CHAPTER I

LEGISLATION

=1. Municipal Libraries: Acts of Parliament.=--The principal Acts of Parliament under which British public municipal libraries are now constituted consist of the following:--

IRELAND

1855. “18 & 19 Vict., c. 40. An Act for further promoting the establishment of Free Public Libraries and Museums in Ireland.” (The principal Act.)

1877. “40 & 41 Vict., c. 15. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Act (Ireland), 1855.”

1894. “57 & 58 Vict., c. 38. An Act to amend the Public Libraries (Ireland) Acts.”

1902. “The Public Libraries (Ireland) Amendment Act.” Gives power to District Councils to adopt the Acts, and empowers County Councils to make grants in aid of libraries.

SCOTLAND

1887. “50 & 51 Vict., c. 42. An Act to amend and consolidate the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts.” (The principal Act.)

1894. “57 & 58 Vict., c. 20. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Consolidation (Scotland) Act, 1887.”

1899. “62 & 63 Vict., c. 5. An Act to amend the Public Libraries (Scotland) Acts.”

ENGLAND AND WALES

1892. “55 & 66 Vict., c. 53. An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to Public Libraries.” (The principal Act.)

1893. “56 Vict., c. 11. An Act to amend the Public Libraries Act, 1892.”

1898. “61 & 62 Vict., c. 53. An Act to provide for the Punishment of Offences in Libraries.”

1901. “1 Edw. 7. An Act to amend the Acts relating to Public Libraries, Museums and Gymnasiums, and to regulate the liability of managers of libraries to proceedings for libel.”

[NOTE.--This Act does _not_ deal with actions for libel. It was originally intended to do so, but the clauses were struck out of the bill, and the title escaped emendation.]

=2.= The whole of these are in force, and they repeal all the former Acts dating from 1850, while incorporating some of their provisions. In addition to these general Acts, a considerable number of local Acts have been passed on behalf of various towns, which include provisions for the modification of the general Acts, chiefly in regard to removing the limitation of the rate, and for other purposes. Such powers are usually contained in improvement or tramway Acts, and the principal towns which have obtained them include Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Halifax, Darwen, Sheffield, Cardiff, etc. Several towns, like Brighton, Huddersfield, Kingston-on-Thames, have also special Acts which confer the power of establishing libraries, independently of the general Acts, so that the public libraries of Britain are not constituted under one general law.

=3.= The Public Library Law is further modified or extended by various other statutes which were passed for different purposes, and the principal Acts of this kind are as follows:

“24 & 25 Vict., c. 97. An Act to consolidate and amend the Statute Law of England and Ireland relating to malicious injuries to property,” 1861.

This gives power to prosecute for misdemeanour any person who unlawfully and maliciously destroys or damages any book, manuscript, etc., in any public museum, gallery, cabinet or library.

“56 & 57 Vict., c. 73. An Act to make further provision for local government in England and Wales,” 1894.

Enables rural parishes to adopt the Public Libraries Act, 1892, by means of a parish meeting or poll of the voters in the parish.

“62 & 63 Vict., c. 14. An Act to make better provision for local government in London,” 1899.

Confers the power of adopting the Public Libraries Act, 1892, on the Metropolitan Borough Councils, by extending to them the provisions of the Public Libraries Act, 1893.

The remaining statutes which in any way deal with public or private libraries will be noticed in connexion with the departments of library administration, to which they specially refer, such as loans, rating, etc.

The only other Acts of Parliament which may in the future influence public libraries are the Education Acts passed since 1902. Under these Acts local Education Boards are empowered to “promote the general co-ordination of all forms of education,” and in many districts the education and library authorities are amalgamated for common purposes. It remains to be seen what further extensions will take place.

=4. Main Provisions of the Municipal Libraries Acts.=--A brief summary of the leading practical points of the various Acts will serve to give an idea of the powers which are conferred upon municipal authorities in regard to libraries:

(_a_) ADOPTION OF ACTS IN TOWNS.--The Acts may be adopted in any city, county borough, burgh or urban district by a resolution passed by the council, at a special meeting of which a month’s notice shall have been given, and the resolution must be advertised publicly in the usual way, and a copy sent to the Local Government Board, if the adoption is in England or Ireland; while a notice of the fact of adoption must also be sent.

