slowly. On December 1, 1898, the Pomeroy Library Association was duly incorporated with eight charter members as follows: Thomas Tumbull, J. H. Lochany, Edw. L. Keiser, Caddy Whaley, Louise W. R. Ohl, Mary L. Hysell, Wyatt G. Plautz and H. J. Ewing. The Board of Education under the Ohio law passed February 16, 1898, caused to be levied three-tenths of a mill for free public and school library purposes.

They also turned over to the board of trustees of the public library the high school library consisting of about six hundred volumes. New books were purchased, the volumes carefully catalogued according to the Dewey system (under the personal direction of Miss Boardman, the assistant state librarian), a librarian employed, and the library formally opened as a free public library September 15, 1900. It is well patronized and highly appreciated by a grateful public.

CADDY WHALEY,

Secretary Pomeroy Public Library Ass'n.

SALEM.

SALEM PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The Salem Library Association was organized in November, 1895, and articles of incorporation taken out. Shares of stock at $25 each were sold, and the proceeds, $1,700, invested in books. The library was opened in March, 1896, in a rented room. Stockholders had the use of the library free, others for two dollars per year. All services rendered, including that of the librarians, were gratuitous.

During the first year 1,452 volumes were accumulated; the second year, 261 volumes; the, third, 633 volumes; the fourth, 773 volumes; the fifth, 556 volumes; total, 3,675 volumes.

In June, 1898, the library was declared a free library, thus obtaining for its support, by taxation, under the state law of that year, about $1,000 per year. A friend of the library gave $300. These are the only sources. of income the association has had.

During the first year, III persons were taking books from the library, the second, 144; the third, 654; the fourth, 1,078; the fifth, 1,360. The population of the city is about 8,000.

No record of circulation was kept previous to 1898, but is was very small. For the year 1898-9 it was 15,855; the present year, 20,500.

The library is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 5:30 p. m., on Saturdays from 2 to 8 p. m. It is the intention to have it open every day in the near future, if possible.

The circulation has grown entirely beyond the proper handling within the present limits of library hours, and nothing but a lack of funds prevents an immediate extension.

HELEN S. CAREY, Librarian.

SANDUSKY.

SANDUSKY PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The Sandusky library was founded by the Sandusky Young Men's Christian and Lecture Association, the exact date of which is not now known, the early records having been lost. At the suggestion of Mrs. Wm. H. Mills, Mrs. Geo. Thornton and Mrs. L. S. Hubbard a meeting was held March 3, 1870, at the home of Mrs. Hubbard to consider the formation of a Library Association by Sandusky women and on March 16 of the same year the Library Association of Sandusky was organized in the high school building. Its first officers were: President, Mrs. A. H. Moss; Vice President, Mrs. James E. Marshall; Secretary and Treasurer, Mrs. Geo. Thornton; Board of Managers, Mrs. L. S. Hubbard, Mrs. Julius Erckener, Mrs. Geo. March, Mrs. Geo. J. Anderson, Mrs. James Woolworth, Mrs. H. G. Robinson, Mrs. J. O. Moss, Mrs. Chas. E. Cooke.

The books, comprising all told but a few hundred volumes, with the other property were turned over to the new association. From that date the library was managed and maintained by ladies. An annual fee of two dollars with an occasional gift of money furnished the means for its support. The library gradually grew but for years its growth was small. A room in the high school building set apart by the board of education was its home until the year 1896, when it was removed to a room in the Masonic Temple and the city council appropriated one-tenth

of a mill of the city tax levy toward its support. This was increased in 1889 to two-tenths of a mill from which the library has since received an annual sum which now amounts to about $1,500, towards its support. The books now number about 12,000 volumes including bound public documents.

November 5, 1895, "The Library Association of Sandusky" was incorporated under the laws of the state and the library became free. The objects of the association set forth in its articles were "the establishment of a free library, the books of which shall be rendered accessible to its members and to aid by such means as may be in its power the increase of a larger and freer intellectual life in our midst."

The Board of Managers is as follows:

MRS. JAY O. Moss.
MRS. I. F. MACK..

MRS. R. E. SCHUCK.
MRS. CHARLES H. Moss.
MR. JAMES WOOLWORTH.
MRS. S. B. NEWBURY.
MRS. T. H. B. DAVIS...

MRS. A. W. MILLER.
MRS. JOHN T. MACK..

MRS. CHARLES E. COOKE.

MISS HARRIET WEST...

MRS. C. B. WILCOX.

President.

Vice President..
Secretary.
Treasurer.

Trustees.

The fee system of $2.00 per year was continued only as applying to those intrusted with its management.

The drawing of books is now free to all under certain regulations and restrictions necessary to its proper management. A free reading room is maintained. The establishment of the free use of books and the privileges of the reading room in connection with the library marked a new era of increasing interest and growth. October 7, 1899, Andrew Carnegie, that generous friend of library extension, gave $50,000 for a public library building and its equipment—the only conditions being that a site should be furnished, the city should give $3,000 a year to maintain it and no part of the sum donated should be used for its main

tenance.

A lot for the building was given by the Library Building Fund Association of Sandusky. This association was suggested by Mrs. A. C. Moss and was formed November 20, 1886, by a number of Sandusky ladies interested in library extension for the purpose of procuring a fund for a library building in Sandusky and for intellectual improvement.

The fund for this worthy object was raised largely by courses of lectures and entertainments, for a time given in the homes of the members, by life membership fees, and gifts and bequests of individuals who recognized the worthiness of the movement and the paramount need of a permanent home for the library if it were to become a free public