USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Andover > Town annual report of Andover 1940-1944 > Part 21
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In 1924 a book appeared by William S. Learned called the American Public Library and the Diffusion of Knowledge in which he crystallized the rather intangible conception of a public library. A phrase from that book seems very pertinent today. In describing the public library, Mr. Learned calls it the "central intelligence service of the town." This definition makes the public library more than an agency for the circulation of books, chief as that function is among its activities. But if the library never circulated a book, it would still perform an important function as a center for reference service, reading guidance, for forum and discussion groups, for book clubs and the like. In a sense the library coordinates the intellectual life of the community and reaches out, as perhaps no other public agency, to the whole town offering its services to all individuals, young and old and to all organizations and groups that may wish to take advantage of them. It differs in this respect from other town departments such as fire, police, and public health which serve us best when the need for their services is at a minimum.
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Again circulation trends reflect contemporary events and in common with many other public libraries we must report a loss in circulation this year amounting to 6.5%. The loss represents 1.9% in books circulated to boys and girls; 4.9% in books cir- culated to adults. Greater employment, greater participation in relief and defense activities, more radio listening and newspaper reading, all undoubtedly contributed to our loss. The 1941 circu- lation figures show that the relative loss in the issue of non-fiction has been less than that of fiction and we can perhaps with some justification feel that our loss has, in part at least, been confined to the more ephemeral type of book.
In spite of the general downward trend technical books, maga- zines and pamphlets showed increased use.
Certainly the increased use of technical books was to be ex- pected and no doubt the trend will continue. Among our most popular books were the following: Modern Shop Operations, Air- craft Engine Maintenance, Aviation Mechnic, Textile Testing, How to Read Blueprints, Modern Shop Practice, How to Fly a Plane.
With magazine circulation on the increase, it is interesting to note the magazines that have been issued for home use the great- est number of times during the last six months. Our magazine Hit Parade included the following listed in order of popularity: Fortune, Reader's Digest, Good Housekeeping, New Yorker, Life, Illustrated London News, House and Garden, Hygeia, American Mercury, Harpers, and Time.
The library has felt already the impact of community defense activities which has been reflected in the requests for books on first aid, automobile maintenance, air raid and fire defense and nutrition. Such books as Civil Air Defense, American Red Cross First Aid Textbook, and Fire Defense are in constant demand. The Library will try in every way possible to serve as a clearing house of information about defense, local and national and will main- tain a file of the opportunities in the community for defense and relief work. The library receives regularly many publications on defense and related subjects issued by our state and national governments and by civic and educational organizations, which are available for circulation.
In addition to the demands on our technical book collection and demands for defense materials, we anticipate increased use of our reference service. It is well to bear in mind that any economies
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which might be effected through the curtailment of the purchase of ephemeral books would be more than offset by the growing need for technical and reference books which are much more expensive and which depend for their effectiveness on being up- to-date.
The most constructive way in which the library can become a force for stability and contribute to public morale will be to carry on as nearly as possible its normal services. Our normal book demands and those created by the times make it imperative, especially in the face of rising book prices, that adequate book funds be maintained. Today more than ever men and women need books for recreation and escape and our service to boys and girls requires the maintaining of a carefully selected and varied book collection.
No one will be wholly immune to the immediacy of the radio, the newspaper, the propaganda film. Thought-provoking books, therefore, assume a tremendous importance since they alone pre- serve to man a sense of continuity that links the long ago, the not so distant past, the present, the prophetic future. Books, almost alone, will give man prospective and a quiet time in which to reflect, to learn new truths, to weigh conflicting opinion. They remain permanent records of man's aspirations long after today's film and radio program have passed into oblivion.
The giving-up of our Book Bus service, due to an insufficient appropriation, was a disappointment since our rather limited demonstration had shown us the potential possibilities of this type of book service. A statement by Jennie Flexner, Reader's Adviser in the New York Public Library seems to sum up the idea undergirding such an extension service : "often the desire for library privileges must be created, often by staff members who go out through scattered districts to make the necessary con- nections and to fan any flame of interest no matter how feeble. The extension department has within its grasp the power to build up confidence in the willingness and the ability of the library -to serve all borrowers alike and to express the real democracy which lies behind all effective library service." In order that our outlying districts should not be entirely without books, we are continuing our book deposits at Abbott and Bailey Districts and are also supplying deposits to the North District. Until recently books were sent to Carter's Corner but at the present moment we
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lack a place in which to house them. This is a make-shift arrange- ment and does not meet the requirements of professional library service since it does not provide dynamic book collections nor trained personnel to administer them.
