BOOK REVIEWS, BOOK LISTS, AND ARTICLES ON CHILDREN'S READING: ARE THEY OF PRACTICAL VALUE TO THE CHILDREN'S LIBRARIAN? (continued 6)

A thing we have to look out for is the intentional or unintentional imitation of the names of well-received writers, e.g., the Marie Louise Pool, author of "Chums," to whom Miss Taylor refers, is not the Miss Pool who wrote "Roweny in Boston" and "Mrs. Keats Bradford," that author having died two or three years ago. The person who uses the same name, rightfully or wrongfully, writes very different and very inferior books.

At the information desk we have made lists for various classes and types of person—but very often have had to lay these aside and make a special selection for the individual, after talking with him or her. This is as true for children as for adults—the books that appeal to one person do not appeal to another of seemingly the same type. Until the proper relation be established between the child and the librarian, he cannot be influenced very much in his choice of books. Sometimes this relation may be established in five minutes, sometimes in a week, a month, or a year; sometimes it seems impossible to do it, and some other personal influence must be waited for.

People sometimes say that the children's own tastes in reading should be our guide. This is true thus far: that if a child is reading books that do not seem good for him in our judgment, we should find out what it is in these books that appeals to him; then look for the same thing in books that are better written and lack the objectionable features, and both librarian and child are satisfied. Children learn a great deal by absorption, and if the children's librarian can give them the sort of plot or incident they want and, at the same time, a book from which they may absorb good English instead of bad, high ideals and a high code of behavior instead of low ones, she has accomplished a great part of her task.

Science.

With regard to nature books for children, I am glad that Miss Holmes has spoken frankly and pointed out to us the dangers we incur in rushing into the purchase of a new kind of book without investigation. The taking up of nature study and the study of art in the public schools has meant a great pressure upon libraries for books which teachers and pupils have heard of, but of the merits of which many of them as well as ourselves are unable to judge. In order to have books enough to meet the demand, our temptation is to buy entire series, every book we hear of in these lines, whereas our best plan would be to get them for inspection only, invite the inspection and criticism of some scientific person, or some one conversant with art and its literature, and reject what they condemn, putting in duplicates enough of the approved books to meet the large demand. A thing we need to beware of is the stampede—the wild rush to or away from a thing without reasoning, without stopping to think, just because other libraries we know of are engaging in it. The librarian needs at such times to keep cool, brace himself or herself against the rush, and when the dust of the crowd is over think things out and go ahead. And in these lines where special knowledge is necessary do not let us think ourselves infallible or even altogether competent; let us be humble enough to take advice and information from those who have a real claim to know.

J. C. Dana said:

The papers we have heard read tell us that we can put no dependence on book reviews; that the librarian must depend on herself. How can she do it? There are no laws or rules or principles of book selection. Even if there were, no librarian has time to read even hastily all the books for children.

If she wishes to evaluate them in the light of any possible principles she may have laid down, she finds the principles themselves very shaky. Experience is our only guide. A friend of mine much interested in psychology, and especially in the psychology of young people, and especially, again, in the influence on young people of the books read during the years 12 to 16, tells me that as a result of considerable study of nickel-libraries and news-stand story papers of what we call a poor kind, he thinks this literature is generally harmless; is perhaps even helpful; is well above the intelligence of most of those who read it; and is largely written by men and women who seriously wish to help to bring light and joy into the world. If our general opinion about these nickel-libraries is to be given a shock such as that, what may we not expect as to other classes of books, of our judgment on which at present we are quite as sure? It is distressing, the amount of work that is being done in this country nowadays even by the librarians themselves in their attempt, each by herself alone, to come to sound conclusions in regard to the value of books for children. We don't care to read these books. We read them when we are weary, we read too many of them. Our own taste, if originally good, gets perverted; our point of view gets prejudiced; and our opinions are of very little value when formed. Why not try co-operation? I suggest that you appoint a committee to formulate some scheme for securing the beginning of an evaluated list of children's books; and that this committee see that at least a portion of the scheme, enough to show us another year how it can be successfully carried on, be completed before our next annual meeting. I would suggest, for example, that this committee, in the first place, collect from members of the Association sufficient money in voluntary subscriptions to pay for postage, clerical work and printing, in beginning the evaluated list; that they then appoint some person to set in motion the machinery necessary for getting together a set of evaluations. She would perhaps begin by selecting almost at random 500 story books for young people of the ages 10 to 14. This list she would submit, in whole or in small sections, to as many active librarians who are interested in children's literature, as she could get into communication with. Having secured from them opinions, she would tabulate the results of the reading of each book and compile from these opinions a brief note. She would, perhaps, submit to us at the end of the year a brief list, in type, with or without annotations, of story books for children that are not good, another brief list of story books for children that are good. Without going further into detail I think you will see that in some such way as this, we can make the reading we now do along these lines permanently helpful to one another. We can perhaps in two or three years produce a foundation list of books for young people on which we can depend; we can then continue the evaluating process for other books as they appear from year to year.

H. C. Wellman directed attention to the economy which would result from a printed list of juvenile books to be prepared and issued by the Section of Children's Librarians and used as a catalog of the juvenile collections in public libraries. Such a list should not only embody the joint opinion of the best authorities, but should effect a saving of 90 per cent. in the work of preparing and the cost of printing separate lists for each library. The joint lists, containing 500 or more titles, could be set up with slugs, and revised and brought down to date in frequent editions. Some simple notation could be adopted, and the juvenile books in each library numbered to correspond. Then the list could be purchased in quantities by the libraries and sold to their borrowers at a cent apiece. The result would place within the reach of even small libraries a juvenile list at an exceedingly low price, always up-to-date, and of a quality and authority which should make it superior to any similar lists ever issued.

A motion was made by Mr. Perry that a committee of three be appointed to take action on Mr. Dana's suggestion. The motion was carried and a special committee consisting of Mr. Dana, Mr. Perry and Miss Browning was appointed by the chair to act upon the suggestion at some general meeting of the Association.[H]

In the absence of Miss H. H. Stanley Mr. Wellman read Miss Stanley's paper on

REFERENCE WORK FOR CHILDREN.

(See p. 74.)

Mr. Wellman then discussed the question of whether the bulk of reference work with children should be carried on in the schools or at the library, and urged the claims of the library. The ultimate aim of reference work with children is to teach them to use the library during school life and after for purposes of study and self-education. To accomplish this end no person is so competent as the librarian and no place so appropriate as the library.

Miss Linda A. Eastman said:

Miss Stanley's excellent report appears to furnish just the sort of basis for a discussion of one of the most vital questions in relation to the work with children, such a discussion as may lead to a much-needed definition of principles in regard to this side of the work.

A word or two about special topics mentioned—under library facilities. In addition to the books for reference mentioned by Miss Stanley, there is one which may not yet have come to the attention of all children's librarians because it is but just published—the new "Index to St. Nicholas," published with the consent of the Century Company by the Cumulative Index Co. It has its imperfections, but it certainly should prove a useful reference tool for every children's librarian, and the best simple stepping-stone yet furnished to the use of Poole and the other indexes.

Now, for the general subject, Miss Stanley says, "I think we are agreed that for the children our aim 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."

The aim is well stated, and we are agreed in it, I believe, but are we agreed as to, and have we given sufficient thought to, the methods by which this desirable aim is to be accomplished? Where, in that ideal ultimate of co-operation between schools and libraries toward which we are striving, will the necessary instruction be given, in the schools or in the library? Or, if in both, where will the division of labor be placed? I, myself, am inclined to think that the formal, systematic instruction

in the use of books should be given in the schools, with sympathetic, systematic help on the part of the library. Is it not possible that we, as librarians, seeing the need, are over-anxious to do the whole work, or at least feel sometimes that we can do the whole work more easily and better than we can get the overworked teachers to do it—though a large part of the work really belongs to them.

More than in any other work with the children, this reference work requires that we go back of the children and begin with the teachers—no, not with the teachers, but with the teachers in embryo—the students in the normal schools.

Miss Alice Tyler, who followed, said that it was of the greatest importance to teach children the use of the catalog, which should be made to suit the mental capacity of children, using terms with which they are familiar.

In Cleveland the children's catalog was made upon these lines, using simple subject headings based on headings used by Miss Prentice in her "Third grade list" and the Pratt Institute lists.

