Page:Library Legislation - Yust - 1921.djvu/5

 IX

LIBRARY LEGISLATION

WILLIAM F. YUST

Library legislation in the United States is of three kinds, national, state, and municipal. National legislation, which is not treated in this paper, relates mainly to such subjects as book postage, the importation of books, the distribution of government documents, and to libraries which are under federal control. Federal aid to small city and rural libraries is under consideration. Municipal legislation is the local application of state law and will therefore be considered only as a part of the general subject.

State legislation in regard to libraries began with the South Carolina act of 1700. Numerous parochial libraries "for publicke use" had been established in the cities of the colonies from Boston to Charleston by the Rev. Thomas Bray. South Carolina had one of these lending libraries and was the first to provide for its protection and regulation. In 1712 a supplemental act was passed because "the unrestrained liberty hath already proved very prejudicial to the said library, several of the books being lost and others damnified."

Stages in the development of legislation.—Legislation on libraries as on other well-established institutions of society exhibits an evolutionary progress. Writers like Dr. H. A. Homes, W. I. Fletcher, and W. R. Eastman have noted certain