HATFIELD. The late Samuel Huntington Dickinson provided a memorial and library building, costing $14,500, for the town of Hatfield, which was dedicated May 30. HOPKINTON. A new public library building has just been completed in Hopkinton, the gift of natives and residents of the town. John Quincy Adams of Wheaton, Ill., gave $4,000; James A. Woolson of Cambridge, $2,500; the late N. P. Coburn of Newton, $2,500; Mrs. Anna M. Crooks, $1,400; Mrs. Sarah A. Crooks, $1,000; Mr. Alfred Hemenway of Watertown and Mr. Augustus N. Woolson, $500 each. It is built of Milford granite, with Nova Scotia buff stone trimmings. LEICESTER. Dr. Pliny Earle bequeathed $6,000 to the town of Leicester for a public library building. D. Meriam gave $5,000 and Mr. Lory S. Watson is to give $20,000 or more for the public library building which is soon to be built for the town of Leicester. Anna Eliza Partridge bequeathed $1,000 to the library. LEXINGTON. The will of the late George W. Robinson bequeaths $1,000 to the Cary public library of Lexington.

LITTLETON. The heirs of the late W. S. Houghton are to give a new library building to the town of Littleton.

MARSHFIELD. Mrs. Nancy S. Waterman of Marshfield bequeathed by her will $500 to the public library of that town.

NAHANT. The corner-stone of the public library building at Nahant was laid July 23, 1894. It will cost the town about $50,000. NEWBURYPORT. The late Rev. William O. Moseley of Newburyport

bequeathed $10,000 as a trust fund for the benefit of Lucy A. Muzzey, the sum, after her death, to go to the Newburyport public library.

NEW SALEM. The will of Mrs. Pamelia A. Butterfield of Orange bequeathed $500 for the purchase of books for the New Salem free public library, no works of fiction to be included. NORTHAMPTON. The Forbes Library at Northampton, which cost, exclusive of the land, $113,993, was dedicated October 23. NORTH ATTLEborough. The corner-stone of the Richards Memorial Library building at North Attleborough was laid June 16. NORTHBOROUGH. Mr. Cyrus Gale is to erect in the town of Northborough a public library building, to cost not less than $15,000, and to be called the "Gale Library building."

NORTH BROOKFIELD. The Haston free public library building at North Brookfield was dedicated September 20. It cost between $40,000 and $50,000.

ORANGE. The will of Mrs. Pamelia A. Butterfield bequeaths to the town of Orange a plot of land for a public library and $500 for books, on condition that the library shall be built within two years, and be known as the Butterfield Library.

PITTSFIELD. An interesting collection of one thousand volumes from the library of the late Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has been given to the Berkshire Athenæum by his son, Judge Holmes. SALEM. The Hon. J. B. F. Osgood has presented to the Salem public library $100 for the purchase of books for the reference library. The Essex Lodge of Odd Fellows has given its entire library of of 825 volumes to the public library.

SCITUATE. The Pierce Memorial Library building at North Scituate, erected by Mr. Silas Pierce as a memorial to his wife, was dedicated May 26.

SHIRLEY. The Hazen Memorial Library at Shirley, costing $5,500, of which $3,000 was bequeathed by the late Mrs. E. D. Hazen, was dedicated April 25.

SOUTHWICK. A new building has been erected for the public library of Southwick.

STERLING. The public library of Sterling has come into the possession of a bequest from the will of the late Rev. Josiah K. Waite of Boston, amounting to $3,000.

STURBRIDGE. The late George B. Hyde, a widely known schoolmaster in Boston, bequeathed $20,000 to the free public library of his native town of Sturbridge.

TOWNSEND. The new town and memorial hall in Townsend, which contains ample accommodations for the public library, was dedicated July 11.

UXBRIDGE. The Thayer Memorial Library at Uxbridge was dedicated June 20. It is the gift of Mr. E. C. Thayer. It cost $26,500, and Mr. Thayer has also given $5,000 for a book fund.

WALPOLE. The late Hon. Francis W. Bird gave $5,000 to the Walpole public library.

