Report of the city of Somerville 1908, Part 17

Author: Somerville (Mass.)
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Somerville, Mass.
Number of Pages: 466


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1908 > Part 17


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The sum of $1,000, asked of your board a year ago for the purchase of books for the West Somerville branch library, that a proper equipment might be in readiness at the opening of the building, was granted, and during the year 1,347 books have been purchased, as favorable opportunity offered, which with the 1,134 duplicates that could be spared from the main library and the 1,450 books now on the shelves of the West Somerville and Highland agencies, making a total of 3,931 volumes, form a respectable nucleus for the new branch.


As it seems probable that the building will be completed and ready for occupancy during the coming spring, it becomes necessary that we should prepare and present to your board an estimate of the cost of maintaining this new addition to our activities. We have, therefore, caused various schedules to be made exhibiting the number of assistants required and the num- ber of hours in which these assistants would be occupied, ac- cording to the times of day and the number of hours per week during which the branch might be kept open. After careful consideration the trustees have selected a schedule which promises satisfaction to the public, has due regard for expense, and is altogether the best suited to the requirements of the situa- tion. By this schedule the library is kept open from one o'clock to nine o'clock P. M., for five days in the week, and from nine o'clock A. M. to nine o'clock P. M. on Saturday, with no Sunday opening ; and the services of a librarian or custodian, two assis- tants, and one substitute will be required, the regular members of the staff working thirty-eight and one-half hours per week, including three evenings, and the substitute thirteen and one- half hours, with four evenings. In favor of these hours of open- ing, it may be said that the library building is least frequented during the morning hours, when, generally speaking, the chil- dren are at school, the men at business, and the women at home engaged in their domestic affairs. On the other hand, the even- ing demands on the library are very great, for this is a leisure season for nearly all, and is the only time when those actively


232


ANNUAL REPORTS.


employed during the day can visit the library. The salaries of the staff, under this arrangement, approximate $1,300 for the first year. This presupposes salaries of respectively $300 and $200 for the two assistants. As, however, the assistants gain in experience and usefulness, these amounts will increase year by ycar, as in the case of beginners at the main library, until the maximum salary of $600 for assistants is reached. We esti- mate the total cost of maintenance by this schedule, exclusive of the care of the building, which comes under the charge of the commissioner of public buildings, and including $1,000 for the purchase of books, to be approximately $3,000.


For the maintenance of the main library for the coming year we ask for an appropriation of $17,500 and the dog tax. The reason for asking for this excess of $1,500 over the appro- priation of last year is that we are alarmingly falling off in the purchase of books and that our binding bills have unavoidably greatly increased. This year but $5,000 remained for the pur- chase of books and periodicals after the fixed charges of the library had been met. The average expenditure for this pur- pose for the five years preceding the last was $6,450. The bill for binding for the present year was $3,680.53 ; in no previous year has it exceeded $2,400. This increase in the cost of bind- ing is a natural consequence of the increasing use and age of our books. It is a penalty which we must pay for a great circula- tion.


The trustees have been importuned from time to time to establish reading-rooms in various parts of the city, especially in the vicinity of Union square. We believe that this particular part of the city is especially in need of the help of the library as supplementary to the work of the public schools ; but we do not feel at liberty to ask for any appropriation for this object at this time, when the city is about to assume a new burden in library work. We estimate the yearly cost of maintaining a reading- room in Union square at $1,500, and the trustees would gladly enter upon this work if the city council sees fit to make an ap- propriation for the purpose.


We again advert to the faithful services of the library staff. Our librarian has just completed a period of ten years in the service of the library. His work has been eminently satisfactory to the trustees, and we know, also, from abundant manifesta- tions that he has been steadily growing in the love and regard of the people of Somerville.


Respectfully submitted for the board of trustees,


EDWARD C. BOOTH, President.


December 29, 1908.


REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN.