Teaching children in the children's room how to use the catalog is the only way to make the future men and women more independent readers in the public library.

Mr. Hensel closed the discussion with a short account of the reference work done in the Columbus public schools.

A paper by Miss Clara W. Hunt was read on

OPENING A CHILDREN'S ROOM.

(See p. 83.)

The discussion was opened by Henry J. Carr, who said:

I cannot say why I was selected to discuss Miss Hunt's paper, unless because I was known to her and somewhat familiar with her work and the particular children's room fitted up under her direction in the new building of the Newark Free Public Library.

I am so much in sympathy with Miss Hunt's views as expressed in the paper, and regard them as so correct that I can do little but emphasize the points she has brought out. She has been eminently wise in presenting for consideration some of the proper guiding principles of the children's room, something that is too often lost sight of in the attitude taken by those responsible for their establishment and operation.

We should not look upon the children's room as a "kindergarten," or playground for the younger children, so much as a stepping-stone to tide them along to the reading of books adapted to more mature minds, and hence to "graduate" them out of it as fast as possible. It has also a purpose, which is a further reason for retaining in this room, more or less, an aspect similar to that of the adults' rooms. Parents to some extent come to select reading matter for their children, and those of mature years but immature minds may drift into this department, if it is not made too juvenile in tone and appearance. Hence, I prefer the name Young People's Library to that of Children's Room. I have seen boys stand aloof at first for fear of ridicule for going into the room "for kids." I prefer to have the discharging of books done at one main desk, as it keeps the children in touch with adults and gives all ages more freedom in drawing from all departments. Hence we have no special juvenile cards. I should advise to include on the children's shelves good books for older readers; to avoid sets or the writings of voluminous authors, as a rule; and to aim to seek the writers of those good books that are apt to be overlooked. Discipline and good order should be maintained at the outset, and after that the children should be let alone, so far as possible. They like to have a chance to inform one another; those becoming first familiar with the room and its methods will only too gladly induct newcomers into its operation.

Mrs. M. A. Sanders said:

The librarian from Newark speaks from experience, for hers is an ideal children's room, both in equipment and administration. At the dedication of the library the interest centered largely around that department. Her interest in the children and their work, so ably expressed, carried me back to the early 80's, when, as some of us remember, scarcely a round dozen libraries could be found where children were admitted. On one side of the door we saw a placard reading, "Children not admitted under 14 years"; on the other, "Dogs not allowed." A strong appeal was made at that time at the Thousand Island meeting for children's rights in the public library by a librarian who was making a specialty of work with children, and admitted them without an age limit. Glorious has been the response, for the library that makes no provision for the children to-day is the exception.

At Pawtucket we open our children's rooms and bid them welcome, we open our shelves, and their judgment in the selection of books often equals our own. We decorate the walls with pictures that appeal to the affections, we send them into the homes, and by and by we see an entire family gathered around the table deeply interested in the pictures and the description of them as they read from the books brought home by the children. We put in our cases of birds, which the children delight to study, and soon a mother says to us, "I never thought much about the birds till the children began to talk about them, but we have been out every morning listening for the new calls as the birds appear in the spring." In these and various other ways we see the influence of the children's room, which is broadening every day.

There is, however, many a library where the children's room has not yet materialized, either from lack of space or funds, that is exerting a powerful influence through its children, and I question sometimes whether it may not be a mistake to draw too sharp a line of separation. Where should we draw our line? At just what age do girls and boys cease to be children? That has been for me a serious question; I wonder if you have escaped it, and if the children's room solves it.

I am in hearty sympathy with the opinion expressed that "the management and spirit of the children's room should correspond to that of other departments of the library." There seems to be a tendency to make these rooms a play-room—the children coming to be amused, and the time of one person devoted to their amusement. If this is the design of the children's room, our own young people at Pawtucket will be sadly disappointed. While we will put in the pictures, the birds, the plants, the busts and all else to make the room interesting, and while we will have frequent talks in the lecture room, the children being quietly led on to express themselves freely, the quiet dignity of the children's library room as an important part of the library will be maintained. The books will also be charged at the main charging desk for them, as we feel that this bringing of the adult and the child into close contact is of mutual benefit.

The discipline of the children's department has never been a serious question to us. Give them a very few brief rules, and enforce them, and we shall have no great troubles to contend with; the children will virtually take care of themselves.

The question is asked us, "For what does the children's room stand, what is its real purpose?" It is evident that it has a different purpose in different libraries. To us the children's library room is for reading, for study, for observation, for questioning undisturbed and undisturbing, while the entire library is still at the service of any child who desires to make practical use of it.

Miss Charlotte Wallace read a paper on

BULLETIN WORK FOR CHILDREN.

(See p. 72.)

Two papers were read on

VITALIZING THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SCHOOL AND THE LIBRARY,

Miss May L. Prentice treating

THE SCHOOL.

(See p. 78.)

Miss Irene Warren presenting the side of

THE LIBRARY.

(See p. 81.)

Owing to the lateness of the hour discussion of the last topics had to be passed over.

The chairman then called for the

REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS.

The committee on nominations wishes to submit the following names: For president, Miss Annie Carroll Moore; for secretary, Miss Mary E. Dousman.

In suggesting the continuance of the present officers the committee does not wish to establish a precedent, but there seems to be special fitness and justice in asking Miss Moore and Miss Dousman to serve the section for another year. To their earnest effort this section of children's librarians is largely due; these well-balanced programs are a result of their careful planning. The section can hardly be put in safer hands for its second year.

The officers named in the committee report were unanimously elected.

STATE LIBRARY COMMISSIONS AND TRAVELLING LIBRARIES: ROUND TABLE MEETING.

An informal "round table" meeting for the consideration of the work of state library commissions, including travelling libraries, was held in the assembly room of the Fountain House on Tuesday afternoon, July 9. The chairman, Melvil Dewey, called the meeting to order at three o'clock, and in a few introductory remarks outlined the subjects to be discussed.

Mr. Dewey: We have on our program this afternoon two of the most interesting things in library work. The travelling library is reaching out in its manifold forms with wonderful rapidity and gives very great promise of usefulness for the future; organized work under the state commissions is showing every year better and better results and indicating that just as our schools increased their efficiency so immensely by having state departments to look after them, we are repeating the history of that evolution in our state library commissions. We have only a single session this afternoon to discuss these two subjects. If we were to give them one quarter of the time that they ought to have, we would not get one quarter through, and I propose therefore to deal only with questions and answers, and utilize one another's experience or thought along these lines of state commission work and work of administering travelling libraries.

I have noted down some of the topics that have been given to me by persons who wanted to have them discussed briefly; we will first take up some of these. So much has been done in travelling libraries, that perhaps we should clear the floor of that subject, and then consider the work of the state commissions—and in that I mean all the work done by the state in its official capacity—chartering libraries, library legislation, inspection, travelling libraries—whatever the state may do for public libraries.

The first topic is, "What is the best method of getting travelling libraries before the people?" Who has any experience or suggestion to offer on that point—either of difficulties or successes?

A Member: Go to the pastors and school houses.

Mr. Hostetter: Does the gentleman mean to put the travelling libraries into school houses? Last Sunday I visited a man who had never heard of such a thing as travelling libraries; he was a German pastor; and probably that accounted for it.

Mr. Hutchins: Is there not objection to having travelling libraries in school houses, for the reason that so many of the hours during which the children have leisure to read, and their parents could read, the school houses are closed? Another difficulty is the long summer vacation; and still another is that to place the library in the school house makes the travelling library merely a side issue.

Mr. Dewey: Where would you put it?

Mr. Hutchins: Find somebody to take it in special charge. A travelling library in a community is bound to find some good woman who would rather have charge of it than anything else in the world.

Mr. Dewey: Then you would put it in a private house?

Mr. Hutchins: In a private house or a country post-office—wherever you can find a person who believes in its use and will give service for it.

Mr. Galbreath: I should like to ask Mr. Hutchins, provided the teacher is a man or woman who believes in the library, what objection is there to placing it in the school house?

Mr. Hutchins: The teacher may be a person who believes in it, but he or she makes the school of first importance.

Mr. Brigham: What difference does it make if the library is a side issue, so long as it gets in its work?

