Library Work with Children Part 5

Emily S. Hanaway was married in 1891 to the Reverend Peter Stryker. She died in 1915 in her eightieth year. Her library was ultimately forced to close its doors, but its influence remains.

For several years it had caused me much pain to find that many of the children in our school were either without suitable reading or were reading books of a most injurious kind. The more I pondered the matter the more I became convinced that much of the poison infused into the mind of a child begins at a very early age. As soon as a child takes interest in pictures the taste begins to be formed. Give him only common comic or sensational ones, and he will seize them and look no higher. On the other hand, give him finely-wrought sketches and paintings, tell him to be very careful how he handles them, and he will despise the trash of the present day. Place in his hand clear print, and he will never want the vile copy of a sensational paper often thrown in at our doors. Place in his hand Babyland, tell him that he is an annual subscriber, and the importance of having his name printed on the copy will induce him to do as a little relative of mine has frequently done. He will run after the postman and ask him how long before the next number will arrive.

Upon one occasion we endeavored to find out what sort of books our school-children were reading, and asked them to bring a few for us to examine. Some of them, having been directed in their reading by discreet, faithful parents, brought such periodicals as St. Nicholas, Chatterbox, Harper's Young People, etc., while others brought the vilest kind of literature, and one little fellow brought a large copy of the "Annual Report of the Croton Aqueduct."

In the summer of 1885, while seated in a room where the National a.s.sociation of Teachers had a.s.sembled, a thought, as if some one had leaned over my shoulder and suggested it, came suddenly into my mind: "Why not give the children reading- rooms?" There was no getting rid of the thought. All that afternoon and evening it followed me. After the meeting, in the evening, I asked Prof. E.

E. White, of Ohio, if he thought such an undertaking could be carried out. He answered, "Yes; but it is gigantic." I came home fully persuaded that it must be tried; but where should I begin?

As soon as school opened in September, it occurred to me that almost opposite our school- building there was a day-nursery, the lady in charge of which appeared to be a very earnest worker. She said she would be very glad to help, as she had a small library at that time, which her children used in the nursery.

On visiting the publishers, generous donations were promised from Treat, Scribner, Taintor & Merrill, Barnes, and others. These were sent to the nursery. A few years before, a former princ.i.p.al in our school, Miss Victoria Graham, had worked with great energy to have a library in P. D., G. S. 28, and the proceeds of an entertainment given in 1872 in the Academy of Music had furnished two or three hundred books. Miss Graham died the same year, and as we had no regular librarian, many of the books were lost.

About sixty were left. These also were sent to the nursery, and our children went over every week to draw books. This was the first attempt. But we felt that it was but a small beginning, and that if we wished to bring in all creeds we must free the public mind from suspicion, and have a representation from every denomination, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Hebrew.

Accordingly, we planned that when a committee should be organized, every religious faith should be represented among those who were to choose the books. As we wished to have many of these rooms throughout the city, and as our friends at the day-nursery, under their arrangements, could not have a committee, we thought it would do no harm to start anew. So we conferred with the various clergymen of all denominations, in a neighborhood well known to us, and received great encouragement.

Dr. Mendez became a member of our organization committee, and has been present at very many of our business meetings.

We then visited the persons named by these gentlemen, for our organization committee, and when we had found eleven willing to serve, a kind friend in West 22d St., Mrs. Hanford Smith, gave us the use of her parlors for our meeting. A more gloomy committee has been seldom seen. "Have you a room for a library?" was asked.

"No." "Any money?" "No." "Any books?" "No." "Absurd! How do you expect to start such a work?" "On faith." Next a vote was taken whether to organize or not. It was decided to organize. Mr.

Edward Chichester was elected president, Mr. Edward Vanderbiit secretary, and Mr. E. P. Pitcher to the very responsible position of treasurer, without a cent in the treasury.

Here it is only due to Rev. Dr. Terry to speak of the encouragement he gave. The Y. M. C. A. connected with the South Reformed Church, on 21st St. and 5th Ave., were talking of taking rooms at 243 9th Ave., for a young men's club, and through the doctor's efforts we were allowed to come into these rooms from 4 to 6 p. m., all through the season, from December to May, with the understanding that we might pay or not, according to our success in obtaining funds. One trouble was over. We then began our circuit once again through the city, after school hours, visiting every publishing-house named in the directory, beside making many personal visits to friends, who encouraged us by gifts of books.