In no way do we serve the community more constructively than through our work with boys and girls and this year, despite some curtailments and disappointments, a well-organized pro- gram of activities, under Miss Robinson's able leadership, has been carried on throughout the system.
In spite of the curtailment of hours of service to the Henry C. Sanborn Library, which we felt it necessary to make in order to ensure a well-rounded program of library service to all boys and girls of elementary and junior high school age, the circulation of books has increased by two hundred over the previous year, and the general use of the library has held up very well. One of the high-lights of the school library year was the participation of the Andover Junior High School in a program of book reviews, spon- sored by the New England School Libraries' Association, at Perkins Hall in Boston, the first Saturday in December.
After careful consideration it was decided to close the Boys' and Girls' department evenings and with this change the Junior Room grew up and became the Young People's Library. It is now open daily on week days from nine until twelve and two to six and will result, we feel, in a more extensive program of service to all boys and girls-particularly in the elementary grades. It was thought, too, that parents might find the morning hours a convenient time in which to use the Young People's Library. So far this Fall the library has hummed with activity. Two hundred and fifty boys and girls in the fourth to the sixth grades, in a series of open houses, have visited the library, listened to book talks, and had an opportunity to become acquainted with the staff and the library. During the year instruction in the use of books and libraries has been given to boys and girls in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth grades.
The slogan "Forward with Books" was carried out in celebra- tion of Book Week in the Young People's Library with the usual exhibits of the new books and with exhibits of older books, child- hood favorites of outstanding authors like Mark Twain, Hans Christian Andersen, Robert Louis Stevenson, and others. Special attractions were a gingerbread house and a model of Horton the
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elephant "up in a tree," contributed by the Surette family whose creative fount seems never to run dry. An essay contest "What Books Mean to Me," open to boys and girls in the fourth to the sixth grades and in junior high school was also a part of the Book Week festivities. Who won these contests is not so important as the fact that boys and girls gave thought to the place of books in their lives. We like the following which was part of an essay contributed by a sixth grade boy : "Long ago books were few. But in these times books are a common everyday necessity. Some books are so good that you read them over and over. Men put their feelings into books. Without books our lives would be empty. We should thank God for this privilege of being able to have books as friends." What better justification could there be for providing in school and home and library the best books possible for boys and girls.
This past summer for the first time library books were circu- lated on the playgrounds. Miss Ballard visited the Central, Bal- lardvale and Shawsheen playgrounds once a week for six weeks and the response was such that we plan to continue this activity next summer.
Since the first of the year, Miss Ruhl has given reader's advisory service at the Goldsmith Library, an hour and one-half daily, a slight curtailment from the year before. During the year the re- cataloging of the high school book collection has been completed.
This year, the library has tried, in a small way as yet, to reach the men and women who have been attending the Americaniza- tion and Citizenship classes. All graduates of these evening school classes were sent letters which enclosed book lists and an invita- tion to use the library. Many of these same people contributed articles to a handicraft exhibit, representative of different coun- tries, which was held in the library in June. Personal contacts which were made at that time convinced us that the library must make a great effort to prove to many of them that the public library is a free institution which is theirs to enjoy.
This Fall we were delighted to have an opportunity to cooper- ate with the Andover Evening Study Groups in its community adult education program by sponsoring a course, to be held at the library, on the Reading Interests of Boys and Girls which was felt would be of especial interest to parents and adults concerned with the place of books in the lives of boys and girls. So far the
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response has been disappointing although this particular year with its demands upon people's time and effort may not have been the most auspicious one in which to undertake it.
On Monday evenings, from seven until nine, beginning January 12, the library will be the center for a vocational counselling service under the direction of trained counsellors which will be available to anyone in the community not now in secondary school. Besides housing the new project, the library will provide all books and other materials which the counsellors find essential for their work and will benefit, as a byproduct, in its selection of books and in its individual reading guidance from the knowledge of special interests and capacities which the new service may bring to light. The counselling service will be coordinated by Mr. Edward C. Manning, Guidance Director of the Public Schools, and will include Mrs. Emma G. Carter, Counsellor for girls at Punchard High School; Miss Evelyn I. Banning, Counsel- lor in the Andover Junior High School; and Mr. John A. Brod- head, associated with OPM Training within Industry and the guidance program of the Lawrence Young Men's Christian Association.