Mr. Hutchins: If it is a side issue it does not get in its work.

Miss Stearns: Let us go back to the original question, How to get the travelling library before the people. The best method, we find, is to take with you a county superintendent who is acquainted with all the people in his county, or ought to be. Take your travelling library with you also, just as a travelling man takes his samples. Do not start out with a lot of circulars; take the books themselves right with you, in the back of the wagon. When you have brought the people together open your box; take out your Scribner or your Youth's Companion; take out your books on the Philippines, on birds, on cookery; show your audience some good stories; and you will organize a library association ten times quicker than if you had started out by writing letters. Those are letters, very often, that are never answered, and you wait and wonder why the people do not want the books. Go to the people with the books. That is the way we find we can work best in Wisconsin.

Mr. Galbreath: Sometimes it is difficult to find the means to do the work that Miss Stearns has mentioned, and possibly our experience, briefly stated, in bringing the travelling library to the attention of the people of Ohio might not be out of place here. We began by advertising it through the daily and weekly papers. That brought us very few responses. We next tried to reach the people through the official organ of the teachers of the state. That brought us many responses from rural schools. Our next effort was to reach the farming communities through the state grange, which devoted one of its quarterly bulletins to the travelling libraries. This brought many responses. We reached the women's clubs through circulars issued to their membership, and this was very effective in turn. We found it best to reach the people of the state through the organs that were devoted to specific interests, especially along educational lines.

Mr. Dewey: Did you go personally to the grangers, write to them, or send printed matter?

Mr. Galbreath: We saw the lecturer of the grange, who issues a quarterly bulletin in our state. We explained the system fully to him, and he devoted almost an entire bulletin to an explanation of the system, and advised the farmers of the state to patronize the travelling libraries. Then we have published in Ohio the Ohio Farmer, which circulates widely outside of the state. That took up the work and helped us greatly. We reached the farmers by going to the public press and using the organs that the farmers read. We reached the teachers in the same way, and the women's clubs. We have advertised our system pretty widely over the state, so that now we do not send circulars except when they are requested. We are circulating about one thousand travelling libraries in Ohio, and they go to all parts of the state. Not only that, but we have travelling library systems in three counties of the state that are in no way dependent upon the state for support and that are doing excellent work.

Mr. Hutchins: Do the people pay anything for the libraries?

Mr. Galbreath: They pay transportation both ways, and that is all.

Miss Stearns: Do they always have to pay it?

Mr. Galbreath: Yes.

Miss Stearns: If you found a community too poor to pay, what would you do?

Mr. Galbreath: We have not so far met that condition. Perhaps some libraries have not been sent out because the people were too poor to pay the charge, but if that problem does come up before us, we will try to find some person who will pay the transportation.

Mr. Dewey: Are there no remarks to be made on the use of annotated finding lists in travelling library work?

Mr. Hutchins: Annotations are worth a great deal, because the people, at their homes, sit down and talk over the books in these lists, and they get acquainted with the books and the authors.

Mr. Dewey: The best form of annotation, I take it, would be the brief note, giving the best idea possible of the character of the book, and telling the reader whether he wants to read it or not, not necessarily as a matter of quotation from some one else.

Miss Stearns: It is always a good plan to put in the publisher and price of the book; if the person gets interested in the book he can find out how much it would cost and where he can get it.

Mr. Brigham: It would be well also to put in the number of pages, so that people know how large a volume it is—150, 250, or 350 pages.

Mr. Dewey: Has any one else tried the use of a wagon, as described by Miss Stearns—going right to the people and reaching the homes? That means going out into the rural districts and dealing with the farmhouses as individual homes. There must be the right person in the wagon, of course, who can stand and speak for an hour perhaps and leave half a dozen or a dozen books to start the work along.

Miss Stearns: That is the only way in the world by which you can find what the people like to read—it is only by visiting the people, getting acquainted with them, going right into their homes. The idea of sending a box of books off in a freight car, not knowing anything about the country or the people it is going to! If you want those books to do good work, you must know where they are going.

Mr. Dewey: That is the way men sell goods. The librarian is just as anxious to place his books to advantage as the merchant is to sell his wares. If he is dealing with the rural community he follows just that method. I am inclined to think that somebody is going to make a great success with those wagons.

Mr. Galbreath: Where the demand for books is strong, as it is in Ohio, and you have all that you can do to supply that demand, should not that be attended to before you go out in a wagon to enlarge your field?

Mr. Dewey: Oh, yes; but in Ohio everybody expects to be President sooner or later.

Mr. Hutchins: Isn't the point this: Where you only supply a demand you reach the intelligent communities first and the neglected communities are left out; but the libraries should reach the neglected communities. We spend too much money in buying books and not enough in educating the people to use the books. It is the same old story. You spend $10,000 for books and not $200 for administration, and the administration is the important point.

Mr. Dewey: There is another analogy. We used to have the schools only for the bright boys. It is a modern idea to give education to the dull, the backward, the blind and the deaf, but nowadays they are all being trained. And we keep finding men who are among the strongest citizens of their age, but who, if we get at their early history, we find were once dull, backward boys that somebody hunted up and started along the right lines.

Mr. Galbreath: What communities, as a rule, are first served in Wisconsin?

Mr. Hutchins: The neglected communities. The community in which we are meeting is in the wealthiest part of the state of Wisconsin. We have not got a travelling library near here. We have only 300 of these libraries, and we seek out the neglected communities; not because we do not care to help the people here, but we must take the neglected ones first.

Mr. Galbreath: This is a practical question. It may be that after a while we will all be seeking the neglected communities. What is the practical method of going out into the state after the neglected communities? How are you going to do it?

Mr. Hutchins: That is where you have got to have missionary work, personal contact.

Mr. Dewey: It is not a question of studying what to do; it is a case of the man behind the idea. If a man starts out who is a born missionary, he will go straight to the communities who need him, while another man will take care of another class. We want to do all the work before us, but if we are so situated that we cannot do both kinds of work in this field, which is the more important to do first, cultivate the good field or the poor field, which if you do not cultivate it will run to weeds and escape us entirely? As Mr. Galbreath asks, if a community is anxious to read, will you supply that, or will you stir somebody up that does not want your supplies? In other words, if there is a field that is rather poor, will you cultivate that at the expense of another field that yields a good crop?

Mr. Galbreath: It seems to me that a neglected community is one that has no library of any kind of its own; nine-tenths of our travelling libraries go out to communities of that sort.

Mr. Hutchins: I would not take that as a definition. In an intelligent community they buy books, they buy magazines, they have intelligent people. A neglected community is one that is not reached by these means, or by any means of civilization.

Mr. Galbreath: Suppose I go into a community which all the American people are gradually leaving, only foreigners remaining. How can I reach the foreign people that hardly have the English language in their homes, and scarcely in the schools?

Mr. Hutchins: Take, for instance, one of those foreign communities. The children go to school; some of them stay in school until they can barely spell out the third reader, and then they go out and become American citizens. Reading is hard work for them. You offer them a chance to read a book, and they do not want it. But in that place we send first with our travelling libraries the Youth's Companion and the little picture papers, to interest them in spelling out little short stories. Try elementary books; simple books of American history and biography; lead them on to better books. But the way is, first of all, to go to them. We have many such communities in the northern part of the state, where the people have come from foreign lands and know nothing about our customs.

Mr. Galbreath: Another question. I would ask Mr. Hutchins, if a farming community should send to the state commission for a travelling library, and with the request state that they had no library to which they had access, if he would decline to send to them because they were an intelligent community?

Mr. Hutchins: No, we send libraries to these communities. We are sending to all classes, but if Miss Stearns, in the northern part of the state, finds a neglected community, and can work with them, and can find some members of the women's clubs to go out and help, we send to them first.

Mr. Galbreath: I think that perhaps our methods do not vary so much after all. The women's clubs are supplementing our work in that way. In Ohio we have succeeded in interesting a number of the members of the legislature, and frequently they come in and look over our maps illustrating the travelling library work, and say, "There is in our county a community that is very backward. They have no libraries there, and they are not very intelligent. I wish you to write to So-and-so in that community." We do a great deal of work in the line of reaching what Mr. Hutchins calls the neglected communities.

