CHAPTER XXXIII

THE LIBRARY AND THE SCHOOL

=506.= If libraries are an integral part of the educational system, it is clear that their relations with schools and with the teachers must be close. This is perhaps more cordially recognized in America than here, but there are few librarians who do not endeavour to establish a connexion between their libraries and the official teaching system of their towns. In the simplest instance special privileges are offered to teachers enabling them to borrow from five to twelve or more books at a time for class work. In some towns meetings of teachers and library staffs are held in order that mutual work may be discussed and arranged. In a few places there are special libraries for teachers; and in some American libraries not only are there these special libraries, but the teachers are provided with keys which give them access when other parts of the libraries are closed. One of the privileges of the public library is to encourage teachers to make the fullest use of books.

=507.= It is gradually becoming recognized that a school without a library lacks an important part of its equipment. In colleges and high schools this has been recognized practically for some years past, but in few but the largest schools have separate rooms been assigned for library purposes, in the care of an assistant trained in the work. A teacher whose principal business is teaching has usually been thought to be a person sufficiently qualified for the work, with the result that rarely have the libraries been exploited to anything like the full measure of their possibilities. They are places where books are read or from which books are lent, not places where readers are created, information disseminated, or the practical use of books taught. In fact, one of the absurd gaps in our higher school curriculum is the want of teaching in the book, in the elements of bibliography; and until this is filled our school system must be pronounced to be incomplete. American methods deserve study, with a view to their adaptability to British conditions; and such works as Gilbert O. Ward’s _The High School Library_, in the _A. L. A. Manual of Library Economy_ (as showing the field and its possibilities), and Florence M. Hopkins’s _Reference Guides that Should be Known, and How to Use Them_ (as showing a practical method in one part of library teaching), will repay such study.

=508.= In council and similar elementary schools the municipal library has one of its best fields of work. Under the present restricted financial conditions of libraries, however, it is necessary to say that the provision of reading matter in the schools should be a charge against educational funds and not against those of the library, which are already altogether insufficient for ordinary work. It is at the same time probable that this work, in so far as book-selection and purchase, cataloguing and classification, binding, and other details of organization and administration are concerned, can be done better and more economically by the librarian than by the teacher, and should accordingly be directed by the library committee. The theory of the work is that while the librarian is the best person to organize the school library, the teacher is the best person to bring books and children together. Some education authorities make special grants for this work, varying from a few to several hundreds of pounds yearly; but before we describe the methods most generally approved, we may make mention of the various unaided efforts that librarians have made to meet the needs of schools. One is to invite the teacher to obtain, upon his own signature, a ticket for every child whom he considers to be of reading age; to permit him to borrow the number of books represented by such tickets; and to retain them so long as he thinks necessary for their due circulation. Three months is an average loan period. A second is to waive the ticket-taking preliminary and to lend the teacher a number of books for a few weeks or months for lending as he thinks good amongst the scholars. There have been many variations of these two methods, but they are obviously one in principle; and, useful as they no doubt are, they are also obviously limited, as few British libraries have a large enough stock of books of the right kind to lend in this way to all the schools in the town which might require the privilege. School libraries to be lastingly effective require a separate stock with many duplicates, and these no ordinary public library can, in present circumstances, provide.

=509.= Co-operation between library and education committees seems to be the best method of achieving satisfactory school libraries. By this method the education committee provides the funds, the libraries the administration, and the teachers the actual service amongst the children. Wherever there is a children’s department at the public library it ought to be the centre from which all the libraries in the town should be organized, supplied and co-ordinated. Again, to secure any success, the closest co-operation is necessary between teachers and librarians. This is generally forthcoming, but frequently is not, for reasons made clear to the editor of this _Manual_ by a prominent teacher, who writes: “I do not like the circulating of libraries from school to school--it is most unsatisfactory. I know the need of the children in my school more exactly than anyone else, and I do not want books dumped on me that my children will not read.” Moreover, it was affirmed that the books chosen by librarians were unsuitable as being “too adult.” It is clear, however, that the only real difficulty raised here is that to the exchange of the collections between the schools. All the other difficulties can be, and are, overcome by the co-operation which is postulated for the work.

=510.= The control of such school libraries takes several forms. In the simplest the education authority grants a certain sum yearly to the library committee for children’s work, making only the condition that library service on their behalf shall be efficient. In other cases the education authority desires to take a more definite part in the work, and it has been found that a sub-committee, consisting of members of the library and education committees and of representatives of the head teachers, with the librarian as executive officer, will work satisfactorily. Such a sub-committee should be free from the limitations imposed upon subordinate bodies, and although it should report its activities, it should not be expected to submit them to the respective committees. Friction is soon generated if the sub-committee’s book-selection, or indeed any other feature of its work, is liable to amendment by another body, and we have known really good library schemes to come to grief through such interference.

