not only to be made but to be constantly remade. It is fully believed that if means are provided the State Library can become one cornerstone of an adequate state educational system, that it can, in connection with the school, so organize the neglected field of adult education as to perform a real service both to the State and to its citizens.

Loans. There were 33,369 books lent from the general library to 2052 registered borrowers, including 1031 state employees, 625 special borrowers and 396 institutions. No record is kept of books used in the reading rooms.

Interlibrary loans. There can be no doubt that the idea of a central library is still somewhat unfamiliar to the library world, even in New York, the pioneer state in this field. It is, however, certain that with the development of the parcel post, the interlibrary loan service will grow into what may prove to be one of the Library's most important activities. Several facts militate against the development of this service, chiefly that our present collections are inadequate and in large measure unsuited to the purpose. It is hoped that means may be found to remedy this condition. The furnishing of information by mail is a natural complement of interlibrary loans. For this work the Library is now well equipped and the amount done is greater than in the old library. Requests for information were unusually frequent during the summer months, promising a large growth for the coming year in this very important field.

Periodical room. The Library receives currently 3445 periodicals, including newspapers, but excluding documents checked by the legislative reference section. The additions during the year were 259, distributed among the various subjects in which the Library specializes.

The reference work dealing with the back sets showed a very satisfactory improvement over the previous year, due to the gradual filling of gaps. The newspapers, numbering 87 dailies and weeklies (in frequent demand at any time) last year proved indispensable to our readers in following the progress of the present war, and also of great value to members of the Constitutional Convention in the prosecution of their duties. Observation shows an increase in the number of readers and also in the calls for reference material in preference to the popular magazine literature.

Limited appropriations make impossible the purchase and care of many hundred periodicals of the first importance. Although the

European War, by interrupting the publication of numerous expensive periodicals, liberated a considerable fund, it was impossible to keep up with even the important new publications in the fields of the Library's collections. This fact operates seriously to decrease the efficiency of the service.

Education collection. In addition to the regular work of the education section a few new lines have been taken up, including the indexing of valuable articles and useful items in educational periodicals not at present covered by any of the magazine indexes, and an index analysis of the latest reports of the education departments of the several states of the Union.

The clippings collection on education and allied topics has been classified and temporarily arranged. In addition to the clippings received regularly from the debate section, arrangement has been made to file current newspaper clippings, received from the clipping bureaus and not retained by the Education Department officials. This arrangement began in May and included an accumulation. dating from January 1915. These clippings are for the most part classified and temporarily filed.

The documents section completed the checking of the state and city education documents and these were arranged on the seventh level of the stack, except the current report of the states and largest cities, which are, for convenience, kept in the education alcove.

The use of the section by readers, the requests for assistance through correspondence, and the circulation of books all increased during the year. Many more demands on the section also came from the various divisions of the Education Department. While no statistics can be given to show the use of the section by readers in person, the following table of monthly circulation for the past two years indicates interesting growth. The total difference shows an increase of 451 volumes.

Textbook collection.

A textbook collection of about 10,000

volumes has been formed by adding to the large number of advanced and college texts already in the Library, elementary and secondary textbooks and a considerable number of related books on methods

of teaching, and various teachers' aids. These additions were acquired largely by gift from the publishers. An attempt was made to cover as adequately as possible the newer subjects, such as texts for manual training, agriculture, vocational work, industrial education, home economics, school games and dramatics.

The collection is at the service of teachers of the State. Its uses must be self-evident; that is, it would seem that all teachers should have a first-hand knowledge of the best textbooks in the subjects and grades they are teaching; again it is not always possible to say that one textbook is markedly better than others in the same subject; it may often be wise to use different textbooks for supplementary work; a comparative study of textbooks might lead to valuable suggestions as to methods of presentation of material; more advanced textbooks should be able to furnish teachers with more adequate knowledge of their subjects than would otherwise be possible.

It is hoped that teachers throughout the State will make frequent use of the collection and inform the Library of any methods by which its efficiency can be increased.

American local history and genealogy. Miss Katharine B. Judson was appointed sublibrarian in charge of the history collection, January 1, 1915, and Miss Elizabeth P. Robinson, previously in charge, was assigned to the main reference desk on that date. It seems fitting at this time to record the excellence of Miss Robinson's service in the difficult pioneer work of organizing the collection and initiating the public into the many mysteries of its use.

