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 total

The increase in circulation has therefore been marked. 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

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

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 branch, included in the list, was open as usual on Sundays for circulation as well as for reading.

The circulation on holidays at the branches is indicated in table XV on page 313. Branches in Carnegie buildings and the Central Circulation branch in the main building were open full hours on all legal holidays as stipulated in the contract with the City; branches in other buildings were open only part-time on certain holidays in accordance with the custom of previous years.

READING Rooms

Reading-room attendance is one of the few phases of the Library's activities to show a decrease, and yet interesting experiments are being tried here, such as increasing the number of branches in which the hour of evening closing is 10 o'clock, instead of 9.

The total attendance in the reading-rooms for adults at the branches was 1,091,616, a loss of 34,527 as compared with the attendance reported for the previous year. Continuing arrangements made in 1912, the thirdfloor reading rooms in the St. Gabriel's Park, Columbus, and 67th Street branches were not open to the public during the past year on account of the very limited demand for such facilities in these districts. It has been found that the few readers can be accommodated to better advantage in these branches on the main circulation floors, to which the magazines and newspapers have been moved.

By far the best use of reading rooms is reported from branches located in congested districts on the lower east side of Manhattan. Reading room facilities in these branches are particularly valuable in view of the fact that a large majority of the readers are students who have few opportunities elsewhere for quiet reading and study. In recognition of this need the department has for several years arranged to keep the reading rooms in two of the larger branches on the lower east side open until ten o'clock at night, one hour after the usual hour of closing. In the fall of this year two more branches, Seward Park and Hamilton Fish Park, were included in this arrangement. During the year, 14,541 readers availed themselves of this additional hour at the four branches, coming in between nine and ten o'clock at night. Of these Seward Park and Hamilton Fish Park, the two branches recently opened for an extra hour, reported 299 and 148 respectively; Rivington Street, 12,549 and Tompkins Square, 1,545.

At three of these branches roof reading rooms for use in summer are provided. The total attendance at these was 41,323. For detailed figures see the table on p. 324 of the appendix.

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