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their establishment by the grant out of the state funds of a certain sum (usually $100) towards the purchase of books, upon the appropriation of a similar sum by the local authorities. These commissions are prepared to aid further with select lists of desirable books, and with suggestions or advice in the problems of construction and maintenance. Such commissions are in existence in Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

The reports and other documents issued by some of these commissioners are very interesting and valuable, especially as regards the light they throw on the working of the travelling libraries in country districts. These to some extent are a revival of the “itinerating” library idea of Samuel Brown of Haddington in Scotland, who from 1817 to 1836 carried on a system of travelling subscription libraries in that country. At the time of his death there were 3850 vols. in 47 libraries. The American travelling libraries, often under state supervision, are well organized and numerous, and the books are circulated free. New York was the pioneer in this movement which now extends to most of the states which have established library commissions. There are also town travelling libraries and deposit stations in addition to branches, so that every effort is made to bring people in outlying districts into touch with books.

The municipal libraries of the United States work in conjunction with the schools, and it is generally considered that they are part of the educational machinery of the country. In the case of New York the state libraries have been put under the control of the university of the state of New York, which also inaugurated the travelling libraries. Work with the schools and children generally is more cultivated in the libraries of the United States than elsewhere. In some cases the libraries send collections of books to the schools; in others provision is made for children’s reading-rooms and lending departments at the library buildings. At Cleveland (Ohio), Pittsburg (Pa.), New York and many other places, elaborate arrangements are in force for the convenience and amusement of children. There is a special school, the Carnegie Library training school for children’s librarians, at Pittsburg, and within recent years the instruction has included the art of telling stories to children at the libraries. This “story-hour” idea has been the cause of considerable discussion in the United States, librarians and teachers being divided in opinion as to the value of the service. The chief factors in children’s work in American libraries, often overlooked by critics, are the number of non-English reading adults and the large number of children of foreign origin. The adults do not use the libraries to any large extent, but the children, who learn English at the schools, are brought into close touch with the juvenile departments of the libraries. In this way many libraries are obliged to undertake special work for children, and as a rule it is performed in a sane, practical and economical manner. The preponderance of women librarians and their natural sentimental regard for children has tended to make this work loom rather largely in some quarters, but with these exceptions the activity on behalf of children is justified on many grounds. But above all, it is manifest that a rapidly growing nation, finding homes for thousands of foreigners and their children annually, must use every means of rapidly educating their new citizens, and the public library is one of the most efficient and ready ways of accomplishing this great national object.

With regard to methods, the American libraries are working on much the same plan as those of the United Kingdom. They allow access to the shelves more universally, and there is much more standardization in classification and other internal matters. The provision of books is more profuse, although there is, on the whole, more reading done in the United Kingdom. The largest municipal library system in America, and also in the world, is that of New York City, which, after struggling with a series of Free Circulating Libraries, blossomed out in 1895 into the series of combinations which resulted in the present great establishment. In that year, the Astor and Lenox libraries (see above) were taken over by the city, and in addition, $2,000,000 was given by one of the heirs of Mr S. J. Tilden, who had bequeathed about $4,000,000 for library purposes in New York but whose will had been upset in the law courts. In 1901 Mr Andrew Carnegie gave about £1,500,000 for the purpose of providing 65 branches, and these are now nearly all erected. A very fine central library building has been erected, and when the organization is completed there will be no system of municipal libraries to equal that of New York. It possesses about 1,400,000 vols. in the consolidated libraries. Brooklyn, although forming part of Greater New York, has an independent library system, and possesses about 560,000 vols. distributed among 26 branches and including the old Brooklyn Library which has been absorbed in the municipal library system. At Boston (Mass.) is one of the most renowned public libraries in the United States, and also the oldest established by act of legislature. It was first opened to the public in 1854, and is now housed in a very magnificently decorated building which was completed in 1895. The central library contains many fine special collections, and there are 28 branch and numerous school libraries in connexion. It possesses about 1,000,000 vols. altogether, its annual circulation is about 1,500,000 vols., and its annual expenditure is nearly £70,000.

Other notable municipal libraries are those of Philadelphia (1891), Chicago (1872); Los Angeles (Cal.), 1872; Indianapolis (1868), Detroit (1865), Minneapolis (1885), St Louis (1865), Newark, N.J. (1889), Cincinnati (1856), Cleveland (1869), Allegheny (1890), Pittsburg (1895), Providence, R.I. (1878), Milwaukee (1875), Washington, D.C. (1898), Worcester, Mass. (1859), Buffalo (1837).

Authorities.—The Annual Library Index (New York, 1908)—contains a select list of libraries in the United States; Arthur E. Bostwick, The American Public Library, illust. (New York, 1910)—the most comprehensive general book; Bureau of Education, Statistics of Public Libraries in the United States and Canada (1893)—this has been succeeded by a list of “Public, Society and School Libraries,” reprinted at irregular intervals from the Report of the Commissioner of Education and giving a list of libraries containing over 5000 vols. with various other particulars; Clegg, International Directory of Booksellers (1910) and earlier issues—contains a list of American libraries with brief particulars; John C. Dana, A Library Primer (Chicago, 1910)—the standard manual of American library practice; Directory of Libraries in the United States and Canada (6th ed.; Minneapolis, 1908)—a brief list of 4500 libraries, with indication of the annual income of each; Wm. I. Fletcher, Public Libraries in America (2nd ed., Boston, 1899), illust.; T. W. Koch, Portfolio of Carnegie Libraries (1908); Cornelia Marvin, Small Library Buildings (Boston, 1908); A. R. Spofford, A Book for all Readers. . . the Formation of Public and Private Libraries (1905).

France.

French libraries (other than those in private hands) belong either to the state, to the departments, to the communes, or to learned societies, educational establishments and other public institutions; the libraries of judicial or administrative bodies are not considered to be owned by them, but to be state property. Besides the unrivalled library accommodation of the capital, France possesses a remarkable assemblage of provincial libraries. The communal and school libraries also form striking features of the French free library system. Taking as a basis for comparison the Tableau statistique des bibliothèques publiques (1857), there were at that date 340 departmental libraries with a total of 3,734,260 vols., and 44,436 MSS. In 1908 the number of volumes in all the public libraries; communal, university, learned societies, educational and departmental, was more than 20,060,148 vols., 93,986 MSS. and 15,530 incunabula. Paris alone now possesses over 10,570,000 printed vols., 147,543 MSS., 5000 incunabula, 609,439 maps and plans, 2,000,000 prints (designs and reproductions).

The Bibliothèque Nationale (one of the most extensive libraries in the world) has had an advantage over others in the length of time during which its contents have been accumulating, and in the great zeal shown for it by several kings and other eminent men. Paris.Enthusiastic writers find the