Page:Library Administration, 1898.djvu/59

 (c) Mixed Committees, proceedings subject to confirmation ....... 60

(d) Mixed Committees, proceedings not subject to confirmation ....... 69

The institution of mixed committees was, of course, designed to secure the services of literary or other cultured men, to whom the bustle of municipal politics is mostly distasteful ; but that end is frequently sacrificed to a supposed necessity of paying compliments to local magnates, giving every religious denomination a finger in the pie, and so forth. These latter elements may be successfully eliminated when sub-committees are formed, as they usually are in the case of libraries in large towns. Smaller towns, it is to be feared, do not furnish, as a rule, either knowledge or breadth of sympathy. In Scotland the committees have a good chance of a better constitution, being composed in equal proportions of members of the town council and members elected by them, the latter being to all intents and purposes life-members.

The National Library of France is governed without trustees. The whole management is entrusted to a single responsible person, acting under the Minister of Public Instruction, the Administrator-General, whose appointment is made and may be revoked by the Chief of the Republic. He must reside in the library, and may not absent himself without obtaining leave. He sends in a yearly report to the Minister on the condition of the