In this connection it is proper to record our appreciation and gratitude for the voluntary and generous response from the Board of Education to the financial necessities of the library, the more so, because it indicates that the members of said board are in full sympathy with the library and recognize in it an essential factor in our modern educational system.

It is with pardonable pride we call attention to the fact that Warren has set the pace for cities of the second class in the promotion of free libraries, having devised legislation of sufficient merit to be quite generally adopted in various localities in the state. The general law under which our library is operated was drafted by a member of our board of trustees and introduced and supported by our state senator who is also a member of this association; and, aside from our own experience, the highest commendation of its wise, economical and practical provisions is to be found in the fact that the public libraries of the cities of Xenia, Salem, Gallipolis, Pomeroy and others planning so to do, have organized under this same law, and in nearly every instance the full levy allowed by the statute has been made. — Address of President Taylor, 1899.

That the youth of Warren might be provided with a public place affording advantages for their improvement and enjoyment, associating therewith the thought of a library and reading room, Judge Milton Sutliff in his will bequeathed to the city authorities of Warren the sum of $10,000 to be used in the furtherance of the objects above recited. In order to make this clause in the will immediately operative, and thus bring the citizens of Warren into the enjoyment of its provisions in advance of the time provided, Hon. George M. Tuttle, the trustee under Judge Sutliff's will, in whom the title to the property was vested, and pursuant to the consent of all the persons interested under the will, that the $10,000 should be taken from the body of the estate instead of from the accumulated income, generously relinquished their valuable interests in the Sutliff block, on the north side of the public park, and presented the property to the city in lieu of the $10,000, the same to be dedicated to the objects expressed in the will. The city authorities being satisfied that the Warren Library Association, a duly incorporated body, and an established public institution of our city, could best carry out the intent and purpose of the bequest, by ordinance conveyed the property to the Library Association.

Reference should be made to a recent change that has taken place in the chief office of the library. This emergency called for and received the earnest and patient deliberations of the trustees, who realized the important bearing of their final action upon the future of the library. You are already informed that the invaluable services rendered by Mrs. Woodford for many years past as librarian terminated on Friday, the 31st ultimo. Her resignation was an event that cast no shadow before; the shadow followed. It is unnecessary to say that her request that the

change be made was wholly unexpected and was received by the trustees with sincere regret. We indulge in no extravagant eulogy when we say that to Mrs. Woodford's superior qualifications, intelligent and faithful services, and her devotion to an object peculiarly dear to her, we are, in unlimited measure, indebted for our splenid library of to-day.

The trustees consider themselves fortunate in having been able to secure without embarrassing delay, a person in every way fitted to fill the responsible position of librarian, one not only competent to perform the routine duties of the office, but also possessing the qualifications requisite to carry forward the work in every department. Our new librarian is a cataloguer of fine abilities, and is thoroughly conversant with every detail of her official duties. Address of President Taylor, 1900.

NOTE. The librarian referred to in the concluding paragraph is Miss Elizabeth Smith.

WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE.

PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Mabel K. Dixon, the librarian, has furnished the following facts relative to the Public Library of Washington C. H.:

Our Library was opened in November, 1894, with 800 volumes and a membership of 400. We now have 3,500 volumes and 1,985 persons holding membership cards. The Library is supported by taxation.

Interest in the Library is steadily increasing. Work in the reference department especially is indicative of healthy growth and increasing appreciation. Our schools and clubs are learning its value..

If we had a suitable building or rooms, we could accomplish much more for the good of the community; but what we lack in this we try to make up in intelligent, earnest, enthusiastic work, and feel amply repaid in the appreciation of our patrons.

WAUSEON.

CITIZENS' LIBRARY.

The Citizen's Library of Wauseon was established April 1, 1875, as the outcome of the Woman's Crusade movement in Wauseon.

Under the auspices of the Crusade women, a reading room was started and kept open daily to the public, for a few months. From the reading room grew the idea of establishing a library, and the citizens of Wauseon, to the number of one hundred or more, each subscribed a membership fee of three dollars for one year, which sum formed the basis for starting the Citizens' Library.

