The Topeka State Journal

NOW 15,000 BOOKS.

Kansas Traveling Library Has Become a Big Institution.

During the past 18 months, the traveling library books of Kansas have been read by more Kansas people than ever before. The total circulation of the books of the library is shown by the report of the librarian, Miss Nellie Armentrout, to have been 66,165.

As secretary of the traveling library commission, Miss Armentrout has prepared the third biennial report, for the years 1903 and 1904. The members of the commission are James L. King, chairman; Mrs. W. A. Johnston, Mrs. James M. Lewis, Edward Wilder and Harry G. Larimer.

The library has 15,000 volumes. Fifty books make up a library. They are selected with care and shipped out in small trunks. Clubs applying for libraries have the privilege of giving their first and second choice of books. If these are all out, the librarian substitutes something as near like them as possible. In the period covered by the report, 401 libraries were shipped out. A club is allowed to keep a library six months. No club can have two libraries at once. According to the report, each library has an average of 33 members, and each member read an average of five of the books. This makes 165 books read out of each library, or 66,165 out of the 401 which were sent out. The library has 182 trunks now and will give an order for more this winter.

"We reach a class of people who do not have access to the city libraries," said Miss Armentrout. "We go into the homes of the farmers and the people of the little hamlets and towns. Clubs can be formed among farmers and the books obtained upon application. Of course we want to know that the parties asking for the books are responsible and that the books will be returned. It is remarkable how few books we lose. The fact is we don't lose one out of a thousand, except in case of railroad accidents or floods. We lost several cases in the floods last year, but it was not the fault of the farmers to whom we shipped. They were caught in transit. Two or three cases have been destroyed in wrecks. Whenever a trunk is returned we check up the books and if one is missing we send for it. We most always get it.

"Another peculiar feature is the big circulation our books have among the ranchmen of western Kansas. You wouldn't think it, but cattlemen are great readers. I never knew it until I got into this work. And they want the best books, too. It seems that they read to drive away lonesomeness. I take it that this is the reason, because one of the ranchmen in returning a batch of books a short time ago enclosed a note saying: 'These books are mighty good reading for us lonesome fellers.'

"Another remarkable thing is that where a library goes once it goes always. I don't know of a single case in the past four years where any club has quit patronizing us. This shows that they like the traveling library.

"Not many of our books go to the big towns, for the reason that they have libraries of their own. We make many shipments to the small towns and hamlets which have limited libraries. They use our books to 'burnish' up their shelves. Every county in the state gets our libraries."