USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1882 > Part 23
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300 00
Dividends on Savings Bank deposits, 249 00
Interest on Bank deposits,
32 60
$6,190 60
Total,
$15,180 44 1
PAYMENTS DURING THE YEAR, VIZ :
For labor, etc., as per pay-rolls, $4,322 98
$4,322 98
BALANCES, Nov. 30, 1882, VIZ :
Savings Bank deposits, general account, $8,000 00
6 :
special account, 850 00
Cash on deposit in W. S. D. & Trust Co., 2,007 46
10,857 46
Total, $15,180 44
Respectfully submitted.
WM. S. BARTON, City Treasurer.
WORCESTER, MASS., Dec. 18, 1882.
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
0
DIRECTORS IN 1883.
FRANCIS A. GASKILL, THOMAS J. CONATY,
SAMUEL D. HARDING, WILLIAM DICKINSON, CLARENDON HARRIS,
TERM EXPIRES.
Dec. 31, 1883.
1884.
66 1885.
SAMUEL A. PORTER,
ALBERT WOOD,
1886.
JONAS G. CLARK,
FRANCIS H. DEWEY,
1887.
CHARLES M. LAMSON,
JAMES E. ESTABROOK,
1888.
ORGANIZATION FOR THE YEAR.
PRESIDENT. FRANCIS H. DEWEY.
SECRETARY AND TREASURER.
JAMES E. ESTABROOK.
COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY.
FRANCIS A. GASKILL, CLARENDON HARRIS,
ALBERT WOOD, JONAS G. CLARK, CHARLES M. LAMSON.
COMMITTEE ON THE READING-ROOM. WILLIAM DICKINSON, T. J. CONATY, JAMES E. ESTABROOK.
COMMITTEE ON THE BUILDING.
SAMUEL D. HARDING, WM. DICKINSON, SAMUEL A. PORTER.
COMMITTEE ON FINANCE.
FRANCIS H. DEWEY, SAMUEL D. NYE, JONAS G. CLARK.
LIBRARIAN. SAMUEL S. GREEN.
ASSISTANT-LIBRARIANS.
SARAH F. EARLE, LUCIE A. YOUNG, JESSIE E. TYLER, ELLEN L. OTIS, M. JENNIE BARBOUR.
SAMUEL D. NYE,
WORCESTER FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
DIRECTORS' REPORT.
To the Hon. E. B. Stoddard. Mayor, and the City Council of the City of Worcester :
The Directors of the Free Public Library have the honor to submit their twenty-third annual report.
The reports of the four standing committees of the board, together with the report of the Librarian, and that of the Treas- urer of the Reading-Room Fund, are also transmitted.
From these documents a just judgment can be formed as to the manner in which the affairs of the Library have been admin- istered during the past twelve months.
The coming year will mark the thirtieth anniversary of the incorporation by act of the Legislature, of the Young Men's Library Association of Worcester, an institution of which the Free Public Library may be said to be the successor and legatee. In its first annual report the Library Association stated that there were upon its shelves seventeen hundred and sixty-two volumes, about one-half of which had been acquired by purchase, and one-half by gift. Since 1860, the year in which the Library Association, owing to the well-remembered act of Dr. Green, was merged in the then newly created Free Public Library, the last named institution has enjoyed the two-fold advantage of an endowment and an annual grant from the public treasury.
To-day the number of bound volumes catalogued and reported is fifty-five thousand seven hundred and fifty-two. This is not a bad showing for only thirty years of accumulative effort; especially when it is remembered that for at least a third part of
360
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 37.
the period covered, the country was in a condition by no means favorable to the furtherance of such work as libraries under- take.
What the facts show is that the attitude of the City Govern- ment towards the Free Public Library has been, taking all things into account, a most generous and large-minded one, and the Directors are of opinion that they can ask of your honorable body nothing better than that the same enlightened liberality which has marked your provision for this important interest in years past, should be recognized as a settled feature of the city's administrative policy.
More and more generally, year by year, throughout the coun- try, the educational value of free libraries is coming to be acknowledged ; and it is an honor of which Worcester has reason to be proud, that she was among the first of the municipalities to share in the discovery.
In truth, the public library is but a more recent growth from the same root that first bore the public school. Both institutions have their origin in the conviction that a self-governed commu- nity, if it is to remain free, must be self-taught.
