in various parts of the country placing before them the advantages of membership and heartily inviting them to join the Association. This will, we hope, result in quite a list of new members. California has more members, both institutional and individual, than any other state west of the Mississippi, and it is a pleasure to report this fact here on California soil. But we suspect that even California has some librarians who have not yet found their way into the folds of the A. L. A.

On May 4th there were 2,118 members enrolled, of which 284, as stated above, were institutional members. From May 15, 1910, to May 4th, 1911, 296 new members have joined the Association as compared with 154 for the nine and one half months preceding of this number 53 were institutional members, and by a strange coincidence in numbers 53 of the 154 new members of 1909-10 were also institutional members.

Notices regarding dues for 1911 were mailed the first of January; second notices were sent out the first part of April, and at the close of this conference third notices will be mailed, accompanied by a letter urging librarians not to let their membership lapse, and informing them that those who fail to remit before July 1st, will no longer be regarded as members. Until we know how many fail to respond to this notice it will be impossible to state the net increase in membership over last year, but there will probably be some gain. In 1910, 320 new members joined the Association, but 137 allowed their membership to lapse.

It is a serious problem how best to combat the tendency to let membership lapse when the member cannot attend the conference. If those who join the Association with the serious desire and intention to receive good and impart good find that they cannot attend the annual conference they should be all the more desirous of having the conference come to them in the form of the printed proceedings. This point of view we are endeavoring to force to the attention of delinquent members. We sincerely trust that many library workers on this coast

who have joined this year because the conference has been accessible to them will see wisdom in this position and will see to it that even though the next conference may not be near enough for them to attend they will keep in touch with the national movement by having the conference come to them in print.

In urging and discussing membership extension the Secretary feels the firm conviction that however much the Association may profit financially by an increased membership that the institutions and individuals who join reap far more benefit, and that to persuade persons to join the A. L. A. is to bestow on them far more advantage than is represented in the small fee which is annually levied.

A. L. A. Representatives at Other Conferences. The policy of sending official representatives of the A. L. A. to state library meetings proved even more popular this past year than ever before and more invitations were received than could be accepted. Unless, however, the pressure of work at headquarters was too great, or a conflict of dates prevented, either Mr. Hadley or some other delegated representative responded to these calls from state associations. Unquestionably mutual benefit has resulted from this interchange of speakers and the policy has broadened the horizon of many library associations.

Following the Mackinac conference Mr. Hadley was invited to lecture at five summer library schools, and three of these invitations were accepted. One talk was given on the A. L. A. and its work before the Minnesota summer library school, and the "Place of the library in a community" was discussed before all the departments at the University of Minnesota. A talk on the same subject was given at the University of Iowa, at Iowa City, Iowa, and a general address was given at the Indiana summer library school, Earlham College, Richmond, Indiana.

In the latter part of September upon invitation from the University of North Dakota, Mr. Hadley represented the A. L. A. at the exercises incident to the inauguration of Dr. F. LeR. Macvey, as president

of that University. The A. L. A. was one of twenty-five national organizations represented on that occasion. As these exercises were attended while the Secretary was on his way to the meeting of the North Dakota library association no expense was incurred either by the A. L. A. or by the state association. At the North Dakota meeting, Sept 30 and Oct. 1, Mr. Hadley spoke on "Affiliation of the state association with the A. L. A.," and also helped to conduct a meeting of the trustee section. On this trip he gave an address before the State normal school and opened the citizen's free lecture course at Fargo with a talk on the American public library. From North Dakotà the Secretary went to Fairmont, Minnesota, to attend a meeting of the Minnesota library association, Oct. 4-6. Here he also spoke on the subject of State affiliation with the A. L. A., and gave an address before the general public on the "Place of the library in a community."

Mr. Legler represented the A. L. A. at the Illinois state meeting at Rock Island, Oct. 11-12, and spoke on "Extension work of the Chicago public library," and Mr. Hadley also attended in order to speak upon the subject of state affiliation with the A. L. A. Following this meeting the Secretary attended the Iowa state meeting at Davenport, Oct. 11-13, speaking on the state library association and its work, and also on the subject of affiliation with the A. L. A., and going on from there to Abilene, Kansas, to the Kansas state meeting, Oct. 13-14. Here he spoke on the importance of a state library commission and what it means to library work.

The Nebraska state meeting, held at Lincoln, Oct. 19-21, was attended officially by Mr. Legler who gave an address on the subject, "What of the rural library?"

Mrs. Elmendorf, first vice-president of the A. L. A., attended the Michigan meeting at Jackson, Oct. 18-19 and spoke on "Children's right to poetry."

Dr. Bostwick attended, as the official representative of the A. L. A., a meeting of librarians at Little Rock, Jan. 26, at which time the Arkansas library associ

ation was most auspiciously and enthusiastically organized and launched. Dr. Bostwick's principal address was on the subject "The public library as a public utility." He also addressed the business session and spoke on the subject of the public library movement before the Senate and House of Representatives. Although Mr. Hadley was unable to attend this Arkansas meeting he helped to draw up the plans for it.

The present Secretary attended the Wisconsin state meeting at Milwaukee, February 22-23, and spoke on the work of the A. L. A.

Mr. Wyer attended the Atlantic City meeting of March 9-11 and gave an address, "Outside the walls," and also discussed state affiliation with the A. L. A. Mr. Legler attended the Georgia state meetings at Athens, April 17-19, and gave the principal address.

In addition to these attended meetings Mr. Hadley spoke before the Milwaukee library club on the American library association and its work and at the Wisconsin state normal school, in Milwaukee, on "The Place of the American Library." The Secretary was obliged to decline invitations from the State association of Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and North Carolina, owing either to conflicting dates or pressure of work at the Executive office.

Changes in Officers and Committees. Mrs. H. L. Elmendorf, upon election to the position of first vice-president, resigned as one of the two members of the Executive board whose terms expire in 1911 and Miss Alice S. Tyler was designated by the Executive board to serve pro tempore, until 1911, to succeed Mrs. Elmendorf.

Chalmers Hadley's resignation as Secretary of the A. L. A., in January has already been recorded elsewhere in this report.

Asa Don Dickinson resigned in January from the Committee on work with the blind, and J. L. Gillis was appointed to succeed him.

The present Secretary succeeded Mr. Hadley as member of the Program committee.

Necrology. During the year the Association has suffered the loss of eight of its members by death. The list includes a charter and life member who had served as treasurer; three library trustees who had sufficient interest in their trusts to look for support and inspiration beyond their local library horizons, and one who by his winning personality, his desire to be a "friend to man," and his accomplishments in the world of letters had endeared himself in the hearts of all of us whose fortune it was to know him.

Sam Walter Foss, librarian of the Somerville (Mass.) public library, and widely known also as a poet and lecturer, died February 26, 1911. Mr. Foss joined the Association in 1899 (No. 1851) and attended the conferences of 1899, 1900, '01, '02, '03, '04, '06, '09. He served the A. L. A. as chairman of the finance committee 19041906.

James Madison Pereles, for 18 years president of the board of trustees of the Milwaukee public library and chairman of the Wisconsin free library commission since 1905, died December 11, 1910. Judge Pereles joined the A. L. A. in 1908 (No. 4514) and attended the Minnetonka conference.

C. A. Preston, of Ionia, Michigan, died October 2, 1910. He joined the A. L. A. in 1910 (No. 4973) but had attended four conferences.

Cass Richardson, who was with E. P. Dutton & Co. for many years, died June 9, 1911. He joined the Association in 1903 (No. 2758), and attended the conferences of 1903 and 1908.

Mary W. Taylor, librarian of the Bureau of chemistry, Washington, D. C., since October, 1905, died December 13, 1910. Miss Taylor joined the A. L. A. in 1904 (No. 3108) and attended the Minnetonka conference.

Frank J. Thompson of Fargo, N. D., died Feb. 25, 1910. He was a director of the public library of Fargo, North Dakota, and for a time librarian; one of the founders of the North Dakota library association and its first president; active in the creation of the North Dakota library com

mission and its first president. He joined the A. L. A. in 1906 (No. 3972). He never attended any of the annual conferences.

Henry Mitchell Whitney, librarian of the James Blackstone memorial library of Branford, Connecticut, since 1899, died March 26, 1911. Before entering library work he was for many years a professor in Beloit College. Mr. Whitney joined the Association in 1886 (No. 568) and attended the conferences of 1886, 1900, 1902, 1905 and 1906.

