USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Reading > Town of Reading Massachusetts annual report 1920 > Part 11
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Prin., Grade I . II . . .
Isabelle P. Kissock ...
Dean Academy.
1911
1200
11
9.7
9.1
90.5
..
..
III . .
...
..
..
..
...
...
..
VI
3
2.7
91.4
V ...
Glenna Dow
Hyannis Summer School.
1920
1050
33
21
20.5
91
..
..
I .. . .
..
..
.
..
.
II ....
..
..
I . .
.
.
..
III
.
IV
Margaret Whittier. ... ...
Salem Normal
1916
1050
5
4.9
4.3
89.2
12 3
11
10.4
93.6
..
..
. .
20
19.4
94
..
..
4
4
3.5
86.9
V
..
..
VI .
1918
38
36.7
90
IV
.
8
7.9
7
89.1
13
12
11.2
94.3
V . .
Annie Quillen.
92
96.2
172
21
SCHOOL COMMITTEE EXPENDITURES, 1920, 1919, 1918 Classified and Compared
Appropriation requested for 1921
Expended 1920
Expended 1919
Expended 1918
GENERAL ACCOUNT :
$ 90,000.00
1. Teachers' and Supt's. Salaries
$70,132.95
$47,609.71
$42,759.16
6,350.00
2. Janitors' Salaries
5,730.51
4,359.75
4,056.75
1,350.00
3. Other Salaries
Attendance Officer
300.00
350.00
250.00
Medical Inspection
350.00
100.00
150.00
650.00
450.00
400.00
3,000.00
4.
Transportation of Pupils
2,334.75
1,834.75
1,034.00
100.00
5. School Tuition
43.85
104.00
3,000.00
7. Supplies for Pupils
2,734.78
2,877.83
2,799.91
1,000.00
8. Apparatus for Teaching
1,363.16
630.01
529.83
1,000.00
9. General Expense .
Printing and Advertising
201.18
60.54
3.39
Office Supplies
155.06
217.06
186.64
Telephones
414.50
325.28
253.01
Graduation, Miscellaneous
175.99
311.44
84.05
Supt.'s Expense . .
5.00
Lectures, Public Meetings
3.00
·
Insurance
245.10
954.82
914.32
772.19
.
2,259.64
1,460.17
2,700.00
6. Books
.
.
·
.
SCHOOL COMMITTEE EXPENDITURES (Continued)
6,500.00
10. Fuel
5,265.54
6,575.53
6,160.17
2,850.00
11. Building Maintenance
Gas and Electricity
811.03
495.92
408.12
Water
487.64
371.15
437.30
Trucking etc.
425.00
475.07
225.79
Janitors' Supplies
1,122.76
487.95
511.51
2,846.43
1,830.09
1,582.72
5,000.00 12. Repairs
Buildings
4,658.41
2,398.70
2,500.55
Furniture
1,027.46
631.35
356.94
Grounds
335.51
297.90
145.57
6,021.38
3,327.95
3,003.06
$122,850.00 2,850.00
Receipts not from tax levy
2,427.43
2,531.30
$120,000.00
Net Cost
70,286.00
62,130.66
AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNT :
5,150.00
1. Teachers' Supt.'s & Janitors' salaries
4,242.26
3,460.00
3,056.33
400.00
2. Light, Fuel, Repairs .
264.82
602.50
622.33
450.00
3. Books, Apparatus, Supplies
723.31
723.74
$ 6,000.00
$ 4,507.08
$ 4,785.81
$ 4,402.46
·
.
·
.