We are largely indebted to Dodd, Mead & Co., Carter, Taintor, Merrill & Co., and many others, who have given most liberally; also to friends, who have given us many $5 bills, and enabled us not only to pay expenses, including librarian, tickets of admission, covers for books, circulars, etc., but also to hand over most joyfully to Dr. Terry $40 for the use of room at the close of the season.

Last fall we tried to begin our work once more, and after walking from 40th to 23d St., along 8th and 9th Avenues, I at last found rooms on W. 35th Street. Dr. Terry kindly loaned us furniture, and the Women's Christian Temperance Union shared with us the modest rent of $13 per month, $6.50 each.

Last year P. D. No. 45, in West 24th St., sent a large representation from their school. This year they asked for and received tickets. We had about 350 books, and issued about 700 admission tickets. At one time during the winter the librarian sent me this message: "Only eight books are left on the shelves.

Do you think it best to close the room to-day?" I returned word: "Get in all the books you can; do not give out any for a short time, but let the children come in and look at the stereoscopic views, play games, look at or read pamphlets. When they have returned a sufficient number, begin to distribute again." That week we received several parcels of books, and started up again.

We had applications for tickets from P. D., G. S. No. 11, 37th St. Prim. Deptt, 34th St. R. Ch. S. School, Ind. School, West 415t St., and others. Male Dep't, G. S. No. 67, asked for 91 tickets. Some of the children in P. D., G. S. No. 28, shed tears when their teacher informed them that we had no more tickets.

The children stood on the sidewalk on a Friday afternoon, not long ago, from 2:30 until 5:30, patiently waiting for their turn to enter the room, as the librarian could only allow a certain number to enter at one time.

Dr. Barnett visited the rooms with the intention of putting up chest-expanders for exercise, but he found them too small, and the woodwork too frail, for any such purposes.

We have a number of subscribers at $1 per year, although some have gone far beyond this in subscriptions. We closed on May 1, to reopen in the fall.

One great reason for keeping open through the year is that many parents are obliged to work all day, and the children run the risk of getting into all sorts of crime. As an instance, not long since I found a little girl in our department who had been frequently caught pilfering. At last we thought it necessary to send for the mother. She burst into tears and said: "What am I to do? My children are alone after school hours until I return, and I do not know what they are doing." I asked if the children had tickets for the reading-room, and here found another difficulty.

"Not on the same day," she said. We had been obliged to send the girls on three days of the week, and the boys on two days, because of the lack of room, and of helpers. Several teachers have since come forward and offered their services. Two teachers in our department have gone every Monday, and two others every Friday, and appeared to take great pleasure in the work. All honor to such young, earnest workers, for they deserve it!

We have recently received a box of books, toys, etc., from the "Little Helpers" in Elyria, Ohio, and Columbia College is taking an active interest in our work. We are leaning upon our friends of the college library for support and help, in time to come. All our meetings are held at Columbia College.

We hope for liberal donations, and we feel quite sure--yes, as sure as we felt on that gloomy evening last winter, when we decided to go on--that from the kind words of encouragement, and the liberal gifts that we have received in the past, the gifts are coming in the future; and when we are resting from our labors, others yet unborn shall rise up and call those blessed who have strengthened our hands. And we believe that when this comes the prison doors will open less frequently.

THE WORK FOR CHILDREN IN FREE LIBRARIES

In the following paper, read in 1897 before the Friends' Library a.s.sociation of Philadelphia, and the New York Library Club, Miss Mary W. Plummer discussed some of the "experiences and theories"

of a number of libraries and the "requisites for the ideal children's library." Mary Wright Plummer was born in Richmond, Indiana, in 1856, was graduated from the Friends' Academy there, and was a special student at Wellesley College, 1881-1882. She entered the "first cla.s.s of the first library school," and in 1888 became a certified graduate of the Library School of Columbia College. For the next two years she was the head of the Cataloguing department of the St. Louis Public Library. She was Librarian of the Pratt Inst.i.tute Free Library from 1890 to 1904, and Director of the Pratt Inst.i.tute of Library Science until 1911. She then became Princ.i.p.al of the Library School of the New York Public Library, the position she held until her death in 1916. Miss Plummer was President of the A. L. A. in 1915-1916.

