The Bible in Public Libraries

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 21, 1911

The Bible in Public Libraries

As illustrating the extent to which the Bible is used in connection with public libraries, it is stated that in 1907 Mayor Gaynor visited the public library of Great Barrington, Mass. He called for a Bible to verify some quotation which he desired to use. He was greatly surprised to find no Bible in the library. Afterward he donated a copy to the institution, and wrote on the fly-leaf, “I have found a great many libraries which lacked a great many books, but never before have I found one like this that lacked the Great Book.” Fourteen years later, in July of this year, it is stated that he visited the same library and called for the Bible which he had donated to the institution, and found, according to the records of the library, that the book had never been called for.

From this incident, of course, we can not judge of the use of the Bible by the people of Great Barrington. Doubtless the majority of the people in that town, the same as those of every community, have Bibles in their own homes. It is to be believed they consult them more often than the one which Mayor Gaynor placed in their library.