Chapter XIX: Section 6 (4)

The successful elimination of these books, together with the study of the children's reading as a whole, suggested within the next two or three years that other books could be eliminated or restricted without shock to the readers. On the pedagogical basis, certain types of books for young children were judged; on the social basis, certain types of books for older children, with results as follows:

1. The elimination of word books for little children, and the
basing of their reading upon their inherent love for folk
lore and verse.

2. The elimination of interpreted folk lore, such as many of
the modern kindergarten versions.

3. The elimination of the modern fairy tale, except as it has
vitality and individual charm, as have those of George
MacDonald.

4. The elimination of travel trivial in treatment and in
series form, such as the Little Cousins.

5. The restriction of an old and recognized series to its
original number of titles, such as the Pepper series. The
disapproval of all new books obviously the first in a
series.

6. Lessening the number of titles by authors who are unduly
popular, such as restricting the use of Tomlinson to one
series only.

7. The elimination of those stories in which the child
character is not within a normal sphere; for instance, the
child novel, such as Mrs. Jamison's stories.

8. The restriction of the story of the successful poor boy to
those within the range of possibility, as are the Otis
books, largely.

Without analyzing the weaknesses of all these types, I wish to say a word about the series form for story and classed books. The series must be judged not only by content, but it must be recognized that by the admission of such a form of literature the tendency of the child toward independence of book judgment and book selection is lessened and the way paved for the weakest form of adult literature.

The last policies regarding book selection developed on the same principles within the past three years have been these:

1. The elimination of periodical literature for young
children, such as the Children's Magazine and Little
Folks, since their reading can be varied more wholesomely
without it.

2. The elimination, or use in small numbers, of a type of
history and biography which lacks scholarly, or even
serious treatment, such as the Pratt histories.

3. Lessening the number of titles of miscellaneous collections
of folk lore in which there are objectionable individual
tales; as, for instance, buying only the Blue, Red, Green
and Yellow fairy books.

4. Recognizing "blind alleys" in children's fiction, such as
the boarding school story and the covert love story, and
buying no new titles of those types.

Reports of reading sequences from each children's room have furnished the basis for further study of children's reading for the past seven months. These have been discussed and compared by the workers, and are now in shape for a working outline of reading sequences to be made and reported back to each room, to be used, amplified and reported on again in the spring.

While those books which are no longer used may have been at one time necessary to hold a child from reading something poorer, we did not lose children through raising the standard, and the duplication of doubtful books in the children's room is less heavy now than it was a few years ago. Also there are more than twice as many children who are reading, and almost three times as many books being read as there were nine years ago, while the number of children of the city has increased but 72 per cent. Furthermore, the proportion of children of environmental limitations has by no means diminished, and the foreign population is much the same--more than 75 per cent. Of course, the elimination of some books was accomplished because there were better books on these subjects, but the general result was largely brought about because in the establishment of these higher standards =we did not exceed the standards of those who were working with the children.= The standards which they brought to the work, and which they deduced themselves from their experience, were strengthened through Round Table discussion, where each worker measured her results by those of the others and thereby recognized the need of constant, but careful experimentation. A children's department can not reach standards of reading which in the judgment of the librarians working with the children are beyond the possibility of attainment, for with them rests entirely the delicate task of the adjustment of the book to the child. A staff of children's librarians of good academic education, the best library training, a true vision of the social principles, a broad knowledge of children's literature, is the greatest asset for any library maintaining children's work.

But it is true inversely that in raising the standards of the children the standards of the workers were raised. By this, I mean that there were methods of book presentation in use whereby the worker saw farther and deeper into the mentality of the child and understood his social instincts better. This has been evidenced in the larger duplication of the better books. The methods are those which recognize group interest and group association as a social need of childhood. Through unifying and intensifying the thoughts and sympathies of the children by giving them, when in association with their own playmates, a common experience of living in great and universal thought in the story hour, the mediocre was bridged and both the child and the worker reached a higher plane of experience. By giving children a chance for group expression of something which has fundamental group interest, not only the children recognized that books may be cornerstones for social intercourse and that there is connection between social conduct as expressed in books and social obligation, but, what is also vastly important, the worker learned that when children are at the age of group activity and expression they can often be more permanently influenced through their group relations than as individuals.

Through the recognition of the principle that there are standards of book use with individual children and other standards of book appeal for groups of children, it was shown that the organization of the work as a whole must be such that all avenues of presentation of literature could be fully developed. It was seen that far less than with the individual child could we afford to give a group of children a false experience or impotent interest, and that material for group presentation, methods of group presentation and the social elements which are evinced in groups of children should receive an amount of attention and study which would lead to the surest and soundest results. This could be fully accomplished only by recognizing such methods as distinct functions of the department, to be maintained on sound pedagogical and social bases. In other words, that there should not only be divisions of work with children according to problems of book distribution, such as by schools and home libraries, but there must be of necessity divisions by problems of reading. Whereas, in a smaller department all divisions would center in the head, the volume of work in the library above alluded to rendered necessary the appointment of an instructor in storytelling and a supervisor of reading clubs, which has resulted in a higher specialization and a greater impetus for these phases of work than one person could have accomplished. Here we have an instance of the benefit that a large volume of work may confer upon the individual child.

