400 pages of printed matter and includes a number of reproductions mentioned in detail below. The greater part of the contents of this volume is devoted, as usual to lists of new books, but each number has presented editorial matter as well. In the March number a description of the special collections of the library was printed; the June number gave a welcome to the American Library Association, which was holding its convention in this vicinity, and an article on "The Quarterly Bulletin: Its contents, its purposes." In September began a series of more detailed accounts of the special libraries, and the Barton Library was chosen for this number, the Ticknor Library following in December. The December number also brought out a hitherto unpublished letter from Nicholas Boylston (1771?–1839) with some notes on the Boylston family.

The reproductions which for several years have been a special feature of the Bulletin comprised: (March) a view of Tremont street looking north from Warrenton street, before widening in 1869, and Champlain's Map of Plymouth Harbor, 1605, with brief historical notes; (June) a view of the Central Library Building from the southeast; (September) a portrait of Thomas Pennant Barton after a miniature on ivory by Bouchardy, and a portrait of the late editor, Lindsay Swift, after a photograph by Miss Alice Austin; (December) a portrait of George Ticknor after Sloane's copy of a painting by Sully.

Other publications issued by the library during the year included the following:

"Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition" commemorating the Anniversary of the Death of John Keats (1821-1921). held at the Public Library of the City of Boston, February 21 to March 14, 1921. (8) + 63 pages.

"List of Books on Modern Ireland," consisting of 90 pages, compiled by Lucien E. Taylor of the Catalogue Department, published in April.

"Weekly Lists," fifty-three in number, giving brief titles fo the most recent additions to the library and compiled by Lucien E. Taylor.

Brief Reading Lists," Nos. 18-23, with a second edition of No. 14 (One-act plays). The subjects treated were: No. 18, Nature studies: plant and animal life, compiled by Alice M. Jordan, supervisor of work with children; No. 19, Dante, prepared in commemoration of the six-hundredth anniversary of Dante's death by

Lucien E. Taylor; No. 20, Cookery, foreign and domestic, compiled by E. Carolyn Merrill of the Catalogue Department; No. 21, Disarmament and substitutes for war, compiled by Michael McCarthy of the Catalogue Department; No. 22, The United States and Japan, compiled by Lucien E. Taylor; No. 23, Christmas, compiled by Mary C. Toy, Children's Librarian.

A new departure in library publications was made in October when appeared the first number of “Library Life: Staff Bulletin of the Boston Public Library. This periodical which is under the editorial supervision of Frank H. Chase of the Reference Department, is published on the fifteenth of each month, and it carries to the members of the staff items of value and interest, both professional and personal, from every branch of the service at once a clearing house and a melting pot. A special section entitled "With the Juniors" is in charge of Francis P. Znotas of the Children's Room.. A supplement sent out with each number of "Library Life" is devoted to the New Notes on Government Publication, prepared by Edith Guerrier, Supervisor of Circulation, and formerly issued as a separate publication.

NEW BRANCH BUILDINGS AND READING ROOMS. The Jeffries Point Reading Room was opened on October 15 in attractive quarters at 195 Webster street in the thickly populated Italian district of East Boston. It promises to become one of the most useful reading rooms in the system, and it is already evident that within a short time it will be necessary to enlarge its quarters.

The library anticipates an opportunity for larger service in West Roxbury and in the South End when the new branch building and the new Municipal Building now under construction are finished and equipped. West Roxbury has an exceptionally well-planned and attractive library building in which the citizens of the district will have just cause for pride. The library quarters in the South End Municipal Building will be pleasant and commodious, but it is to be regretted that the library was located in the basement of the building.

INFORMATION OFFICE, GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS AND OPEN SHELF ROOMS.

The Information Office opened last year is proving an invaluable adjunct to the work of the Reference Depart

ments throughout the library. In addition to city and business directories, a collection of telephone books and other tools for first hand information, it contains a comprehensive and steadily growing card index to information resources both within the library and outside. The office maintains rich files of material on vocational guidance and unemployment, which were originally collected and organized by outside agencies. In this room may be found on file one hundred and seventy current periodicals issued by the United States Government and by various business organizations including publications of chambers of commerce in forty-two states and territories and thirteen foreign countries.

In the Government Documents Room adjoining the Information Office the current pamphlets of the Federal Government, as well as a large number of business and periodical publications are in constant use. An important feature of the service of this office is the filing clippings from authentic sources on affairs of national significance, such as the Conference on the Limitation of Armaments, tariff, immigration, etc. Statistical studies and tabulations on occupations, industries, finance, wholesale and retail prices, transportation and foreign and domestic commerce are in process of collection.