This fall, after a preliminary meeting on October 20 at which Mr. Howard Doughty of Ipswich described the formation of the Friends of the Ipswich Library and the subsequent benefit that it has been to the library, those present voted to form the Friends of the Memorial Hall Library. Dues have been set at a minimum of $.50 and will be spent for the current expenses of the organiza- tion unless specified for the following projects: Furnishings for Memorial Hall, more books for the science, technical and music book collections. For the time being no formal organization has been undertaken. Charter membership will be left open for a year and all who wish may obtain membership blanks at the library. The formation of the Friends of the Memorial Hall Library-a part of a growing movement the country over-represents a realiz- ation that libraries, public and college, need the backing of inter- ested and informed laymen if they are to secure the kind of sup- port which will ensure the carrying out of wide-reaching, con- structive programs of service.
The first meeting under the auspices of the Friends of the Memorial Hall Library was an Open House on Sunday, Novem- ber 2 from three until six in celebration of National Book Week.
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It also represented community participation since members of the Andover Musicians' Club provided music, the Andover Garden Club, gay fall flowers, Phillips Academy, one of the speakers and members of the League of Women Voters stood ready to provide transportation should it be needed. About one hundred people attended and enjoyed the music, the book exhibits and the book talks by Donald Bartlett, Professor of Biography at Dartmouth College, who spoke on Reading Biography, and Lawrence Shields, Instructor in Biology at Phillips Academy, who spoke entertain- ingly about a number of books in the science field.
Re-registration of all adult borrowers was undertaken in May and has resulted in the re-registration of approximately 2100 people. Of this number it is interesting to note 65.3% are women, 34.6% men. Of those previously registered about 41% have been re-registered, which means that there are still many adults who have not availed themselves of library privileges recently. Library privileges have been extended this year to non-residents who are employed full-time in Andover. Non-residents who do not fall into this category may become borrowers upon the annual pay- ment of $2.00.
The active use of the Memorial Hall has been a source of satis- faction. The following groups have used the hall during the past year : League of Women Voters Study Groups, Andover Village Improvement Society, Federation of Women's Clubs, Feed the Democracies Group, 4-H Clubs, Andover Cooperative Society. Whenever possible the library has arranged book exhibits which tied in with the subjects under discussion.
On Friday, October 31, the library was host to the newly re- organized North Shore Library Club at its fall meeting which was attended by about eighty librarians.
Again this year the library staff has attended professional meetings and served on professional committees. Further study has been undertaken by several staff members: Miss Robinson attended the Columbia School of Library Service for a second summer, Miss Ballard is taking a University Extension course in Children's Literature this winter and several others took ad- vantage of the Andover Evening Study Groups courses last winter.
During the past year the Librarian has spoken to the following groups : the League of Women Voters, Margaret Slattery Class of
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the Free Church, Junior King's Daughters of the South Church, Junior Women's Guild of Christ Church, the APC Sorority of the South Church, and the 4-H Book-Lovers' Club. The Children's Librarian has spoken to the North Andover Parent-Teachers Association, the Margaret Slattery Class, the Booklovers' Club of the 4-H. The Library, in addition, has been represented on the Citizens' Committee for Vocational Guidance and the newly- formed Community Council for Adult Education.
A few physical improvements have been made during the past year: the plumbing has been renewed in the main part of the building, the basement storeroom cleaned and put in order, the magazines, bound and unbound, arranged in one alphabetical file, the reference room shelving increased and the reference collection re-organized and re-lettered and the genealogical ma- terial removed to a mezzanine alcove.
The Library, as usual, has been very fortunate in its friends. Our exhibits of handicrafts, gourds, blueprints, Indian relics, hammered aluminum, mineral specimens and Tuberculosis seals were all enjoyed and we hope that more people will share their hobbies and collections with us. The Library is grateful to the many who gave books and to those who supplied the library with flowers. In particular, we thank the Andover Evening Study Groups for the generous gift of $200 which we have spent for books of permanent interest in many fields. We wish to thank also Mr. Sherman and the School Department for the loan of folding chairs which enabled us to hold meetings in our hall, for permis- sion to use the North School as a center for one of our neighbor- hood deposits, for cooperating with us in our playground project; Mr. Guy Howe for the generous loan of his truck in transporting our books to the districts; the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library for the loan of two exhibit cases; the commercial department of the High School for generous mimeographing of library book lists; Smart and Flagg for mimeographing ; Miss Katherine Sween- ey for generosity of time and effort in making books accessible to the people in the North District during the summer; Mrs. Lester Dixon, Mrs. Harold Henderson, Mrs. Edward Donahue, who housed our district deposits in their homes.
In the following quotation from Culture and Anarchy by Mat- thew Arnold with which we end this report, we suggest that where Arnold has used the words Men of Culture, the words
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Librarians and Libraries be mentally substituted. It seems to us in the larger sense that this paragraph is applicable, however imperfectly it has been attained by most libraries and librarians. "Men of culture are the true apostles of equality. Men of culture are those who have had a passion for diffusing, for making pre- vail, for carrying from one end of society to the other, the best knowledge, the best ideas of their times; who have laboured to divest knowledge of all that was harsh, uncouth, difficult, ab- stract, professional, exclusive; to humanize it, to make it efficient outside the clique of the cultivated and learned, yet still remain- ing the best knowledge and thought of the time, and a true source, therefore of sweetness and light."
Respectfully submitted MIRIAM PUTNAM, Librarian
STATISTICS OF LIBRARY USE
BOOK STOCK
Vols. at beginning of the year
Adult 29,565
Juvenile 6,274
Total 35,839
Vols. added by purchase
1,561
638
2,199
Vols. added by gift
202
10
212
Vols. added by binding
39
2
41
Total volumes added
1,802
650
2,452
Volumes lost or withdrawn
378
125
503
Total volumes at end of year
30,989
6,799
37.788
Periodicals currently received (Titles, Copies)
77.89
177
USE
Volumes % of total circ.
Vols. of adult fiction loaned
47,476
43.3
Vols. of adult non-fiction loaned
22,376
20.4
39,565
36.1
No. of books for children loaned Total number of volumes loaned
109,417
REGISTRATION
Adult
Juvenile
Total
Borrowers registered during year
672
174
846
Total number of registered borrowers
*2137
1660
3797
Circulation per capita 10.2
*Reregistration of adult borrowers, May 1941.
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TOWN OF ANDOVER
Fortieth Annual Report
of the
Board of Public Works
EMBRACING THE FIFTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT of WATER COMMISSIONERS and FORTY- FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT of SEWER COMMISSIONERS
For the Year Ending DECEMBER 31, 1941
1942
*John H. Flint
*Wm. S. Jenkins
*Wm. S. Jenkins
1899-1902
*John H. Flint *Wm. S. Jenkins *John L. Smith
*James P. Butterfield *Felix G. Haynes
1903-1906
*John L. Smith
*Felix G. Haynes *John W. Bell
*Lewis T. Hardy
James C. Sawyer
1906-1907
*Felix G. Haynes
*John W. Bell, Treas.
James C. Sawyer, Sec'y.
*Lewis T. Hardy
*Harry M. Eames
1907-1908
*Felix G. Haynes
*John W. Bell, Treas.
James C. Sawyer, Sec'y.
*Lewis T. Hardy
*Andrew McTernen
1908-1912
*Lewis T. Hardy
*John W. Bell, Treas.
James C. Sawyer, Sec'y.
*Andrew McTernen *Willis B. Hodgkins
1913-1914
*Lewis T. Hardy ('16)
*Barnett Rogers ('16)
*Andrew McTernen ('15)
*Thos. E. Rhodes, Sec'y. ('14)
*Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('15)
1914-1916
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('19)
*Barnett Rogers ('16)
*Lewis T. Hardy ('16)
*Andrew McTernen, Sec'y. ('18)
*Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('18)
1916-1917
*Barnett Rogers ('19)
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('17)
*Andrew McTernen ('18)
Chas. B. Baldwin, Sec'y. ('19)
*Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('18)
1917-1918
*Barnett Rogers ('19) *Thos. E. Rhodes ('20) *Andrew McTernen ('18) Chas. B. Baldwin, Sec'y. ('19)
* Willis B. Hodgkins, Treas. ('18)
WATER COMMISSIONERS
1889-1899 *James P. Butterfield *Felix G. Haynes
SEWER COMMISSIONERS
1893-1894 *John L. Smith *Charles E. Abbott
1894-1899 *John L. Smith *John E. Smith
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
1918-1919
1931-1932
*Barnett Rogers ('22)
*Andrew McTernen ('21)
Philip L. Hardy ('21)
Chas. B. Baldwin, Sec'y. ('22)
*Thos. E. Rhodes, Treas. ('20)
