Excerpt from Suggestive List of Books for a Small Library, Vol. 1: Recommended by the League of Library Commissions; June, 1905; Books for Adults If a public library, supported by tax, is to receive and merit public support, it must have books that give pleasure. If it is to hold the esteem of the community, and so win continued support, the books must be wholesome and their reading must give sane views of life, good inspirations and reliable ln formation. Each new library must build up its own patronage by giving nu trained readers the best of the most popular books and then leading them gradually from good books to better. The reading habit must precede thehabit of studying, and the librarian in a small town should be well satisfied, if, in the first two years of the work, she can get the masses to come to her library habitually to get books to read for pleasure, and if she has a few stu dents. A few books for reference and a few more books for students should then be added and more care taken to develop students from readers. The following selection from a New York state circular on Standard for public libraries is worth consideration. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.