/HE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 
 
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 OF THE 
 
 NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY. 
 
 f 
 
 REPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE 
 
 MADE TO THE TRUSTEES JANUARY 9, 1879 
 
 REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN OF THE GENERAL LIBRARY. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS. 
 
 1879. 
 
THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT 
 
 OF THE 
 
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 T T 'W w-r-! • 
 
 LIBRARY. 
 
 EEPOET OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE 
 
 MADE TO THE TRUSTEES JANUARY 9, 1S79 
 
 ON TIIE 
 
 REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN OF THE GENERAL LIBRARY. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 CHARLES VAN BENTHUYSEN & SONS. 
 
 1879 . 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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 https://archive.org/details/futuredevelopmen00newy_1 
 
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 CONTENTS. 
 
 Recital of Resolution of Trustees of January 11, 1878. 4 
 
 Report of the Select Committee on Librarian Homes’s Report, January 9, 1879, 5 
 
 Ordinances of the Trustees, January 10, 1879. 12 
 
 Report of the Librarian of the General Library, January 11, 1878. 14 
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
RECITAL OF RESOLUTION OF TRUSTEES OF JANUARY 11, 1878. 
 
 In Board of Regents, \ 
 January 11, 1878. \ 
 
 On motion of Mr. Hale : 
 
 Resolved , That the report of the Librarian of the General Library, this 
 day submitted to the board, be referred to a select committee of five to 
 be appointed by the Chancellor; that said committee be instructed to 
 consider the questions suggested by said report and such other questions 
 as they may deem important as to the future management, development 
 and character of the library; to obtain, as fully as may be practicable, 
 information as to the management and character of other leading libra¬ 
 ries of the country, and to report fully to this board at an early day. 
 
 The Chancellor appointed as such committee, Regents Hale, Upson, 
 Brevoort, Curtis, Fitch. 
 
R E P O R T. 
 
 To the Regents of the University of the State of New York: 
 
 The special committee, appointed under the resolution of which a copy 
 is hereto annexed, respectfully report: 
 
 That at several meetings they have had under consideration the sub¬ 
 ject referred to them; that they have consulted the Secretary of the 
 Regents and the librarians of the general and law departments of the 
 library, and have been largely aided by their suggestions; that they 
 have given careful consideration to the matters submitted to them, so far 
 as they are covered by the several heads below indicated, and they sub¬ 
 mit the following views and recommendations under such several heads : 
 
 FIRST. 
 
 The first and most important question discussed in the report of the 
 librarian, which was the occasion of the raising of your committee, and 
 which was made by your resolution the foundation of your committee’s 
 action, relates to the future development and character of the library 
 and the objects for which it is to be maintained. 
 
 The very full and satisfactory discussion of this topic by Mr. Homes 
 in his report obviates any necessity for your committee to go at length 
 over the same ground. They therefore confine themselves to the expres¬ 
 sion of the following opinions and recommendations : 
 
 The scope of the law department of the library has been and should 
 continue to be a broad one. This now stands among the very first libra¬ 
 ries of the country. It is believed to be nearly, if not quite, complete in 
 its collection of law reports of the federal courts of the United States, of 
 the highest courts of the several States and of Great Britain, as well as 
 of the statutes of the several States. These make up its greatest value, 
 and of these reports and statutes its collection should be made and kept 
 absolutely complete. 
 
 In addition to these, all really standard elementary works touching 
 all departments of municipal law within Great Britain and the United 
 States, together with a reasonable supply of digests, books of practice 
 and hand-books of like character should be kept up. Outside of these 
 the law library, to maintain its proper standing as a completely ap¬ 
 pointed law library, should contain the leading authorities upon subjects 
 of international and ecclesiastical law, the Roman law, and the laws of 
 the modern continental nations of Europe, especially of France, Ger¬ 
 many, Holland and the free cities. A law library is valuable only as it 
 
6 
 
 is complete and all-embracing in volumes liable to be cited by way of 
 authority or illustration. 
 
 As to the general department of the library, the line of policy to be 
 pursued in its development, its management, and its proposed ultimate 
 object, is not perhaps capable of quite so clearly defined rules. Your 
 committee submit the following views : 
 
 To make this a universal or encyclopedic library is simply out of the 
 question. No appropriation which could be expected from the legisla¬ 
 tive authorities would cover the expense of an universal collection of 
 publications through the wide range of literature, science and the arts, 
 including the enormous mass of periodical literature, general and special. 
 No manning and equipment of the library, likely to be authorized by 
 the Legislature, would suffice for the management and handling of such 
 a library. 
 
 On the other hand, no good reason can be urged for making or seek¬ 
 ing to make the library in any just sense a special one, as devoted to 
 science in general or in any of its branches to the fine arts or the 
 useful arts, to philosophy, history or belles-lettres. 
 
 The report of the librarian fully and fairly exhibits the purposes 
 of the library in the view of its original founders, and of those who 
 have had it in charge from its foundation to the present time. These 
 purposes are neither universal nor in a strict sense special. But 
 they indicate a line of special or preferred use as clearly marked from 
 first to last in the history of the library. 
 
 First, as an aid to officers of the government,'legislative, executive, 
 administrative and judicial. Special prominence is, and ought to be, 
 given to the whole range of publications included under the general head 
 of political and social science. Whatever pertains to the science of 
 government in its broadest sense has a peculiar and special place in a 
 library designed for the aid of those who are to administer government. 
 Second, in a “ State ” library, whatever illustrates the history, character, 
 resources and development of the State, past, present and future, should 
 be peculiarly the subject of collection and preservation. 
 
 This includes a wide range, for the history of the State involves, to a 
 large extent, the history of the United States, and of our sister States ; 
 of our neighbors upon this continent; and of Great Britain, Holland, Ger¬ 
 many and France, the Spanish peninsula and Scandinavia, who have 
 contributed, in greater or less degree, to our population, our manners 
 and our laws. In a sense not too broad, the history of the State includes 
 all that touches its geological formation, its geography, its agricultural 
 and mineral resources, its commerce and manufactures, its intellectual 
 development and career, its religious, moral and educational systems, 
 and the life and course of each of them; in short, everything which 
 illustrates the political organization which we call the State, the terri¬ 
 tory which it includes, the people who inhabit it and the products of 
 
their physical and intellectual energies; the whole range of animal and 
 vegetable life ; of the fruits of human industry, and of the good or evil 
 results of human life found in its past career or present condition. 
 
 These two general heads, political and social science, and the State 
 history in its broadest sense, including all that throws light upon the 
 history, condition and character of the State and its inhabitants, seem to 
 your committee to constitute the special subjects upon which the library 
 should be made a full and comprehensive one. In this connection, your 
 committee desire especially to note their appreciation of the importance 
 of liberal collection and preservation of the periodical publications of the 
 State, general and special, including largely the files of State news¬ 
 papers, which illustrate so fully the daily life of the community. 
 
 Taking these as the subjects to which the library is to be more espe¬ 
 cially devoted, it will of course be understood that these special lines of 
 collection, comprehensive as they are, will not be exclusive of all others. 
 English literature must be liberally represented, but its representation 
 ought ordinarily to be confined to what are recognized as standard or 
 classic works, or new publications of unquestioned merit. The same 
 may be said of French and German literature, and of the Latin and 
 Greek classics and their translations, and of scientific works of general 
 interest. In short, it is not proposed to exclude by any general and in¬ 
 flexible rule anything which, in the judgment of the trustees, may be 
 desirable to aid the legislator, the officer of government, or the general 
 scholar, in the accumulation of valuable knowledge, outside of the spe¬ 
 cialities which can properly be pursued only with the aid of special 
 collections. 
 
 SECOND. 
 
 Intimately and directly connected with this question, as to the charac¬ 
 ter of the library in respect of its material and composition, is the ques¬ 
 tion as to the practical use of its several departments. 
 
 In regard to the law department, it seems to your committee to be 
 sufficient to-say that the Legislature has declared it to have been “ estab¬ 
 lished for the use of the officers of the government, the courts and the 
 bar, as a library in which shall be gathered books to which such officers 
 may be required to refer, in the exercise of their duties.” (Session 
 Laws of 1861, p. 831.) 
 
 This declaration is authoritative, and the direction given in the same 
 statute by the Legislature to the trustees to “ limit its use to such per¬ 
 sons and officers, especially during the sessions of the Legislature and 
 terms of the courts,” is and should be controlling. 
 
 The ordinary and habitual use of the library room as a study hall, 
 and of its volumes as text-books for law students, is, in the opinion of 
 your committee, inconsistent with the purposes of the library and with 
 the expressed will of the Legislature in relation to it, and should be at 
 once and finally prohibited. 
 
8 
 
 As to the general department of the library, its special devotion in the 
 first instance, to the use of the Legislature and the officers of the State, 
 has already been noted. This use must of necessity be without restric¬ 
 tion, except as limited by law, and may properly be taken to include 
 the recreation of the legislator or officer, as well as the subjects of his 
 graver study and investigation. 
 
 Beyond this use, it seems to your committee that anything in the 
 nature of a popular use of the library for general and indiscriminate 
 reading, is quite inconsistent with the ends and purposes of the library, 
 as well as with its manning and equipment, thus far provided by the 
 Legislature. 
 
 Manifestly, no one will contend that it can be used as a circulating 
 library. Such use is effectually prohibited by the statute. (1 R. S. 216, 
 §§ 6, 7, 8; Laws of 1845, ch. 85, § 1; Laws of 1848, ch. 262, § 3.) 
 
 Of course it can be used then as a library of popular reading, only by 
 a reading-room use. Such use is impracticable in the present library 
 to any but a very limited extent, for the want of room, if no other ob¬ 
 jection existed. 
 
 This objection may, of course, be obviated to a large extent in the new 
 library, when completed, if it be desirable that such use of the library 
 be encouraged or permitted. But is such use desirable ? 
 
 To put the State Library to such use is substantially to make it for 
 the city of Albany a substitute for the local popular libraries which 
 every considerable city and almost every considerable village in this 
 country provides for its own inhabitants. 
 
 Such use of the library is, in the opinion of your committee, quite in¬ 
 consistent with the aim and plan of this library of the State. This 
 library is intended as a permanent one, in respect of the individual vol¬ 
 umes upon its shelves, as well as of its general character. Not that the 
 volumes are to be kept closed and locked, but that they are to be used 
 only for such purposes of reference and consultation for specific purposes, 
 aside from the general use specifically named in the statutes, as shall 
 leave them substantially uninjured and in fit condition for consultation 
 after the lapse of years, or of generations even. 
 
 A popular library for general reading exacts a use of books quite 
 alien in character to such a use as this. It ordinarily would require a 
 large duplication of popular books, where our practice and our resources 
 permit the purchase of but a single copy. And it rapidly reduces the 
 volumes so used to a condition which renders them worthless for a library 
 of reference. 
 
 Again, such a use of the library to be anything of general value, in¬ 
 volves of necessity a complete re-organization of the managing force of 
 the library, and a large increase of expenditure in its management. 
 
 It may be a matter of some difficulty and delicacy always to draw the 
 line between the general and indiscriminate reader, and the person 
 
9 
 
 using the library as one of reference, for proper and legitimate inquiry 
 and investigation; but with reasonable tact and discretion on the part 
 of the officers in charge, aided by the sufficient publication of a brief 
 and comprehensive general rule on the subject, it is believed that the 
 matter will not be found to involve practical difficulties to any large 
 extent. 
 
 In regard to the management of the library in the purchase of books, 
 and the expenditure of the annual appropriation for its use, your com¬ 
 mittee recommend that the power of the librarian of the general and 
 law departments of the library respectively be enlarged, so as to give to 
 them respectively the control, subject to such general regulations as may 
 be established by the trustees, of proportionate shares of the annual 
 appropriation by monthly, bi-monthly or quarter-yearly instalments, 
 without specific interference or control of the library committee or any 
 of its members, in regard to ordinary purchases. That the librarians 
 shall respectively report fully all their doings in this regard to the 
 library committee, at stated meetings to be fixed by the trustees, and 
 that the committee shall retain its full supervisory power over the pur¬ 
 chases to be made from time to time whenever it shall see fit to exercise 
 them, by general directions to the librarians or otherwise. That the 
 present practice of weekly meetings of the library committee be abol¬ 
 ished, and that in lieu thereof stated meetings of that committee be 
 held not oftener than once a month, or, perhaps, once in two or three 
 months. 
 
 Within the limitations above proposed, and subject always to the su¬ 
 pervisory power of the trustees acting either directly or through the 
 standing committee on the library, your committee recommend that the 
 responsible charge of the purchases for the respective departments of 
 the library be vested in the respective librarians. 
 
 The approaching transfer of the library to its rooms in the New Cap¬ 
 itol, gives occasion for careful consideration and action on the part of 
 the trustees. The proper arrangement of the space allotted to the 
 library, so as to effect the largest amount of shelving in the smallest and 
 most convenient compass, still providing all requisite reading room with 
 the shelving most accessible from it, is a matter demanding the most 
 careful consideration and provision on the part of the responsible man¬ 
 agers of the library. 
 
