[Whole Number 232 UNITED STATES BUREAU OF EDUCATION. CHAPTERS FROM THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR 1895-96. PUBLIC, SOCIETY, AND SCHOOL LIBRARIES IN THE UNITED STATES, WITH LIBRARY STATISTICS AND LEGISLATION OF THE WASHINGTON: CHAPTER VIII. PUBLIC, SOCIETY, AND SCHOOL LIBRARIES.1 References to preceding reports of the United States Bureau of Education, in which this subject has been treated: In annual reports, 1870, pp. 541, 542; 1871, pp. 668– 677; 1872, pp. liii-lvii, 820–887; 1873, pp. lxxxviii-xciv, 729-763; 1874, pp. lxxxviixcii, 753-793; 1875, pp. civ-cvii, 797–883; 1876, pp. cxxiii-cxxv, 777-779; 1877, pp. cxxxi-cxlii, 583-585; 1878, pp. cxxi1, 599–600; 1879, pp. clvii-clviii, 618-619; 1880, pp. clxvi-clxvii, 738–741; 1881, pp. cci-cciv, 668–671; 1882–83, pp. clxxxv-clxxxviii, 694-699; 1883-84, pp. clxxxiii-clxxxiv, 724-737; 1884-85, pp. ccxxix-ccxxx, 691782; 1885-86, pp. 716-719; 1886-87, pp. 901-972; 1887-88, pp. 1031-1039; 1892-93, pp. 575-583, 691-1014; 1893-94, pp. 1503-1504; 1895-96, pp. 339–599. See also in each report statistics of libraries of schools and colleges. Refer also to index in each annual report from 1888-89 to 1895-96 for libraries in foreign countries. In special reports and circulars of information; 1876, Public Libraries in the United States of America, their history, condition, and management, Part I, edited by S. R. Warren and S. N. Clark, pp. xxxv, 1187; Rules for a printed Dictionary Catalogue, Part II, by C. A. Cutter, pp. 89; Circular of Information No. 1, 1880, College Libraries as Aids to Instruction, by Justin Winsor and Otis H. Robinson, pp. 27; Circular of Information No. 1, 1881, Construction of Library Buildings, by William Poole, pp. 26; 1881, Library Aids, by Samuel Green, pp. 10; 1886, Statistics of Public Libraries in the United States, pp. 98, reprinted from 1884-85 annual report; 1886, Special Report, New Orleans Exposition 1884-85, pp. 650-655; 1891, Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue, by Charles A. Cutter, pp. 140; third edition, with corrections and additions, reprinted from the 1876 special report; Circular of Information No. 7, 1893, Statistics of Public Libraries in the United States and Canada (in 1891), by Weston Flint, pp. 213; 1893, Catalogue of A. L. A. Library, 5,000 volumes, for a popular library, pp. 592; 1896, Papers prepared for the World's Library Congress, held at the Columbian Exposition, edited by Melvil Dewey, pp. 691-1014, reprinted from annual report 1892-93. The public library is recognized as one of the great forces in modern educational progress. For nearly thirty years the United States Bureau of Education has constantly emphasized the importance of these institutions as aids to instruction. In every annual report from 1867-68 to the present year has appeared information relating to college and school libraries, and periodically the Bureau has published detailed statistics of public libraries. The annual report for 1870 contained a list of 161 principal libraries not including college libraries. The report for 1872 contained a list of 1,080 libraries of 1,000 or more volumes. A special effort was made in 1875 to obtain a list of all the libraries in the United States having 300 volumes and over. The list as printed in the report for that year included 3,648 libraries, and of these, 2,039 had 1,000 or more volumes. This list was also published in the great special report issued by this office in 1876. That report was a volume of about 1,200 pages devoted to "Public Libraries in the United States of America, their 1 2631 1By Alex Summers, Statistician of the Bureau. 339 |