A Library Primer Part 23

CHAPTER L

Children's room

In recent years a number of the larger libraries of the country have given up a portion of the delivery room, or a separate room entire, to the use of children. All of these special arrangements for children thus far reported have been successful. The plan that seems to give the greatest satisfaction, is to place in a room opening from the delivery room, and perhaps forming in effect a part of it, the books in the library especially adapted to the use of young people up to about 14 years of age. Such of these books as are not fiction are cla.s.sified as closely as are the books in the main part of the library, and are arranged by their numbers on the shelves.

In this room the children have free access to the shelves. An attendant in charge gives special attention to the wants of the young visitors, and as far as possible gives guidance in the selection and instruction in the use of the books. A collection of reference books adapted to the young is sometimes added to the books which circulate.

Even in the very small library a corner for young people will usually be found an attractive and useful feature. It draws the young folks away from the main collection, where their presence sometimes proves an annoyance. It does not at all prevent the use, by the younger readers, of the books of the elders if they wish to use them, and it makes much easier some slight supervision, at least, of the former's reading.

CHAPTER LI

Schoolroom libraries

"Schoolroom library" is the term commonly applied to a small collection, usually about 50v., of books placed on an open shelf in a schoolroom. In a good many communities these libraries have been purchased and owned by the board of education, or the school authorities, whoever they may be. If they are the property of the school board they commonly remain in the schoolroom in which they are placed. As the children in that room are changed each year, and as the collections selected for the different grades are usually different, the child as he pa.s.ses through the rooms comes into close contact with a new collection each year. There are some advantages in having the owners.h.i.+p and control of these libraries remain entirely in the hands of the school board and the superintendent. The library, however, is generally the place in the community in which is to be found the greatest amount of information about books in general, the purchasing of them, the proper handling of them in fitting them for the shelves, cataloging, binding, etc., and the selection of those best adapted to young people. It is quite appropriate therefore, that, as is in many cities the case, the public library should supply the schools with these schoolroom libraries from its own shelves, buying therefor special books and often many copies of the same book.

If schoolroom libraries do come from the public library, they can with very little difficulty be changed several times during the school year. With a little care on the part of the librarian and teachers, the collection of any given room can be by experience and observation better and better adapted to the children in that room as time goes on.

There are many ways of using the schoolroom library. The books forming it should stand on open shelves accessible to the pupils whenever the teacher gives permission. They may be lent to the children to take home. Thus used they often lead both children and parents to read more and better books than before, and to use the larger collections of the public library. They may be used for collateral reading in the schoolroom itself. Some of them may be read aloud by the teacher. They may serve as a reference library in connection with topics in history, geography, science, and other subjects.

Wherever introduced these libraries have been very successful.

CHAPTER LII

Children's home libraries

In a few cities the following plan for increasing the amount of good reading among the children of the poorer and less educated has been tried with great success. It is especially adapted to communities which are quite distant from the public library or any of its branches. It is, as will be seen, work which is in the spirit of the college settlement plan. The "home libraries," if they do no more, serve as a bond of common interest between the children and their parents, and the persons who wish to add to their lives something of interest and good cheer. As a matter of fact they do more than this.

They lead not a few to use the library proper, and they give to at least a few boys and girls an opportunity for self-education such as no other inst.i.tution yet devised can offer.

A home library is a small collection of books, usually only 15 or 20, with one or two young folks' periodicals, put up in a box with locked cover. The box is so made that it will serve as a bookcase and can be hung on a wall or stood on the floor or a table. In the neighborhood in which it is to be placed a group of four or five children is found--or perhaps a father or a mother--who will agree to look after the books. To one of these, called the librarian, is given the key of the box, and the box itself is placed in the spot selected; perhaps a hallway or a living room. Under a few very simple regulations the librarian lends the books in the home library to the young people of the neighborhood. If the experiment is successful the first set of books is changed for another, and the work continues. Or perhaps the library is enlarged; and perhaps even grows into a permanent inst.i.tution.

CHAPTER LIII

Literary clubs and libraries

Evva L. Moore, Withers' public library

[Public Libraries, June, 1897]

In your community are a number of literary clubs; if there are not, it lies within the power of the librarian to create them: an evening club composed of men and women; a ladies' club for the study of household economics; a young ladies' club for the study of music or some literary topic; a club for young men in which to study sociology; a novel club for the study of the world's great fiction. For const.i.tutions suitable for such clubs, account of administration, organization, etc., consult the Extension bulletin no. 11 of the university of the state of New York, and Bulletin no. 1, June, 1896, of the Michigan State library, and List of books for women and girls and their clubs.

The study club is one of the best means of extending the influence of your library; of securing the attention and hold of the people.

It awakens thought, arouses discussions, puts into circulation books which otherwise might stand idle on the shelves.

It is necessary to study carefully the courses of study of the different clubs, and to do this the programs must be on file in the library. If they are printed (and encourage this) so much the better; if in ma.n.u.script they can be used with small inconvenience.

If the program is prepared week by week only, make arrangements to have it sent immediately to the library; also watch your local paper for notices.

No doubt the officers of the various clubs come to you for suggestions when arranging the course of study for the year, and to inquire as to the resources of the library on the subject in hand, in order that every effort may be made to fill the gaps in the library collection.

When a request of this kind comes, suggestions and a.s.sistance may be obtained from the two bulletins mentioned above, as, in addition to information along the lines of organization, they contain outlines of study.

Harper's bazaar devotes a page each week to club women and club work.

University-extension bulletins and courses of study offer numerous suggestions.

The literary clubs of the smaller towns without libraries, within a radius of a few miles of your own small town, copying after their more pretentious sister along literary lines, should have your encouragement and a.s.sistance. Lend all the books that you can spare on as easy terms as are compatible with your rules; in short, inst.i.tute traveling libraries on a small scale.

CHAPTER LIV

Museums, lectures, etc.

A museum in connection with the library, either historical or scientific, or an art gallery, may be made a source of attraction, and of much educational value. The collecting of antiquities, or natural history specimens, or rare bindings, or ancient books or ma.n.u.scripts, is generally taken up by societies organized for such purposes. The library should try to bring these collections into such relations with itself as to add to its own attractiveness, and to make more interesting and instructive the collections.

A library can often very happily advertise itself, and encourage the use of its books, by establis.h.i.+ng a series of lectures.

Entertainments, somewhat of the nature of receptions, or exhibits of the library's treasures in the library itself, will sometimes add to the inst.i.tution's popularity, and will always afford a good excuse for sending to leading people in the community a note reminding them of the library's existence and perhaps of its needs.

CHAPTER LV

Rules for the care of photographs

Henry W. Kent, Slater museum, Norwich, Conn.

I. Accessioning

The _accession book_ should be ruled in columns under the following headings:

A, Accession number; B, Author; C, t.i.tle; D, Gallery; E, Photographer and place of publication; F, Date of publication; G, Photographer's number; H, Process; I, Size of print; J, Size of mount; K, Cost; L, Cost of mounting; M, Remarks.

A Accession number. The consecutive Museum number to be either written or printed. This column should be used to give the date of accession.