Library Work with Children Part 32

The library in a summer playground serves a double purpose; it supplies books in a district not otherwise reached by the library and it acts as a lure to the use of the main library. If the books are attractive, the children will follow them to the main library and thus become permanent borrowers. So it is plain that the books we place in our summer playgrounds must be of the most popular type. Easy books, picture books, fairy tales, stories, histories, books of travel, and books on games and manual arts are the ones most in demand. A knowledge of the district in which the playground is located is also necessary. If the children have a school library and are accustomed to reading, the books sent to the playground will differ from the kind sent to one in a foreign district where little reading has been done.

As the library room is invariably used for other work on other days, the books must be locked up. A satisfactory solution of this is a built-in bookcase with adjustable doors which may easily be lifted from their sockets and set aside when access to the books is desired, and may be replaced and padlocked when the day's work is done. The arrangement of the room and the charging desk should always be made so that the exit can be very carefully supervised.

In order to conserve our time so that we may have leisure to give attention to individual children, we must arrange to have the mechanical part of the work as systematic as possible. Playground library work is a life of stress and strain. Everything comes in rushes. There is always a mad dash for the door as soon as the library is opened, for each child is sure that unless he is the first he will miss the good book that he is convinced is there.

This rush of course makes it difficult to discharge the books, slip them, shelve them, and at the same time charge the ones the children have selected, to say nothing of helping the children in their choice. We have therefore found it best to collect the books beforehand, discharge them and distribute the cards among the children before opening the library doors. When the Newark system is used, however, and a child has drawn two books, this may result in considerable confusion, for the books may be separated and one may not be sure that both charges on the card should be cancelled. When our first playground library in Seattle opened, we used the Browne system of charging and this proved so satisfactory that we have continued to use it in the others.

According to this method, each borrower receives two cards. When a book is borrowed, the book slip is drawn and put with one of the borrower's cards in a small envelope. It is readily seen how easy it is to avoid complications when the books are gathered before the opening of the library, for the slip of each one is with the borrower's card, and if the borrower returns no book, no card is given him. After the books are discharged and shelved and the cards distributed, the children are admitted. In this way much of the confusion incident to opening is eliminated and more time is secured to help the children make their choice.

In order that the care of the books may not interfere with the children's play, we have devised a checking system by means of which the children may leave their books in charge of the librarian until they are ready to go home. This not only allows the children freedom in play but obviates the possibility of loss of books through their being left on benches and swings. The playground is a place of freedom and fun and good fellows.h.i.+p, and the library's rules should be made as inconspicuous as possible.

The librarian should be not only willing, but anxious to enter into the life of the playground as far as her duties permit. One way in which she will be able to make herself popular not only with the children but with the instructors is by means of story telling. Joseph Lee says that story telling is the only pa.s.sive occupation permissible on a playground and the librarian thus finds her work ready to her hand. She is able to advertise her books, make friends with the children is a most effective way, and at the same time relieve the playground instructor of a duty which is sometimes found irksome.

She must remember that she is an integral part of that playground, not a weekly visitor, and she must throw herself into the interests and activities of the children with all the enthusiasm at her command.

THE SELECTION OF BOOKS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARIES AND THEIR INTRODUCTION TO CHILDREN

In the following article taken from the Library Journal of October, 1882, Mr. S. S. Green says that his "princ.i.p.al object is to show how books are selected and how children are interested in books in the Sunday-school in which I am a teacher." It is interesting to know that in a recent letter written to the editor in regard to the use of this article Mr. Green says: "As I read it over, it seems to me that the advice given in it is still much needed." Samuel Swett Green was born in Worcester in 1837, and was graduated from Harvard in 1858. In 1890 he was appointed by the Governor of Ma.s.sachusetts an original member of the Free Public Library Commission. He was one of the founders of the A.

L. A., and also a life member, and was chosen its president in 1891. From 1867 to 1871 he was a trustee of the Worcester Public Library, and he was librarian from 1871 to 1909, when he was made librarian emeritus. Mr. Green has published several books on library subjects.

It is gratifying to notice that the movement started several years ago by certain ladies connected with the religious body known as Unitarian Congregationalists, who organized themselves under the name of the Ladies' Commission for the purpose of reading children's books and preparing lists of them suitable for Sunday-school libraries, has led within two or three years to the formation of a similar organization in the Protestent Episcopal Church, and more recently to that of one among Orthodox Congregationalists.