But at just what point shall the instruction given at public expense touch its outer limit and cease ? This has been recog- nized, from the beginning, as one of the most difficult of the questions that emerge in connection with popular education. In some parts of the country it has been argued that the State Uni- versity is the natural and logical supplement to the common schools of the towns; and that a youth has as much right to expect secondary as to demand primary education at the hands of the Commonwealth. Massachusetts has never favored this notion,-certainly not of late years; but, instead, has gone on, whether under the guidance of a conscious purpose, or by a happy, though unconscious inspiration, we need not ask, to create the true people's university in the establishment of the Free Public Library. It is the peculiar felicity of this mode of solv- ing the problem, that by adopting it we avoid the most formida- ble of all the arguments waged against furnishing the higher education at the public expense, namely : the plea that to single
361
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
out a few young men, or young women, with natural endowments exceptionally good, and to give them special advantages of training at the cost of the tax-payer, is unfair. The higher education to which the Free Public Library invites a community is obnoxious to no such cavil. It offers to all a fair field and no favor. If, among those whom the public schools have graduated, there are any whose minds are more than ordinarily good, here is the opportunity for making them better in a way of which no one has the right to be jealous. There is no partiality, no discrimination. A more thoroughly democratic device for giving even chances to all, and special privileges to none, could not be imagined. And it is quite con- ceivable that, here in Worcester, many a youth who devotes a fair share of his leisure, out of working hours, to self-improve- ment within the walls of the Library may, at forty, be able to show himself a better taught mau than many another who in earlier life enjoyed, at no little outlay of time and money, the advantages of a university education. This view of the matter ought especially to commend itself to the authorities of a manu- facturing city. With the universal use of labor-saving machinery is sure to come, sooner or later, a marked decrease in the amount of time that goes to make up a day's work. How these reclaimed hours are destined to be spent is one of the most anxious questions the public mind can ask itself when looking into the future. It would be foolish to expect all of them, or even the greater number of them, to be given to books and read- ing, but whether the fractional portion of time so devoted is to be greater or less, will largely depend upon the measure of attractiveness with which the city is willing to clothe its library. Already the institution has proved itself a great public educator, to an extent which could scarcely have been anticipated. "We trust," wrote Mr. Hoar in 1867, speaking in behalf of the Board of Directors, " We trust the time will come when the means at the disposal of the directors will be such that there will be no book to which any citizen really and earnestly desires access, which will not be supplied in one or other of the departments of the Library."
362
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 37.
It may be said, without boasting, but cannot be said without thanks, that the day thus happily predicted has fully come. It has now been for some time the settled usage of the Library to supply to readers, with the least possible delay, whatever works they may really need for the purposes of serious inquiry. For a city so dependent as ours must necessarily be on the intelligence of its people, in competition with rivals more advantageously situated with respect to tide-water and fuel, the value of such a reservoir of intellectual power as the Free Public Library can scarcely be overstated.
The fact that great pains are taken in our Worcester Library to further the efforts of those who come in search of definite information upon special topics wonderfully enhances the value of the books themselves, and adds weight to what has been said about the educational value of the institution.
At Oxford, a few weeks ago, at a meeting held to devise some suitable memorial of an eminent member of the University, lately deceased, it was decided that the very best thing to do would be to found a library, and in connection with it to provide an ample endowment for the maintenance of certain educated librarians, whose duty it should be personally to assist students in their investigations. The English are always fond of finding a precedent for whatever they do; and, in this instance, they discovered one in the case of the Ambrosian Library at Milan, which is, it seems, provided with a staff of librarians trained to aid readers. Had they looked westward instead of eastward in their search, these friends of good learning might have seen in the United States more than one instance of a library in which just such work as they had in mind is done to-day.
It will be observed with satisfaction, from the tabular state- ments contained in the Librarian's report, that there has been a steady growth for twelve years in the use of the Green Library for purposes of reference. His statistics are almost startling, - forty-eight thousand eight hundred and eighty times the books, he tells us, have been consulted this year. Mr. Poole puts on the title-page of the new edition of his Index to Periodical Literature, a Latin motto to the effect that to know where a bit
363
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
of information is to be found is the next best thing to having it actually in possession. It is plain from the Librarian's figures just quoted, that our citizens are growing to feel that they have in the Library building a resort as valuable to the community as the open dictionary to the family, a common and undisputed court of appeal.
The Directors invite your special attention to what is said in the Librarian's report with reference to the new catalogue now in process of publication, and to the recommendation of the Com- mittee on the Building, that a new floor be laid in those portions of the second story most exposed to wear.