 The charge of the construction of the capitol is entrusted by law to 
 other and very competent hands. Your committee have no desire that 
 the trustees of the library should, in any respect, encroach upon the 
 legitimate province of the Commissioners. 
 
 But the subject of the best arrangement of the space allotted to the 
 library, in respect to economy of space, both for the viewing and use of 
 the books; economy of the labor of the officers and assistants in charge ; 
 economy of time in answering the calls of the reader and student, as 
 
10 
 
 well as the conveniences and facilities afforded to the latter, is evidently 
 one pertaining especially to the sphere of those known as “ experts.” 
 
 Your committee cannot donbt that any and all reasonable suggestions 
 in this regard will be welcomed by the Commissioners, and they recom¬ 
 mend that this subject be committed to the charge of the committee on 
 the library to act with the aid of the secretary and the librarians. 
 
 The transfer to the New Capitol will also give an excellent occasion 
 for a complete and careful revision of the entire system of management 
 of the library, so as to conform it to the practice of the best modern 
 libraries. This will involve the necessity of legislative action, the present 
 organization being fixed by the statute. Your committee have not at¬ 
 tempted to shape the proposed legislation on the subject, but earnestly 
 recommend the early and careful attention of the trustees to the sub¬ 
 ject through the standing library committee. 
 
 THIRD. 
 
 On the subject of a proposed system of public, town, city or village 
 libraries,, suggested and discussed in the librarian’s report, your com¬ 
 mittee are not prepared to recommend present definite action. 
 
 The Legislature in 1872 (S. L. 1872, vol. 2, chap. 458, page 1065), pro¬ 
 vided by general act for the establishment of such libraries by any city, 
 village or town choosing to avail itself of the provisions of the act. Your 
 committee are not advised that any library has yet been established or 
 attempted under the provisions of this statute, and the statute is, per¬ 
 haps, in some respects, deficient in details for practical working. 
 
 The proper development of such a system required the most careful 
 forethought and deliberation, not only as to its details, but as to its 
 general scope and practicability. The present financial condition of the 
 country makes the time an inauspicious one to propose the inauguration 
 of such a system, and there may be grave doubts whether action to that 
 end should properly originate from the Regents or its responsibility be 
 cast upon them. 
 
 FOURTH. 
 
 It is understood that the State Museum of Natural History is in need 
 of a working library of scientific books to be kept at its rooms so as to 
 be easily accessible for the scientific work there prosecuted in its differ¬ 
 ent departments. Your committee are of opinion that no objection can 
 exist to the transfer from the general library of such books as may be 
 there found of the special character required, to be kept under the 
 charge of an officer or employee of the museum, who shall also have a 
 special appointment as assistant librarian, without additional expense 
 to the library or its funds, and so as still to keep the control of the books 
 in the hands of the officers of the library, where, of course, it properly 
 belongs. The details of executing this scheme, if adopted by the Re¬ 
 gents, should be committed to the regular committees on the library and 
 the museum. 
 
11 
 
 FINALLY. 
 
 In conclusion, your committee again express their appreciation of the 
 valuable report of Mr. Homes referred to them. They consider the 
 topics which it discusses of vital importance to the library and its future 
 character; and in view as well of the importance of its subject-matter 
 as of the method of its discussion, the report seems to your committee 
 worthy of the attentive consideration of the trustees and of the Legis¬ 
 lature and the public. 
 
 ROB. S. HALE, 
 
 Chairman , for the Committee. 
 
ORDINANCES ADOPTED BY THE TRUSTEES, JANUARY 10, 1879. 
 
 1. Ordered , That so much of the report of the special committee on 
 the librarian’s report as is embraced under its first head, relating to the 
 future development and character of the library, and the objects for 
 which it is to be maintained, is hereby approved and adopted as the 
 expressed will of this board. 
 
 2. Ordered , That the librarian of the law department of the library is 
 hereby instructed to enforce the provisions of the concurrent resolution 
 of the Senate and Assembly of 16th April, 1861, declaring it to be the 
 duty of the trustees of the library to secure its uninterrupted use to the 
 purposes named in said resolution, and to limit, its use substantially to 
 the persons and officers by said resolution designated. And that to that 
 end the occupation of the room of that department as a study and read¬ 
 ing-room, and the use of its volumes as text-books by law students, is 
 prohibited. 
 
 3. Ordered , That it is the sense of the trustees that the general depart¬ 
 ment of the library is not intended as a popular library for indiscrimi¬ 
 nate and continuous reading. That the same is primarily designed for 
 the use of the Legislature and officers of the State, and for reference by 
 historical and professional students and those interested in special lines 
 of inquiry. And to carry out in part the purposes of the library, as above 
 expressed, the librarian of the general library is instructed not to deliver 
 to visitors, for general and continuous reading in the library, works of 
 fiction, light literature, travels, literary periodicals and publications of 
 like character. 
 
 4. Ordered , That the standing committee on the library is instructed 
 to make such arrangements as shall give to the librarians of the general 
 and law departments, respectively, the control of such shares or portions 
 of the annual appropriations for the purchase of books as may from time 
 to time seem proper, with reference to the amount of such appropriations 
 in each year, to enable said librarians to make the ordinary purchases 
 for their respective departments during such specific periods as may be 
 fixed by the committee. That said librarians respectively report in 
 detail, to the committee on the library, at each regular meeting, their 
 purchases since the last previous report, and that the supervisory power 
 of said committee, and of this board, be fully retained. That from and 
 after the first day of February next, the regular meetings of the library 
 committee be on the first Tuesdays of March, May, July, September, 
 November and January, and that the special meetings may be called by 
 the chancellor in his discretion. 
 
5. Ordered , That the subject of the provision to be made for the library 
 in the new capitol, named in the report of the special committee on the 
 librarian’s report, be referred to the standing committee on the library 
 with power, and that the secretary of the Regents and the librarians of 
 the general and law departments of the library be joined with said 
 committee. 
 
 6. Ordered , That the subject of the transfer of certain scientific books 
 to the Museum of Natural History, mentioned in the report of the special 
 committee on the librarian’s report, be referred to the standing commit¬ 
 tees on the library and on the Museum of Natural History, to act jointly, 
 with power. 
 
THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW YORK STATE LIBRARY— 
 A REPORT MADE TO THE TRUSTEES BY THE LIBRARIAN 
 OF THE GENERAL LIBRARY, JANUARY 11, 1878. 
 
 To the Honorable, the Trustees of the State Library, Regents of the University 
 
 of the State of New York : 
 
 Frequently during the twenty-three years in which I have been con¬ 
 nected with the State Library, I have had occasion to lay before the 
 library committee of the trustees observations on subjects connected with 
 its administration. Some of these observations have referred to such 
 topics as the arrangement and the security of the books, and the inter¬ 
 pretation to be given to the rules. Any suggestions of modifications of 
 or additions to the existing rules would naturally encounter reasonable 
 objections to their adoption, and consequently they have remained essen¬ 
 tially unchanged since 1856. The librarians have, however, received 
 verbal instructions from time to time, in special cases, for their discreet 
 guidance. 
 
 Within three years, two new regulations having been proposed to the 
 committee, regarding the restrictions to be placed upon the delivery of 
 valuable books to total strangers, who brought no card or letter of intro¬ 
 duction, the opinion was expressed by the committee that the librarians 
 would naturally be expected to act upon the principles implied in the 
 proposed rules, and that there was no need of embodying them in writ¬ 
 ing. At a later date, when the topic of new rides was under considera¬ 
 tion, it was concluded that, as within a few years the library would be 
 removed to the new capitol, a thorough revision of all the rules would be 
 necessary, and that the subject might be deferred; and I was requested 
 to prepare, for submission to the trustees, such a revision as should cover 
 the whole ground. And in 1876 the trustees informed the Legislature 
 that they were engaged in preparing such a revision. 
 
 As the various regulations adapted to the new conditions in which the 
 library would be placed presented themselves, it became plain that their 
 character must depend upon the nature of the views which should be 
 taken by the trustees of the future development and aim of the library; 
 upon the principles upon which it was to be enlarged and books to be 
 selected for its shelves, and the special classes of readers to be anticipated. 
 
 Sixty years have now elapsed since the State, in 1818, enacted the law 
 for the organization of the State Library, and more than thirty years 
 since the University Board of Regents have been its trustees. In the 
 
15 
 
 prospect of the transfer of the library to the new capitol, with more than 
 ten times as many books upon its shelves as were contained in it when it 
 was delivered into their care, it seems proper that a review should be 
 taken of some aspects of its past history, and of the principles upon 
 which it has been built up, combined with a statement of its present 
 character and uses. The changed condition of things in the country as 
 regards libraries, both since the State created it in 1818, and, also, since 
 the trustees accepted the management of it in 1845, is a still more 
 prominent and important element in the discussion. The completion of 
 the first sixty years of the library, synchronizing so nearly with its 
 removal to the new capitol, suggested that it might be the peculiarly 
 appropriate time to make a studious inquiry of the question of the proper 
 development and uses of the library, in the light of these changes, in 
 the hope that the facts collected would offer a basis for correct judgment 
 as to the regulations desirable to be made. 
 
 Increase of Libraries in the United States. 
 
 The changes in the country, to which I have referred as having a bear¬ 
 ing on the question, are the extraordinary multiplication of the produc¬ 
 tions of the press, and especially the extraordinary increase of its 
 libraries within the last thirty years all over the country. The ratio of 
 increase, both in this country and in Europe, has had no parallel at any 
 period of human history. It is supposed that 20,000 volumes issue 
 every year from the presses of Great Britain, France and Germany, 
 without counting the United States. On this estimate, 25,000 and even 
 30,000 new works would be a moderate allowance for the annual produc¬ 
 tion of the world in all languages. Mr. Laborde’s estimate, made two 
 years since, was of 35,000 works for the world in each year. It was an 
 unprecedented event when the British Museum tripled its contents in 
 one-third of a century, from 1822 to 1857.* Thirty-four free town 
 libraries were established in large cities of England from 1852 to 1865.f 
 The ratio of increase of town libraries in France has been 65 per cent 
 in the short space of three years previous to 1876, 1,500 popular libraries 
 having been founded within that period, besides 1,700 school libraries. 
 There were in 1877, 3,946 of these free town libraries. 
 
 There may be room for doubt which have increased in the largest 
 proportion, the productions of the press, or the libraries in which to 
 preserve them. 
 
 The increase of libraries is still more astonishing in the United States. 
 
 In the year 1800, there were but 49 libraries, containing an aggregate 
 of only 80,000 volumes. Of these 49 libraries, 12 were in the State of 
 New York, being chieffy county law libraries or academy libraries of a 
 few hundred volumes each. In the year 1818, the libraries of this State 
 
 
 * Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries, ii, 695. 
 t Edwards, Town Libraries, p. -17. 
 
1G 
 
 were, as far as reported, only 27, and were mostly very small. { From 
 these small beginnings we come to the contrast of the present year, when 
 the whole number of libraries has reached 3,682. Of these, 2,240 have 
 been organized since the year 1850; and all the libraries contain 
 13,000,000 volumes, not counting those in common or Sunday schools. 
 In several of our cities, close upon a million of books may be found in 
 the various libraries of each. Of the whole number, 627 public libraries, 
 of more than 300 volumes each, are in the State of New York, and they 
 contain in all more than 2,000,000 of volumes, of which 1,000,000 may 
 be found in the city of New York alone. That city in 1818 did not 
 possess probably in its various public libraries more than 12,000 volumes. 
 In Albany, the Institute had 190 volumes, and Albany City Library 
 perhaps 2,000 volumes. 
 
 The city of Philadelphia has about 1,000,000 volumes in its public 
 libraries, and the city of Boston, including Harvard College, has a simi¬ 
 lar number; while Washington contains libraries more valuable probably 
 than the million of books found in either of these cities, though amount¬ 
 ing only to 650,000 volumes. Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis and San 
 Francisco are also rapidly concentrating large libraries. Two hundred 
 and sixty-six of these libraries (containing more than half of this 
 13,000,000 of volumes) have more than 10,000 volumes each, with an 
 average of 26,000 volumes each. 
 
 Five-sixths of all the donations to the pnblic by individual gifts for 
 libraries, including the value of the real estate for them, and amount¬ 
 ing probably to more than 30,000,000 of dollars in value, have been 
 given within the last 30 years. The city of Chicago has received the 
 gift of property this year from a single estate, that of the late W. L. 
 Newberry, whose present value is 5,000,000 of dollars, mainly for the 
 interests of its free public library. The purpose of the trustees is to 
 make it at the same time the most complete reference library in the 
 country. 
 