WALTHAM. The late Francis Buttrick bequeathed $60,000 to the city of Waltham for a library building.

WILLIAMSBURG. Mr. Stephen Meekins left by his will the sum of $15,000 for the erection of a stone library building in Williamsburg, and the main portion of the residue of his estate is to constitute a fund for the purchase of books for the library.

LOANING REFERENCE BOOKS TO SMALL LIBRARIES.

It has occurred to the commission that there may be persons in the towns to which it has supplied libraries who wish to pursue inquiries which they are discouraged in making because needed books are not readily accessible.

Reference is not made to the wants of profound students who are making minute investigations, but to the occasional

needs of every-day inquirers, such as teachers and persons of an investigating turn of mind, who have gone through the public schools and belong to literary, historical or scientific clubs or are disposed to engage in private study, either in the line of their industrial or professional occupations or for purposes of general or special cultivation.

Some of the libraries of the Commonwealth are generously lending books to students within the State and at a distance, notably Harvard College library, the Boston Athenæum and the free public library of Worcester. Some of the principal college, city and other libraries in different States and especially the library of the Surgeon-General's office at Washington, are extensively engaged in aiding investigators by lending books to them even when they live in towns at long distances. from the libraries. Such loans are generally made by a librarian through other libraries rather than to individuals, the borrowing libraries making themselves responsible for losses and injuries to books and for the cost of expressage or fees of registering packages at the post office.

The Society for the Encouragement of Studies at Home among Women has a reference library from which it lends. valuable books to students who are pursuing courses of study under its auspices, many of them living in States distant from its headquarters in Boston.

The commission thinks it desirable to try the experiment, in a very humble way, of engaging in similar work.

When teachers or other persons in the towns to which it has supplied libraries wish to pursue some study, as, for example, botany, zoology or history, American or foreign, or a division of a subject, it invites them to make their wants known by communicating with the chairman of the commission at the State Library, in the State House, Boston, and he will himself, or through other members of the commission, try to furnish the books needed in supplying such reasonable wants.

The commission may buy some books in doing this work. It is not intended, however, to buy a library of reference books at the start, if at any time. The commission does not wish to try to anticipate needs, but to supply needs which it finds existing through applications for information made to it. It merely invites persons in towns to which it has supplied

libraries, who wish to pursue popular investigations, to make their wants known to the officers of the libraries in the towns in which they live. These officers will then decide whether to apply to the chairman of the commission for the desired books (or for books on the subject in which there is an interest). If the library makes such an application, it will make itself responsible for losses and injuries.

The commission, on the receipt of applications, will use the various facilities which it can command in meeting the wishes of the libraries which ask for aid.

Should books in some cases be bought by the commission, they would be kept, under present arrangements, at the State House, and would form the nucleus of a reference library, under the control of the commission, collected for the purpose of answering questions which had been actually asked and which presumably would be asked again, and perhaps frequently. It is an experiment which the commission is trying. It wishes to test the wants of the towns specified.

TOWNS WITHOUT LIBRARIES.

The thirty-two towns that are still without libraries are distributed throughout the counties as follows:

The aggregate population of these towns, according to the census of 1890, was 47,470, about two and one-seventh per cent. of the entire population of the Commonwealth.

Twenty-four of these towns have a population of less than two thousand each and ten of less than one thousand. Twenty showed a decline in population at the last census.

The libraries that have been established by the commission have been appreciated by the communities in which they were placed and especially serviceable to the public schools; several of them have been already provided through private generosity with tasteful and commodious buildings, and in almost all cases the towns have with great unanimity devoted a much larger sum of money for their maintenance than the minimum requirement of the law. Our libraries are in a healthy condition. The selection of books made by the local trustees gives evidence of careful and discriminating judgment; methods which combine simplicity of administration with easy facility for the use of the books generally prevail.

C. B. TILLINGHAST,

Chairman,

HENRY S. NOURSE,

Secretary pro tem.,

SAMUEL SWETT GREEN,

ELIZABETH P. SOHIER,

ANNA E. TICKNOR,

Commissioners.