To the Trustees of the Somerville Public Library :-


I herewith submit the librarian's thirty-sixth annual report. Below is a statement, somewhat in detail, of the work done by the various departments of the library during the current year :-


The Cataloguing Department.


The cataloguing department, under the supervision of Miss Esther M. Mayhew, submits the following statistics :-


Books Added.


Accession number January 1, 1908


92,891


66


1909


99,196


Total number added during 1908 :- Main library


4,958


Branch


1,347


6,305


Books new to library


3,251


Duplicates


3,054


Total number withdrawn


16,317


Total number in library


82,879


Binding.


Volumes rebound


6,530


Periodicals bound


563


Paper-covered books bound .


174


Pamphlets


42


Total


7,309


Books Withdrawn.


Books worn out


2,008


lost by general readers


160


66


in schools


8


burned per order Board of Health .


90


missing by inventory .


322


Total number of books withdrawn


2,588


Total number of books withdrawn to January 1, 1908


13,729


during 1908 . .


2,588


Total


.


16,317


9,664 catalogue cards have been purchased from the Library of Congress during 1908.


In addition to the routine work of this department, a com- plete inventory of the library was taken by the cataloguers. This inventory was much more thorough than any previous in- ventory. Both cataloguers spent the entire month of June in


231


ANNUAL REPORTS.


this work, and one day each week during the months of July, August, and September. They were assisted more or less by other members of the staff. .


We find that the total loss of books from all departments of the library for a period of two years has been 322. The last inventory taken in 1906 for a period of one year showed a loss of 725, or more than twice the number reported lost in the two years of 1907-8. A loss of 161 books a year from a library cir- culating nearly 450,000 books, with all the books free of access to all readers, is a very good showing, and demonstrates that the dangers of the free access system are largely imaginary. There is no good reason why people should steal books when they can get them for nothing without stealing them.


School Department.


The school department, under the supervision of Miss Mary S. Woodman, shows a progressive increase of business from vear to year. During the past year we have been unable, through lack of funds, to purchase as many books for this de- partment as its developing needs require, but we have en- deavored to supply the demands of the teachers as well as our facilities will permit. Several hundred dollars should be ex- pended upon this department at a very early date for the pur- chase of books constantly requested by the schools.


At the suggestion of Superintendent Clark, all the peda- gogical books of the library have been segregated in the school librarian's room that they may be more conveniently consulted by the teachers. The library has a respectable collection of books of this nature, and it is hoped that a well-equipped and exhaustive department of pedagogical works, with the co-opera- tion of the superintendent of schools, may be collected.


A printed catalogue of all the books in the school depart- ment would be a great convenience to the teachers.


Below are the statistics of the department for the year :-


Books in library


7,501


Increase during year


125


Libraries out


160


Libraries delivered during year


175


Volumes out


6,403


Volumes delivered


7,642


Circulation during the year :-


Fiction


52,428


Non-fiction


67,764


Total


120,192


Reference and Art Department.


The reference and art department, under the supervision of Miss Mabel E. Bunker, has accomplished its usual amount of work during the year.


235


PUBLIC LIBRARY.


Below is given the monthly attendance for the year :-


844


January


February


1,007


March


1,449


April


777


May


804


June


563


July


408


August


598


September


814


October


864


November


949


December


1,032


Total


10,109


Number of visitors to the Art Room


209


66


Americana Room


186


Total


Number of volumes in Reference and Art Department · 395


9,705


Increase during year


292


During the year there have been seventeen art exhibitions, as follows :-


Florence, No. 1, Piazza della Signoria and Piazza del Duomo.


Ireland, No. 1, Cork to Killarney.


Famous Pictures, No. 6.


Alinari photographs of Foreign Architecture (our collection). Sargent's Works.


Florence, No. 4.


Greece, No. 1.


Greece, No. 2.


Japan, No. 3, Nikko.


Representative Art of Our Time.


The Hundred Most Eminent Men of All Time.