With the attainment of better reading results and higher standards for the workers, it was obvious that the reading experiences of the children and the standards of the workers must be conserved, that the organization should protect the children, as far as possible, from the shock of change of workers in individual centers. Within the past two years considerable study has been given to this, and yearly written reports on the reading of children in each children's room are made, in which variations of the children's reading in that library from accepted standards, with individual instances, are usually discussed. However, the children's librarian is entirely free to report the subject from whatever angle it has impressed her most. Also a written report is made of the story hour, the program, general and special reading results, and intensity of group interest in certain types of stories. This report is supplementary to a weekly report in a prescribed form of the stories told, sources used and results. All programs used with clubs are reported and a semi-annual report made of the club work as a whole. A yearly tabulation is made of registration from public and parochial schools, giving registration in all libraries, class rooms and home libraries. By discussion and reports back to individual centers, these become bases for a wider vision of work and a wiser direction of energy with less experimentation.

The connection between work with children and the problem of the reading of intermediates, referred to in the beginning, should not be dismissed in a paragraph. However, it is only possible to give a short statement of it. Recognizing that the reading of adult books should begin in the children's room, a serious study of adult books possible for children's reading was made by the children's librarians for two summers, the reports discussed and books added to the department as the result. A second report of adult titles which children and intermediates might and do read was called for recently and from that a tentative list has been furnished both adult and children's workers for further study. The increasing number of workers in the children's department who have had general training, and in the adult work who have had special training for work with children will make such reports of much value. It may be interesting to know that fifteen of the children's librarians have had general training and six adult workers in important positions have had special training for children's work. Four years ago there were only three in children's work who had had general training and none in adult work with the special training. In order to follow the standards of children's work, there is one principle which is obvious, namely, a book disapproved as below grade for juvenile should not be accepted for general intermediate work. This is especially true of books of adventure which a boy of any age between 12 and 18 would read. It has been possible to raise the standard of books for adults in the school libraries above that of the larger libraries. This will furnish eventually another angle for the study of the problem of intermediate reading.

In conclusion, the chief influences in the establishment of right reading for children are an intensive study of the reading of children in relation to its social, moral and pedagogical worth to them, the right basis of education and training for such study on the part of the workers, the direction of such study in a way that brings about a higher and more practical standard on the part of the worker, and the conservation of her experience. These are the great services which the library should render children, and they can be most fully accomplished through departmental organization.

These papers were followed by a discussion, led by Miss Stearns and Mr. Rush, in which advice was given to those selecting children's books to eliminate, in buying new books, those which would be eliminated later, and the suggestion was made that children's librarians should enter the field of writing children's books. Dr. Bostwick of St. Louis then gave a report on

VOLUME OF CHILDREN'S WORK IN THE UNITED STATES

We may divide the history of work with children into three epochs. During the first, our libraries were realizing with increasing clearness the necessity of doing something for children that they were not doing for adults. During the second this conviction had taken the practical form of segregation, physical and mental, and its details were worked out with definiteness. In the third, in which we still are, the whole administrative work of the library for children is being systematized and co-ordinated. These three stages may be roughly styled the era of work with children, the era of the children's room and the era of the children's department. The first began, in any particular library, when that library began to do anything whatever for children that it was not doing for adults; the second, when it opened its first children's room; the third, when it co-ordinated all its children's work under one administrative head. In most libraries the first period was relatively short; the second relatively long. Some libraries began their work by establishing children's rooms, reducing the first period to zero. Some large libraries are still in the second period, never having co-ordinated their children's work. Here are the approximate dates for a few libraries:

1 2 3
Cleveland 1894 1898 1903
New York 1895 1898 1902
Pittsburgh 1898 1898 1898
St. Louis 1893 1897 1909
Milwaukee 1896 1898 ....
Chicago 1904 1904 ....
Brooklyn 1899 1899 1901
Boston 1895 1895 ....

I lay no stress on the accuracy of these dates, particularly in the first column, where in some cases they are matters of opinion. Pittsburgh appears as a unique example of a library that stepped full-fledged into all three stages at once, starting off, as soon as it began to do children's work at all, not only with a children's room, but with a definitely organized department to conduct the work.

With the idea of presenting comprehensively some idea of the volume and importance of children's work in the United States at the present time, a questionnaire was sent out to libraries (78 in all) whose total home use was 100,000 volumes or more. Of these 51 responded. These have been divided into five groups, five "very large" libraries, circulating more than 2,000,000; eight "large" ones, between one and two million; seven "medium," between half a million and a million; thirteen "small," between quarter and half a million, and eighteen "very small," from 100,000 to 250,000. The results for each of these groups have been stated separately--averaged where possible.

