FEDERATED LIBRARIES.
The Gentle Art of Book Lending : a Suggestion and an Experiment. By George Somas Layard. (Privately printed by Stevens and Co., Malvern.)—This slender volume comprises two articles— originally published in the Nineteenth Century—in which a plan is developed for the "federation of private libraries." Mr. Layard suggests that in country neighbourhoods the possessors of books should make their libraries useful to their neighbours by a system of common cataloguing and organised lendirg.. A librarian is necessary, and the librarian must have a sort of office or head- quarters. Owners of books are to send in their lists and specify on what terms their books are to be used,—whether for out-and- out lending, for perusal at the librarian's headquarters, or for inspection at home. Members of the Federated Library Club are to pay an annual subscription, plus an entrance-fee, in return for which they will receive a catalogue of the common stock. And upon this basis they must communicate their desires to the librarian, who will employ messengers to procure the books from their owners and convey them to the borrowers. The plan, which has much to recommend it, is already working successfully at Malvern, and Mr. Layard's pamphlet will be sent free of charge to persons in other districts who are desirous of following the good example.
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