Norway, No. 2.


Shakespeare, No. 2.


Rome, No. 2, Pt. 1.


Rome, No. 2, Pt. 2.


Japan, No. 1.


Walter Crane, No. 2, Art for the Nursery.


Some of the books purchased during the year for this de- partment :-


Brinton, Christian, Modern Artists.


Catalogue of the Gardiner Greene Hubbard Collection of Engravings. Cortissoz, Royal, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.


Die Galerien Europas, 2v.


Gibbey, Sir Walter, George Morland, His Life and Work.


Gartmann, Sadakichi, Shakespeare in Art.


History of All Nations, 24v.


Klassiker der Kunst, 2v.


LeMoyne, L. V., Country Residences in Europe and America. McClellan, Elizabeth, Historic Dress in America.


McKay, William D., Scottish School of Painting. Meister der Farbe, 1904, 1905, 1907.


Modern Engineering Practice, 10v.


Original Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 8v. Pennell, E. R. and J., Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2v. Pope, C. H., Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1632 to 1660. Ridpath, J. C., Great Races of Mankind, 8v.


236


ANNUAL REPORTS.


The reference room is becoming uncomfortably crowded, and no space for the natural and regular development of the de- partment is available. This matter should certainly be consid- ered seriously during the coming year. If the building were sufficiently strong an upper story, reached by a winding stair- case, might be added to the shelving around the room. There is some structural weakness in the room, however. But it ought not to be beyond the power of architect and carpenter to remedy this.


The Children's Department.


The children's department, under the supervision of Miss Anna L. Stone, has shown a healthy growth during the year. The circulation of this room has been 79,750, of which 64,185 have been fiction and 15,565 other works.


As I have recommended in previous reports great annoy- ance could be saved the patrons of our general reading room if a direct entrance to our children's room could be made from the outside. The noise and confusion in this room, caused by the passage of the children up and down the stairway, are a source of considerable vexation to the patrons of the room, and some emphatic complaints have been made.


General Work.


The general work of the library, under the supervision of Miss Florence D. Hurter, has grown in volume and has been carried forward with satisfaction.


The general circulation figures of the year are as follows :-


Fiction.


Other Works.


Total.


January


28,045


13,129


41,174


February


27,040


13,421


40,461


March


36,648


18,198


54,846


May


.


26,465


12,344


38,809


July


19,412


3,496


22,908


August


18,176


3,514


21,690


September


22,348


5,981


28,329


October


23,957


10,902


34,859


November


26,847


12,472


39,319


December


32,273


15,021


47,294


Totals


316,224


132,000


448,224


April


27,890


12,990


40,880


June


27,123


10,532


37,655


Last year the circulation was 419,539 ; there is consequently a net increase the current year of 28,685, or about 6.83 per cent.


Below is given our shelf circulation figures (books deliv- ered from library shelves) :-


237


PUBLIC LIBRARY.


Fiction.


Other Works.


Total.


January


14,932


5,473


20,405


February


15,010


6,006


21,016


March


22,091


8,394


30,485


April


15,371


5,220


20,591


May


13,665


4,545


18,210


June


16,167


4,810


20,977


July


13,394


3,220


16,614


August


12,718


3,250


15,968


September


14,879


4,514


19,393


October


13,204


4,908


18,112


November


14,749


5,464


20,213


December


18,001


6,457


24,458


Totals


184,181


62,261


246,442


Below is given our circulation by classes, exclusive of fic- tion :-


General works


9,016


Philosophy


1,571


Religion


7,572


Sociology


24,387


Philology


1,289


Natural science .


15,347


Useful arts .


5,411


Fine arts


7,135


Literature


16,348


History


28,359


Total of general delivery .


116,435


Delivered from children's room


15,565


Total of other works


132,000


Fiction


316,224


Other works


132,000


Total .


448,224


Percentage, fiction


70.55%


other works .


