Mrs. Adelaide Bowles Maltby was born in New York City, and was graduated from a private school in Elmira, New York, in 1893, with an equivalent of one year's college work. After completing the regular course in Pratt Institute Library School in 1900, she spent six months in the Pratt Library, at the same time taking lectures in the second-year children's course. For four and one-half years she was head of the Children's Department in the Buffalo Public Library. She then became a member of the New York Public Library staff, first as special children's worker in Chatham Square Branch, then as branch librarian there, and later as librarian of the Tompkins Square Branch.

There has been a rather marked difference in activity between the eastern and western libraries on this subject of picture work, we of the east seeming more conservative, somewhat prone on the whole, because there is not time for elaborate work, to doubt its practical usefulness. The questions upon which this report is based were sent out in a circular letter to different libraries. These questions with their answers may be considered in order:

Question 1. If you make picture bulletins in your library, what is your object in so doing?

To supplement school work, advertise the books, stimulate non-fiction reading and celebrate anniversaries are the four answers which the majority give.

There is no question but bulletins made for school helps are useful, help teacher, pupil and library; but we are all studying to do away with suggestions of a school atmosphere in our rooms as far as possible, so, primarily, these bulletins should give pleasure. They offer a strong point of contact between the children and the librarian, and if too strongly labelled with "school work," do we not rob the child of the one place where he could have the indescribable charm of learning what his natural tastes prompt him to acquire? It is easy enough in our libraries to teach without calling it teaching. Again, a bulletin to "advertise our books," especially new ones, seems misdirected energy, as the new books are always eagerly sought and there is often need of checking in some way the desire for the new just because it is new. If the books to which the attention is directed by the bulletins enlarge the child's experience, well and good, but we do not need to post a bulletin merely to circulate the books or with the feeling of advertisement in any sense of the word.

Question 2. Are these bulletins used only to illustrate books owned by the library or are they general, commemorating anniversaries, etc?

The majority of bulletins seem of the most general character —book bulletins, illustrations of school work, holidays and anniversaries especially dear to childhood. Miss Putnam, of the library at Los Angeles, offers a most serviceable suggestion in her guide to the books in the children's room: "This is composed of pictures, each representing a book clipped from the publisher's catalogs, each author kept separate mounted on large sheets of tagboard, and when the author's picture, call number, criticism of books are added, the sheets are kept on the tables for the children's use." At Detroit there is constantly on the walls a bulletin board about 28x32 in. covered with dark green burlap on which are placed lists of books, pictures of their authors, illustrations, current events, public affairs, etc., not of sufficient interest to demand a separate bulletin. Some change is made in this every week, keeping two lists of books, taking down one and moving the other as a fresh list is added.

Question 3. Of what material and by whom are your bulletins made?

The best material is classified clippings and pictures from duplicate magazines and illustrated papers. Braun & Cie photographs, Perry prints, bird portraits from Chapman's "Bird manual," and from Birds and All Nature, Fitzroy prints and Perkins' Mother Goose pictures can also be used to advantage. Card board can be obtained at slight cost, in some cities at $4.20 per hundred. Pulp board, book cover paper and charcoal paper, all can be utilized for this purpose. Where the book cases are low enough to admit of it, red denim stretched above the top of the cases makes an effective background for the bulletins. Where the cases are five feet in height this is not practicable, as the pictures must be opposite the eyes of our small readers. In the Providence Public Library an excellent substitute for this is in the shape of a six-panelled mahogany bulletin surrounding the large circular pillar in the center of the room. The mahogany serves as an excellent frame to the panel and the many sides offer opportunities for a series of bulletins on a given subject, each simple in itself and conveying one idea to the child, which seems far preferable to us than trying to crowd all on one bulletin.

Other libraries use a stationary framework across the tables, with glass each side, so that pictures may be slipped in between.

At Minneapolis Public Library an interesting experiment was tried with success by Mrs. Ellison. Arrangements were made with the Director of Drawing to have the pupils furnish the picture bulletins, Mrs. Ellison furnishing the subjects and doing the reference work.

The making of bulletins in most cases devolves on the children's librarian, but we hear from several libraries where different members of the staff take their turn, all showing a keen interest in gathering material.

Questions 4 and 5. Do you have more than one bulletin at a time? Have you noticed any poor results from exhibiting more than one at a time?

The returns as to this point were not all that had been hoped. Two bulletins seem to be an accepted number, but more than that a question. We do not desire to confuse our children, or to detract in value from a bulletin when once posted, and most certainly not to cheapen our rooms; but if the standard is held high in each case, the number would not matter. Take for instance a hero bulletin. Here is a wealth of material which overwhelms us, and even when we have selected with the utmost thought our heroes and placed them side by side, we realize we have more or less of a jumble and have not told our story simply enough. Some division is absolutely necessary. We saw a bulletin on this subject grouped under three excellent heads: When all the world was young; In the glorious days of chivalry; Heroes of modern times. We should like to adopt this suggestion, but instead of one, offer three bulletins, as a safeguard against confusion.

Question 6. Can you show by citing cases that this picture work is of sufficient practical use to the children to pay for time and money spent?

One library—and this is an eastern one—gives us an encouraging, inspiring reply: "Case after case, actually hundreds of letters from teachers thanking us for the work." A general summary of reports from all the libraries shows an increased demand for the books on the subject posted. The perfectly evident pleasure of the little ones in the mere looking, to say nothing of their joy in telling at one time or another something they have seen before, shows with what keenness they observe. At the Buffalo Public Library there have been on exhibition some excellent silhouette pictures made by cutting figures, trees, etc., from black paper and pasting them on white backgrounds. "The pied piper" was one subject illustrated. To appreciate this it should be understood that the figure of the piper and of each little rat, some not more than a half inch high, were cut with scissors, without any drawing whatever. These were labelled "Scissors pictures. Can you make them?" When they had been up a week, one of the boys, 14 years old, brought in four, one of which was better in composition than any of those exhibited. This was posted as showing what one boy had done, and this boy is studying drawing and designing this summer, with good promise. Another library cites a case in relation to school work, where the superintendent of schools offered rewards in each school of five of Landseer's pictures for the best five compositions on Landseer and his work. A collection of his pictures was gathered, a bulletin made with lists, which at once attracted the boys and girls, set many earnestly to work, who would not otherwise have given it much thought, and finally received the hearty commendation of the superintendent. Miss Clarke, of Evanston, says: "We have no children's room, and have not done enough of bulletin work to be able to speak very surely of results." Yet she can give us this, which speaks for itself. "An Indian exhibit which we gave, where among the Indian curios and Navajo blankets I had all our books on Indian life and customs and our best Indian stories displayed, aroused a great demand for the books. I kept the list of Indian books and stories posted for some months, and it was worn out and had to be replaced by a new copy, owing to its constant use. Our boys at that time really read a great deal of good literature on the subject, including Mrs. Custer's books and those by Grinnell and Lummis." These are but a few of the many interesting illustrations, yet we all know there is a great part of our work of which we can see no results, but if these bulletins beautify the room, offer some new thought to the child and give pleasure, then the time and work spent on them is a small factor, and even in that we are the gainers, as we unconsciously acquire in the making of these bulletins much general information, and an ability to present subjects in their relative value to each other which is invaluable.

Question 7. Are these bulletins allowed to circulate?

In most cases, no. Several libraries allow them to go to schools and a few make duplicates for both library and school, and in Indianapolis the bulletins are sent to other libraries in the state. This should prove very helpful to small libraries which are open but a few hours in the week. The bulletins may wear out, but a bulletin once planned, three quarters of the work is accomplished, and it is little labor to make the duplicate one.

Question 8. Please describe the exhibit which has proved of the greatest interest in the past year.

We wish that time and space would allow a repetition of all the replies to this question. Miss Hewins says: "The exhibit which has proved of the greatest interest is on Queen Victoria. Within an hour after we heard the news of her death we had the bulletin for her last birthday and 40 portraits of her on our walls. I made one bulletin on her for the children out at Settlement Branch, and gave them a little talk about her. In this bulletin there were pictures of the dolls' house and toys that she gave the nation and I told the children how careful she must have been of them to be able to keep them so many years, and something about how careful she was taught to be also of her spending money, and that even although she was a princess and lived in a palace, she never could buy anything until she had the money to pay for it. I made a Stevenson bulletin for them on his birthday, and we had Stevenson songs and a talk about him and his childhood, his lovableness, courage and cheerfulness." At Buffalo the most popular exhibit was one illustrating the changes of the last century, taking the post-office methods, transportation of all kinds, i.e., carriages, boats, railroads, electricity in all its uses and those which could be appreciated by the children—guns, lifesaving methods, diving, etc. In each instance an old and a new type was shown. The children swarmed around the boards every day for the two months it was up, one of the pages who was interested in numbers having counted 60 an hour. Nature exhibits are always popular with children. "Our own birds" was the title of a bird- day bulletin at Evanston. A green poster board, on which were tied bunches of pussy-willows, among whose twigs were perched some of the common birds around Evanston, was used. The plates used were the nature study bird plates, brightly colored, which were cut out and pasted on the board in such a way that the effect was very lifelike. Much the same idea was carried out in Providence, only in this library the title is "Procession of the birds and flowers," each bird being added as it arrives. At the same time in the class room adjoining this library there was an exhibit of 150 photographs called "Joy in springtime," all being charming pictures of flowers, birds and happy children, with appropriate selections of poetry affixed. The long windows were hung with tranparencies, a framework being built in which to slide the tranparencies, that they may be changed from time to time. Invitations were sent to all the schools, and the exhibit was a great delight to the little ones. Miss Moore, of Pratt, tells of a picture bulletin illustrating life in Porto Rico and a companion bulletin illustrating the Porto Rican village at Glen island (a summer resort accessible to the children), with objects such as water jugs, cooking utensils made from gourds, etc., a hat in the process of making, musical instruments made from gourds, such as were used by the native band at Glen Island. The objects were carefully selected with the aid of the gentleman who instituted the village at Glen Island, and who had made a study of the country and people of Porto Rico. "The bulletin led not so much to the reading of books, because there are few on the subject, but it gave the children a very clear idea of the manner of living of the Porto Ricans and drew the attention of many visitors to Glen Island, as an educational point as well as a pleasure resort."