Individual clergymen and others have also lately shown a great interest in the work of selecting and disseminating good lists of books suitable for Sunday-school libraries.

It is unnecessary to say that it was high time that this work was entered upon earnestly. The officers of the more intelligently administered public libraries had come to reject, almost without examination, books prepared especially for the use of Sunday-schools, and without consideration to refuse works admission to their shelves issued by certain publishers whose business it was to provide for the wants of Sunday-school libraries.

It had become obvious, among other facts, that the same objections that were made to providing sensational stories for boys and girls in public libraries, lay equally against the provision of books usually placed in Sunday-school libraries.

The one cla.s.s of books was generally moral in tone, but trashy in its representations of real life; the other, religious in tone, but equally trashy in its presentations of pictures of what purported to be the life of boys and girls.

Both cla.s.ses of books were good in their intention, both similarly unwholesome.

Gratifying, however, as are the results of this movement, there is something more that needs to be done. Libraries must be purified from objectionable literature; new books must be properly selected; but after this kind of work has been done, a very important work remains to be attended to, namely, that of helping children to find out the books in the library that will interest them and pleasantly instruct them. Every child should be aided to get books suited to its age, its immediate interests, and its needs.

The Library Journal, in its number for June gave the t.i.tle of a catalogue of the books in the Sunday-school library of the Unitarian church in Winchester, Ma.s.sachusetts. In this catalogue short notes are added to the t.i.tles of some of the books to show, when the t.i.tles do not give information enough, what subjects are really treated of in the books annotated.

Something beside this is desirable, however. Children need much personal aid in selecting books.

I have been conservant of the work of a minister who, about a year since, after examining carefully all the books in the Sunday-school library of his church, and after taking out such volumes as he considered particularly objectionable and adding others which he knew to be good, set himself the task of talking with the children of his school about their reading. The school has a superintendent, but he, as minister, also takes an interest in it and has spent the time he has given to it, recently, in talking with the children, one at a time, about books, finding out from them their tastes and what they had been reading, and recommending to them wholesome books to read and interesting lines of investigation to pursue.

My princ.i.p.al object in writing this article is to show how books are selected and how children are interested in books in the Sunday-school in which I am a teacher. It seems to me that its methods are wise and worthy of being followed elsewhere. The Sunday-school referred to is that connected with the Second Congregational (1st Unitarian) Church in Worcester, Ma.s.sachusetts.

Thirteen or fourteen years ago the library of this Sunday- school was carefully examined and weeded. Every book was read by competent persons, and the poorest books were put out of the library. This weeding process has gone on year by year; as new books have been added others not representing a high standard of merit have been removed from the shelves. Great care has been taken to examine conscientiously new books before putting them into the library. The result is that the Sunday- school now has an excellent library. It has found the catalogue of the Ladies'

Commission of great aid in making selections, but has not found all the books recommended in it adapted to its purposes. A competent committee has always read the books recommended by the Commission, so as to make sure that such volumes only were selected as would meet the actual needs of the Sunday-school we have to provide for.

Books are now bought as published. A contribution of about a hundred dollars is taken up annually. This money is put into the hands of the Treasurer of the Library Committee, and the sub-committee on purchases get from a book-store such books as it seems probable will answer our purposes, read them carefully, and buy such as prove desirable. The sub-committee consists of two highly cultivated young ladies. When they have selected two or three books they make notes of their contents. The books are then placed on a table in the minister's room, and the superintendent of the school calls attention to them--reading to scholars a short description of each book prepared by the sub-committee, and inviting the scholars to examine the books after the close of the current session of the school or before the opening of the school the following Sunday. After these two opportunities have been given to the children to look at the books and handle them, they are put into the library and are ready to be taken out.

This sub-committee has taken another important step within a year or two. The members have read over again all the books in the library and made notes descriptive of their contents, and the school has elected one of the ladies as consulting librarian. She sits at a little table in the school-room during the sessions of the school, and with her notes before her receives every teacher or scholar who wishes to consult about the selection of a book, and gives whatever a.s.sistance is asked for in picking out interesting and suitable books.

She is kept very busy and is doing a work of great value.

It is gratifying to me to find that this work of bringing the librarian into personal contact with readers and of establis.h.i.+ng pleasant personal relations between them, which has been so fruitful in good results in the public library under my charge in Worcester, has been extended to Sunday-school work with so much success.

THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM IN BROOKLYN

The interesting and unusual work of the library of the Children's Museum of the Brooklyn Inst.i.tute is described by its librarian, Miriam S. Draper, in an article published in the Library Journal for April, 1910. Miss Draper says: "Contrary to the general impression [the library] is not composed entirely of children's books, but of a careful selection of the best recent books upon natural history in the broadest use of the term."

Miriam S. Draper was born in Roxbury, Ma.s.s., and taught for a brief period in the public schools there. She studied in Mr.

Fletcher's school at Amherst in the summer of 1893, and was graduated from the Pratt Inst.i.tute Library School in 1895. In the next five years she filled the following temporary positions: Cataloguer, Public Library, Ilion, N. Y.; Organizer, first branch of the Queens Borough Library at Long Island City; Librarian of a branch of the Pratt Inst.i.tute Free Library until its discontinuance; Cataloguer, Antioch College Library, Yellow Springs, Ohio; one of the Cla.s.sifiers in the University of Pennsylvania Library during its reorganization. When the Children's Museum was opened in 1900, she became its librarian, the position she now holds.

The Children's Museum may be considered unique, because so far as we know, there is no other museum in this country or elsewhere that is devoted primarily to children and young people; in which a whole building is set apart for the purpose of interesting them in the beautiful in Nature, in the history of their country, in the customs and costumes of other nations, and the elementary principles of astronomy and physics, by means of carefully mounted specimens, attractive models, naturally colored charts, excellent apparatus, and finely ill.u.s.trated books. Many of the children come to the museum so often that they feel that it is their very own, and take great pride as well as pleasure in introducing their parents and relatives, so that they may enjoy the museum and library with them. It may be called a new departure in work with children, for although it was started ten years ago, it was for some time in the nature of an experiment, but has now fully exemplified its reasons for existence.

The Children's Museum is pleasantly located in a beautiful little park, which adds greatly to its attractiveness and educational value. While situated in a residential portion of the city, amid the homes of well-to-do people, it is quite accessible by car lines to other parts of the city. In fact, cla.s.ses of children accompanied by their teachers frequently come from remote sections of Brooklyn, and from the East Side of New York. We are within walking distance of thickly populated sections, such as Brownsville, and large numbers of Jewish and Italian children avail themselves of the privileges offered. It is hoped that in time each section of the city may have its own little Children's Museum, as a center of interest and incentive to broader knowledge.

We are well aware that excellent work has been done for children during the past ten years in many other museums, and perhaps the first beginning in this direction was made by the Children's Room in the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution in Was.h.i.+ngton. The American Museum of Natural History in New York City provides an instructor to explain some of its beautiful and interesting exhibits to children, and a similar work has been done in the Milwaukee Museum. Children have been made especially welcome in other museums, such as those at Charleston, S. C., St. Johnsbury, Vt., and the Stepney Borough Museum in London. All librarians are so familiar with the excellent work done in the Children's Departments of public libraries, which have developed so rapidly in almost every town and city throughout the country during the past decade, that it is not necessary to refer at length to them.

Suffice it to say, that the work of the Children's Museum and its library are quite different in plan and scope from any of the museums and libraries to which reference has been made.

Before describing in detail the work of this unique little museum, it may be of interest to know something of the early history of an inst.i.tution which had its origin in connection with the first free library in Brooklyn.

As long ago as August, 1823, a company of gentlemen met together to discuss the question of establis.h.i.+ng a library for apprentices in the "Village of Brooklyn." Shortly after, the "Apprentices'

Library a.s.sociation" was organized "for the exclusive benefit of the apprentices of the village forever." The library was first opened in a small building on Fulton street, on Nov. 15, 1823, On the Fourth of July, 1825, the corner-stone of a new library building was laid, on which occasion General Lafayette took part in the formal exercises.

It is interesting to note that a year or two later, courses of lectures in "natural philosophy" and chemistry were given for the benefit of members; and the early records tell us that in ill.u.s.trating a lecture on electricity the instructor, "Mr.

Steele, showed a metallic conductor used by Dr. Franklin in making experiments." Later, lectures on astronomy were given for the benefit of readers, and drawing cla.s.ses established for a similar purpose.

