Chapter XIII: Section 3: of the By-laws to include representation of state, (1)

territorial and provincial library associations in the Council and
the conditions of such membership.

The Committee further suggests that the By-laws be amended to
provide that the privileges and advantages of the A. L. A.
conferences shall be available only to those holding personal, or
representing institutional, membership in the association.

Voted that this report be adopted.

The Committee appointed to consider the government of American libraries and their relation to the municipal authorities, presented a report through the chairman, Dr. A. E. Bostwick, upon which it was voted that the report be recommitted to Committee for consideration as to minor changes and further report.

On motion it was voted that the Committee be continued and that membership be increased to five. The president named M. S. Dudgeon and Adam Strohm as additional members.

Adjourned, subject to call of the chair.

=Second Meeting=

At the second meeting, held June 29th, 24 members were present. Vice-President Legler presided at the request of President Elmendorf, who was present.

Dr. Andrews, as a member of the Committee on conditions governing affiliation of other than local, state and provincial associations, reported orally, recommending that a by-law be framed to include as one feature that a membership fee of $25.00 a year be assessed on such affiliated organizations, stating that three at least of the already affiliated organizations had expressed their willingness to such fee, and that the remaining association has been received on condition that it accept such terms of affiliation as might be determined by the A. L. A.

On motion of Mr. Bowker it was voted that the report be received and that the Committee be continued but that at the request of Dr. Putnam he be relieved and Mr. J. I. Wyer, Jr., be appointed as a member of the Committee.

At this meeting Council elected the following persons as members of the council for a term of five years each: Josephine A. Rathbone, Mrs. Percival Sneed, Mrs. Harriet P. Sawyer, M. S. Dudgeon and W. O. Carson.

The report of the Committee on government of American libraries, Dr. Bostwick, chairman, which was presented at a previous meeting and recommitted to the Committee for certain minor changes, was again presented and it was voted that the report as amended be received and the resolution adopted. The report, including the resolution referred to, is as follows:

=Report of Committee on Relation of the Library to the Municipality=

To the American Library Association:

Your special committee to whom was referred the matter of drafting a report on what the association regards as fundamental in the relation of the public library to the municipality, submits herewith its report. This whole subject is of such great importance that your committee believes it should receive further consideration, especially if it is desired that there should be submitted the draft of what may be termed a model library article, chapter, or title in a city charter, particularly a charter in a state operating under a so-called home rule law, whereby each city may make its own charter within the limitations fixed by the state constitution and a general state law.

Your committee believes that the association is practically unanimous in its conviction that the public library should be regarded as a part of the educational machinery of the community, and that the functions of the educational organization are generally separate and distinct from those of the local government organization. In the very nature of things it is therefore impossible for the public library to get the kind of administration it deserves when it is administrated as a part of the city's system of parks, or under the supervision of its board of public works. It may be stated that in some of our states the state constitution recognizes this distinction by providing for two corporations with the same geographical boundaries, the one dealing with the questions of local government and the other with education,--the public schools. This constitutional distinction is based on the principle that education is a matter of state concern, that the interests of the state in education are paramount, and therefore that the state should exercise greater control in educational affairs than in local government affairs. In line with this thought, your committee submits the following resolution, which it recommends to the association for adoption at this time:

RESOLVED: That the American Library Association calls the
attention of municipal governments, and of public bodies
engaged in the preparation of new or amended charters for such
governments, to the necessity for securing independence of action
of the public library as an educational agency co-ordinate with
the schools. Radical changes in forms of municipal government have
sometimes left the library's position insecure or doubtful, and
charters providing the so-called "commission form" of government
have in particular often failed to define adequately the position
of public libraries and their governing boards. Where there is
classification of municipal functions, this association feels
very strongly that the public library should be grouped with
educative agencies such as the public schools rather than with
departments that have little or nothing to do with its work. While
it is desirable to keep the control of the library in independent
hands and not to place it and the schools under the same direct
management, we believe that a city charter should contain no
provision grouping the library otherwise than with educative
agencies.

If the foregoing resolution is adopted, we recommend that a committee be appointed to study this subject further and to submit the draft of what might be termed a library chapter for a city charter.

For the purpose of discussion and to clarify the thought of the association on this subject your committee submits the following tentative points which it believes should be considered for such proposed model library chapter.

First, the charter should provide for a library board which should have power to administer and control the public library of the city, and at the same time administer all libraries municipally owned in the city. This would include the municipal legislative reference library in the city hall, libraries in public schools, high schools, and possibly such others as libraries in municipal art galleries, museums, etc. This board should consist of not less than five or more than nine members, excluding ex-officio members, the number of which should not exceed one half of the appointive or elected members. A sufficiently small proportion of the board should be elected or appointed each year to make its membership fairly continuous so that it may develop a constructive policy, something that is impossible where the membership is likely to change materially at brief intervals. In no case should the terms of more than half of the members expire at one time.

