CHAPTER VI. THE PUBLIC SCHOOL AND DISTRICT LIBRARIES In addition to the various classes of Libraries which have been already enumerated, many of the States have School and District Libraries, more or less completely organized, but in most cases having a direct connection with the Common School legislation of the State to which they belong. In the Twelfth Report of the Secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts (November, 1848), it is stated that the then number of volumes in the Public School Libraries of that State was 91,539; and their BOOK IV. Chapter VI. Public School and District Libraries. Public School Libraries of BOOK IV. Chapter VI. and District Libraries. estimated value 42,707 dollars (£8540). "It would be Public School difficult," it is added, "to mention any way in which a million of dollars could be more beneficially expended than in supplying the requisite apparatus and Libraries for our Common Schools." Public School The School districts throughout the State of New York are furnished with Libraries out of funds annually appropriated (since 1838) by law to that purpose. The number of volumes in these Libraries was, in 1844, 1,145,250; in 1845, 1,203,139; in 1846, 1,310,986; and in 1847, 1,338,848 volumes. "Selections for the District Libraries are made from the whole range of literature and science, with the exception of controversial books, political or religious. History, Biography, Poetry, Philosophy, Fiction, indeed every department of human knowledge, contributes its share to the 'District School Library' These Libraries are not so much for the benefit of children attending school as for those who have completed their Common School education. Its main design was to throw into school districts, and to place within the reach of all the inhabitants, a collection of good works on subjects calculated to enlarge their understandings, and store their minds with useful knowledge." The Report of the Board of Education of New York City, presented in 1855, recommends the extension of this plan to the Grammar Schools of the City.2 105. ..... 1 Reports of 1836 and of 1849, quoted by Jewett in Notices etc., 2 Thirteenth Annual Report of Board of Education of the City and County of New York, 1855, 68. POOK IV. Chapter VI. and District Libraries. There are also, in the State of New York, 172 Libraries attached to Academies and Seminaries, under the Public School general supervision of the Regents of the University, who annually report to the Legislature, inter alia, the number of volumes, and the estimated value of the books in each Academy. These 172 Libraries contained, in 1855, 91,296 volumes, and their estimated value was 88,432 dollars (or £17,686 sterling).' The following is a comparative view of these Academy Libraries in the years 1848, 1850, and 1855, respectively: . ries of Rhode Island. In Rhode Island, within the four years 1846-1849, District Librapublic Libraries were established in every town of the State, with only four exceptions, and mainly by the exertions of the enlightened and energetic Commissioner of Public Schools, Mr. Henry Barnard. These Libraries are small, but are composed of well-selected books, and are accessible to the whole population. Another public-spirited man, Mr. Amasa Manton, of Rhode-Island, has been the chief founder of ten Libraries in as many villages of that State, which now contain in the aggregate upwards of 5000 good books.2 Even in the newer States-such as Indiana and Mi 1 Sixty-eighth Annual Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New-York, March, 1855, 173-225. 2 Jewett, Notices etc., 63. BOOK IV. Chapter VI. and District Libraries. chigan-progress is being made in a similar direction, Public School and by express legislative enactment. Indiana provided, in the law which laid out the State into counties, for the appropriation of a piece of land in each county to the establishment of a public Library. In Michigan "the law has for several years made it the duty of the supervisor to assess a half-mill tax, upon each dollar of the taxable property of his township, for the purchase of a Township Library.... The constitution of the State provides that 'the clear proceeds of all fines assessed in the several counties for any breach of the penal laws shall be exclusively applied to the support of said Libraries." 'Although, it is added, 'according to the returns there are (1847) but 300 Township Libraries in the 425 townships of the State, from which reports have been received, still there is a very gratifying increase in the number of these Libraries, and the extent of their circulation. There are thirty more such Libraries reported this year than last, containing in all 42,926 volumes, which is 6938 more than they contained, according to the reports received in the year 1846. These libraries circulate through 1349 districts, which shows an increase of 268 over any former year. Communications received from several counties afford very gratifying evidence of their increased usefulness." "1 1 Jewett, Notices etc., p. 185. |