cataloging rules. The code under which the work has been carried on since the beginning is a composite one, and differs in several important respects from the international rules endorsed by the A. L. A. More radical changes in the work, affecting the number of titles and to a certain extent the character of the titles to be printed are under consideration. Abridged Catalog Rules-Miss Theresa Hitchler reports as follows with reference to this proposed publication: "I expected to be able to submit the Abridged A. L. A. catalog rules in completed form at this coming conference, but I am not sufficiently satisfied to call the final meeting of my committee, so I shall have to postpone it till fall. Meantime I may report that they are nearing completion, and that by October or soon after, I hope to have them in such shape as to be able to present them to the original Committee on A. L. A. catalog rules. I want first to send copies to several catalogers and librarians of small libraries all over the country for criticisms and suggestions and I hope to have a few informal discussions with any I may meet at Pasadena." Finances-But ten months have elapsed since the Publishing board's last annual report was submitted. For the financial statement usual at conferences, it may suffice at this time to refer to the semiannual figures officially printed in January, and the statement for the full year will appear in the Proceedings issue of the A. L. A. Bulletin. FINANCIAL REPORT HENRY E. LEGLER, Chairman. The CHAIRMAN: Mr. W. L. Brown, chairman of the Committee on bookbuying, has a short statement to present. Mr. WALTER L. BROWN: The Council of the American library association, in January, requested the Committee on bookbuying to obtain an expression from the book sellers as to the proper discount to the library Association on net fiction. We hoped to have a conference with a committee appointed by the Booksellers' Association. This committee was not appointed until the convention of the Booksellers' Association which was held May 8, this year. It is not feasible to make a report for discussion until this conference has been held, and consequently the committee does not think it wise to present any at this time. This statement is made as a report of progress. The CHAIRMAN: What action do you wish to take with regard to the report of the Committee? The report will be received as one of progress. The report of the Finance Committee is in the hands of Mr. Andrews, the Chair man. Mr. ANDREWS: In accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the Finance committee submits the following report: REPORT OF FINANCE COMMITTEE To the American Library Association: In accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the Finance Committee submit the following report: They have duly considered the probable income of the Association for the current year and have estimated it at $16,850, and have approved appropriations made by the Executive board to that amount. The details of the estimated income and of appropriations are given in the January number of the Bulletin. For the first time the receipts and expenditures of the Publishing Board have been included, so that the figures now exhibit the total financial resources and expenditures of the Association. On behalf of the committee the chairman has audited the accounts of the treasurer The and of the secretary as assistant treasurer. He has found that the receipts as stated by the treasurer agree with the transfer checks from the assistant treasurer, and with the cash accounts of the latter. expenditures as stated are all accounted for by properly approved vouchers. The bank balances and petty-cash, as stated, agree with the bank books and pettycash balances. The accounts of the assistant treasurer have been found correct as cash accounts. It has not seemed necessary to check the bills collectable, which consist of many items, mostly of very small amounts. On behalf of the committee Mr. E. H. Anderson has examined the accounts of the trustees for 1910, has checked the various items from bank books, vouchers, etc; has examined the securities, and certifies that to the best of his knowledge and belief, the accounts are correct and that the securities are held as stated. He has similarly examined the accounts of the trustees of 1909, which were not audited last year, and certifies that all items which can now be checked have been found correct. All of which is respectfully submitted for the committee. CLEMENT W. ANDREWS, The CHAIRMAN: The last Committee to report is that on public documents and Mr. G. S. Godard of the state library of Connecticut is to report for the committee. Mr. GODARD: I desire to have this report presented later in order that we may have advantage of the correspondence now in progress. The report was later presented, received and referred to the Program committee for printing. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON Your Committee on public documents desires to express to the Librarian of Congress the appreciation of the American library association for the timely and valuable assistance rendered to libraries through the medium of the Monthly list of state publications issued by the Document section of the Library of Congress. In this monthly list are announced the publications issued by our several states, nonth by month, with a brief summary of their contents. Your committee has been informed, however, that the publication of this list is often delayed through failure to receive copies of these documents promptly. As no publication is mentioned in the List which is not in the actual possession of the Library of Congress, state officials are urged to make special effort to forward their publications immediately upon publication. By so doing, not only will there be a copy of each such publication accessible in our national library, but the time, place and source of its publication and a suggestion of its contents will be correctly announced, and the necessary cards for cataloging it, based upon the document itself, will be printed and made available at an early date. As many librarians are seriously handicapped in their reference work through lack of definite information as to what publications have been issued by the several departments at Washington, until the receipt of the Monthly catalogue of government publications, which is not published until several weeks after the period covered by each issue, it is recommended that the Superintendent of Documents be respectfully urged to publish, if possible, a daily or weekly check-list of all such government publications issued by the several departments at Washington. Through such a check-list librarians will be informed concerning the many documents and reports now called for, having been mentioned in the daily press. We believe this early information should be regularly supplied to depository libraries also. At a time when the advantages of reciprocity in trade have been recognized by the United States and Canada, it is appropriate that steps should be taken to bring about something in the nature of reciprocity in public documents. The Government of the United States issues annually a large number of public documents that would be of service to Canadian public libraries; Respectfully submitted, The reports of the committees on international relations, library administration and work for the blind were carried over to the next general session. The secretary read greetings from Mr. Herbert Bailie, Secretary of the Libraries association of New Zealand, and from the Texas library association and library commission. Adjourned. SECOND GENERAL SESSION (Shakespeare Club, Saturday, May 20, 9:30 a. m.) Mr. C. W. Andrews presiding. The CHAIRMAN: From the program of the first general session three items have come over in the nature of unfinished business. The Chairman is informed that the Committee on international relations have no report to present. The Committee on library administration, the report of which came very late last evening, was placed in the hands of the Chairman just in time for him to look it over and as it consists largely of statistics, which must be read to be understood, and unless there is other disposition desired, this report will be received, under the rule, and referred to the Program committee. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON LI. BRARY ADMINISTRATION During the past year the committee sent to the 187 libraries which had replied to the questionnaire circulated in 1908 copies of the new questionnaire approved by the association at the 1910 meeting. This questionnaire would, it was hoped, bring forth some information of interest relating to current practice in the treatment of the staff in various libraries. Your committee herewith presents some of the answers received. Of the 187 libraries addressed, 137 replied more or less fully. As in former reports, these have been arranged in 3 Promotions. Only 1 library in class B and 2 in Group C give examinations for promotion. In these three cases civil ser vice examinations are given to determine fitness. Fifteen libraries of Group B base promotions on length of service, but all but 3 of these state that fitness is also considered. Nine make promotions upon merit, but whether length of service is considered is not stated. The following table shows the size and expenditures of the libraries included: Grades. The libraries of Group A are evidently too small to consider the question of graded service. Eleven libraries reported, but none of these had grades. In Group B, 62 reported, only 4 of which had a graded service, although 1 other reports that it hopes soon to establish grades. In Group C, 11 libraries have a graded service, 28 do not, and 2 did not answer the question. In regard to the question of what is included in the graded service, the answers are too indefinite to admit of any conclusions of value. There seems to be no uniformity in regard to grading and consequently no method of comparing the salaries paid the grades in various libraries; at least the information necessary for this is not available to your committee. Of the 11 libraries of Group C which have a graded service 3 use examinations as a means of determining fitness for promotion; in the others promotions are based on fitness for the position as determined by past work. In the case of the other 22 libraries reporting, the basis of promotion is the merit of the assistant as determined by the librarian. Qualifications of Assistants. Eleven libraries of Group A answered. Two of these require apprentice training, 2 require a high school education, and 3 require a high school education supplemented by apprenticeship. The others do not report any fixed standards. In Group B, 35 libraries require a high school education or an equivalent; 10 of these require in addition satisfactory ap prenticeship for a period varying from 4 to 12 months and 2 require a summer library course. Two libraries require a one-year library school course and 2 require previous experience. One unfortunate librarian reports "political influence only" as |