29.45%


238


ANNUAL REPORTS.


Below is a table of circulation of the different agencies dur- ing the year :-


Agencies.


Teele


Square.


'West


Somerville.


East


Somerville.


Somerville.


Union


Square.


Highland.


January


245


254


17


142


14 324


993


February


247


249


12


157


11


16


Shelves


1,173


1,675


1,597


332


935


March


376


423


16


197


14 455


13


Shelves


1,453


2,221


1,397


April


260


355


12


194


10


14


Shelves


1,080


1,695


1,468


367


981


May


241


370


11


172


9


15


Shelves


970


1,533


771


363


634


June


311


347


18


254


15


14


Shelves


1,132


1,836


1,055


444


1,127


July


218


301


14


121


9


10


Shelves


894


1,328


743


336


-855


August


183


236


2


142


3


3


Shelves .


1,027


1,384


704


363


753


September


213


279


6


234


9


10


Shelves .


1,104


1,784


837


530


961


October .


192


248


5


181


6 365


855


November


184


269


2


194


7


3


Shelves


1,040


1,412


812


344


872


December


225


4


202


2


1


Shelves


1,162


269 1,669


891


341


916


Totals .


13,984


23,264


12,674


2,190


4,673


11,318


Grand Total


70,103


Below is the statistical statement of the general work of the year :-


Accession number


99,196


Volumes in library


82,879


Main library


4,958


Volumes added, branch library


1,347


Total circulation


·


6,305 448,224


Shelf


.


246,442 .


.


1,080


1,632


1,526


20


Shelves


·


3


Shelves


1,004


1,495


754


·


.


South


1,314


239


PUBLIC LIBRARY.


Delivered from children's room .


79,750


66


66 Teele Square agency .


2,875


66


shelves


13,109


66 West Somerville agency


3,600


66


66


shelves East Somerville agency


119


66


66


shelves


12,555


66


South Somerville agency


2,190


66 Union Square agency


109


66 66 66


shelves


4,564


66


66


Highland agency


122


66 Knapp school


1,390


Volumes delivered to school libraries .


7,642


66 Sunday school libraries


1,469


Visitors in reference room


10,109


Cards issued


11,173


Received, fines 66 books


140 42


66


telephone


11 85


Total


. $1,163 72


By sundry expenses


$300 52


cash to City Treasurer


863 20


Total


. $1,163 72


During the year 426 vacation cards were issued, on which 2,420 books were taken out, 2,072 being fiction and 348 other works. Six hundred and seventeen books were delivered to the homes of the people by two delivery boys. Thirty-five sets of stereographs are now owned by the library. The circulation of these sets during the year amounted to 1,093.


The following Sunday schools take books from the library: Broadway Congregational, Flint-street Methodist, Perkins- street Baptist, Prospect-hill Congregational, Second Unitarian, West Somerville Baptist, Winter-hill Congregational, Winter- hill Universalist, Park-avenue Methodist, Second Advent, High- land Congregational, and the Bow-street Methodist. 1,469 books were delivered by the Sunday schools mentioned, of which 1,268 were fiction and 201 other works.


Books are also sent to the Y. M. C. A., the Somerville Boys' club, the Somerville hospital, and to the police station.


New Registration.


During the past five weeks the library has been making a new registration. This is a work of considerable difficulty, and a work requiring a long period of time for its completion. Of course in a growing library it is indeed never completed. It is a work, however, that ought to be done at least once in five years. Even when it is done as frequently as this our registra- tion must necessarily carry the names of many people who are no longer borrowers of books, of many persons who are not residents, and a very considerable number who are dead. It is,


. $1,011 45


60


shelves


11,196


19,664


66


240


ANNUAL REPORTS.


in fact, an impossibility to tell the exact number of the active users of the public library at any given time. The highest num- ber under our old registration, which was a continuous regis- tration for five years, was 28,619. The number of our present registration is 7,585. It would be safe to say, in view of these two figures, that the number of actual users of the library has never exceeded 20,000. Reckoning the population of Somer- ville as 70,000, then only two-sevenths of our population are ever actual card-holders at one time. The circulation of the Somerville public library is very high in proportion to the city population. But it is a significant fact that in a library with a very large circulation, as circulations run, only two-sevenths of the population are card-holders. The question is inevitable : Are public libraries really doing the good in their respective com- munities that they ought to do? It seems to me that a much larger proportion of the population ought to be reached.


