CITY OF BOSTON.

PUBLIC LIBRARY, June 29, 1875.

His Honor, Samuel C. Cobb, Mayor of the City of Boston: SIR, I have the honor to transmit to you, herewith, the Twenty-third Annual Report of the Trustees of the Public Library, prepared in obedience to the fourth section of the Ordinance of 1869, relative to the Public Library.

Very respectfully,

JUSTIN WINSOR,

Secretary of the Board of Trustees.

TWENTY-THIRD ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

In conformity with the requirements of the Ordinance concerning the Public Library, the Trustees have the honor to present to the City Council their twenty-third Annual

REPORT,

being the sixth made under the last ordinance, and including the results of administration for the year ending on the 30th April last.

There are also submitted herewith the reports of the Superintendent and of the Examining Committee.

The report of the Superintendent, with its numerous appendixes, contains all the material facts relative to the work of the Library and its Branches during the past year. A careful examination of the details therein included is necessary to a full understanding of the administrative arrangements, and of the extent of the uses of the whole institution, of the apportionment of the expenditures, and of the large amount of clerical labor performed. The whole document is framed with a clearness and copiousness of statement that leave no material point untouched.

The Examining Committee for the present year consists of Wm. T. Adams, Esq., Rev. George A. Thayer, Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, George W. Wales, Esq., Charles E. Ware, M. D., with David P. Kimball, Esq., of the Board of Trustees, as Chairman. The report is from the hand of the

Rev. Mr. Thayer, and in its introduction gives the first public expression of an embarrassment which has been felt for years. In the earlier days of the Library history, with a single collection of books of limited extent, it was an easy task to examine all the departments of administration, and the methods of use. But with an institution of the present size, including six Branches, it is impossible that any committee can afford the time to more than inform itself upon the general system of management, without undertaking the minute and precise inquiries customary with the early committee of citizens who were invited to and accepted the same task. These successive committees have rendered excellent service to the institution, and there is, unquestionably, a distinct value in the oversight of our present system by five intelligent, disinterested gentlemen, drawn from widely distinct classes of our citizens, by the terms of the ordinance the committee of " citizens at large,-who, together with a Trustee as chairman, shall examine the Library and make a report of its condition to the Trustees." This simple requirement covers all the possibilities of the institution, which is bound to extend its benefits "as widely as practicable throughout the community," and this is the problem which is to be considered. Whether the trust funds are used upon the conditions for which they were given; whether the city appropriations for Library support are properly and judiciously expended; whether due attention is given to keeping the shelves furnished with the best and most recent publications needed by its widely extended constituencies, are questions for due examination and consideration. In this general way, the overseeing committee can always render real service both to the Library and to the powers who regulate its administration.

Another suggestion of the committee requires respectful notice. It is to the effect that the Bates Hall collection should be opened for readers in the hall on Sundays. This