In the words of commendation which Mr. Gaskill, speaking for the Committee on the Library, bestows on the Librarian and his assistants, for faithful service rendered, the Directors heartily concur.
It may be proper to mention, as a matter of historical interest, the pleasant interchange of courtesies, which, not for the first time, took place this year between the municipal authorities of the English Worcester and this Board. Through the instrumen- tality of Alderman Willis, who visited us in the autumn of 1881, a very valuable, because almost unique collection of books relat- ing to the topography and antiquities of Worcester, was for- warded to us in June.
The gift was duly acknowledged and the thanks of the Board returned to the givers.
It is by dint of just such kindly and unostentatious manifesta- tions of good-will as these that old-time alienations are forgotten, and national friendships cemented.
In behalf of the Directors.
WILLIAM R. HUNTINGTON,
President.
Worcester, December 26, 1882.
REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN
OF THE
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
To Rev. William R. Huntington, D. D., President of the Board of Directors of The Free Public Library.
I herewith present the twenty-third annual report of the librarian. It is the twelfth which I have prepared.
Following, will be found the tables usually contained in this report. They show the receipts and expenditures of the library, its accessions, the number of volumes used by readers and students and the extent of the use of the reading-rooms on Sunday, and record such other facts in the history of the library for the past year as it is our custom to call attention to.
The most noticeable feature of the work of the year has been the large increase in the use of the books in the reference department for purposes of consultation.
The number of volumes used here the past year is 48,846 as against 43,414 used in the previous year.
These books have been desired almost exclusively for serious purposes and represent a large amount of investigation by per- sons of all ages.
It may be safely said, I think, that in amount and variety the work done here in the reference department of the library is unique.
It is desirable to note occasionally the increase in the use of this department. Twelve years ago it was not used at all. The figures which represent its use during the last twelve years are as follows : 7,321, 12,408, 15,672, 20,550, 22,833, 27,694,
365
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
27,694, 30,079, 34,311, 40,866, 43,414, 48,846. In making a comparison between the record of the year now reported on and that of the earlier years, in which present plans were used, it should be borne in mind that there has not only been a large increase in the number of volumes used in the reference depart- ment from year to year but that the character of the books used has changed
Whereas when the new plans were adopted we had room enough to give out large numbers of volumes of illustrated papers and stories to be examined within the building, now we have to restrict users of the reference department to an almost exclusive use of books needed for study and serious reading.
The increase in the use of the reference department is inti- mately connected with the growth in the use of our library for purposes of consultation by teachers and pupils of the public and private schools and higher institutions of learning in which Worcester abounds.
For an account of improved methods of study introduced into the High School lately which have operated in adding to the use of the reference library I would refer readers to a paper read by me at a meeting of the American Library Association held in Cincinnati last May. The paper was published in a sub- sequent number of the Library Journal. I had a number of extra copies of the paper struck off and shall be happy to give them to persons who are interested in knowing about the school work which we are doing.
The entire circulation of the library for the past year has been 165,834 volumes, divided as follows : Circulating department, 114,845, Reference department 48,846, Sunday use 2,143.
The use of the Circulating department has increased during the year, but, as stated above, the marked increase has been, as usual, in the reference department. We can carry up the aggre- gate of books given out in the circulating department to any desired number by lowering the standard of books circulated. It has been the aim of the management of the library, however, not only to keep up the high standard already attained in litera- ture hitherto circulated but also to raise the standard as rapidly
366
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 37.
as the community would allow. Steps in this direction even more radical than those already taken will be adopted towards the close of the current year.
There has been an increase in the number of persons using the reading-rooms on Sunday during the past year as in every previous year since they have been open to the public.
The whole number of volumes now in the library is 55,752.
A list of givers is appended to this report. The library is much indebted to its friends.
Our thanks are due in this as in former years to The Boston Athenæuin, Harvard College Library, Yale College Library, the library of the Surgeon General's office, United States Army, and other institutions, for kindness in lending us books.
The Catalogues of books which circulate would have been nearly ready for the press at the present time had it not been for the protracted illness of the head of the cataloguing depart- ment. As it is, we have reached the work of final revision and Miss Earle is confident this will be finished by the first of April, when plans have been m'ade to go at once to press. If the city makes the needed appropriation, and I presume there is no doubt that it will after consideration of the importance to citi- zeus of a printed catalogue to books which can be taken to their homes, we expect to issue the latter part of this year a complete catalogue of all such books. The magnitude of the work needed in preparing this catalogue for the press will be realized when it is stated that the catalogue of 1870 was so poorly made that all the books in it had to be re-catalogued and that the new cata- logue, it is estimated, will make an octavo volume of 1,240 pages. It is expected that the catalogue when issued will con- tain the record of books added to the library up to the day of going to press, that is to say, up to about April 1st, and it is hoped that when it is issued it will not be more than six months old. This would be an excellent showing. The paper for the catalogue has been paid for out of the last year's appropriation and the next city government will only be asked for money enough to print the whole edition of 3,000 copies and to bind enough copies to supply the first demand for the work, say, 1,000 copies.
367
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The catalogue will be made on improved principles and, it is believed, will be found very useful. Great care has been taken to make it rich in subject entries.
.
I wish to repeat the statement made in last year's report of the Building Committee that the floors of the Green Library room and the Hall, and portions of the floor of the circulating department are worn out. It is to be hoped that the city gov- ernment will be able to appropriate such a sum of money as will be sufficient to pay for their renewal.
In conclusion I wish to thank the Board of Directors in behalf of the executive officers of the library for their kindness during the past and previous years and to reciprocate the expres- sions of respect and confidence which have marked their inter- course with the librarian and his assistants.
Following is my account of money collected for fines, &c., with a copy of the signatures of the members of the Finance Committee who have examined it :
City of Worcester, Free Public Library, Dec. 19th, 1882.
We have examined the librarian's account from December 1st, 1881, the date of the last settlement, and find it stands as follows :
·
Cash balance in librarian's hands Dec. 1st, 1881, $106 43
Received for fines, from the sale of catalogues and miscellaneous sources, 443 18
$549 61
Paid in return of temporary deposits, &c.,
$ 24 50
" Lewis W. Hammond, treasurer,
394 84
$419 34
Balance in librarian's hands Deo. 1st, 1882,
$130 27
$549 61
FRANCIS H. DEWEY, SAM'L D. NYE, L. W. HAMMOND,
Finance Committee, Directors of Free Public Library.
24
368
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 37.
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES.
RECEIPTS.
Municipal appropriation,
$12,000 00
Income from invested funds : Green Library Fund, Reading-room Fund,
$1,734 80
580 50
$2,315 30
Receipts from dog licenses,
2,676 37
66 66 fines,
375 49
sale of catalogues,
15 79
Payments for missing or damaged books,
1 77
Sale of condemned books,
1 86
Sundries,
23 77
Total,
$17,410 35
Cash on hand at last report :
Green Library Fund,
$1,629 99
Reading-room Fund,
472 99
Fines, catalogues, etc.,
106 43
$2,209 41
$19,619 76
EXPENDITURES.
BOOK ACCOUNT.
Books :
Green Library Fund,
$1,670 35
City appropriation,
3,334 55
Periodicals :
Green Library Fund,
$94 50
City appropriation,
74 41
Reading-room Fund,
740 95
Binding,
781 36
Repairs and additions, ·
$244 92
Furniture and fixtures,
30 35
Insurance,
302 50
Fuel,
299 05
Lights,
892 84
$8,465 78
$5,004 90
$909 86
BUILDING ACCOUNT.
369
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
SALARY ACCOUNT.
Administration (including wages of janitor),
$5,317 50
Cataloguing,
964 97
Extra service,
809 89
SUPPLY ACCOUNT.
Printing catalogues,
$1,323 31
Blanks and stationery,
147 79
Postage,
129 68
Paper covers (covering paper),
65 28
Sundries,
347 21
$17,571 41
Cash on hand, December 1, 1882 :
Green Library Fund,
$1,599 94
Reading-room Fund,
310 30
Money received for fines, sale of catalogues, etc.,
130 27
Municipal appropriation (transferred to the sinking fund), 7 84
$2,048 35
$19,619 76
ACCESSIONS.
Increase of volumes by purchase :
Green Library,
386
Intermediate department,
465
Circulating department,
1,672
2,523
Increase of volumes by gifts :
Green Library,
1
Intermediate department,
382
Circulating department,
41
Increase of volumes by binding pamphlets : Intermediate department,
6
Increase of volumes by binding periodicals : Green Library,
66
Intermediate department,
175
Circulating department,
10
Increase by placing unbound volumes of periodicals in the library : Green Library, 4
10
14
Number of missing volumes restored since last report : Circulating department,
1
3,219
251
Intermediate department,
424
370
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 37.
