Mr. Babine was followed by Miss Merica Hoagland, president of the Indiana Union of Literary Clubs, who gave an interesting and suggestive talk on the way in which clubs might aid in the establishment of libraries and on the strengthening of their influence and helpfulness after they were established. IOWA LIBRARY SOCIETY. President: J. W. Rich, State University Library, Iowa City. Secretary: Miss Ella McLoney, Public Library, Des Moines. MAINE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. President: E. W. Hall, Colby University, Waterville. Secretary: Miss H. C. Fernald, State College, Orono. Treasurer: Prof. G: T. Little, Bowdoin College, Brunswick. MASSACHUSETTS LIBRARY CLUB. President: Herbert Putnam, Public Library Boston. Secretary: W: H. Tillinghast, Harvard College Library, Cambridge. Treasurer: Miss A. L. Sargent, Public Li This paper was followed by the presentation of the outline of a library bill proposed by the teachers' committee, to be presented to the next legislature. It was given by Supt. Goss, of Indianapolis, and provoked much discussion. It seemed to subordinate the library side of the question in relation to the school side too much to meet the wants and wishes of many present. Rutherford P. Hayes was next introduced to the association, and expressed the opinion that it was a better plan to divorce the library management from the schools. Library committees should be separate bodies, free from school authorities' super-brary, Medford. vision. He then spoke of the plans and purposes of the A. L. A. and urged an interest in it by those present. He gave an account of library commissions and their work, particularly of the Ohio commission. The expression of opinion at the close of the session showed that his view of library management was favored than that presented by the teachers. Wednesday night the usual reception was given the librarians and their friends by the Bowen-Merrill Co. in the Commercial Club parlors. Mr. Hayes, Miss Hoagland, and Miss Marvin were the guests of honor. Refreshments were served and a delightful company lingered till a late hour. more The session was opened Thursday morning by Miss Marvin on reference work. This was a general talk on the objects and methods of reference work. The fact that the books were to be brought to the readers, as well as the readers to the books was emphasized. Work with individuals, schools, clubs, factories, etc., was dwelt upon. Reference-books and such aids as indexes and guides were mentioned. Valuable library bulletins and reference lists were exhibited and the manner of compiling these explained. The arguments for and against access to shelves were briefly stated and a general discussion followed. THE executive committee have decided not to resume the preparation of the Lists of selected fiction. After the question of con tinuance was referred to them at the last meeting of the club, the committee sent circulars to the 600 persons who had received the lists, asking earnestly for replies to inquiries about the real practical value of the lists. From the that, while the lists were highly praised, the replies received-about 230-it appeared former method of publication, though preferred by a majority, could not be continued. The lists were found to be practically useful to a limited class of libraries scattered over the solved not to assume for the club the expens e whole country. The committee, therefore, reand burden of this work by their own authority, but to report their conclusions in detail at a club meeting. The next meeting of the club will be held at Hartford, Ct., on February 3, at the union meeting of New England associations, under the auspices of the Connecticut Library Association. WM. H. TILLINGHAST, Secretary. MICHIGAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. President: H: M. Utley, Public Library, Detroit. Secretary: Mrs. A. F. Parsons, Public LiTreasurer: Miss Lucy Ball, Public Library, Grand Rapids. In library literature, periodicals, handbooks, catalogs, reports, etc., of special value to library, Bay City. brarians were described and exhibited. The importance of a librarian keeping in touch with all the literature of his profession was urged. This finished the practical work of the institute to the eminent satisfaction of all in at tendance, the only regret expressed being in regard to the limited time of the meetings. An urgent request was made for a longer session at another time. A vote of thanks was given to the libraries of Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Evansville, Terre Haute, and Franklin College, to the Bowen-Merrill Co. and Library Bureau. The officers elected for the year are: Elizabeth D. Swan, of Purdue Univ., president ; I. S. Leach, Kokomo, vice-president; M. E. Ahern, secretary and treasurer. MINNESOTA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. President: Dr. W: W. Folwell, State Univer sity, Minneapolis. Secretary and Treasurer: Miss Gratia Countryman, Public Library, Minneapolis. THE Minnesota Library Association held its fifth annual meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 29, in St. Paul and Minneapolis. A strong attempt had previously been made to make this year's meeting an especially large and profitable one, and the results were not disappointing. The state educational association, which met in St. Paul on the same date, set aside one session of its meetings for the discussion of library 32 matters. The program for this session was planned by the library association, and was a joint meeting of the two associations. This seems to be a good beginning toward establishing friendly relations throughout the state between schools and libraries. It will at any rate go to prove that the two branches of educational work