$100,613.27
$72,713.43
$64,661.96
Appropriation requested for 1921 3,000.00
Expended 1920
Expended 1919 2,648.96
Expended 1918
Receipts not from tax levy
2,421.85
3,000.00
Net Cost
2,136.85
1.980.61
INDUSTRIAL TUITION ACCOUNT :
300.00
Tuition Paid
118.00
80.25
205.34
59.00
Reimbursement from State
97.81
241.00
Net Cost
107.53
176
GENERAL ACCOUNT
TRANSPORTATION :
Street Railways:
Eastern Mass. Street Railway Co. .. $ 1,200.00
Automobiles :
C. A. Adams
405.00
George H. Adams
180.00
Horace Fifield
156.25
J. T. Lovell
240.00
Rolland L. Perry
16.00
G. F. Wood
137.50
$ 2,334.75
BOOKS:
American Book Co.
58.34
American Railway Express Co.
16.25
D. Appleton & Co.
18.93
Atlantic Monthly Press Co.
.65
F. J. Barnard & Co.
172.84
Ed. E. Babb & Co.
243.63
Bruce Publishing Co.
5.50
Century Co.
9.00
Cummings' Express
26.10
P. R. Dillon Publishing Co.
2.00
Oliver Ditson Co.
43.01
E. P. Dutton
11.05
Ginn & Co.
318.69
Gregg Publishing Co.
25.47
J. L. Hammett Co
3.09
C. S. Hammond & Co.
14.32
Harvard University
7.27
D. C. Heath & Co.
343.90
Houghton, Mifflin Co.
120.31
Iroquois Publishing Co.
.96
Charles E. Lauriat Co.
64.04
J. B. Lippincott Co.
18.96
Little, Brown & Co.
7.08
Lyons & Carnahan
49.29
Macmillan Co.
104.82
Mass. Child Labor Com.
10.00
G. & C. Merriam Co.
24.00
Charles E. Merrill Co.
10.64
National Edu. Association
5.00
National Express
5.79
National Geographic Society
16.50
Old Corner Book Store
133.83
Peirce & Co.
5.00
.
177
Pearson & Marsh, Inc.
34.50
J. W. Pepper & Son
3.00
Rand, McNally & Co.
11.41
Benj. G. Sanborn & Co.
80.31
Schoenhof's French Book Shop
9.23
School Arts Magazine
2.00
Scott, Foresman & Co.
18.47
Charles Scribner's Sons
18.37
A. W. Shaw Co.
3.60
Silver, Burditt & Co.
69.41
F. H. Thomas & Co.
5.00
John Wiley & Son
1.20
Williams Book Stores
10.00
J. Albert Wilson
1.50
John C. Winston Co.
86.50
World Book Co.
326.15
$ 2,578.96
SUPPLIES FOR PUPILS :
Adams Company
5.28
The Amigraph Co.
5.46
American Railway Express
6.72
. Atlantic Chem. Co.
3.57
G. H. Atkinson Co.
20.97
Edw. E. Babb Co.
420.77
Milton, Bradley & Co.
61.37
Brewer & Co.
3.31
College Entrance Exam. Bd.
1.50
Cummings' Express
34.28
Dennison Mfg. Co.
6.39
Eastern Drug Co.
3.52
Francis Bros.
33.51
Ginn & Co.
184.98
J. L. Hammett Co.
479.34
Howe & French
125.17
Iroquois Publishing Co.
4.80
Jones, McDuffee & Stratton
4.21
Kenney Bros. & Wolkins'
243.00
L. E. Knott Appliance Co.
149.33
Helen A. Lengyel
1.25
J. B. Lippincott Co.
20.29
Lynn Sporting Goods Co.
9.80
H. B. McArdle
85.60
Macey-Morris Co.
80.00
B. L. Makepeace .
2.00
Manifold Mfg. Co. .
5.50
.
2.00
Univers'y of Chicago (Dept. of Edu.)
178
Mass. Tuberculosis League
14.92
H. M. Meserve & Co.
91.27
Metcalf Store
39.46
Millers Falls Co.
1.75
J. Minihan
3.55
F. H. Thomas .
2.00
National Express Co.
.
6.49
Palmer & Parker Co.
81.38
The Horace Partridge Co.
