In reply to your letter of April 21 I can only say that I am not familiar enough with the conduct of American libraries to make any new suggestions on the question you propose. I think the plan followed by the Providence Public Library is the best one to encourage the reading of the standard works of literature. It has, as you of course know, a pleasant room, easily accessible, in which attractive editions of the best authors can be read. Would it be feasible to supplement this plan by publishing, from time to time, interesting, short descriptions of standard books, giving prospective readers some notion of the subject and peculiar attraction of each--somewhat after the manner of publishers' alluring (or would-be alluring) notices of new books? Yours sincerely, W. C. BRONSON. Northampton, Mass., May 16, 1913. Your letter of the fourteenth, inviting me to contribute to a symposium of thought concerning library work in America and suggesting the topic, "What is your conception of the ideal librarian," does me great honor. But it brings to my mind very clearly my inability to offer a definition which I could possibly hope would be enlightening or stimulating to a convention of librarians. The library work of our present day has expanded into such liberal bounds and taken on such a missionary, and at the same time scientific, spirit that one who is merely its beneficiary cannot give himself the hardihood to offer words of criticism or of counsel. I know no work which shows such splendid contrasts to what it was when I began life as does the profession of the public librarian and the professional conception of the library's mission to the world. It has been my great joy and honor to bring up a large family whose members are now separated and busy in the world's work and it gives me great pleasure to say of them, as of myself, that the modern management of public libraries has made life worth incalculably more than it could have been under the limitations of forty years ago. With every good wish I beg to remain ever Yours truly, GEORGE W. CABLE. * * * * * Santa Barbara, Cal., May 5, 1913.