What Public Libraries Are Doing for Children
THE present may be called an age of child - study. Certainly never before were the needs of children receiving such conscientious attention, and yet only recently has the public library awakened to its responsibilities in this direction. A hundred and sixty years ago no books were written for the entertainment of children; only fifty years ago the first public, tax-supported library in the United States was founded in Boston; and less than a dozen years ago was opened the first children’s room in a public library. To-day juvenile books flow from the press in a bewildering flood, while more than five thousand public libraries are scattered through the land, and most of the largest of these, together with several of the smaller ones, have within the last decade established special departments for children, — often implying one or more commodious rooms devoted to their use, and a staff of librarians especially trained to care for their needs. So rapid has been this development of work with children, and so considerable is the expenditure of time and money for the purpose, that the public may pertinently ask what has already been accomplished, and what amelioration is so much effort likely to effect.
One of the first to emphasize the importance of this branch of library work was Mr. Charles Francis Adams, Jr., who, in an address to the teachers of Quincy, impressed on them the danger of teaching children how to read and not what to read, and the consequent desirability of introducing pupils to literature through the use of library books in connection with their lessons. Shortly afterwards, in 1879, systematic cooperation between the public library and the schools was instituted at Worcester, Massachusetts. The librarian, Mr. S. S. Green, allowed each teacher to borrow, besides half a dozen volumes for her own intellectual improvement, a much larger number of books for use by her pupils in school or at home; and through these privileges the teachers secured in profusion whatever books they needed to supplement textbooks and illustrate topics of study, — geography and history, of course, being particularly susceptible of such treatment.
A general adoption of new methods of teaching led the schools elsewhere to require like aid from the libraries, and as a result it is not uncommon for public schools to be liberally supplied with library books, which in some cases are selected and borrowed by the teacher, as in Worcester; while in other instances large collections numbering perhaps two or three hundred volumes are sent from the library, and placed in the school or classroom for six months or a year, to be used as school libraries.
The avidity with which even the most ignorant children seize such opportunities for reading I have seen strikingly illustrated in the poorest quarter of a populous city. In that experiment the pupils of a large grammar school were given library cards, and the library wagon twice a week delivered the books asked for by the children. Twentythree different nationalities, the teacher told me, were represented. American children there were none, and few English or Irish; but Italians, German Jews, Poles, Greeks, Hungarians, Russians, and Armenians predominated. Some of the pupils, on entering the school, were unable to speak English, and by the time of graduation could read only very simple books. Yet a few months after the delivery was begun, those children were drawing — and presumably reading — one hundred, two hundred, sometimes even three and four hundred volumes a week.
A glimpse of work similar to this, which is being carried on in most of our large cities, furnishes convincing proof of children’s receptivity of good literature. In Buffalo, for instance, Mr. H. L. Elmendorf, the librarian of the Public Library, characterizes the distribution of books through the schools as “the best work the library is doing,” and his report shows that the school circulation in that city last year reached the astonishingly large figure of 233,102 volumes.
From the beginning, the books thus supplied to schools were not restricted to serious works or to those for use simply in connection with lessons. But good literature of all sorts, including fiction, reached the pupils; and as a not uncommon library regulation ten or fifteen years ago prohibited the borrowing of books by children under fourteen years of age, distribution through the schools early became an effective means, sometimes the only means, of furnishing books to children too young to hold library cards, and yet old enough to become eager and profitable readers.
But notwithstanding the benefits, the introduction of these methods was not without drawbacks. For frequently the knowledge necessary to choose books adapted to young children was lacking, — as in the case of the teacher who sent for Ibsen’s A Doll’s House under the impression that it was suitable for a little girl of doll-age. Then again, as has been justly remarked, teachers were not in the habit of regarding themselves as members of the leisure class; and they might ask, very pertinently, granting the importance of good reading in broadening and stimulating the youthful mind, and its immense influence in forming the child’s ideals, why should the library shirk its function and shift the burden upon the school department ?
To this question the library trustee could give no satisfactory reply, and the logical result was a very general lowering of the age limit for holding library cards. In fact, there is now a growing tendency to make no restriction of this sort whatever, and to grant a card to any child able to read.