Number of volumes withdrawn since last report : Intermediate department, 7
Circulating department, 238
Number of volumes missing since last report :
Circulating department, 18
263
Net increase for the year,
2,956
Number of volumes in the library as last reported : Green Library,
20,109
Intermediate department,
11,161
Circulating department,
21,526
52,796
Total number of volumes in the library,
55,752
Increase of unbound pamphlets by purchase : Green Library, Intermediate department,
31
36
Increase of unbound pamphlets by gifts :
Green Library,
1
Intermediate department,
440
441
Total increase for the year,
477
Number of newspapers subscribed for :
Reading-room fund,
92
Number of newspapers given to the reading-room,
40
Number of magazines subscribed for : Reading room Fund,
72
Green Library Fund.
11
City funds, 18
101
Number of magazines given to the reading-room, 10
CIRCULATION.
Number of days the Circulating department was open, 308
Number of days the Reference department was open, 360
Number of days the lower Reading-room was open,
365
Number of volumes delivered for home use,
114,845
Number of volumes delivered for reference use,
48,846
Average daily use (home and reference), (Circulating department, 373, Reference department, 159), 531
245
5
FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 371
Largest daily use (home and reference), January 18,
1,261
(Largest in Circulating department, March 11, 886 volumes; in Reference department, January 18, 844 volumes.) Smallest daily use (home and reference), July 25, 210
(Smallest in Circulating department, Sept. 7 and 11, 147 volumes ; in Reference department, August 5, 14 volumes.)
Number of books lost and paid for : Circulating department, 4
Number of books lost, and not paid for : Circulating department, 14
Number of books worn out and withdrawn : Intermediate department, 7 Circulating department, 238
Number of notices to delinquents, 4,930
Number of volumes bound, 1,031
Number of names registered during the year,
1,698
Total number of names registered (a new registry made July 1, 1873), 21,768
SUNDAY USE.
The reading-rooms are open from 2 to 9 P. M.
Number of persons using the upper room,
4,872
Number of persons using the lower room,
10,074
Total number, 14,946
Average number of persons per Sunday using the rooms,
287
Largest Sunday attendance, February 19,
428
Smallest Sunday attendance, August 6,
113
Number of volumes delivered (for use within the building),
2,143
Average number of volumes delivered per Sunday,
41
SAMUEL S. GREEN, Librarian.
APPENDIX.
GIFTS TO THE LIBRARY.
DONORS.
Books.
Pamphlets
DONORS.
Books.
Pamphlets
Adams, Charles F., 1 sheet, Agassiz, A., Museum of Com- parative Zoology, Cambridge, Allen, Charles H.,
Allen, Edward G., London, Eng., 2 Allen, J. H., Cambridge, 1 calen- dar,
Allen, William F., Madison, Wis.,
7
2
American Antiquarian Society, American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Mis- sions,
American Institute of Mining Engineers,
1
American Iron and Steel Asso- ciation,
1
American Social Science Asso- ciation, through Mrs. Emily Talbot,
1 3
1 Brown, A. B., 4
1 Brown, Sylvester,
1 1
Anglim, James & Co., Washing- ton, D. C.,
2
1
Anonymous, 3 newspapers, 4 sheets, specimen sheet and plate, 1 card,
9
27 Chadwick, James R., Chamberlain, W. E.,
2
1
Anonymous, through Appleton & Co.,
1
Chaney, George L., 1 1
1
Appleton, Francis H.,
1 Chapin, Louisa T.,
Chicago Public Library,
1
1
Childs, George .W., Philadel- phia, Pa.,
1
1
2 Cincinnati Public Library, 2
1
Arundel Society,
1 Civil Service Reform Associa- 2 tion, New York, 1 tract,
2
Baker, Mrs. F. M., 1 sheet.
Clarke, Robert & Co., Cincin- nati, O., 1
Cobden Club, London, Eng., 7
Collet, C. D., London, Eng., folded sheet, 10 41
Barton, Wm. S.,
38
1 Concord Free Public Library,
Bassett, H. F., Waterbury, Ct.,
2 Beach, S. C., Bigelow Free Public Library,
1
1
8 Clinton,
1 1
1 Birmingham Free Libraries,
1 2 Bliss, E. F., Cincinnati, O., Boston, City of, 1
1 City Council, City Council, through 1 Mayor, the
5
Boston Athenæum, Boston Public Library, Boston University,
1
4 2 1
1
10 Bowdoin College,
2
Bradlee, C. D., Boston, 1 sheet.
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