=Traveling Libraries.=—In order to carry the advantages of the public library system to the residents of rural districts and villages, a system of traveling libraries has been introduced into most of the states. New York was the first to adopt this system, which it did in 1892 at the instance of Melvil Dewey, then State Librarian. The plan was to send a number of small libraries, each containing one hundred carefully selected volumes, which were lent for six months at a time to “stations” from which requests had been received. In 1895 Michigan and Iowa introduced the system as a part of the work of their state libraries and in the following year a traveling library system for one county was established through private generosity. The Wisconsin Free Library Commission soon took it up and developed it for the whole state. In some states where the traveling libraries have not been fostered by state aid, the work has been carried on by the women’s clubs, as for example in Colorado. In Michigan application for traveling libraries can be made by study clubs, Epworth leagues, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A., Sunday schools, farmers’ clubs, granges, reading circles, etc. The titles are selected from printed finding lists, and the books go by freight at the expense of the borrower. If books on a special topic are desired, the request should be filed by May 1st with the State Librarian in order to receive them in the fall. The State Library has also a loan collection of pictures, reproductions of the best examples of ancient and modern art. The unframed pictures are loaned to art clubs, while the framed ones are loaned to schools to be kept on their walls from three to six months. CHAPTER II. =ORGANIZATION OF A LIBRARY.= The organization of the average library consists of the following component parts: