When Seattle's Library Ran Out of Money

At a meeting of the Seattle public library commission yesterday it was decided to close the circulating department of the library for one week, but the department will be open until further notice in order to permit those who have books out to return them to the librarian.

This action has been found necessary because the receipts for this month have not been sufficient to pay the salaries of the employees and under the charter the commission cannot run into debt. Another meeting has been called for Monday and a committee consisting of Dr. A. B. Kibbe and T. B. Hardin has been appointed to meet the council Monday and lay the matter before it and ask for aid.

It is possible that the committee will ask the council to appropriate a sufficient sum from some one of the various funds to maintain the library until the resources of the commission will place the library on a satisfactory footing.

It was a sorrowful meeting of the commission yesterday afternoon, for all of the members have taken a personal and active interest in the library, although they have received no financial remuneration for their services. The entire commission, except Mr. Hardin, was present.

It was ascertained that the appropriation for February was only $65, while the expenses were about $400, and in the face of existing circumstances it was decided that the only thing to be done was to close the circulating department for the present. Last fall the newspapers of the city and the members of the commission by active work succeeded in raising a sufficient sum to pay off the debt and thus for the time being everything went along smoothly. But now something has to be done, for the source from which the revenues of the library are received has not been a fruitful one.

Mrs. J. C. Haines, who has been one of the most enthusiastic and energetic members of the commission from the time that body was created, said last evening:

'Of course we are very sorry to close even the circulating department, but under the circumstances and the terms of the charter there was nothing else for us to do. Yet we hope the council will take an active interest in the affair and give us the needed relief. This should be done, for the library and the commission is a part of the city government and the institution is one of which this or any other city should be proud. According to my idea the library is next in importance to the public school system, for it is and has been educating the people of every class, the poor as well as the rich. I have had talks with the bookstore keepers of the city and they have told me that since the library was started the tastes of the people for a better class of reading has been marked. Instead of many buyers for trashy French novels and books of a like order, the call has been for works of a substantial and elevating order.

'Between 1,500 and 2,000 people call at the library every day and it has 10,000 patrons who hold membership cards. The opportunities for good reading have been embraced by many poor people and also by the school children, great numbers of the latter taking out books daily. The reading rooms are full all the time and the work has been so great that it has required several assistants besides the librarian and it is impossible for us to curtail expenses in any direction. We have less help than any other library of the same extent elsewhere in the country. Although the charter says that city employees shall work but eight hours, it is seldom that any of the employees can quit when the eight hours are up and in many instances they have of their own volition worked many hours over time.

'The income of the library has been so limited that for some time we have not been able to buy new books and many of the books we now have are becoming worn and the librarian and his assistants have patched them up as best they can, there not even being money sufficient to send them to a book bindery for repairs. The monthly expenses average nearly $400 and when it has been reduced to this figure it has reached a minimum. The rent under the lease and our other expenses, including salaries for the librarian and assistants, bring it up to nearly $400 more. We all hope it can be arranged that the library can be maintained by a tax instead of being supported from the present unreliable and disagreeable source.'