(_b_) ADOPTION OF ACTS IN PARISHES.--In parishes in England and Scotland the Acts can only be adopted by a majority vote of the householders or voters.

(_c_) LIBRARY RATE.--A rate of one penny in the £ on the rateable value of an administrative area is the limit fixed by the Act, but power is given parishes to fix a smaller sum by a popular vote, and urban districts of all kinds to remove or fix any rate within the limit of one penny by resolution of the council.

(_d_) POWERS.--The Library Authority may provide public libraries, museums, schools for science, art galleries and schools for art, and for that purpose may purchase and hire land, and erect, take down, rebuild, alter, repair and extend buildings, and fit up, furnish and supply the same with all requisite furniture, fittings and conveniences. The Library Authority shall exercise the general management, regulation and control of every department established under the provisions of the Acts, and may provide books, newspapers, maps and specimens of art and science, and cause the same to be bound and repaired when necessary. Also appoint salaried officers and servants, and dismiss them, and make regulations for the safety and use of every library, museum, gallery and school under its control, and for admission of the public thereto. Power is also given to make agreements with other library authorities for the joint use of library or other buildings; and to borrow money, with the sanction of the central authorities, for the purpose of buying sites, erecting buildings and furnishing them. The Irish Act of 1877 also gives power to establish schools of music as part of a library scheme.

=5. Non-Municipal Libraries: Acts of Parliament.=--The legislation affecting the large number of British libraries which are not supported out of the rates is neither extensive nor satisfactory. The chief feature of most of the Acts of Parliament which have been passed seems to be the benevolent one of granting certain facilities to various kinds of landowners to divest themselves of their property in order to provide sites for literary and scientific institutions. There are similar clauses in the Public Libraries Acts, and, of course, most of the Acts named apply to municipal libraries; but in reality this kind of legislation is not particularly valuable. To make the transfer of land for public purposes more easy is quite laudable, but it has not yet had the effect of inducing landowners to part with free plots of land as building sites, either to public library authorities or literary institutions.

=6.= The principal Act bearing on literary and scientific institutions is entitled “An Act to afford greater facilities for the establishment of Institutions for the promotion of Literature and Science and the Fine Arts, and to provide for their better regulation,” 17 & 18 Vict., c. 112, 1854. This is nearly all taken up with provisions for transfers of lands and other property, and with a few regulations concerning members, rules, altering, extending or dissolving the institution, etc. This Act was afterwards to some extent modified by “An Act to facilitate the transfer of Schools for Science and Art to Local Authorities,” 54 & 55 Vict., c. 61, 1891. These, and the other Acts referred to, which deal with transfers of property, have had very little to do with the development of voluntary literary and scientific institutions or libraries; the principal statute under which most of them are now governed being an Act passed primarily for quite a different purpose. This is the “Act to amend the ‘Companies Act, 1862,’” 30 & 31 Vict., c. 131, 1867, under Section 23 of which power is given the Board of Trade to grant licences to literary and similar associations, providing for registration with limited liability, and conferring all the privileges attaching to limited companies. In connexion with this Act, and those of 1862 and 1877, the Board of Trade have issued a series of circulars and forms, which include draft rules, articles of association, etc. Under these licences a considerable number of British literary institutions have been established and organized.

=7. British Colonial Library Legislation= has proceeded very much on the lines adopted in the mother country, and in every case the permissive character of the Acts has been preserved, and, in most cases, the rate limitation. On the other hand, some effort has been made to keep in touch with schools and universities.

In =South Africa= a Government proclamation established the South African Public Library at Cape Town in 1818. This was further regulated by an ordinance passed in 1836, which gave the library the right to receive a free copy of every publication issued in CAPE COLONY. Other libraries in the large towns now receive grants from the Government, and a large number of smaller libraries also receive grants equal to the annual average amount raised by subscriptions and donations during the three preceding years; but in no case shall the amount of the Parliamentary grant exceed £150 for any one library in one year. No grants are made if less than £25 is raised by subscription. In return for the grant, reading-rooms and reference libraries are to be open free to the public, and an annual report has to be presented to the Government. In NATAL the same arrangement is made, though on a much smaller scale. In both colonies books are only lent for home reading to subscribers. In 1874 an Act was passed by the Legislature of Natal for regulating literary and other societies not legally incorporated.