are aiming toward the same results, a point of view which people in Minnesota have not always been quick to take. The papers read before the joint meeting were as follows: "Library economy in the college curriculum," by Miss Lettie Crafts, assistant librarian of the state university; "Correlation of the library and school," by Dr. J. K. Hosmer, librarian of the Minneapolis Public Library; “Minnesota district school libraries," by Mr. W. W. Pendergast, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. All of these papers were listened to with interest, and went far to identify the work of the two associations. Miss Crafts's paper pleaded for a chair of bibliography in the college faculty and the systematic training of students in using a library. She also pleaded for a course in the summer school, which should give the teachers an opportunity of learning something of library economy. The growing high school libraries and district libraries almost demand that the teachers should have at least an elementary knowledge of library science. The afternoon session, held in the Minneapolis Public Library, was a very interesting one. Over 35 members were present, representing the libraries of St. Paul, Minneapolis, State University, Duluth, St. Cloud, Mankato, Rochester, Red Wing, Anoka, and Stillwater. The president, Dr. W. W. Folwell, was absent, and Dr. J. K. Hosmer, of Minneapolis, presided. The papers were uniformly good and on live topics, the work with the children, perhaps, receiving more attention than any other one subject. The reports from the various town libraries showed great progress through the past year, and left one with the impression that the Minnesota library spirit is greatly awakened. The evening session found 45 present. The chief paper of the evening was by Miss M. J. Evans, of Carleton College, Northfield. She spoke on the subject of "How best to render the college student familiar with the college library." Her remarks were especially helpful to college librarians, and set forth particularly the field of usefulness which is open to college libraries, but every librarian present felt that her own horizon had been enlarged, and that many of the suggestions were applicable to her own case. Miss Countryman followed with a paper on the need of a state library commission, and gave briefly some facts in regard to the bill which is to be introduced this winter in the state legislature. Then followed a pleasant social session, made pleasanter by ice-cream and cake. The galleries of the library had been lighted, and the association was taken through the building to see the picture gallery and the collection of casts which has recently been placed in the GRATIA A. COUNTRYMAN, Secretary. President: W. E. Jillson, Doane College, Secretary: Miss Mary L. Jones, State Univer- Treasurer: Mrs. M. E. Abell, Public Library, Beatrice. THE Nebraska Library Association held its second annual meeting in the library building the state university on the afternoon of Dec. 31, from 2 to 4 o'clock. The association is an auxiliary of the state teachers' association, and was held in connection with the annual meeting of that body. The session proved exceedingly interesting. It was given up almost wholly to the discussion of travelling libraries, and suggestions for instituting this system in the state. The subject was brought before the association in a paper by Miss Edna D. Bullock, formerly of the state library, who discussed at length the New York system of travelling libraries, and told of the success of the plan there and in other states where it has been adopted. She set forth the scope, purposes, practical workings, and cost of a state system of travelling libraries, and urged that the matter be given serious attention in Nebraska. President D. A. Campbell, of the state library, then called for a full discussion of the subject, and suggestions as to the best means of bringing the matter before the legislature. Members of the Federation of Women's Clubs were present, and as pioneers who have begun a system of travelling libraries on a small scale promised all possible aid to the movement for a state system. A communication from the university regents, promising hearty support of the measure, was read by the secretary, Mary L. Jones. Chancellor MacLean then spoke, heartily favoring the travelling library. He said he had done all he could to help formulate and pass a travelling library bill in Minnesota. Such libraries, he thought, fostered the growth of the true public libraries, not libraries endowed by private munificence but maintained by the state as truly educational institutions for the uplifting of its people. He suggested that a travelling library system should have a close connection with the state educational system. It should act as an aid in the work of university extension, which is only beginning in Nebraska. The travelling library could reach places where the university extension course could notcould give university extension work down to the fingers and toes, as it were, of this state of magnificent distances. He spoke of the enthusiastic support of the regents and faculty for this measure, and gave some information as to the nature of the bill presented to the Minnesota legislature. Prof. W. E. Jillson, of Doane College, favored travelling libraries, and thought a bill should be modelled to suit local conditions. Nebraska needs such libraries much more than a thickly-settled state like New York, where they have proved so useful. establishing a free public library for Brooklyn. The Clarendon Hotel was the headquarters of the visiting librarians, and here the annual dinner was served, in more abbreviated fashion than in former years, when this prandial gath The association then