To make the contents of the chief genealogical periodicals more accessible, index cards have been made for family genealogies in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, beyond volume 38, where the printed index ends. The same needs to be done for the New England Register beyond 1908, unless the promised printed index appears shortly. An index should also be made, as opportunity offers, of coats of arms, as search for these now results in a serious loss of time.

Circulation of genealogies, generally speaking, has been discontinued, and the circulation of local histories is being more restricted. Duplicates of county histories and of the more important city histories should be added to the collection gradually, as they can be picked up, so that the State Library may give the utmost assistance both to state applicants who can not come to Albany, and to those who come from a distance to spend a day or two here among the history books.

Every effort is being made to render the collection more readily accessible to readers: the ends of the stacks have been labeled; lists of counties of the various states have been posted, which seem to be noted quickly and understood; for Connecticut and Massachusetts, lists of the towns, alphabetically arranged, showing the counties in which they are located, have been prepared and made readily available; for Connecticut, the divisions and redivisions of each town, with date of change, are given; for Massachusetts, only the date of incorporation of the town is given, but the list should be expanded into the same form as for Connecticut; other states will be similarly treated. This treatment answers the objection of those who prefer the alphabetic arrangement for New England towns.

Tentative plans have been made for a list of New York State. church records, including copies of gravestone inscriptions, whether or not in the State Library. A beginning has been made of listing titles in the Burhans collection in New York City, and in the Holland Society's collection.

"Suggestions for Genealogical Research," a 16 page pamphlet for beginners in genealogy, was printed during the year.

In cooperation with the order section, material bearing both directly and indirectly upon American pageants has been collected, and a bibliography prepared, including serviceable magazine articles.

Debate collection. Supplementing the main reference collection a special collection on current affairs is maintained to serve debating clubs, libraries, schools and colleges throughout the State. The collection consists largely of pamphlets, documents and magazine clippings, all of which furnish more recent information than books. The book collection, however, is varied and thoroughly supports the other material.

The Library is ready to offer suggestions and material for forming and organizing debating societies and clubs and also to furnish material on parliamentary law and the principles and practice of debating, and information needed for intelligent discussion of important public questions, such as agricultural credit, rights of neutral states, United States defenses, woman suffrage, military training in schools, compulsory military service, etc. New subjects are added as their discussion appears in newspapers and periodicals. The collection includes certain recent subjects which hardly admit. of debate, but are of enough general interest and importance to justify their presence in the clippings file.

In connection with its other work, the debate collection kept

during the year a portrait file consisting of photographs and reproductions of portraits of prominent men and women of the time.

For the year ending September 30, 1915, the circulation of debate material alone, including parcel post service, amounted to 4131 items, sent to libraries and schools in all parts of the State.

Exhibits. The chief exhibits. shown in the rotunda at the entrance to the reading room were the following:

A series of views of the bell towers of Belgium and Holland, including beautiful lithographic color prints of Belgian spires and towers. The larger part of the exhibit was loaned by Mr William Gorham Rice, who had collected it while preparing his book on the "Carillons of Belgium and Holland." Mr Rice's collection was supplemented by interesting old views, maps and prints from the Library's collections.

School architecture, an exhibit made in connection with the Albany meeting of the New York State Teachers Association. In this exhibit were a number of photostat prints which were made in the Library, an experiment in determining the value of the photostat for exhibit work and which indicated a considerable field for the instrument.

Books, manuscripts and pictures relating to Abraham Lincoln. These included a photograph, thought to be the only one in existence, of the second Emancipation proclamation, the original of which was destroyed in the Chicago fire; a series of interesting contemporary cartoons of Lincoln; a collection of biographies of Lincoln in foreign languages; a series of portraits of Lincoln; and many similar items from the Library's collection of Lincolniana. Material illustrating the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. This comprised contemporary and early histories of the War of 1812, material on the Battle of New Orleans, old engravings and broadsides connected with the war, and views of the old city of Ghent.

A sixteenth century plan of the city of Rouen. A series of heliogravure reproductions in color of drawings made in 1524-25, in connection with a survey of the city's water supply. The views, beautifully executed, are of special interest on account of a peculiar combination of projection and perspective.

A series of Civil War studies by Edwin Forbes, illustrating the daily life of the Union army.

Studies of American Indian life by Edward S. Curtis, being plates from his "North American Indian."

Original manuscript documents illustrating the constitutional history of the State. This exhibit comprised the originals of the