A member: I would like to ask Mr. Hutchins if he has forgotten that we have something besides the readers in our Wisconsin schools? Under the present school law every district in the state has the beginnings of a library, and adds to that library each year. And we have in each of our school institutes held during the summer a 45-minute period which is spent in training teachers how to get children to read books, how to interest them in the books, and how to show them to get from the book the information it contains. And I would also like to ask if the library placed in the school house is not as accessible to the district as a library that may be placed at some central point? Very often people would have to drive 25 or 30 miles to reach that central point, whereas in the library in the school house the children can take the books to their homes. During the long vacation the library need not be left in the school house, but in some other place.

Mr. Hutchins: A library in a school is a school library, no matter where it may be, and the children do not go to the school house after they leave the school.

Mr. Dewey: The library is an optional affair; the children are compelled to go to school. On the other side, there are a number of advantages in favor of the school building.

Has anybody succeeded in getting from the railroads or express companies special concessions for the transportation of library books?

Mrs. Dockery: In Idaho, while the travelling libraries were in the hands of the women's clubs. When they came in the hands of the state, the railroads felt that they should have some compensation, and they gave us half rates. The stage lines give us less than half rates.

E. H. Anderson: In Pennsylvania the Adams and the United States Express Companies, which are the two leading companies, have made this concession: We can send out books at full rate going, and half rate returning. These rates apply only on condition that the books returned are paid for at the library, so there is no confusion at any other station.

Mr. Montgomery: How about books that are transferred to another point?

Mr. Anderson: We do not transfer them; they must all come back.

G. F. Bowerman: The law of Delaware requires that the express companies shall give the franking privilege, both coming and going, to all state documents, and we intend, if possible, to extend that provision to our travelling libraries, now that they are conducted by a state commission.

Mr. Hostetter: On the question of express, my experience in Illinois is that the shipping of our books has been unsatisfactory, and I have had some conversation in the matter with the express companies. They seem willing to give us some concessions, and I believe if this meeting would recommend that the American Library Association take up the question of express charges, that we could get for the whole United States a liberal concession for travelling libraries. At least I think we could get as much concession as is given the farmers for returning chicken coops. I think if this is taken up by the Association, as an association, we could get a very liberal reduction.

Mr. Bowerman: The Seaboard Air Line runs a free travelling library system, and I presume they send their books over that system free?

Mr. Dewey: Yes. They also pay expenses, but would they open those privileges to other people?

Mr. Brigham: I want to raise one question. Isn't it a mistake to put the library in the position of a beggar? Is it not better to pay for what we get?

Mr. Dewey: If we have money enough. We would rather beg than have no bread. We are willing to profit by whatever concession we can get which will enable us to do our work.

No one has spoken of the most important thing of all in this work. We are reaching communities, but there are in all our states great numbers of isolated homes and of farmers. They have more leisure than any other class, especially in the winter, and we have to reach them through the mails. We have a letter from Mr. Lane, of Harvard, upon the movement to secure reduced postal rates for library books, undertaken through the New England Education League by Mr. Scott. This matter is of great importance to us all. [Mr. Lane's letter was read by Mr. Bowerman.]

Mr. Montgomery: In connection with that, has any one here tried to send single books to individuals in any of the communities through the rural delivery system?

Mr. Hutchins: We have to a certain extent. We have not sufficient funds to send out enough of the boxes, so we allow a school teacher in the northern part of the state to draw out some book on some subject, and we send these by the rural delivery, or by mail, whichever will reach him most quickly, but of course we have to pay the regular postage.

Mr. Hostetter: We have sent out a few books to the country domestic science clubs through the mails, and we have a greater demand for them than we could ever supply. Now I find this experience: the express companies, in the matter of books, would carry a book more cheaply than the United States mail. I am quite confident that the express companies would return the books free, or at a very low rate, if the charges were prepaid. I move that this meeting recommend that the American Library Association take up the question of procuring reduced transportation rates for all free circulating library books.

Mr. Dewey: If this large meeting is practically agreed on the importance of that, we could send the recommendation into the Council meeting to-night. It seems to me simply inconceivable that we are willing to allow periodicals, bad and indifferent, and the yellow journals, to receive the pound postal rate, while our libraries, suffering from lack of income and working for the public benefit, cannot use the public facilities as cheaply as the people who are using them for public harm instead of public good. I had supposed there would be unanimous approval of an act to register public libraries, owned and maintained for the public benefit, so that they could receive the pound postal rate on books.

Mr. Hostetter's motion was seconded.

Mr. Dewey: Let us see if there is anything more on this question before the motion is put. There is a bill closely allied to this going into the next Congress. Mr. Hutchins, will you state it briefly?

Mr. Hutchins: We have twice tried to secure better transportation in the state of Wisconsin. We have found rural mail carriers who said that they would carry books to the farmers for a travelling library without cost, but the United States law said that we could not do this; that we cannot carry in this way anything under four pounds in weight except it is stamped. Congressman Jenkins, therefore, has drawn a bill which gives libraries authority to send their books free along rural mail routes. At present the farmer must either carry the book himself and return it to the public library, or he must pay postage.

Mr. Dewey: You say that the carriers cannot take packages under four pounds without stamps?

Mr. Hutchins: Yes; the government rules that packages under four pounds are to be sent by mail. Larger packages we could send by the carriers, and we have sometimes thought of sending 15 or 20 books to a neighborhood for distribution. I think that could be done, under the government rule, if the mail carrier was willing to carry them.

Mr. Dewey: The idea is, that the carrier must not carry anything to compete with the postal service.

Mr. Hutchins: Mr. Jenkins, who has drawn this bill for us, has submitted it to all the Senators and Representatives in the United States, and nearly all favor it. Now, I am in favor of Mr. Scott's bill, which gives libraries reduced rates through the whole United States. As things are to-day, if you want to send a travelling library book 100 miles out into the country it costs as much as to send it to San Francisco or New York. If we can get the government to allow transportation by rural free mail delivery it will be an entering wedge for this other bill.

Mr. Bowerman: Why cannot the legislation adopting the rural mail delivery also include this matter of the pound rates? Why not have both provisions in one bill? My library is practically free to the whole of Newcastle county, not confined simply to Wilmington, but it is a farming community. We would like to send books to every part of the county, practically to every part of the state. The library is practically free to the state of Delaware, so far as people can come to us, but they cannot come to us; we would like to go to them, but we cannot do it, because of the expense. We could do it if we could afford sufficient postage to send books.

Mr. Dewey: These are two closely allied questions. Has any one any objection to this Jenkins bill, which, on its face, promises to be so useful to us? I think we can get it, if we work together.

Miss Stearns: If the government admits library books into this country free of duty, why cannot it allow a man to carry a book free on the rural delivery route if he wants to do it? In our state we have people who cannot afford to pay postage on the books; if the mail-carrier is willing, in the goodness of his heart, to take the book to them, why can't it be done? Why should not a book from a free library be sent free? I do not mean from one state to another, but I mean by rural free delivery.

Mr. Brigham: Would you make it optional with the carrier? Why not make it compulsory? You say, "if he wants" to carry the book. Suppose he does not "want" to carry it?

Miss Stearns: I would have it so that he can do it for nothing if he wishes, or he can charge a little for express. The rural mail delivery people have to work hard, and they make but little. Now, the United States government has to employ good men to do this work, so it puts in a premium by allowing them to conduct an express business in connection with it. In order, however, that the government may receive its revenue, it does not allow the carriers to carry any packages under four pounds in weight. What we want is to have that embargo removed for free library books, so that they may carry books weighing a pound or a half pound.

Mr. Brigham: The post-office would probably say that this would interfere with the delivery of the regular mail.

Miss Stearns: If it interferes, then the whole express business interferes. The carriers are doing such a business now for packages about four pounds in weight.

Mr. Dewey: Then all you need to do is to attach a brick to your book and make it weigh over four pounds. Is there any motion before the meeting?

Mr. Brigham: The motion of the gentleman from Illinois has not been disposed of.

Mr. Hostetter: My motion relates to express transportation. Rural delivery is somewhat of an experiment, and it would not reach the case I have in mind. We spend our money for expressage, and we want the express companies to give us a minimum rate.

Mr. Dewey: I rule there is no motion before us until it is repeated.

