ile the hospitals, universities, and museums,
have still no reason for complaint, the churches now find the
superfluous millions are less apt to go to gay church windows than to
well chosen book collections. In the year 1900 there existed more than
5383 public libraries having over a thousand volumes; of these 144 had
more than fifty thousand, and 54 had more than a hundred thousand
volumes. All together contained, according to the statistics of 1900
more than forty-four million volumes and more than seven million
pamphlets; and the average growth was over 8 per cent. There are
probably to-day, therefore, fifteen million volumes more on the shelves.
The many thousand libraries which have fewer than 999 books are over and
above all this.

The make-up of such public libraries may be seen from the sample catalog
gotten out by the Library Association a few years since, as a typical
collection of five thousand books. This catalog, which, with the
exception of the most important foreign classics, contains only books in
English, including, however, many translations, contains 227 general
reference books, 756 books on history, 635 on biography, 413 on travel,
355 on natural science, 694 on belles-lettres, 809 novels, 225 on art,
220 on religion, 424 on social science, 268 on technical subjects, etc.
The cost of this sample collection is $12,000. The proportions between
the several divisions are about the same in larger collections. In
smaller collections, belles-lettres have a somewhat greater share. The
general interest taken by the nation in this matter is shown by the fact
that the first edition of 20,000 copies of this sample catalog, of 600
pages, was soon exhausted.

The many-sidedness of this catalog points also to the manifold
functions of the public library. It is meant to raise the educational
level of the people, and this can be done in three ways: first, interest
may be stimulated along new lines; second, those who wish to perfect
themselves in their own subjects or in whatsoever special topics, may be
provided with technical literature; and third, the general desire for
literary entertainment may be satisfied by books of the best or at least
not of the worst sort. The directors of libraries see their duties to
lie in all three directions. The libraries guide the tastes and
interests of the general public, and try to replace the ordinary
servant-girl's novel with the best romance of the day and shallow
literature