In our smaller cities or towns it would seem advisable to consider whether the municipal art gallery and museum should be administered by the same board which administers the library. It has been suggested that in such places it would be possible to carry on this work with very much less expense under one management than under several managements, and experience apparently demonstrates that having the library, art gallery, and museum interests in the city in the same building, or in a group of related buildings, adds immensely to the public service of each at a minimum expenditure of money. In other words, having all these interests under one roof or in buildings closely adjoining each other makes it possible for each institution to strengthen the other, and at the same time makes it possible for the best coöperation and coördination; and furthermore many more people will use each of these institutions when they are together than when they are widely separated. In larger cities where it may seem desirable to have the art and museum interests under separate boards the charter should provide for official (ex-officio) representatives of each of these institutions on the boards of the others as well as with the board of education of the city, so as to insure the greatest amount of coöperation and coördination. It is the conviction of this committee that the educational interests of the community in many of our cities today should be coördination to a greater extent than they are now, not only for the purpose of eliminating duplication of work and effort but also for the mutual strengthening of the work and effort of each.

In many small cities and some larger ones it has been the practice for the public library to be managed by the board of education. The disadvantage of this, however, is that the library interests are usually turned over to a committee and that the membership of this committee is likely to change from year to year, so that there is no constructive policy; and where there is no constructive policy the interests in the library on the part of other members of the board is likely to be small. However, many of the difficulties with the management of a public library by a board of education have frequently grown out of the method of appointment or election of the school board. If the school board is in politics and therefore more or less partisan, the library is apt to suffer by this arrangement even more than the schools themselves. Possibly, where public opinion is sufficiently alive to the value and importance of education a single board might manage all the educational interests of a city, just as the board of regents of one of our large state universities administers its varied activities.

Another point to be considered is whether the library board should be elected by the citizens at large, or appointed by the mayor or selected by the board of education. Election by the citizens of members to such a board should be absolutely non-partisan. Women should have the right to vote and should be eligible to the board. The board should have power to fill vacancies which may occur by death or resignation, until the next general election, in case the board is elected by the citizens at large. Of course, if the members are elected by the board of education, vacancies could be filled at any time by that board, and if they are appointed by the mayor he could fill a vacancy.

Your committee believes that it is unwise for a public library to be governed by a board which elects its own members, or a majority of its own members: in other words, a "close corporation" is not the form of governing board that is best for a library belonging to all the people of the community. This would not apply where cities make a terminable contract with an existing institution. It is generally unwise for the corporate name of a municipal public library to bear the name of an individual. It should bear the name of the city, and the charter should fix its name.

The charter should provide for the organization of the library board by the election of a president and vice-president, with the city treasurer as the ex-officio treasurer of the board and the city comptroller as the auditor of the board's accounts. It should also provide for a secretary or clerk, who should be an employee of the board rather than a member of the board, and it is highly desirable that this officer should be the librarian. In any case his powers should not conflict with those of the librarian.

The charter should give the library board full power to hold trust funds which may be placed in its hands, to administer the same, and to accept and to hold gifts of real and personal property for the general purposes for which the board was created. The charter should provide, if the state law does not do so, that the library should not receive less than a minimum fund for its maintenance, based on the assessed valuation of the city. It ought never to be possible for a council so to cut a library's budget that it is necessary to close branch libraries or abandon established work for a year or more, thereby cutting off for the time being all normal growth and sometimes crippling the library so that it takes years to recover. This has happened in more than one American city. The whole idea of a minimum tax for the maintenance of a library is in line with the thought expressed in many of our state constitutions: namely, that the educational interests of the community are paramount.

The library board should have full legal rights for defense in the courts, etc. The charter should provide that the chief law officer of the city should be its legal representative.

The library board should be given the power to render library service by contract to communities outside of the city limits, such as towns, townships, or counties. In short, it should be given liberal powers for extending its usefulness into similar or related unoccupied fields.

The library board should be given absolute power and responsibility over its employees, their appointment, promotion, salaries, removal, etc., within the general limitations of the charter. It should provide that all employment should be given on the basis of merit alone, but that a civil service system should not be imposed upon it from the outside any more than a municipal civil service should be imposed upon a board of education in the employment of teachers in the public schools. Your committee has yet to learn of a single American city where a municipal civil service commission, which deals mainly with the employment of clerks in offices, policemen, firemen, etc., has been able satisfactorily to select or promote employees for educational work.

The library board should also have power to draft and enforce regulations governing the reasonable use of the library under the general limitations of the city charter or state law.

And, finally, the charter should provide that the library board should submit annually to the mayor or the legislative or tax levying body of the city a report of its receipts and expenditures together with a general account of its work and trusts.

As stated above, your committee offers all of this to serve as a basis for discussion if it is desired that a model library section for a charter should be drafted.

All of which is,

Respectfully submitted,

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Chairman,
JUDSON T. JENNINGS,
SAMUEL H. RANCK.

The Committee on ventilation and lighting of library buildings, Samuel H. Ranck, chairman, made a verbal report of progress, stating that a lengthy written report covering the investigations and results of correspondence had been prepared. The Committee stated that certain commercial companies proposed to make experiments along the lines of the Committee's investigation and it was taken by consent that the Council express its gratification that these experiments are to be undertaken by the respective companies and that the results will be watched with interest. On motion of Dr. Steiner it was voted that the report be accepted as a report of progress and Committee continued.

Mr. Charles S. Greene informed Council that the California library association had unanimously passed a resolution to invite the A. L. A. to meet in California in 1915. The statement was received as information and ordered transmitted to the Executive board.

Adjourned, subject to call of the chair.

The PRESIDENT: You have heard the reports. If there is no objection they will be received, but there are certain recommendations incorporated in them that need action. Will the secretary please read once more the recommendations from the report of the Executive board?

The secretary read again the proposed amendment to Section 14 of the Constitution.

The PRESIDENT: What is your pleasure? It should be remembered that this amendment to the Constitution will require an affirmative vote for two successive sessions of the association.

On motion of Mr. Samuel H. Ranck, duly seconded, the amendment received an affirmative vote.

The secretary read again the proposed Section 11 of the By-laws, recommended by the Council, and on motion of Dr. Bostwick, seconded by Dr. Andrews, this amendment to the By-laws was adopted.

The secretary here read again the resolution incorporated in the report of the Committee on government of American libraries and their relation to the municipal authorities.

Dr. BOSTWICK: Madam President, in moving the adoption of this resolution, I would suggest that opportunity be given for its discussion by the association.

Mr. RANCK: I second the motion for the adoption of that resolution, Madam President.

The resolution was adopted.

The PRESIDENT: Here is a matter of news from the outside world. The bulletins have announced that Governor Woodrow Wilson has been nominated on the forty-sixth ballot by acclamation. I think this is the first time that a woman ever made that kind of an announcement.

There is a matter of business from the Public documents committee, on which we should like to hear from Mr. Godard.

Mr. GODARD: This resolution which comes from the Committee on public documents, comes before you in a little irregular manner, because the government documents round table was not held until yesterday afternoon, and there has been no meeting of the Council since, and will not be to the end of the conference; but the purpose of the resolution is simply to convey to the Congressional committee on printing, at Washington, the thanks of this association for the efforts that committee has made to embody in the bill which has been passed by the Senate the several recommendations made from time to time during the seven years' existence of the committee, relating to the printing, binding and distribution of documents. The bill as a whole has met with the approval of the various librarians, as manifested at the government documents round table yesterday afternoon. While some minor suggestions were made, it was thought best that these suggestions should go to the committee in the form of suggestions rather than be embodied in the resolutions.

If in order, I should be pleased to read the resolutions.

WHEREAS the Congressional Committee on printing, appointed
under an Act passed March 3, 1905, has after seven years of
investigations and hearings, formulated and presented to Congress
a new bill relating to public printing, binding and distribution
of government publications, which embodies so many of the
suggestions and recommendations upon these subjects, made from
time to time by this association and its several committees,

RESOLVED, that we, the members of the American Library
Association, assembled at our Thirty-fourth Annual Conference
at Ottawa, Canada, June 26th to July 2nd, 1912, express our
appreciation to the Senate and House Committees on Printing, and
to the Superintendent of Documents, for the uniform courtesy
and careful consideration extended, and the hope that the Bill
(S 4339) may be enacted into law substantially as passed by the
Senate.

The PRESIDENT: You have heard the resolution as presented from the public documents committee. What is your pleasure?

Dr. ANDREWS: I hope the association will by three-fourths vote approve this resolution. I can testify that Mr. Godard did not understate the approval which the draft of the bill met with at the government documents round table.

The resolution was adopted unanimously.

The PRESIDENT: The next business in order is the report of the Resolutions committee, of which Dr. Thwaites is chairman. I want to say just one word before those formal resolutions are read, to express my own personal appreciation of the efforts of our Canadian hosts. It seems to me that in their welcome to us, in their kindly courtesy, in every attitude which they have taken toward us, they have made an atmosphere of good cheer and hospitality in which all our business has been done; it has been an atmosphere of the greatest acceptance and delight, and has been like the sunshine out of doors. We will hear the report of the Resolutions committee.

Dr. Thwaites, chairman of the committee, read the following report:

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS

Your committee beg leave to recommend the adoption of the following minute, to be spread upon the records of the conference, and that copies thereof be forwarded by the secretary to the several bodies and persons mentioned therein.

In its membership and its sympathies, the American Library Association is broadly American. It aims to secure among the librarians of the continent that practical reciprocity in ideals and interests that should everywhere prevail among those engaged in undertakings for the moral and intellectual betterment of humanity.

The association is deeply gratified in being able to hold its 34th annual conference within the Dominion of Canada, whose representatives have for many years prominently participated in the management and deliberations of the association. Since its meeting in Montreal, twelve years ago, the membership of the association has increased from nine hundred to twenty-three hundred. Toward this expansion (itself a visible sign of that quickening of popular concern in educational affairs which has been so marked a feature of the past decade), Canada has contributed a goodly share. It is hoped and believed by the association that this conference will still further inspire and strengthen those public-spirited men and women, who, in various capacities, are conducting the public and institutional libraries of the Dominion.

