LIBRARY TREASURER’S REPORT

RECEIPTS

Cash on hand February 1, 1932: $ 109.68 Received from Town: 2,000.00 Currier fund: +   70.00   $ 2,179.68

EXPENDITURES

Margaret S. Noyes, salary as librarian $ 360.00 Margaret S. Noyes, cataloging 168.00 Walter S. Noyes, janitor 57.00 Edgar Warren, salary as treasurer 25.00 Paid for new books 575.21 Coal and wood 44.50 Electric lighting 56.11 Insurance on books 56.25 Albert Russell & Sons, cleaning tablets 17.93 Walter S. Noyes, mowing lawn 5.00 Labor, small jobs 24.43 Periodicals for reading room 71.70 Library cards 30.80 Card cabinet 61.50 Steel magazine rack 25.00 Noyes Lumber Company 2.03 Installation lavatory and toilet 143.01 Hampton Publishing Company 26.50 Membership Library Association 3.00 Letter files, stamps, expenses, cartage, etc. +      11.54 Total: -$ 1,764.51 Balance on hand: $ 415.17

EDGAR WARREN.

The treasurer's report has been examined, checked and approved by Sanford G. York, public account.

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REPORT OF LIBRARIAN

I am pleased to submit to you my first report as librarian of Hampton Public Library for the period beginning February 1, 1932 and ending Jan. 31, 1933.

I wish to express my appreciation to the State of New Hampshire for the courtesy extended to me in giving me the opportunity to attend the three weeks’ session of the Connecticut Summer Library School, held in July at New Haven, Conn. I have endeavored to give to the Library the greatest benefit of the instruction I received there. Mrs. Edgar C. Morse acted as substitute during my absence.

The open stack method appears to have met with the approval of the public. In addition to the card catalog of all the books in the library, there has been issued a pamphlet containing the accessions from November 1931 to January 1933.

Number of volumes added:   By purchase: 334 By gift: +  25 Total: 359

CIRCULATION ACCORDING TO CLASSES

Adult Fiction Adult Non-Fiction Juvenile Fiction Juvenile Non-Fiction Totals Feb. 906 123 124 45 1,198 Mar. 1,071 133 160 49 1,201 Apr. 893 86 173 49 1,201 May 514 78 151 56 799 June 608 61 190 50 909 July 1,092 145 224 41 1,502 Aug 1,043 124 246 41 1,454 Sept. 774 117 137 31 1,059 Oct. 898 128 204 55 1,285 Nov. 943 120 279 104 1,446 Dec. 994 146 258 83 1,481 Jan. 1,087 162 250 85 1,584 Totals: 10,823 1,423 2,396 689 15,331

Total circulation: 15,331 Magazine circulation: 432 Largest number in one day: 234 Smallest number in one day: 64

The reading room is well patronized, the new magazine rack is quite attractive and lends an air of orderliness to the room.

The list of periodicals at present is as follows: American Boy, Atlantic, Baseball, Better Homes and Gardens, Bird Lore, Congregationalist, Christian Century, Child Life, Current History, Delineator, Exeter News-Letter, Flower Grower, Forum, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s, Life, Literary Digest, Nation, National Geographic, Parents’ Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Radio Digest, Rural New Yorker, Scientific American, Travel, Hampton Union, Union Signal, New England Poultryman.

I have received for fines $66.15. Balance Feb. 1, 1932, $5.28. Total $71.43.. I have spent for necessary supplies $49.35, leaving a balance of $22.08.

Respectfully submitted, MARGARET S. NOYES, Librarian.

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REPORT OF TRUSTEES

For the first time in its history the library has received an adequate appropriation. In times past the library has been the “Little Orphan Annie” of the town’s departments, and has thankfully accepted what the voters were willing to hand out to it. The money at their disposal has enabled the trustees to make many improvements that were badly needed. Water has been introduced into the basement and excluded from coming in through the roof. A toilet and lavatory have been installed and a dry well dug for the waste water. The books have been catalogued, and now by referring to the cards in the cabinet any volume can be located instantly. The fourteenth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, twenty-four volumes, has been purchased, and the library is now equipped with this standard work of reference. Many of the books purchased have been what is called “resewed,” which adds greatly to their durability.

Should the town continue its present adequate appropriation, the trustees plan to substitue oil for coal and wood in heating the building. The cost should not be prohibitive. The present hot-air furnace will accommodate the oil- heating apparatus, and the expense for fuel will be no greater than at present. The advantages of oil over coal and wood are evident. No dust will come up through the floor to injure the books, as is unavoidable where coal is burned. There will be no unsightly piles of coal and wood in the basement, and the room can be used for the storage of books and pamphlets. Every library has in its collection many books that are in little demand. These consist of Government and State reports and documents of all kinds. These take up room that should be devoted to more popular reading. They can be removed to the basement, where they Will be accessible to anyone who wishes to consult them.

The insurance on the library building falls due this year and the premium on the policy will absorb $100 of our appropriation.

As the report of the librarian will show, the circulation of volumes has been nearly fifty per cent greater than in previous years. This is doubtless due to two things: 1. the depression, which gives people more time to read; 2. the introduction of open-stacks, which allows free access to the treasures of the library. Many and many a time have we heard patrons exclaim: “how glad I am to get this book! I didn’t know it was in the library.”

While the increased circulation of books is gratifying, there is another side. The more books are circulated the faster they wear out. Consequently, an appropriation that would be adequate where ten thousand books are circulated in a year would be totally inadequate when the circulation amounts to fifteen thousand.

During the year the library has received the gift of valuable books for the reference room from Mr. Elbridge Watson for which the trustees are grateful. Mrs. Lydia G. Lane remembered the library to the extent of $500 in her will, and the money has been received and loaned to the town at 3 1/2 per cent. We hope that the good example of Mrs. Lane will be followed, and that other public spirited citizens will remember the library. The greater our resources, the greater the service we can render to the community.

EDGAR WARREN, SARAH M. LANE, O. RAYMOND GARLAND.