3.10
Thos. E. Sanders
25.00
School Arts Magazine
.50
Song Shop
3.90
The Survey
4.00
Univ. of Chicago Bk. Store
41.66
Wadsworth, Howland Co., Inc.
17.87
Wales Adding Machine Co.
.87
F. Wallace
244.23
Ward's
38.55
Whitall, Tatum Co.
22.71
W. H. Willis
69.30
A. J. Wilkinson & Co.
11.23
Wright & Ditson
2.00
Wright & Potter Printing Co. . .
7.12
$ 2,734.78
APPARATUS FOR TEACHING:
American City
4.25
Edw. E. Babb
53.20
Joseph Breck
5.26
James W. Brine Co.
31.50
Columbia Graphaphone Co.
.95
Ginn & Co.
12.76
Harvard Co-operative Store
22.62
Iroquois Publishing Co.
3.70
Kenney Bros. & Wolkins
83.94
L. E. Knott App. Co.
74.48
Lynn Sporting Goods Co.
21.35
Model Typewriter Co.
148.75
Royal Typewriter Co.
613.15
A. J. Nystrom & Co.
15.03
A. T. Thompson
9.75
Wales Adding Machine Co.
225.00
Whitall, Tatum Co.
25.37
A. J. Wilkinson & Co. . .
12.09
.
.
$ 1,363.15
179
GENERAL EXPENSE:
Graphic Duplicate Co.
19.50
H. B. McArdle
103.00
Macey-Morris Co.
4.00
H. M. Meserve
8.50
Reading Chronicle
13.75
Wadsworth, Howland & Co.
2.75
Ward's
.50
Wright & Potter Co.
3.06
Printing and Advertising:
W. E. & J. F. Twombly
201.08
Telephones :
N. E. Tel. & Tel. Co.
414.59
Graduation and Miscellaneous:
Adams Co.
.73
Edward E. Babb
18.20
Milton, Bradley Co.
14.40
M. F. Charles
16.35
Frost & Adams Co.
3.00
M. Adeline Lahaise
18.20
Jewell & Andrews
87.00
National Educ. Assoc.
5.00
Oval & Koster
5.75
Reading Chronicle
7.36
Superintendent's Expenses :
National Educ. Assn
5.00
Law Enforcement:
3.00
$ 954.82
FUEL:
C. I. Batchelder
20.00
W. Bancroft & Co.
317.31
Municipal Light Board
3,529.15
P. N. Sweetser
929.08
O. P. Symonds & Son
460.00
Charles Wakefield
10.00
.
$ 5,265.54
BUILDING MAINTENANCE:
Gas and Electricity :
Malden & Melrose Gas Lt. Co.
135.15
Municipal Light Board
675.88
$ 811.03
Water:
Reading Water Works
477.64
S. L. Thompson
10.00
.
-
$ 487.64
Macey-Morris Co.
180
Trucking Ashes, Etc .:
Stanley Andrews
10.00
Donald Briggs
10.00
Cummings' Express
19.35
John Goff & Co.
4.22
E. C. Hanscom
17.00
P. N. Sweetser
356.08
F. O. Wyman
2.50
Angelo Zanni
. .
-
$ 425.00
Janitors' Supplies :
American Railway Express Co.
1.49
G. H. Atkinson & Co.
2.17
Milton, Bradley & Co.
37.52
Bruce Publishing Co.
7.70
A. & E. Burton Co.
58.00
Cummings' Express Co.
1.00
H. I. Dallman Co.
239.99
A. W. Danforth
1.50
T. C. Fife
1.75
N. C. Hayner Co.
135.65
Hodge Boiler Works
5.25
Hodson Bros.
9.59
J. B. Hunter
4.95
F. M. Jameson
48.00
H. B. McArdle
45.00
Masury-Young Co.
170.30
S. R. Stembridge
102.65
Uncle Hiram's
15.00
F. Wallace
160.13
West Disinfecting Co.
