Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/165

Library Notes and News. 153 SUNDERLAND. The Museum and Library Sub-Committee are preparing plans for enlarging the Free Library, which is at present inadequate to meet the requirements of the town. WATERFORD. On March 27 the Public Libraries Acts were adopted unanimously at a large meeting of the citizens. WILLESDEN. The National Review for April contains the address on the " Art of Reading Books," delivered by the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon, at the opening of the Kilburn Public Library on January 4. WIMBLEDON. The motion to open on Sundays was defeated at the March meeting of the Library Committee. WORCESTER. On April 3 H.R.H. the Duke of York visited Worcester, and laid the foundation stone of the Victoria Institute. This building when completed will also contain the Free Library. MASSACHUSETTS. Mr. C. B. Tillinghast tells the readers of the Forum many interesting facts ascertained by the Massachusetts Free Public Library Commission, of which he is chairman, and which princi- pally busied itself with the needs of the rural communities. It appears that the libraries are almost exclusively used by young people. Bound volumes of illustrated magazines and the higher grade of reviews are in constant and increasing demand : " The most popular book in our libraries to-day is ' Uncle Tom's Cabin.' It is still read in all our communities by people of all ages and classes and alt nationalities. Wherever lists of books having the widest circulation are kept, this book usually heads them. 'Ben-Hur' retains a remarkable fascination for the reader. ' Lorna Doone 3 and the novels of William Black, among the books by modern authors, have a large circulation. The 'Scarlet Letter' and the 'Marble Faun' stand high on the record of books most circulated. Some of the stories which delighted the readers of a generation ago, like ' The Lamplighter,' ' Queechy,' and ' The Wide, Wide World ' seem to have a perennial vitality, and are much read to-day, while some of the books whose titles are most familiar to the modern ear, like ' Looking Backward ' and ' Robert Elsmere,' after a wonderful run for a time soon drop out of the list of those widely called for. The steady demand for ' Ivanhoe ' and others of Scott's novels proves their undying charm ; and it appears to be a fact that the number of those who read Scott is increasing, while the number of the readers of Dickens is diminishing. In the reference department of our libraries the most noteworthy of modern developments is the growing use which is made of works upon the fine arts, especially architecture Bio- graphy, especially autobiography . . . rivals the novel in popularity. The ' Personal Memoirs of General Grant ' ... is still in constant demand. . . . The dry details of ancient and mediaeval history are not so much read as they were a quarter of a century ago. . . . Readers at large are more interested in the present condition of a country, its resources, its people, and the habits and customs of their daily life Books which tell in simple untechnical language the story of birds, animals and plants, and other natural objects .... are coming into more general use. . . . The good old classics of English literature, while the lighter form still retains some hold upon the general reading public, are not so widely read as they were a generation ago. Graces of style do not appear to have the charm for the present that they exercised over the preceding genera- tion."