Decreasing Expenditure for Books.


This public library has reached a critical stage in its history. The expenses are increasing at a much faster ratio than its in- come. I see no way, however, in which they can be materially decreased. The salaries are certainly moderate, and are indeed considerably less than in many other libraries doing a like amount of business. But the constant growth of the library en- tails a constantly-increasing expense. Thus the expense for binding in 1904 was $1,645.40. The expense for 1908 was $3,680.53, an increase in four years of $2,035.13. I see no reason why this ratio of increase should not continue for some time. As the running expenses of the library must be met, and as there is no item which can be materially reduced, except the item for books, it follows that unless there is a progressive in- crease of appropriation there must be a progressive decrease in the number of books purchased. And this has actually been the case. In 1904 $7,209.90 was expended for books and peri- odicals, and in 1908 only $5,007.18 was available for this impor -. tant item. So it can be seen that the library during the present year was obliged to curtail its purchase of books to a sum of $2,202.72 less than the sum expended four years ago.


Now it is the main essential business of a public library to buy books for the public, and a library that steadily and regu- larly decreases the amount of its book expenditure is surely be- coming less efficient every year in the work which it was espe -. cially established to do. It is a matter of very serious regret that such a condition of affairs has to be reported, and it is earnestly hoped that larger appropriations in the future will en- able us to reverse this retrograde movement.


241


PUBLIC LIBRARY.


The library has received the following donations of books and pamphlets during the past year :-


List of Donations.


Vols.


Pamph.


Allen, George W.


1


Boston Transit Commission


Bradley, Charles


1


Braybrook, Albert A.


1


Canada, Department of Agriculture.


1


Clark, Frank H.


2


1


Clough, George M.


14


Coolidge, A. C.


1


Cutler, S. Newton


2


De Benneville, James S.


1


Dusseault, John H.


1


Fitchburg, Mass.


1


Goss, George H.


6


Greene, Rev. J. M., D. D.


1


Hadley, S. Henry


(music)


76


Haley, Mary


1


Hansell, Mrs. E. P. Evans


1


Harvard University


1


Lake Mohonk Conference


1


Lamb, Fred W.


1


Lambert, Anna M.


1


Library of Congress


2


Loring, Ernest J.


4


Marks, Harold


1


Massachusetts


36


2


Massachusetts Civil Service Reform Association


3


Merchants' Association of New York


1


Middlesex County


1


Montville, T.


2


Murray, Thomas Hamilton


1


Peaslee, John B.


1


Pendergast, Mrs. Ella Worth


1


Playground Association


2


Powers, Rev. L. M., D. D.


1


Raymond, Professor George L.


3


Sanborn, Mrs. Carrie A.


1


Smithsonian Institution


1


Southworth, Gordon A.


1


Sturgis, R. Clipston


1


United States


10


4


Webster, Miss E. S.


1


Williams & Wilkins Co.


1


Totals


185


16


1


Buffum, George T.


1


1


Carnegie Institute


.


Smith, John F.


1


242


ANNUAL REPORTS.


Conclusion.