It would, however, be the height of folly to turn young people loose with unrestricted access to books many of which are entirely unsuited to childhood ; and to select a library with a view to giving children absolutely equal privileges with adults would result in rendering it valueless to the latter. Indeed, due consideration for older readers should prevent the thronging of the delivery desk with the hordes of youngsters who sometimes compose from a third to a half of the library clientage; for, after all, the first duty of a library is to the adult, and its efforts for the child look not solely to the child’s immediate good, but to the necessity of fitting him to profit by the use of the library in later years. The natural solution, therefore, was the establishment of the children’s department, either in a separate room or in a railed-off space in the main hall of the library.
The first reading-room devoted exclusively to children, so far as I know, was opened by the Public Library of Brookline in 1890. In the larger libraries the children’s department is now almost always placed in a separate room with special attendants; and even in the smaller buildings which are springing up all over the country as the fruit of generous benefactions the plans usually allot ample space for this purpose.
On entering one of these children’s rooms the visitor is impressed with the air of cheerfulness and refinement. The diminutive tables and chairs are occupied by quiet readers, while interested borrowers are choosing books to take home from a wide range of diverting and instructive literature shelved in low cases about the walls. A bulletin board exhibits pictures and lists of books relating to the birds of the season, or perhaps to events of current or historical interest. A substantial, printed catalogue of the children’s books can usually be purchased for a few cents. The room is decorated with plants or flowers; and the walls are adorned with photographs or other reproductions of works of art, occasionally even with the originals, — although few libraries are so fortunate as that in Boston, where the children’s rooms contain the paintings by Mr. Howard Pyle illustrating the life of Washington, and the ceiling is covered with frescoes by the English artist, Elliott. In this atmosphere of books and art rich and poor roam at will, — free to browse, or privileged to seek the assistance of a cultured and sympathetic attendant.
The far-reaching influence of books upon child-nature is hardly realized, in spite of all that has been written on the subject. My attention was recently directed to a boy of eleven who appeared dull and uninterested in anything. In school he was called stupid. One day, through his teacher, the boy got hold of Mr. Thompson-Seton’s fascinating Wild Animals I Have Known. He read the book eagerly, and came to the library for others. So marked a chairge took place in the boy that his teachers expressed surprise at his sudden access of interest in lessons, and his mother came to the library for the express purpose of telling us of the great awakening which had come to her boy through books.
Great as is their power in broadening and stimulating the young intellect, books have a still stronger influence on the moral nature. For to the child there are three sources of infallibility, — parent, teacher, and printed book; and the standards of right and wrong pervading the books read go far toward forming youthful ideals. Examples of moral courage strengthen the pliable nature; even the time-worn rescue of the cat from the band of tormenting boys doubtless helps to create an abhorrence of cruelty, and the prodigious deeds of valor performed by many a youthful hero may stouten the heart of the admiring reader. So, too, a boy may be quick to cry fie if in real life a playmate be guilty of meanness, but if in a book — as sometimes happens — trickiness and deceit are exhibited as excusable or “smart,” his ideal of honor is exposed to serious injury.
Therefore, while two opinions may exist as to the propriety of censorship on the part of a library in dealing with adults, there can hardly be disagreement as to the importance of the utmost care in the choice of books purveyed to children. Too often the books owned by the average child, even in good circumstances, are acquired at Christmas, the gift of an undiscriminating uncle or an aunt whose eye has been caught by the illustrations at a bargain counter! The books frequently present neither good literature nor good morals. No such laxity can be charged to the conscientious children’s librarian. She regards her work with due — the carping bibliographer says with undue — seriousness. For her the professional library schools have established a special course of training fitting her to work with children. Before admitting a book to the collection she examines it with scrupulous care, aiming to purchase for recreative reading only those which are entertaining, wholesome in tone, and decently well written. As to the interest of a book, she is not content with her own judgment solely, but often consults the opinions of the children themselves. So important is this matter of selection considered, that librarians are at work compiling a coöperative list of children’s books which shall have the benefit of the criticism and experience of many experts.
