Perhaps the most remarkable library in India is that of the rājā of Tanjore, which dates from the end of the 16th or beginning of the 17th century, when Tanjore was under the rule of the Telugu Nāiks, who collected Sanskrit MSS. written in the Telugu character. In the 18th century the Mahrattas conquered the country, and since that date the library increased but slowly. By far the greater portion of the store was acquired by Sharabhojī Rājā during a visit to Benares in 1820-1830; his successor Sivajī added a few, but of inferior value. There are now about 18,000 MSS. written in Devanāgarī, Nandināgarī, Telugu, Kannada, Granthī, Malayālam, Bengalī, Panjābī or Kashmirī, and Uriya; 8000 are on palm leaves. Dr Burnell’s printed catalogue describes 12,375 articles.
The Royal Asiatic Society has branches with libraries attached in many of the large cities of India, the Straits Settlements, Ceylon, China, Japan, &c. At Rangoon in Burma there are several good libraries. The Raffles Library at Singapore was established as a proprietary institution in 1844, taken over by the government in 1874, and given legal status by an ordinance passed in 1878. It now contains about 35,000 vols. in general literature, but books relating to the Malayan peninsula and archipelago have been made a special feature, and since the acquisition of the collection of J. R. Logan in 1879 the library has become remarkably rich in this department. In Ceylon there is the Museum Library at Colombo (1877), which is maintained by the government, and there are many subscription and a few oriental libraries.
Canada.
The public libraries of the various provinces of Canada have grown rapidly in importance and activity, and, assisted as they are by government and municipal grants, they promise to rival those of the United States in generous equipment. Most of the library work in Canada is on the same lines as that of the United States, and there are no special points of difference worth mention. The library laws of the Dominion are embodied in a series of acts dating from 1854, by which much the same powers are conferred on local authorities as by the legislation of Britain and the United States. An important feature of the Canadian library law is the close association maintained between schools and libraries, and in some provinces the school libraries are established by the school and not the library laws. There is also an important extension of libraries to the rural districts, so that in every direction full provision is being made for the after-school education and recreation of the people.
The province of Ontario has a very large and widespread library system of which full particulars are given in the annual reports of the minister of education. The library portion has been printed separately, and with its illustrations and special articles forms quite a handbook of Canadian library practice. There are now 413 public libraries described as free and not free, and of these 131 free and 234 not free reported in 1909. The free libraries possessed 775,976 vols. and issued 2,421,049 vols. The not free libraries, most of which receive legislative or municipal grants, possessed 502,879 vols. and issued 650,826 vols. This makes a grand total of 1,278,855 vols. in municipal and assisted subscription libraries without counting the university and other libraries in the province. The most important other libraries in Ontario are—Queen’s University, Kingston (1841), 40,000 vols.; Library of Parliament, Ottawa, about 250,000 vols.; university of Ottawa, 35,000 vols.; Legislative Library of Ontario, Toronto, about 100,000 vols.; university of Toronto (1856), 50,000 vols. The Public (municipal) Library of Toronto has now over 152,000 vols.
In the province of Quebec, in addition to the state-aided libraries there are several large and important libraries, among which may be mentioned the Fraser Institute, Montreal, 40,000 vols.; McGill University, Montreal (1855), 125,000 vols., comprising many important collections; the Seminary of St Sulpice, Montreal, about 80,000 vols.; Laval University, Quebec, 125,000 vols.; and the library of the Legislature (1792), about 100,000 vols. In the western provinces several large public, government and college libraries have been formed, but none of them are as old and important as those in the eastern provinces.
In Nova Scotia there are now 279 cases of books circulating among the school libraries, containing about 40,000 vols., and in addition 2800 vols. were stocked for the use of rural school libraries. The rural school libraries of Nova Scotia are regulated by a special law, and a little handbook has been printed, somewhat similar to that published by the French educational authorities for the communale libraries. The Legislative Library at Halifax contains nearly 35,000 vols., and the Dalhousie University (1868), in the same town, contains about 20,000 vols. The Legislative Library of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, containing the Dodd Library, issues books for home use. The school law of New Brunswick provides for grants being made in aid of school libraries by the Board of Education equal to one half the amount raised by a district, and a series of rules has been published. The only other British libraries in America of much consequence are those in the West Indian Islands. The Institute of Jamaica, Kingston (1879) has about 15,000 vols.; the Trinidad Public Library (1841), recently revised and catalogued, 23,000 vols.; and there are a few small legislative and college libraries in addition.
Authorities.—For the history of British libraries see H. B. Adams, Public Libraries and Popular Education (Albany, N.Y., 1900); J. D. Brown, Guide to Librarianship (1909); G. F. Chambers and H. W. Fovargue, The Law relating to Public Libraries (4th ed., 1899); J. W. Clark, The Care of Books (1909); E. Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries (1859); T. Greenwood, Edward Edwards (1901) and Public Libraries (4th ed., revised, 1891); J. J. Ogle, The Free Library (1897); Maurice Pellisson, Les Bibliothèques populaires à l’etranger et en France (Paris, 1906); R. A. Rye, The Libraries of London (1910); E. A. Savage, The Story of Libraries and Book-Collectors (1909).
For library economy consult J. D. Brown, Manual of Library Economy (1907); F. J. Burgoyne, Library Construction, &c. (1897); A. L. Champneys, Public Libraries: a Treatise on their Design (1907); J. C. Dana, A Library Primer (Chicago, 1910); Arnim Graesel, Handbuch der Bibliothekslehre (Leipzig, 1902); Albert Maire, Manuel pratique du bibliothécaire (Paris, 1896). On the subject of classification consult J. D. Brown, Manual of Library Classification (1898) and Subject Classification (1906); C. A. Cutter, Expansive Classification (1891-1893) (not yet completed); M. Dewey, Decimal Classification (6th ed., 1899), and Institut International de Bibliographie: Classification bibliographique décimale (Brussels, 1905); E. C. Richardson, Classification: Theoretical and Practical (1901).