Question 9. Do you do anything with Perry pictures, scrap books, etc., for the little children?

At Medford scrap books are made by the children themselves, much to their delight. Several librarians make their own scrap books, Miss Hammond, of St. Paul, sending perhaps the best description of work of this nature. For the little children she always keeps on hand several scrap books made from worn out books, by Howard Pyle and Walter Crane. Other scrap books enjoyed alike by the older children and the little ones are "Colonial pictures" and "Arctic explorers," the last especially liked by the boys. Miss Hammond also cuts whole articles from discarded magazines, putting on heavy paper covers, labelling and arranging in a case according to subject for the use of teachers and pupils.

Question 10. Mention five examples of pictures suitable for a children's library.

The pictures suggested are given in order, according to the number of votes assigned to each one.

Raphael, Sistine Madonna, 6 Watts, Sir Galahad, 6 Guido Reni, Aurora, 4 Bonheur, Horse fair, 4 King Arthur, (Chapel of Innspruck), 3 Corot, Landscape, 3 Hardie, Meeting of Scott and Burns, 2 St. Gaudens, Shaw monument, 2 Murillo, Children of the shell, 2 Stuart, Washington, 2 Van Dyck, Baby Stuart, 2

The selection of these pictures must, of course, depend on the library, but there are a few other suggestions which are worthy of mention:

Regnault, Automedon and the horse of Achilles.

Raphael's Madonna of the chair.

Reynolds, Penelope Boothby.

Question 11. In preparing your lists of books to accompany bulletin, do you prepare an analytical list or refer to book only?

An analytical list seems preferable where any list is used, although some librarians seem to question the advantage of lists. Miss Brown, of Eau Claire, says: "I have, however, decided for myself that the bulletin that pays is the one which tells something of itself and has no long list of books. If the child is interested in the bulletin it is no sign that he will take a book listed, but if he gets a fact from looking at it he has gained something and you lose the bad effect of having him get into the habit of skipping the books on the bulletin, which he usually does." On the other hand, lists help the systematic reader and relieve the librarian.

In closing we will quote a criticism of an eastern librarian, as a thought on which we all need to dwell: "From the artistic point of view such bulletins as I have seen are commonly too scrappy, ill arranged and given too much to detail. One or two pictures on a large card, with a brief descriptive note, all conveying one idea or emphasizing one point only, is the best form. In bulletins, as in many other things, the rule to follow first of all is simplicity."

HOW TO INTEREST MOTHERS IN CHILDREN'S READING

One of the newer developments of organized work is with mothers who can be interested in the books their children read, although informal, individual work has always been a part of library work with children. This paper was read at the joint meeting of the Michigan and Wisconsin Library Associations in July, 1914, by Miss May G. Quigley, children's librarian of the Public Library, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

May Genevieve Quigley was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was graduated from the Grand Rapids High School. Soon after this, she began work in the Grand Rapids Public Library and has been Head of the Children's Department since it was organized in 1907.

You ask me how to interest mothers in children's reading. I began by being invited to the different mothers' meetings held in the schools; public, parochial and private, the churches and women's clubs. At each institution, the mothers, coming from widely different circles are always attentive listeners, and many frequently remain to have a word in private, as to whether I consider fairy tales good for their children and to get my personal opinion about detective stories, or some other subject important to them.

I always take with me our Monthly Bulletin, in which are printed the new books for children. This list is talked over with the mothers and books for children of different ages specified. If there is time, I frequently tell the story the book tells or an interesting incident which occurs in some one of the chapters. After such an introduction there is apt to be a "run" on the Children's department the next few days. Boys and girls come in numbers to ask for the book "You told mother about yesterday."

These talks at the different schools, clubs and churches are the means of bringing the mothers to the library. They are interested now in wishing to see the place where the "fine English books are kept," as one little foreign mother always says. I find that the foreign-born mothers are intensely alive to the fact that their children must get the English language if they are ever to succeed, and they too, these foreign mothers, ask intelligent questions as to the books on history and civics for their boys and girls.

Birthdays and holidays are also strong factors, by means of which the library can interest the mothers. We have not as yet printed a list of books suitable for birthdays, but we did print a Christmas list in our November Bulletin of last year, and like Mary's little lamb, this book was with me wherever I went during the Christmas season. It was an exceedingly valuable list, because prices were given. There were books suitable for every taste and every purse.

I talked the list over with 250 mothers, whom I met at the various schools. A large number came to the library to see the books before buying. Then too, ways and means are always suggested by which they can obtain additional information, namely the telephone, post card, and by appointment with me at the book store, if they desire it, to say nothing of the many times advice is given outside of library hours.

On three different occasions we have had exhibits of books at the schools. This perhaps is the ideal way to interest mothers. I remember at one school the disappointment manifested when it was announced that orders were not taken for the books, but that the same could be obtained at the book store.

Our annual Conference on children's reading, which is held on the first Saturday in May, brings together still another group. The mothers are represented on the program and they take part in the discussion. The subject at these conferences is always some phase of children's reading. The discussions are interesting and educational, not only for the mothers, but for the library as well.

If you are able to speak one or two languages besides English, the way is open for you to the foreign mothers' clubs. I have frequently been a guest at the Italian mothers' club, where in a small way I have been able to tell them about the library and the books—English and Italian.

Not often do these mothers come to the library, but they are sure to send their children, and through these useful little citizens I hope some day to see the mothers frequent visitors at the library.

I would not have you think that these mothers are not interested because they are not able to come to the library. It is strange and they are often too busy. When I go to the store or they meet me on the street they will ask about the books and express their appreciation of what we are doing for their children.

Three-fourths of the mothers, regardless of nationality, social position or education, have no definite idea as to the kind of books their children ought to read.

If you would succeed in this movement, be interested, know your books, and be ready to have a human interest in every child's mother, be she rich or poor, American or foreign born. Success will then attend your efforts.

REFERENCE WORK AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN

The importance of reference work with children is indicated in the next article by the fact that "the subjects on which children seek information are as varied as those brought by older people, and the material is equally elusive." Miss Abby L. Sargent contributed this article to the Library Journal for April, 1895.

Abby Ladd Sargent received her training under her sister, Miss Mary E. Sargent. She reorganized the Wilmington Library Association Library in 1890-1891. From 1891 to 1895 she was librarian of the Middlesex Mechanics Association. In 1895 she became reference librarian and classifier of the Medford Public Library, where her sister was librarian. In 1910, after her sister's death, she became librarian of the Medford Public Library. In 1900 she organized and purchased books for the Owatonna, Minnesota, Public Library. She has been instructor in the Expansive Classification in Simmons College Library School since its opening. Miss Sargent was joint editor and compiler of Sargent's "Reading for the young," and its supplement.

Let us suppose that the momentous problem is solved of persuading children to use the library for more serious purpose than to find a book "as good as 'Mark the match boy,' " and that we are trying to convince children that the library is infallible, and can furnish information on whatever they wish to know about—whether it is some boy who comes on the busiest morning of the week, to find out how to make a puppet show in time to give an afternoon exhibition, or some high-school girl who rushes over in the 20 minutes' recess to write an exhaustive treatise on women's colleges.

It is unnecessary to say that the fewer books the library can supply the more must those few be forced to yield. A large library, with unlimited volumes, meets few of the difficulties which beset smaller and poorer institutions.

If the librarian can name at once "a poem about Henry of Navarre," or tell who wrote "by the rude bridge that arched the flood," and on what monument it is engraved, can furnish material for debate on "the Chinese question," "which city should have the new normal school," "who was Mother Goose," or on any possible or impossible subject, she gains at once the confidence of the severest of critics, and is sure of their future patronage.

