“We are often asked who selects the books for purchase and how this is done,” says Dr. A. E. Bostwick in the annual report of the St. Louis Public Library for 1911-12. “About 10,000 volumes are issued from American presses yearly, not to mention those of England and other European countries. Of these we can purchase only about 2,000 titles. Of the remainder some are eliminated by their heavy cost, as in the case of =editions de luxe= and most works intended for wealthy collectors; some because of their class, such as technical works on law and medicine, which we are leaving to the special local libraries devoted to these subjects; and some because they are obviously below standard, being either untrustworthy, trivial or objectionable. There remains a very considerable number, any one of which we might purchase but only a certain proportion of which we can buy with the funds at our disposal. From these we try to select the best, judging from the standpoint of a high-grade public library. Some of the considerations that affect our decision are, first, public demand, to which we always give heed unless it is obviously uninformed; secondly, a desire to strengthen our collection in weak points; and thirdly, expert advice, oral or printed, volunteered or specially asked. Here in St. Louis, we are profiting by the services of numerous experts in special subjects, which are freely given as a public service, and we scan carefully every bit of expert testimony regarding the availability of books contained in the bulletins of other libraries and in other current lists and bibliographies. Trade lists and catalogues of all kinds are checked up with our own to see what we lack, and the result is the assemblage of a list of wants far larger than we can purchase. The final selection from these is apt to leave behind some things that we ought to buy, but it is unlikely to include anything that could well have been left out, considering our special conditions and needs. The final word in selection rests with a committee of the Board; but for ordinary current purchases, and unless some point involving the larger policies of selection is to be settled, this committee usually allows the librarian to exercise his own judgment. Besides the sources of selection already mentioned, books on approval are received in considerable quantities, sometimes being sent voluntarily by dealers or individuals, sometimes requested by the library.”