 These facts constitute the remarkable contrast between the present 
 condition of the country in respect to its libraries and its condition in 
 1818, or even its condition in 1845. They demonstrate that libraries 
 have assumed a position of importance in the estimation of the public 
 which they did not then possess. They make it seem a reasonable 
 necessity that at the end of three decades of years, an examination 
 should be made to see what bearing these facts and others related to 
 them may have, not only upon the country and State generally, but upon 
 this State Library in particular ; that, if possible, it may be discovered 
 whether they suggest anything that should affect the principles to be 
 
 JSome of the following facts are compiled from that remarkable encyclopedia of information 
 regarding the libraries of the country, the volume entitled, Public Libraries of the United States 
 of America, tlieir history, condition and management. Special Report. Department of the interior, 
 Bureau of education. Washington, 1876 : pp. 1187, 8vo. In a paper in that volume ou the his- 
 t >ry and character of the State libraries of the country, I have several times alluded to the New 
 York State Library, and occasionally in this report I repeat observations contained in that paper. 
 
IT 
 
 applied to its development, or lead to any modification of past plans 
 and measures ; whether in this remarkable and encouraging aspect of 
 the country, as regards its libraries, there is any occasion for the trus¬ 
 tees to deliberate anew on the relations of the State Library to the wants 
 of the people, the government and the State. 
 
 Topics of Inquiry. 
 
 The time may have come to define its aims more emphatically than 
 was reasonable or possible in the past, when libraries of every kind were 
 extremely few. Rapidly growing libraries are now to be found at all 
 important centres in the United States, and particularly in a large num¬ 
 ber of the cities and towns of the State of New York. Several cities 
 have more volumes in their libraries than are to be found in our own 
 State Library, though it is two and a half times larger than any other 
 state library. A clear specification of the object and aims of the library 
 would also possess a practical value as information to the Legislature 
 and the public generally. Upon the character of.the conclusions arrived 
 at would depend in a large measure the amount necessary for the expen¬ 
 diture of each year, as will appear in the sequel of this report. 
 
 Some of the topics of inquiry, which the new condition of things 
 regarding libraries brings up to our minds as appropriate for investiga¬ 
 tion at the present time, are the following: In the expenditure of the 
 annual grants of the Legislature, what are the principles which should 
 control in the selection of books for its shelves ? What exceptions or 
 limitations of classes of books shall be made ? Shall it be enlarged 
 more than hitherto in the direction of the sciences ? Shall its list of 
 periodicals extend to several hundreds, as in the Cooper Institute, Phila¬ 
 delphia and Boston libraries ? Shall more books be bought in foreign 
 languages, the Greek and the Latin, the French and the German, and 
 others ? Shall the library confine itself to a few topics, like American 
 history, and books pertinent to the legislator, and other special subjects ? 
 or, shall it be universal and encyclopedic in its aims, welcoming all 
 knowledge, literature and science, everything, large and small, old and 
 new, that may be obtainable in print ? The decision that may be made 
 upon these questions would afford a satisfactory basis for preparing rules 
 and regulations, harmonizing with the decision. 
 
 Development of this Library in the Past. 
 
 Much aid can be given towards reaching a decision upon these ques¬ 
 tions, by a review of the manner in which the library has been regarded 
 in the past by the legislature and the trustees. 
 
 Within the same five years in which this library was founded, and at 
 a time when the whole number of States was but 22, five State libraries 
 were created. It is evident that impressions, derived from observing 
 the destitution of the whole country, were operating upon the minds oi 
 2 
 
18 
 
 the legislators of that day, and leading them to endeavor to stimulate 
 the intellectual activity of the people by means of libraries. The pur¬ 
 pose of this library was no further defined in the act of 1818 than to 
 say it was “ to establish a public library for the use of the government 
 and of the people of the State.” The first purchase of 600 volumes, 
 made by DeWitt Clinton, as chairman of the.committee, embraced books 
 of every class, in law especially, and in history, literature and science ; 
 and the same classes of books have continued to be purchased, under 
 both of the boards of trustees to the present time, so that the library 
 corresponds fairly to its name of a general library. In 1835, the trus¬ 
 tees, Messrs. Bronson, Dix, and Flagg, report, that the library contained 
 5,000 volumes, the majority of which were law books, and they add that 
 outside of law they “ have for the most part selected standard works on 
 American history, politics and legislation, with such foreign publications 
 of general interest as are not usually found in our society and individual 
 libraries.” In 1840 they speak of the meagre appropriation for books 
 “of a scientific character, and particularly such as relate to statistics, 
 and to which members of the legislature and the executive and admin¬ 
 istrative officers of the State must have recourse for the information 
 indispensable to the discharge of their duties.” Five years after, in 
 1845, the Regents of the University, who had become its trustees, in 
 their first report, say of the library : “ The additions made to it consist 
 for the major part of works relating to our own State and country. The 
 trustees were desirous to show as early as possible that they esteem this 
 a paramount object, and to accumulate as far as was in their power every 
 work of interest or value relating to the United States.” And farther 
 on in the same report they say: This portion of the library is particu¬ 
 larly defective in treatises on education, political economy and practical 
 science. These subjects, with that of American history, will be attended 
 to so far as the limited means that are appropriated will permit.” Their 
 first year of service was inaugurated by the receipt of the Warden col¬ 
 lection of 2,000 volumes, purchased by the State for $4,000, which was 
 composed of works entirely on American history. In 1848, the trustees 
 emphasize their earnest attention to increase the works relating to our 
 own country, and state that the cost of the works by American authors 
 and on America are more than enough to absorb all the funds appropri¬ 
 ated. In 1849, the trustees state that the library is “ taking high rank 
 among such as are rich in works relating to our own country.Par¬ 
 ticular attention has been bestowed in collecting.all such as are 
 
 written by our fellow-countrymen.they have directed their unre¬ 
 
 mitting attention to this subject,” In other years, as 1859, 1865 and 
 1867, they repeat the same sentiment; in 1876 speaking with satisfac¬ 
 tion of the additions in the branch of American genealogies. During 
 these 30 years they also, from time to time, refer with pleasure to the 
 additions, not only in law, but in “ literature, science and art,” as in 
 
19 
 
 1846, 1847, 1851, 1857, 1870; and in 1859 they referred to the securing 
 of books “beyond the means of ordinary students.” The subject of 
 works on statistics is referred to both by the earlier and later trustees as 
 one on which they desire to secure books. It follows from this review 
 of the reports, that while the library has been steadily enlarged with 
 works in literature, science and art, its only special objects have been 
 law, legislative topics and American history, and with this accords the 
 last official utterance on the subject, that of Governor Robinson, who, in 
 his message this year, singles out two branches of knowledge regarding 
 which to call the attention of the legislature as prominent in the library. 
 He says : “ In the departments of law and American history it is unsur¬ 
 passed by any other State library of the Union.” 
 
 Use as a Reference Library. 
 
 These extracts exhibit the views of the trustees from the foundation of 
 the library as to the character of the books to be collected. As to the 
 manner of their use, it has been essentially and mainly a library for 
 reference, and not for loaning and circulation outside of the capitol. In 
 
 its first organization, the regulations state that “no book.shall be at 
 
 any time taken out of the library on any pretense whatever,” either by 
 members of the legislature, the heads of the departments of government, 
 the judges of the highest courts, or finally by the trustees. Afterwards 
 by successive enactments the privilege of drawing books was extended 
 to each one of these bodies. In 1845, the trustees suggested to the legisla¬ 
 ture that it would perhaps be desirable that the privilege should also be 
 given to persons engaged in historical and scientific investigations, but 
 no further action was taken on the subject. In 1867 and in 1872, the 
 trustees specifically speak of the library as a “ reference library ” in their 
 reports. All the rules for the use of the library down to 1855 seem to 
 relate to the members of the legislature and official persons, and little is 
 said about its use by the general public, and no provision is made for 
 its use by youth. Section 4 of rules of the trustees does not define who 
 have the use of the library, but merely describes the process for all per¬ 
 sons to obtain their books by means of written cards. For twelve or 
 fifteen years till 1834 it was only kept open during the sessions of the 
 legislature and the courts. The general library was in the same room 
 with the law library. The trustees, Messrs. G. C. Bronson, J. A. Dix 
 and A. C. Flagg, in that last-mentioned year recommend that the library 
 should be entirely closed except during the sessions of the legislature 
 and of the courts. And as late as the year 1860, the joint library com¬ 
 mittee of the legislature, in the formal report to that body signed by the 
 eight members, recommend that “the library during the sessions of the 
 legislature should be regarded chiefly as an appendage to the senate and 
 assembly rooms, and the admission should be conflued to the state officers 
 
20 
 
 and members of the legislature, and persons introduced by them.”* And 
 this committee requested the trustees to frame rules in accordance with 
 this conclusion. 
 
 The nature of the use of the library as a reference library is repeatedly 
 described by the trustees in their reports as legal, legislative, historical 
 and scientific. In the process of enlarging it as a reference library, it 
 has become one of the most complete in the country in the department 
 of American history. Its relative completeness in one branch may be 
 inferred from the fact that of the 261 works referred to by Durrie in his 
 Index to American genealogies, contained in town histories , this library 
 possesses 258 of them. As a pendant to American history the library is 
 abundantly supplied with works on the history of Great Britain, includ¬ 
 ing Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and with standard English literature. 
 The history of Europe, and of the Netherlands especially, has not been 
 neglected. There are several thousands of volumes in the library in 
 Greek, Latin, French, German and other languages. While steadily 
 enlarging it as one of historical reference, the trustees have uniformly 
 made prudent purchases of books in most of the branches of general 
 .X; knowledge suitable for a reference library, as far as the funds at their 
 disposal would admit. The qualifications to this statement are that 
 works on law are bought solely for the law library; in medicine, sets of 
 standard periodicals only are procured and not professional treatises; in 
 theology, the limit is its history. Agriculture is left for the collections 
 of the State Agricultural Society. The Dudley Observatory has its own 
 library of 800 volumes on astronomy, and the State Museum a growing 
 collection on natural history ; Union University has a valuable classical 
 and mathematical library. And besides, in the libraries of Albany, 
 Schenectady and Troy combined there are in all 125,000 volumes. 
 
 Demand for Books. 
 
 Although the library contains some books of great value in many of 
 the sciences in literature and the arts, yet, with the exception of American 
 history, the books which we possess in any one branch of study are 
 relatively so few that the attraction they offer to the specialist is not 
 strong enough to draw him from abroad to make his researches here, if 
 he can make it convenient to go to the large and continually increasing 
 general and special collections in the other cities to which we have before 
 referred. The demand is so slight for general history or scientific works 
 that there is nothing to guide in the preparation of lists of books for the 
 consideration of the library committee beyond general principles and 
 intrinsic values. Those who by law have the right to draw books from 
 the library are those, the pressure of whose avocations leaves them very 
 little time to read and study in the library. 
 
 *NeAv York Senate documents, No. 67, 1860. 
 
21 
 
 It is gratifying to be able to state that there is, however, a steady in¬ 
 crease in the use of the library in that department to which the trustees 
 have given special attention, the department of American history, includ¬ 
 ing genealogies. The genealogical branch is of great importance in all 
 biographical researches, and works of that character can only be found 
 collectively in public libraries, and many avail themselves of our com¬ 
 paratively very large collection. The number of applications to consult 
 the 3,000 volumes of American, British and French patents in the library 
 amounts to at least 400 in a year. 
 
 Increased Duties of the Librarians. 
 
 The views of the trustees, that this library is one for historical and 
 scientific research chiefly, are further shown by the fact that the general 
 library for the last twenty years has been left to the care of a single 
 librarian and an assistant, without any messenger. The duties annually 
 discharged by them have involved perpetual study for the preparation 
 of lists of books to purchase for the approval of the library committee, 
 the cataloguing on cards in detail the titles of all the books purchased, 
 preparing simultaneously the cards of a subject-index for these books, 
 the superintending all the details of binding and lettering, the rewriting 
 the lists of books for the annual reports of the library, the assorting 1 , bind¬ 
 ing and cataloguing 50,000 pamphlets in more than 2,000 volumes, and 
 the preparation and the carrying through the press more than 3,000 pages, 
 (additional to the annual reports), of catalogues of the books, manuscripts, 
 maps and coins, including a subject-index of the general library. Many 
 manuscripts and maps have been received, assorted and bound, and 
 catalogued in separate MS. catalogues. Besides all this, the books have 
 been kept in order on the shelves, attention has been paid to visitors, 
 books have been delivered to readers and borrowers daily, combined with 
 a large correspondence with inquirers for information. The librarians, 
 like the clerks of a public office, are addressed from all parts of the United 
 States and called upon by visitors, for information on a multitude of 
 topics. A great proportion of readers of all classes, whether the learned, 
 or the young occupied with their themes for essays, expect and are 
 grateful for whatever portion of his time a librarian can give to facilitate 
 them in their researches. 
 
 The regular work in the library has also greatly increased within the 
 last few years. A considerable part of the increase is due to the services 
 to be performed in connection with the 3,000 volumes of patents, of 
 which formerly we had none, and the additional labor resulting from 
 the crowded state of the shelves, upon which the books have to be placed 
 in double rows. But one of the chief causes is the increase of the popu¬ 
 lation of the capital. Albany has more than doubled in population— 
 having 90,000 inhabitants—since the Regents became the trustees of the 
 library, and the number of pupils in its public and private schools, male 
 
and female academies, high school, normal school, law and medical 
 schools, have increased in larger proportion. 
 
 Influence of the Creation of Popular Free Libraries. 
 