The subjects on which children seek information are as varied as those brought by older people and the material is equally elusive. Perhaps the hardest questions to answer are about the allusions which are found in literature studies, and which frequently the teacher who has given the question cannot answer. I find it helpful whenever I come across material of this nature to make a reference to it in the catalog, and, in fact, to analyze carefully all juvenile books, not fiction, whose titles give no hint of the contents. A great many books otherwise valueless become thus most useful, especially if one is pressed for time.

Mr. Jones, in his "Special reading lists," gives many such references to juvenile literature. Books like Ingersoll's "Country cousins," which contains an article on shell money, also an account of Professor Agassiz's laboratory at Newport; Mary Bamford's "Talks by queer folks," giving many of the superstitions prevalent about animals; the set of books by Uncle Lawrence, "Young folks' ideas," "Queries," and "Whys and wherefores," recently republished under the title "Science in story," and others of this sort, if carefully indexed, answer many of the questions brought every day by children, and amply repay for the trouble. For even if juvenile books are classified on the shelves, much time is wasted in going through many indexes.

A wide-awake teacher often gives his pupils the events of the day to study, and if they cannot grasp the situation from the daily papers, juvenile periodicals furnish the best material. For this a classified index is indispensable; it makes available accounts of the workings of government, the weather bureau, mint, and other intangible topics. Until the recent publication of Capt. King's "Cadet days," I knew of no other place to find any description of West Point routine outside of Boynton's or Cullum's histories. One glimpse of either would convince any boy he would rather try some other subject.

A short article often suffices to give the main facts. My experience, both as teacher and librarian, persuades me that the average child is eminently statistical. "A horse is an animal with four legs—one at each corner," is fairly representative of the kind of information he seeks. When he becomes diffuse, we may feel sure he has had help. Sissy Jupes are of course to be found, who cannot grapple with facts.

Working on this principle, I have made liberal use of a book issued by the U. S. Government—"The growth of industrial art." It gives, in pictures, with only a line or two of description, the progress of different industries—such as the locomotive, from the clumsy engine of 1802 to the elaborate machinery of the present day; the evolution of lighting, from the pine-knot and tallow-dip to the electric light; methods of signalling, from the Indian fire-signal to the telegraph; time-keeping, etc. A child will get more ideas from one page of pictures than from a dozen or more pages of description and hard words.

If lack of space compels one to deny the privilege of going to the shelves, it seems to me more essential for children to have ready access to reference-books, and especially to be taught how to use them, than for grown-up people. The youngest soon learn to use "Historical notebooks," Champlin's Cyclopaedias, Hopkins' "Experimental science," "Boys' and Girls' handy books," and others of miscellaneous contents. If they have a mechanical bent they will help themselves from Amateur Work or "Electrical toy-making"; if musical, from Mrs. Lillie's "Story of music" or Dole's "Famous composers"; if they have ethical subjects to write about, they find what they need in Edith Wiggin's "Lessons in manners," Everett's "Ethics for young people," or Miss Ryder's books, which give excellent advice in spite of their objectionable titles. They can find help in their nature studies in Gibson's "Sharp-eyes," Lovell's "Nature's wonder workers," Mrs. Dana's "How to know the wild flowers," or turn to Mrs. Bolton's or Lydia Farmer's books to learn about famous people, if they are encouraged to do so. These, of course, are only a few of the books which can be used in this way. As the different holidays come round there are frequent applications for the customs of those days, or for appropriate selections for school or festival. Miss Matthews and Miss Ruhl have helped us out in their "Memorial day selections," and McCaskey's "Christmas in song, sketch, and story," and the "Yule-tide collection" give great variety. If the juvenile periodicals do not furnish the customs, they can, of course, be found in Brand's "Popular antiquities," or Chambers's "Book of days." It is necessary sometimes to use the books for older people, since there is a point where childhood and grown-up-hood meet. I was recently obliged to give quite a small child Knight's "Mechanical dictionary," to find out when and where weather-vanes were first used, and to give a grammar-school girl Mrs. Farmer's "What America owes to women," for material for a graduating essay.

A few excellent suggestions for general reference work are given in Miss Plummer's "Hints to small libraries"; but in spite of all the aids at command there come times when our only resource is to follow the adage, "look till you find it and your labor won't be lost," and to accept the advice of Cap'n Cuttle, "When found, make a note on't."

REFERENCE WORK WITH CHILDREN

Another report based on answers received from various libraries in reply to a list of questions suggests that we are "concerned not so much to supply information as to educate in the use of the library." This report was presented by Miss Harriet H. Stanley at the Waukesha Conference of the A. L. A. in 1901.

Harriet Howard Stanley is a native of Massachusetts. After completing a normal school course and teaching for a few years in secondary schools, she entered the New York State Library School, where she was graduated in 1895. She served for four years as librarian of the Public Library at Southbridge, Mass., and thereafter was for eleven years school reference librarian in the Public Library of Brookline, Mass. Since 1910 she has had positions in the Library of the U. S. Department of Agriculture and the Providence (R. I.) Athenaeum, and was for a year librarian of New Hampshire College. At various times she has taught in summer library schools—Albany, India and McGill University. She is now on the staff of the Public Library of Utica, N. Y.

Preliminary to preparing this report, a list of 15 questions was sent to a number of libraries in different parts of the United States, from 24 of which replies were received. So far as space would permit, the facts and opinions obtained have been embodied in this paper.

Reference work with grown people consists in supplying material on various topics; we consider it sufficiently well done when the best available matter is furnished with as little cost of time and trouble to the inquirer as is consistent with the service we owe to other patrons of the library. To a certain extent this statement is true also of reference work with children, but I think we are agreed that for them our aim reaches further— reaches to a familiarity with reference tools, to knowing how to hunt down a subject, to being able to use to best advantage the material found. In a word, we are concerned not so much to supply information as to educate in the use of the library. Seventeen of the 24 libraries reporting judge children to be sent to them primarily, if not wholly, for information. One of the first steps towards improving and developing reference work with children will have been taken when the teacher appreciates the larger purpose, since the point of view must materially affect the character and scope of the work. Another forward step is for the library to have definitely in mind some plan for accomplishing these ends. Whatever the plan, it will in likelihood have to be modified to accord with the teacher's judgment and deeds, but a definite proposal ought at least to give impetus to the undertaking.

Six libraries state that a considerable part of the inquiries they receive from children are apparently prompted by their individual interests, and not suggested by the teacher. These inquiries relate chiefly to sports, mechanical occupations and pets. This paper is confined to the discussion of reference work connected with the schools.

LIBRARY FACILITIES

In selecting reference books for the purpose, certain familiar ones come at once to our minds. Beyond those there have been suggested: Chase and Clow's "Stories of Industry," "Information readers," Brown's "Manual of commerce," Boyd's "Triumphs and wonders of the 19th century," Patton's "Resources of the United States," Geographical readers, Youth's Companion geographical series, Spofford's "Library of historic characters," Larned's "History for ready reference," Ellis's "Youth's dictionary of mythology," Macomber's "Our authors and great inventors," Baldwin's "Fifty famous stories," "Riverside natural history," Wright's "Seaside and wayside," bound volumes of the Great Round World, and text-books on various subjects.

A dictionary catalog will be useful in teaching the child to look up subjects for himself. If a separate catalog is provided for children, the question arises whether it is wiser to follow closely the A. L. A. headings or to modify them where they differ from topics commonly asked for by children or used as headings in text-books. This question suggests also the advisability of a modified classification for a children's library.

Last and not least, children should have room and service adapted to their needs, so that they may not constantly have to be put aside in deference to the rightful demands of adult readers.

So far as the writer knows, the Public Library of Boston was the first library to open a reference room expressly for children, well equipped and separate from the children's reading room or circulating department, and from the general reference department for adults.

CHOICE OF TOPICS

Many libraries report that they find the topics habitually well chosen. The gist of the criticisms is as follows:

(a) The teacher should make clear to the child just what he is to look up and how to ask for it. An eastern library furnishes this incident:

"I want a book about flowers."

"Do you want a special flower?"

"Yes, I want the rose."

A book on the cultivation of roses is handed her. Her companion, looking over, exclaims, "Why she wants the Wars of the roses!" The same librarian was invited to provide something on American privileges; whether social, religious, political, or otherwise, the child did not know.

(b) The teacher should be reasonably sure that there is on the topic something in print, in usable shape, that can be gotten at with a reasonable amount of labor.

(c) The subject when found should be within the child's comprehension. The topic Grasses is manifestly unfit for children, since grasses are difficult to study, and the description of them in encyclopedias and botanies is too technical. An eight- year-old had to investigate the Abyssinian war. Pupils under 16 were assigned the topic Syncretism in the later pagan movement. A western librarian was asked by some girls for Kipling's "Many inventions" and "Day's work." Both were out. "Well, what other books of Kipling's on agriculture have you?" "Why, Kipling hasn't written any books on agriculture; he writes stories and poems." "But we have to debate on whether agriculture or manufacturing has done more for the welfare of the country, and we want a book on both sides."