First, regarding the total volume of work. The answers to the questions show that in 51 of the 78 largest public libraries in the country, graded by circulation--libraries containing altogether nearly 9,000,000 books and circulating a total of over 30 millions--there are now 1,147,000 volumes intended especially for children. Children drew out during the last year 11,200,000 volumes for home use. Volumes for children added during the year numbered 280,000. These libraries have 231 rooms devoted entirely to children and 180 used by them in part, with a combined seating capacity of 15,900. Classroom libraries are furnished for the children in the schools, by 31 libraries reporting, to the number of 5,000.

Children in 46 libraries reporting hold altogether 413,000 library cards. There are 42 supervisors of children's work, with numerous clerical assistants and staffs of 473 persons, of whom at least 177 are qualified children's librarians, 108 are graduates of library schools, and 54 have had partial courses.

The general conclusion deducible from the statistics gathered seems to be that in some ways library work with children has become standardized while in others it has not. Standards, whether permanent or not, we can not tell, have been reached or approximated in the number of books devoted to children's use and, in general, in the proportion of the library's resources, time and energy that is given to this branch of the work. But when we come to the specific number of assistants assigned to it, their supervision, their pay and the grade of experience and training required of them, then we all part company. Not only is there no general agreement here, but some of the discrepancies are so large that we can ascribe them only to the fact that we are still in the experimental stage.

For instance, to take first the fairly uniform or standardized conditions, the fraction of the stock of books allotted to children is about one-fifth in the larger libraries and decreases slightly in the smaller; in the very small it is about one-eighth. The proportion of juvenile books added yearly is much larger; it varies from nearly one-half in the very large libraries down to one-fourth in the very small. This would seem to be a result of the increasing stress laid on children's work. If this proportion is maintained in the annual purchases, that in the total stock may approximate to it in time, although we can not be sure of this without knowing the ratio of the life of a children's book to that of an adult book. The children's books are doubtless shorter-lived, and this would tend to keep the proportion down in the permanent stock. The circulation is still more nearly uniform, being about one-third to children in all the classes of libraries. The proportion of money spent for children is also uniform, being about one-fourth in libraries of all sizes. The same is true of the number of children's rooms, which throughout all classes of libraries, both large and small, are in the proportion of one to every 60,000 to 70,000 of circulation, and of their seating capacity, which is 60 to 70 per room.

Looking on the other side of the shield we find the greatest variation in the proportion of children's cards in use, which runs from less than one-half up to nearly all. From one to five supervisors are employed in each library but some of the very large libraries use only one and some of the small ones as many as three. The same is true of clerical assistants, of which some of the very small libraries report as many as three, while some of the very large get along with as few as two.

Salaries are fairly uniform, although apparently smaller than the work would warrant. Whereas the children's circulation is about one-third the total, the salaries in the juvenile department are from one-seventh to one-eighth the total throughout. In the "small" libraries they are only one-eleventh of the total.

The distribution of library-school graduates is very irregular. Some libraries in all classes have none at all. In the three lower classes no library has a larger number than three. In some of the larger libraries there may be as many as 20 or 30.

I am aware that some of this irregularity, which I have called a lack of standardization, may be due to differences in nomenclature. Assistants, for instance, having precisely the same duties may be described as supervisors in one library and not in another. This will not explain everything, however, and the conclusion is inevitable that in the respects just noted no uniformity has yet been reached by libraries. It seems to me that this lack of standardization has made its appearance in precisely the place where it might have been expected--namely in the third of the three periods already mentioned, that of co-ordination and systematization. This is the latest period; some libraries have not yet entered upon it and most of them are young in it. In other words, children's work is much older than the systematic administration of a children's department, or a system of children's rooms. Hence, children's work in general--the selection and purchase of books for children, the planning of children's rooms and their administration as units--has existed long enough to become standardized. We know what we want, having passed through the stage of experimentation.

This is not true of the administration of a children's department--the grading of assistants, the organization of a compact body of workers with its expert supervision, the settling of questions of disputed jurisdiction that necessarily arise in cases of this kind. It is on this part of their work that children's librarians need to focus their attention for the next few years. It is time, not perhaps to withdraw our eyes from the older questions but to transfer our gaze in part to the newer. We need to talk less about the size of our juvenile collection, methods of selection of children's books, the salaries of our assistants, ways of increasing our circulation, sizes and plans of children's rooms, and so on, and more about the organization and administration of the children's department as a whole--the duties of the supervisor and her assistants; her relations with the heads of other departments and with branch librarians, the measure of control shared by her with heads of branches in case of children's librarians of branches, the existence of separate grades, corresponding to separate duties or variation of qualifications, among the children's librarians; insistence on training adapted to these different grades. Time forbids me to go into details, and I can but suggest these points for your consideration. Into one point, however, I feel like going a little more fully:

