ut the Council declined to sanction the Committee's recommendation
to open the Reading Room. Five and a half years later the Council
revoked its decision, and the men's and women's reading rooms on the
first floor were opened on Sundays between the hours of 3 and 9 p.m. In
the annual report following the Sunday opening the experiment was
described as "quietly successful," and in the reports for the next few
years the visits were estimated at 15,000 annually--a daily average of
289. The Reading Room continued to be open all the year round until
1913, when owing to the small attendances during the summer months it was
closed from June to September inclusive; in that year the average
attendance on the Sundays was 117. Having regard to the small
attendances and the inadequate library staff, the Committee in 1915
decided that the Reading Room should be closed on Sundays during the war.

The Report for the year ending March 1894 briefly reviewed the work of
the Library after forty years. By that time the stock had reached 30,124
volumes in all departments, and the annual issue from the lending
library, excluding 49,000 books issued by the teachers in 36 elementary
schools, was 86,355. The Reference Library, including the Local
Collection, contained 10,520 volumes and 5,367 pamphlets.

The large room on the ground floor vacated by the Museum was extended and
renovated during the year 1895-6, and was partially furnished with
book-cases and shelving in order to provide accommodation for the
Reference Library, which then comprised 8,450 volumes and 2,081
pamphlets, with 2,987 local books and 4,327 local pamphlets.

In 1896 a loan of 1,300 pounds was sanctioned by the Local Government
Board for defraying the cost of the extension of the Reference Library
and fittings, the purchase of a Cotgreave Indicator, installed in 1897,
the restoration of the exterior stonework of the building, and interior
decoration and repairs. The total expenditure amounted to 1,740 pounds,
the difference between the cost and the amount of the loan being paid
from the balance in hand.

During the year 1898-1899 a catalogue of the Reference Library was
prepared for printing in sections, and in the following year five were
printed. The entries in these sectional catalogues were single-line
author and subject entries, the latter being merely inverted
title-entries.

Mr. J. Geo. Tennant, the Sub-Librarian, who had been appointed to that
position