=511.= A grant for school libraries should consist of an initial capital sum for equipment and stock, and an annual sum for additions and maintenance. Grants vary from about £500 to £25 per annum, and the amounts, of course, are conditioned by the size of the town and the number of schools to be served, as also by the current cost of furniture, books and service, all of which are at present in a state of great fluctuation. A good arrangement is that in operation at Cardiff, where the Education Committee grants £2, 10s. yearly for every hundred children permanently on the school registers. The work of preparing, cataloguing and classifying the books is carried out by the library staff as a whole in small libraries, or by the children’s library staff where one exists, or by a special school libraries assistant. In providing the commencing stock, a few decisions must be made upon which the future usefulness of the libraries will largely depend: (1) the period for which books are to remain at each school; (2) the desirability of an unchanging deposit collection at each school; (3) the method of charging at the schools; (4) the methods of recording the whereabouts of each book. And there are other matters.

=512.= The period of loan to each school varies from three to twelve months, and the smaller the available stocks of books, the more frequent should be the changing of them. Frequent changes, however, involve much labour, and it is well that the collections should be as large as possible at the outset in order that they may serve efficiently for longer periods than three months. They should not remain longer than a year, as by that time the interest of the collection will be much reduced and the books themselves will probably be in need of overhauling. It is a good thing to have a basic, unchanging collection at each school, consisting of the books which by common consent are children’s classics. These will naturally be duplicated in most of the schools, as the list of such books is by no means a long one. Their existence gives assurance that every child has access to the best of children’s books during his school career. The ultimate aim should be to increase the school collections so that periodical interchange between the schools becomes unnecessary, except in so far as additions of new books are concerned.

=513. Cataloguing.=--The accession and cataloguing methods may resemble those described for Rural Libraries (Sections 546-47). One suggestions-slip may serve for any number of copies, the accession numbers being added to the card; this forms an inventory of the stock. For each copy another catalogue card, in very brief form, should be written, which may be placed behind a guide card bearing the name of the school at which the copy is located. A printed catalogue of the whole of the school library system is a very useful thing, but is difficult to maintain. In any case a list of the books sent to the school should accompany each dispatch.

=514. Charging.=--The head teacher usually appoints a school librarian, who may be a teacher, but is more often a senior scholar, and to the school librarian is entrusted the issuing of books and the keeping of the necessary records. The charging system will be some simplified form of that in use at the public library. A card-charging system has been found to be satisfactory. Trays, pockets, and properly-written book-cards are provided by the library staff, and a supply of readers’ tickets which are made out by the school librarian as required. Another method is that described in Section 547, which can be adapted readily to school libraries. Scholars are usually allowed to change books once a week, during a special “library hour,” which is recognized officially as part of school time; but this is a matter of local arrangement.

=515.= Usually the work of book-selection is performed by the School Libraries Committee. It has a drawback in the fact that teachers do not always receive the exact books that they wish to have for their schools, and a better method, at least in theory, is for the librarian to submit a list of the books available for purchase to the teachers, and to invite them to requisition those which they think suitable. This would forestall a very frequent criticism made by teachers; nor would the librarian experience any great difficulty in meeting the demands so made.

=516.= The period for which a collection should remain at a school is conveniently governed by the school holidays. The summer vacation presents the best opportunity for overhauling the whole system, and where there is accommodation at the central library, and other circumstances permit, it is well to have all the collections returned there, where they may be weeded of defective and dirty books, repairs may be executed, binding arranged for, stock may be taken, and the new location of the collections determined, so that every school may recommence with a new library. But in the intervals between holidays periodical visits to the schools should be made by the schools librarian to see that the books are in order, to advise where necessary, and in other ways to maintain relations between the school and the public library. Sometimes the librarian addresses the children in the schools, upon reading or other library subjects. This visiting work should be done with tact and unobtrusively. Frequently teachers prefer to be allowed to work without the intervention of the librarian, and such preferences must be respected. The business of the librarian is to supply books, and _not_ necessarily to exploit them--so far, at least, as schools are concerned.

+----------------------------------+---------------------------------+ | | | | | | | SUPPLIES WANTED:-- | +-------+ | | Book Pockets............. | | | | | Borrowers’ Tickets....... | | PENNY | | | Tags........... | | STAMP | | | Voucher Cards................ | | | | | | +-------+ | | | | +----------------------------------+ | | | | | REPAIRS dealt with........vols. | CHIEF LIBRARIAN, | | REPAIRS put aside.........vols. | | | | | +----------------------------------+ CENTRAL PUBLIC LIBRARY, | | | | | _Signed_, | | | ......................... | NEWTON. | | _School Librarian_. | | | | | | | | +----------------------------------+---------------------------------+

FIG. 177A.--School Libraries Return--front (Section 517).

+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | .............................SCHOOL LIBRARY. | | | | ISSUES for the month of....................19....... | | | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | |00|10|20|30|40|50|60|70|80|90| Fiction. | Totals. | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | 1st week. | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | 2nd week. | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | 3rd week. | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | 4th week. | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | 5th week. | | | | | | | | | | | | | +-------------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------------+-----------+ | | | Number of Borrowers..................... | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

FIG. 177B.--School Libraries Return--back (Section 517).

=517.= Returns of the circulation are regarded as necessary by most librarians, and have a variety of uses, as every librarian recognizes. These are usually made monthly to the librarian. The card shown has proved satisfactory in practice.