In =Canada=, under a General Libraries Act of 1854, County Councils were authorized to establish four classes of libraries: (1) Ordinary common school libraries in each school-house for the use of children and ratepayers; (2) a general public library available to all ratepayers in the municipality; (3) professional libraries of books on teaching, etc., for teachers only; and (4) a library in any public institution under the control of a municipality. Arrangements were made whereby the Education Office sold books at low rates to the school libraries; and afterwards the Education Department of the Legislature gave annual grants, equal to the amounts contributed by members for book purchase, to mechanics’ institutes, etc., and subsequently increased such grants for books to $400 (£80) annually. The province of Ontario, in 1882, passed “An Act to provide for the Establishment of Free Libraries,” on lines very similar to the English Acts. Power is given any city, town or incorporated village to provide libraries, newsrooms, museums and branches, on the petition and with the consent of the qualified electors. The management is vested in a board chosen from the Town Council, citizens other than councillors, and the Public School Boards. The library rate is limited to an “annual rate not exceeding one half of a mill in the dollar upon the assessed value of all rateable, real and personal property.” This form of limitation is borrowed from the practice of the United States. About ninety places have adopted this Free Libraries Act in Ontario. In 1895 an Act was passed in Ontario to enable mechanics’ institutes to change their names and transfer their property to municipalities on condition that the libraries were made free to the public.

The =Australian= colonies have all passed separate laws, somewhat similar to those in force in other parts of the Empire, in regard to their adoption being left to local option, and rates being more or less limited. In 1870 VICTORIA passed an Act establishing the Library, Museum and National Art Gallery at Melbourne, and in 1885 “The Free Libraries Act” was passed. But, in 1890, these Acts were repealed by “An Act to consolidate the Laws relating to Libraries.” The Melbourne Public Library, which was established in 1853, is now wholly supported by Government, and it lends books to any municipality in the colony. In addition, the Government make grants from public funds to most of the mechanics’ institutions, athenæums and other literary societies in Victoria.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA has quite a body of library laws, dating from 1863, when the South Australian Institution was incorporated, but most of them have been repealed or incorporated in the two principal Acts regulating institutes and free libraries. By the various Acts passed in connexion with institutes or literary societies, grants in aid are made by Parliament on lines similar to those in force in the other colonies, while rules and regulations are made and power given to transfer such institutes to the municipalities. Public libraries are regulated by “An Act to establish Free Libraries in Corporate Towns and District Councils,” 1898, subsequently amended by an Act of 1902. This Act gives local authorities power, on the request and with the consent of the ratepayers, to adopt the Act, subject to the rate not exceeding 3d. in the £. Municipal libraries are also entitled to receive the same grants as are made to institutes.

In NEW SOUTH WALES public libraries may be established under the “Municipalities Act,” 1867. The Government makes grants for the purchase of books on a scale according to population, and other funds must be provided by the subscriptions of members. Schools of art are entitled to receive a Government grant in proportion to the amount of monetary support accorded by the public. In addition, the Sydney Public Library (established in 1869) is entirely supported by the Government, and it sends out carefully selected boxes of books to 128 institutes throughout New South Wales, the entire cost being defrayed by Parliament.

In WESTERN AUSTRALIA grants are made to institutes as in the other colonies, but there is no general Library Act in existence yet. In 1887 the Government established a Public Library at Perth, and contributes £3000 per annum for its maintenance. The only legislative enactment concerning libraries in Western Australia is an Act for establishing a Law and Parliamentary Library for the Legislature, which was passed in 1873 and amended in 1889.

QUEENSLAND passed an “Act to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Municipal Institutions, and to provide more effectually for local government,” 1878. This was extended by the “Divisional Boards Act” of 1887, and now Municipal Councils or Divisional Boards may make bye-laws for the establishment, maintenance and management of public libraries. Brisbane Free Public Library, the only library of importance opened under this Act, has an annual grant from the municipal funds varying from £800 to £1000. One hundred and forty schools of art throughout the colony also receive Government grants for library and other purposes to the extent of about 8s. 2d. for every pound subscribed by members.