voted to present a memorial to the coming legislature on the sub-ering has formed the social finish of the conject, and to work for the adoption of a bill making a beginning of a travelling library system in the state. Mr. Campbell read a very interesting article in the Chicago Times-Herald, Dec. 26, about the travelling libraries started by Senator Stout, and later by Mr. Witter, in two localities of Wisconsin. The hunger of the people for books, their careful and constant use of them, were illustrated there and made an almost pathetic plea for the plan which has given them so much pleasure. Officers of the association were elected for the coming year as follows: President, Prof. W. E. Jillson, of Doane College; first vicepresident, Miss Edna D. Bullock; second vicepresident, Miss Carrie Dennis; secretary, Miss Mary L. Jones; treasurer, Mrs. M. E. Abell, of Beatrice. Provision was made for having the state library law and a list of the libraries of the state published, in order to interest people in the subject of libraries. NEW HAMPSHIRE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. President: W. W. Bailey, Nashua. Corresponding Secretary: Miss Grace Blanchard, Public Library, Concord. Librarian and Treasurer: Miss A. M. Colby, Public Library, Concord. NEW JERSEY LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. President: John B. Thompson, Trenton, N. J. Secretary: Miss Beatrice Winser, Public Library, Newark. Treasurer: Miss Emma L. Adams, Public Library, Plainfield. NEW YORK LIBRARY ASSOCIATION. President: A. L. Peck, Public Library, Gloversville. Secretary: W: R. Eastman, State Library, Albany. Treasurer: J. N. Wing, Chas. Scribner's Sons, 153 Fifth avenue, New York City. JOINT MEETING WITH THE N. Y. LIBRARY CLUB. * ference. There was a large attendance from out of town, and Brooklyn and New York also made an admirable showing, nearly 200 persons being present during most of the day. The meeting was called to order at 10:20 a.m., Mr. C: Alex. Nelson acting as chairman in the absence of Mr. Larned, who was unable to attend on account of the important business now pending in Buffalo regarding the change of the Buffalo Library from a subscription institution to a free public library. Mr. Nelson in a few words welcomed the associations to Brooklyn, which he said had often been called the sleeping-chamber of New York, and which perhaps merited this designation, at least so far as regarded public libraries. Nevertheless, though Brooklyn could not boast a public library it possessed its full quota of free libraries, in the Union for Christian Work with its 30,000 volumes and its circulation of 200,000, in the Pratt Institute library, and in a number of other libraries, while through the efforts of the Brooklyn Public Library Association and the stimulus derived from the meeting it was hoped that it would not be long before a free public library would be added to the list. A motion made by Mr. Eastman was carried, that the chair appoint a committee to nominate officers for the state association; another motion appointing a committee of two from the state association to act with the club in regard to resolutions was also carried, and Mr. Eastman recommended that Mr. Dewey, president of the library section of the N. E. A., be asked to speak on the relation between that body and the library associations at the ciose of the morning's program. The regular program was then opened by Mr. Eastman, who read an interesting and encouraging paper on Library progress in the state of New York." The library record of New York City was first noted. The item of $63,500 appropriated for four free circulating libraries in the city in January, 1896, had increased by January 1, 1897 58%, or to $96,700, to be shared by 10 distinct library corporations, which if reckoned by branches as well as by parent libraries gives a total of 19 libraries THE annual joint meeting of the New York officially recognized by the city, and circulating State Library Association and the New York in 1896 1,529,385 v., an increase of 350,000 v. Library Club was held this year on January 14, in two years. The first notable impulse to the in Brooklyn, at the invitation of the Brooklyn library movement in the state was given by the Public Library Association. The meeting was university law of 1892, the salient points of an all-day, and for that matter almost an all-which were briefly reviewed by Mr. Eastman, night, affair; the morning and afternoon ses sions being held in the Art Building, on Montague street, and a public meeting in the evening at the Academy of Music, having been arranged to awaken public interest in the matter of *This report is largely prepared from the excellent notes taken during the meeting by Miss J. A. Rathbone, secretary of the N. Y. Library Club. by which public libraries are fully recognized as institutions of higher education and the promotion of their interests is made a duty of the regents of the university. Under this law for five years $25,000 a year has been appropriated for the libraries of the state and 161 different libraries have received aid, some of them two, three, and four times. In less than five years 106 public libraries were chartered by the university, 22 were admitted as university institutions, 41 were registered as maintaining a proper standard, and 17 were organized under general laws, six of which were subsequently admitted and five registered by the university. In 1896 the state university received the reports of 807 libraries, containing 4,654,961 v., and circulating 5,008,402 v. In free circulating libraries alone the increase has been from 238 in 1893 to 351, a growth of 113 or 47% in three years; these now contain 1,313,299 v. and circulated in 1896 2,933,628 v. "Inese