We need more special training for children's work. It is the one kind of specialization that we have attempted in our schools, and we must have more of it and more kinds of it. This of course is but a single case in the more varied program of special training that I am convinced we shall have to take up before long. In the course of an interesting debate on this subject in the A. L. A. Council last January it developed that most of the librarians present looked upon specialization as impractical. In particular they believed it impossible for a student to look forward so definitely to special work that he could decide on the special courses that would benefit him. The man that had taken the college-library course might become a superintendent of branches; the qualified municipal reference librarian would go, perhaps, into an applied science room. This may be so now but it cannot long remain the case. Even now we can not carry this line of argument much further without making of it a reductio ad absurdum. Why go to a library school at all when, after all, you may accept the headship of a grammar-school on graduation, or even decide to travel for a hardware house? Why should we attempt to train one man for a lawyer and another for a physician when both may prefer farming? We are getting away fast from the old idea, born of pioneer conditions, that anybody can do anything if he tries. We shall have to travel further enough from it to satisfy ourselves that an expert university librarian will have to be trained for his post and not for that of head of the supply department in a public library. We have learned that a children's librarian does her work better for special training; may it not be that we shall have to make some difference in the future between training, let us say, for supervisory work, for the charge of a branch children's room, and for the duties of an assistant of lower grade?

In closing, let me say again that we need to focus our attention at present on the organization and administration of a children's department, especially on the places where it interlocks with that of other departments. The study of this matter should not be entrusted to children's libraries alone, for the standardization of work involving more than one department should not be =ex parte=. The matter should be in charge of a committee including in its membership both chief librarians and the heads of children's departments--possibly also the children's librarian of a large branch library and a branch librarian.

The volume of the work is now remarkable; its organization has gone beyond that of some other departments in attention to detail; the question of its co-ordination and of interdepartmental relations should now be taken up systematically.

Libraries Very Large Libraries Large
Averaged Over Averaged 1,000,000-
2,000,000 2,000,000

Av. number volumes in library 5 658,416 8 286,643

Av. juvenile volumes in library 3 136,080 7 57,348

Av. cost of juvenile volumes Not given 2 $22,000

Av. volumes added during year 5 73,098 8 30,172

Av. cost of volumes
added during year 5 $70,976.88 7 $27,244.25

Av. juvenile volumes
added during year 4 32,100 6 12,383

Av. cost of juvenile
volumes added 3 $18,928.92 3 $7,801.86

Av. circulation for year 5 3,973,150 8 1,214,068

Av. juvenile
circulation for year 5 1,451,569 6 501,389

Av. number children's
rooms in system 5 23 8 6

Av. number rooms used
in part by children 5 7 7 7

Av. seating capacity of
children's rooms 5 1,502 8 467

Av. classroom libraries 2 314 7 301

Av. home libraries for children 1 56 3 26

Av. deposit or delivery
stations not included in above 4 52 7 22

Av. volumes on shelves
open to children 3 129,413 7 52,067

Av. juvenile cardholders 2 34,942 7 28,501

Av. age limit of
juvenile cardholders 2 15 7 15

Av. estimate of
juvenile cards in use 2 [5]46,332 5 20,845

Av. supervisors of
children's work 4 1 to 5 7 0 to 5

Av. salary paid supervisors 1 $2,000 6 $1,174

Av. clerical assistants
in children's work 1 2 5 2

Av. salary paid
clerical assistants 1 $705 4 $524

Av. children's librarians 4 20 7 1 to 11

Av. salary paid
children's librarians 4 $786.82 7 $896

Av. additional assistants giving
full time to children's work 3 4 to 83 4 2 to 27

Av. salary of such assistants 3 $560.33 4 $714

Av. assistants giving part
time to children's work 1 2 2 10

Av. salary paid such assistants 1 $576 2 $654

Number library school graduates 4 1 to 21 8 0 to 29

Number assistants having had
partial library school courses 4 3 to 11 5 0 to 8

Number trained in local library 4 4 to 56 7 0 to 15

Number trained in
other libraries 4 3 to 10 7 0 to 1

Pages giving full time
to children's work 3 0 to 11 6 1 to 8

Av. yearly salaries for entire
staff (not including janitors) 4 $170,453.82 8 $74,503.90

Av. yearly salaries
children's department 2 $20,080.00 8 $11,032.33

Libraries Medium Libraries Small
Averaged 500,000- Averaged 250,000-
1,000,000 500,000

