the formation of special libraries, special bibliographies
will be required, and for information on this subject reference should be
made to Chapter VI. of the present work.

When we come to deal with the Free Public Libraries, several ethical
questions arise, which do not occur in respect to other libraries. One of
the most pressing of these questions refers to the amount of Fiction read
by the ordinary frequenters of these libraries.

This point is alluded to in the United States Report on Public Libraries.
Mr. J.P. Quincy, in the chapter on Free Libraries (p. 389), writes,
"Surely a state which lays heavy taxes upon the citizen in order that
children may be taught to read is bound to take some interest in what they
read; and its representatives may well take cognizance of the fact that an
increased facility for obtaining works of sensational fiction is not the
special need of our country at the close of the first century of its
independence." He mentions a free library in Germanstown, Pa., sustained
by the liberality of a religious body, and frequented by artisans and
working people of both sexes. It had been in existence six years in 1876,
and then contained 7000 volumes. No novels are admitted into the library.
The following is a passage from the librarian's report of 1874: "In
watching the use of our library as it is more and more resorted to by the
younger readers of our community, I have been much interested in its
influence in weaning them from a desire for works of fiction. On first
joining the library, the new comers often ask for such books, but failing
to procure them, and having their attention turned to works of interest
and instruction, in almost every instance they settle down to good reading
and cease asking for novels. I am persuaded that much of this vitiated
taste is cultivated by the purveyors to the reading classes, and that they
are responsible for an appetite they often profess to deplore, but
continue to cater to, under the plausible excuse that the public will have
such works."

Mr. Justin Winsor in chapter 20 (Reading in Popular Libraries) expresses a
somewhat different view. He writes, "Every year many young readers begin
their experiences with the library. They find all the instructive reading
they ought to have in their school books, and frequent the library for
story books. These swell the issues of fiction, but they prevent the
statistics of that better reading into which you have allur