Mr. Huse: I move that we recommend the passage of the Jenkins bill. We ought to pay no attention to all this talk about lines of least resistance. If we have no law, we will find the Post-office Department ready with an objection that will answer any request we may make. If we can get a law authorizing what we want, the Post-office Department will obey it whether we seek the line of least resistance or not.

Mr. Dewey: Is the motion seconded?

Mr. Brigham: I rise to a point of order. There was a previous motion made and seconded, and I call for the question.

Mr. Hostetter: I made a definite motion in regard to the express companies. It was made for the reason that arrangements can probably be effected with the express companies, but we are not likely to get the legislation we want. This motion was this: That this meeting request the Council of this Association to negotiate with the express companies of the United States for reduced rates upon travelling libraries and travelling library books.

The motion was adopted.

Mr. Huse: I renew my motion that we recommend the passage of the Jenkins bill.

Mr. Hutchins: The Jenkins bill provides that wherever there is established a public library from which rural delivery routes radiate, books may be carried upon those routes from the public library to the patrons in the country without cost. They may not, however, be returned free; in returning they must either be returned personally to the library or postage must be paid.

The motion made by Mr. Huse was adopted.

Mr. Dewey: We come now to the question of pound rates. That has been before Congress for some time, and I think there is hope of its passage; but it needs our support. I am heartily in favor of it. I think it is just, and that a great deal of the criticism it has received is based on misapprehension. Some people look only at the rates that extend throughout the country, and say that the government will be carrying books at a loss, but these books will largely circulate within 100 miles of the library, and you will pay exactly the same rate within that circuit as you would if sending to San Francisco. Does anybody want to move that the Council be asked to support this bill?

It was moved and seconded that the support of the bill be recommended.

Mr. Huse: It seems to me we are trying to get a good many things. If we get the cheap postal rates, that will include rural delivery, and then the express companies will come down in their rates to compete with the government.

Mr. Dewey: The rural delivery is limited to a single section, and is analogous to newspaper rates.

Mr. Huse: But if this pound rate is extended to library books the express companies will come down in their rates, and the rural delivery will be almost free.

Mr. Dewey: But in any case if we want all these things, it won't do any harm to ask for them.

Mr. Eastman: I would like to raise one point, and that is, what would be the effect of the extremely cheap rates of postage upon small libraries or upon libraries which we want to establish? In the remote parts of the state, where the population is small, won't the tendency be to have one great library dominate the whole state? Then when you go to a community to awaken library interest the people will probably say, "We don't care about a library; we can get our books from New York, or Albany, or Cincinnati, or Chicago." Won't this measure tend to hamper the work of establishing libraries in the small places?

Mr. Anderson: That is a difficulty easily remedied. I do not think that any library should act as a forwarding agent to a person in any place where another public library is or can be established. Our library takes that position very firmly. We refuse to be a forwarding agent to any person; if a library, however small, asks us to send books, we are glad to do it. I know we have helped small libraries by making people feel that the small library was very important, as it could get concessions that they reasonably could not obtain.

Mr. Dewey: Mr. Eastman's point, if this were a commercial question, might have something in it, but as long as books are circulated free, we should make the road free to the reader, for a short distance or a long distance.

The motion was adopted.

Mr. Dewey: We will now take up the topic of county libraries as units in a state library system. Mr. Hodges, of Cincinnati, has something to say on this.

N. D. C. Hodges: By an act passed April 21, 1898, the privileges of the Public Library of Cincinnati were extended to all residents of Hamilton County. While the trustees did not derive any revenue from the taxpayers outside of the city limits until the beginning of 1899, steps were taken at once on the passage of the act to enable all the residents of the county to avail themselves of their new privileges. There has been some discussion in the public press as to whether this library or that might claim priority as a county library. The Public Library of Cincinnati has been loaning its books to all the residents of Hamilton County for more than three years. I believe there is no other library in the state of Ohio which had furnished books throughout a whole county before January of this year. This method of supplying books over a comparatively limited territory has interest when we are discussing the circulation of books over a whole state from the state capital.

For those who cannot, or will not, come to the central library, there have been established throughout the county forty-one delivery stations. Four of these are branch libraries. All these branch libraries had previously been village libraries with very respectable histories; started as subscription institutions they had in years past taken on a public character and were supported partially by taxation. There are several other local libraries in the county which are supported more or less by taxation and which are likely to come under the general management of the trustees of the Public Library of Cincinnati, as otherwise the taxpayers in the regions where they are located will be subject to double taxation for library purposes, and, moreover, there seems to be a consensus of opinion among those who are interested in the branches which have come under the wing of the central institution that they have found the change to their advantage.

Hamilton County is not a flat region. The old part of the city of Cincinnati is located on what might be called the river bottoms, though the land is, most of it, at a safe height above the river floods. Half a mile or a mile back from the river there are sharp rises of four hundred or five hundred feet to the hill tops, on which the newer portions of the city are built. Again, these hill tops are not tablelands but are cut here and there by deep gorges. The hilly character of the county adds to the difficulty of transportation. It is slow work for a wagon to climb the steep ascent from the old city to the suburbs. The library does not have its own service of wagons, but depends on the local expresses. There are portions of the county with which there is no regular system of communication by stage or express. It is in these regions, more or less inaccessible, though not uninhabited, that the authorities of the library have placed travelling libraries. Twelve of these travelling libraries were sent out in March of this year. In each library there are 62 or 63 books. New books were purchased for the purpose, books of a character likely to interest the readers, the new novels with a 40% sprinkling of the best classed literature. The travelling libraries were arranged in three circuits of four each. Each library containing 62 or 63 books, the four libraries in a circuit contain 250 volumes. The books in circuit A are the same as those in circuit B and as in circuit C. The libraries were placed with school teachers. Right here a difficulty has arisen on account of the closing of the schools for the summer. The country schools have rather long vacations. Some of the teachers are willing to care for their libraries during the summer and see that they are open to the patrons. Some are not in a position to undertake this work. For the summer months there has been a gathering of these 12 travelling libraries at less than 12 stations. The idea has been, in general, that one of these travelling libraries should remain about six months at a station before it is moved on.

The Public Library has also sent out 36 travelling libraries to the 36 fire companies of the city. Each of these smaller travelling libraries contains 20 volumes and they have been moved more rapidly than the larger travelling libraries sent to the remote parts of the county. The deliveries to the delivery stations vary. With some there is a daily delivery, with others triweekly, for a few twice a week and there are two which have but one delivery a week.

There are a good many women's clubs in Hamilton County, Ohio. Last winter we received programs from 37 of these clubs, and reading lists were prepared on these programs by the cataloging department. A club alcove was set aside and an attendant assigned to aid any of the members of the clubs visiting the library for study on the papers which were to be read. We have not attempted to send out selected lots of books for the clubs in the suburban districts. Much better work can be done for the readers if they will only come to the central library; and it cripples the resources of the library to scatter its reference books far and wide. We have sent such selected lots of books for limited periods to the university for the use of the students and professors, but, in general, for such reference work the policy has been to encourage the use of the central library.

This brings me to the consideration of whether there is any advantage in the system of county libraries. No very great expense is involved in a journey from the most remote corner of Hamilton County to the central library in the city. Those who are intent upon serious study can, in most cases, make a journey of 15 or 20 miles. At the central library with a concentration of financial resources there can but be a more valuable collection of books. On the other hand, it is perfectly feasible for the officers of the library to visit even the most remote portions of the county and by personal interview estimate the character of the people whom they have to serve; with the result of a more intelligent distribution of books in the outlying districts. Serious study is provided for at the central library, while desultory reading is supplied through the delivery stations and travelling libraries.

Dr. Steiner: It seems to me that it depends somewhat upon your unit of local government as to how much you need a county library. I should think in Massachusetts or Connecticut the county library would be rather an unfortunate enterprise, unless used in connection with the town libraries. But in many of the southern states the county library is going to be almost indispensable. With us the unit of local government is the county, except in the case of the incorporated municipality. There is a county in Maryland with 75,000 people without a single municipality. The county commissioners attend to the minutest details of administration in that county. It is manifestly unwise that the state should take all the functions of the local library. But it seems that in the states where we have no township system, or where the township system is little developed, the county library is at present a necessity.

Mr. Dewey: How do you support the schools?