Having gathered a suitable collection of books, the intelligent librarian studies her children individually, stimulates their interest, and by tactful suggestion and various devices strives to cultivate in them healthy tastes and the habit of systematic reading. To further these aims the children are sometimes enrolled in a library league, as in Cleveland, one condition of membership being a pledge to respect and take good care of the books. In Pittsburg and elsewhere reading aloud and story-telling have been resorted to for inciting the children to read books containing the stories told. The bulletin board and exhibitions of pictures and objects are frequently used to arouse interest in special classes of books. Courses of reading are laid out, and various inducements to follow them are offered. But in all these efforts the books themselves, displayed in attractive bindings, are the strongest ally. For although it is frequently impossible to admit the public to the shelves in the main library, in the children’s room the readers may almost invariably go directly to the books.
While the aim of the children’s assistant is to lead them to read, she takes pains to send into the fresh air those too much inclined to stay indoors, and is the friend and counselor of all in many ways. In some few libraries the children’s department has been extended to include social work of various sorts, such as illustrated lectures and talks, or games, even military drill, nature - study, music, gymnastics, and clubs. It may be a debatable question whether such diverse pursuits are wisely undertaken: conservative librarians have confined their activities to promoting library work proper.
It must not he supposed, however, that the somewhat elaborate provision for the needs of children commonly made by the larger libraries has in the least made unnecessary the use of the library by the schools. Rather has it intensified their community of interest. The importance of leading the children to the library itself is emphasized lest, if accustomed to receiving library books at the schools only, they cease their reading, as most of them drop all study by the end of the grammar-school course. But the librarian can employ no truant officer: he can reach directly only the children who enter his doors. He needs the active aid of the teachers to reach all the children of the community, most of whom, once tasting books, make permanent readers. He needs also the aid of the wise teacher who has perhaps the greatest opportunity to stimulate interest in the best books.
For a distinctly different purpose the library most depends on the coöperation of the schools; that is, for the prosecution of what, for lack of a better term, is called reference work with children. Much of the library activity described above is devoted to the single end of offering good books to children for the purpose of cultivating in them the so-called reading habit, — an offensive term suggestive of the opium habit or the alcohol habit, — let us rather say, of acquainting them with the pleasures of reading and fostering a refined taste. By reference work, on the other hand, is meant the effort to teach the use of books as sources of information. Thus, while in the former case we are concerned largely with “the literature of power, ” in the latter we are dealing with “the literature of knowledge ; ” and in this direction lies a wide and rich field to be developed.
Unfortunately, not only to children, but to a large part of the adult community, the library often represents merely a storehouse of entertaining books, as is evinced by the fact that commonly some three fourths of the volumes borrowed are works of fiction. It is astonishing to discover what a trackless wilderness the library shelves beyond those containing fiction appear to some of the most frequent borrowers. A typical incident occurred recently when two intelligent, middle-aged borrowers were seen to be in difficulties before a card catalogue, and the attendant who went to their rescue found them patiently searching for books on plumbing under the caption “geometry.” Such an incident is by no means unusual, for there are many habitués of a library who have learned to look for a novel in the catalogue under author or title, but have no comprehension of the meaning of the subject entries, have no familiarity with the commonest reference books except possibly the dictionary and encyclopædia, and are ignorant of the use of any bibliographical aids. Queries in literary or daily papers bear evidence of this. It is not their unfamiliarity with the means that is deplorable, but their ignorance of the end; for it never occurs to them to use the library for any purpose beyond recreative reading.
Yet surely the free public library has higher functions. If it existed merely to furnish elevating and refined amusement, the community might with equal propriety support a free public theatre. Even the thoughtfulness and mental quickening which may be assumed to result from imaginative reading do not entirely justify its existence. It must serve a directly educational purpose just as surely as the school or college.
Such a service, without doubt, it does now perform and in a high degree, but for the few. The scholarly part of the community values its indispensable aid. The women’s clubs, which though sometimes reproached for superficiality are nevertheless a potent agency for encouraging study as an avocation, depend on its constant assistance. But only a comparatively small proportion even of the cultured classes use it systematically for studious purposes; and how many of the young men or ambitious boys and girls entitled to its privileges, for many of whom a grammar-school course completes formal education, realize that in the library — if they will use them — lie the means of self-education and selfhelp ?