Av. number volumes in library 7 150,200 13 92,236

Av. juvenile volumes in library 6 26,750 12 16,244

Av. cost of juvenile volumes 5 $21,316 2 $9,750

Av. volumes added during year 7 15,654 13 8,898

Av. cost of volumes
added during year 7 $15,001.75 10 $8,851.81

Av. juvenile volumes
added during year 6 5,875 13 2,661

Av. cost of juvenile
volumes added 6 $4,428.10 3 $2,876.00

Av. circulation for year 7 714,784 13 339,059

Av. juvenile
circulation for year 7 227,697 13 122,739

Av. number children's
rooms in system 7 3 13 2

Av. number rooms used
in part by children 6 3 9 4

Av. seating capacity of
children's rooms 7 233 11 150

Av. classroom libraries 7 201 8 83

Av. home libraries for children 1 25 3 3

Av. deposit or delivery
stations not included in above 7 12 9 12

Av. volumes on shelves
open to children 6 40,326 10 13,721

Av. juvenile cardholders 4 14,470 11 7,056

Av. age limit of
juvenile cardholders 3 14 8 15

Av. estimate of
juvenile cards in use 4 9,436 7 6,172

Av. supervisors of
children's work 5 1 to 2 7 1 to 3

Av. salary paid supervisors 5 $1,070 7 $760

Av. clerical assistants
in children's work 4 1 to 3 5 1 to 3

Av. salary paid
clerical assistants 4 $600 5 $516

Av. children's librarians 5 1 to 9 12 1 to 3

Av. salary paid
children's librarians 5 $648.50 12 $829.16

Av. additional assistants giving
full time to children's work 2 2 4 1 to 3

Av. salary of such assistants 2 $690 4 $524

Av. assistants giving part
time to children's work ... ... 2 1

Av. salary paid such assistants ... ... 2 $288

Number library school graduates 7 0 to 2 11 0 to 3

Number assistants having had
partial library school courses 6 0 to 5 11 0 to 1

Number trained in local library 7 1 to 9 10 0 to 3

Number trained in
other libraries 7 0 to 1 9 0 to 2

Pages giving full time
to children's work 7 0 to 2 12 0 to 2

Av. yearly salaries for entire
staff (not including janitors) 6 $30,844.90 12 $19,984.81

Av. yearly salaries
children's department 6 $4,144.75 12 $1,726.33

Libraries Very Small
Averaged Under
250,000

Av. number volumes in library 18 58,355

Av. juvenile volumes in library 16 7,496

Av. cost of juvenile volumes 2 $3,843.49

Av. volumes added during year 18 4,405

Av. cost of volumes
added during year 17 $4,467.22

Av. juvenile volumes
added during year 17 1,247

Av. cost of juvenile
volumes added 9 $1,207.01

Av. circulation for year 18 175,928

Av. juvenile
circulation for year 17 56,475

Av. number children's
rooms in system 18 1

Av. number rooms used
in part by children 13 3

Av. seating capacity of
children's rooms 17 79

Av. classroom libraries 7 31

Av. home libraries for children 1 6

Av. deposit or delivery
stations not included in above 12 4

Av. volumes on shelves
open to children 13 5,504

Av. juvenile cardholders 14 5,230

Av. age limit of
juvenile cardholders 14 14

Av. estimate of
juvenile cards in use 11 2,704

Av. supervisors of
children's work 3 1

Av. salary paid supervisors 3 $846.66

Av. clerical assistants
in children's work 2 1 to 3

Av. salary paid
clerical assistants 1 $420

Av. children's librarians 17 1

Av. salary paid
children's librarians 17 $801

Av. additional assistants giving
full time to children's work 9 1 to 4

Av. salary of such assistants 9 $512.22
$600[6][7]

Av. assistants giving part
time to children's work 4 2 to 7

Av. salary paid such assistants 4 $591

Number library school graduates 16 0 to 3

Number assistants having had
partial library school courses 13 0 to 2

Number trained in local library 16 0 to 4

Number trained in
other libraries 12 0 to 1

Pages giving full time
to children's work 15 0 to 2

Av. yearly salaries for entire
staff (not including janitors) 17 $10,159.22

Av. yearly salaries
children's department 14 $1,306.01

[5] Not the same libraries as are represented two lines above.

[6] Maximum.

[7] For first year.

SECOND SESSION

The second session of the section was held June 27th, at 2:30 p. m., in the ballroom. Miss MARTHA WILSON, supervisor of school libraries, state department of education, St. Paul, Minnesota, read a paper entitled

POSSIBILITIES OF THE RURAL SCHOOL LIBRARY

On the outermost fringe of library influence they wait--the country children.

To fulfill to them the mission of the library, to make books necessary and accessible, we must take account of the agency which touches the life of even the most remote group--the country school.

Relationships between libraries and schools have long afforded discussion and the librarian is rare who does not feel a sense of her share in the educational work of the town and her responsibility in making her library serve as an adjunct to the school, supplementing or supplanting its library resources.

The country school and its library has in the main been outside this friendly concern or ministration on the part of the town library and but little account taken of it as a part of the library resources or possibilities of a county or state.

The present revival of rural interest has quickened every phase of country life, social, economic and educational.

The country school has shared in the enlargement of interest and is undergoing many radical changes in its spirit, its teaching, its relationships to the neighborhood and the world outside.

While in former times the country child went to school only when not needed at home and received through the year an intermittent schooling, amounting in all to but few weeks a year, compulsory education laws in the majority of states have prolonged the period which he now actually spends in school, and subsidies in state aid for longer terms have lengthened the season through which the school is in operation.

