=56.= A satisfactory record of the relative circulation of books can be made only of a classified stock. Certainly comparisons cannot be fairly made while one librarian classes his periodicals as science, useful arts, etc., and another groups his together as miscellaneous. Then, some librarians, rightly we think, separate Juvenile Fiction issues from Adult Fiction issues; and, indeed, divergences and anomalies are frequent and are confusing. Suggested rulings for Issue Record books, for lending and reference libraries respectively, are given on page 62. The record book should have about thirty-five lines to the page, exclusive of the headings, to allow one line for each day and leave room for adding up the columns. The dates, 1 to 31, may be printed down each column, but this will mean leaving gaps for Sundays. It is better to write the dates in for each month, omitting Sundays, which may be entered on a separate page or pages. The issues of each year should be kept together in a series; and a page or more, as required, should be left for the necessary summaries, which can be entered up to show the total issues month by month in cumulative form. If this is done regularly the figures for the annual or other reports are quite easily obtained. The accessions book, if kept entered, added and classified up to date, will give similar information about books. =57.= It is usual to count volumes separately. Thus a work in five volumes is counted as 5 in the record. Illustrations, pamphlets, broadsides and other material in separate form are usually counted in the same way, but are sometimes indicated as being of this separate character in separate columns. There are minor problems in counting which interest librarians, and upon which opinion is divided. Thus, when a series of prints are formed into a public exhibition, it is sometimes the practice to count each print as having been issued once. They may, however, have been examined by hundreds of people during the exhibition, and sometimes an allowance is made for that fact. Again, the consultation of a magazine in the reading rooms is usually not counted; but the same magazine when bound is counted if issued from the shelves in the reference library. Directories, time-tables, and similar quick-reference works are often omitted from the statistics. There seems no reason why all these uses of material should not be recorded, so long as the character of the use is made clear in the reports of the librarian. Otherwise the frequent complaint of librarians that their figures represent only part of their work seems to be justified; and it is well to remember that public criticism of libraries is in the main based upon their statistics. At the same time if the recording of statistics means the placing of barriers between books and readers, it is a safe principle to prefer fewer statistics and more accessibility.