BULLETIN NUMBER 1 OF The Free Library of Philadelphia PREFACE a HERE is no question connected with the building up and administration of a free library that is more difficult of solution than how to make the greatest number of books accessible to the general reader. A student or a bibliophile, by reason of the variety of his reading and the gradually developed habit of consulting books of reference, rarely fails to find in a library not only the works or volumes which will most aid him in the study on which he may be engaged at the time, but his very habit of browsing amongst books will assist him in discovering in the library (however large) the volumes which will most facilitate his pursuit of knowledge and give to him the greatest delight. There are, however, regular students and persistent readers in a library to whom the mere abundance of material which a large library affords proves a hindrance, from the want of a sufficient number of literary sign-posts indicating the road of knowledge over which certain sections of books will carry them. This leads to the thought that there are many sorts of catalogues which should be accessible in public libraries. Without a great dictionary catalogue covering the whole possessions of a library, the institution would be practically a tractless desert. This, therefore, is indispensable in every |