45.00
G. H. Worcester & Co.
30.12
$ 1,122.76
REPAIRS :
Buildings :
Allen Bros.
4.00
Allen Shade Holder
91.29
Wendell, Bancroft & Co.
26.72
Carpenter-Morton Co ..
.45
Chamberlain Metal Weather Strip Co.
40.00
R. D. Clapp
115.40
Clapp & Leach
93.02
Cummings" Express
4.60
Devoe & Reynolds Co.
·
34.95
Louis Elmwood
38.80
Farley, Harvey & Co.
20.02
5.85
181
T. C. Fife
1,167.08
Francis Bros.
166.50
E. C. Hanscom
7.05
Hodge Boiler Works
181.35
Hodson Bros.
112.40
B. J. Leathers
91.35
J. M. Maxwell, Jr.
1.60
J. M. Maxwell & Son
152.09
Pettingill & Andrews
46.69
Standard Elec. Time Co.
13.52
Stewart & Robertson
1,961.97
P. N. Sweetser
225.00
A. J. Wilkinson & Co. . . . . 62.56
$ 4,658.41
Furniture :
Edward E. Babb & Co.
14.80
F. M. Crosby
86.50
Isaiah Crosby
4.00
Cummings' Express
25.31
Heywood Bros. & Wakefield Co. 755.76
Hodson Bros.
56.63
Kenney Bros. & Wolkins
4.06
Morandi-Proctor Co.
15.06
James A. Murphy
3.00
F. D. Sperry .
52.92
Stewart & Robertson
9.42
.
$ 1,027.46 .
Grounds :
J. Breck & Sons
1.11
R. P. Burgess
17.50
R. D. Clapp
1.45
Mathew Devaney
107.00
William Kelch
9.00
E. A. Meekins
65.25
Theodore Surette
6.00
A. T. Thompson & Co.
107.20
John N. Weston
16.00
Angelo Zanni
5.00
$ 335.51
AGRICULTURAL ACCOUNT
BOOKS:
DeWolfe & Fiske
8.35
Doubleday, Page & Co.
2.00
182
Hoard's Dairyman
4.00
J. P. Lippincott Co. .
19.25
Old Corner Book Store
11.67
$ 45.27
SUPPLIES FOR PUPILS:
W. Bancroft & Co.
37.61
J. Breck & Sons
38.55
Fottler, Fiske & Rawson
11.60
Ralph Harris & Co.
1.17
Hub Wire Cloth & Wire Work Co.
33.00
Fred M. Smith
17.42
$ 139.35
APPARATUS FOR TEACHING:
A. J. Wilkinson
17.94
Wright-Zeigler Co.
12.26
$ 30.20
REPAIRS :
Brooks, Gill & Co.
50.00
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS
TUITION :
Town of Wakefield
118.00
183
REPORT OF PUBLIC LIBRARY
The Trustees of the Public Library submit the following report: ORGANIZATION OF THE BOARD
The organization of the Trustees was effected at the beginning of the year by the choice of Mr. Wadlin as chairman and of Mr. Mansfield as secretary.
EXPENSES OF THE LIBRARY
Following is a condensed financial statement:
Appropriation, Direct Tax, 1920:
Salaries
$1,200.00
Maintenance
1,875.00
Total, from tax levy
$3,075.00
Balance, re-appropriated
134.38
Refund
1.25
Total available appropriation
$3,210.63
EXPENDED
Salaries: Librarian, assistants and janitor
$1,216.89
Books and periodicals including re-binding
1,219.41
Printing and stationery, etc.
83.03
Fuel, light and water
513.43
Repairs, etc.
108.88
Miscellaneous expense
39.97
$3,181.61
Balance unexpended
$ 29.02
The item "repairs, etc." includes the cost of constructing and placing concrete stepping stones across the front of the building to connect with the new brick walk which had previously been completed at the Municipal Building. This expense amounted to $77.90.
