JOHN CRERAR LIBRARY, The, a .free public library, established in Chicago, Ill., in 1894, in accordance with the provisions of the will of the late John Crerar. Mr. Crerar, a prominent merchant of the city, had no near relatives and left $600,000 in personal bequests, nearly $1,000,000 to many of the charities of the city and the remainder of his estate, then valued at not quite $2,500,000 to the library. In 1917 the library had a total income of $235,000, of which $33 000 were spent for the increase of the library, $42,000 for rent, $83,000 for main tenance and $41,000 set aside for a building fund. Land has been purchased at the north west corner of North Michigan avenue and Randolph street, opposite the Chicago Public Library, and plans have been prepared for an 11-story building of Romanesque style. A por tion of the site will be occupied as temporary quarters until circumstances permit building.
By agreement with the other public libraries of the city, the library limits its scope to the sciences and useful arts. The field is defined and the development attained is indicated by the following statement of the departments es tablished and the number of bound volumes in each on 1 June 1918: Social sciences, 103,035; physical sciences, 30,345; natural sciences, 37, 079; medical sciences, 71,869; applied sciences, 77,795; general works, 53,233. Such a library of course attracts special classes of readers: of these, physicians are the most numerous, en gineers second, chemists third and teachers fourth. The library is especially strong in sets of periodicals and society transactions and also contains special collections on aviation, crema tion, eye and ear and medical history.