Dr. Steiner: By a county tax. We have school districts; but their only function is to have district trustees, appointed by the county commissioners, whose duty it is to take care of the school house and appoint teachers. The taxes are raised by the county. It is the same in other southern states, so far as I know.

W. T. Porter: Mr. Hodges has said that the Public Library of Cincinnati was a county library. Possibly that was a little misnomer, in that the library still remains the Public Library of Cincinnati, but we have extended the privileges of that library to the county at large. That was done under act of legislature of 1898, continuing the board of trustees of the public library in office, and then authorizing that board of trustees to make a levy upon the county for the maintenance of the library.

Miss Stearns: How much of the county is embraced outside of the city of Cincinnati?

Mr. Porter: We have about 14 townships outside of Cincinnati township. Our county is possibly 28 miles in extent.

Miss Stearns: Then it is a small county that you supply?

Mr. Porter: It is a small county, but the population is extensive. We commenced the county delivery system in June, 1899. Up to the present, and through the stations alone, there have been about 7500 new registrations, and we are to-day, through our stations, carrying 20,000 books.

Mr. Dewey: This question seems to be of a city library extending its privileges. What I thought we were to talk about was whether the county should be used as a library unit. That is quite a different matter.

Mr. Galbreath: But in this case the county here is the unit, and is taxed for the support of the library. There are no other public libraries in the county.

Mr. Dewey: But there is a different side to the question. Suppose you take a rural community and establish a county library there? I think it would be a great extravagance to maintain not only local libraries throughout the state, but also county libraries; it is going to cost too much.

Miss Stearns: Would it not be better to have a central library?

Mr. Porter: We have also in Ohio, something which approaches the county idea, known as our Van Wert law. The state of Ohio, by an act, authorized the county commissioners of any county to accept library donations, funds, or building. Upon the acceptance of that donation the county can be required to maintain a library within the building. In Van Wert county, the Brumback Library building and grounds were given in this way and the agreement was made with the county commissioners, that they maintain thereafter a library.

Mr. Dewey: Our question is not whether such libraries should exist or can exist, but are they desirable?

Mr. Huse: What is the use of asking questions that must be governed entirely by local conditions? This matter must be governed by local conditions.

Mr. Brigham: We are trying a line of rural travelling libraries in three counties of our state, in advance of any county or state legislation. Miss Brown, of Lucas county, and myself, in correspondence, could see no reason why a travelling library sent to Sheridan should not go on to another point, and to another point, and so on, and then back to Sheridan, back to me, and then after it had made its rounds, take another start, and so on. We tried the plan and it has worked so well that we are now trying it in two other counties. What the development may be I do not know, but the satisfaction and the gratitude of the people in the small towns it reaches is worth all it has cost of extra effort.

Miss Tyler: The point of the plan is that the librarian of the county-seat library is responsible for the travelling library. She guards the books, watches over them and makes her library the point of distribution. She distributes the books through the county, they come back to her library for exchange, or are passed on to the next exchange, whichever is most convenient; but they come under her direction.

Mr. Dewey: Let me state the point as I understand it. We are all agreed that we must have local libraries for the people. They can go from their homes into the library and take the books into their hands. If they are in the city almost every day they can utilize the large city library. When it comes to the question of sending books by mail or express we are all agreed that each state must have a state library and its own state commission. The question is, Should there be an intermediary point between a state library and the local library? It seems, at first thought, that there should be, because you would have a shorter distance to travel, but all commercial experience is against this. Manufacturers are closing factories all the while and paying transportation, because they can do their work more cheaply in one place. Thus, repair of books, checking lists, and all that kind of work can be done under a single executive at some central point in the state more cheaply than if there was a library in each county. In Wisconsin, with 71 counties, you would have 71 libraries and you would have to duplicate great quantities of books. My experience indicates that we can do this work more cheaply and more economically by putting the books under control of a central library. As to the extra distance, very often the identical trains that would take the books from a county seat would have brought them from the capital as it went through, so that they would have been received almost without delay. Is it going to pay to introduce a new ganglion—that is, the county library?

Dr. Steiner: Take Baltimore county in Maryland. There is a county with 75,000 people; it has an electric lighting system, a police court, fire engine houses; there are towns in that county of a thousand people. There is no government in that county except the board of county commissioners, who are as complete autocrats as the czar of Russia. There is no municipality in the county; there is one town which has 5000 people. You must have a county library with a county administration, because you cannot have anything but the county library; you cannot discriminate between one part of the county and another. That library must send books equally to all parts of the county; you cannot put it where the great centers of the population are, because you cannot deprive any citizen of the county of his right to draw books.

Mr. Dewey: Of course, we are not discussing a peculiar condition such as exists in Maryland.

Dr. Steiner: It is not a peculiar condition; it is the condition of at least one-third of the United States.

Mr. Galbreath: It seems to me that there is nothing peculiar about this condition. Of course, it differs from conditions in the north, but it includes a state government, to which the county is subordinate, and if I understand Mr. Dewey, it is his purpose to do this work from the state as a center, and the question he has raised is whether it is better to do it from the county as a center, or from the state as a center. I think that in our state it would be well to use the county as a center, for a time at least. However, I believe that in our state "benevolent neutrality"—to apply the term that Mr. Putnam used the other day—on the part of the state librarian toward these matters would be more effective than "benevolent assimilation," and we hope for much from the county library system.

Mr. Dewey: It is a question of what we should encourage. Is it wise to do this work by the county unit or the state unit? It is largely an economic question. How can you give the people the best reading for the least amount of money?

R. P. Hayes: In North Carolina we have practically nothing in the library field and the question is, shall we try for county library development or state library development? I would like to get some definite word on that.

Dr. Steiner: It seems to me we should try distinctly for county libraries. In the southern states at least there is no question about it; you have got to have county libraries. I started with the idea of the local township libraries, but we must wait until we have a township. My idea is, in any county wherein there are no incorporated municipalities or where the incorporated municipalities do not care to support libraries, the county library is the proper thing. In the south the county takes the place of the town in New England; it is the taxing unit, the unit in which all the local administration is carried on.

Mr. Huse: It seems to me that for the south, as stated by the gentlemen here from Maryland and from North Carolina, the county system is very probably the best one; but in New England we could not work by a county unit, any more than the people of North Carolina and even further down south could run a toboggan slide nine months in the year—they would not have the ice; we haven't the counties. At least, we have the counties, but they are of no importance to us except to have court houses, and courts of justice. Now, each state must solve this problem according to its own conditions and according to the desires and enthusiasm of its own workers. The gentleman from Maryland, I haven't any doubt, will soon have the county system operating fully and successfully in his state, and the same will be true in North Carolina and throughout the south; whereas in New England it won't be done because the county is not a unit. In Wisconsin and New York, Mr. Dewey and Mr. Hutchins, and the men and women who know more than they do, will run the library system safely; whether it is state or county. But we cannot adopt any general rule or take any general expression of opinion, for the people in each state must work out their own salvation according to their own condition.

Mr. Dewey: There are a number of other topics that have been specially asked for.

Can state commissions provide travelling libraries for hamlets which furnish the money, and make such hamlets travelling library stations?

Mr. Hutchins: I wish to say a few words on that question. All through Wisconsin, when we started travelling libraries, some people found that there was a chance to make money by using the idea in a commercial way. They went to communities which had heard of the travelling libraries, raised $150 or so for "subscription" and then sent about ten dollars' worth of books once in six months. Now, the plan we have worked out may be best described by this illustration: about a year ago Miss Stearns heard that there was a little hamlet of fishermen far up in the state on a point which juts out into Lake Michigan. It included about a hundred people who had heard of the travelling libraries, but they did not want to be indebted for a gift or a charity, and so they had a series of entertainments, and raised fifty dollars. They sent the money down to us and we agreed to buy a library in their name. That library was the contribution of the fishermen of the hamlet of Jacksonport, and the hamlet was made a travelling library station. You can see how such a method works out. The second point is, that in communities where there are a hundred people or so, and conditions are favorable, we offer to give them travelling libraries on condition that they establish permanent public libraries on lines that are satisfactory to us. We take care of the travelling libraries and they take care of the local libraries.