 No single cause has so much tended to give importance to this growth 
 of the city, and to occasion an increased use of the State Library, as the 
 establishment of free town libraries for popular use, and the influence 
 of their existence upon the usages of the schools and the citizens. 
 
 While the State has been creating and enlarging a reference library 
 for the legislator, the scientist and the advanced student, the progress 
 of the age has brought forward a new phenomenon of the century—the 
 popular free library, for cities and towns of whatever size. The system 
 of establishing them was inaugurated by special acts in England and 
 Massachusetts, about the same time, in the year 1851, and originated in 
 part from the failure of society or subscription libraries, and school 
 district libraries to secure valuable results. 
 
 The modern free library is an institution through which the education 
 of the people is kept up while they are in the public schools, and is con¬ 
 tinued after they have left them, and it is well called the people’s uni¬ 
 versity. It is principally a loaning library of popular works, and 
 includes both a reference library and reading-room for periodicals, if 
 the funds at disposal will permit. In many of these libraries the aver¬ 
 age amount of works of fiction perused by the readers has been 75 per 
 cent. The statement conveys a wrong impression, unless the other fact 
 is also brought out, that a large number of the readers are under 18 
 years of age, and that these fictions are very frequently juvenile books 
 of the most elevating kind. The zeal and wisdom of librarians is pro¬ 
 gressively successful in introducing a better class of reading. In the 
 National Library of Paris, novels were largely introduced into the 
 people’s reading-room to make it attractive when first opened; but 
 since that has been a success, many of the novels have been gradually 
 withdrawn.* 
 
 Under the influence of the stimulus of this creation of the century, 
 the youth of the schools, and of the city generally, frequent the library 
 at all seasons of the year. They come, under impulses received from 
 their teachers, to read upon the topics of the essays assigned to them for 
 exhibitions, and to study the questions to be debated in their literary 
 societies. The services of the librarians are constantly requested to find 
 a book on “ perseverance,” on “ character,” or the like ; or to collect from 
 the shelves the numerous volumes of reviews (as they have been learned 
 by the reader from Poole’s Index to Periodicals), which contain articles 
 on free trade, or capital punishment, etc. During the winter months a 
 large portion of the librarians’ time is consumed in collecting and deliv¬ 
 ering novels, Harper’s Monthly, and recreative reading to young men 
 
 * France : Min. de l’instruction publique : Rapports sur la bibliotli^que nationale, 1876. 
 
and women, when there is no work to be had in some of the trades, and 
 the library is warm and comfortable. 
 
 Object of the Library. 
 
 Noticing the prominent and overshadowing use of the library for 
 trivial ends, and recalling the facts which we have mentioned in the 
 history of the library, the question comes up and demands an answer, is 
 this the use for which the library was especially designed ? If the 
 answer to this question is not sufficiently obvious, there are various 
 additional illustrations to confirm the view that it was not designed as 
 an educational and recreative institution, at the expense of the State, 
 for the young and uneducated. In the first place, the character of the 
 books upon our shelves presents several marked features in contrast with 
 those which are found upon the shelves of a public town library. We 
 usually only purchase one copy of a work, for consultation ; the popular 
 library may purchase scores of copies of the same work. We purchase 
 our books for perpetual preservation; the popular library purchases them 
 with the expectation that multitudes of them will be worn out by use. 
 The report of the Boston Public Library of 1877 gives the number of 
 2,800 volumes as condemned during the preceding twelve months, as 
 “ worn out by legitimate use.” Our books are chiefly for occasional 
 reference, or the perusal of students who are specialists; the popular 
 library serves for continuous and promiscuous reading for intellectual 
 improvement or recreation. If we have juvenile books, they are for some 
 relation to literary history; in the popular library, all the juvenile 
 * fictions are collected to be used and worn out. If we have educational 
 text-books, grammars, geographies and readers, they are for the com¬ 
 parisons of teachers and the historian, and not for the use of pupils. In 
 the popular libraries, even, they are informed that such books are not to 
 be used as text-books. If we have Indian captivities, adventures in the 
 Rocky Mountains, and the like, they are not for the purpose of startling 
 sensations, but for the students of the earliest things in our country’s 
 history. 
 
 We have a moderate number of works of fiction. Many of them are 
 gifts. The purchases of novels have been made either for the occasional 
 relaxation of the representative servants of the State, or because they 
 illustrate the literary history of the country. For this purpose we ought 
 to have first editions of Paulding, Irving, Cooper and others, not for 
 ordinary reading, but for consultation. 
 
 And so with all copies of first editions of books, by American authors, 
 books constantly becoming rare. They should not be delivered out for 
 daily reading, either in or out of the library, to run the risk of being 
 speedily worn out. They ought not to be sacrificed to the mere desire 
 of a reader for a novel or other book for amusement. If the book of a 
 certain author must necessarily be given out to every reader, simply 
 
24 
 
 because it is on the shelves, then we should provide, if possible, several 
 modern copies of these books, or cease to purchase books which are too 
 rare for popular use. 
 
 It is not our multitude of rare and valuable books which are exposed 
 to so much use as to be worn out. The occasional use for research would 
 not produce the result. The difficulty arises chiefly in respect to the 
 very books which are not rare and costly. They are books, however, 
 which for various reasons after the lapse of a few years become so ; and 
 it is for this class that the demand is sure to be so great that they will 
 be worn out, and must be condemned, if no restriction be placed upon 
 their use; for they will not be on hand, or cannot be purchased for use, 
 when wanted, and much trouble, time and money will be expended 
 before copies can be found to supply their place. The following are a 
 few of these books, naturally very attractive by their titles or subjects 
 to the young, in reference to which, if the library is not to be treated as 
 a town popular library, the constant and promiscuous use of such is the 
 question which this report brings before the trustees for their decision : 
 Algerine Captive ; Artemus Ward ; Barnum’s Humbugs; Drake’s Book 
 of the Indians; Flint’s Indian Wars; Gleason’s Pictorial; Harper’s 
 Monthly; Hall’s Tales of the Border; Hall’s Legends of the West; 
 Paulding’s Works, first editions; Anne Roy all’s Travels; Simms’ Life 
 of Marion; Trenck’s Life. The object has been not to include in this 
 list any books which, on moral considerations, would probably be objec¬ 
 tionable in the mind of any person to their being delivered to all 
 readers. 
 
 While the character and aim of the popular library justify the delivery 
 to all readers of books of this character, yet it was not the purpose for 
 which the trustees of this library put them on the shelves, that they 
 should serve for a pastime to young or old, or even to educate their 
 minds by creating a taste for good reading, or to gratify a taste already 
 formed; but rather for the purpose of forming a consulting library for 
 the advanced student in history. 
 
 The Combined Popular and Reference Library. 
 
 If it should be the conclusion of the trustees and of the legislative 
 authorities that the library, while managed as a reference library, is at 
 the same time to be managed as a popular library, it would be necessary 
 to have it conformed to the aims of one. If it is to be virtually an edu¬ 
 cational institution, a people’s college, it should be administered in a 
 manner commensurate with the object, and to bring credit and honor to 
 the State; in a manner not to be surpassed by the best conducted 
 popular library of any city. The decision would make it necessary to 
 change the character of the purchases of books to those of current litera¬ 
 ture, including a large proportion of fiction and juveniles, and not only 
 to duplicate our choice editions by common editions, but in the case of 
 
fictions to have many duplicates of each. It would make it necessary 
 to provide a large staff of assistants, which will be indispensable if the 
 library is to be as useful as possible for the purposes assigned to it. 
 
 If it is determined that it is to be in the future a popular library 
 without distinction of readers, the conclusion, if consistently carried out, 
 will more than triple the expenses of the library for assistants, and for 
 the purchase of the books appropriate for use in a popular library. 
 
 Of the $124,000 spent the last year by the Public Library of Boston, 
 only $24,000 were spent for books, and the remainder, $100,000, were 
 spent for ordinary expenses and the salaries of 130 persons employed in 
 the library and its branches. Of these employes, eight are in the execu¬ 
 tive department, and 18 in the cataloguing department. From the 
 statistics of 58 libraries in this country, having more than 10,000 vol¬ 
 umes each, it appears that they spent in 1875 $278,000 for the purchase 
 of books, and $457,000 for salaries. The City Library of Cincinnati in 
 1875, with an income of $41,000, spent $22,000 for books and $18,000 
 for salaries; while the Public Library of Chicago, in 1876, from an 
 income of $27,500, spent $4,000 for books, $3,800 for binding and 
 $11,000 for salaries. 
 
 The additional expense incurred in conducting a library as a free 
 popular library inures chiefly to the advantage of the city where the 
 library is situated. But many of the cities and towns of this State, by 
 arrangements of diverse character, are providing themselves with such 
 libraries. In the cities, towns and villages, not counting New York city 
 or the school district libraries, there are already more than a million of 
 books collected in their libraries. In coming years, with what amount 
 will the representatives of the people, representatives coming from these 
 very towns, be ready to subsidize this library from funds obtained by 
 State taxation, that it may be conducted as a free popular library for the 
 advantage of a single city and its vicinity ? State libraries exist pri¬ 
 marily for ends beneficial to the whole State. They are not designed 
 to provide the current literature for the citizens of a single city. It 
 would be an undesirable result if, by facilities of this kind, the inhabit¬ 
 ants of a capital should be made more backward than they otherwise 
 would be in establishing libraries for themselves, or if they should be 
 drawn away from sustaining, by their contributions, existing social and 
 subscription libraries. At the time when this library was first estab¬ 
 lished, the Albany Library, founded in 1792 as a society subscription 
 library, had 4,000 volumes, and the use of it for consultation was free to 
 all, but in 1835 it was, while having, as reported, 9,000 volumes, deposited 
 in a room of the Albany Female Academy, and the company practically 
 ceased to exist. 
 
 If it is determined that it is not a popular library, the regulations 
 regarding its use should correspond to the nature of the uses aimed at. 
 
26 
 
 While it harmonizes with the plan of a reference library that it may 
 have a comparatively limited staff of assistants, it does not harmonize 
 with it that, in addition to the classes of work performed as already 
 described, a single librarian and an assistant should have the duty of 
 delivering books as for the readers of a popular library. At present, 
 while the librarians have their regular duties, and are amply employed 
 in aiding those who wish to use the library for its legitimate purposes, 
 they are at the same time, in accordance with its prevailing usages, 
 giving out books to any that ask, without identification, registration or 
 introduction, amounting frequently to from 50 to 70 readers in a day. 
 No person is occupied in maintaining a surveillance of the hall. There 
 is some restriction upon the class of books that may be delivered, owing 
 to the confidence repeatedly shown by the legislature that the librarians 
 would not abuse their discretionary power of refusing in certain defined 
 cases. During from four to six months the crowd at the tables in the 
 winter, during the whole of the last 20 years, has been so great both in 
 the general and the law libraries, that members of the legislature have 
 frequently complained that they could find no place to sit down. 
 
 The catalogues and indexes which they are required to prepare and 
 print cannot be issued with that detail, care and completeness that the 
 age demands of an institution so large and so prominent as the New 
 York State Library, if the librarians, fully occupied with the duties of 
 a growing library, and attentive to the wants of consulting students 
 and others using the library legitimately, are to have the larger part of 
 their time occupied with the cares and uses of a popular library. 
 
 Universal and Encyclopedic Libraries. 
 
