up to the shelves, and when you put your fingers upon a tome the dust - dust, did I say? No, sir; powder, the grime of the ages, fills the air in a stifling stream. Thank God such buildings are going out of existence. But then I saw a model library, here in St. Louis, too. When I inspected your Mercantile Library, that magnificent new building, books all on a level, no stairs, no ladder, no galleries, no climbing, the electric lights, and all the superb appointments for the comfort and convenience of the public, I could scarcely refrain from giving an unseemly exhibition of my delight. I was glad I came. Now, you need a new public library building. Allow me to suggest what the city needs. Your city should give liberally to this enterprise; or, better still, just as hundreds have been doing all over the land, let your wealthy citizens put their hands down into the nethermost recesses of their pockets, and produce shekels of gold and certificates of silver, until this urgent need of your city is supplied. In other cities it is becoming the fashionable thing to give a great sum for the formation of public libraries; no little paltry $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000, but up into the millions. Just think of the names that rich people can hand down to posterity in this way. Look at Newberry, of Chicago, for example. The day has gone by when a city ranks alone from its population, from its wealth, and its clearing-house reports. It is what it is doing for art, for education, for libraries, and for general culture that gives it standing. Well, you will have a new building some of these days for your public library. Allow me to suggest: First get a big lot, out on some square away from the narrow business streets; take plenty of room. Then lay your plans well, and remember that the tenfold ratio of the past thirty-six years is liable to be quadrupled in the next like period. It is not necessary to build all at once, but build for keeps and hold the rest open. There is no occasion to build so as to pull down again. Build something that will have to stand, something consistent in itself. Then don't let the architects, the builders, and the building committees weave in their tablets and memorial stones in the structure. They will all try it, but frown them down. Build for the convenience of the public. Ask your librarian for points. Your librarians know something. Mr. Dyer has shown exquisite taste in that Mercantile Library building. Don't you suppose that edifice will be a lasting monument to him? After the comfort and convenience of the public have been attained, then

beauty of architectural design and finish may be easily secured.

President CUTTER.- A gentleman here will try to prove to you that 'the library is a necessity and not a luxury,' in the face of the fact that for years he has been successful in making his library the most enjoyable luxury in his city.

Mr. S. S. GREEN treated his subject under the three heads entertainment, instruction, and moral improvement. As a large part of the matter was duplicated in his paper read at the afternoon session of Friday, he has not furnished this talk for publication.

The President then called upon Mr. Melvil Dewey as one in hearty sympathy with the modern library movement, and Mr. DEWEY responded in some earnest remarks on the question: Do public libraries pay?

Mr. WINSOR was then called upon, and made a few remarks.

President CUTTER.-I have introduced to the citizens of St. Louis here present four of the leading members of our Association; Mr. Crunden will now introduce to the librarians three of the citizens of St. Louis.

Mr. Crunden then called upon Mr. JAMES RICHARDSON, who said:

MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES, AND Gentlemen:

You, who have the management of the great libraries of our principal cities, are assembled in annual convention, to take council with each other and exchange ideas regarding the methods of conducting them, to discover, if possible, some better plans of practice to make them more useful, and widen their influence.

Books are the repositories of all human knowledge. Every idea and thought that the brain of man has conceived or his tongue uttered, as well as every imaginable variation and applica tion of them, has been for many ages written out and preserved in printed volumes, until their number is legion; and some wise man has said that "there is no end to them." Be this as it may, we know that the wisdom stored away in books already is profound enough and sufficiently extensive, if a due share of it were imparted to every living individual, to revolutionize our present boasted civilization, and bring man up to that high standard of moral and mental culture, to which, having been formed in the image of his Creator, he is capable and entitled to attain. Thus you will see that the work you have in hand, of making libraries more useful, is of the highest order, and as extensive as the race to which you

belong. The first knowledge we have of libraries, before the discovery of the art of printing, seems to have been collections of the manuscripts of Greek, Persian, Hebrew, and Egyptian savans, more as the sport and plaything of semi-barbarian monarchs and kings,-of use only to the few wise men of those dark and distant ages, rather than for the dissemination of knowledge among the people in general. The history of the widening of the scope and influence of books from these early periods down through the intervening centuries, filled with human struggles, successes, and failures, will be found, if carefully studied, to be the history of the progress of human civilization. It covers a long and dreary outlook, during which empires have crumbled and passed out of existence. Nevertheless, steady progress has been made by our race during all this time in the direction of individual culture and personal liberty of thought and action, until books are no longer the property of the few, read by an aristocracy of learning, but are the consolation of millions of ardent students and readers, seeking knowledge to fit themselves for the proper performance of the duties of life as they develop before them. Mark the change! Now the State donates large portions of its territory for educational purposes; cities and towns tax themselves to build up schools and libraries for the unrestricted use of all their citizens. Now, in a large portion of this country, not only free schools but free libraries are within easy reach of almost the whole of our population; and one would suppose that little more could be done to cultivate the intellects and morals of all our people to the highest standard. But we all are aware that but a mere fraction avail themselves fully of this invaluable opportunity, while large numbers take shallow draughts only, and the remaining multitude are almost total abstainers. Children, of course, are not aware of the value of culture; and men and women,-fathers and mothers,-as affairs now run among communities in general, are full of apathy, their minds being absorbed in life's struggles and their daily labors, and so give little or no thought to the cultivation of the minds of their children.