During the past ten years the library's circulation has in- creased from 212,817 to 448,224. A children's department, a school department, and a reference department, open during regular hours, have been established. The library has been opened every evening in the week, instead of Wednesday and Saturday evenings, as formerly. The reading rooms have also been opened Sunday afternoons. A music department, which has been generally patronized, has been established. The total number of books in the library has increased from 40,902 to 82,879. The accession number has increased from 44,307 to 99,196. A reading committee to examine the new novels has been appointed. The system for issuing vacation cards for people on their summer outings has been in operation several years, to the great satisfaction of our patrons. A system of free access to all the circulating books of the library has been inaugurated, and has now been in operation several years. A complete new card catalogue of the entire library, with separate card catalogues for the children's room and the reference de- partment, has been installed. The age limit for card holders has been removed. The policy of loaning books to the Sunday schools to the limit of 100 to a school has been adopted. A new addition nearly doubling the capacity of the library has been added to the library building, and a $25,000 branch library, the gift of Andrew Carnegie, will be ready for occupancy early in the coming year. Our growth and development in many ways has been unusual, and, if adequate means of doing our in- creased work is supplied, a greater epoch of usefulness is surely ahead of us.


In a more than perfunctory and conventional way, I wish to thank the members of the staff for their faithfulness, and all the members of your board for your kindness and co-operation.


SAM WALTER FOSS,


December 29, 1908.


Librarian.


BOARD OF HEALTH.


1908.


ALLEN F. CARPENTER, Chairman, WESLEY T. LEE, M. D., ZEBEDEE E. CLIFF.


--


OFFICERS OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH.


WILLIAM P. MITCHELL, Clerk and Agent to Issue Burial Permits. CALEB A. PAGE, Agent.


FRANK L. MORSE, M. D., Medical Inspector.


CHARLES M. BERRY, Inspector of Animals and Provisions. JULIUS E. RICHARDSON, Milk Inspector.


DUNCAN C. GREENE, Plumbing Inspector.


EDGAR T. MAYHEW, Superintendent Collection of Ashes and Offal.


REPORT OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH.


OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF HEALTH, - City Hall, January 1, 1909.


To His Honor, the Mayor, and the Board of Aldermen :-


Gentlemen,-We respectfully submit the following as the thirty-first annual report of the board of health, in which is pre- sented a statement, tabulated and otherwise, of the sanitary con- dition of the city and the business of the board for the year end- ing December 31, 1908 :-


Nuisances.


A record of nuisances abated during the year, in compliance with notices issued by the board, or under the board's direction, is presented in the following table :-


NUISANCES ABATED IN THE CITY IN 1908.


Bakery offensive .


7


Barber shops


2


Bread left on steps


2


Cellar damp .


16


Cesspool offensive


2


Cow barn offensive


12


Cows kept without license


3 4


Drainage defective


26


Drainage emptying into cellar


12


Drainage emptying on surface Fish offal


7


Gas from power house


4 1 1 10


Hennery offensive


13


Hens without permit


15 3


Horses without permit


21


Manure pit defective


15


Offal on land


11


Offensive odor in and about dwellings


9


Pigeons in house


1 7 87


Privy-vault offensive


3


Rubbish in cellar .


19


Slops thrown on surface


6


Stable infected with glanders


63


Stable and stable premises filthy and offensive


23


Stable without drainage


8


Stagnant water on surface


5


Water-closet defective


24


Water under stable


.


3


Total


.


445


.


Dogs in house


Goats kept without license Hens in cellar


Manure exposed and offensive .


Pigs kept without license


Premises dirty


245


HEALTH DEPARTMENT.


Number of nuisances abated 445 . Number of nuisances referred to board of 1908 7 Number of nuisances complained of . 452


Number of complaints (many covering more than one nuisance) . 391


In addition to the above, 382 dead animals have been re- moved from the public streets, and many nuisances have been abated on verbal notice from the agent, without action by the board, of which no record has been made. Each spring the whole city is examined, and cellars, yards, and alleyways where rubbish and filth have collected are required to be cleaned.


Glanders .- Sixty-three cases of glanders have been reported during the year. Prompt action was taken in every case, and fifty-eight of the horses were killed, five being released from quarantine by order of the cattle commissioners.




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