and 17,129 less than the number entered in 1911, the first year of the collection. As most of the branches have now cleared away their accumulations and are at present maintaining active collections limited in size by shelf capacity, the central reserve collection will show hereafter a more normal rate of increase.

During 1912, the central reserve collection was used as a depository for a special set of 114 Yiddish books, for the purpose of meeting through the interbranch loan system the spasmodic demands for books in this language that were received at branches in various sections of the city, thus avoiding the necessity of establishing permanent collections at these branches until the permanency of the demand in each case was assured. The success of this experiment has led to the formation during 1913 of similar collections of books in Hungarian and Swedish.

The central reserve collection numbered 54,700 volumes at the end of the year, classified as follows: general works, 5,258; philosophy, 1,358; religion, 3,275; sociology, 6,657; philology, 382; science, 3,196; useful arts, 2,041; fine arts, 1,722; literature, 6,214; history, 4,313; travel, 4,902; biography, 7,333; and fiction, 8,049.

The circulation of books from this collection through the interbranch loan system was 18,411, a gain of 8,663 over that for 1912.

INTERBRANCH LOANS

The work of the interbranch loan system showed steady growth during the past year, a total of 67,563 volumes being interchanged among the branches through this medium at the daily request of readers, an increase of 7,866 volumes over the record for 1912. With the book resources of the circulation department distributed among so many branches and with no large central collection from which to draw, considerable difficulty has been experienced in the past in making readers understand that books not found at one branch can be easily and speedily borrowed for them from other branches through the interbranch loan system, but in recent years the steadily increasing circulation of books through this system has given unmistakable evidence of a better appreciation of its advantages on the part of the public at large. During the last five years the books requested have numbered 50,754, 61,142, 78,195, 83,632, and 89,507 respectively; the books supplied during the same years have been 35,773, 42,151, 54,081, 59,697 and 67,563.

The interbranch loan office is not confined to the mere operation of a routine system of book exchange between branches, but has developed more and more into a clearing-house for information dealing with the book resources of both the circulation and the reference departments. Many requests received at the office are not for definite titles, but rather for books on certain subjects, some of these requests involving a considerable amount of investigation; as, for example, calls for "Books

in German or French on how to make an electric motor for a flying machine," "Books on how to edit a technical magazine," and "Any book giving an account of the different modes of travel between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries." The staff of the interbranch loan office is responsible for placing at the disposal of such readers books drawn from the entire resources of the circulation department that are best adapted to meet these special needs, and this must be done through the use of the union catalogue at the central office without the opportunity of dealing directly with the readers concerned, or of examining the books themselves. Again, many requests for presumably definite titles are difficult to identify, and often require considerable ingenuity for their solution; such as a request for a book entitled "He sings of his father," which turned out to be Thomas Dixon's "Sins of the father;" another for a book by Corley entitled "Ross of Duchess," which was intended for "Rose of Dutcher's Coolly" by Hamlin Garland; and a simpler request, but illustrative of common errors, calling for "Tess of Harbor Hill," which was, of course, intended for "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" by Thomas Hardy.

The difficulty experienced by the staff of the interbranch loan office in dealing indirectly with readers has been obviated to a great extent by the development of close coöperation with the assistants in charge of this work at the branches; and a net result of seventy-five per cent. of the total requests in 1913 satisfactorily filled through the interbranch loan system testifies to its present efficiency.

Table XVII in the appendix classifies the requests for books through the interbranch loan system and shows the general extent of the field thus covered. Of the total number of books requested during the past year, 11,989, or about thirteen per cent., were not in any branch, and upon investigation many of these were found to represent books out of print, or never written; or, oftener, books and articles of a character that rendered them unsuitable for use in the circulation department. About one third of the number were in the collection of the reference department and readers requesting them were promptly referred to the special divisions of this department where they could be consulted. A limited number which proved upon examination to be desirable for circulation were immediately purchased.

As usual, a number of lists of books on special subjects were compiled in the interbranch loan office in response to requests from readers, seventy being issued during the past year as follows: philosophy, 2: sociology, 12; philology, 1; natural science, 3; useful arts, 25; fine arts, 9; literature, 1; travel, 5; biography, 3; history, 3; fiction, 1; Russian, 1; Finnish, 1; modern Greek, 1; Polish, 1; and Dutch, 1.

