In the annual reports various statistics have been given of the visits to the News and Reading Rooms, and the number of books issued from the Lending and Reference Libraries, but as there was no uniform system of compilation, and the methods employed were not stated, an accurate statistical comparison between the past and present work of the Library is impossible. Suffice it to say that at no time of its history has it been so well equipped in all directions, and at no time has it stood higher in public esteem than it does at present. The old City Library possesses treasures befitting an old English "City of Churches," and the present Public Library fulfils the general purposes of a modern rate-supported Library. The Lending Library consists of about 18,000 volumes in all departments of knowledge, from which some 6,000 adults and juveniles borrow about 110,000 volumes annually. The Reading Room and News Room contain a careful selection of the leading newspapers, and a large variety of the best periodicals. The Reference Library contains about 24,000 volumes, including sets of the publications of several learned societies, and is being brought up to date by the purchase of recent standard works of reference. The Local Collection, which for completeness probably equals that of any other county, has a rich store of material, valuable not only to the antiquary, but to all those who desire to know something of the literature and art of the county, or its natural and geological history, or the part played by Norfolk and Norwich in the general history of England. Further, the Library, being encyclopaedic in character, may be regarded as a bureau of information, and as such it is playing an important part in the educational, industrial and social life of the City. _Printed by Jarrold & Sons_, _Ltd._, _Norwich_, _England_. Footnotes: {1} A. Jessopp's Norwich (Diocesan histories), 1884, p. 155. {2a} Leland's "Laboryouse Journey and Serche of Johan Leylande for Englandes Antiquitees," enlarged by John Bale. 1549.