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I have before me the report of the New York Public Library
for 1911.
That year the Public Library in New York was moved from two
old buildings to new premises erected by the city. The total number of
books is now about two million. It so happened that the first book asked
for when the reading-room opened its doors was in Russian. It was a work by
N. Grot, The
Moral Ideals of Our Times. The request for the book was handed
in at eight minutes past nine in the morning. The book was delivered to the
reader at nine fifteen.
In the course of the year the library was visited by
1,658,376 people. There were 246,950 readers using the reading-room and
they took out 911,891 books.
This, however, is only a small part of the book circulation
effected by the library. Only a few people can visit the library. The
rational organisation of educational work is measured by the number of
books issued to be read at home, by the conveniences available to the majority of the population.
In three boroughs of New York—Manhatten, Bronx and
Richmond—the New York Public Library has forty-two
branches and will soon have a forty-third (the total population of the
three boroughs is almost three
million). The aim that is constantly pursued is to have a branch of the
Public Library within three-quarters
of a verst, i.e., within ten minutes’ walk of the house of every
inhabitant, the branch library being the
centre of all kinds of institutions and establishments for
public education.
Almosteight
million (7,914,882 volumes) were issued to readers at home,
400,000 more than in 1910. To each hundred members of the population of all
ages and both sexes, 267 books were issued for reading at home in the
course of the year.
Each of the forty-two branch libraries not only provides for
the use of reference books in the building and the issue of books to be
read at home, it is also a place for evening lectures, for public meetings
and for rational entertainment.
The New York Public Library contains about 15,000 books in
oriental languages, about 20,000 in Yiddish and about 16,000 in the
Slav languages. In the main reading-room there are about 20,000 books
standing on open
shelves for general use.
The New York Public Library has opened a special, central,
reading-room for children, and similar institutions are gradually being
opened at all branches. The librarians do everything for the children’s
convenience and answer their questions. The number of books children took
out to read at home was 2,859,888, slightly under three million (more than
a third of the total). The number of children visiting the reading-room was
1,120,915.
As far as losses are concerned—the New York Public Library
assesses the number of books lost at 70–80–90 per 100,000 issued to be read
at home.
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