(d) The topic should be definite and not too broad, and should be subdivided when necessary. The briefest comprehensive description of Rome is probably that in Champlin's "Persons and places," where the six columns, already much condensed, would take more than an hour to copy. A young girl came to find out about Italian painters. None of the several encyclopedias treated them collectively under either Italy or Art. Mrs. Bolton's book of 10 artists includes four Italians, but it takes some time and skill to discover them, as the fact of their nationality does not introduce the narrative. How should a sixth grade pupil make a selection from the 60 painters in Mrs. Jameson's book? Three names were furnished by the librarian, and the child made notes from their biographies. The next day she returned and said she hadn't enough artists.

(e) The question should preferably be of such nature that the child can be helped to find it rather than be obliged to wait while the librarian does the work. One inquiry was, "What eastern plant is sometimes sold for its weight in gold?" This is not in the book of "Curious questions."

(f) The topic should be worth spending time upon. The genealogy of Ellen Douglas will hardly linger long in the average memory.

USE MADE OF THE MATERIAL BY THE CHILD

Suppose the topic to be good and suitable material to have been found; for older children there are two good ways of using it—one to read through and make notes on the substance, the other to copy in selection. Children need practice in doing both. The first method suits broad description and narration, the second detailed description. There seems to be a prevailing tendency to copy simply, without sufficient neglect of minor points, a process which should be left to the youngest children, since it furnishes little mental training, uses a great deal of time, keeps the writer needlessly indoors, and fosters habits of inattention, because it is easy to copy with one's mind elsewhere. The necessity for using judgment after the article has been found is illustrated by the case of some children who came for the life of Homer. Champlin, in about a column, mentions the limits within which the conjectures as to the time of Homer's birth lie, the places which claim to be his birthplace, and tells of the tradition of the blind harper. The children, provided with the book, plunged at once into copying until persuaded just to read the column through. "When you finish reading," I said, "come to me and tell me what it says." They came and recounted the items, and only after questioning did they at all grasp the gist of the matter, that nothing is known about Homer. Even then their sense of responsibility to produce something tangible was so great that they would copy the details, and from the children who came next day I judged that the teacher had required some facts as to time and place and tradition. While it is true that we learn by doing and it is well that children should rely upon themselves, it is evident that young pupils need some direction. Even when provided with sub-topics, they often need help in selecting and fitting together the appropriate facts, since no article exactly suits their needs. About half of the reporting librarians are of the opinion that it is the teacher's business to instruct pupils in the use of books; they consider the library to have done its share when the child has been helped to find the material. The other half believe such direction as is suggested above to be rightly within the librarian's province; several, however, who express a willingness to give such help, add that under their present library conditions it is impracticable. We can easily see that time would not permit nor would it be otherwise feasible for the teacher to examine every collection of notes made at the library, but there ought to be some systematic work where the topics are thoughtfully chosen, the librarian informed of them in advance, and the notes criticised. A moderate amount of reference work so conducted would be of greater benefit than a large quantity of the random sort which we now commonly have. Five librarians state that they are usually given the topics beforehand. Several others are provided with courses of study or attend grade meetings in which the course is discussed.

SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTION IN THE USE OF THE LIBRARY

While a general effort is being made to instruct children individually, only a few libraries report any systematic lessons. In Providence each visiting class is given a short description of books of reference. In Hartford an attempt at instruction was made following the vacation book talks. In Springfield, Mass., last year the senior class of the literature department was given a lesson on the use of the library, followed by two practice questions on the card catalog. In one of the Cleveland branches talks are given to both teachers and pupils. At the Central High School of Detroit the school librarian has for the past three years met the new pupils for 40 minutes' instruction, and test questions are given. A detailed account of similar work done in other high school libraries is to be found in the proceedings of the Chautauqua conference. Cambridge has given a lecture to a class or classes of the Latin school. In the current library report of Cedar Rapids, Ia., is outlined in detail a course of 12 lessons on bookmaking, the card catalog, and reference books. The librarian of Michigan City, Ind., writes: "Each grade of the schools, from the fifth to the eighth, has the use of our class room for an afternoon session each month. Each child is assigned a topic on which to write a short composition or give a brief oral report. When a pupil has found all he can from one source, books are exchanged, and thus each child comes into contact with several books. At these monthly library afternoons I give short talks to the pupils on the use of the library, the reference books, and the card catalog, accompanied by practical object lessons and tests." At Brookline our plan is to have each class of the eighth and ninth grades come once a year to our school reference room at the library. The teacher accompanies them, and they come in school hours. The school reference librarian gives the lesson. For the eighth grade we consider the make-up of the book—the title-page in detail, the importance of noting the author, the significance of place and date and copyright, the origin of the dedication, the use of contents and index. This is followed by a description of bookmaking, folding, sewing and binding, illustrated by books pulled to pieces for the purpose. The lesson closes with remarks on the care of books. The ninth grade lesson is on reference books, and is conducted largely by means of questioning. A set of test questions at the end emphasizes the description of the books. In these lessons the pupils have shown an unexpected degree of interest and responsiveness. The course brought about 400 children to the library, a few of whom had never been there before. These were escorted about a little, and shown the catalog, charging desk, bulletins, new book shelves, etc. Every one not already holding a card was given an opportunity to sign a registration slip. The following year the eighth grade, having become the ninth, has the second lesson. With these lessons the attitude of the children towards the library has visibly improved, and we are confident that their idea of its use has been enlarged.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL WORK

The inquiry was made of the reporting libraries whether any bibliographical work was being done by the high school. The question was not well put, and was sometimes misunderstood. Almost no such work was reported. At Evanston, III., one high school teacher has taught her class to prepare bibliographies, the librarian assisting. At Brookline we have ambitions, not yet realized, of getting each high school class to prepare one bibliography a year (we begin modestly) on some subject along their lines of study. Last May the principals of two grammar schools offered to try their ninth grades on a simple bibliography. The school reference librarian selected some 60 topics of English history—Bretwalda, Sir Isaac Newton, East India Company, the Great Commoner, etc. Each bibliography was to include every reference by author, title and page to be found in the books of the school reference collection of the public library. The pupils displayed no little zest and enjoyment in the undertaking, and some creditable lists were made. Observation of the work confirmed my belief in its great practical value. Pupils became more keen and more thorough than in the usual getting of material from one or two references on a subject. Such training will smooth the way and save the time of those students who are to make use of a college library, and is even more to be desired for those others whose formal education ends with the high or grammar schools.

The practice of sending collections of books from the public library to the schools is becoming general. When these collections are along the lines of subjects studied, it would seem as if the reference use of the library by pupils might be somewhat diminished thereby. No doubt it is a convenience to both teacher and pupils to have books at hand to which to refer. The possession of an independent school library also tends to keep the reference work in the school. But in neither case ought the reference use of the public library or its branches to be wholly or materially overlooked, since it is on that that pupils must depend in after years, and therefore to that they must now be directed. We recognize that the people of modest means need the library. As for the very-well-to-do, the library needs them. Other things being equal, the pupil who has learned to know and to know how to use his public library ought later so to appreciate its needs and so to recognize the benefits it bestows that he will be concerned to have it generously supported and wisely administered.

Even we librarians claim for our public collection no such fine service as is rendered by those private treasures that stand on a person's own shelves, round which "our pastime and our happiness will grow." Books for casual entertainment are more and more easily come by. But so far as our imagination reaches, what private library will for most readers supplant a public collection of books for purposes of study and reference? Is it not then fitting that we spend time and effort to educate young people to the use of the public library? Do not the methods for realizing this end seem to be as deserving of systematic study as the details of classification and of cataloging? We have learned that to bring school authorities to our assistance our faith must be sufficient to convince and our patience must be tempered by a kindly appreciation of the large demands already made upon the schools. Have we not yet to learn by just what lessons and what practice work the reference use of the public library can best be taught to children?

INSTRUCTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN IN THE USE OF LIBRARY CATALOGS AND REFERENCE BOOKS

The necessity of close cooperation between school and library in the practical use of books as tools in order that we may have "our grown people more appreciative of the value of their public library and better able to use it" is clearly brought out in this article written by Miss Elizabeth Ellis, Peoria Public Library, for Public Libraries, July, 1899. Miss Ellis says: "It was written at a time when we had no children's department and was an account of my pioneer efforts made entirely as a side issue from my own work as general reference librarian."

Elizabeth Ellis spent one year in the New York State Library School, later taking three months of special work. With the exception of organizing a library at Wenona, Illinois, her work was with the Peoria Public Library. She is not now in library work.

Since the public school of today is the source from which must come our support tomorrow, it behooves us to give some attention to the proper training of our school children if we would have our grown people more appreciative of the value of their public library and better able to use it.

We cannot begin too early, and if the children fall into line there will be no trouble with the coming generation.

But they must learn to really use the library; to feel that they are standing on their own feet and using their own tools, not merely that there is a pleasant room where a good story may be had for the asking. They must grow up in such familiar use of the library in all its departments that it will come to be an actual necessity to them in the pursuit of knowledge.

There are music, drawing, and physical culture teachers for our schools; may we not have a few lessons in how to use a library to the best advantage as part of the course? This field for instruction may be worked to advantage by the librarian, with comparatively little expenditure of time after the first round has been made.

Teachers often feel that they have themselves already more outside work than they can accomplish, but they are really glad to have this instruction given in their schools, and in our experience they have invariably taken great interest in it and have done all in their power to further our efforts.

There is certainly no library work which sends in its returns more promptly, for children feel an instinctive sense of ownership in their library, and take a personal interest in anything pertaining to it. They give the most flattering attention and put their instructions into immediate practice. I believe they really take more interest in the subject when presented by "a lady from the library" than if it were only an additional school lesson taught them by their teacher.

Most of the practical instruction must come in the grammar grades and high school, but it is well to begin as early as the third year, and possibly with the second, if there are found to be many children in a room who have already begun to take books and if there is no age limit. If it should so chance that only a small number in a room are library members, it is better to give only the general interesting library talk, leaving the specific instruction till a second visit, when the fruits of the first will probably appear. There is one point for the lowest room which it may be well to mention. See to it that they are learning to say their A B C's in the good old-fashioned way, for upon this depends all familiar use of catalogs and indexes.

Any child who can write can fill out a call slip, and this we teach them to do from the very first, either from a catalog when help in selection must be given, or from a special list of books for little children.

It must be impressed upon them that if they do not understand the general instruction you are always ready and glad to explain further. If they feel that you are really interested, even the smallest ones will work with enthusiasm to prepare their own call slips instead of asking each time for just any good book.

The intermediate grades, the fifth and sixth, and sometimes the fourth, are quite able to understand the general catalog. I should not advise much explanation at the school, at least in these grades, of the card catalog, if the library has a printed list. The use of a classed catalog, with its index, is easily comprehended, and there are many whole classes of books which these children will enjoy knowing about; boys, I should say, perhaps, for it is the pages containing electricity, photography, boat-building, and hunting, which are worn and crumpled. It is the classed catalog which they will use most, but they should understand the difference between it and the author list.

In all schools it is a good plan to give quizzes, even on a first visit, to draw the children out. Those who are already patrons of the library are delighted to show their knowledge. Afterwards it would be well before the day of the visit, with the teacher's consent, to send a short set of questions which would be answered and returned for correction, thus giving you an idea of what points need dwelling upon. These questions would vary from the simplest points in filling out library numbers, giving authors to titles and vice versa, to questions on arrangement, use of dictionary catalog and of various reference books.

In upper grades and high school add a simple explanation of the card catalog as being the most complete record, trusting to their interest in coming to the library to use it practically. If there is no printed catalog this explanation will have to be given to fifth and sixth years also.

They should be advised to use both kinds, and particularly the dictionary catalog for biography, as the short analytical references are most often what they want.

Children, boys again particularly, take to the card catalog with a confidence often lacking in their elders. I have seen them even make out their fiction lists from the cards in preference to the printed catalog, though for what reason I cannot explain, unless it is their innate desire to explore the unknown.

It is a good plan to have sample cards plainly written in large form on a sheet of paper, in addition to using a section of the catalog itself if it seems advisable to take it. In lower rooms a blackboard talk holds the attention better.

The use of the guide card, which misleads so many grown people, the heading in red, and the see and see also cards in the dictionary catalog, and the arrangement of biography in a classed list are a few points, which may need dwelling upon, and which I mention as having been found in our experience to be pitfalls for the unwary.

In the upper grade rooms, and particularly in the high school, comes the use of the encyclopedias and reference books.

I have found it hard to hold the attention of sixth-year pupils in this part, but they ought to be familiar with a good encyclopedia and biographical dictionary, and the gazeteer.

Tell them about Harper's Book of facts, Hayden's Dictionary of dates, the Century and Lippincott reference books and so on; also Chambers' Book of days, and the mythological dictionaries, in addition to the best encyclopedias, leaving at each school a descriptive list of these books for their further use. Call especial attention to the biographical dictionaries—few persons know how to use a set whose index is in the last volume; also note difference between table of contents and index in general books, and accustom them to use the latter. If there is a very large reference room it might be well to have some of the best books for school use collected on one shelf, and of course every children's room should be thus supplied.

Poole's index may be explained for the principle, but practically people are so sure to select the very volume you have not that it is well to use a little discretion with regard to it, unless you have made an index of all your own periodicals which are included in Poole, and can induce children to be patient enough to use it as a key to the other. The Cumulative index is rather better to teach them the use of periodicals, since it does not contain so many, and also as it gives such a very good idea of the dictionary catalog. The back numbers can be used in your explanations in the schoolroom for both purposes. Find out whether there is a debating society, and if so bring out Briefs for debate, Pros and cons, and tell them specially about the periodical indexes for late subjects.

Care must be taken not to crowd too much into one lesson, or to make it too technical; this latter point we must specially guard against, and experience in teaching comes into good use here. Their individual work with these books will have to be overlooked for some time, even though they are not conscious of it; and one must be ready to fly to the rescue and lend a helping hand without a special request, which I have found some children too timid to make.

In the first year of this kind of work the grammar grades and high school would need some of the instruction given in the lower grades, and after the system is really in working order there would be no actual need to go beyond the grammar grade, as the aim should be to have all really necessary instruction given then as so large a majority of pupils never go farther; but in the high school, if advisable, a course in bibliography could be introduced, based on their school work.

The use of the reference room, or reference desk, is a thing to be taught as much as the books themselves, and in this matter those libraries in which there is not an entirely separate children's room may have an advantage.

I am told that there is a certain feeling of timidity in entering a reference room which is sometimes hard to overcome in children accustomed to a special room and attendant.

Whatever the arrangement, they must be made to feel that the reference room, its appliances and its attendants, are part of their school outfit, an annex to the school as it were, however much we, carrying out the idea of Dr. Harris, may think the school an annex to the library. Accustom them as far as possible to use reference books at the library, and perhaps the coming generation will not invariably demand a book to take home, no matter how small the subject or how large the number of applicants for the same.

In this, as in all other school work, we must look to the teacher for aid after the technical use of our tools is taught.

The average child does not so much need the encouragement to read which may come from the library as constant guidance, which, to a large degree, must and does rest with the teacher, and in this matter of instruction much must depend on her even though the teaching itself is not imposed upon her as part of her duties. Explain to her your ideas, get her individual interest, and I can testify that she will assist in many ways. Children take their tone from their teacher, and the battle is half won if we have her hearty cooperation. A catalog should be placed in every school, and this she will help her pupils to use in nature work, history, and geography, and at the different holidays; also for their selections in speaking.

Particularly can she help in regard to their use of the reference room. She will remind them from time to time to go there instead of to the general delivery counter for special school topics. She will furnish a weekly memorandum of her essay work, this especially in the high school. She will send a warning note when her whole class is to descend upon us in a body at the busiest part of the afternoon, thereby probably saving our reputation in the minds of these young people whom we are laboring to convince that the library is an inexhaustible storehouse of information, equal to any demand which may be made upon it.

Now is the time for them to put their theoretical knowledge into practice, and we must often turn them loose with the reference books to find their own way, if we would be able in the future to deny the accusation that we are fostering laziness by having the very page and line pointed out.

I really believe that when the present library and school movement, has had time to exert its influence over even one generation, unlimited possibilities will unfold. Think what it will be to have our legislatures and city councils, our school and library boards and corps of teachers, drawn from the ranks of those who have grown up in the atmosphere of the public library to a true appreciation of its value.

ELEMENTARY LIBRARY INSTRUCTION

Principles and methods and the part of the public library in giving library instruction are presented by Gilbert O. Ward, Supervisor of High School Libraries, Cleveland, Ohio, in Public Libraries, July, 1912. This and its allied subjects are more comprehensively treated in several of the articles included in the first volume of the present series, entitled "Library and School."

Gilbert O. Ward was born in 1880 in New York City, and was educated in the New York City public schools. He was graduated from Columbia University in 1902 and from the Pratt Institute Library School in 1908. In 1908- 1909 he was an assistant in the Pratt Institute Free Library. Since 1909 he has been a member of the staff of the Cleveland Public Library, as librarian of the Technical High School in 1909-1910, and as technical librarian since 1910. From 1911 to 1913 he served as Supervisor of High School Branches. Mr. Ward has published "Practical use of books and libraries: an elementary textbook for use with high school classes."

The term "elementary library instruction" is limited here to any instruction given in the technical use of books and libraries to students under college or normal school grade.

The object of this paper is to review briefly, (1) the reasons for giving such instruction, (2) subjects and some methods suitable for grade and high schools, (3) the part of the public library in giving such instruction.

The subject of bibliographical instruction for school children has become more important in recent years because of changes which have taken place in school methods. Schools now place much less reliance than formerly upon text-books, while on the other hand they require of the student more collateral reading and reference work. This is especially true in courses in English and history; for instance where the high school student formerly studied about Chaucer in a textbook, he is now more likely required to read a selection.