figures mean that, on an average, there were 10,750 books issued every day in the year from the free libraries, where three years ago there were only 6260 books a day, and that an increase of 2150 a day belongs to the last year." As an instance the case of the Utica Public Library was cited, which three years ago reported a circulation of about 158 a day, and which now has an average circulation of 600 a day and a frequent issue of 1000 a day. The new buildings acquired by libraries in the course of the past four years were briefly reviewed, and 36 new and costly structures were noted, while a brief summary was given of the many new libraries established all over the state. The travelling libraries conducted by the state were described, and statistics of their use were given. There are now in use 234 sets of the 28 general and nine subject libraries; 768 libraries have been sent out on 524 applications, and the reported circulation has been 85,393. trash.. Charles Dudley Warner once asked, When do the leisure classes read, and answered that it was not in winter, for then the demands of society were to be met; nor in summer, for then time must be given to recreation. Even yet people do not read the great books of the world, a statement strikingly illustrated by the fact that Mr. Jones had found it impossible to get 25 copies of Milton, or Spenser, or Dante in the book-stores of Philadelphia. He doubted if in all the book-stores of a city of 1,000,000 inhabitants there could be found 25 copies of "Paradise lost" or of Dante; and twice, in Chicago and New York, he had cleared the market of copies of Dante. He spoke vigorously of the need of a higher general standard of culture, and of the work done toward that end by the literature clubs under direction of the regents, who were prepared to furnish courses designed not only for teachers and pupils of literature, but for all who desired them. He mentioned several of the courses now in preparation or already organized, and urged the cooperation of local libraries in the work. The books for the courses would, if desired, be made a part of the travelling libraries sent to communities desiring them. He quoted Woodrow Wilson on the value of "mere literature," and earnestly urged the claims of the literature of power, as more needed than the literature of information. The next feature of the program was a symposium on "What should librarians read ?" by G. H. Baker, W. A. Bardwell, A. E. Bostwick, and Wilberforce Eames. Mr. Baker opened the discussion by saying that if he or his colleagues had intended to impress librarians with the things they ought to read, but do not, that portion of their talk might be omitted, in view of Mr. Jones's address. The librarian of a modern library, large or small, has so many demands upon time and thought that any systematic attempt to read is almost impossible, except out of business hours. Librarians gen Mr. Eastman touched upon the increasing frequency with which requests for advice and assistance are sent to the library training schools from local libraries and organizations, on the growing thoroughness and extension of the library school courses, and on the wide significance of the recent establishment of a library section in the National Educational As-erally must find time to glance at books to see sociation, and of the development of library associations. "All these are multiplying signs of the force of the library movement. They point to a growing demand for books of the better sort, not for entertainment merely, nor for excitement, but for information and inspiration." Mr. Nelson added to Mr. Eastman's interesting report the information that a new subscription library of 200 members had been opened only the day before this meeting by the Woman's Fortnightly Club in the 26th ward of Brooklyn. The following committees were then announced: on nominations, A. L. Peck, M. S. Cutler, W. S. Sickley; on resolutions, G. H. Baker, W. R. Eastman. Mr. Richard Jones, Regents literature inspector, then delivered an address on “Literature clubs," and the way in which their work has been promoted through the university. The matter of improving public taste in reading is one of vital importance. To the question, What do people read? there can be but one answer-trash, weak trash, not to say vile what is to be done with them for practical purposes. There was no time when so many demands were made upon the librarian, when the professional standard was so high as at present. The librarian should be intelligent, widely read, and thoroughly informed, and with this greater need there was a smaller possibility of meeting it. Some substitutes were suggested by which the librarian might, in a measure, supply the want of time or opportunity to accomplish the reading so necessary in his work: first, adequate, intelligent preparation for his work beforehand; second, an organized systematic attempt to utilize others' reading. In a university library it is comparatively easy to enlist the help of specialists on different subjects in passing on the literature of their subjects for the librarian's information, and even in public libraries it should be easy to find men and women with specific literary taste and knowledge who will help him in this way. Some systematic effort should be made by the librarian to gather around him people who can counsel him on the selection of books and on whose judg ment and taste he can rely. But the librarian cannot get this information at second hand unless he has some capital of his own to start with. He should cultivate the power of imbibing briefly a notion of the contents and character of a book on almost any subject, of obtaining an amount of varied if superficial knowledge on most subjects; but with this he