 The question recurs again, if the library is not to be a popular library, 
 on what principle shall it be developed ? Shall it be enlarged as an 
 encyclopedic and universal library, or as one of special aims ? Or, shall 
 it be enlarged without any special purpose, other than to accept or pur¬ 
 chase, in addition to works of American history, anything that offers 
 itself that seems intrinsically valuable, or likely to have a value for some 
 person in the future ? Shall it be as comprehensive in its scope as the 
 national libraries of London, Paris, Berlin, Munich and St. Petersburgh ? 
 They are enlarged upon the principle of preserving everything which 
 has been printed which is attainable for money or by gift, and of which 
 they have not a copy; and the same is true for all manuscripts. The 
 British Museum spends $100,000 a year on books alone. It is well to 
 recall that for the one or two libraries in each kingdom of this all-em¬ 
 bracing character, we already have one in our country of corresponding 
 scope in the National Library at Washington, which, with 350,000 vol¬ 
 umes already collected, is asking Congress for a separate edifice that 
 shall ultimately be capable of receiving 2,000,000 volumes, to be larger 
 than the largest library of Europe. Are there strong reasons why our 
 
State Library should imitate these examples ? And, if such a library 
 is to be aimed at by New York, is it also to be the aim of the 40 State 
 libraries, to make their collections large in the same encyclopedic way, 
 so far as the funds at their disposal will admit P 
 
 In partial answer to the question, it is clear that it was certainly most 
 excellent wisdom on the part of New York and other States to found 
 State libraries. It gave to all their towns the stimulus of a good exam¬ 
 ple. Especially was it a wise policy in the early settlement and organi¬ 
 zation of the Territories, that with the aid of Congress they should go 
 on building up both general and law libraries, for their capitals were the 
 only towns where libraries could possibly be formed. But after that the 
 centres of aggregation of population in a State have become clearly 
 defined, the most natural place for building up encyclopedic libraries 
 will be those cities where men most do congregate. Our State capitals 
 are rarely such places ; only four of them are in towns containing more 
 than 50,000 inhabitants ; most of the States contain cities far surpassing 
 their capitals in population. The cities of Baltimore, Chicago, Cin¬ 
 cinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis and San Francisco already 
 contain four or five times as many volumes in their libraries as may be 
 found in their capitals. In New York city, the Astor Library alone has 
 an endowment at the present time of §410,000 for its annual expenditure 
 for books and salaries. Boston is a capital, and by usage and law its 
 State library is limited and special. It aims at collecting “ the best 
 legal, political, historical, statistical, economic and scientific works which 
 tend to illustrate the history, exhibit the resources, direct the labor and 
 capital, and perfect the legislation of the State and country.”* Our 
 own capital is not an imperial one, though the capital of an empire 
 State. It is not a great centre of population ; but as its State Library 
 is ip a city which has no large general library (though it has 13 libraries 
 containing in all over 60,000 volumes), it might be alleged that it should 
 therefore be sustained as an encyclopedic library and in the spirit of a 
 national library. This is indeed the very question we are discussing, 
 and much may be urged in favor of it. But it certainly deserves to 
 be considered, whether with our great National Library at Washington, 
 and eight other prominent centres where large libraries are already col¬ 
 lected, which will be steadily enlarged, it is the most useful plan to 
 collect at the expense of the State, at the capital, books and pamphlets 
 in every branch of knowledge, and all printed matter that can be 
 obtained. For many years at least its deficiencies would be melancholy 
 to contemplate and the supply be to little purpose, for men of research 
 will only go to those very cities mentioned where they can find the largest 
 collections. The history of the use of the library for the last 20 years 
 proves this, as has been before observed. 
 
 *Mass. Library Catalogue, 1858. 
 
 t United States Libraries Report, 187(5, p. 684. 
 
28 
 
 We frequently hear the remark made that the legislature ought 
 annually to appropriate some very large sum for the increase of the 
 library. There are contingencies which would make a large annual 
 appropriation both desirable and necessary; such as, if it were deter¬ 
 mined to administer it as a popular library, or if a State university were 
 to be established at the capital. With any clear, definite and important 
 objects, the State might be eager to make large annual appropriations. 
 But when the consequences entailed by a large increase of books are 
 brought to mind, the fact that with its increase comes demands for pro¬ 
 portionate increase in expenses for buildings and for the keeping of the 
 
 books, there may well be hesitation unless the motives are strong. The 
 
 > 
 
 immense reach of an encyclopedic library is shown by this fact; the 
 library of Congress has twice doubled in thirteen years, and it contains 
 publications of 2,000 different learned societies, not counting its scientific 
 periodicals.! 
 
 It would seem unavoidably necessary that the trustees should declare, 
 either that the library is to be all-embracing and encyclopedic, or that 
 besides books on American history, those in two, four or more branches 
 of knowledge shall be especially collected. The hundreds of sciences 
 and arts, the immense realm of universal history and the literature of all 
 nations are a tantalizing field to glean in. At present, without definite 
 aims, one is compelled to go over the multitudes of catalogues of books 
 for sale, having no limiting principal of selection. If it should be decided 
 that the library is not encyclopedic, but one of certain definite aims, it 
 would be comparatively easy to choose books within the categories which 
 should be designated. 
 
 A Library op Law, Legislation and American History. 
 
 If it should be decided that the library is one of special aims,, the 
 question comes up to what classes of books should attention be especially 
 directed in making purchases ? In accordance with the invariable action 
 of the trustees, the first class to be mentioned would be law, then American 
 history, followed by political economy, including all topics of legislation, 
 and also the latest encyclopedias and statistics. Of the law department 
 there is no occasion for any remark. But it is worth observing that the 
 field of American history is not merely of the United States, or of North 
 America, but the whole new world; not merely its history popularly so 
 called, its civil and political history, but also whatever illustrates the 
 whole continent of North and South America, in its geography, its 
 geology, zoology, botany, ethnology and philology. It may embrace its 
 literature, poetry and fiction, the productions of all its authors in all 
 languages, its school books, controversies, periodicals and newspapers. 
 There is no library that is attempting anything on so thorough and com¬ 
 prehensive a scheme as that is. Our library in this department is already 
 so strong that it would be comparatively easy to increase its relative 
 
29 
 
 strength, unless in unique printed volumes and manuscripts. The limita¬ 
 tion of purchases to the topics mentioned should result, with the progress 
 already made, in obtaining a collection more remarkable, valuable and 
 useful than any existing in this country in these branches. 
 
 It would be one result of this principle of special aims that more time 
 would be found to give prominence to collections relative to the history 
 of New York State, in its most comprehensive meaning, general and local, 
 than is possible under the present system; while no topic is more interest¬ 
 ing or important to the people of the State. We interpret the phrase 
 New York history with the same latitude of meaning as that of American 
 history. It would embrace collections from the presses of every county 
 in the State, the proceedings of towns and counties, their newspapers, 
 society reports and directories; and would become so complete as to 
 compel every person with a query on a New York fact to come to its 
 State Library to pursue his search. Collections of the manuscripts o 
 past public officers of the State and of other States give eminent distinc¬ 
 tion. A library is held in more repute and esteem by the public when 
 known to possess unique manuscripts or complete collections on special 
 topics, than by holding possession of numbered thousands of unknown 
 volumes. 
 
 Are not the history of the new world and of the State of New York, 
 conjoined with a library especially adapted to the legislature and the 
 courts, sufficiently comprehensive subjects with which to till a large 
 library P In the department of American history including the new 
 works constantly issuing from the press, on the thorough and compre¬ 
 hensive scheme of collecting which we have described, there are enough 
 books to absorb with those on political economy and statistics all the 
 appropriations likely to be obtained from the State. The rate of 
 increase would fill the library hall of the new capitol in a much shorter 
 time than one would suppose. Our present library, with its moderate 
 annual appropriation, is twice full at the end of 23 years from its first 
 occupation, the books standing in double rows on the shelves, and piled 
 on the floors of the gallery and in the cellar. An annual appropriation 
 slightly enlarged would procure for the general and law libraries, under 
 the limitation of a library of special reference, enough books to make it 
 practically more useful than by general purchases on every subject. 
 
 “ No one library, however, large or comprehensive, has either the space 
 or the means to accumulate a tithe of the periodicals that swarm from a 
 productive press.”* Seven thousand eight hundred and eighty-seven 
 periodical publications appeared in the United States in the year 1876. 
 In the State of New York alone there are periodically published every 
 year 880 newspapers and magazines. Of these 47 are in German and 
 16 in other foreign languages. Each of the leading New York dailies 
 i lakes two stout and thick volumes a year. 
 
 * United States Library Report, 1876. Dr. Spoll'ord’s paper, p. 681. 
 
30 
 
 Mr. Sabin is publishing in New York a dictionary of books on America 
 and of those by American authors. The work as far as printed reaches 
 only to the word Hun, and already makes eight volumes of 575 pages 
 each, showing that the whole list will make 25 such volumes, a 
 larger catalogue than any now existing. A few such facts illustrate the 
 extent potentially of a library peculiarly American. They prove what 
 a vast held lies before us in collecting merely valuable and historical 
 productions of the American and New York press. 
 
 Libraries with Special Aims. 
 
 In terminating what I had to say on the future increase of the library, 
 I would add that no one of these plans, either the special, encyclopedic, 
 or the popular library, is suggested as under all circumstances best or 
 most desirable ; but I have mentioned some of the characteristics of each, 
 convinced that the time has arrived when it is important to obtain in¬ 
 structions from your honorable board as to the future course to be pur¬ 
 sued. It is from no want of sympathy with the popular library, far 
 otherwise, but for the purpose of laying before the trustees the actual 
 use of the library, and the advantages and difficulties of different modes 
 of administering it. 
 
 The process of specializing our libraries to increase their utility is a 
 necessary result of human progress, and of the differentiation of the 
 objects of human knowledge and thought, from a few studies and sciences 
 to a multitude. The plan of developing every library that is not ency¬ 
 clopedic by making it strong in some specialties is greatly recommended 
 by experts. Mr. Edwards lays it down as a general principle : “ It will 
 be well to fix upon some main subjects of a general kind in which the 
 library shall be especially well provided.”! He observes that: “For 
 some time past it has been contended that each of the libraries of Paris 
 should have a specific character, and be administered with a view to the 
 special requirements of a particular class of readers.”! At the London 
 conference of librarians, October, 1877, Mr. Harrison, of the London 
 Library, laid down as one of three necessities of a library that it should 
 have “special or local appropriateness,” giving as an instance of the 
 contrary where a provincial library spent £100 for 150 folio volumes of 
 the London Gazette. In the pursuit of this idea the library of the United 
 States Surgeon General's department has reached an astonishing perfec¬ 
 tion. The 13,000 volumes in the library of the Boston Society of Natural 
 History suggest again how much can be done in special departments. 
 Our State Library in the first stages of its existence might well receive 
 everything; as the wants of society become more complex, and many 
 centres have arisen well supplied with books, can it not make itself more 
 useful by selecting its specialties, and allow others more favorably 
 situated to be more comprehensive in their aims ? 
 
 I Memoirs of Librtries I, 574. 
 
 + To\vn Libraries, p. 217. 
 
31 
 
 A General Law for Public Town Libraries. 
 
 Before proceeding farther, I hope I may be indulged with an observa¬ 
 tion having a close affinity with the subject of the report. The formation 
 of encyclopedic and reference libraries on the one hand, and of free 
 popular libraries throughout the country on the other, is of the greatest 
 importance, and especially the formation of the latter in all cities and 
 towns is one of the most promising and fruitful ideas of this century. 
 No more honorable lot can befall any man than an opportunity to aid in 
 creating, endowing, sustaining or guiding one. The thought is this, 
 that if the course which the trustees may adopt should seem to limit the 
 use of the State Library, there is another measure which, if it should be 
 submitted by them as the University of the State to the legislature, 
 would doubtless meet with its approbation, a measure which would ulti¬ 
 mately secure advantages to millions in the State, while the freest use 
 of the State Library would be an accommodation only to thousands. 
 The proposed measure is the passage of a general law authorizing the 
 towns of the State to establish free public libraries by local tax. The 
 passage of such a law, at the suggestion of your honorable board, would 
 prove that if it were not possible for them to make the State Library 
 available as a popular library, that above all they did not undervalue 
 the popular library in its proper sphere. 
 
 Such a law has already been passed within the last 25 years in Great 
 Britain and in 11 of the States of this Union, the last two of which 
 are Illinois and Texas. In Massachusetts, of the 346 cities and towns 
 in the State, 127 towns have provided themselves with free libraries 
 since the first passage of the law allowing it to be done by local taxa¬ 
 tion. In 1872 a law was enacted by the State of New York allowing 
 towns to establish public libraries by a tax of $1 upon every legal voter, 
 and 50 cents a year for maintenance. The law, so far as I am informed, 
 lias been inoperative. In the Librarians’ Conference in New York, Sep¬ 
 tember, 1877, measures were adopted for drafting a form for a general 
 law for town libraries adapted to all the States, in which should be 
 embodied the results of the experience of the States where town libraries 
 are sustained by a local tax. The zeal of the friends of free libraries 
 is exhibited in their exertions that this means of elevating the com¬ 
 munity shall be turned to the best account. A proof of this is shown in 
 the simultaneous suggestions from different writers, that to make libraries 
 of the highest possible utility there should be in the schools and colleges 
 professorships of books and reading, to guide to the best and most 
 useful books, and the best methods of reading. Three papers from 
 different authors, in the United States Libraries’ Report, propose such a 
 course ; but perhaps the earliest formal essay in behalf of the measure 
 was read by Prof. Robinson, of Rochester, N. Y., before the New York 
 University Convocation of 1876. The scheme has already received 
 
32 
 
 practical application at Harvard University by its appointment of tlie 
 late librarian of the Boston Public Library as both librarian and professor 
 of reading. 
 
 New York, which took the lead in the popular library system, by being 
 the first to organize district school libraries, in 1835, will not long remain 
 behind any of the other States in such a progressive movement. It is 
 indeed true that owing to the smallness of the sum to be received from 
 the State, where §50,000 is annually to be distributed to 12,000 district 
 schools, the system has not been a success, and is gradually breaking 
 down. The district school libraries are being converted into union school 
 libraries, and in accordance with the recommendation of the Superintend¬ 
 ent of Instruction, free town libraries will doubtless gradually take 
 their place. But if, from her experiments with district libraries, results 
 so favorable to town libraries have followed, there is more ground for 
 encouragment than discouragement as respects general progress. 
 
 The representations of the Board of Regents to the legislature in behalf 
 of such a town free library law would receive the enthusiastic support of 
 the people of most of the towns of the State, and the law, when in opera¬ 
 tion, would tend to give an additional attraction to home life on every 
 hill and in every valley of the State. 
 
 New Regulations; Preliminary Remarks. 
 