This method while more fruitful in results than the old text-book method presents new difficulties both to teacher and to student. On the teacher's part, it is no longer sufficient to assign 10 pages for study and have done with it. References must be consulted and assigned to the students for written or oral report. With the troubles of the teacher however, we shall have nothing to do in the present paper. On the student's part, instead of being able to sit down to a compact account in a single book, he is required to use perhaps a dozen books in the course of a month, to say nothing of possible magazine articles. In fine, instead of a single book, he must use a library. The practical effect of this condition is that without some understanding of the scientific use of books and of the possibilities of either high school or public library, the student wastes his time and finds these studies an increased burden. The ordinary student is ignorant of how to handle books.

The primary purpose of formal library instruction is clearly then to do away with the friction which hinders the student in his or her work. There is no charm in bibliographical information as such and no excuse for attempting to teach a child merely curious or interesting facts for which he has no natural appetite or use. An example of this mistake is the attempt to acquaint the student with very many reference books, or go deeply into the subject of classification.

The subject of library instruction in public schools conveniently divides itself into two parts, (1) instruction in grade schools, (2) instruction in high schools. I have elsewhere rather full tentative outlines by way of suggestion, and limit myself at this point to more general discussion.

In elementary classes, the subject matter must be simple, first because the needs of the student are simple, and secondly because it is more easily and willingly taught if simple. The subjects which suggest themselves are: (1) The physical care of a book, (2) printed parts of a book, (3) the dictionary, (4) the public library.

The physical care of a book comes naturally first because children have to handle books before they can read them for pleasure, or need to use them as reference helps. The subject is important both to librarian and to school boards because it affects the question of book replacement, and hence the expenditure of public money. Speaking broadly, it is a question of conservation.

The ordinary book, not the reference book, is the one with which the student will always have most to deal; therefore as soon as he is old enough, or as soon as his text books can serve for practical illustration, the important printed parts of the ordinary books can be called to his attention. It should be sufficient to include the title page (title, author's name, and date), table of contents and index.

The study of the dictionary (the first reference book) should be taken up first with the pocket dictionaries when these are used in class and the children should be practiced in discovering and understanding the kinds of information given with each word. Then, when the unabridged is attacked later, the essentials will be familiar, and the mind freer to attack the somewhat complex problems of arrangement and added information, e.g., synonyms, quotations, etc.

After proper care of books, and the use of an ordinary book, and the use of a simple reference book, the next natural step is to the use of the public library. The talk on the public library obviously includes some description of the library's purpose and resources both for use and amusement, a very general description of the arrangement of the books, possibly some description of the card catalog—personally I am somewhat skeptical as to the utility of the card catalog for grade pupils—and finally, possibly an explanation of the encyclopedia.

The instructor for all the subjects mentioned excepting the public library is logically the teacher, because the subjects must be introduced as occasion arises in class. For instance the time for teaching the physical care of a book is when a book is first put into the child's hands. For the talk on the public library, the library itself is obviously the place, and the children's librarian the instructor Some special methods which suggest themselves are as follows: for the physical care of a book, a class drill in opening, holding, shutting, laying down, etc., rewards for the cleanest books, etc.; for the card catalogue, sample sets of catalogue cards (author, title and subject). The latter method is successfully used by the Binghamton (N. Y.) public library.

In high school, students vary in age from the grammar school boy on the one side, to the college freshman on the other, and the subjects and methods of instruction vary accordingly. In the matter of bibliographical instruction this greater range is reflected in a closer study of reference tools, including those parts of an ordinary book not taken up in the grades, (e.g., copyright date, preface, peculiar indexes, etc.), the unabridged dictionary, selected reference books, card catalog, magazine indexes, etc. The intelligent care of books can be re-emphasized by an explanation of book structure from dissected examples.

The specific subjects to be taught will vary with the time available, the class of the student, the subjects taught in school and the method of teaching them, and the material on hand in the public or school library.

As to general methods of instruction, these also must vary to suit the subject, the age of the student and the time available. Straight lecturing economizes time but makes the class restless and inattentive. An oral quiz drawing on the student's own experience is useful in getting the recitation started and revives interest when interspersed through a lecture. Each point should be illustrated by concrete examples from books themselves when possible, or from the blackboard. The lesson should be concluded by a written exercise, not too difficult, which should be marked. For example, the dictionary might be illustrated from the sample sheets issued by the publishers; and the class should then be given a list of questions to be answered from the dictionary. The questions can frequently be framed so as to be answered by a page number instead of a long answer, and each student should as far as practicable have a set of questions to answer different from every other student's.

If the high school possesses a library, much of the instruction is most logically given there. This save the time of the class in travelling back and forth from the school to the public library, particularly if the course is an extended one.

But why does the instruction of school children in the use of books and libraries concern the public library?

Because if children learn to use ordinary books intelligently it means a saving of the librarian's time by her not having to find the precise page of every reference for a child. It means a diminished amount of handling of books. It means less disturbance from children who do not know how to find what they want. Other results will doubtless suggest themselves.

It is not proposed to train the student to be a perfectly independent investigator. That would be impracticable and undesirable. It is simply proposed to give him such bibliographical knowledge as will be distinctly useful to him as a student now, and later as a citizen and patron of the library.

But what part may the public library play in this instruction? It obviously may play a very large part in high schools, the librarian of which it supplies, as in the city of Cleveland. In high schools when the librarian is appointed by the school authorities, it can cooperate with the school librarian by lending speakers to describe the public library, by furnishing sets of specimen catalogue cards for comparison—for public library cataloging may differ from high school cataloging—by lending old numbers of the Readers' Guide for practice in bibliography making, etc., etc.

Where there is no high school library and instruction must be given by the teacher or the public librarian, again the opportunities of the public library are clear. First there are teachers to be interested. English and history teachers most obviously, and department heads of these subjects are strategic points for attack. The subject of course should never be forced and a beginning should be made only with those teachers who seem likely to take interest. In the Binghamton public library before referred to, the librarian contrived to get the teachers together socially at the library, and the plan was then discussed before being put into operation. In laying the foundation for such a campaign, the librarian should have a simple, but definite plan in mind, based on her experience with school children so that when asked for suggestion, she can advance a practicable proposition.

Finally, under any circumstances, the public library can always be open for visits from classes, and ready to give class instruction in either library or school room as necessity or opportunity suggests. These methods are of course well known. Much informal instruction can also be given to students on using the index of an ordinary book, or the encyclopedia as occasion arises.

Summing up the chief points of this superficial review, we have seen (1) that the change in teaching methods has made the subject of library instruction important. (2) That the subjects of such instruction should be simple, and that both subjects and methods must be adapted to the occasion, (3) and finally that the public library is interested in the subject from a practical point of view and is able to take an influential part in shaping and administering courses.

THE QUESTION OF DISCIPLINE

The first article quoted on the subject of discipline was contributed to The Library Journal, October, 1901, by Miss Lutie E. Stearns, who gives the experience of a number of librarians and interprets them from her own standpoint. Lutie Eugenia Stearns was born in Stoughton, Mass.; was graduated from the Milwaukee State Normal School in 1887, and taught in the public schools for two years. From 1890 to 1897 she was in charge of the circulating department of the Milwaukee Public Library; from 1897 to 1914 she was connected with the Wisconsin Library Commission, part of the time as chief of the Travelling Library Department. Miss Stearns now devotes her time to public lecturing.

In these days of children's shelves, corners, or departments, or when, in lieu of such separation, the juvenile population fairly overruns the library itself, the question of discipline ofttimes becomes a serious one. The pages of library journals, annual reports, bulletins, primers, and compendiums may be searched in vain for guidance. How to inculcate a spirit of quiet and orderliness among the young folks in general; how to suppress giggling girls; what to do with the unruly boy or "gang" of boys —how best to win or conquer them, or whether to expel them altogether; how to deal with specific cases of malicious mischief or flagrant misbehavior and rowdiness—all these questions sometimes come to be of serious importance to the trained and untrained librarian.

It was with a view of gaining the experience of librarians in this matter that letters were recently sent to a large number of librarians, asking for devices used in preserving order and quiet in the library. The replies are of great interest, the most surprising and painful result of the symposium being the almost universal testimony that the leading device used in preserving order is the policeman! One librarian even speaks of his library as being "well policed" in ALL of its departments. Personally, we think the presence of such an officer is to be greatly deplored, believing him to be as much out of place in a library as he would be in enforcing order in a church or school room. The term of a school teacher would be short lived, indeed, who would be compelled to resort to such measures. In several instances, janitors do police duty, being invested with the star of authority; and in one case the librarian, who openly confesses to a lack of sentiment in the matter, calls upon the janitor to thrash the offender! "The unlucky youth who gets caught has enough of a story to tell to impress transgressors for a long time to come," writes the librarian. "The average boy believes in a thrashing, and it is much better in the end for him and for others to administer it and secure reverence for the order of the library."

