Library Work with Children Part 22

When a librarian is much "dressed up" and can take time to play that she is an agreeable hostess, all children, whether little aristocrats or arabs, enter into the civilized spirit of the occasion and become more mannerly.

Miss Lucy Lee Pleasants, Menasha, Wis.

To achieve the best results, the librarian should never make an enemy and should lose no opportunity of making a friend. If children talk at the tables, separate them by asking them politely to change their seats. If they have really something to talk over, such as a lesson or a sleighride, permit them to go into another room to discuss it. They will appreciate the privilege and will behave better in consequence.

I have known a gang of little boys, who had the habit of coming to the reading room to make a disturbance, completely won over and converted into agreeable patrons by being captured red handed and told an amusing story. Children who come to the library are like everybody else--very apt to treat you as you treat them.

Mrs. C. P. Barnes, Kenosha, Wis.

About a year ago, I submitted a rule to the Board for their approval, and asked permission to have it printed on cards, for use on the tables in the reading room. It was worded as follows:-- "A rule has been made that no whispering nor talking shall be allowed in the reading room, even for purposes of study.

For the good of the public, this rule will be strictly enforced, and anyone failing to observe it will be requested to leave the building. By order of the Board of Directors." It has been more effective in promoting order than any other experiment. Of course it occasionally happens that the card is overlooked or unheeded, but it is a very simple matter to hand one of these cards to the offender, and with a pleasant smile say, "We have no choice but to enforce this rule" and the deed is done.

Miss Helen L. Price, Merrill, Wis.

When we know our young scamp and always speak to him in a spirit of good fellowship when we meet him, and take an opportunity in the library some time when there is no one to be disturbed, to discuss postage stamps, chickens, rabbits, or, best of all, dogs with him, he will soon lose all desire to torment, and when it is only exuberance to contend with, then that is easy.

For malicious disturbance, we send the offender out, quickly and surely and discuss the matter with him later, if at all. "Go-- quickly and quietly--and no noise outside if you want to come back."

Miss Agnes Dwight, Appleton, Wis.

We do not have absolute quiet all the time and I do not aim to have, but it is a favorite place for all ages to come. I, myself, never tell a boy that if I have to speak to him again I shall send him out. He goes the first time if it is necessary to speak to him at all. That sounds savage, but it is a long time since I have had to be so cruel. We have the goodwill of the small boy, that is for the time being, they may begin to act up at any time.

Mrs. W. G. Clough, Portage, Wis.

Judging from the impression made upon people from other libraries I should infer that our library is in a pretty well ordered condition in the matter of discipline.

From the opening of our library we have impressed upon the public the necessity for quiet and order. We do not permit any talking aloud, a rule to which there are very few exceptions. The use, even, of subdued tones in the routine of selecting and exchanging books is not allowed among children and is discouraged among adults. The public understand and appreciate the fact that the library is no place for visitation or conversation. It has been necessary to pursue this course as we have but one large room for stacks, reference books, reading tables, children's department and charging desk.

We have in a measure to contend against the noise attendant upon hard wood floors, and we are disturbed at times during the last hour of the evening from the room above which is the armory of the city company of the national guard. This, however, in no way affects the discipline of the library, excepting as it makes discipline there more essential.

Miss Deborah B. Martin, Green Bay, Wis.

Occasionally we have had difficulty from a crowd of boys entering the room in a body with a great deal of noise, annoying the librarian and readers by making a disturbance at the tables and altogether proving themselves a nuisance. We found that the most effective means for putting a decisive stop to the trouble was to write a polite note to the parents of each offender, saying that as the boy was proving an annoyance to library patrons, it might be well if he was kept away from the library until he was old enough to understand its uses. The parents have never resented this notice and after a reasonable time, the youth has returned to the library chastened and pleasant and there has been no further trouble with him.

High school boys and girls do make the library a meeting place, and two years ago it became so noticeable that the Princ.i.p.al of one of the high schools, in a communication to the parents of scholars, spoke of the public library as a rendezvous. It is certainly not the province of the librarian unless these young people prove an annoyance to the reader, to discipline them or tell them what company they should keep. At a meeting of the Woman's club, the librarian was asked to speak to the club on the Public Library and its Work. This gave an opportunity to bring in the question of library discipline in its relation to the young people who flocked there less for study than for pleasure. The talk in this instance fortunately reached the right people, who perhaps had never thought the matter over before, and the library is not now, to any extent, used as a meeting place for high school students, although they still use it largely in their reference work.

Miss Nannie W. Jayne, Alexandria, Ind.

A few boys and girls from the high school and eighth grade have made two or three attempts to use the library as a meeting place.

