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Page 69
To gain a fair idea of the popularity of the library one should spend a
mid-winter Saturday afternoon and evening with the librarian and his
busy assistants. Early in the afternoon numbers of young ladies leave
the shopping and fashionable thoroughfares up-town and throng the
library-room. The attendants, all young men, work with increased
animation under the stimulus. Books fly from counter to alcoves and
return, messenger-boys dart hither and thither, the fair patrons thumb
the catalogues and chatter in sad defiance of the rules. They are long
in making their selections, and appeal for aid to the librarians. But
the last of this class of visitors departs before the six-o'clock
dinner or tea, and the attendants have a respite for an hour. At seven
the real rush begins, with the advent of the clerks and other patrons
employed in store or office during the day, each intent on supplying
himself with reading-matter for the next day. From this hour until the
closing at nine the librarians are as busy as bees: there is a continual
running from counter to alcove and from gallery to gallery. In some of
the reports of the librarian interesting data are given of the tastes of
readers and the popularity of books. Fiction, as we have seen, leads;
but there is a growing taste for scientific and historical works.
Buckle, Mill, and Macaulay are favorites, and Tyndall, Huxley, and
Lubbock have many readers. The theft of its books is a serious drain on
the library each year, but the destruction of its rare and valuable
works of reference is still more provoking. Common gratitude, it might
seem, would deter persons admitted to the privileges of its alcoves from
injuring its property. What shall we think, then, of the vandals who
during the past year twice cut out the article on political economy in
"Appletons' Cyclop�dia," so mutilated Thomson's "Cyclop�dia of the
Useful Arts" as to render it valueless, and bore off bodily Storer's
"Dictionary of the Solubilities," the second volume of the new edition
of the "Encyclop�dia Britannica," Andrews's "Latin Dictionary," and
several other valuable works?
There is a library in the city, the Apprentices', on Sixteenth Street,
whose existence is hardly known even to New-Yorkers, which is
exceedingly interesting to the student as an instance of the good a
trades' union may accomplish when its energies are rightly directed.
Here is a library of about sixty thousand volumes, with a supplementary
reference library of forty thousand seven hundred and fifty works, and a
well-equipped reading-room, free of debt, and free to its patrons, and
all the result of the well-directed efforts of the "Society of Mechanics
and Tradesmen." This society first organized for charitable purposes in
1792, receiving its first charter on the 14th of March of that year. In
January, 1821, its charter was amended, the society being empowered to
support a school for the education of the children of its deceased and
indigent members and for the establishment of an "Apprentices' Library
for the use of the apprentices of mechanics in the City of New York." A
small library had been opened the year before at 12 Chambers Street, and
there the library remained, constantly growing in number of volumes and
patrons, till 1835, when it was removed to the old High-School Building,
at 472 Broadway, which the society about that time purchased. It
remained there until 1878, when it followed the march of population
up-town, removing to its present spacious and convenient rooms in
Mechanics' Hall, in Sixteenth Street. Strange as it may seem, the
Apprentices' is the nearest approach to a public library on a large
scale that the city can boast. It is absolutely free to males up to the
age of eighteen; after that age it is required of the beneficiaries that
they be engaged in some mechanical employment. Ladies who are engaged in
any legitimate occupation may partake of its benefits. Books are loaned,
the applicants, besides meeting the above conditions, being only
required to furnish a guarantor. The total circulation of this excellent
institution for 1881-82 was 164,100 volumes, and its beneficial
influence on the class reached may be imagined. It is nevertheless a
class library; and the fact still remains that New York, with her vast
wealth and her splendid public and private charities, has yet to endow
the great public library which will place within reach of her citizens
the literary wealth of the ages. There is scarcely a disease, it is
said, but has its richly-endowed hospital in the city, the number of
eleemosynary institutions is legion, but the establishment of a public
library, which is usually the first care of a free, rich, intelligent
community, has been unaccountably neglected. The subject is now
receiving the earnest thought of the best people of the city.
Considerable difference of opinion exists as to the best method of
founding and supporting such an institution. Some argue that this should
be done by the city alone, holding that the self-respecting workingman
and workingwoman will never patronize a free library instituted solely
by private charity. Others urge that such an institution to be
successful should be free from city control and entirely the result of
private munificence. The latter gentlemen have added to the cogency of
their arguments by a practical demonstration. Early in 1880 they
organized on a small scale a free circulating library which should exist
solely by the benefactions of the public, with the object of furnishing
free reading at their homes to the people. The general plan adopted was
a central library, with branches in the various wards, by this means
bringing the centres of distribution within easy reach of the city's
homes. The success of the institution has been such that its development
should be carefully followed. It began operations by leasing two rooms
of the old mansion, No. 36 Bond Street, and in March, 1880, "moved in,"
opening with a few hundred volumes donated chiefly from the libraries of
its projectors. The first month--March--1044 volumes were circulated. By
October this had grown to 4212. The next year--1881-82--the circulation
reached 69,280, and it continued to increase until in 1883 it reached
81,233,--an increase of nearly 10,000 over the preceding year. In May,
1883, the library was removed to the comfortable and roomy building, No.
49 Bond Street, which had been purchased and fitted up for it by the
trustees. Early in December, 1884, the Ottendorfer Library, at 135
Second Avenue, the first of the projected branch libraries, was opened
with 8819 volumes, 4784 of which were in English and 4035 in German, the
whole, with the library building, being the gift of Mr. Oswald
Ottendorfer, of New York. The branch proved equally popular, having
circulated during the past year--1885--97,000 volumes, while the
circulation of the main library has increased to 104,000 volumes, the
combined circulation of both libraries exceeding that of any other in
the city. The percentage of loss has been only one book for 31,768
circulated. The report of the treasurer shows that the annual expenses
of the library--about twelve thousand dollars--have been met by
voluntary contributions, and that it has a permanent fund of about
thirty-two thousand dollars besides its books. These figures prove that
libraries of this character will be appreciated, and used by the people.
The library committee say, in their last report, that after four years'
experience they feel competent to begin the establishment of branch
libraries, and observe that at least six of these centres of light and
intelligence should be opened in various quarters of the city. It is
understood that lack of funds alone prevents the institution from
entering on this wider field. When one considers the liberal and too
often indiscriminate charities of the metropolis, and reflects that the
need and utility of this excellent enterprise have been demonstrated, it
seems impossible that pecuniary obstacles will long be allowed to stand
in the way of its legitimate development.
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