It seems to me, that in this method we have struck finally the correct principle, the principle of self-support. The state takes the money and gives trained service in the selection of the books, in taking care of them, and in keeping the books travelling around their circuit. The citizens pay for their books, and have the feeling that they belong to an organization. More than all, when they are collecting their library fund, giving their little "dime socials," contributing two dollars or five dollars apiece, they are advertising that library, and it seems to me that the library that is coming to them that way means far more than the library that is given to them as a charity.

Mr. Galbreath: Mr. Hutchins, how often do the communities raise that fifty dollars?

Mr. Hutchins: They raise fifty dollars once, and for that the state engages to send them libraries during the life of the library given by them, which we estimate to be about six years.

Mr. Dewey: What shall be the unit of circulation—the cataloged library or the single book or combination?

Mr. Brigham: We have tried both in Iowa. One of the twins is growing faster than the other, and of course that is the hopeful one.

Mr. Dewey: Which one is that?

Mr. Brigham: That is the individual, or the single book as the unit, rather than the travelling library; but I believe that the shelf-listed library will always exist. The shelf-listed library of 50 or 25 books must be a necessity in the communities where there are no libraries, and I am sorry to say that there are a great many communities of that sort; but the communities in which there are libraries are increasing, and wherever there is a local library, or wherever there is a woman's club, there the single book can be used to the best advantage. There are disadvantages in the use of the shelf-listed library. Before we adopted the new system, we often had requests for library no. 38 or no. 53, and later found that the request arose from the fact that there was a single book, or perhaps two books in that library, that some one wanted, while the rest of the volumes would come back comparatively unused. That was not good business economy. We might better have sent those two books, and I became more and more impressed with this fact, and was finally able to partially adopt the other plan. We have now perhaps 2000 books on our shelves that are issued separately; but we have nearly 5000 tied up in libraries. Both classes are in use, but the expense to the local library of getting our collection of 50 books for the sake of using perhaps two volumes is unnecessary. I am more and more impressed with the fact—though the remark may be unorthodox—that there is prevalent a little fad for spending money for administration, and spending it not always economically. I believe in spending money freely for administration that is approved by good common sense; beyond that it is a woful waste of money. And so I would keep the use of the single book in mind. The women's clubs as you know, are studying more and more, and are doing less and less miscellaneous reading. Suppose we are trying to meet the wants of the women's clubs. We put up a library covering the Victorian period in literature, and we find that some one wants a certain number of books on the lake poets. What is the use of sending the entire library? We may have a library made up on the lake poets. Then, suppose one librarian or one secretary writes for what we may have on Coleridge, another wishes material on Wordsworth. Why not send the Coleridge books to the one, and the Wordsworth books to the other? In that way, make the books count. We should not be penurious in the matter of expenditure for cases or for printing, or for any other working tools, but we should always keep in mind that the essential thing is the book, and if we can get on without the book case, or without the cover that envelops it, or without the shipping case, or without the combination book case and shipping case, all the better. We cannot get along without them altogether, but we can send small packages all over the state wrapped in paper, and can get rid of a great deal of expense.

Mr. Dewey: When you send ten books, of course send them in paper, but when you send 50 or 100, send them in boxes; that is cheaper. This is a mere shipping question.

Adjourned.

WORK OF STATE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS AND WOMEN'S CLUBS IN ADVANCING LIBRARY INTERESTS: ROUND TABLE MEETING.

The work that can be done by state library associations and women's clubs to advance library interests was considered in a "round table" meeting, held in the assembly room, Fountain Spring House, on the morning of Wednesday, July 10. Miss Marilla Waite Freeman presided as chairman.

Miss Freeman: At the Montreal conference last year a round table meeting of officers of state library associations was held for the discussion of questions affecting association work. Certain subjects, some of which were informally discussed at that time, seem naturally to invite our attention at the present session. We are to consider the object and functions of state library associations—whether they should attempt other lines of effort than the holding of a general meeting; what principles as to time and place of meeting, topics, and participants should govern the preparation of a program. With this general subject has been joined the allied topic of the work of women's clubs in advancing library interests. Few of us fully comprehend even yet the amount of effective library extension work which has been and is being accomplished by club women in almost every state of the Union. I have asked representative members from some of the states which have been working along these lines to tell us of their work. We shall hear first from Mr. J. C. Dana, of the City Library, Springfield, Mass., the Western Massachusetts Club, and the Massachusetts Library Club, on

WHAT THE WORK OF STATE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS SHOULD BE.

J. C. Dana: Perhaps the chief purposes of a state library association are to arouse an interest in libraries among the public and to increase the knowledge and enthusiasm of the members of the profession. The mistake is often made of thinking that the chief purpose of an association is to hold an annual meeting. It is thought that the annual meeting once provided with a good program, and that well carried through, the work of the association for the whole year is done. There could not be a greater mistake. The benefits of a state association come largely from correspondence between members, the preparation for the meeting, and the securing of ideas, new methods and statistics by circulating letters among members, and the publication in newspapers and elsewhere of notes about the meeting which is to come and the meetings which have been. One is almost tempted to say that a library association performs its duty better if it is active during the year—carrying on correspondence and thoroughly advertising itself—and holds no meeting whatever, than it does if it holds an annual meeting and does not advertise.

Another mistake common to those who organize state library associations is to suppose that they are chiefly designed for the benefit of those who organize them. They do not realize that to help younger and less experienced members of the craft is a chief purpose of the association, and that if through it librarians generally are informed and encouraged, the profession itself is thereby improved, and they are themselves advanced in general esteem.

It is, then, an association's business to be active all through the year, to devote itself largely to such work in and between its meetings as will benefit both beginners and past-masters among librarians, and, always, properly to advertise its work. Along this last line let me say an urgent word in favor of good printing. It is difficult to overestimate the value to an institution like a library association of an exhibition of itself, through all its circulars and programs and lists, by means of the best printing that money can buy.

The general state association, being the largest and richest of all associations in a given state, should take upon itself some large definite work of permanent value and as far as possible of general interest; say the compilation of historical material, the making of a useful index, the issuance of popular lists, etc., etc. This work may continue along the same line for several years, ending in the publication of something thoroughly worth while which shall have been the means of arousing interest in the profession itself and of bringing the members of it into touch with one another month by month and year by year.

As to the place of meeting of the state association, I doubt if much benefit accrues, on the whole, from meetings held in remote places for missionary purposes. I say this, of course, on the supposition that the meetings thus held, being at places difficult of access, will not generally draw a large gathering. Better results can generally be reached in these same small communities by sending to them occasionally one or two active representatives of the association to carry on a little propaganda work, speak before a woman's club, before the school teachers, or a local literary society on the local library problems.

About the programs of association meetings, it is difficult to say anything which will have general application. They must, of course, to a considerable extent, fit local conditions. I do not think it advisable to give up much time to local speakers, either for words of greeting or for historical sketches. These latter are generally unspeakably dull. On the other hand, if popular interest in a place is desired a local speaker may be the one best means available for accomplishing your object.

Associations which are attended, as so many are, by librarians of smaller libraries who rarely get abroad and do not often have an opportunity to meet their fellows and to expand in the social atmosphere of the library meeting, should cultivate to the greatest possible extent what one may call the conversational feature. Not only should ample opportunity be given before and after and between the sessions for informal talks, but a portion of the formal gathering itself should be devoted to brief and rapid exchange of ideas. This can be brought about by a little preliminary wire-pulling. Let some one briefly open a topic, and then let questions be offered, some of them by the most diffident of those present who have previously been posted as to what they are to ask and when. Manufacture a little spontaneity by way of an ice-breaker, and it is surprising how freely genuine spontaneity will then flow. It is unquestionably of great value to a librarian who is unselfishly giving her energy to a small library in a remote place, trying to make her books of use, to be able to express herself, no matter how briefly, on some of the matters which touch her work at home.

A state association should draw out the diffident; cheer the discouraged ones; magnify our calling; compel public attention to the value of libraries; be active the whole year through; and always keep a little ahead of the general library progress in the state.

Miss Ella McLoney: It is unquestionably true, as has been stated, that the annual meeting of a state library association is not the whole of the work that must be done through the year. It is possibly only an incident, but the fact is that in the nature of things the work of preparation for this meeting must be carried on during at least half the year. The preparation of the programs requires a great deal of correspondence, and this must extend over a great part of the state and during a great part of the year. Whenever any circulars or announcements are issued, they should be sent to every library in the state; it does not matter whether that library is likely to be represented or not, it should have information as to the work that is being done by the state association.