Of the fine temper and professional zeal of its Canadian membership, the association has had frequent evidence; but the experiences of the past eight days have brought to the members from the United States a new, although by no means unexpected, sense of the abundant hospitality of their Canadian colleagues. Any vote of thanks that may be adopted by this association, can seem to the visitors south of the international boundary, but cold recognition of the warm sincerity of their greeting in the capital of the great Dominion. It is hoped, however, that between the lines of this fraternal salutation from the men and women of the south, their confreres of the north may read such sympathy and love as words cannot convey.

The association begs to place on record its heartfelt thanks to all of those many Canadians who, in whatever measure, have contributed towards the success of this delightful meeting and to the entertainment of its participants. But to the following men and women who, either officially or personally, have been intimately concerned in preparations for and in the management of the many charming hospitalities that have made this conference so notable in the history of American librarianship, the association unanimously expresses its especial appreciation.

At Toronto, entertaining the western delegation: The Government of the province of Ontario, represented by Sir James Whitney, premier, the Hon. R. A. Pyne, minister of education, and Mr. Walter R. Nursey, inspector of public libraries; Professor Needler, librarian of the University of Toronto, and Professor Lang, librarian of Victoria college; the Ontario Library Association and its officers: the members of the Toronto public library board, and their chief librarian, Dr. George H. Locke.

At Ottawa, the Government of the Dominion, represented by the Hon. George H. Perley, acting premier, and the Hon. Martin Burrell, minister of agriculture; His Worship the Mayor of the Corporation of the City of Ottawa; the local Committee of Ottawa, the chairman of which, Dr. Otto Klotz, was represented by Dr. James W. Robertson, C. M. G.; particularly Mr. Lawrence J. Burpee and Mr. D. P. Cruikshank, together with the lady members of the committee; the Ottawa public library board represented by Alderman Ainslie W. Greene, chairman; the Canadian Club of Ottawa; the Women's Canadian Club of Ottawa; the Ottawa Electric Railway represented by its president, Mr. Thomas Ahearn; Mr. John F. Watson of the Dominion Central Experimental Farm; United States Consul-General and Mrs. J. G. Foster; Manager F. W. Bergman of the Chateau Laurier; and Manager Mulligan of the New Russell.

In addition to its acknowledgment of the foregoing the association wishes to express most sincere appreciation of the cordial message which it received from the Governor-General, H. R. H. the Duke of Connaught, who unfortunately was detained at Montreal because of the illness of H. R. H. the Duchess, whose subsequent recovery is a source of international gratification; of the great kindness of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, in consenting to address the conference upon Dominion day; of the excellent addresses by Dr. George E. Vincent, president of the University of Minnesota and by Professor John Macnaughton, of McGill university; and of the admirable arrangements for the post-conference tour made by one of the ex-presidents of the association, Professor Charles H. Gould, librarian of McGill university, Montreal.

R. G. THWAITES,
MARY W. PLUMMER,
J. T. JENNINGS,

Committee on Resolutions.

The PRESIDENT: You have heard the report of the Resolutions committee. Let us pass it by a rising vote.

The resolutions were adopted unanimously, by a rising vote.

Dr. THWAITES: I have another resolution, Madam President, to offer from the committee,--a resolution, not a minute:

RESOLVED, that the American Library Association, as an
international organization, has viewed with profound satisfaction
the project for the establishment of a National Library in and
for the Dominion of Canada, and takes pleasure in joining the
Royal society, the Ontario library association, and other learned
societies in Canada, in respectfully urging upon the government
of the Dominion the vital importance of such an institution in
the fostering and conservation of the intellectual resources
and national spirit of Canada; and further, in urging upon the
government the desirability of effecting such establishment at the
earliest possible moment.

The resolution was adopted unanimously.

* * * * *

The PRESIDENT: We have one more resolution, which is a tribute of love and respect that we shall pay with all our hearts. Dr. Andrews will report for the special committee appointed to draft a suitable memorial concerning our late friend Frederick M. Crunden.

Dr. ANDREWS: First let me express my regret that Mr. Henry M. Utley, chairman of the committee appointed by the board to draw up this memorial, is not present in person; secondly, to state for the committee that we have departed from the usual custom of offering a resolution, and have placed before you a brief statement of Mr. Crunden's life and character, which we hope will convey to those who have come into the association since the time when he had to give up active connection with it, a record of his services.

FREDERICK MORGAN CRUNDEN

Frederick Morgan Crunden was born at Gravesend, England, September 1, 1847, the son of Benjamin Robert and Mary (Morgan) Crunden. Coming to St. Louis while a child, he was educated in the public schools of that city and graduated from its high school in 1865, with a scholarship in Washington university. In the latter institution he took a course in the arts and sciences, graduating in 1868 with the degree of bachelor of arts. Teaching in the public schools of St. Louis before graduation, and later in the college faculty of the same university, he received the degree of master of arts in 1872.