She contributed many articles to library periodicals, and has written numerous books, several of which are for children.

It is so early in the movement for children's libraries that by taking some thought now it would seem possible to avoid much retracing of steps hereafter, and it is for this reason that even at this early day a comparison of experiences and theories by those libraries which have undertaken the work is desirable and even necessary. It is as well, perhaps, to begin with a few historical statistics, gathered from questions sent out last December and from perusal of the Library Journal reports since then.

Many libraries, probably the majority, have had an age-limit for borrowers, and the admission of children under 12 to membership is of comparatively recent date. The separation of children from the adult users of the library by means of a room of their own was probably originated by the Public Library of Brookline, which in 1890 set aside an unused room in its bas.e.m.e.nt for a children's reading-room. In 1893 the Minneapolis Public Library fitted up a library for children, from which books circulate also, where they had (as reported in December, 1896) 20,000 volumes, the largest children's library yet reported. In 1894 the Cambridge Public Library opened a reading-room and the Denver Public Library a circulating library for children. An article on the latter undertaking may be found in the Outlook for September 26, 1896.

In 1895 Boston, Omaha, Seattle, New Haven and San Francisco, all opened either circulating libraries or reading-rooms for children, and in 1896 Detroit, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Pratt Inst.i.tute of Brooklyn, Everett (Ma.s.s.) and Kalamazoo (Mich.) followed suit. The libraries of Circleville (O.), Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Helena (Mont.) are all projecting plans for the same, and probably this year will show a notable increase. The new Public Library of Chicago has made no especial provision for children, from the fact that its situation in the heart of the business district of the city will prevent many children from coming to it, but provision of some sort will be made for them at the various branch reading-rooms throughout the city. In the new building of the Providence Library considerations of cost made it necessary to give up the addition of a children's library, a matter of great disappointment to every one.

From all these libraries except the last two, reports were received by us in December, 1896, on comparing which we found considerable similarity of usage, though as there had been but little in print on the subject up to 1896 this probably arose not from communication between the libraries but from the fact that like circ.u.mstances and causes produced like effects in different places.

Of the 15 libraries reporting, 11 circulated books from the children's room, three making an age-limit for this, while the four remaining contented themselves with giving the children a reading-room, in which a number of books--about 300--were placed, for reading on the premises. The temptation for a child who becomes interested in a book, to carry it off when closing- hour comes, in order to finish it, is a strong one, and of these four libraries one reported 35 books missing in its first six months, or over one-tenth of its stock. Two others which circulate from open shelves to all borrowers lost 100 children's books in a little over 12 months. A number of others reported that as yet they had taken no inventory of the books in the room, and were evidently willing that ignorance should remain bliss a little longer. Several report that very few books are unaccounted for, and one or two that not a book has been taken. Free access to the children's books is allowed in all the 15, and in about half of them the room is open all day, and in two cases in the evening also.

The number of volumes shelved ranges all the way from 300 to 20,000, the average number being from 3,000 to 4,000. An age- limit for the use of the room is set by seven libraries, three of these making the limit for circulation only, while eight admit children of any age, and doubtless make provision for the very youngest The circulation of these rooms that lend books ranges from 65 to 350 as a daily average, frequently exceeding this. As a rule, one attendant is kept in the room, with a.s.sistance when necessary, two libraries only reporting two regular a.s.sistants and the Boston Public Library three. The Detroit Library has two attendants in order to give the children personal attention. The library at Kalamazoo has for one of its a.s.sistants a trained kindergarten. Eight libraries report no reference-books on the children's shelves and the majority of the others only a few such works. The largest number of periodicals taken appears to be our own list of 10, though by this time the libraries reporting in 1896 may have increased their number. Instead of taking a variety of periodicals, they seem to prefer duplicating a few favorites. One library reports a number of copies of Puck taken for children, the wisdom of which I should doubt, and two subscribe for Golden Days. The Minneapolis Library circulates 10 copies of St. Nicholas. The Boston Public Library, having a large foreign clientele among children as well as adults, takes one German and one French periodical for them. In the Detroit Library the Scientific American is on the list, and in our children's library we take a copy of Harper's Weekly.

