In selecting the initial stock for a Public Library the following principles should be considered: (_a_) size of the locality; (_b_) the sum of money available for books; (_c_) the geographical position of the library in relation to other libraries. Before any books are actually purchased, the tables of the classification to be adopted should be taken and each section checked with the corresponding section of proposed purchases. This will immediately show any important omissions. (_7_) PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION OF CLASSES. The proportion of books to be purchased in each class of literature will depend largely upon the social conditions of the locality and the prominence of local industries. The following table is merely suggestive:-- General Works _3%_ Philosophy _3%_ Religion _6%_ Sociology _6%_ Philology _2%_ Natural Science _8%_ Useful Arts _9%_ Fine and Recreative Arts _7%_ Literature _35%_ History, Travel and Biography _21%_ (_8_) REFERENCE AND LENDING LIBRARY STOCKS. The average proportions of Lending and Reference Library stocks are: Lending, 62%; Reference, 38%. (_9_) PROPORTION OF INCOME FOR BOOKS AFTER ORGANISATION. 18% of income should be spent on books, including old books and replacements. (_10_) TWENTY-FIVE “QUICK-REFERENCE” BOOKS FOR THE OPEN SHELVES IN A REFERENCE LIBRARY. _(Arranged according to the Dewey Classification as a mnemonic aid)._ Encyclopædia Britannica. Baldwin--Dictionary of psychology and philosophy. Hastings--Dictionary of religion and ethics. Hastings--Dictionary of the Bible. Cruden--Concordance. Palgrave--Dictionary of political economy. Mulhall--Dictionary of statistics. Every Man’s Own Lawyer. Webster--English dictionary. Murray--New English dictionary. Clifton and Grimaux--English-French and French-English dictionary. Grimm--Deutsches Worterbuch. Lewis and Short--Latin dictionary. Liddell and Scott--Greek Lexicon. Watts--Dictionary of chemistry. Quain--Medical dictionary. Knight--Business cyclopædia and legal adviser. Thorpe--Dictionary of applied chemistry. Bryan--Dictionary of painters and engravers. Grove--Dictionary of music and musicians. Cambridge History of English literature. Haydn--Dictionary of dates. Dictionary of national biography. Chambers’s Biographical dictionary. Low and Pulling--Dictionary of English history. (_11_) FOURTEEN AUTHOR CONCORDANCES. BURNS. Reid--Complete word and phrase concordance to the poems and songs of Robert Burns. COWPER. Neve--Concordance to the poetical works of William Cowper. DANTE ALIGHIERI. Fay--Concordance of the Divina Commedia. Sheldon _and_ White--Concordanz a delle opere italiane in prosae del Canzoniere di Dante Alighieri.