The new emphasis on country life is a transforming effect on the country school, "the ragged beggar sunning" is being replaced by a modern building planned according to state regulations, with regard to comfort and convenience, seats and lighting are seriously considered and the individual drinking cup adds the last touch of modernity.

It is changing its teaching as carefully. The leaders in country school work are striving to give a standing to country service, to reshape it to new country conditions and connect its work very definitely with the neighborhood in which it is placed.

In Minnesota there are three types of rural schools. The first of these is the one-room, one-teacher school in an isolated community where every grade is represented and all subjects taught. The second type is the associated school where several districts have connected themselves with a town school, where the pupils of high school age are received on the same term as their town cousins, and the one-room schools continue the work with the lower grades in the country but under the supervision of the central school. The third is the consolidated school where a number of districts have combined and established in a town, village or open country a modern school for the grades and high school, transporting to it all the children within the radius of five miles.

In all of these schools, the old course of study is adapted to include health instruction, nature study or agriculture, some manual training, sewing and cooking. The high school training departments and the normal schools are making all haste to prepare teachers to fulfill the new requirements while the teachers already at work must bring themselves up to grade at the summer schools. The practical subjects make a strong appeal. A country teacher at the summer school was heard to remark that "the rope-tying lessons were awfully interesting and the course in agriculture was just grand."

As a help in the new order of things a strong school library is needed more than ever. Even in the smallest school there is indeed a collection of books known as the school library, the heritage of the years. These show no design in selection further than meeting the state aid requirement of the expenditure of a certain amount of money every year for library books. The trail of the book agent is over them all: witness the sets; Motley--"History of the United Netherlands," Grote--"History of Greece," Gibbon--"Rome," and such subscription books as "Lights and shadows of a missionary's life" and "The Johnstown flood."

The erstwhile teachers and their interests have left an impress; the correspondence courses which they pursued while teaching are reflected in such books as Hamerton--"Intellectual life"; "The literature of the age of Elizabeth"; and all the Epochs, and Eras and Periods in which they delved for credits; their faith bears witness in the "Life of Luther" found in every school library in one western county and their hopes in "How to be happy tho' married," common in another.

The average number of volumes in each school is impressive in reports, but inspection of the libraries too often shows that the majority of the books are entirely useless in connection with the school work and quite beyond the grasp and interest of the pupils who may be typified by little moon-faced Celestia who trudges two miles through the pine forest to the little log schoolhouse and to whom an illustrated book is a revelation of worlds unknown; Anna, eleven years old, who at the time of our visit was doing the work of the household and caring for her mother and the new baby brother before she came to school, for in this county the size of the state of Connecticut there are but five doctors and fewer nurses; Mary, aged 13, who keeps house for an older brother and his logging "crew" of four grown men; and little Irven, 7 years old, who reads so fast the words can hardly come and who is willing and eager to aver in round childish scribble that his favorite books are "Seven little sisters," Eskimo stories and Fairy stories and fables.

However hard to realize, the needs are simple to state; better books and direction in their use.

In many of the newer libraries there are many good and suitable books and the more progressive county superintendents are paying more attention to their libraries, making use of the suggestive lists furnished them and selecting all the books for the schools in their counties. One proudly reports the purchase in his county in the last year of 2144 =real= children's books. The standardization of the state school list has helped in later years, and as they are obliged to buy from this list there is a pleasing lack of "Motor boys" and "Aeroplane girls."

Some few of the teachers have the notion of the purpose of the school library and are eager to extend its influence. One teacher, combining school work with homesteading, asked for help in getting illustrated books and pictures, explaining that he found it difficult to give images to the words in their texts as the children in his school had never seen a locomotive, a train of cars, a bridge, a tower, a brick or stone building, and the nearest approach to the palace of which they read in their stories was the two-story square frame building in the adjoining settlement. The teacher of Anna and Mary realizing that they would not be allowed to stay in school longer than the law required, having now had more schooling than their father or mother, was trying to give them some simple instruction in household work and was glad to know of "When Mother lets us cook" and the simple books of sewing; and the town girl teaching her first term in the country school tells of her experience in using books of drawing to tame the young "Jack-pine savage" who had been the bully of the school.

The country teacher, as a type, is hardly more than a child herself, born, or transplanted at an early age, into pioneer conditions of work and living with the energies and thought of the family concentrated on getting a start in life in the new land.

In these homes books have not been plentiful, in some the catalog of the mail order house is often the only printed matter in evidence, having apparently displaced the family Bible from its time-honored place on the center table.

In the early schooling and life of the country teacher only the textbooks have left an impress and when she is asked at a country teachers' meeting or in the beginning of her normal school course to name favorite children's books, she puts down the texts she studied in the country schools, the Baldwins, the Carpenters, the Wheelers and the rest.

The stage of poverty and extreme hardship is fast passing. With increased prosperity comes the opportunity for better things, usually desired by the children, not always by the parents.