REGISTRATION

At all the branches 135,377 persons, of whom 72,618 were adults and 62,759 were children, received borrowers' cards. This is a decrease of

4,595 as compared with the registration recorded in 1912, due to the fact that most of the branches which commenced re-registration in 1911 with the establishment of the central registration office completed this work before the present year. The registration during 1913 therefore represents new readers and indicates an actual increase in library borrowers. The total number of applications received, according to the record of the central registration office, was 174,856.

The heaviest registration was in the Central Circulation branch, in the main building, where 12,800 new readers applied for borrowers' cards. Branches in The Bronx, which is rapidly growing in population, reported heavy registration, the Morrisania branch leading with 7,500 new readers and the Tremont branch following closely with 5,560 new readers. The Seward Park branch still leads all other branches in the system, except the Central Circulation branch, with a new registration of 8,892 during 1913. Other branches in the same general locality-on the lower east side of Manhattan reporting heavy registration were Hamilton Fish Park with 5,235 applications, Rivington Street with 4,251, and Tompkins Square with 3,718.

Of the total number of applications received, 4,278 were for the new form of "special" card entitling the borrower to extra privileges in the use of books, as described in the report for 1912. This card, issued experimentally in combination form to take the place of the two cards. formerly used separately, has proved entirely satisfactory, and has done away with much of the confusion which formerly attended the use of the two separate forms.

CENTRAL CIRCULATION 1

The close of 1913 brings the work of the Central Circulation branch to a very interesting and stimulating juncture. The book collection has been considerably strengthened; the public have been quick to seize upon the larger resources placed at their disposal; and the work of the branch has broadened both in scope and volume.

The increase in circulation has therefore been marked. The total number of volumes issued during the year was 344,130, a gain of 68,224 over the circulation of 1912. This gain was most noticeable during the later months of the year, and may be attributed to the large number of books added to the collection during that time. The greatest monthly increase, 10,582, occurred in December.

The most encouraging feature of these circulation figures lies in the high quality of reading which they represent. The average percentage of fiction is less than 43 per cent.; and in December, when the number of books issued was largest, the fiction percentage dropped to its lowest

The statements in this report are all exclusive of the work of the Children's Room, which is noted elsewhere.

figure, 41 per cent. The classes of books for which the demand is most noteworthy are philosophy, sociology, poetry and drama, art, and biography.

During the year 12,800 persons applied for borrowers' cards, an average of 40 per day. This brings the total number of registered readers up to 39,165. The public represented by these figures, with the books they require, furnish at the same time the most powerful stimulus to effort, and the greatest cause for satisfaction in the work of the library. In the requests of readers may be discovered that contact with the deepest and most vital intellectual life of the city, which it is within the province of the library to establish and foster. The man in public life comes for books on banking, finance, social experiments in this and other countries, questions of governmental policy. The engineer studies subway construction, systems of sewerage in large cities, the building of bridges. The artist, the writer, and the journalist draw constantly upon the library's resources, to transmute the knowledge thus acquired into the life and thought of the day. The moving picture manager, studying the pleasure and wishes of the greater public, asks for works on Washington, Lincoln, or other historical figures; or on the life of insects, plants, and animals. Outside of the professions stand a host of lovers of literature and the arts, readers for culture solely.

Although the branch was designed primarily for the circulation of books for home use, a large proportion of the public have enjoyed the easy access to the shelves which the room affords, and have used it as a reading room. The business man with a free hour in the middle of the day or evening has taken advantage of the opportunity to browse among the books, returning in many cases day after day to find a favorite work. On Sundays, when the branch is open from two to six in the afternoon, this type of reader is even more evident. The number of such readers during the year was 226,551, an average of 621 per day, and an increase of 41,991 over the attendance in 1912. On Sunday afternoons the average attendance has been 289.

The book collection on the open shelves now numbers 35,165 volumes, of which 10,230 were added during the past year. This is supplemented by the Central Reserve Collection of 54,700 volumes, shelved in the adjoining stack, and by daily loans from the branches.

SUNDAY AND HOLIDAY OPENING

The total attendance for fifty-two Sundays at the six branches in which the reading rooms were kept open on Sunday afternoons from two to six was 41,723, divided as follows: Rivington Street, 16,065; Tompkins Square, 4,082; Ottendorfer, 2,684; Muhlenberg, 3,256; Central Circulation, 14,047; 58th Street, 1,589. Thus the Sunday attendance shows a gain of 2,599 over the record for 1912. The Central Circulation

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