Teachers, it must be added, do not always see the values of these returns, and may consider them an irritating and unnecessary superfluity. If they could be made in the form of an estimate once a year the purpose might be served.

=518.= The head teacher should not be held responsible in a financial sense for lost books, nor should he be expected or permitted to replace them. He would, however, be expected to take reasonable steps to recover them, and in case of loss, a penalty of some kind, however small, is generally inflicted upon the loser. Books which have been in contact with infectious disease are sent from the home to the Public Health Department, where they are disinfected, or, in some places, destroyed, at the discretion of the Medical Officer of Health. Some sanitary authorities themselves replace the books which are destroyed.

=519.= At what time in the history of school libraries the collections should cease to circulate between the schools and become permanent libraries in individual schools is a matter upon which opinion differs. At Cardiff this stage was reached when there were 600 volumes in the large school, and no school with less than 200. Allowing the average time in which a child will use the library, to be four years, the lesser of these figures provides that each child may read at least one volume a week throughout that time; but it is impossible to allow the child a choice of books in these circumstances, and this is a very grave defect. It can only be affirmed that there should be at least one book for every child of reading age, and that this minimum should be increased as rapidly as possible.

=520.= Other fields for the public library presented by the schools may be indicated briefly. They may be used as deposit stations for adult readers in anticipation of the establishment of permanent branch libraries; and this method has met with success. The head teacher, too, should be allowed the right of requisitioning temporarily any books in the public lending libraries which may be desirable for the use of the scholars in connexion with their class studies; and a generous policy in lending works from the reference library for use in the school building is a natural corollary of this.

=521. Sunday School Libraries= have not received much attention from British public librarians. They present a useful field of work, in which the municipal library may suggest books and methods and offer simple training in library practice to the teachers. As is the case with all other teachers, the stores of the public library should be made available for their use in the widest sense.

=522.= Finally, the teachers themselves are entitled to the most careful attention. At training schools there should be special libraries of pedagogy; and at the public library an effort should be made to place a catholic and fully representative collection of works on all branches of teaching, theory and practice at the disposal of teachers.

=523.= All these matters lead up to the ultimate object of the librarian, which is to establish a natural pathway from the schools to the public library. Vouchers of admission should be placed at the disposal of the schools, and the recommendation of the head teacher may procure readers’ tickets for all children leaving school. Fortunately most teachers see the importance of the matter, and a properly systematized connexion is therefore made for the child between the school library and the much larger and more permanently useful stores of the municipal library.

BIBLIOGRAPHY (CHAPTERS XXXII.-XXXIII.)

=524. The Children’s Department, and School Libraries:=

Ballinger, John. Children and Public Libraries. _In_ British Library Year Book, 1900-01.

---- Work with Children. _In_ Library Association. Public Libraries: Their Development and Future Organization, 1917, p. 15.

Bostwick, A. E. (_Ed._). The Relationship between the Library and the Public Schools, 1914.

Cleveland Public Library. Work with Children and the Means used to Reach Them, 1912.

Dana, J. C. (_Ed._). Modern American Library Economy, 1912-. Pt. 5: (1) School Department Room, (2) Course of Study for Normal School Pupils, (3) Picture Collection (revised); Pt. 7: (2) High School Branch; Pt. 19, Pictures and Objects.

Emery, J. W. The Library, the School, and the Child, 1917.

Fay, L. E., and Eaton, A. T. Instruction in the Use of Books and Libraries: for Normal Schools and Colleges, 1915.

Field, Mrs E. M. The Child and His Book, 1895.

Field, W. T. Fingerposts to Children’s Reading, 1911.

Jast, L. S. The Relation of Libraries to Education. _In_ Library Association. Public Libraries, etc., 1917, p. 15.

Miller, E. M. Libraries and Education, 1912.

Olcott, F. J. Library Work with Children. _In_ A.L.A. Man. of Lib. Econ., Preprint of chapter xxix., 1914.

---- Children’s Reading, 1912.

Sayers, W. C. Berwick. The Children’s Library, 1911.

Stevenson, Lilian. A Child’s Bookshelf, 1918.

Ward, G. O. The High School Library. _In_ A.L.A. Man. of Lib. Econ., Preprint of chapter vii., 1915.

---- Practical Use of Books and Libraries (with Teaching Outline, in separate vol.), 2 vols., 1911.

For articles see Cannons.

=525. The Story Hour:=

Bryant, S. C. How to Tell Stories to Children, 1911.

---- Stories to Tell to Children, 1911.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Stories to Tell to Children; by Edna Whiteman, 1918.

Shedlock, M. L. Art of Story-Telling, 1915.

Partridge, E. N., and G. E. Story-Telling in School and Home, 1913.

For articles see Cannons, under headings Child and Children, in the Index (many references).

NOTE.--Work with children has been more written, and, probably, overwritten, than any library subject. _The Library Journal_ and _Public Libraries_ issue special Children’s Library numbers at intervals, and hardly a month passes without an article appearing upon some phase of the subject. Students new to the subject should be made aware that much of the writing upon it is too sentimental, and too concerned with bypaths, to be of great value; but this criticism does not apply to any of the works in the list given above.

DIVISION XIV

LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT