ctical method is to begin by supplying
books that people already want to read, and afterwards to do whatever
shall be found possible to elevate their reading tastes and habits."

A series of articles on "How to Start Libraries in Small Towns" was
published in the _Library Journal_ (vol. i. pp. 161, 213, 249, 313, 355,
421), and Mr. Axon's _Hints on the Formation of Small Libraries_ has
already been mentioned. We must not be too rigid in the use of the term
Public Libraries, and we should certainly include under this description
those institutional Libraries which, although primarily intended for the
use of the Members of the Societies to which they belong, can usually be
consulted by students who are properly introduced.

Of Public Libraries first in order come the great libraries of a nation,
such as the British Museum. These are supplied by means of the Copyright
Law, but the librarians are not from this cause exonerated from the
troubles attendant on the formation of a library. There are old books and
privately printed and foreign books to be bought, and it is necessary that
the most catholic spirit should be displayed by the librarians. The same
may be said in a lesser degree of the great libraries of the more
important towns.

In England the Universities have noble libraries, more especially those of
Oxford and Cambridge, but although some colleges possess fine collections
of books, college libraries are not as a rule kept up to a very high
standard. The United States Report contains a full account of the college
libraries in America (pp. 60-126).

The libraries of societies are to a large extent special ones, and my
brother, the late Mr. B.R. Wheatley, in a paper read before the Conference
of Librarians, 1877, entitled "Hints on Library Management, so far as
relates to the Circulation of Books," particularly alluded to this fact.
He wrote, "Our library is really a medical and surgical section of a great
Public Library. Taking the five great classes of literature, I suppose
medicine and its allied sciences may be considered as forming a thirtieth
of the whole, and, as our books number 30,000, we are, as it were, a
complete section of a Public Library of nearly a million volumes in
extent."

The United States Report contains several chapters on special libraries,
thus chapter 2 is devoted to those of Schools and Asylums; 4, to
Theological Libraries; 5, to Law; 6, to Medical; and 7, to Scientific
Libraries. For