Brett, W. H. Regulations for Readers. U.S. Educ. Rept., 1892-3, vol. i., p. 939. Dana, J. C. Public Service. _In his_ Library Primer, p. 122. Library Hours. Greenwood’s Year Book, 1900, p. 236. =363. Sunday Opening:= Barnett, Canon. Sunday Labour in Public Libraries, etc. Greenwood’s Year Book, 1897, p. 102. Cutler, M. S., Mrs Fairchild. Sunday Opening of Public Libraries. U.S. Educ. Rept., 1892-3, vol. i., p. 771. Greenwood, T. Sunday Opening of Public Libraries. _In his_ Public Libraries, 1894, p. 458; _and statistics_ in the British Library Year Book, 1900, p. 236. =364. Infectious Diseases:= Books as Carriers of Disease. Library J., vol. xxi., p. 150. Johnston, T. The Replacement of “Infected” Books. Library W., vol. iv., p. 6. Rivers, J. Do Public Library Books spread Disease? L. W., vol. vii., p. 143. Willcock, W. J. Notification of Infectious Disease and the Public Library. L. W., 1899, p. 89. =365. Open Access:= _See_ Manual of Library Economy, 1903, pp. 445-68, for discussion of policy and list of articles on the subject. Stewart, J. D., and Others. Open Access, 1915. For articles see Cannons, E 45-48, Rules and Regulations, Hours, Sunday and Holiday Opening; E 107, Loan Period. DIVISION XI THE LENDING, OR HOME READING, DEPARTMENT CHAPTER XXIV THE REGISTRATION OF BORROWERS =366. General.=--By a tradition now firmly implanted in the mind of the public, and nourished by journalists, the lending department is the most prominent feature of the public library. The average public criticism, favourable or otherwise, is almost invariably based upon lending library statistics. This is probably because the average person knows the library as a place from which he may “take out” books. In a treatise for librarians the inadequacy of this view need not be stressed, although, as in many matters connected with their calling, librarians are not unanimous as to the relative value of their departments, some exalting one or other at the expense of the rest. There are, however, clear principles which have a fairly general acceptation. The main one is that in libraries which are in fairly close proximity to much greater libraries, it is wise to place more emphasis on the lending than on the reference department. It would be an unjustifiable duplicating of expense for a library, for example, within a mile or two of the British Museum, to attempt the hopeless task of rivalling it in the provision of expensive reference works; while on the other hand it would be justified abundantly in providing the finest possible lending library. Even here dogmatism is to be avoided, because the habits of populations in what appear to be exactly similar localities may differ greatly. Where, for example, a city working population living in a large suburb returns rarely or not at all to the city in the evenings, there may be a real demand for a reference library. Only experience, which bears in mind