The mounting cost of everything during recent years has affect- ed us, as well as every other town department. For example, books which used to cost $1.00 net now cost $1.80, and periodicals and other supplies have advanced in proportion. At the same time the use of the library is constantly increasing, as it ought to increase, and it is only by the exercise of most careful economy that we have been
184
able to get through the year without exceeding our appropriation. Fuel, as everybody knows, draws heavily from the annual budget whether it be for domestic or public uses. This item touches every- body who has to maintain a house, and it will be understood how serious a problem it presents to us, working, as we always are, under a segregated budget, offering little margin for exceptional and not wholly foreseen increases.
Nevertheless we have completed the year without a deficit, and rely upon the town to consider present conditions in passing upon the ap- propriation for the coming year in order that there may be no re- duction in the service of the library, and that the necessity of merely marking time may be avoided, when we ought to be making progress commensurate with our present resources.
Upon this point we again state, since repetition may be neces- sary to keep the fact clearly in mind, that the cost of the library is an almost negligible factor in the determination of the tax rate. For example, in 1920 the total amount of real and personal estate assessed April first was $9,196,445, and the total tax assessed at that date (exclusive of the fixed amount raised on polls and the special tax collected on moth work) was $283,250.98; the rate being $30.80 per $1,000. Had no appropriation whatever been made for the library, the tax rate would have been $30.46. That is, the entire expense of the library, in this period of high prices, amounted to but 34 cents on a $1,000 of the real and personal property subject to taxation by the town.
The net cost of the library to the town is however actually less than appears from the amount of the direct appropriation, since re- ceipts from fines, etc., income of the department paid into the treas- ury amounted to $217.00, and the amount of residue of dog tax re- ceived by the treasury from the county, which as a matter of book- keeping appears in the gross receipts of the town, amounted to $707.66.
This dog tax money is (under the provisions of law) applicable, to the library, and in Reading the library has always received it di- rectly, or, under the present method of accounting, its equivalent. These two items of money received keep the general tax rate down, and in effect offset an amount of library expense by which the actual net cost of the library to the town is reduced to $2,150.34; and this is equivalent to 23 cents on a $1,000 of real and personal property taxable by the town.
Strictly speaking therefore, and allowing for the credits of li- brary receipts and dog tax money, this means that for every $30.80 paid in taxes last year, only 23 cents was due to the cost of the li- brary; or, to put it in another way, every tax payer who paid taxes on property valued at $3,500, which is, perhaps an average amount, paid in all $107.80; but on account of the library paid in direct tax but $1.19 and in net cost but seventy and one-half cents.
185
Here are some interesting figures for comparison. In the years 1914-15-16, the library had no building of its own. It was operating in a rather crude way, forced upon us by the necessity of using the only available premises in town, for which we paid annually a con- siderable part of our income. The library was open to the public 16 hours each week, and the circulation of volumes for home use was 22,868 in 1914.
In 1920 we have the new building, properly planned for library purposes, entirely devoted to library needs, convenient, commodious, centrally located, and an architectural accession of value to the town, apart from its importance to the library itself. The library is open 23 hours each week, some part of every day except Friday and Sun- day. The circulation of volumes for home use in 1920 was 34,048. Now here is the interesting point:
The change has been effected without increasing the cost of main- tenance to the individual tax payer. Allowing for the offsets in di- rect cost, by reason of dog tax and fine receipts in each year com- pared, the average cost chargeable against the tax levy, for the three years 1914-15-16 was 23 cents per $1,000 of taxable property as val- ued by the assessors. In 1920, as shown above, the cost similarly fig- ured was also 23 cents per $1,000.
In other words, although the general tax rate was $19.20 per $1,000 in 1914; $20.50 in 1915; and $20.60 in 1916; rising to $30.80 in 1920; the net cost of the library as reflected in the tax rate, has not risen, while the number of hours open has been increased nearly 44 percent; and the number of volumes circulated for home use, in 1920 as compared with 1914, has increased nearly 49 percent. The service the library is now giving, especially in facilities for reading in the building, and in connection with the pupils of the schools, is also proportionately greater than in 1914 although it cannot be ex- pressed in percentages.