TASMANIA has a model library law, which is worthy of adoption in every civilized country. It is contained in “An Act to amend the Law relating to Public Libraries,” passed in 1867. It is so short, and so much to the point, that the whole of it may be quoted. After a two-line preamble it declares that: “The Municipal Council of every municipality may, from time to time, apply such sum as it sees fit, out of the rates of such municipality, in and towards the formation and maintenance of Public Libraries within such municipality.” That is the whole Act, and it gives no indication of the grudging limitations which other countries inflict. The only blemish on this admirable statute is the fact that it is not compulsory. Most of the Tasmanian towns being small, only Hobart has put the library law into force, by appropriating a penny rate to the support of the Tasmanian Public Library (1849), which is also maintained by Government grants. The small libraries throughout Tasmania receive grants, on the usual conditions, from the Government.

The library law of NEW ZEALAND is based on a series of Acts, similar to those passed in this country for the regulation of municipal libraries and literary institutions. The principal Acts are: (1) “An Act to promote the establishment of Public Libraries,” 1869, giving power for the governing body of a city, village or district to adopt the Act with the consent of the ratepayers, and to levy a rate not exceeding 1d. in the £; (2) “An Act to confer powers on Public Libraries and Mechanics’ Institutes,” 1875--a series of rules for incorporation and management; (3) “An Act to promote the establishment and support of Public Libraries,” 1877. In this Act it is laid down that the grant for public libraries is to be apportioned among provincial districts, in proportion to the population of such districts, and that a subsidy equal to the amount of the library rate is to be paid to municipal libraries established under the Act of 1869. Free admission to reading-rooms is permitted, but no person to be allowed to borrow unless he contributes not less than 5s. per annum.

None of the =West Indian= dependencies have legislation relating to libraries, although grants are paid from Government funds towards the maintenance of libraries in different British possessions.

In =India= the Government subsidizes only libraries connected with the leading departments of State, such as law and parliamentary libraries for the use of legislators and the Councils forming the Indian Government. It cannot be said to redound to the credit of the Government that the only public library systems in India have been established in native States. The Gaekwar of Baroda has instituted such a system, which extends from the capital city to the smallest village, and his example has been followed by the native State of Indore.

The British colonial libraries are thus established and regulated on lines very similar to the municipal libraries of this country, and literary institutions of all kinds are incorporated and recognized in the same way as in the United Kingdom. There are numerous differences, however, in points of detail, because, although the permissive clauses are retained for municipal libraries in every case, in some cases, such as Tasmania and South Australia, the rate limit is either non-existent or greatly increased. Again, it is a universal provision in colonial administration for the Governments to assist all kinds of libraries, to the extent of contributing, within limits, as much money as is raised by the subscriptions of members or produced by a municipal library rate. Also, more attempt is made, especially in Canada, to embody the libraries as part of the national system of education, and in this respect our colonies are ahead of the mother country.

=8.= The Library Legislation of the =United States= is of very great importance, because of its variety, liberality and consistent aim to make libraries an essential part of the system of national education.

As Dr Thomas Bray was the first to procure library legislation in England, so was he the first to obtain a law of this kind in North America. He founded a library in South Carolina, which in 1700 formed the subject of an Act passed by the Legislative Assembly of South Carolina for its regulation and protection. In 1715 a similar law for the same purpose was passed by the Legislative Assembly of North Carolina. In subsequent years many laws were passed by different States for the incorporation and regulation of all kinds of social, subscription, mercantile and other libraries, much on the same lines as were found necessary in other countries, in order to give such associations legal standing and recognition. In some of the States laws have been enacted providing for the payment of an annual grant to proprietary libraries, on condition that they are made free to the general public for reference purposes. This plan of utilizing existing library facilities for the public benefit is common to both the United States and our own colonies, and there are many less effective ways of securing reading privileges at a comparatively cheap rate. It would add enormously to the educational resources of London, for example, if, in return for an annual Government grant, the general public could have access to the reading-rooms of some of the more important literary, scientific and artistic libraries, especially those which are rich in the current periodical literature of other countries.

In the “Report of the Commissioner of Education” for the United States, 1895-96, vol. i., there is a very elaborate account of the “Library Legislation in the United States,” to which reference must be made by those who want minute details of the laws of the different States of the Union. Here it is only possible to deal with the laws affecting school and municipal libraries, and to give typical examples of the legislation in each class.