The opportunity is all around them, but lies neglected. Meantime, books for all to read and get instruction fill your shelves almost to repletion, while the wide-open doors of free schools are too often unentered.

You have been discussing the best methods of making your libraries more useful. You are trying to discover some plan to make your books do

their whole duty to give up all their valuable contents to every member of the community. In fine, you are trying to make the contents of your libraries educate the whole people. But the apathy on their part, just recited, prevents you from realizing your ardent wishes. You have seen and admired the wonderful influence in any community of a single person to whom the daily habit of reading instructive books, for a series of years, has imparted large knowledge, and you desire to increase their numbers until all are counted among them. It is a noble work-worthy of the best hearts and heads in the country, and you are entitled to every success in the undertaking. The middle-aged and old are, to a large extent, beyond your influence; their habits are formed, and they will finish their lives in the same direction they have been habitually traveling; but all the youth of the country are still susceptible, and it is upon them that you must bring to bear all the powers for directing their minds into the field and along the paths of knowledge that can be commanded by your best endeavors. But where can you effectually grasp and bring your influence to bear upon them? Where are they congregated, and where can you find them? I answer these questions by asserting that it is in the public schools, and the opportunity afforded you there is a grand one. It is a wonder that such a field of large influence has remained so long almost entirely neglected by librarians and instructors. Years ago I pointed out to the Directors of our schools and the Trustees of our library that their complete consolidation into one system of instruction would result in such a magnificent improvement in the education of the rising generation, as would fill every good man and woman with joy and admiration. We all know that under our present methods not one in 500 of our school children, after graduation, goes on in the work of self-education by systematic thinking and reading. They have never been taught that all they can learn during their brief school life, which ends at the average age of fourteen, is to attain a firm hold of the mental implements with which to educate themselves without the intervention of teachers while engaged in the affairs of every-day life, and their school days are over.

The books of the free library must be brought into the free school and made a part of its curriculum, and no small part of it, either. So soon as the pupils can fairly write, and cipher, and read understandingly, all the time thereafter should be devoted to instructing them how to acquire an education by their own personal efforts, in reading proper books adapted to their different cir

When you graduate from our public schools such a generation of pupils-habitual readerseven if a large share of them fall off from their opportunities, what a power and influence in the right direction will they not exert in the community where they are domiciled? Wherever you see one of this kind now, you see a man or woman of high standing; wielding a large influence on all around them, and taking the lead in all good enterprises in the communities where they are living. What a change for the better would at once be apparent, if educators, instead of pursuing the present methods of cramming with the dry items of an almost indefinite series of studies, so

tiresome to the pupils that when they leave school they go out disgusted - make no further effort to store their minds with knowledge, and at once sink down to the common level, would limit their labors to the items already pointed out in this paper, and at its conclusion graduate their pupils, a generation of living self-learners, into that wide and ever opening wider school, which never closes its instruction until the student's life is ended. Under these conditions, your books, full of information, but now to the mass of our citizens almost closed volumes, will open wide their instructive treasures and will be doing their whole duty to the whole community. Then your library will be a great and grand university; your books being its silent, tireless, but effectual professors and teachers, and the whole human race will be your grateful pupils.

Two other gentlemen were to have spoken,Mr. F. N. Judson and Rev. H. A. Stenison, but were prevented by the lateness of the hour.

The Publishing Section held its regular meeting at 9 A. M., May 9. In the absence of the President, the chair was taken by the Chairman of the Executive Board, W: I. Fletcher.

The reports of the Executive Board and of the Treasurer for the two years 1887-89 were read and accepted, as printed below.

The election of officers for the year was delayed for the appointment of a nominating committee, and the section adjourned subject to the call of the Chairman.

At the close of the morning session of the A. L. A. the Nominating Committee was announced as R. P. Hayes, of Fremont, O.; F. H. Hild, of Chicago; R. B. Poole, of New York; K. A: Linderfelt, of of Milwaukee; Mrs. H. J. Carr, Grand Rapids.

At the close of the forenoon session of the A. L. A. on May 10, the adjourned meeting of the section was called to order, and the committee nominated the following as officers for the ensuing year :Pres., J. L. WHITNEY.

REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD FOR THE TWO YEARS 1887-1889.