Whatever has caused the tax rate to increase, it has not been affected by the annual cost of maintenance of the library, or, as some persons feared it would be, by the occupancy of the new building. It would not have been a matter open to just criticism, we believe, if, under the present satisfactory and improved conditions as com- pared with those formerly accepted because unavoidable, the cost had somewhat increased. That it has remained substantially uniform when figured in its relations to the tax rate, is of course gratifying to the Trustees, as we think it must be to the town. It varies a few cents per $1,000 of valuation, up or down, from year to year, but in our comparison we have taken an average of three consecutive years under the old conditions, thus eliminating the slight yearly variation, and have also used the year covered by this report, when the rou- tine in the new building has became settled, although every item
186
entering into the expense of 1920 has been affected by the abnormal price level of the present.
It is, however, true that the cost of maintaining a public library, like the cost of the public schools, has direct relation to the character of the service rendered, and is not to be measured wholly by the ac- tual dollars spent. The library could easily be subjected to an un- wise effort to save money by impairing its efficiency. To operate fewer hours, to do less for the children, to buy fewer new books-this would save money, but the loss in efficiency would be greater than would appear in dollars saved. More money than we are likely to be able to spend might be spent to advantage; and the failure to oper- ate the library with reasonable regard to its power to operate,- that is, to fail to utilize its resources as far as practicable, would be as unwise, and really as uneconomical, as to permit a manufacturing plant to lie idle or to run on half-time when that could be prevented. In either case capital which has been invested would remain unpro- ductive. This is a homely illustration, but we think the analogy is fairly drawn, and will be accepted as an approximate statement, at least, of the truth.
We have dwelt upon the point of the minor expenses of the li- brary, relative to the other expenses of the town; especially as re- lated to the tax rate, and of the record which has been made of in- crease in service without materially lifting the cost per $1,000 of taxable property, not only that the town may be fully informed upon these matters, but because we ask for a slight increase in our ap- propriation for 1921, to be devoted to purposes hereinafter mentioned. This increase however will not materially affect the status of the library, as reflected in the comparisons we have made.
ADDITIONS TO THE LIBRARY
Volumes in library, close of 1919
10,265
Volumes bought, including replacements 492
Received by gift 70
10,827
Worn out, and not replaced
226
Total number of volumes, Dec. 31, 1920
10,601
The volumes purchased include 125 in the class "fiction, for adults", and 29 "Juvenile fiction". 166 "non-fiction," adults, and 48 "non-fiction", juvenile. The gifts include 22 public documents (state and national).
187
USE OF THE LIBRARY
Volumes borrowed for home use
34,048
Increase over previous year
1,425
Largest monthly circulation, March
3,233
Smallest, August
2,417
Number of new borrowers registered
448
RECEIPTS OF THE LIBRARY
These include :
Fines, etc., collected (for over-detention of books, chiefly) .. $207.81
Waste paper, etc., sold
5.35
Cash on hand, Jan. 1, 1920
13.92
Paid to Town Treasurer
217.00
Balance on hand
$ 10.08
The Librarian reports :
"In the summer the Massachusetts Woman's Educational Asso- ciation lent to the library a set of pictures of birds and fish, which was placed on exhibition for several weeks.
"The vertical file case delivered last spring has proved useful in making easily available the many State and United States pam- phlets received. Some of the questions asked by High School pu- pils could be answered only by the use of this material, reference work which in previous years it has not been possible to perform quick- ly. There has been a much greater use of the library for reference work by the pupils of the High and Junior High Schools, so that on many days the services of both the librarian and the assistant have been constantly required. During the slack time in summer and whenever opportunity has occurred, the librarian has been occupied with the re-classifying of the books by the decimal system, as sug- gested last year. All the poetry has been re-classified, also the few books we have on psychology, home economics and hygiene, and a start has been made on biography. In the last named class about 160 volumes have been re-classified, bringing together all biographies of any person, regardless of author, an advantage both to librarian and the public.