His marriage to Miss Kate Edmondson was in 1889. During his college course Mr. Crunden took a vital interest in library work, and in January, 1877, he became secretary and librarian of the St. Louis public (then public school) library, continuing as such until 1909.

Equally identified with many other societies, local and national, he had been a contributor to leading magazines upon educational and sociological subjects, and had attained international fame before he was stricken in 1906 with the malady which resulted in his death October 28, 1911.

Mr. Crunden's public services were by no means confined to the distinctively library interests of his community and the country. He was particularly interested in the mutual relations of schools and libraries, developing them in St. Louis in a manner which served as a model for others, and contributing largely to the evolution of the present official relations of the National Education Association and the American Library Association.

In his public writing he has expressed most clearly and happily the fundamental principles of these relations, and it is a great pleasure to his friends, as it was to him in the last days of his life, to know that his statement of the value of recorded thought has been carved in granite on the walls of his cherished institution. Nevertheless it was to library work that the greater part of his time and thought was given, and it is the success of his work as a constructive librarian that naturally we most fully recognize. He combined high executive ability with a comprehensive knowledge of the contents of the collections under his charge. He had that sense of the real librarian, which has been said to be "an intensive perception of the needs of the present, and a prophetic insight into the needs of the future."

He worked zealously and unceasingly, first for the broadening of the work of the St. Louis public schools library, then for its conversion into a free public library, and finally for its development into a strong institution ranking among the great libraries of the land. It is pleasant to know that even in the last years he was able at times to follow its course along the lines forecast by him, and that he could realize the high appreciation of his services so generally felt by his fellow citizens.

Almost in the beginning of his library career, he began also his services to the American Library Association, which were secondary only to the work he did for St. Louis.

He attended first the Boston conference of 1879, and rarely after that did he miss a meeting. Elected councillor in 1882, he served the association almost continuously until his illness. He was vice-president in 1887-88, and under his presidency the Fabyans conference of 1890 took rank as the largest and one of the most successful meetings held up to that time. When the association met at St. Louis, in 1889, and again in 1904, he was a most thoughtful host, whose care for our welfare contributed largely to the success of those meetings. He served also as one of the vice-presidents of the Chicago conference in 1893, and as vice-president of the international library conference at London in 1897, and was one of the chief spokesmen of the association party. This list of offices by no means measures the debt of the association to him. The much longer list of committees on which he served would indicate better the character and breadth of his work, but even this would leave unexpressed the professional knowledge and the personal pleasure gained from his companionship by the individual members.

This sense of personal loss must be felt by all who met him in the other library circles in which he was interested, especially the Missouri state library association, of which he was the first president, and the New York state library association, whose annual meetings he so often attended.

No member of the A. L. A. of his day had a wider and closer personal acquaintance among the membership than Mr. Crunden. He had a spirit of friendliness and human sympathy which prompted him to take hold upon the hearts of those with whom he was brought into contact in his profession. He had no ambition which inclined him to self-seeking, but was always quick to recognize the merits of others and to give acknowledgment freely and heartily. He was naturally of a modest and retiring disposition, but wholly without self-consciousness or reserve. He looked upon every question with frankness, unbiased by any consideration outside of its true merits as approved by his mature judgment. He held his views firmly, but he never undertook to force them upon others. His many fine qualities of mind and heart are a source of joy to all who recall the memory of him as he was in the midst of his long and brilliant career. His more intimate friends recall with wonder the patience with which he bore the strain of the years of ill health which preceded the final breakdown, and remember with gratitude his gracious hospitality.

The PRESIDENT: What is your pleasure, Ladies and Gentlemen?

Dr. BOSTWICK: I move that this memorial be spread upon the minutes of the association, that it be printed in the proceedings of this conference, and that copies of it be sent to Mrs. Crunden and to Mr. Frederick M. Crunden's brother, Mr. F. P. Crunden of St Louis.

The motion was unanimously adopted.

The PRESIDENT: The chair would like the support of the first vice-president on the platform, and in the meantime, while he comes forward, after the report of the tellers of the association, we have one additional treat which when the time comes I shall ask Mr. Burpee to announce. The report of the tellers of election is in order, which will be read by the secretary.

The SECRETARY: The report of the tellers states that you have elected the following officers:

REPORT OF THE TELLERS OF ELECTION.

No. of
Votes
For President
Henry E. Legler, Librarian, Chicago Public Library 151

For First Vice-President
E. H. Anderson, Assistant Librarian, New York Public Library 143

For Second Vice-President
Mary F. Isom, Librarian, Portland (Ore.) Library Association 145

For Members of Executive Board (for three years)
H. C. Wellman, Librarian, Springfield City Library Association 145
T. W. Koch, Librarian, University of Michigan 148

For Members of the Council (for five years)
F. K. Walter, Vice-Director, New York State Library 145
Margaret Mann, Chief Cataloger, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 144
W. W. Bishop, Supt. of Reading Room, Library of Congress 147
E. R. Perry, Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library 141
Caroline Burnite, Director of Children's Work, Cleveland
Public Library 146

For Trustee of Endowment Fund (for three years)
W. C. Kimball, Chairman, New Jersey Public Library Commission,
Trenton, N. J. 146

JOHN F. PHELAN
LLOYD W. JOSSELYN

Tellers of Election.