James Lyman Whitney, formerly librarian of the Boston public library, died at his home in Cambridge, September 25, 1910, after a professional service of nearly fortyone years. In 1868 he became assistant librarian of the Cincinnati public library, but the following year began his long connection with the Boston public library. From 1874 to 1899 he was chief of the Catalog department; from 1899 to 1903 he was librarian; but finding the duties too onerous for his advanced years he resigned as librarian in 1903 and was appointed chief of the department of documents and statistics and of the manuscripts. As a bibliographer and man of learning Mr. Whitney will long be remembered. Although not the author of the card catalog he did much to perfect its system and was one of its chief developers. He was a charter member (No. 59) as well as life member of the A. L. A., treasurer from 1882 to 1886, and an attendant at ten conferences of the Association, namely 1876, 1879, '82, '83, '85, '86, '96, '99, 1900 and 1902. He also attended the international conference at London in 1897. For further particulars see "Library Journal," v. 35, no. 10, p. 478; v. 36, no. 3, p. 146.

Mrs. Agnes Fairbanks Willard, trustee of the St. Johnsbury (Vermont) Athenaeum, died March 15, 1910. She joined the Association in 1902 (No. 2512), and attended the Magnolia and Bretton Woods conferences. The following persons at various times belonged to the Association but were not members at the time of their death:

George Hall Baker, librarian emeritus of Columbia university library, died March 27, 1911. Mr. Baker joined the Association in 1885 (No. 478), and attended the confer

by the numbers, any given duplicates and ship them by freight. The expense of the entire transaction is not great, and, according to our experience, the returns abundantly warrant the time and cost of the transaction. My own feeling is that this is a more desirable thing for libraries to do than to attempt to get money out of their duplicates through the auction-room.

"One other way of obtaining money from them, however, is also feasible. I always go through the book wants columns in Publishers' weekly each week and send out from a dozen to twenty cards in response to titles asked for. Of these I usually sell enough so that the entire money receipts for the year represent practically all the expense that is put into our duplicate collection. In this way I feel that whatever we get out of our duplicates in the shape of exchanges is so much to the good.

"I do not know as this will be of the slightest value to you but I infer from your letter that you are not much of a believer in the exchange of duplicates, and consequently I have written a little more at length to show you that in our case, at least, the trouble of handling them seems to be quite worth while."

The second advocate of exchange is convinced that while it takes a great deal of labor to handle duplicates through correspondence, yet the results are usually encouraging. Exchange work draws libraries closer together and promotes co-operation. "In medicine" he says, "we have acquired thousands of dollars' worth of journals through exchange and these have been in better shape and more complete than similar material bought from some of the New York medical booksellers."

The above divergent views appear to us to formulate the chief arguments for and against the auction-room as a substitute for direct exchange of duplicates between libraries; also the arguments for and against such direct exchange. Both plans have disadvantages which, in the opinion of a third correspondent, go to show that a regular clearing house for duplicates is really essential. But, as he looks at the

question, the clearing house, if it is to be thoroughly effective, should be connected with one, or more, great libraries: not much could be expected of it, if it were operated by itself. N. D. C. HODGES.

Co-ordination in Library Work in California

The term "state library" has almost as many meanings as there are states in which the institution exists. In some states it is a law library, owned by the state, and operated for the use of state officials. In some, the state library is a historical department, devoting its chief energies to the collection of material bearing upon the state's history. In some, it is a division of the state's educational system. And in some, the state library is a general collection of books.

To appreciate fully the work of co-operation and co-ordination already accomplished in California, and the possibilities for still broader work along this line, it is necessary to understand just what the term "state library" means in California, and the plan of its organization. The California State library is a library for the entire state, and its first great advantage is that it is made up of all those departments usually operated by commissions, historical societies, law libraries, and so forth. These different activities are united under one management, with one head, and thus the first great step in co-ordination is taken, since each department operates as part of a whole, dovetailing into each other part, but with no over-lapping of parts, nor chinks and spaces between. The Califor nia State library thus comprises the following departments: Books for the Blind, Californiana, Catalog, Documents, Law, Legislative Reference, Reference, and Traveling Libraries; and all are equally in the service of the entire state. The State library is moreover entirely independent of any other organization, being a complete unit in the state government, able to initiate and promulgate whatever is for the best library interest.

The second great advantage which is enjoyed by the California State library