In one state at least, Massachusetts, there is a special law imposing a penalty for disturbance; and one librarian reports that he has twice had boys arrested and tried for disturbing readers. Another librarian does not go as far as this but adopts the device of showing unruly boys a photograph of the State Reform School and the cadets on parade. "The mischief is quite subdued before I am half through," she writes, "and they frequently return bringing other boys to see the photograph. This fact undoubtedly acts as a check upon the boys many times." A pleasing contrast is offered to such drastic and unwholesome methods as these by the gentle and cheery methods pursued by a librarian who says, "The children in this library talk less than the grown-ups. When they do raise their voices, I go up to them and tell them in a very low tone that if everybody else in the room were making as much noise as they, it would be a very noisy place. That stops them. If children walk too heavily or make a noise on the stairs, I affect surprise and remark in a casual way that I did not know that it was circus day until I heard the elephants. This produces mouse-like stillness at once. Really, I know no other devices except being very impressive and putting quietness on the ground of other peoples' rights."

But it is not always such smooth sailing. One librarian writes: "We have had no end of trouble in a small branch which we have opened in a settlement in a part of our city almost entirely occupied by foreign born residents. A great many boys have come there for the sole purpose of making a row. We have had every sort of mischief, organized and unorganized. We have had to put boys out and we have had many free fights, much to the amusement and pleasure of the boys. We have never resorted to arrests, but instructed the young man who acted as body guard to the young lady assistants to hold his own as best he could in these melees. I finally resorted to the plan of taking the young man away and letting the young ladies be without their guard. This has resulted most satisfactorily. The order has been much better, and while I cannot say that we are free from disorder, nothing like the state of things that before existed now obtains. The manager of the Settlement House overheard a gang of these very bad boys consulting on the street a few nights ago, something in this wise: 'Come, boys, let's go to the library for some fun!' Another boy said, 'Who's there?' The reply was, 'Oh! only Miss Y——; don't let's bother her,' and the raid was not made. Of course we have done everything ordinary and extraordinary that we know about in the way of trying to interest the boys and having a large number of assistants to be among them and watch them, but nothing has succeeded so well as to put the girls alone in the place and let things take their course."

The experience of another librarian also furnishes much food for thought. She writes: "I could almost say I am glad that others have trouble with that imp of darkness, the small boy. Much as I love him, there are times when extermination seems the only solution of the difficulty. However, our children's room is a paradise to what it was a year ago, and so I hope. The only thing is to know each boy as well as possible, something of his home and school, if he will tell you about them. The assistants make a point of getting acquainted when only a few children are in. This winter I wrote to the parents of several of the leaders, telling them I could not allow the children in the library unless the parents would agree to assist me with the discipline. This meant that about six boys have not come back to us. I was sorry, but after giving the lads a year's trial I decided there was no use in making others suffer for their misdeeds. A severe punishment is to forbid the boys a 'story hour.' They love this and will not miss an evening unless compelled to remain away. To give some of the worst boys a share in the responsibility of caring for the room often creates a feeling of ownership which is wholesome. Our devices are as numerous and unique as the boys themselves. Some of them would seem absurd to an outsider. The unexpected always happens; firmness, sympathy and ingenuity are the virtues required and occasionally the added dignity of a policeman, who makes himself quite conspicuous, once in a while."

Another reply is a follows: "Miss C—— has turned over your inquiry concerning unruly boys to me to answer. I protested that every boy that made a disturbance was to me a special problem—and very difficult; and I can't tell what we do with unruly boys as a class. I remember I had a theory that children were very susceptible to courtesy and gentleness, and I meant to control the department by teaching the youngsters SELF control and a proper respect for the rights of the others who wanted to study in peace and quiet. I never went back on my theory; but occasionally, of a Saturday afternoon, when there were a hundred children or more and several teachers in the room and I was trying to answer six questions a minute, I did have to call in our impressive janitor. He sat near the gate and looked over the crowd and when he scowled the obstreperous twelve-year- olds made themselves less conspicuous. A policeman sometimes wandered in, but I disliked to have to resort to the use of muscular energy. I learned the names of the most troublesome boys and gradually collected quite a bit of information about them, their addresses, where they went to school, their favorite authors, who they seemed 'chummy' with, etc., and when they found I didn't intend to be needlessly disagreeable and wasn't always watching for mischief, but credited them with honor and friendly feelings, I think some of them underwent a change of heart. I made a point of bowing to them on the street, talking to them and especially getting them to talk about their books; had them help me hang the bulletins and pictures, straighten up the books etc. Twice an evil spirit entered into about a dozen of the boys and my patience being kin to the prehistoric kind that 'cometh quickly to an end,' after a certain point, I gave their names to the librarian, who wrote to their parents. That settled things for a while and they got out of the habit of talking so much. A serious conversation with one boy ended with the request that he stay from the library altogether for a month and when he came back he would begin a new slate. Once, within a week, he came in, or started to, when I caught his eye. Then he beckoned to another boy and I think a transaction of some kind took place so that he got his book exchanged. But he saw I meant what I said. The day after the month was up he appeared, we exchanged a friendly smile and I had no more trouble with him."

We deem the question of banishment a serious one. Unruly boys are often just the ones that need the influence of the library most in counteracting the ofttimes baneful influence of a sordid home life. It is a good thing, morally, to get hold of such boys at an early age and to win their interest in and attendance at the library rather than at places of low resort. To withhold a boy's card may also be considered a doubtful punishment— driving the young omnivorous reader to the patronage of the "underground travelling library" with its secret stations and patrons. Before suspension or expulsion is resorted to, the librarian should clearly distinguish between thoughtless exuberance of spirits and downright maliciousness. "If we only had a boys' room," plaintively writes one sympathetic librarian, "where we could get them together without disturbing their elders and could thus let them bubble over with their 'animal spirits' without infringing on other people, I believe we could win them for good."

A number of librarians, however, report no difficulty in dealing with the young folks. Some state that the children easily fall into the general spirit of the place and are quiet and studious. "We just expect them to be gentlemen," says one, "and they rarely fail to rise to the demand." In such places will generally be found floors that conduce to stillness, rubber-tipped chairs, and low-voiced assistants. "Our tiled floors are noisy—not our children," confesses one librarian. The use of noiseless matting along aisles most travelled will be found helpful. But one library mentions the use of warning signs as being of assistance, this being a placard from the Roycroft Shop reading, "Be gentle and keep the voice low." In a library once visited were found no less than eighteen signs of admonition against dogs, hats, smoking, whispering, handling of books, etc., etc.—the natural result being that, in their multiplicity, no one paid any attention to any of them. If a sign is deemed absolutely necessary, it should be removed after general attention his been called to it. The best managed libraries nowadays are those wherein warnings are conspicuous for their absence. Next to the officious human "dragon" that guards its portals, there is probably no one feature in all the great libraries of a western metropolis that causes so much caustic comment and rebellious criticism as that of an immense placard in its main reading room bearing in gigantic letters the command, SILENCE—this perpetual affront being found in a great reference library frequented only by scholarly patrons. Such a placard is as much out of place there as it would be in a school for deafmutes.

The solution of the whole problem of discipline generally resolves itself into the exercise of great tact, firmness, and, again, gentleness. There should be an indefinable something in the management of the library which will draw people in and an atmosphere most persuasive in keeping them there and making them long to return. A hard, imperious, domineering, or condescending spirit on the part of librarian and assistants often incites to rebellion or mutiny on the part of patrons. As opposed to this, there should ever be the spirit of quietude, as exemplified in the words previously quoted—"Be gentle and keep the voice low."

MAINTAINING ORDER IN THE CHILDREN'S ROOM

The following paper embodies practical suggestions for helping to give the children's room a "natural, friendly atmosphere." It was read by Miss Clara W. Hunt before the Long Island Library Club, February 19, 1903. A sketch of Miss Hunt appears on page 135.

So many of the problems of discipline in a children's room would cease to be problems if the material conditions of the room itself were ideal, that I shall touch first upon this, the less important branch of my subject. For although the height of a table and width of an aisle are of small moment compared with the personal qualifications of the children's librarian, yet since it is possible for us to determine the height of a table, when mere determining what were desirable will not insure its production where a human personality is concerned, it is practical to begin with what there is some chance of our attaining. And the question of fitting up the room properly is by no means unimportant, but decidedly the contrary. For, given a children's librarian who is possessed of the wisdom of Solomon, the patience of Job, the generalship of Napoleon, and put her into a room in which every arrangement is conducive to physical discomfort, and even such a paragon will fail of attaining that ideal of happy order which she aims to realize in her children's reading room. The temper even of an Olympian is not proof against uncomfortable surroundings.

Children are very susceptible, though unconsciously to themselves, to physical discomfort. You may say you do not think so, for you know they would sit through a whole morning and afternoon at school without taking off their rubbers, if the teacher did not remind them to do it, and so, you argue, this shows that they do not mind the unpleasant cramped feeling in the feet which makes a grown person frantic. But while the child himself cannot tell what is wrong with him, the wise teacher knows that his restlessness and irritability are directly traceable to a discomfort he is not able to analyze, and so the cause is not removed without her oversight. While the children's librarian will not have the close relations with the boys and girls that their school-teachers have, she may well learn of the latter so to study what will make for the child's comfort, that, in the perfect adaptation of her room to its work, half the problems of discipline are solved in advance.