19 S. o. L.

By holding entertainments of various kinds and soliciting membership fees when necessary, the library has grown to its present size numbering over 2,500 volumes.

In 1894 a legacy of one thousand dollars was received from the estate of Mrs. W. C. Kelley, a charter member and director of the Library, which sum has been invested as a source of income.

In April, 1900, was celebrated the 25th anniversary of founding, by appropriate exercises.

The library is open two afternoons and evenings of each week, from I p. m. to 7:30 p. m.

The yearly membership fee has been reduced from $3.00 to $1.00.

WOODFIELD.

WOODFIELD PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.

The librarian of the Woodfield Public Library writes:

We have a public library and reading room, supported by a yearly fee of one dollar from each member of the Woodfield Public Library Association. The books are free to all members, but others pay a fee of five cents for each book taken out. An effort is now being made to raise funds from citizens and to make the library free to all.

WOOSTER.

UNIVERSITY LIBRARY.

The University Library was founded in 1870, the year in which Wooster University was opened. Mr. C. S. Bragg, publisher, of Cleveland, afterward of Cincinnati, deserves to be remembered as its founder. He gave the sum of $5,000 to be expended for books, leaving their selection to the Faculty. For this reason the University has had from the beginning a good working library, the professors seeing to it that such books were purchased as would meet the daily wants of students. The library has been increased from time to time by the addition of private libraries from earnest friends of the University. The largest accession came from the MacMaster family, eminent in Presbyterian annals, through Mrs. Mary MacMaster Maxwell of Pittsburg. The libraries of Dr. M. A. Hoge, of Zanesville, A. B. Maxwell, D. D., of Rome, O., and N. S. Smith, D. D., of Columbus, gave us valuable additions. The zeal of the Faculty in behalf of the Library has led them to devote the fees received for extra work, and the proceeds of the University Lecture Courses to this object. Hence valuable additions have been made from year to year, so that even without a library fund, the one great need of our University, a library of 22,000 volumes has been gathered.

Mr. H. C. Frick, of Pittsburg, having given us a beautiful library building at a cost of $35,000, and the library having been catalogued and supplied with all the modern appliances, it is hoped and believed that we have entered on a new era, and that a library fund will soon be established by the friends of the University. Prof. Thomas Fullerton, D. D., was librarian from 1870-1872; Prof. D. S. Gregory, D. D., from 1872-1877; and Prof. Thomas K. Davis, D. D., from 1877 to the present time.

XENIA.

XENIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION.

In the winter of 1877, or in the following spring, a party of eight young women, inspired by congeniality of taste and a desire for selfculture, met together for reading and study Tuesday afternoon of each week. The names of these young women were as follows: Miss Elizabeth Ewing, Miss Jennie Morris, Miss Anna McCracken, Miss Clara Allen, Miss Bell Gatch, Misses Elouisa F., Isadora F. and Emma C. King, who constituted the original "Tuesday Club"-an organization, which under different names, has maintained a continuous existence, with no interruption of its regular meetings, until the present day. A record unsurpassed by any organization of women in the state of Ohio.

The meetings of the "Tuesday Club" were informal but not uninteresting. Papers were presented, the discussion of which—sometimes perhaps prolonged beyond the limits of ordinary debate-proved helpful and stimulating.

The Club, however, as it pursued the even tenor of its way, keenly felt the lack of books. Books there were in the libraries of its members, but not always of a character to aid in the study of subjects assigned, and the few somewhat antiquated volumes remaining from the old Lyceum and the later Y. M. C. A. Libraries were stored away in one of the rooms occupied by the Xenia Gazette, and not in general circulation, though in the careful custody of Rev. John A. Shields, whom the Library Association has reason to hold in grateful remembrance for the encouragement and interest manifested by him in their early efforts to establish a Public Library in Xenia.

It is a matter of regret that the early records of the Tuesday Club cannot be found, but history records the organization on August 20th, 1878, at the home of Miss McCracken, of the Young Women's Library Association. At this meeting officers of the new organization were elected, the honors falling as follows:

President, Miss McCracken; Vice-President, Miss Emma C. King; Secretary, Miss Morris; Treasurer, Miss Gatch.