word of direction-A note from the apostle of "the appraisal of literature," George Iles, calls attention to a deficit in the exact knowledge which communities possess in regard to their local celebrities, other than writers. Mr Iles thinks writers are over-written about. Inventors, he thinks, have contributed quite as largely to the development of human intelligence, and yet it is the hardest thing to find exact facts relating to their careers. He cites the instance of "a man like Mergenthaler, whose linotype completes the cycle initiated by Gutenberg, but who has never attracted onethousandth part of the attention directed to Poe, an incomparably smaller and less influential man." "Too many who are interested in the careers of notables other than the cultural class are confined to little else than the old straw of newspapers and biographical dictionaries." Here is a work which the public libraries might well spend some time on, to the lasting benefit and information of those who will, in after years, have the task of tracing development in various lines to its original source. The criticism which is being leveled at libraries for their lack of interest in the active working part of the community might, therefore, be shared with those who record the material that goes to the making of books. Sources of power-The contribution by Dr Wilson of Clark university on "Some new fields of library activity" (See page 183), is commended for careful perusal to the younger librarians. It is possible that in the rapid and comprehensive extension of which he speaks, knowledge of the historical background of library development has not been so clearly presented and emphasized as the requirements of accuracy would demand. It is well for the newcomers to look backward as well as forward in their efforts to obtain efficiency in their work, and thereby become acquainted with the forces left behind by men and measures that were before the library world in the beginning of the modern movement. Librarians in the vicinity of Chicago will be interested in reading the views of the late lamented Dr Harper as to the function of the great university library. There is accurate record of the increasing interest which Dr Harper took in library affairs up to the last of his public service. He affirmed publicly but a short time before the dreadful news of his illness was received, that the next great work of the University of Chicago should be the development of its library and that it would be along such lines and of such measure as should not be exceeded by any other library in the country. When one recalls the splendid sweep of Dr Harper's view of things necessary |