The school inspector was urging a new schoolhouse. The farmer thought this one good enough. After dinner they went out to see the fine stock and seeing the splendid barns for the stock the inspector said: "You provide such good buildings for your stock you ought to be willing to do something for your children." The farmer still demurred and the inspector pressed the matter. "Do you care more for your stock than for your children?" The farmer became indignant and said: "I want you to know that stock is thoroughbred." If the parents have lost or never had the power to enjoy books, the school and the library must see to it that this asset is given the child in the country, who tomorrow must deal with the problems of the new country life more complex than his fathers have known; the farmer's wife to become emancipated must learn to use the books which will help her, and there must be foundations for the larger citizenship for in spite of all efforts to keep the boy on the farm he will continue to join the ranks of the financiers, the doctors, the judges, the governors and the like.

The newer idea of the use of books and reading in the country schools is taking hold if sometimes vaguely. "I tell them to read library books," she said when asked what use she made of the school library. "Oh no, I have never read any of them myself," and "Little women" and "Captains courageous" and many other live children's books stood in perfect condition on the shelf, though there were a number of children in the school old enough to enjoy them, and only such books had been used as the more adventurous spirits in the school had tasted, found good and passed on to their fellows.

Few children have books of their own--one-third--one-fourth--one in ten being the answer which comes from the teachers to this query. Generally speaking, they read the books in the school library or none at all unless there is a traveling library at hand.

Teachers' training departments in the high schools are doing much to help the country school. In the year's work the students get much of the spirit as well as methods of country school teaching for the training teacher is usually eager to give them all she has of enthusiasm and efficiency and reaches out for all help in her work.

In one teacher's outlines, familiar looking notes on book selection and lists of children's books were discovered. She had patiently copied them from the summer school notes of the librarian in her home town and was using them with her students. In addition to her regular work she looks after the school library which is open to the public and also gives help to schools in the country in the arrangement of their school libraries. In most of these departments some work is attempted on the rural school library with required reading of children's books.

The town librarians find these classes an opportunity to extend their influence by talks in the schools and showing the resources and use of the library. Acquaintance and work with country teachers helped one librarian to put through a long-cherished, long-fought scheme of county extension. As the teachers understand more fully the help they can get from the library the more eagerly they consult the librarian about their work.

The inclusion of talks on children's books, reading and school libraries on the programs of the county teachers' and school officers' meetings, talks and exhibits at district and state educational gatherings and the University weeks have helped to give school libraries new importance in the estimation of the teachers.

The country school library to become useful must be reduced to a collection of books suited to the ages of the pupils as well as to the work in the school. As elsewhere, the best way to get the country child to read the best books is to have no other kind.

Recent library legislation makes it possible for any country or town school library in Minnesota to combine with a public library for service. They may turn over their books not needed in the school and what is more valuable to the library, the fund which they are annually required to spend for library books. In return the library must furnish the school with traveling libraries of books selected from the state school list, suited to the pupils in the school, and the school may also be a distributing point for books for the neighborhood, a real branch.

In some of the associated school districts the central library sends to the associated schools traveling libraries purchased by the district or borrowed from the library commission. In others, the country pupils act as a circulating medium for the central school library. In one town the school and town jointly maintain a good library with a competent librarian in the schoolhouse and it successfully serves the town, the pupils for their reference work and the country 'round about through the country boys and girls who come in every day to school.

The village or open country consolidated school presents yet another opportunity. These schools are the direct outgrowth of the new spirit of country life and are planned to minister to the social as well as the educational needs of the combined districts; and serve as a social center. The library is an important part of the equipment for this work.

State plans for these buildings include a good-sized assembly room, and a room for a library is required. The principal of the school must be shown how the library may help him in his work and he must be assisted in the selection of books not only for the school work but also for the boys' and girls' club, the potato and corn growing contests, the farmers' club, the women's club, the debating societies, literary evenings, and social gatherings which he plans to make features of his school.

Such are some of the possibilities. To make them realities, the teachers must be trained in an understanding of the purpose of a library and a knowledge of children's books, and every library agency in every county and state must be quickened toward the most remote of "all of the children of all of the people."

In the discussion by Mr. Kerr, Miss Burnite, Miss Brown, Miss Allin, Miss Zachert and Miss Hobart, which followed, the following points were made: That the time to accomplish the work in question is when the teachers are in the normal schools, that such work should be based upon the teachers' intensive knowledge of children's books, and that influence may be gained by approaching the superintendents and by using as advertising mediums the school papers to which the teachers subscribe.

Miss Power then gave the chair to Miss Mary E. Hall, librarian Girls' high school, Brooklyn, N. Y. Miss Hall introduced Miss MAUDE McCLELLAND, who told of her work in charge of the library in a high school in Passaic, N. J., pronounced by Miss Hall to be a model of its kind. Miss McClelland made a very happy comparison of the old time school boy and the school boy of today and discussed modern high school methods of helping children to meet actual problems in life.

