A Library Primer (1899)/Chapter XLIII

As far as the welfare of the library is concerned, the money spent in publishing an elaborate annual report can often be better invested in a few popular books, or, better still, in a few attractively printed statements of progress and of needs, distributed through the community on special occasions. If there must be an annual report for the general public—which will not read it—it should be brief and interesting, without many figures and without many complaints. Do not think it necessary, in making up your report, to adopt the form or the list of contents usually followed by libraries. Give the necessary figures as briefly as may be, and adapt the rest of the report to the library and its community.