A few years later the Library a.s.sociation sold its building and removed to Was.h.i.+ngton street, where it remained for a long period of years. In 1843, the a.s.sociation was reorganized under the name of the Brooklyn Inst.i.tute, and privileges were extended to "minors of both s.e.xes," the library being called at that time the "Youth's Free Library." At the same time the custom was established of awarding premiums to readers on Was.h.i.+ngton's Birthday. Silver medals and prizes of books were given for the best essays upon geography, natural history, hydraulics, architecture, and history, as well as the best pieces of workmans.h.i.+p and most accurate mechanical drawings presented by readers.

It seems a notable fact that courses of lectures, which have had a prominent part in the work of the Children's Museum, were also an important factor in the earlier educational work connected with the library; and also that a "Library fund," established sixty or more years ago, still provides all books and periodicals for the Children's Museum Library, with the addition of a small annual gift from the state of New York, the cost of maintenance being a.s.sumed by the city of New York.

The establishment of the Children's Museum came about in this wise. After a serious fire in the Was.h.i.+ngton street building, and the subsequent sale of its site, the Brooklyn Inst.i.tute of Arts and Sciences secured an indefinite lease of a fine old mansion located in Bedford Park, which had been recently acquired by the city. The collections of birds, minerals, and other natural history objects were placed on exhibition for a few years in this old mansion, and the library, which now numbered several thousand volumes, was stored in the same building. On the completion of the first section of the new Museum of the Brooklyn Inst.i.tute of Arts and Sciences, in 1897, the major part of the natural history collections were installed in the new museum.

At length the idea occurred to one of the curators that the old building could be utilized to advantage by establis.h.i.+ng a museum which should be especially devoted to the education and enjoyment of young people. The first beginnings were made by the purchase of natural history charts, botanical and zoological models, and several series of vivid German lithographs, representing historical events ranging from the Battle of Marathon to the Franco-German War. Some collections of sh.e.l.ls, minerals, birds and insects were added, and the small inception. of the Children's Museum was opened to the public Dec. 16, 1899, in a few rooms which had been fitted up for the purpose. A large part of the Brooklyn Inst.i.tute Library, which had been stored in the building, and which was no longer useful here, was sent to other libraries in the South, leaving such books as were suitable to form the nucleus of the Children's Museum Library as well as the Library of the Central Museum.

With such modest beginnings the Children's Museum has developed within ten years, until the present building has become entirely inadequate for present needs. The collections now fill eleven exhibition rooms and adjacent halls; the lecture room is frequently overcrowded, the lecture being sometimes repeated again and again; and the s.p.a.ce set apart for the library has long been taxed to its utmost. There are no reserve shelves for books, and when new books are added the least-used books are necessarily taken out and placed in temporary storage in a dark office on another floor. In busy times after school hours and on holidays, the reading room is frequently filled to overflowing, many of the children being obliged to stand, or perhaps turn away for lack of even standing room.

The number of visitors is steadily increasing, and numbered 14,637 in the month of February, 1910; just about one-third of this number, or 4,925, made use of the library during the month.

A new building is therefore urgently needed, and it is ardently hoped that a new fireproof building which is adequate for the purpose may soon be provided, to relieve the great stress now so apparent in many parts of the building, as well as to preserve its interesting collections and valuable library.

It seems evident that an inst.i.tution which stands primarily for earnest endeavor to awaken an interest in Nature, is really necessary, especially in cities where many children live so closely crowded together that they hardly know what wild flowers are, and whose familiarity with birds is confined princ.i.p.ally to the English sparrow.

Moreover, the nature study of the public school course, though good as far as it goes, is too often perfunctory, either from lack of interest or enthusiasm on the part of teachers, it being an added subject to an already crowded curriculum. Another seeming drawback is that the nature work is attempted during the first few years only, and then is dropped entirely for the remainder of the elementary course. A comparatively small number of children continue their studies in high schools; and even so, the study of botany and zoology is made so largely systematic and structural that any desire of becoming acquainted with the birds and flowers and trees is frequently eliminated.

Although entirely independent of the Board of Education it is along just such lines that the Children's Museum is able to make a place for itself in supplementing the work of the school. Its aims have been defined by the curator to be as follows:

1. To employ objects attractive and interesting to children, and at the same time helpful to teachers, in every branch of nature study. 2. To secure an arrangement at once pleasing to the eye and expressive of a fundamental truth. 3. To avoid confusion from the use of too many specimens and the consequent crowding in cases.