Miss McClelland said in part:

THE WORK OF A HIGH SCHOOL BRANCH

In the preface to a volume of essays entitled "Literature and life," William Dean Howells defends the doctrine that the tree of knowledge, so familiar to all of us, is in reality but a branch of the tree of life. Literature, instead of having a separate existence of its own, is, as a matter of fact, but a part of life, and all that is necessary to make it a vital force in the lives of human beings is to establish its identity with life.

Now the emphasizing of this unity of literature and life has become the self-appointed task of the modern public library--a task which it is approaching from a number of different angles, such as work with children, work with clubs, work with foreigners, and work with schools. Something of what the library is doing along one of these lines--that of work with schools--may be learned by studying the methods in use in the high school branch of a public library.

Perhaps these methods may best be illustrated by contrasting the school days of two brothers, Adam and Theodore. Now Adam went to school in the good old days when there were no high school libraries, and indeed very few libraries of any kind. At 9 o'clock every morning the active interests of life ceased for him. He then entered the schoolhouse and began the study of a set of lessons, which far removed from real life in themselves, could not be made intensely vital even by the best of teachers, because there was no library in the building upon which the teachers could draw for books and other materials to illustrate the connection between the classics and real life.

The first subject upon his program was ancient history. This he learned with the aid of a textbook, condensed in form, and attenuated in spirit. To him the book was a collection of disagreeable facts to be learned by heart and then forgotten as quickly as possible after examinations were over.

Now, when Adam's brother Theodore entered the school, matters had changed. A branch of the public library had been installed, and the history teacher was no longer handicapped in her work. The members of Theodore's class had all been given special topics for investigation, so when the class in ancient history was called, one pupil drew upon the board the plan of a Greek house, which he had copied from Harper's classical dictionary, while another pupil, who had been to the library and interviewed Gulick's "Life of the ancient Greeks," described the furniture and cooking utensils of the Greeks, and told about the kind of things they had to eat. And Theodore began to realize that after all, those ancient Greeks were real people, just like other real people. So from that history lesson he carried away inspiration from the life of the past toward the living of his own life of the present and future.

The next lesson on the schedule for the day was English. Now, when Adam went to school, he had been rather fond of reading--but that there could be any connection between reading and the English work given him at school never entered his head for a moment. True, they did some reading in the English class, but it was reading in which he wasn't very much interested, though he supposed that in some vague way it probably did him a great deal of good. The real reading, which he did surreptitiously at home was of an entirely different kind. Far from imagining that he derived any benefit from it, he at times even feared that he was endangering his immortal soul. But he felt that the pleasure was worth it. The two kinds of reading, if tabulated, would be about as follows, the comparative amount done being in about the ratio of 16 to 1 in favor of the kind he liked--if he had luck in borrowing books from the boys:

School Reading

Rhetoric and composition.
Evangeline.
Pilgrim's progress.
Selections from Milton.
Lady of the lake.

Home Reading

The downward path or A debt of vengeance.
Helping himself.
A leap in the dark.
Trapped in his own net.

The school reading was unexceptionable as to literary character, but, at least for the growing boy of average intelligence, it seemed to lack attractiveness.

When Theodore entered the English class in high school, times had changed. The first thing the teacher did was to give him a list of books for home reading. At the top of the list was written, "These books may be borrowed either from the high school branch or from any other branch of the public library." On the list were such books as "Huckleberry Finn," "Tom Sawyer," "The jungle books," "Story of a bad boy," "The wonder book and tanglewood tales," "Treasure island" and "The man without a country."

Now, these books have literary character; they are attractive; furthermore, they were written by authors who at all times observe with proper respect and deference the laws of the English language.

So, once more, through the aid of the library, we find the connection between literature and the joy of life established.

In the old days, not much had been said about vocations, or working for a living. Indeed, the only ambition considered really worth while was that of going to college and becoming educated. To leave school before graduation was rather a disgrace, and if any boy was, like Lady Macbeth's guests, by force of circumstances, compelled to "go, and stay not upon the order of his going," his method of departure can best be described by the expression, "slinking out." But now, Theodore found the school ready and willing to help all those who had to leave school to go to work; and again, the connection between real life and school was established.

And if Theodore found that the library was not lacking in books that would help in the practical issues of life, neither did he find a dearth of the books that are needed for companionship--the books that we are inclined to group under the heading "Cultural reading." Oliver Wendell Holmes, in one of his essays, says, speaking of libraries, that he has the same easy feeling when among books that a stableboy has among horses. And it is perhaps along this line--that of inculcating a real love for books--that the greatest work of the high school library lies.

In an article on "Children's reading" in Harper's Weekly for May 31 there are some valuable suggestions for the librarian, not least among them that contained in the last paragraph, which I shall quote:

"An excellent suggestion is that in all public schools there should be, as well as the supervisor of drawing, and the supervisor of music, and the supervisor of manual training, a supervisor of the art of reading. For is not reading, after all, an art, and an uplifting, consoling and educative art?"