Any consideration
of a public library project is complimentary to a community, showing, as it
does, a sense of civic responsibility and a desire for future progress, which
are commendable. There are few communities which would not provide for a public
library if its advantages were appreciated, for it is a remedy for many ills
and is all embracing in its scope. It is an educational institution, it
vitalizes school work, and continues the pupil’s education throughout life. It
is a home missionary sending its messengers, the books, into every home and
shop. It not only sends help, but opens its doors to every man, woman and
child.
In most towns there
are scores of young men and boys whose evenings are spent in loafing about the
streets, and to these, the library offers an attractive meeting place where the
time may be spent with jolly wise friends in the books. It provides a wholesome
substitute for vicious shows and other questionable amusements, it substitutes
better for poorer reading, and provides story hours for the children who are
eager to hear before they are able to read. It also increases the earning
capacity of people by supplying information and advice on the work they are
doing. One of the most important services a library can render is the
industrial service. If the librarian and trustees desire to help the people,
their first duty is to study the industries of the city and find out just what
literature will be of service to those people. After finding out what sort of
work the people are doing, they will get the books on the trades, arts,
mechanics, etc., and advertise them. The librarian will also issue lists of
books on carpentry and distribute them to men who would be interested in such
books. Lists of books on horticulture will go to the florist, lists of books on
poultry to the poultryman and lists of books on textiles to the textile workers
and designers. Such a course has been successfully carried out as is shown in
the case of a young man who borrowed from the library three books on machinery.
His salary increased to $2.50 per day and he said, “Three months hence when I
have mastered these books, I will get $3.50 per day and I shall be worth it too.”
A young fellow in a textile mill, who frequented the library invented and
patented three loom devices and was promoted to assistant superintendent.
So you see the old
idea of a library as a placid storehouse of books used only by scholars, or
those who cared enough for reading to pay for the privilege, has given way to a
new idea—that of a live, active institution, aiming to supply the books needed
by the community, supported, not by a few, but by the entire community, and for
the free use of any responsible person. It is for use of all ages, from the
little tot, who wants picture books and first readers, to the old man and woman
who find a taste for reading a great pleasure. It is for all classes, the
workman, the farmer, the plumber, the business man, as well as the lawyer, the
doctor or the minister. The library has been well called “the true university
of the people,” for its usefulness as an educational force is only limited by
its resources and the capacity of its librarian to put what it contains at the
command of the public.
Again the library
can be made to exert a great civic force. In the small town especially it is
true that the library with its rooms for meetings of various kinds is made a
sort of civic center. The children are taught to care for public property by
keeping the books clean, and to have clean hands when using them; also to
respect the rights of others by keeping quiet when in the building.
No feature of
modern library development is more important than work with the children. Librarians
who work for the intellectual growth of mankind must devote their energies
toward instilling the “library habit” in the child, who is the most important
factor in the community. The children will be effective friends of the library
in their homes now, and as men and women they will have a deep interest in it
which shall be for all time. The taste for reading of a man or woman is already
formed, but the child, as a rule, is ready to read anything you suggest. He
does not clamor for something new, his mind is open to receive any influence
that may be brought to bear upon it. If the child’s reading is controlled by
the co-operation of parent, teacher and librarian, he will have little pleasure
in reading some of our modern fiction.
The public libraries
are doing a large work for the recreation and pleasure of the people, too, and
this is by no means to be counted a small contribution. But the spreading of
information, the encouragement of city betterment, the development of
patriotism, giving an opportunity for the increasing of intelligence, enabling
one to act wisely upon public questions, furnishing material for the formation
of independent opinion upon political and social conditions of our own day,
these are some of the functions of the public library that are of the highest
value.
--Mrs. Roscoe Phifer
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