Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/138

126 The Library. association IRecorfc. SEASON 1893-94. THE SIXTH MONTHLY MEETING of the season was held at 20, Hanover Square, on Monday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ; Alderman Brittain, of Sheffield, in the chair. Twenty-one members and some visitors were present. The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed, after which Mr. G. R. Humphery read a paper entitled : " PARIS AND LONDON LIBRARIES : A CONTRAST," in which he described the work of the Paris municipal libraries, particu- larly as regards their lending of books or parts of books on artistic and technical subjects. The discussion was long and interesting, and was taken part in by the Chairman, Messrs. Mason, Gilburt, Tedder, Quinn, Verney, Moore, Roberts, and others ; the result being rather to controvert Mr. Humphery's claims for the superior work of the Paris libraries as compared with those of London. Mr. Joseph Gilburt, in particular, advocated the case of the London libraries at considerable length, and with great point and ability. In succession to the late Mr. Talbot Baines Reed, the Council has elected Mr. J. Reed Welch, of Clapham Public Library, to fill the vacancy among the London members of the Council. [By way of a rider to Mr. Brown's remarks on American Libraries, p. 112, we quote the following from the Library fotirnal for March : " Mr. Melvil Dewey's proud word ' America is the pioneer, with England as a fine second ' may sound well to many, but it is not just. Massachusetts and Connecticut may stand ahead of England in respect to the average achievement of their public libraries : America as a whole stands unquestionably below England.' This is rather hard on us, but it agrees with the report recently made upon us by Mr. Brown, of Clerkenwell, after his visit to this country." (From a review of Kergers " Entwicklung u. Organisation der Volksbibliotheken," by Miss Mary E. Kawley). This shows that an independent Austrian observer has arrived at a conclusion very similar to that of Mr. Brown, touching the library work of Britain and America. We should like to ask in supplement to Mr. Brown, what public initiative has done for the library system of America, apart from private beneficence and the exceptional cases of certain New England states. The work of federal, state endowed and collegiate libraries bulk so largely in the United States, par- ticularly in the department of cataloguing and the issue of publications which involve huge expenditures of money, that it is apt to overshadow, and be taken as representative of the average accomplishment of American local public (i.e., tax supported) libraries. The main strength of the British library system lies in its local public libraries, and it ought always to be borne in mind that the splendid work of such institutions is done with the scantiest incomes imaginable, so that the public interest, rather than a fostering system of advertising, must be regarded as its chief mainstay. In some departments of administrative work, British libraries are, on the whole, rather behind those of the United States, but in the matter of public use and appreciation it must be claimed that they are very far ahead. ED.]