Let us suppose that the librarian is to have the satisfaction of planning a new children's room. In order to learn what conveniences to adopt and what mistakes to avoid, she visits other libraries and notes their good and weak points. She will soon decide that the size of a room is an important factor in the question of discipline. Let a child who lives in a cramped little flat where one can hardly set foot down without stepping on a baby come into a wide, lofty, spacious room set apart for children's reading, and, other conditions in the library being as they should the mere effect of the unwonted spaciousness will impress him and have a tendency to check the behavior that goes with tenement- house conditions. We of the profession are so impressed with the atmosphere that should pervade a library, that a very small and unpretentious collection of books brings our voices involuntarily to the proper library pitch. But this is not true to the small arab, who, coming from the cluttered little kitchen at home to a small, crowded children's room where the aisles are so narrow that the quickest way of egress is to crawl under the tables, sees only the familiar sights—disorder, confusion, discomfort —in a different place, and carries into the undignified little library room the uncouth manners that are the rule at home. In planning a new children's room then, give it as much space as you can induce the librarian, trustees, and architects to allow. Unless you are building in the North Woods, or the Klondike or the Great American Desert you will never have any difficulty in getting small patrons enough to fill up your space and keep the chairs and tables from looking lonesome.

The question of light has a direct bearing on the children's behavior. Ask any school teacher, if you have never had occasion to notice it yourself, which days are the noisiest in her school-room, the bright, sunny ones, or the dingy days when it is difficult to see clearly across the room. Ask her if the pencils don't drop on the floor oftener, if small feet do not tramp and scrape more, if chairs don't tip over with louder reports, if tempers are not more keenly on edge, on a dark day than a bright one. I need not say "yes," for one hundred out of a hundred will say it emphatically. So, if you cannot have a room bright with sunshine, do at least be lavish with artificial light, for your own peace of mind.

Floors rendered noiseless by some good covering help wonderfully to keep voices pitched low. I have seen this illustrated almost amusingly in Newark, where frequent visits of large classes were made from the schools to the public library. The tramp of forty or fifty pairs of feet in the marble corridors made such a noise that the legitimate questions and answers of children and librarian had to be given in tones to be heard over the noise of the feet. The change that came over the voices and faces as the class stepped on the noiseless "Nightingale" flooring of the great reading room was almost funny. The feet made no noise, therefore it was not necessary to raise the voice to be heard, and no strictures of attendants were needed to maintain quiet in that room.

Under the head of furniture I will give only one or two hints of things worth remembering. One is that whatever you decide upon for a chair, in point of size, shape, or style, make sure, before you pay your bill, that it cannot be easily overturned. If you have a chair that will tip over every time a child's cloak swings against it, your wrinkles will multiply faster than your years warrant. And reason firmly with your electrician if he has any plan in mind of putting lamps on your tables of such a sort that they positively invite the boy of a scientific (or Satanic) turn of mind to astonish the other children by the way the lights brighten and go out, all because he has discovered that a gentle pressure to his foot on the movable plug under the table can be managed so as to seem purely innocent and accidental while he sits absorbed in the contents of his book. I would also ask why it is that librarians think we need so MUCH furniture, when our rooms are as small as they sometimes are? We seem to think it inevitable that the floor space should be filled up with tables, but, as Mr. Anderson remarked in his paper at Magnolia, if we saw a family at home gathered around the table, leaning their elbows upon it and facing the light, we should think it a very unnatural and unhygienic position to adopt. Why should we, in the library, encourage children to do just what physiologists tell us they should not do? Why provide tables at all for any but those actually needing them as desks for writing up their reference work? For the many who come merely to read, why is not a chair and a book, with light on the page of the book, and not glaring into the child's eyes, enough for his comfort? This is worth thinking about, I am sure, and worked out in some satisfactory, artistic little back-to-back benches perhaps, would change the stereotyped appearance of the children's room, and give the extra floor space which is always sadly needed. It is an axiom in library architecture that perfect supervision should be made easily possible. In a children's room this should be taken very literally. There should be no floor cases, no alcoves in the room, no arrangements by which a knot of small mischief makers can conceal themselves from the librarian for she will find such an error in planning, a thorn in the flesh as long as the room stands.

So much time devoted to the planning of the children's room, may give the impression that the room is of more importance than the librarian. It is a platitude, however, to say that the ideal children's librarian, with every material condition against her, will do a thousand times more than the ideal room with the wrong person in it. The qualifications necessary to make the right sort of a disciplinarian are, many of them, too intangible for words, but a few things strike me as not always distinctly recognized by librarians.

In the first place, no librarian should compel that member of his staff who dislikes children to do the work of the children's department. While on general principles to let an attendant choose the work she likes to do would be disastrous, since the person best fitted for dusting might choose to be reference librarian, in this one particular at any rate, the wishes of the staff should be consulted. For while all may be conscientious, faithful workers wherever placed, mere conscientiousness will not make a person who frankly says children bore and annoy her, a success in the children's room. Love for children should be the first requisite, and the librarian who puts a person in charge of that work against her will, will hurt the department in a way that will be surely felt sooner or later. While love for children, sympathy with, and understanding of them are all of the first importance in the composition of a children's librarian, some experience in handling them in large numbers (as in public school teaching, mission schools, boys' clubs, etc.) is extremely desirable. To deal with a mob of very mixed youngsters is a different matter from telling stories to a few well-brought up little ones in your own comfortable nurseries. The best qualification for the work of children's librarian is successful experience as a teacher, in these happy days when it is coming to be the rule that law and liberty may walk side by side in the school-room, and where firmness on the teacher's part in no wise interferes with friendliness on the child's.

The children's librarian should have the sort of nerves that are not set on edge by children. This does not mean that she may not be a nervous person in other ways, indeed she must be, for the nerveless, jelly-fish character can never be a success in dealing with children. But I have seen people of highly nervous organization who were really unconscious of the ceaseless tramp, tramp, of the children's feet, the hum and clatter and moving about inevitable in a children's library. Visitors come into the room and say to such a person, "How can you stand this for many minutes at a time?" and the librarian looks round in surprise at the idea of there being anything hard to bear when she hears only the little buzz that means to her hundreds of little ones at the most susceptible age, eagerly, happily absorbing the ennobling ideals, the poetic fancies, the craving for knowledge that are going to make them better men and women than they would have been without this glimpse into the realms beyond their daily surroundings.

To attempt to enumerate, one by one, the qualities that combine to make a wise and successful disciplinarian would be fruitless. We can talk endlessly about what OUGHT to be. The most practical thing to do to obtain such a person, is not to take a raw subject and pour advice upon her in hopes she will develop some day, but to hunt till you find the right one and then offer her salary enough to get her for your library. And this suggests a subject worthy of future discussion, that head librarians should reckon this to be a profession within our profession, just as the kindergartner is a specialist within the teaching body, demanding a higher type of training than is the rule, and PAYING THE PRICE TO GET IT.

Just a word about what degree of order and quiet to expect, and to work for, in a children's room. Are we to try to maintain that awful hush that sends cold chills down the spine of the visitor on his first entering a modern reading room, and tempts him to back out in fright lest the ticking of his watch may draw all eyes upon him?

I should be very sorry to have a children's room as perfectly noiseless as a reading room for adults. It is so unnatural for a roomful of healthy boys and girls to be absolutely quiet for long periods that if I found such a state of affairs I should be sure something was wrong—that all spontaneity was being repressed, that that freedom of the shelves which is a great educator was being denied because moving about makes too much noise, that the question and answer and comment which mark the friendly understanding between librarian and child, and which make a good book circulate because one boy tells another that it is good, were done away with in order that no slight noise might be heard. If there were such a thing as a meter to register sound to be hung in a children's room beside the thermometer, I should not be alarmed if it indicated a pretty high degree, provided I could look around the room and observe the following conditions: a large room, full of contented children, no one of whom was wilfully noisy or annoying, most of them being quietly reading, the ones who were moving about asking in low tones the children's librarian or each other, perfectly legitimate questions that were to help them choose the right thing. It is inevitable that heavy boots, young muscles that have not learned self-control, the joyous frankness of childhood that does not think to keep its eager happiness over a good "find" under decorous restraint, will result in more actual noise than obtains in the adults' reading room. And yet, while the "sound meter" of the children's room would register farther up, it might really be more orderly than the other room, for every child might be using his room as it was intended to be used, while the adult department might contain a couple of women who came in for the express purpose of visiting, and yet who knew how to whisper so softly as not to be invited to retire. We must remember that, if children make more noise, they do not mind each other's noise as adults do. The dropping of a book or overturning of a chair, the walking about do not disturb the young student's train of thought; and while I do not wish to be quoted as advocating a noisy room, but on the contrary would work for a quiet one, day in and day out, I do feel that allowances must be made for noises that are not intended to be annoying, and that we should not sacrifice to the ideal of deathly stillness the good we hope to do through the child's love for the room in which he feels free to express himself in a natural, friendly atmosphere.