1919-1920-1921
*Barnett Rogers ('22)
William D. McIntyre ('21)
*Arthur T. Boutwell ('22)
Philip L. Hardy, Sec'y. ('21)
*Thos. E. Rhodes, Treas. ('23)
1922-1923
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('23)
Philip L. Hardy ('24)
Wm. D. McIntyre, Treas. ('24)
*Arthur T. Boutwell ('25) Edward Shattuck ('25)
1923-1924
Philip L. Hardy ('27)
William D. McIntyre, Sec'y. ('27) *Arthur T. Boutwell, Treas. ('25) Edward Shattuck ('25)
Walter I. Morse ('26)
1924-1925-1926
Philip L. Hardy ('27)
Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y. ('27)
*Arthur T. Boutwell, Treas. ('28)
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('28)
Walter I. Morse ('29)
1927
*Arthur T. Boutwell ('28)
*Thos. E. Rhodes ('28)
Walter I. Morse, Treas. ('29)
Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y. ('30) George H. Winslow ('30)
1928-1929
*Arthur T. Boutwell ('31)
W. I. Morse Treas. ('32)
Wm. D. McIntyre, Sec'y. ('30)
George H. Winslow ('30) Thos. P. Dea (31)
1929-1930
Wm. D. McIntyre ('33)
W. I. Morse, Treas. ('32) George H. Winslow. Sec'y. ('33) *Arthur T. Boutwell ('31) Thos. P. Dea ('31)
1930-1931
Wm. D. McIntyre ('33) W. I. Morse, Treas. ('32) George H. Winslow, Sec'y. ('33) Thos. P. Dea ('34) Frank A. Buttrick ('34)
SUPERINTENDENT
CHARLES T. GILLIARD
Wm. D. McIntyre ('33) W. I. Morse ('35)
Thos. P. Dea ('34)
Frank A. Buttrick ('34) John H. Playdon ('33)
1932-1933
Wm. D. McIntyre ('36)
W. I. Morse ('35)
John H. Playdon ('36)
Frank A. Buttrick ('34)
Henry A. Bodwell ('34)
1933-1934-1935
Wm. D. McIntyre ('36) W. I. Morse ('38)
John H. Playdon ('36)
Frank A. Buttrick ('37)
Henry A. Bodwell ('37)
1934-1935-1936
Wm. D. McIntyre ('39) W. I. Morse ('38)
John H. Playdon ('39)
Frank A. Buttrick ('37)
Henry A. Bodwell ('37)
1935-1936-1937
Wm. D. McIntyre ('39) W. I. Morse ('38)
John H. Playdon ('39)
Frank A. Buttrick ('40)
Henry A. Bodwell ('40)
1938-1939
Wm. D. McIntyre ('39) John H. Playdon ('39)
Frank A. Buttrick ('40)
Henry A. Bodwell ('40) Sidney P. White ('41)
1939-1940
Sidney P. White ('41)
Henry A. Bodwell ('40) Frank A. Buttrick ('40) John H. Playdon (42) Edward P. Hall ('42)
1940-1941
Sidney P. White ('41) John H. Playdon ('42)
Edward P. Hall ('42) William F. Barron ('43) John B. White ('43)
1941-1942
Sidney P. White ('44) John H. Playdon ('42) Edward P. Hall ('42) William F. Barron ('43) John B. White ('43)
*Deceased
180
Board of Public Works
Andover, Mass. February 3, 1942
The Board of Public Works voted to adopt the following report of the Superintendent as its report for 1941 with recommenda- tions for 1942.
SIDNEY P. WHITE, Chairman JOHN H. PLAYDON, Secretary EDWARD P. HALL WILLIAM F. BARRON JOHN B. WHITE
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Superintendent's Report
To the Board of Public Works
GENTLEMEN :
The major activities and developments in the Water, Highway, Sewer and Park Departments during the year which ended December 31, 1941 are as follows:
WATER DEPARTMENT
Under Article 42 of the 1941 Warrant, two hundred and sev- enty-two feet of six-inch water main were installed on Spring Grove Road, from the corner of Sunset Rock Road.
Under Article 61 of the 1941 Warrant, four hundred feet of six-inch water main were installed on Abbot Street beyond the main cemetery entrance.
Under Articles 30-37 of the 1940 Warrant, four hundred feet of six-inch water main were installed on Haggetts Pond Road, from the corner of Lowell Street running in a southeasterly di- rection; seven hundred and forty-seven feet of six-inch on Hall Avenue connecting the six-inch dead end to the Clark Road ten-inch line, thus doing away with a small line which cared for two houses and a bleeder; and eight hundred and twenty-five feet of six-inch on Lincoln Street, connecting two six-inch dead ends.
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