There are some, it is true. Any experienced librarian can cite cases of young men and boys especially, and sometimes girls too, who have followed a special line of study and mastered not only the material bearing upon that subject in their own library, but also, if it be a small library, books which it has borrowed for their use from larger institutions. The subject may be a science followed purely for intellectual pleasure, or, as more often happens, the student is a young mechanic or artisan eager to perfect himself in a theoretical knowledge of his calling. In such cases a significant fact is the surprise frequently manifested by tbe inquirer when he discovers the ample opportunities afforded by the library.
If the public schools are to do more than give a course of instruction which is to stop abruptly at the end of nine or thirteen years, as the case may be, a part of the equipment of every boy and girl going out from them into the world must be not only a love of literature, but also some appreciation — as definite as may be — of the opportunities afforded by the library to continue their education through the wise and systematic use of books. To instill some recognition of this vital fact, as well as to give some facility in handling books as tools, is the aim of reference work with children.
One large factor in achieving this aim has been described already, and consists in employing in connection with school lessons collateral reading drawn from the library. In this way the pupil learns that the sum of knowledge is not contained in a single textbook, but that a whole literature may be found amplifying a subject and treating its many different aspects; he learns to compare statements and weigh evidence.
With the same end in view it is not uncommon for a teacher to conduct a class to the library for the purpose of examining all the resources of that institution, — books, pamphlets, maps, photographs, — everything which the librarian can gather to illustrate a special subject. So, again, the teacher constantly refers pupils individually to the library to verify some fact by means of its reference books or to search for information on some topic of which they are later to present a résumé to the class. Thus they gain facility in hunting down a piece of information, in making notes, and in abstracting the essence from a book or article.
Such work is not unusual, but it is only recently that libraries have attempted to go beyond these simple measures and to experiment in the direction of more systematic instruction. The first reference department for children separate from their reading-room, I believe, was that opened by the Public Library of Boston in 1899.
By a unique arrangement the reference work with school children in Brookline, Massachusetts, is supported by a special appropriation asked for jointly by the trustees of the library and the school committee. The money is expended by the library trustees, but the books are selected with deference to the wishes of the school authorities. A large room is maintained called the school reference room, — quite distinct from the general children’s readingroom, — and in it are shelved some three thousand volumes adapted to throw light on subjects taught in school and kept for the sole use of pupils at the library or in the classroom. A printed and annotated catalogue acquaints teachers with the character of the books and the number of copies of each available, as it is often found expedient to purchase numerous copies of the same book. In charge of the room is a special assistant of experience both in library work and in teaching, who is employed for this work alone. A private telephone connects the room with all the schools, so that a teacher, for instance, need only telephone in the morning for, say, twenty books illustrating the geography of India, suitable for seventh-grade pupils, and the books will be selected and delivered by express the same day. To this room the pupils resort individually, and here they are brought in classes to be taught how to use a library.
One of the earliest experiments in giving systematic instruction to school children at the library was made in 1896 at Cardiff, Wales. There the pupils of all the elementary schools in and above the fourth standards — that is, roughly, children from ten to fourteen years of age — were taken once a year to the library, in parties numbering about forty, to receive an illustrated lesson from the librarian upon some definite subject. The topic chosen the first year was The History of a Book, and the proceedings cannot be better described than by extracts from an account read before the Library Association of the United Kingdom by the librarian, Mr. John Ballinger: —
“ We did n’t tell the children we were going to give them a lesson on the history of a book, or that we were going to give them a lesson at all. We started by saying that we were going to show them different kinds of books, and then beginning with a clay tablet, of which we had one genuine specimen (Babylonian) and one cast (Assyrian) made from an original in the British Museum, we proceeded to show how the book and the art of writing and reading had gradually developed. We explained to them the papyrus books of ancient Egypt, using as illustrations the beautiful reproductions of papyri published by the trustees of the British Museum. We explained to them also that there had been different kinds of letters used to denote sounds, showing them the difference between cuneiform writing and the picture writing of Egypt. We also dealt with books written upon vellum, using by way of illustration various MSS. and deeds belonging to the library. Passing from the written to the printed book, we explained a few elementary facts about the early history of printing and about early printing in England, using as illustrations four or five books printed before the year 1500, which we happen to possess. Having introduced the subject of printing, we passed lightly over the interval between tbe early printed book and the modern book, explaining that the former had no titlepage, no headlines, no pagination, no printer’s name, no place of printing, and that the capital letters were omitted for the purpose of being put in by hand, and we showed them specimens of such capitals and also of books in which the capitals had never been inserted. To lead up from this point to the magnificent books of the present day was to give the children an object lesson in human progress which was not only instructive, but delightful. We showed them by the way the facsimile examples of the Horn Book from Mr. Tuer’s interesting monograph on that subject. We also showed them books printed in Japan and other countries, books for the blind, and similar byways of the book world.”