 Having now reached the topic which was the original occasion of the 
 remarks on the preceding pages, the character of the regulations to be 
 proposed, it is to be observed that whatever principles may be adopted 
 by the trustees regarding the future increase of the library and its use, 
 the necessity for the regulation of this use by the general public by new 
 rules will still exist. The regulations hitherto in force, chiefly concern¬ 
 ing the representatives of the people, show by their minuteness and 
 detail that the legislature and trustees have always aimed to protect 
 the library from injury and loss. The occasion for rules not hitherto 
 introduced arises from the increased number using the library as a popu¬ 
 lar library, from the extent to which it will always be used by strangers, 
 and its greater publicity and use by visitors when transferred to the 
 new Capitol. After the transfer of the library to the present edifice, 
 the crowd of readers during several successive winters made so much 
 disturbance that it was necessary to employ a policeman daily to pre¬ 
 serve order. It is desirable to anticipate any such possible consequences. 
 
 Economy of administration, the highest usefulness of the library, and 
 the security of the books from damage or loss will always require occa¬ 
 sional re-adjustments of regulations. In proportion as care is evidently 
 taken, the State will be disposed to make the necessary appropriations, 
 and citizens of the State be ready to endow the library with their treas¬ 
 ures as gifts. 
 
It is worthy of notice that our library having been collected principally 
 with the aims of a reference library, and yet naturally embracing at the 
 same time many books of a popular character, does not possess the 
 advantages of a library which (as in the case of the National Library of 
 Paris and of the Boston Public Library) is divided into two or three 
 halls, one for popular readers and one for reference. The books in the 
 former are all suitable to be placed in the hands of all persons, while 
 multitudes of the books in the latter may be very unsuitable for pro¬ 
 miscuous readers. In our catalogues no marks are given of the books 
 allowed for general reading or the contrary. It is not easy to allow of 
 indiscriminate use by young and old, as persons frequently (often very 
 unconsciously) ask for books the most unsuitable to be given to them, 
 though they were on the shelves for motives appropriate to learned 
 research. 
 
 Rules in Other Libraries. 
 
 As preliminary to an examination of the question of the amount of 
 freedom of use that can be allowed in a State library, it will be a help 
 to have before us the usages of some of the largest libraries of the world. 
 The facilities for reading in the British Museum are generally com¬ 
 mended, yet any person desiring to read there must apply in writing 
 to the principal librarian, “ specifying his description and place of 
 abode,” and accompany the letter with a written recommendation from 
 some other person, “ whose position in society, reputation or public 
 appointment may serve as a guaranty for the respectability of the appli¬ 
 cant. Thereupon he receives a ticket giving him the privilege for six 
 months.” Under such restrictions the reading-room is visited by over 
 100,000 readers in a year.* 
 
 Admission for reading in the London Institution, an endowed library, 
 is obtained by a reading ticket, which is to be had of any of the 
 900 members. Those who know no members on the list have only 
 to furnish the librarian with a “ recommendation from some professional 
 man, merchant, employer of labor or other responsible person, and tickets 
 will be procured them.” “ The library is being reorganized to give 
 facilities for its use to the great outside body of readers.”! 
 
 The scheme adopted in the National Library in Paris during the last 
 eight years has been the provision of two reading-rooms on the same 
 premises. One is a popular reading-room for which a special selection 
 of about 25,000 volumes is provided, for artisans and the working classes. 
 It has a separate entrance on another street, and any person can read 
 there who is over 16 years of age. It received 51,000 readers in 1875. 
 The novels, which formed a large part of the collection at first, have 
 been gradually diminished as the room had finally become sufficiently 
 
 3 
 
 ♦Sim’s Handbook, 1854. 
 t Library Journal, i, 339. 
 
34 
 
 popular. The other reading-room of the great library cannot be used 
 except by those who have received tickets of admission or certificates of 
 some kind from the principal of a special school, or known citizens, by 
 which they become “ authorized workers.” The number of registered 
 readers here in 1875 was 51,504. This plan was the result of the labors 
 of a commission especially appointed by the government for the purpose, 
 of which M. Merimee was chairman. * 
 
 In Berlin, admission is free to all grown persons. Books are lent as 
 of right to enumerated classes, and to other persons duly guaranteed 
 either by certain public functionaries or other persons. “ Ignorant 
 persons frequently ask for books which promise no useful result, and thus 
 take up the time and energy of the official attendants.” | 
 
 In Dresden, all functionaries of the State have a right to admission, 
 and also strangers presenting a written guaranty from such persons. 
 
 In a large number of the libraries on the continent, as in Lisbon, 
 Rome, Naples, etc., admission is reported as free, though their statistics 
 show that popular use of the library had never entered into the customs 
 of those cities. 
 
 In the Boston Public Library, all persons who, under the law, have the 
 right to carry books home “ must have signed the application card and 
 given satisfactory reference to one citizen.” J Under such a restriction, 
 about 13,000 persons register their names annually for the sake of enjoying 
 the benefits of the library. When they apply to read in the reference 
 library they are known by their card; and to them, and indeed to all 
 others, the hall of the reference library is free, with such restrictions as 
 these, that reference books marked on the catalogue with one star only 
 circulate with the written permission of the superintendent, and those 
 marked with three stars shall not be used either within or out of the 
 building unless by the written permission of the president or two of the 
 trustees. “ The guaranty system is not used in the library, citizenship 
 and identification being found sufficient.” Engravings, patents and 
 some other books are shown in separate rooms, under the supervision of 
 special functionaries. There are other restraints to prevent injury or 
 improper use ; such as that medical works shall be loaned only to per¬ 
 sons of that profession, and that works are not to be used as study text¬ 
 books. 
 
 The instances here cited of the usages of prominent libraries may at 
 least have the utility of suggesting the matters for regulation in the 
 State Library. They show from a large field of inquiry that there is a 
 readiness to give access to the most liberal extent compatible with 
 security. “ It by no means follows that every public library indiscrimi¬ 
 nately, whatever its character or contents, should be open, without any 
 sort of introduction or voucher of character.” § No one of these cases 
 
 * France : Win. de l’lns. pub. Rapports sur la bibliotb^que nationale, 1876. 
 t Edwards’ Memoirs, II, 1007. 
 i Boston Public Library Hand-Book, 1877. 
 
 $ Edwards’ Memoirs ol' Libraries, I, p. 1026. 
 
can serve as an example to be hastily imitated. Each library as well as 
 our own may have peculiarities requiring a variation of treatment. 
 
 Registration op Readers. 
 
 The first rule for the consideration of the trustees would be some means 
 for identifying the applicant for a book. It might be a rule requiring 
 him to register his name and address in a book, or to add his address 
 to his name on the application card containing the name of the book 
 desired. Such a provision might be considered especially applicable to 
 persons using the bound volumes of newspapers or any of the 3,000 
 volumes of patents, the 2,500 volumes of pamphlets, and books of value. 
 
 Card of Introduction for Readers. 
 
 In view of the measure of insufficiency of this amount of identifica¬ 
 tion, instead of this first provision, the trustees might conclude in favor 
 of a rule that readers should be introduced by letter from some reliable 
 person, with or without guaranty or responsibility. The person intro¬ 
 ducing or guaranteeing might be a member of the legislature, a member 
 of the clerical, medical or legal professions, or a householder in Albany. 
 A non-resident and stranger from out of the State, by giving his address 
 and satisfying the secretary of the trustees or the librarian of his char¬ 
 acter, might have the privilege. 
 
 It seems to be an unjustifiable disregard of the interests of a library, 
 that books of every character, rare, unique, costly or peculiar should be 
 delivered into the hands of a total stranger upon his simple demand 
 in a room as public as a Broadway. In the absence of a written law to 
 protect the library, he imagines that he has a right to require the libra¬ 
 rian to put a work into his hands which the librarian thinks is for some 
 reason obviously unfit. Either the identity or the character or the 
 responsibility of every individual should be certified to in some manner, 
 that at least the library may be able to trace an injury to the offender. 
 Any gentleman informed of the circumstances would see the propriety 
 of making himself known through an introduction from another person 
 or by his card. Any person considering himself wronged would always 
 have the privilege of appealing to the judgment of the secretary or of 
 the library committee. 
 
 Mutilation and Theft of Books. 
 
 Further special legislation may be necessary to protect this library, 
 and other libraries in this State, from the mutilation or theft of books. 
 At present our regulations contain no prohibitions or penalties to deter 
 wrong-doers in these particulars, but make the librarians responsible for 
 all mutilations and losses, “unless it can be shown that some other per¬ 
 son is responsible for such loss or injury.” The usual method in libraries 
 is to make the reader or borrower responsible, and to request him to 
 
3G 
 
 point out all observed defects. The library has suffered to some extent 
 from both these causes, and in proportion to the increase of use of the 
 library is liable to suffer more in the future than in the past. The num¬ 
 ber employed in the service of the library is not sufficient to allow of any 
 adequate supervision of readers. 
 
 By the laws of Massachusetts any person found guilty of writing upon 
 or otherwise defacing any book belonging to a public library is punish¬ 
 able by a fine not exceeding $1,000 for each offense. By a law of this 
 State passed in 1872, any member or other person mutilating or injuring 
 a book belonging to an incorporate library is liable to a fine of $100, 
 “ provided that no prosecution shall be maintained under the act, unless 
 the library prosecuting shall have had at least two printed copies of the 
 act conspicuously exposed on the premises.” In the Astor Library, 
 within a short period, a person was discovered who had cut out many 
 pages from several volumes, but they were unable to prosecute him under 
 that act because they had not advertised the law in the building. 
 
 It is the belief of librarians generally that the advertisement of penal¬ 
 ties for offenses of this kind does much more good than it can possibly 
 do harm. In some libraries of England the record of convictions under 
 a somewhat similar law against injuries has been posted in the library 
 with the names of the offenders, and with very good effect. In the 
 British Museum, where it was thought the good had been sufficiently 
 accomplished, the placard was taken down. The same offenses again 
 speedily multiplied and the placards were restored to their old place. 
 It appears that in a glass case near the entrance an exhibition is made 
 of the mutilated books themselves, so that what is carried off becomes 
 of no use to its possessor.* In Amherst College, Mass., books are fur¬ 
 nished with a colored book-mark on which is printed the State law 
 against mutilation, and the college offers $25 reward for evidence lead¬ 
 ing to the conviction of any person so offending. In a town in Massa¬ 
 chusetts a plate had been taken out of a book in the library by a reader, 
 and a reward was offered for the discovery of the offender in the local 
 newspaper, and the engraving was sent back by mail. A similar result 
 followed the announcement this year from the office of the Secretary of 
 State that certain manuscripts had been taken from his office; many of 
 the manuscripts stolen were returned. 
 
 It is the testimony of many librarians that the grounds for distrust 
 touch more closely the educated than the ignorant. This is a topic calling 
 for instructions from the trustees. 
 
 Restrictions on Readers. 
 
 In a previous part of this paper, in speaking of the aim of the library, 
 we gave the titles of various works as illustrations of thousands in the 
 library on which restrictions should be placed upon their use if it were 
 
 * Athenaeum, London, Oct. 20, 1877. 
 
37 
 
 a reference library, or they should be duplicated if it were a popular 
 library. But there are in the library besides hundreds of volumes of 
 fiction, provided as literary history of American authors, or for the use 
 of families of members and of the State officers. If all classes of readers 
 without distinction and without cards of introduction continue to have 
 the privilege of occupying seats at the tables, a rule might be adopted 
 that light literature should not be delivered for continuous reading in 
 the library. The reason for the rule would be that the delivery of them 
 took up too much of the time of the librarians. In Dresden, light 
 literature is not loaned out of the library or given to be read in the 
 library, and for no other reason than this, as the books can be obtained 
 elsewhere by the applicants. Of course, if the trustees and the legisla¬ 
 ture enter upon the project of making the library a “ popular” one, and 
 provide a corresponding staff, the reason for the rule falls to the ground. 
 The discrimination would not be against light literature or novels, but 
 to prevent the library’s becoming a heavy expense to the State in pro¬ 
 portion to its utility. Our own copies of works of fiction are frequently 
 worn out and have to be condemned as worthless. 
 
 Restrictions hitherto made fin regard to the character of the books to 
 be delivered to readers, when made by the librarians in certain circum¬ 
 stances, have been approved by the library committee and the trustees. 
 In February, 1876, when some complained that they had been refused 
 books on account of their trifling character, the joint library committee 
 of the legislature sustained, in their report, the course which had been 
 pursued. 
 
 For popular libraries it is a very generally accepted principle that there 
 should be no limit to the age of the readers. The library is an educa¬ 
 tional institution, and any child that can read in quiet may be allowed 
 to read in the public room.* In the rules hitherto printed by the trustees 
 no mention is made of the young, its use by them having been so limited, 
 it was not necessary. If the library is not to be treated as a popular 
 library, discrimination on the score of age would be proper, unless in the 
 case of youth especially recommended. In that case a preamble to all 
 the rules might contain the declaration that the library was not a popular 
 library, and that the time of the librarians must be economized, and 
 could not be occupied in furnishing light literature for general reading. 
 
