Report of Reference Division. MRS. KATE PLEASANTS MINOR, Reference Librarian. The work of this department of the library shows a gratifying development in every detail ́except one-the number of books purchased. The accessions for the year number 6,979 as against 3,532 for last year. The gift of the library of Mr. John Dunlop, numbering 2,971 volumes, is responsible for this increase in part, but the remaining 4,008 volumes were all acquired by gift or exchange except 222 which were purchased. The system of fines has resulted in the very small amount of $94.92 added to the funds of the library, but the borrowers have learned that carelessness about returning books involves a penalty, and the promptness with which they are now generally returned enables each book to serve a larger number of readers and has added materially to the efficiency of the library. The authorities in charge of "rural week" at the University of Virginia decided to give a day to the consideration of libraries, and the reference librarian was sent to represent the State Library, and to speak to the conference of teachers gathered there on the relation of the library to the school. This address was printed in the University Alumni Bulletin. Besides the regular duties at the desk there have been numerous jobs which have been accomplished at odd moments, the most important being the collating of the bound volumes of newspapers. These truly valuable records date from the days when Williamsburg was the colonial capital, and, the Virginia Gazette the only newspaper of the colony, through the stormy days of the first Revolu tion and again through the more trying times of the second Revolution of 1861-65, down to the present time. There are unfortunate gaps in this record, and few accessions to the library could be so valuable as the newspapers necessary to the filling of them. As a first step in this direction the careful collation of the material actually in our possession is essential, and this has been undertaken by the reference department of the library, and the result is now nearly ready for publication. When the bulletin containing the list of what we have is issued, it will serve as a valuable guide to students in colleges and to libraries outside of Virginia, and may prove the means of attracting gifts, or at least of enabling the library to discover missing issues of the newspapers listed. ATTENDANCE. The subjoined tables show the number of visitors to the library, the number of books served, and the increase in each case over the figures for the preceding year, but the figures fail to show in any satisfactory way the important service which the library renders to an ever increasing body of students. The summer months, when the numbers are insignificant, are perhaps the months in which the library does its most valuable work. Men who are busy in college or university take this time for the preparation of their dissertations, and the resources of the library are placed at the disposal of such students so freely as to make a record of the books used impossible. They have the freedom of the stacks and willing aid of every employee of the library from the Librarian himself down to the janitors. This service can only be mentioned in general terms, but its value is substantial. The crowded condition of the stacks makes free access to the shelves imprac ticable, but the shelves in the reference room are being used to their fullest capacity to display such books as are most in demand. These the readers are free to use as they like and no record is kept—a fact which further lowers the numbers given in the tables of statistics, yet materially increases the usefulness of the library to the public. BOOKS FOR ELIND. The number of books for the blind has had so small an addition within the past year that the readers, who are a fairly constant quantity, have about exhausted the list, and there has been a falling off in the number of books served (only ninety-three in the year), though an appeal comes from many for new books. The knowledge that there was nothing new to offer has made it difficult to push this work, and the result is discouraging. The expenditure of some regular amount on this department of the library would add much to its usefulness, not only in Virginia, but also throughout the South. The library has never done such good work as in the past year; the reference department has tried to keep abreast of the others. ACCESSIONS. AARONSON, AARON. Agricultural & botanical explorations in Palestine. 