These meetings have been promptly broken up and a private talk with each offender has been the means used to prevent a repet.i.tion of the offense. A special effort has been made to impress the girls with correct ideas on this point, and in almost every case, these talks have resulted in an apology from the girl for her behavior.

If all general conversation be prohibited, the library offers but little attraction to those who would come merely for a good time.

Miss Martha E. Dunn, Stanley, Wis.

We have had some experience with the older scholars making the library a meeting place. I mentioned the fact to the library board, and the president, who was the editor of our local paper at that time, made mention of it in the next issue. Since then, there has been no trouble. Our local paper has done much toward helping to put down any annoyance in and around the library building. It is a good thing to have the editor of the paper on the library board.

Miss Anna S. Pink.u.m, Marinette, Wis.

Our problems of discipline are, in some respects, peculiar to local conditions and in other respects, are the results of a larger movement which seems to be sweeping the entire country.

Broadly speaking, two causes which make discipline such a difficult task stand out prominently:

1. Local causes. A 9 o'clock curfew law and that not enforced; parents allowing their children to roam the streets at night; misdemeanors winked at by those in authority, particularly the police; a general laxity on the part of parents and city officials in correcting offences.

2. Universal movement. Loss of parental authority. This is not peculiar to Marinette, but it is a deplorable state of affairs which is being brought to light all over the country.

We find that moral suasion does not work effectively.

Theoretically probably none of us believes in being caught wearing a frown, but most of our boys and girls respect sternness and a.s.sertive authority when they will not respond to any sort of kindly advice or appeal to their better natures.

After the study of this problem for some time, the conclusion reached is this:--With one a.s.sistant, we can control any situation that may present itself within the library and by so doing, in time, may create the habit of quiet and orderly conduct; but until parents realize that their children need guidance, correction, and above all need to be kept from roaming the streets at night, the problem of discipline will be an ever present one both in the schools and in the library at Marinette.

Mrs. Anna C. Bronsky, Chippewa Falls, Wis.

We have had only a few occasions when it was necessary to deny pupils the privileges of the library. In such cases, the suspended one may come to the library for any books needed in school work, but is not allowed to remain longer than is necessary and may not go in to the reading room. This has been found helpful in most cases. I dislike very much to send a child out of the library, and only do so when it is imperative; for while they may be trying at times, they are the very ones who need the help that the library can give. Often the mischievous mood is of short duration, the attention is arrested by something in one of the books before him, and suddenly, your noisy boy is transformed into a studious youth. It is a great satisfaction to know that while the small child is in the library, he is not only safe from the evil influences of the street but is deriving a double benefit--the enjoyment of the book that absorbs him for the time being, and the habit of reading that is unconsciously being formed.

Mr. R. Oberholzer, Sioux City, Iowa.

If a real disturbance is made which seems clearly intentional, a quick dismissal follows. Reproof is never repeated--once speaking in that way is enough. Reproof is always made in an undertone, and the command to go home, while imperative, is in a few words and followed by absolute silence until obeyed. This is much more impressive than any amount of talk. Dismissal is only for the day. I have never suspended anyone, and only once did I write to the lad's mother that it would be better if her son did not come to the library for a time. If a child really wants to come to the library he learns to conduct himself so as not to offend the people who are in other ways such good friends of his. If he only comes for mischief, he soon concludes that the game is not worth the candle. The desire to "show off," always a strong element in a mischievous child, is not gratified, and the whole atmosphere is against him.

To keep things going in this way is not easy except by eternal vigilance, both for the public who have to be taught some things over every day, and for library workers who have to learn to be good natured but unyielding, obliging but arbitrary, eternally patient but abnormally quick.

In short, discipline in a library is, as everywhere, a matter of atmosphere rather than method, and atmosphere always means a group of forces expressed through personality.

Miss Nelle A. Olson, Moorhead, Minn.

Before our library opened, I visited all the rooms of all the schools of the city to talk library. I tried to awaken interest and enthusiasm, and to make perfectly clear to the students beforehand the purpose of a library and what was expected of them there and why.

During the first few weeks I managed to spend a good deal of time in their room, moving about among them, helping them, and ready with a word of reminder the very moment a boy forgot himself. I tried in every possible way to help them to form correct library habits from the first. They all seemed anxious to conform to the library spirit when they understood it.

Now, when a boy does something a little out of the way, I try to pa.s.s over it as much as possible at the time, then when he comes in again some time, perhaps having forgotten his feeling of irritation, I try to talk kindly with him about it and I find he usually takes it kindly then, and does not trouble again.

I have tried always to take it for granted that the boy did not mean to annoy but forgot himself or was a little careless. I have no set procedure, but try to settle each little difficulty as that particular case seems to warrant and never to let it go on until it becomes a great one.

Miss Kate M. Potter, Baraboo, Wis.