should know some one thing thoroughly, that he may keep in touch with the methods used by students in their investigations and with the needs of investigators as a whole. Mr. Baker closed with a plea for recreative reading, often the only kind of reading for which the librarian is fit, after the stress of his mental work, and recommended a thorough acquaintance with the daily papers and with the history of our own time as revealed by them. Mr. Dewey took another view of the matter. He said that librarians ought to take their own medicine and had no more right to expect to do their personal reading in office hours than had the cashier of a bank or an engineer. Librarians were paid better salaries, given shorter hours and longer vacations because their work was being recognized as professional. That meant that they should take time for preparation, not only before entering their profession but daily while carrying it on. When librarians were appointed as mere custodians of books at trifling salaries they might do their reading and study in official hours, but now the public demanded their time as rigorously as it did that of the expert dentist, who would lose his patients if, while being paid $6 an hour, he should sit down to read the latest work on dentistry. The librarian who contented himself with passing on to readers only second-hand information without himself knowing thoroughly at least some of the great literary masterpieces was making himself merely a water-spout instead of a fountain. It is his business to urge on the public the reading of the best books, and he has just as much leisure and strength for such reading out of office hours as has the merchant or professional man who is subjected probably to greater nervous strain. The physician notoriously violates the rules of health prescribed for his patient and the lawyer is the most ingenious and persistent violator of the statutes, but the ideal librarian cannot preach the reading of the literature of power to the rest of the world and in his practice neglect it for himself. Mr. Bardwell's contribution to the symposium was read by his son. It divided the librarian's reading into two divisions - official and unofficial; the former consisting of the necessary book lists, reviews, catalogs, etc., the latter of the general literature that is hardly less important. He urged the utilization of odd minutes, the time spent in going to and from luncheon, and especially the time spent in travelling on street cars, and said that a book read but for a short time at frequent intervals was better remembered than one read continuously. Mr. Bostwick's paper dealt especially with reviews as a substitute for reading by the librarian, and pointed out the fact that modern reviews were written for the critic or for the general reader, but not for the librarian. What a librarian wants to know about a book is: 1, to what class of readers does it ap-brarians should know everything, but unfortupeal? 2, will that class seek for it, or will it be desired only by a few? 3, does it contain anything objectionable, morally, politically, or from a religious standpoint? 4, what are its literary merits? and 5, how much reliance can be placed upon its facts? None of these questions are answered in the ordinary book notices, and the only way in which they may be solved is by the reviewing of books for librarians by librarians. Signed reviews were, from the librarian's standpoint, far preferable to unsigned reviews. He believed that every book in a library should have passed through the librarian's hands. Mr. Eames concluded the discussion with some notes on the necessity of keeping informed in the various classes of literature. What a librarian should read depends largely upon the kind of a library under his care, but the thing of first importance is to keep in touch with library methods and developments. He recommended that the reading of books in the various departments of literature be divided among heads of departments, and he said that one of the duties of the librarian was the preparation of a course of reading for his assistants, to be followed at home. Mr. Cutter agreed with Mr. Dewey that li nately they did not possess 10 or a dozen contemporaneous lives. He would not advise any one to try to read all the books in arts and sciences, for instance, and he thought that too much should not be expected of librarians in that respect. Mr. Dewey then spoke briefly on the relation that should exist between the library associations and the National Educational Association, and of the good that co-operation between the two could accomplish. On motion of Mr. Eastman it was "Voted, that this meeting requests the executive boards of the New York Library Association and the New York Library Club to secure, if possible, a representation of their respective bodies of not less than five delegates at the annual meeting of the National Educational Association at Milwaukee in July, 1897." The election of officers for 1897 was next in order, and resulted as follows: President, A. L. Peck, Gloversville Public Library; Vicepresidents: Willis A. Bardwell, Brooklyn Public Library, Miss E. G. Baldwin, Teachers College, New York; Secretary, W. R. Eastman, State Library, Albany; Treasurer, J. N. Wing, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York. The meeting then adjourned. Miss Cutler and Mr. Richardson both rose to endorse Mr. Baker's suggestion that books on The afternoon session opened at 2:30, with various subjects be " 'farmed out" for critical the presentation of the amendment to article reading by specialists, whose work would thus 6 of the constitution, discussed at the last meetmaterially lighten the duties of the librarian.ing, which, on motion of Mr. Eastman, was |