In 1835 the New York State Legislature passed a law establishing libraries for the school districts of the State. These libraries were much extended and improved by later laws, and till 1853 they practically supplied the place of the public libraries. Other States established these school district libraries, open to scholars and all citizens, Massachusetts and Michigan following in 1837, Connecticut in 1839, Iowa and Rhode Island in 1840, and others at various dates down to 1876, when Colorado passed a similar law. The failure of this system in many places led to the first Town Library Law being passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1848, under which the City of Boston was authorized to establish a free public library and levy a tax of $5000, or £1000, for its support. This was the first State law passed in America, and in 1849 New Hampshire passed a general law for the whole State. Massachusetts next extended its library law from the City of Boston to the whole State in 1851, and Maine followed in 1854. The other northern States followed slowly, till now nearly all the States, save a few in the South and West, have laws enabling municipal libraries to be established. Previous to this, most of the States, as they became incorporated in the Union, established libraries for the use of the legislative councils in the capital towns of each State, and these State Libraries, as they are called, constitute a very important class of public library in the United States. The first actual municipal library opened in the United States was that of the town of Peterboro’, in New Hampshire, which in 1833 established and supported out of the local taxes a public library, which still exists. From this it appears that there was nothing either in the Federal or State law of the United States to prevent any town from supporting a library at the public expense if it saw fit. The principle of interference in local affairs by central authorities is, however, a thoroughly Anglo-Saxon convention or principle, and though the Federal Legislature in America does not impose local laws on the State authorities, these State legislatures impose the same restrictions upon local municipal authorities which are common throughout the British Empire.

The main provisions of the State Library Laws of America are:

(1) The adoption of the library laws of the State by any city or municipal council, with or without the petition or consent of the ratepayers. The practice differs in the various States, but it is permissive and not compulsory in every State.

(2) Power to levy a rate for the establishment and support of municipal libraries, varying from the fraction of a mill per dollar on the taxable value of the town to any sum the council may see fit to levy.

(3) Power to appoint trustees and do everything necessary for the equipment and efficient administration of the libraries.

It is important to note that in the United States the basis of taxation is entirely different from what it is in this country. Here rental, minus a certain deduction, is adopted as the unit from which to make up the rateable value of a town. In the United States the value of all property is taken, instead of mere rental, as the unit from which the rateable value is built up. If a house in England is worth £420, and rents at £36, it would be assessed at about £30, and the library rate would be levied upon the £30, producing 2s. 6d. In the United States the same house, plus contents, would pay rates on the £420, being the value of the property, but on a smaller poundage. One mill on the dollar is the thousandth part of 4s. 2d., or about one-twentieth of 1d. If, therefore, the library rate in an American town is 1 mill, or the twentieth of 1d., on the dollar, property valued at £420, or $2100, would pay a total library rate of about 8s. 6d. Other classes of property, such as live stock, crops, etc., are also taxed, so that in America the produce of even a comparatively small library rate is much greater than in a town the same size in England, and this fact should always be kept in mind when comparisons are being made between the library systems of the two countries.

There is one other point which should be mentioned as illustrative of the difference of the methods of the United Kingdom and the United States in regard to the adoption of the library laws by municipalities. In those States of America where a poll of the citizens is required before the libraries can be established, no special vote is taken, but instead, at the annual election of councillors, the voting papers bear the question: Are you in favour of a library being established at a tax of ---- mills on the dollar? Thus at one election the municipal council is returned to office, and their library policy dictated to them by the ratepayers. The liberal library laws of the United States have produced a great number of very large and magnificently equipped public libraries, which are administered by well-educated officers, who are paid adequate salaries for the work they accomplish. No other country in the world can show such a scheme of libraries closely in touch with all the other educational bodies and recognized by the State as part of the national system of education.

In one respect the library authorities in the United States have shown more wisdom than those of other countries, by establishing Boards of Library Commissioners charged with the responsibility of supervising the library work of the whole of a State. These Library Commissions are established in some of the States, but not in all, and are generally composed of five or six educational experts. They have power to advise in the establishment of local libraries in every respect as regards selection of books, cataloguing, etc., and may expend public money in the purchase of books for libraries in towns which do not possess municipal libraries. They are also authorized to pay for all clerical work required in connexion with the Board, to issue reports and collect statistics, and in some cases to organize travelling libraries. All these State Library Commissions issue handbooks, and those of New Jersey and Wisconsin will give some idea of the important work in co-ordinating the library forces of America now being accomplished by these Commissions.

=9.= No country in =Europe= has a library law like that in force in Britain and the United States, but a certain amount of recognition is accorded to public libraries by the State in most countries. Municipal libraries exist in France under State direction, but very few towns in other countries have done much to foster public libraries in their midst; but in recent years movements for the establishment of municipal libraries on British or American lines have been initiated in several European countries, and such libraries are now to be found in Norway, Holland and Germany. In some cases endowed or university or royal libraries are recognized or partly supported by the State or the municipal authorities, but so far no European nation has passed a general library law which gives communities direct control of the establishment, organization and support of public libraries by means of a tax or rate.

=10.= It is fitting to close this chapter with a brief reference to =future library legislation in Great Britain=. The most urgent and insistent need, without which further development is impossible, is to remove or raise the limitation of one penny in the pound on the library rate, which was fixed by the Act of 1855. Over forty places, including nearly all the large towns, have acquired extended rating powers by means of special local Acts, but such a course is practically prohibitive in the small towns, where relief is generally needed most. In view of the growth of the demand for branch libraries, technical and commercial departments, children’s reading-rooms, and for educational work in many directions--extensions certainly never contemplated by the original Acts--the penny limitation is an anachronism, which it was the business of Parliament to have removed long ago. Another anomaly which presses for remedy is that the County Councils, alone of all the related local government bodies, such as Borough and Urban District Councils, have no expressed power of adopting the Libraries Acts. The consequence has been detrimental to the establishment of village libraries. A Parish Council may adopt the Acts, and a few parishes have done so, but the yield of a penny rate in a parish is so small that in most cases it is impossible to meet even necessary administrative expenses, with nothing whatever left over for books and papers. It is not surprising in these circumstances that the rural population of the country is still deprived of the social and educational advantages of the public library. What is obviously indicated is a larger administrative authority, such as the County Council, which could group the parishes, pool the income from the rate, and administer from one centre a system of travelling libraries, combined with local stationary collections of books and the provision of suitable reading-rooms in the various districts. Such schemes have been initiated in about a dozen counties by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust in conjunction with the County Councils, but while the Scottish Education Act of 1918 gives County Education Authorities power to provide and maintain libraries, there is no mention of libraries in the English Education Act of 1918. These and other needed reforms in the library law are made in a Bill, now being promoted by the Library Association, which every well-wisher of the movement must hope will receive the sanction of the Legislature without further delay.

=11.= The solution of the problem may, indeed, come from another direction, as the present President of the Board of Education (Mr H. A. L. Fisher) indicated in an interview with a library deputation (April 1919) that the powers relating to public libraries then held by the Local Government Board were to be transferred to another department. The Board of Education was thus indicated, and it may be that new sources of support, means of co-ordination, and possibly periodical Government inspection of libraries, may flow from the transfer; but it is too early to speculate upon the matter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

=12. English Legislation:=

Chambers, G. F., and Fovargue, H. W. The Law Relating to Public Libraries and Museums, etc. 4th edition. 1899.

This is the principal work on the subject.

Fovargue, H. W. Summary of Library Law. N.D.

=13. Foreign and Colonial Legislation:=

_Canada._ Hardy, E. A. The Public Library. 1912.

_Colonies._ Society of Comparative Legislation. Legislation of the Empire, 1898-1907. 4 vols. 1909.

_France._ Pellisson, M. Les Bibliothèques à l’étranger et en France. 1906.

Richou, G. Traité de l’administration des bibliothèques publiques. 1885.

Robert, U. Recueil de lois, decrets, etc., concernant les bibliothèques publiques, etc. 1883.

_Germany._ Franke, J. Der Leihbetrieb der Öffentlichen Bibliotheken. 1905.

_United States._ Bureau of Education. Report of the Commissioner, 1895-6. Vol. i., chapter ix., Library Legislation in the U.S., pp. 523-599.

The fullest account.

Yust, W. F. Library Legislation. Preprint of American Library Association, Manual of Library Economy, chapter ix. 1911.

Annual reviews of the library legislation in the U.S. appear in the Library Jl.

For articles, see Cannons, pp. 90-96: LWK, Legislation, Library Commissions, pp. 241-245.