The Executive Board has met as a whole but once since the Thousand Islands Conference; viz. at Mr. Dewey's rooms in New York, Dec. 7, 1887, at 8 P. M.

Present Messrs. Fletcher, Dewey, and Bowker, and Miss Coe.

Ms. prepared by Mr. W. C. Lane in two sections - one of aids and guides for readers, and the other of references to bibliographical lists - was submitted, and, after considerable discussion, it was

Voted, That these two lists be consolidated, and with additions printed as the Publishing Section's Bibliographical List.

Voted, That for the larger publications of the section, paper 28 x 40 inches, folding into the size of Library notes, 25 x 17.5 cm, and the type page of the Library journal-two columns of 6 cm width be adopted as a standard of size; and one fourth of that page to be used for publications of the hand-book character, printed on paper of postal-card size.

This gives for catalogue and index work the largest O or 8° A. L. A. size, 25 cm high, which fits all regular octavo shelves.

Voted to adopt for the large series, old style long primer type, leaded, with lower-case antique side heads.

There was also a consensus of opinion, which it was thought not best to put in the form of a vote,

that there should not be a call for a second year's subscription to the section until work had progressed far enough to enable a good showing to be made of a return for the subscription already paid in.

Two other matters have been passed upon by the Executive Board through correspondence: At the beginning of the year 1888, it was agreed that the experiment should be tried of issuing printed cards of selected new books from the office of the Publishers' weekly. The cards were to be of postal-card size and printed from the type set up for the Weekly. This was an experiment in various respects, perhaps principally to test the question of a financial support for such an undertaking. The experiment was to be continued until $100 had been expended on it, and it was estimated that this would cover the issue of 100 cards, which estimate proved correct. Each member of the Publishing Section received three copies of the cards, and the amount of $2 was charged to the member's account as against his subscription of $10. The cards were offered to those not members at the price of $1 for 100 cards, only one copy of each being furnished. As an experiment in the direction of seeking outside support by such a subscription, this proved almost a complete failure, not quite twenty subscriptions being received. And as it was from the first not intended to continue the experiment without definite support from without the section, it was abandoned.

This matter was talked over pretty thoroughly at the Catskill meeting in September, 1888; and it was the general feeling that the results of the experiment, while not very encouraging, were far from showing that some way of furnishing printed cards of new books is not feasible.

The other matter on which action has been taken by correspondence is the question of assistance to Mr. Wm. Cushing, of Cambridge, in bringing out a Dictionary of Anonymous Literature to complement his book of Pseudonyms. Something in the way of such assistance was manifestly in the scope of the section's operations as provided for by its Constitution, and after considerable delay, and the report by Mr. Cushing that he would be obliged to give up printing the book unless a small margin unprovided for by subscriptions received was covered, the following plan was adopted: Mr. Cushing is to furnish the section with ten copies of his work for $100, one half of the regular price. The section is to dispose of these copies at full price in such a way as nowise

to interfere with Mr. Cushing's subscription list up to the date of publication. We are thus restrained from disposing of these copies or taking subscriptions for any of them until the issue of the first part. Mr. Cushing reports that Part I will now be issued in about three weeks. The copies will be held for investment, and it is hoped that they will prove to be a profitable one.

The preparation for publication of the several works undertaken by the section has gone on steadily, though with many delays. Following is

a brief report on each of them :

1. The index to general literature.

The list of books to be indexed in this work now embraces nearly 2,000 titles in the departments of miscellaneous essays and biographical essays and miscellanies. Of this number nearly one half have been assigned for indexing, on most of which the work has been done. Over 500 pages of ms. in foolscap are already in hand for editing. The great demand now is for an increased list of indexers, and we hope to increase the list at this session.

2. The handbook for readers.

Owing to the destruction by fire of the material collected by Mr. F: J. Soldan, of Peoria, Ill., and his increased labors resulting from the fire, no progress can be reported on this matter. Soldan still hopes to take up the work this year. 3. Reading for the young.

Mr.

The late John F. Sargent, of Paterson, N. J., who was with us at the Thousand Islands, although then suffering from the illness which soon ended his life, had commenced the preparation of an annotated list of books for the young. Since Mr. Sargent's lamented death, his sisters, Misses Mary and Abby Sargent, have taken up and completed the work as a labor of love and a memorial to their brother, incorporating the material of the earlier work by Miss Hewins. The ms. is in the hands of the board and ready for publication.

4. Bibliographical list.

The ms. for this list, which was reported ready for publication two years ago, has since been in the hands of Mr. Whitney, of the Boston Public Library, for the purpose of being increased by the addition of the very large list of a similar character which had been collected by Mr. Whitney. He has now completed that work, and we have cherished the fond delusion that the ms. was again ready for publication. But since our session here commenced, we have learned that Mr. Beer, of Leadville, Col., who is with us, has been mak