So far as advertising a library is concerned it seems to me a good deal of a problem. Of course, library people, like other people, need the help of the newspapers, but if you want to get the newspapers interested in libraries it will have to be on the strength of something more than what libraries are going to do. In other words, it will have to be something that the newspapers can take up as news and feel that the public are interested in; they want material that is fresh and newsy, and if you can furnish them with that, then the newspapers will be willing to help.

As to the printing of programs and other material, I am hardly prepared to say that library associations should always have the best and most expensive work. It is a proper thing, theoretically, to appear before the public in the handsomest and most suitable dress possible, but when every 25 cents is of importance and your treasury is practically empty, and there is no one upon whom you can legitimately draw to fill it, I think you must limit your work accordingly.

About definite work to be done, it is true of a library association, as of any other association, that it should do something that will furnish a reason for its existence. In most cases the most definite thing, if you are beginners in association work, will be the task of gaining a foothold; but the time will probably come when it will be necessary to undertake some definite work, that the life of the association may be prolonged and finally assured. The Iowa association, for its first three or four years, was a very frail child, and required most careful nursing; but finally, about the fourth year, it began to seem as if there was very good prospect of its growth and development. Miss Ahern, whom Illinois has claimed for the last five years, and who was at that time interested in the Iowa work, devised the plan of establishing a four years' course of library study, an ambitious undertaking in the condition of affairs in Iowa then. This was printed in a neat folder, which was sent to every library in the state, with a circular telling them what the plan was, and that the library association wished the librarians of the state to enter upon this four years' course of study, and asked all who would pledge themselves to do so to come to the next meeting with their report of the work. I received seven letters in response to all this circular work, and when the time for the annual meeting came there was no one there to report. Librarians were too busy, too far apart, and too poorly paid, to permit the work being carried on systematically. It was dropped at that point; I think it could be done now, and it may be taken up yet. It did furnish a common bond, although the results were not very evident just then.

The next thing, as has been the case with many other associations, was the work of securing the library commission. We pegged away at that for five years before we accomplished anything. Finally the State Federation of Women's Clubs interested itself; we secured the commission, and the work has been going on exceedingly well for the past year. We have made no plan yet for further definite work, but some need will doubtless develop.

In regard to programs, they must, of course, as Mr. Dana said, be adapted to local conditions, and the people who are primarily the workers in the state association, cannot expect personally to get much from the program or from the work of the association. But it is probably true in most cases that these workers have opportunities of visiting other libraries, and have facilities for work that are not open to the librarians in the smaller places. The librarians of the smaller libraries should be given something definite, something technical, something that will be of help to them in the work from a professional point of view.

As to place of meeting, the Iowa meetings were always held in Des Moines, the capital city, until two years ago. Then it was decided to make the library association a movable feast. We met at Cedar Rapids two years ago, last year at Sioux City, where we had a good meeting, although not largely attended. Sioux City is in the extreme western part of the state, and is not easily accessible by railroad, but we drew a little from South Dakota, which was what we had counted on; some Dakota people came and joined the association, and two of those people have attended this A. L. A. conference. We meet next in Burlington, where there are more libraries in the locality, and we expect a larger attendance. I suppose the ideal condition would be to meet in some central place, where there are library facilities, but I believe it is worth while to move the association about; that is one way of advertising it.

Miss Olive Jones: I fully believe that the greatest work of the state association it does through the librarians individually. It is of help in the state in bringing out different lines of work, and in keeping the library work before the public; but, after all, do we not gain more from individual effort than from anything else? In educational problems, it is coming to be realized that the work of the individual means more than the work of any body of people, and I am fully convinced, if we can bring librarians to our state associations, and have an association full of enthusiasm and that intangible something which we call library spirit, we will have more done for the state at large than by any devising of general work along large lines. I would make a special plea that in deciding where to meet, you should consider first the librarians, and settle a pleasant place for the members who meet fellow-workers only once a year. There are librarians who have no vacation at all, except when their board kindly allows them to go to the state association meeting; there are librarians who never know personally anything of this larger work done all over the country, and we should not ask such persons to come to a place where they are not going to be comfortable, and which they must spend a good deal of money to reach. We must be sure of having something for the librarians of the smaller libraries; something technical, not too much, but something which the librarian can take away, feeling that it has been worth while to attend. I am not certain that we could have library instruction in Ohio; we tried it and it did not seem to work; but if you can introduce in the program one or two definite, technical papers, it is a good thing. And at the same time give a chance for sociability and some social entertainment.

There is one other point, and that is in regard to the advertising that we can do through individuals—you see my point is individualism. I believe in newspaper advertising, but I think if you can work up a good mailing list through your state, sending all your circulars to individuals, you will do more than by newspaper advertising. And it is a good thing to get one library in each city to keep a list of every one in that city who ought to be specially interested in library work, whether members of the association or not. Then let that librarian send to the secretary of the association a duplicate of that list, so that everything the state association issues goes to each person who should be interested in library work.

W. R. Eastman: In New York we are going through a little transition period in state library association work. Formerly our state association held occasional meetings in different places. It held one in midwinter in New York City, with the New York Library Club. Then in the summer or spring we held a meeting in the central part of the state. We tried to make our programs as practical as could be, discussing not only occasional technical points, but elementary points as well. We always had good meetings; we got together a little circle of librarians who were interested, and we thought the state association was worth keeping up, although the state was so large that we reached only one or two centers. About a year ago, under a new administration, Dr. Canfield suggested that the annual meeting should always be held in one place. We consented to try the plan, and decided to make Lake Placid, in the Adirondacks, our meeting place. We met there, and the association, to my surprise and somewhat to my disturbance, first voted always to meet in one place, and then voted always to meet at Lake Placid. We then made a proviso instructing the executive board to district the state into 10 or 12 districts, and lay out a plan by which every one of those districts should have a library conference in the course of the year. Thus, instead of one meeting of the state during a year, we are going to have 12 local conferences. Whether those local conferences will have an organization I do not know; the board has not yet reported its plan. Probably there will be some sort of a skeleton organization—a president and secretary, and perhaps some one in charge of each local conference, and then some member of the association will probably come and attend the conference. Our object is to bring together the librarians and library trustees for 50 miles around; if the teachers are interested, so much the better. So, you see, we have begun to establish a system of local conferences all over the state. It is not extravagant; it is hopeful; I believe there is a great deal in it, especially for the larger states.

Miss Stearns: I for one would protest against always meeting in one place, unless as Mr. Eastman has described, the meeting is held at a resort. I have known cases where meetings were held at one central, large town, because it was so accessible; and the librarian of a little library, who cannot have open shelves and all facilities, goes to this town and sees its large library, with its red tape, and gets so completely tangled up in the red tape of that institution that she will never be able to disentangle herself. I believe in the migration of meetings.

H. C. Wellman: I am in hearty sympathy with what has been said in regard to extending library work through the state. It is especially valuable in the newer states of the Union, but in the older states, in New England, in New York, and elsewhere, I think we must not attend too strictly to the extension of library work, but must rather intensify it. A state library association, as Miss Jones said, can do a great deal for librarians and for the library profession. The Massachusetts Library Club has done something in the way of giving a series of lectures, to run two or three years. The first lecture dealt with paper making, the subject being treated by an expert; then came book illustration, of which most librarians knew absolutely nothing; and then, finally, book binding, for which we had one of the best binders of the state to come down and show us the tricks of the trade. You are all library school graduates out here; but in the effete east nine-tenths of the librarians have not had that technical training. I do not know anything that was of more practical good to our club membership than that lecture on library binding. There is another thing that we ought to do, and that is to give attention to the more scholarly side of librarianship. We are so busy organizing, so busy spreading library ideas, that we are in danger of losing sight of scholarship. That is something the state association can do—in the directions of literature, bibliography, and such subjects. I think that should be emphasized more than has been the case. In the Massachusetts Club we are trying a similar scheme to that of Mr. Eastman; we are going to have one annual meeting, which will take in all the library clubs all over the state. Then, besides that, the state club meets about three times a year in different parts of the state.