The PRESIDENT: I have had this beautiful gavel but a very little while, but it nevertheless gives me great pleasure to transfer it. Do you remember that Miss Kelso said that we should be able to produce evidence in the way of results for the value of our work? I am going to make a very distinguished, a very large claim: I think you owe the presence of the president-elect not here only but in the profession to the interest which was originally aroused in his mind in the Milwaukee public library.

Mr. Legler, I have great pleasure in presenting the gavel for the meeting of 1913 to you as president-elect and in asking you to take charge for the remainder of this meeting.

The PRESIDENT-ELECT: Madam President, Members of the American Library Association,--For the personal good-will which you have expressed, I give to you my thanks. In so far as your action attests confidence, it must be received as a call to service, and--if I may be so presumptuous as to represent in what I say those who have been grouped by you for the ensuing year into one official family--in that spirit we receive this gavel, not as a symbol of authority but of service. Without venturing upon the uncharted sea of prophecy, we shall endeavor to interpret in terms of action those mental images which have been crystallized for us by the strong, virile papers, fortified by the abounding interest and the contagious enthusiasm of all participants in this conference. The modern library movement, recent as has been its inception, has progressed through two strongly marked stages, and is entering upon a third. The first era was that of pioneering, the sowing of seed. The second may perhaps be termed the era of experimentation, out of which grew a few mistakes and some splendid results. But we have entered upon a third era, the period of constructive work, of careful patient planning, of building enduringly. If a year hence, when we yield into other hands the high commission which you have entrusted to us, we shall be able to say that some advancement has been made, we shall be proud and happy; and we hope that your work, which, of course, must be our work, will yield some realization of our high hopes and aims and aspirations.

What is the pleasure of this conference?

I am advised that Mr. Burpee has another pleasure in store for us, and we shall be glad to hear from him.

Mr. BURPEE: Mr. President and friends of the American Library Association: On behalf of the local committee I have asked our friend Mrs. Herbert Ault, of Ottawa, to try to express to you our feelings in bidding you farewell. Mrs. Ault will sing the old Scotch song, that you all know so well, "Will ye no come back again."

After the singing of this fine old song, Mrs. Ault led the audience in the singing of "Auld Lang Syne," whereupon the president-elect declared the Thirty-fourth Annual Conference of the American Library Association adjourned.

THE SOCIAL SIDE OF THE CONFERENCE

Throughout the eight days which we officially spent within the confines of the Dominion, cordial appreciation of our presence was constantly in evidence. Twelve years had passed since a gathering of the association had been held among our hospitable co-laborers north of the international boundary; I think we all were convinced that in so long delaying our second visit, we of "the states" had been the losers. No doubt there will hereafter be a greater frequency of Canadian meetings.

The western delegation was the first to experience the sincere and unaffected warmth of Canada's greeting. Ontario's capital and metropolis was reached by the Chicago special at noon of Tuesday, June 25. The Toronto committee of arrangements was composed not only of librarians, but representatives of the provincial government, prominent educators, and professional and business men and women. Their program of entertainment had included a morning automobile ride through the many parks and charming residence quarters of the city; but the ride was abandoned, for the hour at which the guests were tardily delivered to them by the railway managers spelled luncheon, a British institution that brooks no delay.

The scene of the spread was the attractive refectory of Victoria College, one of the considerable group of educational institutions comprising Toronto University. The customary welcome was voiced by Sir James Whitney, premier of the province, the Hon. R. A. Pyne, provincial minister of education, and Dr. George H. Locke, chief librarian of the Toronto public library. Each of these local speakers expressed the hope that the Association might at some early date honor Toronto with one of its annual conferences. Dr. Andrews of John Crerar gracefully responded for the visitors.

Luncheon over, the spacious and well-equipped buildings of the university were visited and admired, and in due time afternoon tea was charmingly served on the smooth-shaven lawn of one of the delightful quads. Dinner followed not long after, in the beautiful new public library building, so admirably administered by Dr. Locke, to whose kindly activity we owed a large share of the day's greetings; and here the guests tarried and rested amid familiar surroundings until the departure of their train for Ottawa, close upon ten o'clock.

Arriving at Ottawa towards noon of Wednesday, the westerners soon were commingling with their fellows from other parts of the Union and Canada, forgetful of geographical sections and national boundary lines. Before nightfall, all of us realized that we simply were members of a household of co-workers gathered under the family roof-tree of the citizens of Ottawa and the members of the government of the great Dominion. A peculiarity of Canada's hospitality, as we experienced it, was that the government itself, both in Toronto and in Ottawa, was quite as active and as informally cordial in arranging for our entertainment, as were individual or associated bodies of its citizens.

Fortunately our week included both Sunday and Dominion Day. The morning of the former was largely devoted to visits to the many large and sumptuous churches. Especially favored were those who witnessed the fine ante-pilgrimage parade of those French Catholic societies that have for their name-giver St. Jean Baptiste, the patron saint of all French Canadians. The afternoon was spent in driving or trolleying to the numerous parks and several interesting suburbs, and in taking the many walks wherein the stately panoramic view of three commingling rivers (Ottawa, Rideau, and Chaudière) caused us all to envy the lot of those who dwell with this array of mountains and waterfalls at their very doors.

The patriotic exercises of Dominion Day (July 1) reminded us strongly of the historical origin of modern Canada, which owes a large share of her prosperity to the grit and enterprise of the Loyalist pioneers. Driven forth from the American colonies because they failed to sympathize with the movement whose culmination we observe with such enthusiasm, three days later each July, they carried to the wilds of the north those same sturdy Anglo-Saxon qualities of mind and heart and brawn that have erected and maintained the American Union. That Canada had at last become a powerful, self-conscious, and justly-proud nation, only sentimentally linked with the parent isle and her sister dominions over seas, was a fact borne home to the visitors, with a forcefulness novel to many of them. It is not likely that any American librarian present at the Russell Theatre during Dominion Day, will again flippantly discuss the possibility of our annexation of Canada--the day for that sort of talk has passed, and happily for both sides of the border.

Of course Sir Wilfrid Laurier, no longer premier, but now "leader of His Majesty's Opposition" in Canada, was the chief attraction in the day's program. Foremost of French Canadians, one of the most accomplished of orators, and in every way a world character, Sir Wilfrid's appearance attracted a crowded house; and his graceful speech and charming manner, so characteristic of his race, deserved such recognition. But some other features of the program were no less entertaining in their way--the vigorous, thoughtful, but strictly practical views of Dr. Robertson, as he graphically described Canada's almost boundless resources, and with large vision outlined his plans for their conservation; and the equally clear and insistent, yet delicately humorous, protest of Professor Macnaughton, against such materialistic tendencies of modern education as had been expressed by his friend and predecessor. The day was admirably closed by President Vincent of Minnesota, whose marshalling of the possibilities of librarianship in the furnishing of mental pictures for the entertainment and instruction of humanity, resembled the falls of Chaudière in sparkle and velocity.

Not content with representation on the program and in honorary seats on the platform, the government of the Dominion took a considerable hand in the social activities of the week. Among the attractions of Ottawa is the central experimental farm of Canada, with its broad, well-kept acres, in which the astronomical observatory is in close touch with the silos, and pastures and barns are attractive features of the landscape gardening, and up-to-date poultry-runs are charmingly mingled with evidences of floral and horticultural experimentation. In this interesting environment, a garden party was given under the auspices of the minister of agriculture, the Hon. Martin Burrell, ably seconded by Mr. John F. Watson of the farm staff. There were tents and lawn chairs, a very British-looking band, military-like policemen as ushers, brilliantly-green foliage, and the socially élite of Ottawa acted as cicerones to the varied activities of farm and observatory. Thus the librarians (who had autoed to the scene, through miles of drives along the park-like banks of the Rideau Canal) were made paradoxically to feel not only at home, but quite as though the scene of their entertainment were four thousand miles eastward, in the motherland itself. Another governmental activity, especially attractive to the young folk of the conference (there are, however, no old librarians), was an informal ball in the parliament building itself. Because of these things, the bibliographical fraternity from the states almost unanimously came to the conclusion that thenceforth they would, in all courtesy, forget all about the recent unpleasantness over reciprocity, and be stout supporters of the present Dominion government. A division on the question, at the close of the conference would, I fancy, have revealed few members of the A. L. A. in the opposition lobby.

The representatives of our own government were not to be outdone in these matters. Consul-General and Mrs. J. G. Foster were informally "at home" on Sunday afternoon. Scores of American librarians, especially those concerned officially in the association's affairs, were much pleased for a short hour to be entertained as guests on what constructively is American soil.

But while official "functions" necessarily stood out with prominence, there was ever on the tapis a succession of unofficial attentions to the visiting throng. Dr. Robertson was the life of the enterprising local committee. Around this body clustered several effective agencies of welcome and entertainment--his worship the mayor (every Canadian mayor is "his worship," but this title of genuine respect would be a serious misfit in some of our cities south of the boundary), the public library board, the local Canadian Club, and the Woman's Canadian Club, all were actively and omnipresently enlisted in our behalf. And wonder of wonders! our little identification button meant free trolley rides within the corporation limits--a much-appreciated premium for wearing the badge. In short, every door was open to us; at every turn, right glad we were made to feel that we had come to Ottawa.

Curiously enough to those of us who think of the A. L. A. in the oft-quoted classification of the hotel agency, as an institution "mostly women," the Ottawa newspapers appeared never to recover from their astonishment in this regard. The preponderating numbers of "lady librarians" was the cause for daily editorial comment. But it was noticeable that the head-lines persistently referred to the event as "Library men in council"--painful evidence of the fact that the prevalent American evil of head-line inaccuracy has at last spread to the northland.

The practice of holding state, library school, and library staff dinners in the course of the conference, is increasing. These gatherings form an interesting and welcome feature of our social activities during conference week. At Ottawa they were more numerous and noticeable than heretofore, and gave rise to much good-natured rivalry as to enthusiasm, numbers, and table decorations. It is evident that the library schools are gathering traditions with age; and their alumni associations are growing in pardonable self-consciousness. A new feature was the exchange of rival "yells." One director was heard to express her intention of offering prizes in the next school year, for appropriate class songs and collegiate battle-cries, that her school might not be outdone in this respect by the vociferous young women of Pratt and Wisconsin. One heard more or less at Ottawa, of "the girls of our class," "dear old Pratt," "the way we do it at Albany," the "traditions of Wisconsin" (five years old!), and the like. It is thus that the profession is looking up.

Socially, the Canadian conference was eminently successful, both at Toronto and Ottawa. This feature was, in its way, quite as good as the literary program itself, and that is saying much. As for Madame President, she sweetly and dignifiedly looked and acted her part, socially as well as behind the gavel, and the Dominion folk fairly worshipped her. I fancy, when all is said, that that perhaps is a good share of the secret of our undoubted success in Canada.

REUBEN G. THWAITES.

A DAY IN TORONTO

A most cordial invitation from the Toronto public library, through the librarian, Dr. Locke, had been received for a day's visit in that city en route to the A. L. A. meeting at Ottawa, and the party which assembled at Chicago to take the special train looked forward with great expectation. Needless to say these expectations were fully met. As this was the first hospitality offered, the zest for enjoyment was at full height when the party from the middle-west reached Toronto, Tuesday morning, June 25. Most of the company had left their various posts of duty only the day before and were ready to enter a new land with a joyful spirit.

The special train was nearly two hours late in arriving at Toronto and thereby lost to the visitors the pleasure of an automobile ride which had been arranged by the City Council. Still, as no one had anticipated it, the pleasant street car ride, which took its place, was a welcome change from the confines of the sleeping car. The ride around the business part of the city on the special cars ended at Victoria college. A local committee consisting of Dr. A. H. U. Colquhoun, Deputy Minister of Education, Prof. A. E. Lang, librarian of Victoria college, Prof. G. H. Needler, librarian of University of Toronto, with Dr. G. H. Locke as chairman, received the party at Victoria college, where a luncheon was served to 175 persons, the hosts of the occasion being the Education Department of the Province of Ontario and the Senate and Board of Governors of the Victoria college. The Hon. Dr. Pyne, minister of education, presided over the occasion and speeches were made on behalf of Victoria college by Hon. Justice MacLaren, on behalf of the Government by Chairman Dr. Locke and on behalf of the University by Prof. Alfred Baker. Each in turn expressed the appreciation of the ideas cherished by the A. L. A. and were most cordial in invitation to the association to hold a future meeting in Toronto. Response for the visitors was made by Dr. C. W. Andrews of the John Crerar library, Chicago, who complimented Ontario on the progress which had been made in library development and particularly the city of Toronto in its new work under the new librarian, Dr. Locke, whom Dr. Andrews claimed as a Chicagoan in view of the fact that he had been so valued a part of the faculty of the University of Chicago, at one time, for six years.

After the luncheon the new library at Victoria college was thrown open for inspection. Prof. Lang and his assistants were most courteous in showing the visitors through and displayed for their inspection some of the rare volumes and manuscripts, especially specimens of ancient papyri which are unique.

Later the Premier of the Province of Ontario, Sir James P. Whitney, received the librarians in the legislative chambers, Parliament Buildings, and made an address of welcome. From the Parliament Buildings the librarians visited the library of the University of Toronto, which they found exceedingly interesting, and well up to date. Regret was felt by many at the absence of Mr. Langton of the library, who was in Europe in search of health. A most delightful occasion was the garden party in the university quadrangle tendered by the Board of Governors of the university. The ivy covered walls, the greensward, the perfect day, delightful company and the most cordial hospitality accompanying the refreshments left an impression of the greatest pleasure on all who were present. The large number of Toronto citizens who were present, the faculty with the members of their families, were most courteous in making the occasion one of great delight.

At six o'clock dinner was served by the public library Board in the art room of the reference library building. There were 229 at the dinner which deserved far greater consumption than the hospitality of the day had left room for, but "the feast of reason and the flow of soul" were much in evidence. The chairman of the occasion was the President of the public library Board, Mr. Turnbull. A most hearty address of welcome was made by Chief Librarian Locke and was responded to in kind by Mr. Legler of the Chicago public library. After dinner the building was thrown open for inspection and the visitors enjoyed greatly seeing the magnificent reading room as well as the other departments of the library. Of special interest was the J. Ross Robertson historical collection of 1,000 Canadian pictures, representing various phases of Canadian life from the earliest period.

It was a happy, if tired party that left on the special train at 10 p. m. for Ottawa with most grateful memories of cordial hospitality and pleasant company in the day spent in Toronto.

M. E. AHERN.

THE DAY AT MONTREAL