New equipment of various kinds is much needed in the branches. More especially, floor covering to insure quiet at Boylston Station, Dorchester Lower Mills, Mattapan, Mt. Bowdoin; a filing cabinet at Andrew square and Codman square; a card catalogue at Boylston station; tables at South Boston, Neponset, Codman square and West End; more shelf-room at Parker Hill and Neponset; chairs at Roxbury Crossing and West End; lockers at Warren street; a clock at Parker Hill; some glass doors at Allston; and curtains at Roxbury Crossing.

Cleaning and minor repairs are needed at West End, City Point, Charlestown, Jamaica Plain, Parker Hill and Mattapan. The doorway at the Brighton Branch could be remodeled to secure far greater comfort.

At some of the branches the present quarters are crowded and hopelessly inadequate and should be either enlarged, as is quite possible in cases, or wholly new quarters secured. This comment applies especially to Dorchester, Parker Hill, Mr. Pleasant, Field's Corner, Warren street, Boylston street, Orient Heights, Allston, Roslindale, Roxbury Crossing, Mt. Bowdoin and Mattapan.

Your committee suggests that the reading rooms at Faneuil and Mt. Bowdoin might well be changed into branches.

Police attendance is needed at Jamaica Plain, Warren street and Parker Hill.

It is suggested, in general, that librarians be encouraged to organize Clean Hands Clubs among children. Such clubs have had beneficial effect where they now exist; also that through co-operation with principals and teachers in public schools, it may be possible to lessen the theft and mutilation of books, which at present is a matter demanding attention; also in the interest of better home habits, the trustees consider the advisability of adopting earlier hours of closing for the younger children in certain of the branches and reading

rooms.

The library carries a quantity of duplicate titles no longer in demand. Is it possible to offer such books for sale to the public of Boston? Also, there are thousands of juvenile books in private houses which have outlived their usefulness, but which might be most acceptable additions to the library. Is it possible to invite from

the public the donation of such books, reserving, of course, the right to reject anything unsuited to the library's needs? It is suggested that local committees might incidentally serve this purpose, and at the same time give needed encouragement and support in the solution of their various problems to the local libraries. Such a committee is already functioning admirably in West Roxbury, and has set an example which in our judgment is worthy of emulation.

CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT AND WORK WITH SCHOOLS.

The committee recommends that there be appointed an Educational Director who should act as a supervisor of the younger library assistants. It would be the function of this director to organize and supervise an adequate system of educational guidance, by means of which service in the Public Library should become an educational opportunity for the junior members of the force. It is hoped, thereby, that their ambition would be stimulated for advancement, not only in library work, but also in a broader life work of service outside.

The committee calls attention to the need of trained librarians in the Children's Department. Still more urgent is the need of a high morale among the employees of the library-a morale that can be attained only through increased remuneration for the amount of work required. The morale of the force is of vital importance. More important than increased number of books or employees with new duties, is the personal influence of those who come in contact with the children of the schools. The loyalty of the existing corps is commended in the highest terms, yet the present maximum of compensation cannot fail, as time goes on, to lower the general efficiency of the entire working force.

The increase in the number of books has been greatly appreciated, as is indicated by their use. Further increase in the number of books will, however, demand a larger number of trained children's librarians.

The existing condition with reference to the mutilation and loss of books is most discouraging, and demands earnest study and co-operation on the part of the schools. The committee suggests that this matter be taken up with the Superintendent of Schools and with the Principals' Association in order that some method may be devised by which this deplorable condition may be remedied.

The committee further recommends that there be properly organized visits of classes in the schools to the Public Library with a view to broadening the knowledge of the children in regard to the opportunities the library affords.

CONCLUSION.

In conclusion, the committee as a whole wishes to indorse and emphasize the appeal for better pay for the library staff made by several of its subcommittees. We appreciate the reluctance of the trustees to add to the burdens of the taxpayers and the difficulty of securing increased appropriations; but the present scale of pay, when compared with that which prevails in other cities, affords reasonable ground for dissatisfaction and admittedly tends to deter the best material from entering the service. Nothing, in our opinion would do so much to encourage the present staff and to insure a future supply of desirable applicants for positions as an earnest plea, fortified by convincing tables of comparison, addressed to the Mayor and the City Council in behalf of what seems to us a just measure of return to the library workers.

Adopted as the Report of the Examining Committee, February 1, 1922.

REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN.

To the Board of Trustees:

I respectfully submit my report for the year ending January 31, 1922.

SERVICE.

The Examining Committee of the library and the librarian have called to the attention of the trustees the need of more assistants in certain departments of the Central Library and at many of the branches and reading rooms, in order that adequate service to the public may be maintained. The growth of work throughout the system during the past three years has been more than normal, but there has been no corresponding increase in staff personnel. With the enlarged book appropriations of the last few years and the resultant handling of many thousand more books than in the years previous, with a notable increase in circulation and a marked growth in the number of library patrons making use of the reference and other noncirculating collections, the strength of the staff has been taxed to its utmost. As a matter of fact, there were during the year several cases of actual breakdown necessitating leaves of absence, and other cases in which librarians and assistants were clearly overworked. The solution is to be found only in the employment of a larger number of trained assistants, and in the filling of certain vacancies now existing. The time has come when there must be either a larger appropriation for personal service or a curtailment in work and in hours of opening. It is unfortunate that this need should be concomitant with the demand for more funds to pay larger and deserved salaries to many assistants already in the service of the library. Comparison of salaries paid in other libraries which are comparable to the Boston institution clearly shows the justness of the contentions of the librarian and the Examining Committees for several years past, urging the propriety of paying the library assistants more adequately for their services.

BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS.

The opening words of the report of the librarian for last year were as follows:

The need for more books throughout the library system is just as pressing as it was last year. If the quantity and quality of its collections are to be even reasonably met, a decided increase in the book appropriation must be made. Although the expenditure of an unusual amount of money was made for the purchase of books for children during the past year, the children's rooms in many branches show empty shelves.

The application of these words is equally compelling at the opening of the new fiscal year. While it is true that the volumes on the shelves of the Central Library, its thirty-one branches and reading rooms, and its 320 deposit stations, now number 1,258,211, it is not generally realized that only about one half of this total constitutes the circulating collection of books of the library, the volumes in popular and more or less constant use. Among the noncirculating books are to be numbered the many unique special collections of the library, the reference collections in the Central building and the branches, reserved for use in the reading rooms of the system, the vast number of municipal, state and federal documents and reports, the bound files of newspapers and periodicals, the unusual and expensive books, and the many volumes in foreign languages, the majority of which are represented by one copy only. Then there is the great mass of out-of-date books comprising the early editions of standard texts and treatises, and antiquated books in all fields of learning, for which call is seldom made. All of this material, however, while seldom in demand for home reading, has its legitimate place in a public scholarly institution of learning, used by students and research workers in many fields.

In reading the following account of books acquired during the fiscal year of 1921-22, it should be remembered that the increase in the average cost of domestic books over the cost in 1913-14 is 40 per cent. This increase applies to scientific and technical books, books of travel, biography and fiction. Of books published in Great Britain, the average increase in cost is from 10 to 15 per cent. The cost of books published on the continent of Europe, partially offset by the exchange favorable to the library, is about 25 per cent above that of 1913-14.