1910. ABBE, CLEVELAND. Mechanics of the earth's atmosphere. 1910. Relations between climates and crops. 1905. ABEL, M. H. Care of food in the home. 1909. ADAMS, C. K., & TRENT, WM. A History of the United States. c1909. AKERMAN, ALFRED. Forest thinning, 1905. Presented by E. C. Massie. Forestry in Massachusetts. 1905. ALABAMA. Dept. of education. Report. 1903-04, & 1905-06. University. Catalogue. 1910. ALABAMA ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Handbook. 1910. ALABAMA CONFERENCE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Handbook. 1910. 15 v. ALDERMAN, E. A., & OTHERS. Library of Southern literature. ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE. July-Dec., 1909. ALLEN, J. A. History of North American pinnipeds. 1880. ALVORD, CLARENCE W. Kaskaskia records, 1778-1790. 1909. ALWOOD, W. B. Enological studies. 1909. 1909, 1910. AMBLER, C. H. Sectionalism in Virginia from 1776 to 1861. 1910. 2 copies. AMERICAN AGRICULTURAL COLLEGES. Proceedings of 23d annual convention. 1910. AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST. v. 10, 11. 1908, 1909. AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. Proceedings. 1908. v. 20. pt. 1. 1909. v. 20. pt. 2. 1910. Handbook of information. 1909. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR LABOR LEGISLATION. Third annual meeting. 1910. First national conference on industrial diseases. 1910. AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF FARMERS INSTITUTE WORKERS. Proceedings. 1909. AMERICAN BANKERS' ASSOCIATION. Proceedings. 1910. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION. Report. 1908, 1909. AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL REVIEW. v. 30. Oct., '08-Sep., 1909. AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION. Report, 1906. 1908. 2 v. Report, 1907. 1908. 2 v. Report, 1908. 1909. Report, 1908. pt. 2. 1909. Study of history in the elementary schools. 1910. Presented by H. R. MeIlwaine. AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW. v. 14. Oct., '08-July, '09. AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS. Annual. 1910. Proceedings of 43d convention. 1909. Relations of railways to city development. 1909. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY. v. 14, 15. July, 1908-May, 1910. AMERICAN MACHINIST. v. 32. 1909. AMERICAN MONTHLY MAGAZINE. v. 1-31, 34, 35. 1892-1909. AMERICAN NATURALIST. v. 43. 1909. AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION. Proceedings. 1909. AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW. v. 3. 1909. AMERICAN PRINTING HOUSE FOR THE BLIND. Report. 1910. AMERICAN REPUBLICS BUREAU. Bulletin. v. 25-28. 1907-1909. 1908. 2 v. Boletin. Julio-Diciembre. AMERICAN REVIEW OF REVIEWS. v. 39, 40, 41. 1909, 1910 AMERICAN STAGE OF TODAY. 1910. AMERICAN TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE COMPANY. Report. 1910. AMHERST COLLEGE. Catalogue. 1910. ANDERSON, ARCHER. Robert Edward Lee; an address. 1890. ANDERSON, J. F. Presence of tubercle bacilli. 1909. ANDREWS, C. M., & DAVENPORT, F. G. Guide to ms. materials for a history of the ANDREWS, E. F. Seven great battles of the Army of Northern Virginia. 1906. The war-time journal of a Georgia girl. 1908. ANNALS OF AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POL. & SOC. SCIENCE. ANNUAL AMERICAN CATALOGUE, 1909. 1910. v. 34, 35. 1909, 1919. ANTI-IMPERIALIST LEAGUE. Report, 11th annual meeting. 1909. ARCHITECTS & BUILDERS MAGAZINE. v. 10. 1908-9. ARKANSAS. Supt. of public instruction. Report. 1902, 1906. ARKANSAS BANKERS' ASSOCIATION. Transactions, 19th annual convention, 1909. ARNOLD, RALPH. Paleontology of Coalinga district, California. 1909. & ANDERSON, R. Geology of the Santa Maria oil district. 1907. & JOHNSON, H. R. Report on McKittrick-Sunset oil region, California. 1919. & OTHERS. Geology of the Coalinga district, California. 1910. 1910. Proceedings, 1909. 1910. ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTS. ATHENAEUM. Jan., 1909-June, 1910. ATKINSON, T. R. Shoe & leather trade in N. Dakota. 1909. ATLANTA. Carnegie Library. Report, 1909. 1910. ATLANTIC MONTHLY. v. 103-105. Jan., 1909-June, 1910. |