"In doing this work the more popular books and those used for reference work have been re-classified first, and the plan of dis- playing these, as re-catalogued, on the desk near the entrance, has brought some of them into active circulation.
"The librarian attended the summer meeting of Massachusetts Librarians at the Isles of Shoals, and also the library institute held at Simmons College in July. At the institute meetings there were
$227.08
188
helpful lectures on children's books, given by Miss Hunt, superin- tendent of the Children's Department of the Brooklyn Public Li- brary, who also distributed classified lists of good books for children, from which the librarian has made a selection recently purchased, with others reserved for purchase in the future."
USE OF THE LECTURE ROOM
The Lecture room in the basement of the Library building has been used by the civics class (under direction of the Woman's Club) and by various committees of the club; by the Girl Scout Council; the College Club; and for a public musical recital and lecture by Miss Copp. Also, during the fall, a class on American Citizenship has met in the room, promoted by Miss Cora Jaquith and conducted by the University Extension Department of the Commonwealth.
The story hour for children is also held here.
For the information of the public it may be well to state the conditions governing the use of the Lecture Room. These conditions are not altogether fixed by the Trustees but depend primarily upon the use to which the building itself is dedicated, namely, that of a free public library. The gift accepted by the town of the prin- cipal part of its cost determines that, if there were no other consid- erations. Therefore:
1. Like any department of the library it is free, under proper regulations made or to be made by the Trustees. Hence there is no fee for its use.
2. Its use is subject at all times to the control of the librarian, acting in the exercise of her discretion, as the executive of the Trus- tees.
3. It is not to be used for controversial, partisan or sectarian purposes, or for those which are not educational in their general character, or for purposes which would interfere with the quiet and convenient operation of the library proper, or discommode its pat- rons.
4. The lectures, readings or other functions given there are to be free to the public, that is, not for private profit or controlled by an admission fee. In the case of classes for instruction this does not prevent a nominal charge to cover cost of materials or to ensure the constant attendance of members.
It will be plain from the foregoing that the Lecture Room is not a public hall, as that term is generally used, but is a department of the library. The Trustees are necessarily the arbiters of what may be carried on there. They wish however to promote the use of the room in accordance with this general statement of policy, thereby making the library, as a whole, of the greatest possible public benefit
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as an educational institution. They will therefore permit its use whenever they may consistently do so.
BUDGET FOR 1921
When the rate of pay of the janitor of the new building was fixed at $9.00 per week, in conjunction with the Selectmen's arrange- ment for paying for the care of the Municipal Building, the library being charged with its proportionate share of the janitor service re- quired on both buildings, the janitor in our case was expected to pay for certain extra cleaning, as required, at rates then prevailing for such work. These rates have since increased considerably and until now the janitor has borne the increased expense, thereby reducing to an equivalent extent the amount left for his personal compensation. We think this hardly fair to him, and therefore we have included in our salary budget for the year 1921 the sum of $1.00 per week, raising the amount paid him from $9.00 to $10.00 in order that he may meet the increased cost of the extra cleaning mentioned, with- out diminishing his own compensation below the sum fixed when the original agreement was made.
The pay of the Assistant Librarian has heretofore, ever since an assistant was required, been based upon hourly rates. At first only part time service was required and the arrangement seemed equit- able. Now however, and especially since the new building has been occupied, comparatively regular and continuous service is needed. No recent increase in the rate per hour has been made, and it remains at 25 cents, sufficient for a young and inexperienced person, but ob- viously wholly inadequate for the sort of service now demanded, and out of proportion to rates paid for clerical or even untrained work of any kind. We wish to pay the Assistant hereafter either a fixed annual salary or an hourly rate more nearly in accordance with the kind of work performed.
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