The Open Shelf Room, also adjoining the Information Office, is a proved success; the response of the public has been enthusiastic. During the first year over thirty thousand volumes of nonfiction have been circulated. New nonfiction is now shelved in this room, and the older collections, including twenty-odd classes of literature, and numbering over four thousand volumes, are in a state of constant revision, which serves to bring to the attention of the users of the library a large number of books which otherwise might be forgotten or overlooked.

The use of the Information Office may roughly be classified as follows: 35 per cent of its patrons need to be directed to some other part of the library; 25 per cent are users of telephone books and directories; 30 per cent is composed of business men, students and teachers who desire current government and business information; and 10 per cent wish information which may be found in the vocational and other files, or in the college catalogues time tables, railway guides and the few general reference books such as the "World Almanac," "Lippincott's Gazetteer," "Hotel Red Book," and guide-books to the city.

BATES HALL.

The custodian of the Bates Hall Reference Department, in his report for the year, comments on the enlarged use of the reference collections as follows:

Older members of the staff are agreed in saying that Bates Hall was never before so busy as during the past year; this has been especially marked during vacation periods and other times when the hall has been wont to present a somewhat deserted appearance. Again and again, visitors have expressed surprise at the number of readers- especially of men to be found in the hall at hours when libraries are likely to be comparatively empty. This unusual strain upon the resources of the hall has led to an increased wear and tear of the reference books, and it will be necessary before long to replace a good many which are badly worn.

It is of interest to note that the growing use of the Information Office by those who are in search of a single fact of current information has caused no apparent diminution in the use of Bates Hall. All the current directories have finally been removed to the Information Office; in this as in other directions, the office is proving a distinct relief to the hall.

The contests conducted during the past year by a Boston paper, which involved an intensive use of the large dictionaries, have presented a very real problem. The wear imposed upon the books by these eager prize seekers is abnormal, and even cruelly destructive. We have now no large dictionary which is in reasonably good condition; even the Murray Oxford Dictionary has suffered severely.

During the past year 550 books, comprising 939 volumes, were placed upon Bates Hall shelves. Of these, 459 (568 volumes) were new books brought from the stacks, and 191 (371 volumes) were removed from other locations in Bates Hall. The removals from the hall include 331 books (460 volumes) returned to stack, 60 dismissed from the collection as missing, and 3 condemned at the bindery. The total number of changes in the Hall and its records thus amounts to 944 books, comprising 1,462 volumes. This does not include the new volumes of serials added during the year under the head of "continuations." These amount to approximately 200 volumes.

The Bates Hall Reference Department answered during the year a total of 623 inquiries for information received by mail. Of these 623 letters, 147 came from Massachusetts and 91 from New York State. The

remaining inquiries were received from 40 states of the Union and from the District of Columbia, from 5 provinces of Canada, from Porto Rico and from 5 foreign countries.

BATES HALL CENTRE DESK, NEWSPAPER AND PATENT ROOMS, CENTRAL LIBRARY.

The attendance in Bates Hall again shows a marked increase over that of the previous year. The maximum number of users of books in the hall was 336 on October 30, at 5 p. m The freedom of access to over ten thousand volumes of reference on the open shelves makes it impossible to give an accurate statement of the number of these books consulted, but 251,141 books were brought from the library stacks to readers and students at the tables of this main reading room, an increase of 26,640 over 1920-21. There have been the usual inevitable delays in handling so large a number of books, but no improvement in service can be anticipated until some modern mechanical system is installed connecting Bates Hall with the distant stacks from which the books are sent.

In the Newspaper Room 267 papers are currently taken and filed for readers. Of this number 190 are published in the United States and 77 in thirty-two foreign countries. The following languages are represented in the foreign collection: English, 44 papers; French, 9 papers; German, 9 papers; Spanish, 4 papers; Swedish, 3 papers; Danish, 2 papers; Italian, 2 papers; and Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Portuguese, 1 paper each.

During the year six papers were added and fourteen papers either ceased publication or were consolidated with others.

Readers applying for bound files of newspapers numbered 18,604; they consulted 33,184 volumes, a decrease from 1920-21 of 577 readers and an increase of 676 volumes consulted. The bound volumes of newspapers now number 8,651 of which 145 were added during the fiscal year

The patent collection now numbers 15,984 volumes of which 669 we e added during the past year, from the United States, Great Britain, Germany, France Canada, Australia and New Zealand. During 1921-22, 18,315 persons consulted 107,498 volumes of patents.