 It would be extremely difficult to provide that the rules, regarding 
 discrimination of readers and reading, should require more restrictions 
 in the six months of winter, including the whole session of the legislature, 
 and be relaxed for the summer months or the other six months of the year. 
 
 Perhaps the application of some other rules suggested will serve instead 
 of any discrimination in the character of the books to be delivered, and 
 prevent the use of the library merely for amusement. The Massachusetts 
 State library being special m the character of its purchases, has no popular 
 
 * U. S Libraries' Report, p. 413. 
 
38 
 
 books, and consequently has no readers seeking for them. The funda¬ 
 mental article upon which the library is based is : “ The State Library 
 is for the use of the Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, the council, the sen¬ 
 ate, the house of representatives and such other officers of the government 
 and other persons as may from time to time be permitted to use the 
 same.” The privileges of the people in a public town library are com¬ 
 mon and equal, if they are tax-payers of that town; but in a State 
 library their privileges extend only just so far as the government has 
 allowed them. They have the same rights in it that they have to the 
 use of any of the other public institutions of the State. 
 
 Books Improper for General-Circulation. 
 
 On this topic it will be sufficient for the present to quote the instruc¬ 
 tions given by the trustees to the librarians, March 8, 1858, and which 
 are not found in any printed copy of the rules: 
 
 “ There is a class of books in the library which have been deposited 
 there as illustrative of the age in which they were written and to preserve 
 its history. They are not designed for ordinary and common reading, 
 and the trustees would be justly censurable if they had placed them 
 there for such purpose. The frequency with which such books have 
 lately been called for, and the avidity with which they are read by young 
 men, make it imperative on the trustees to direct that they shall in no 
 case be delivered without the written order of the secretary. You will 
 exercise great discretion in regard to all books which may be called for, 
 which in your judgment may exercise a demoralizing influence over the 
 young. You will also refuse the use of illustrated works to persons in 
 whose hands you believe they will sustain injury. 
 
 “ By order of the trustees.” 
 
 In accordance with this principle, it has long been the custom to give 
 as a reason for not delivering to young persons some of the books applied 
 for, that the library did not give out, without especial orders, books which 
 on account of their character would not be allowed a place in a district 
 school library. 
 
 Orders for Borrowing Books. 
 
 When a person, who by law has a right to borrow books from the 
 library, gives to another person the privilege of drawing books in his 
 name, he thereby deprives himself of his own right for the time. The 
 order is so frequently originally granted to the applicant by the person 
 applied to, under the impression that such orders are the usual and 
 legitimate way for all persons to have the full use of the library, that 
 when he comes to ask for a book for his own use, he is disappointed to 
 find that he has legally exhausted all his own right; in consequence it 
 has been usual to allow such person to draw for his own use the works 
 he would otherwise be entitled to. The letter of the law does not, how- 
 
30 
 
 ever, provide for any such use of orders and their acceptance by the 
 librarian. The librarian of the Pennsylvania State Library has reported 
 to the legislature, regarding an order system, which had been in use 
 with them, and he speaks of it most extravagantly, as one “ which of 
 itself would deplete any library in this or any other community.” The 
 use of such orders has been prohibited in that State and in Tennessee, 
 Ohio, and Vermont, in consequence of the losses their libraries had suf¬ 
 fered. It should, however, be possible to control the matter and protect 
 the library even with the use of orders. The whole system is one, the 
 extension or restriction of which depends upon the degree to which the 
 legislature and the trustees aim to have the library conducted, on the 
 basis of a popular town library, or as a reference library of the govern¬ 
 ment. Every extension of the system of loaning on orders demands 
 more means of watchfulness and greater expense of management. 
 
 Several questions arise here for decision. If a person entitled to draw 
 books give an order for another person to draw in his name, does he con¬ 
 tinue to have the privilege of drawing himself? This would double the 
 privilege of drawing books beyond the provisions of law. Can any per¬ 
 son be privileged to give an order to more than one person ? If the 
 order is given by a member of the legislature for himself or for another 
 person, can it extend beyond the actual session of the legislature ? 
 Should an order in behalf of a person to draw in the name of anothor 
 person be unlimited as to time ? In the British Museum, those who 
 have tickets for reading in the library merely enjoy the privilege for a 
 limited number of months. 
 
 Loaning Books Out of Albany. 
 
 There is no provision in the rules for loaning books to persons out of 
 the city, nor for sending them out of the city to those State officers who 
 have a right to draw books themselves. In Germany the custom exists 
 in the principal libraries of loaning books to individuals in distant towns 
 on the security of the library to which they are consigned. Libraries 
 in 14 different places, including Berlin, Munich and Vienna exchange 
 in this manner with Dresden. 
 
 In the colony of Victoria, in 1875, 4,700 volumes were loaned by the 
 trustees of the library in Melbourne to libraries and mechanics’ insti¬ 
 tutes in distant towns; they were furnished at the expense of the 
 government to be reloaned to individuals. After a box or boxes 
 arranged with shelves inside has done service for a few months, it is 
 returned to be sent out again to another town. This is an effort in a 
 new settled country to perform the work of the popular library by the 
 government. A librarian at the Librarians’ Conference in London, Oct., 
 1877, urged the duty of existing libraries in England loaning books to 
 persons in distant towns. One method suggested was that duplicate 
 works might be set aside for a national or State lending library of the 
 
40 
 
 same kind. The request for such accommodation is sometimes made to 
 the library committee and to the secretary. Every such extension implies 
 additional expense to the State, and if the measure should be adopted, 
 it should be with provision for ample protection from loss and damage. 
 
 Copying of Manuscripts. 
 
 Any person desiring to copy the whole of any manuscript in the library 
 should obtain, when required by the librarian, the permission of the 
 secretary of the trustees or of the library committee, to whom it should 
 be his duty to refer the applicant in any case of doubt. 
 
 Law Library Rules. 
 
 Restrictions founded on these principles have long been applied in 
 the law library. In April, 1861, the judiciary committee of the senate 
 and assembly were required to report its condition and “ upon the 
 necessity of legislative action to preserve the same from destruction.” 
 In their report they show that, the library was for the “ use of the gov¬ 
 ernment and the people of the State,” and manifestly to be used for the 
 purposes of reference. But they regretted to find that “ its use as thus 
 restricted has been so extended as to be made a place of study to an 
 almost unlimited extent, to the great inconvenience of the judges of the 
 courts and the bar.” Upon this report the legislature resolved that the 
 law library having been established for the use of the officers of the 
 government, the courts and the bar, “it is the duty of the trustees of 
 the said library to secure its uninterrupted use to such purposes, and 
 that to secure that end the said trustees should limit its use to such 
 persons and officers, especially during the sessions of the legislature and 
 the terms of the courts.” In consequence, students in law during the 
 terms of the courts are not admitted to the use of the library until 2 p.m. 
 
 Concluding Observations on the Rules. 
 
 Many points regarding these and other rules must be left for considera¬ 
 tion to the time when the whole body of the regulations shall have 
 been drawn up in harmony with a general plan. 
 
 Of course, just so far as the ends for which the general library is 
 established are defined, effective rules may be applied for its manage¬ 
 ment. Whatever the restrictions might be, they would still leave Albany 
 in the enjoyment of great advantages over other cities, and the library 
 would make one of its attractions; solely, its citizens of all ages would 
 not, from the accident of being so, have so great privileges as if it were 
 a free town library and established by their own municipality. 
 
 In a library protected in the character of its readers, it would be 
 possible to have thousands of volumes exposed without locks, for use for 
 reference, without previous application to the librarian, in the same 
 manner as 20,000 volumes are exposed in the reading-room of the British 
 Museum. 
 
41 
 
 
 Additional Assistance Needed in the Library. 
 
 Having in the course of this statement given a summary account of 
 the work to be done in the library, I deem it my duty and privilege 
 respectfully to express the opinion that additional assistance should be 
 employed in it. The opinion has repeatedly been expressed by the 
 chairman of the library committee that it should be under the care of a 
 librarian and two assistants; yet the paper submitted by me to the 
 committee in April, 1876, showed that the amount of service devoted to 
 the library has been diminished instead of being increased since 1855. 
 It has been diminished more than one-fifth ; while within that time the 
 library has increased from 40,000 to more than 103,000 volumes; and 
 50,000 pamphlets have been added with the immense series of volumes 
 of patents. There is a double handling of the books owing to the 
 crowded state of the shelves whereon they stand in double rows. The 
 population of the city has nearly doubled within that time. Other 
 causes of additional labor have been previously mentioned. Of course 
 the cares and duties of the librarians have correspondingly increased. 
 
 If the trustees should deliberatively bestow attention upon this sub¬ 
 ject, they would be convinced that there is too much work to be done in 
 a growing and much-used library, that it can be done well by a single 
 librarian and assistant. The chairman of the library committee, in a 
 report to the trustees in 1856, remarks: “ The care of a large library 
 such as that of the State is now becoming, and the judgment and atten¬ 
 tion needed in the selection and purchase of books for its enlargement, 
 with the details of its management, require an amount of time and 
 attention which most persons do not at all appreciate.” * The continual 
 and increased demand for those services, which are more appropriate to 
 a popular library, is so great that much is necessarily not done which 
 should be attended to ; although the work neglected, while useful and 
 necessary, is not obvious, and needs to be pointed out to an examiner. 
 It is impossible for the librarians in these circumstances to make the 
 library suitably useful to the public. It is impossible that the printed 
 catalogues and indexes should have that bibliographical detail, com¬ 
 pleteness and exactness which the age demands, which are now exhibited 
 in the best American catalogues, and which the position of the State 
 gives men a right, to expect. The Boston Athenamm is spending §100,000 
 in preparing and printing its catalogue of a library of 105,000 volumes. 
 “ Harvard College has employed 18 persons for 16 years, and only half 
 the library has been catalogued.” | It is impossible to protect the library 
 from thefts and mutilations when a single librarian and assistant are 
 compelled both to exercise surveillance, prepare catalogues, deliver 
 books, and receive visitors all within the same hours. 
 
 ♦Minutes of the Regents for 1852-59, p. ‘253. 
 
 t Aracr, Lib. Journal, I, p. 115. 
 
42 
 
 The work actually performed stands out in one respect bodily, in more 
 than 3,000 pages of catalogues for the general library, besides the lists 
 of additions in the annual reports of the trustees. The history of all the 
 libraries in the country will not include a single one where so much and 
 so large a variety of library work has been performed by two persons as 
 during the same space of time has been performed in the general depart¬ 
 ment of the New York State Library, though persons passing before the 
 alcoves where the books repose in quiet order on the shelves might be 
 tempted to say, “ What an easy berth for a librarian ! ” 
 
 Whatever decision may be adopted regarding the popular aims of the 
 library, the increase of assistance will still be necessary ; and certainly 
 not as little will suffice as was asked for in my letter addressed to the 
 trustees at their annual meeting of January, 1877, in which, after repeat¬ 
 ing this fact of increase of work and diminished assistance, which had 
 been contained in my statement of April, 1876, I requested an addi¬ 
 tional assistant at least during six months of the year, the period within 
 which the legislature is in session and the pressure is the greatest. This 
 small amount was requested, not as being deemed sufficient, but as a 
 partial relief from the pressure, believing that the library committee 
 would not deem it wise to ask the legislature for more. 
 
 The Executive Officer of the Library. 
 
 In connection with this subject, another presents itself of considerable 
 importance, though of much delicacy. The wants of the library require 
 for greater efficiency that some one should be most closely related to it 
 as its chief executive officer, whether called secretary, librarian, keeper, 
 superintendent or any other name, who, under prescribed limitations, 
 should have the power to act for the library. This is not the present 
 condition of things. The present most respected and laborious secretary 
 of the Board of Regents is also, since 1856, the secretary of the library. 
 In his position he has all the correspondence and consultations on educa¬ 
 tion, the State Museum, the Normal School and other assigned charges, 
 and, occupied with his increasing duties, which grow with the growth of 
 the State, he is not able to give much of his time to the library. Some 
 person competent to act as librarian should have the power to act for 
 the library. A man of education and culture acting as librarian, with 
 an experience of several years ought to be qualified to suggest the books 
 which it would be most desirable to purchase and to place on the shelves 
 of the library. Receiving from the trustees from month to month 
 general principles to guide him in his selections, he should make to 
 them monthly report of his purchases, and thereupon receive fresh special 
 instructions. With this mode of cooperation he could not fail to make 
 satisfactory acquisitions from the various sources of supply. These 
 remarks do not apply to purchases involving a large sum. 
 
