XII

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE LIBRARY

1. Library Committee. For the selection of books, whether in the reading library for scholars or the working library for teachers and scholars, a wise, intelligent, and careful committee should be chosen, and should be maintained in permanent service. The pastor and the superintendent should be ex-officio members of this committee, but it should also include some other persons sufficiently acquainted with books to pass upon their merits, and willing to give time, inquiry, and thought to the library. There may be schools fortunate in possessing librarians who devote themselves to the selection of books, as well as to the care of them; and in such schools the library committees will find their labors lessened. No book should be admitted to the library without examination and approval by the committee.

(1) Purchase of Books. The simplest method for finding books is far from being the best method. It is to have a quantity of books—a hundred or more at one time—sent by booksellers on approval. This method involves hasty examination, and generally results in obtaining many useless, worthless books intermixed with a few good ones. The better plan is for the committee, first of all, to be supplied with catalogues from reputable publishers of books for children and young people, and also books on religious and biblical education; next to read carefully the reviews of books in these departments as given in the best literary and religious periodicals; then, to send only for such books as they judge will be desirable, receiving them on approval. Every book should not only be looked at, but read; and if at all doubtful read by more than one member of the committee. In some Sunday schools there is placed at the door a library box, in which may be deposited the names of books desired by members of the school. Lists of approved books are published by various houses and societies; and the catalogues of a few good Sunday-school libraries will aid committees. The library committee must scrutinize closely all donations of books offered to the library, and resolutely decline every book that is unsuitable, even at the risk of offending the donor. The Sunday-school library room must not be turned into a mausoleum for dead volumes. The committee must also beware of bargains offered by some booksellers who would unload upon Sunday schools their left-over and unsalable stock. That which costs little is generally worth less. The Sunday school must obtain only books that will be read and are worth reading.

(2) Frequent Additions. The usual method is to use the old library until its best books are either worn out or lost, and then to make a strenuous effort at raising money for the purchase of an entirely new collection. But the better plan is to add a few carefully selected books each month to the library. To examine at one time two hundred volumes is an impossibility, and in so large a purchase many undesirable books are sure to be included. It is not difficult to select after careful examination ten books each month, and thereby keep the library always at a high grade of excellence. With each purchase a slip describing the new books might be printed, and distributed to the school, thus keeping the library constantly before its patrons.

2. The Librarian. There is a close analogy between the work of the librarian in the public library and that in the Sunday school. For the public library everywhere a specialist is sought, one who knows books, can select them wisely, and can aid seekers after literature in their reading. The Sunday school needs just such a librarian, and all the more because the scholars cannot select from the open shelf, but must guess at the quality of a book from its title in the catalogue. It has been noticed that wherever a Sunday-school library is successful in holding the interest of the scholars there is found with it a librarian adapted to his work and devoting himself to it. We notice the characteristics of a good librarian in the Sunday school:

(1) A Bookman. He is a lover of books, acquainted with them, and interested in good literature. His work is more than to distribute books: he should aid, sometimes supervise, their collection.

(2) A Business Man. He is practical, orderly, and systematic in his ways of working; with a plan for his task, and fidelity in accomplishing it.

(3) Gentle in Manner. Opportunities will be frequent for the librarian to clash with the scholars on the one hand, or with the superintendent upon the other. With one he may appear arbitrary, with the other disorderly, his work sometimes breaking into the program of exercises. He should be pleasant toward all, uniform in his dealings, and attentive to the general order of the school.

3. His Assistants. In most schools one assistant, in large schools several assistants, will be required by the librarian. He should nominate them, subject to the approval of the governing board of the school; and should require of them regular and prompt attendance, and attention to their work in the library. It is very desirable that the business should be so arranged as to allow the librarians to take part in the opening devotional service with the school, and not to be at work arranging books while others are at prayer.

4. The Management of the Library. This involves four processes: the collection, the assignment, the distribution, and the return of the books.

(1) The Collection. The books can easily be collected without interfering with the order of the school, if the library window is near the entrance to the building, and the scholars as they enter leave their books at the library. This is the method employed in most schools.

(2) The Assignment. How to enable each scholar to choose his book introduces one of the three problems in library management. The plan generally followed is to supply each scholar with a card bearing a number which represents the scholar. He selects from the catalogue a large assortment of books, and writes their numbers upon his card: the librarian assigns the scholar any one of the books selected, crosses it from his list, and upon another list marks the number of the book opposite the number of the scholar. The weakness of the plan is in the fact that the scholar has no means of learning from the catalogue what books are desirable; and a book desired by one may be entirely undesirable to another. Theoretically the scholar has the whole catalogue from which to choose; practically he has no choice, except the suggestion in the titles of the books. The open-shelf plan cannot be established in the Sunday school, for the room is usually too small, the time of the session is too brief, and the work of the school too important to allow interruption.

In some graded Sunday schools another plan is pursued, taking from the scholar all choice, but assigning to each grade books of certain numbers, all printed upon the card of the scholar, any one of which books he may receive at any time during his stay in the grade, but each of which will fall to his lot but once. This plan demands a library of books carefully selected, and as carefully fitted to each grade in the school. But this method is apt to be unsatisfactory to the scholars, who have their own preferences among the books. The difficulties in assigning books, and disappointments of scholars in failing to obtain the books desired, is a frequent cause for the disuse of the library; and this problem has not as yet been fully solved.

(3) The Distribution. This takes place at the close of the school, and brings in the second problem of library management. The books may be brought to the classes by the librarians, and distributed by the teachers; each scholar's book being indicated by his card placed within it. This method often causes confusion; scholars being dissatisfied with their books and leaving their classes press around the library. Sometimes they exchange books with each other. This is a simple plan as far as the two scholars exchanging are concerned, but sure to make trouble in the record of the librarian. Or each class may be dismissed in turn, and obtain its books at the library window while passing out. But this plan causes a congestion of scholars at the library, and also requires much time. To manage the distribution of books demands a strong will, coupled with a gentle manner in maintaining the library rules.

(4) The Return. The theory of the Sunday-school library is that each scholar will bring his book back after a week or two weeks. But boys and girls—sometimes older scholars also—are apt to be careless. Books are exchanged between scholars, are loaned from one home to another, are forgotten, and are lost. And the books lost most readily are frequently those that are most sought for by the scholars. How to induce scholars invariably to return their books constitutes the third problem of library management. In many schools the percentage of lost books is exceedingly large. The librarian should do his utmost to reduce the loss to a minimum. To this end a few suggestions may be given:

(a) Record of Scholars. Every scholar's name and address, with his library number, should be kept on record in the library; and every effort should be made to make the record conform to all changes in residence.

(b) Record Sheet. The library should contain a record sheet, showing the number of every book issued, and the number of the scholar receiving it; to be canceled when the book is returned. This will show who is responsible for every book out of its place from the library.

(c) Fines. A fine should be assessed upon the scholar for every book kept over time; and notice sent to the scholar at his home when a fine has become due.

(d) Rewards. Scholars should be paid a reward, perhaps of ten cents for each book, if they can succeed in tracing and finding any book which has been out of the library two months or more. These plans, or others, may lessen, but no plan will entirely remove, the evil of books lost to the library through neglect or a worse crime.