N. D. C. Hodges: By an act passed April 21, 1898, the privileges of the Public Library of Cincinnati were extended to all residents of Hamilton County. While the trustees did not derive any revenue from the taxpayers outside of the city limits until the beginning of 1899, steps were taken at once on the passage of the act to enable all the residents of the county to avail themselves of their new privileges. There has been some discussion in the public press as to whether this library or that might claim priority as a county library. The Public Library of Cincinnati has been loaning its books to all the residents of Hamilton County for more than three years. I believe there is no other library in the state of Ohio which had furnished books throughout a whole county before January of this year. This method of supplying books over a comparatively limited territory has interest when we are discussing the circulation of books over a whole state from the state capital.
For those who cannot, or will not, come to the central library, there have been established throughout the county forty-one delivery stations. Four of these are branch libraries. All these branch libraries had previously been village libraries with very respectable histories; started as subscription institutions they had in years past taken on a public character and were supported partially by taxation. There are several other local libraries in the county which are supported more or less by taxation and which are likely to come under the general management of the trustees of the Public Library of Cincinnati, as otherwise the taxpayers in the regions where they are located will be subject to double taxation for library purposes, and, moreover, there seems to be a consensus of opinion among those who are interested in the branches which have come under the wing of the central institution that they have found the change to their advantage.
Hamilton County is not a flat region. The old part of the city of Cincinnati is located on what might be called the river bottoms, though the land is, most of it, at a safe height above the river floods. Half a mile or a mile back from the river there are sharp rises of four hundred or five hundred feet to the hill tops, on which the newer portions of the city are built. Again, these hill tops are not tablelands but are cut here and there by deep gorges. The hilly character of the county adds to the difficulty of transportation. It is slow work for a wagon to climb the steep ascent from the old city to the suburbs. The library does not have its own service of wagons, but depends on the local expresses. There are portions of the county with which there is no regular system of communication by stage or express. It is in these regions, more or less inaccessible, though not uninhabited, that the authorities of the library have placed travelling libraries. Twelve of these travelling libraries were sent out in March of this year. In each library there are 62 or 63 books. New books were purchased for the purpose, books of a character likely to interest the readers, the new novels with a 40% sprinkling of the best classed literature. The travelling libraries were arranged in three circuits of four each. Each library containing 62 or 63 books, the four libraries in a circuit contain 250 volumes. The books in circuit A are the same as those in circuit B and as in circuit C. The libraries were placed with school teachers. Right here a difficulty has arisen on account of the closing of the schools for the summer. The country schools have rather long vacations. Some of the teachers are willing to care for their libraries during the summer and see that they are open to the patrons. Some are not in a position to undertake this work. For the summer months there has been a gathering of these 12 travelling libraries at less than 12 stations. The idea has been, in general, that one of these travelling libraries should remain about six months at a station before it is moved on.
The Public Library has also sent out 36 travelling libraries to the 36 fire companies of the city. Each of these smaller travelling libraries contains 20 volumes and they have been moved more rapidly than the larger travelling libraries sent to the remote parts of the county. The deliveries to the delivery stations vary. With some there is a daily delivery, with others triweekly, for a few twice a week and there are two which have but one delivery a week.
There are a good many women's clubs in Hamilton County, Ohio. Last winter we received programs from 37 of these clubs, and reading lists were prepared on these programs by the cataloging department. A club alcove was set aside and an attendant assigned to aid any of the members of the clubs visiting the library for study on the papers which were to be read. We have not attempted to send out selected lots of books for the clubs in the suburban districts. Much better work can be done for the readers if they will only come to the central library; and it cripples the resources of the library to scatter its reference books far and wide. We have sent such selected lots of books for limited periods to the university for the use of the students and professors, but, in general, for such reference work the policy has been to encourage the use of the central library.
This brings me to the consideration of whether there is any advantage in the system of county libraries. No very great expense is involved in a journey from the most remote corner of Hamilton County to the central library in the city. Those who are intent upon serious study can, in most cases, make a journey of 15 or 20 miles. At the central library with a concentration of financial resources there can but be a more valuable collection of books. On the other hand, it is perfectly feasible for the officers of the library to visit even the most remote portions of the county and by personal interview estimate the character of the people whom they have to serve; with the result of a more intelligent distribution of books in the outlying districts. Serious study is provided for at the central library, while desultory reading is supplied through the delivery stations and travelling libraries.
Dr. Steiner: It seems to me that it depends somewhat upon your unit of local government as to how much you need a county library. I should think in Massachusetts or Connecticut the county library would be rather an unfortunate enterprise, unless used in connection with the town libraries. But in many of the southern states the county library is going to be almost indispensable. With us the unit of local government is the county, except in the case of the incorporated municipality. There is a county in Maryland with 75,000 people without a single municipality. The county commissioners attend to the minutest details of administration in that county. It is manifestly unwise that the state should take all the functions of the local library. But it seems that in the states where we have no township system, or where the township system is little developed, the county library is at present a necessity.
Mr. Dewey: How do you support the schools?
Dr. Steiner: By a county tax. We have school districts; but their only function is to have district trustees, appointed by the county commissioners, whose duty it is to take care of the school house and appoint teachers. The taxes are raised by the county. It is the same in other southern states, so far as I know.
W. T. Porter: Mr. Hodges has said that the Public Library of Cincinnati was a county library. Possibly that was a little misnomer, in that the library still remains the Public Library of Cincinnati, but we have extended the privileges of that library to the county at large. That was done under act of legislature of 1898, continuing the board of trustees of the public library in office, and then authorizing that board of trustees to make a levy upon the county for the maintenance of the library.