Commenting on the far-reaching results of these talks, — in many instances the parents being led to the library by hearing about it from their children, — Mr. Ballinger adds: —
“After giving thirty-nine lessons to a total of about sixteen hundred children, between January and July of the present year, I say, without hesitation, that nothing I have ever been able to do in the whole course of my life has been so full of satisfaction as the work which I have just attempted to describe. ”
In the half-dozen American libraries where like work has been attempted, it has usually been confined to more rigorously practical instruction regarding the use of books and the library. A brief description of the process of bookmaking is often given, showing how the sheets are printed and folded, sewed on bands, and the covers laced in. This matter is touched on because a knowledge of the mechanical make-up of a book leads to more respect and better care on the part of the borrower. Next the attention of pupils is directed to the title-page, and they learn to understand the important facts contained in it, as well as the particulars of imprint and copyright entry. Then the children are shown the importance — often overlooked — of the introduction or preface as showing the point of view or aim of the author; and,finally, they are taught how to use the table of contents and the index. A later lesson perhaps deals more directly with the use of the library, the card catalogue, the periodical indexes, and the commoner reference books.
In at least two libraries bibliographical work of an elementary character is attempted. The pupils are assigned closely limited topics in history or literature, and are set to find and make lists of every book, article, chapter, every paragraph or note, in the volumes of the school collection which may bear upon their particular topics. This practice not only gives an idea of the resources of a library, but promotes the ability to find without difficulty the material relating to any subject in which the pupil may be interested.
The talks to children in classes are customarily given in school hours, while the bibliographical work is done after school closes, and is at least semi-voluntary. Bibliographical work of a like nature, though on a larger scale, is a feature of some college courses; but experience shows that children in the upper grades of the grammar school, of whom three fourths never enjoy a college or even a high-school course, are amply able to pursue such work with profit, and with pleasure.
What is to be the result of this widespread effort on the part of libraries and schools for the benefit of children ? All of the work is recent, much of it has hardly passed the experimental stage. The largest section of the American Library Association is devoted expressly to studying these vital problems; while from the other side the same questions are being considered by the Library Section of the National Education Association, composed of teachers and educators throughout the United States.
Results are already observable. The statistics show an enormous increase in the number of books read. This tendency is criticised in high quarters on the ground that with the increase in quantity there has been deterioration in the quality of the reading. This charge may or may not be true; but fifty years ago in the prospectus of a new periodical we find Lowell in the same way lamenting over “the enormous quantity of thrice-diluted trash ” poured out by the magazines of that day; and fifty years ago books were hard to procure, reading was largely confined to the cultured and studious classes, while with the wonderful growth of free libraries and the cheapening of books reading is becoming universal among all classes. The solution of the problem lies not in attempting to restrict the use of books, but in elevating the quality of the reading. This the library can accomplish in no other way than by improving the taste of the children. Boys and girls now read less fiction and a larger proportion of informing works than do their elders. While by reference work with children no sane librarian expects to produce a generation of scholars, he may at least hope to give every ambitious boy and girl a knowledge of the road to that self-education which lies open to them in the public library.
The author of The Gospel of Wealth has borne witness to the vast influence of books upon his early career, and has testified to his faith in their value by the gift of millions that others may enjoy like advantages. At the least we may hope that this work for children will contribute in some measure to the great democratic ideal, — equalization of opportunity.
Hiller C. Wellman.