Before the Act of 1919, more than two-fifths of the population of these islands, which means practically those living outside the towns and urban districts, were entirely without a library service. A few attempts had been made, with various degrees of success, to found small libraries or contrive methods of circulating collections of books in the villages. Such were the library of the Lancashire and Cheshire Union, inaugurated in 1847, the scheme of the Yorkshire Village Libraries Association, in 1856, and the Coats Libraries supplying many parts of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Besides these, there was an odd village library here and there, such as the excellent miniature institutes given to the inhabitants of East Claydon, Middle Claydon, and Steeple Claydon, in Buckinghamshire, by the late Sir Edmund Verney, or the library founded in a Hampshire village by the unaided efforts of the villagers themselves, which is described by Miss Sayle in her little memoir _Village Libraries_. Many other rural libraries have flourished for a time, and then decayed, leaving no history. Professor Adams found that of the total population of the United Kingdom in 1911 not more than 57 per cent. resided within library areas. He contrasted the library provision in different parts of the country in the following table:-- --------+-------------------+--------------------+--------------------- | Total | Population in | Percentage | Population, 1911. | Library Districts. | of Total Population. --------+-------------------+--------------------+--------------------- England | 34,194,205 | 21,103,317 | 62 Wales | 2,025,202 | 938,303 | 46 Scotland| 4,760,904 | 2,403,283 | 50 Ireland | 4,390,219 | 1,245,766 | 28 --------+-------------------+--------------------+--------------------- | 45,370,530 | 25,690,669 | 57 --------+-------------------+--------------------+--------------------- “These figures,” he remarks, “would in themselves suggest what is an outstanding feature of the present situation, the fact that libraries are chiefly in the larger town areas, while the smaller towns and country districts remain to a great extent unprovided for.”