43 
 
 On this topic Mr. J. Winter Jones, the librarian of the British Museum, 
 said at the late London Conference of Librarians, October, 1877, in 
 language briefly summarized by a reporter : “ Books ought to be selected 
 by a good librarian, not by a committee.” * In his capacity as librarian 
 he has the disposal on his sole responsibility of one-fifth of the $100,000 
 annually appropriated for the library. Mr. Harrison, librarian of the 
 London Library, at the same conference “ claimed for a librarian as 
 much liberty of action as possible in book purchases, seeing that he had 
 many chance opportunities of buying that must be seized with prompti¬ 
 tude, and would not wait for the periodical meeting of the library com¬ 
 mittee.”* The author of the paper “ How to make Town Libraries 
 Successful,” in the United States Libraries’ Report, 1876, says: “ If the 
 librarian is competent, he should be the trusted executive of the board, 
 and behind him should stand a board of trustees or directors, or other 
 
 consulting or legislative body.Such executive should be allowed 
 
 under full responsibility adequate powers.” f 
 
 It should not be necessary in classes of books like our town and county 
 histories, the purchase of which has been declared desirable and proper 
 by the reports and usages of nearly 50 years, that there should be fre¬ 
 quent delays and loss of time, and sometimes losses of books, while 
 waiting for a chance to get the approbation of the library committee. 
 After 23 years’ experience in the general library, its librarian has no 
 authority to buy a single volume ; it is brought to the office of the secre¬ 
 tary for approval, who rarely takes the responsibility, and there it waits 
 for the approval of the library committee. 
 
 There is less occasion for a feeling of embarrassment in adverting to 
 this topic than there would be if sentiments in many respects similar 
 had not already been expressed by the trustees. In 1856, after the death 
 of Dr. Beck, the secretary of the library, and after the appointment of 
 his successor, the trustees, in their annual report to the legislature, make 
 mention that “ the interests of the library and its enlargement were the 
 subject of his constant thought and unremitting energies.” They then 
 add that “the duties of the secretary of the Regents have become so 
 numerous and important that the Regents have resolved to appoint an 
 additional secretary, whose chief duty they propose it shall be to take 
 
 charge of the library.and they respectfully request the legislature to 
 
 make such provision for his compensation as they may deem proper.” 
 This plan was never executed. Instead of it, the educational depart¬ 
 ment, having also increased in importance and labors, received an assist¬ 
 ant secretary; while nearly all those library duties which had been dis¬ 
 charged with so much enthusiasm by Dr. Beck, and which occupied so 
 great a part of his time, have fallen to the lot and care of the librarian 
 of the general library. 
 
 * Athenaeum, London, Oct. G, 1877. 
 
 t p. 430. 
 
44 
 
 The Library Hall op the New Capitol. 
 
 There is another and final topic of so great importance that I hope to 
 be excused for introducing it to the notice of the trustees in this state¬ 
 ment. It is the question of the uses and disposition to be made of that 
 large portion of the new capitol which has been devoted to the general 
 library only. 
 
 The occasion which led to the preparation of these remarks was the 
 prospect of the removal of the library to its new home, an event of im¬ 
 portance to the interests of the library and to the people of the State. 
 There is always danger in such an edifice that those interests may be 
 sacrificed to the fancied necessities of architecture, or that its construction 
 will have been so far advanced that it may be too late to introduce or 
 apply an adequate remedy. It is natural to feel a solicitude that the 
 arrangements, in a structure of such permanent character, should be the 
 best known for the security and preservation of the books, and for facilitat¬ 
 ing their use by readers. The latest conclusions on this subject of men 
 of the largest experience in library administration cannot fail to be of 
 utility at this juncture, and, therefore, I propose to quote the expressed 
 opinions of several of them. 
 
 In this age of multiplication of libraries, and the still greater multipli¬ 
 cation of books to be stored in them, edifices for the purpose are being 
 constructed on new principles, better adapted to the aims cf libraries, 
 and to the ever-growing number of books, than have been any of the 
 previous structures. 
 
 But with regard to the plan of our own proposed library hall, the only 
 information before the public accessible to me is from an architect, and 
 it states, that it will “ occupy the whole of the east front of two stories, 
 and will be 283 feet long, and 54 feet wide and 48 feet high. This will 
 be the most attractive room in the building, and it is believed in the 
 world. Its large area and lofty proportions, its views toward the north, 
 
 east and south.will make it a favorite place of resort at all seasons of 
 
 the year.” There is another description which gives visitors a promenade 
 over the lofty portico of the building outside of the hall. The above 
 description, however, shadowing forth that it is to be a lounge attractive 
 to wandering visitors, does not make an equally attractive picture for 
 students of history and science. And, moreover, it will appear to those 
 who have made the subject a special study, to indicate a choice of the 
 most costly mode of shelving books, and the most costly and inconvenient 
 mode of accommodating students. 
 
 Storing Books Compactly 
 
 The aims of librarians of the present day are to be able to store the 
 largest number of books in the least possible space consistent with free¬ 
 dom of access to them by librarians, and with abundance of light, and to 
 
provide adjoining to it a convenient reading-room or reading-rooms, in¬ 
 dependent of and additional to the rooms where the books are stored. 
 Three modern edifices, the new hall of the National Library of Paris, the 
 new portions of the British Museum Library surrounding its reading- 
 room, and the new addition to the old library of Harvard College, are all 
 constructed upon the principle to which I have referred. The alcoves of 
 the British Museum which radiate from the circle of its modern reading- 
 room, constructed in the quadrangle of the old edifice, have a length of 
 shelving of 25 miles, and have a capacity for 1,500,000 volumes. 
 
 The new wing (62 by 34 feet) to Gore Hall, the old library at Harvard 
 College, is designed to accommodate 200,000 additional volumes. When 
 built, in 1840, it was thought that the edifice was large enough for all the 
 books that would be placed in it for a century. It is built with a roof 
 largely of glass, and abundant and large glass windows on the sides. 
 Whatever the apparent number of stories outside, it has five stories in¬ 
 side, each story not being more than seven feet high. The floors of each 
 story are of iron open work. Through the whole length of each story 
 extend as many double-faced tiers of shelving as can find room, after 
 providing an allowance of two and a-half feet between the several tiers. 
 The runners for books reach the shelves by numerous narrow stairs con¬ 
 veniently placed. Around the whole runs a passageway three feet in 
 width, so that no books come against the outside walls. 
 
 Mr. Winsor, late of the Boston Public Library, and Mr. Poole, of the 
 Chicago Public Library, both gentlemen of the largest experience in 
 modern library wants, at the Librarians’ Convention in New York, in 
 September, 1877, each of them presented diagrams of their own plans 
 for arranging books, which harmonize essentially in the principle of 
 compactness of storage with those of the three libraries to which I have 
 referred. The large hall of the Boston Library, one of the comparatively 
 recent structures for a library, was frequently referred to, by those best 
 acquainted with it, as a failure in many respects; being the source of 
 great embarrassments, most of them irremediable, on account of defective 
 arrangement in the fundamental plan. 
 
 Reasons for Compact Storage. 
 
 « 
 
 Among the reasons for resorting to the principle of compactly storing 
 books is the prodigious rapidity with which libraries increase, frequently 
 doubling their number of volumes repeatedly in a few years. The library 
 in Paris is said to-day to actually contain over 2,000,000 volumes, and 
 perhaps it is not an exaggeration. The librarian of Congress, with the 
 new capitol barely finished in its present enlargement, asks for a separate 
 edifice for the National Library, and one that can be easily enlarged to 
 receive 2,000,000 volumes. It has twice doubled in 13 years from 1861. 
 The short period of 25 years has already, without extra appropriations, 
 rendered the hall of the New York State Library too small by one-half 
 
4-G 
 
 to accommodate properly the books now stored within it. If the ratio of 
 increase should be only slightly greater than in the past 25 years, 50 
 years would not elapse before it would be necessary to provide accom¬ 
 modations for it elsewhere than in the new capitol. It is doubtful whether 
 sufficient light can be secured in it to apply thoroughly the principle of 
 storage. 
 
 Another reason is that there is a great economy of time secured by 
 bringing the books near to the librarians and the messengers; the 
 economy of time is also equally to the advantage of the reader. This 
 principle led to the construction of the new library building of the college 
 of New Jersey as an octagon, having the librarians’ desk at the centre, 
 and from it rays of tiers of shelving diverge to the walls. Notwithstand¬ 
 ing its outside dimensions are only 64 feet, and it is but two stories high, 
 there is abundant accommodation for 100,000 volumes in that small space.* 
 The difficulties of the service of readers by the librarians in a hall con¬ 
 structed and arranged like the present hall of the general library are 
 very great. “A library hall, for example, should not be arranged with 
 such absolute disregard of economy that the attendants will have to travel 
 four miles to get books, for every one mile they would have gone in a 
 well-devised structure.”! 
 
 Separate Reading-Rooms. 
 
 One portion of the library hall should be set off and inclosed as a 
 reading-room. It is the opinion of all librarians that reference libraries 
 should have reading-rooms for their readers separate from the room 
 where the books are stored. Edwards, in his Memoirs of Libraries, says: 
 “ The reading-rooms should invariably be distinct from the rooms 
 appropriated to the main collection of books.” “ If the library be a 
 large one, two reading-rooms at least should be provided.” “An ample 
 provision of small working-rooms will be found to be true economy.” X 
 The Boston Public Library provides a reference reading-room in its 
 reading-room for periodicals, and a room for the delivery of books loaned 
 out, in addition to the reading tables of the reference library room on 
 the story above. The patents are exhibited in a separate room, and the 
 engravings in an additional one. Mr. Poole says : “ The reading-room 
 should be a separate apartment from the library room.” § 
 
 In the new part of Harvard library is contained an ante-room for the 
 delivery of books, with coat-rooms, besides three working-rooms for the 
 librarian and assistants, and the book-room. The general library of the 
 New York State Library has not even a coat closet, or any room but the 
 one book-room. The law library has had three of its alcoves separated 
 from it for secretary’s, assistant secretary’s, and bindery rooms since the 
 hall has been occupied for the library. 
 
 *Lib. Journal, Nov. 1878. 
 tCutter, C A., Lib. Jour., p. 390. 
 t London, 1859, vol. II, pp. 731, 1030, 1037, 1006. 
 
 § United States Libraries’ Report, 1876, pp. 484, 485. 
 
47 
 
 Difficulty of Heating a Large Library. 
 
 It. constitutes a strong reason for a separate reading-room that a hall 
 300 feet long and 48 feet high is difficult to heat in our climate, so as to 
 be comfortable for readers, without too much expense ; or, it may not be 
 possible to heat it sufficiently, and thus leaves them uncomfortable. 
 The hall of the present State Library has never been suitably warmed 
 with three and four furnaces in the cellar and two heaters in the upper 
 hall. If made sufficiently warm for readers, it then becomes injurious 
 to the books by the excess of dryness resulting from the protracted and 
 excessive heat. The amount of heat necessary to warm a lofty hall 
 causes the upper stories of the galleries to be extremely hot, and this 
 heat proves to be more detrimental to the binding than even the gas. 
 On one occasion the heat was found to be more than 145 degrees of 
 Fahrenheit. The heat in a hall designed merely for books and not for 
 readers would be but moderate, yet always sufficiently warm for the 
 runners after the books. 
 
 Asa consequence of such a change of plan as here suggested in the 
 uses of the parts of a library, the reading-room becomes the home of 
 architectural ornament rather than the room where the books are stored. 
 
 In case the hall for books should be finished with great architectural 
 elegance, and the storage plan not adopted, there would still be a pro¬ 
 priety that readers should have a separate room, and not be interrupted 
 by the crowd of mere visitors passing through it to view paintings and 
 objects of curiosity or to reach the balcony outside. 
 
 The aim should be to adapt the space as effectively as possible to the 
 purposes for which it is wanted—to hold books and to read in without 
 interruption and in quiet. How much of an object is it to be able to 
 say that one has the most magnificent library hall in the country, if as a 
 consequence the hall is rendered most inconvenient and ill adapted to 
 its proper use, and if it is no part of the aim of a library to secure such 
 a hall, and if instead of being an advantage it is an obstacle in the way 
 of its usefulness ? 
 
 As to how far any of the facts adduced on this last topic, and the 
 thoughts or desires which they may suggest, can be practically applied, 
 I do not need to express at present any opinion ; but I had such con¬ 
 victions of the importance of the facts that I could not refrain from 
 embodying them on paper and laying them before the trustees. 
 
 If, for the solution of this and of other topics embraced in this report, 
 the trustees should see sufficient motive to appoint a special committee 
 or committees, many additional facts and opinions of others could be 
 brought forward which would throw a fuller light upon the questions 
 discussed, and which I have only refrained from reciting so as not to 
 prolong this report. Having received a trust from the State, the care 
 and welfare of the State Library, I felt confident they would welcome 
 
48 
 
 any information respectfully communicated with good intentions which 
 might facilitate them in the discharge of it. 
 
 In conclusion, I solicit from the trustees the most indulgent interpreta¬ 
 tion they can possibly give to every line of this report. I hope that they 
 will not be able to see in any part of it aught else than the sincerest 
 interest in the welfare of an institution for which the writer has worked 
 most heartily for more than a score of years. He recognizes in himself 
 no other desire than that such decisions may be reached by the trustees 
 from the discussions of the themes herein introduced to their notice as 
 may conduce effectively to the greatest public good. 
 
 All of which is very respectfully submitted. 
 
 HENRY A. HOMES, 
 
 Librarian of the General Library. 
 
 State Library, Albany, January 1, 1878.