A number of libraries report crowding and lack of time and s.p.a.ce.

In one no periodicals can be kept in the children's library, because there is no room for the children to sit down to read them. Another reports as many as 75 children frequently in the room at once, a third that the room is so full children have often to be sent out, and a fourth, which at the time was only a reading-room, that the attendance was so large very little could be done except to keep order. Most of the libraries report a fair proportion of foreigners among the children, and one speaks of having many colored children among the readers.

Turning from these reports to a general consideration of the subject, we must admit, first, that a definite decision as to the object of a children's library is the first thing needful.

This decision will doubtless vary in different libraries, and the results will differ accordingly, but almost any decision is better than none, since one cannot be arrived at without giving much thought to the subject, and the desirable thing is that the work should be entered upon thoughtfully.

We have pa.s.sed the time when reading in itself was considered a vast good. The ability to read may easily be a curse to the child, for unless he be provided something fit to read, it is an ability as powerful for evil as for good. When we consider the dime-novels, the cla.s.s of literature known as Sunday- school books, the sensational newspapers, the vicious literature insinuated into schools, and the tons of printed matter issued by reputable publishers, written by reputable people, good enough in its intention but utterly lacking in nourishment, and, therefore, doing a positive harm in occupying the place of better things-- when we consider that all these are brought within a child's reach by the ability to read, we cannot help seeing that the librarian, in his capacity as selector of books for the library, has the initial responsibility. Certain cla.s.ses of the printed stuff just spoken of do not, of course, find their way into children's libraries, since they are barred out from all respectable shelves; but we are still too lenient with print because it is print, and every single book should be carefully examined before it goes into a library where children should have access to the shelves.

But given an ideal selection of books, or as near it as we can get and still have enough books to go around, is just the reading of them--that is, the pa.s.sing of the eye over the types, gaining a momentary impression--the most desirable thing to be got out of them? Are there not here and there children who are reading to the lasting detriment of their memories and powers of observation and reflection, stuffing themselves with type, as it were? Nearly every observant librarian knows of such cases. Are there not days when the shining of the sun, the briskness of the air, the greenness of the turf and of the trees, should have their invitation seconded by the librarian, and the child be persuaded AWAY from the library instead of TO it? We are supposed to contribute with our books toward the sound mind, but we should be none the less advocates of the sound body--and the child who reads all day indoors when he ought to be out in the fresh air among his kind, should have our especial watching.

But, granted the suitable book and the suitable time for reading, what do we know of the effect our books are having? We count our circulation just the same whether a book is kept two days--about long enough for the family to look at the pictures-- or a week.

Whether it has been really read we do not know. Sometimes I think those pencilled notes on the margin, recording the child's disgust or satisfaction, should have more meaning for us than they do. At least, they prove that the book has taken hold of the reader's imagination and sympathies. Don't let us be too severe with a criticism written in the honest feeling of the moment (if it be in pencil); we are really gathering psychological and sociological data for which the child-study clubs would thank us, perhaps.

I see only one way in which we can be enabled to estimate fairly the value of what we are doing, and that is by so gaining the good-will and confidence of the children as to get them to answer our questions as to their reading or to tell us of their own accord what they get from it. From this information we may make our inferences as to the value of our books in themselves, and may be enabled to regulate their use. A child whose exclusive diet is fairy-tales is evidently over-cultivating the imagination; a girl who has outgrown children's books and dipped into the premature love-stories that are written for her cla.s.s needs our most careful guidance; a boy whose whole thought is of adventure, or who cannot read anything but jokes, is also in a critical condition.

In short, the judicious regulation of the children's reading should be made practicable for the librarian, if the children's library is to be the important agency in education which it may be made.

In regard to the desirability of amus.e.m.e.nts in the library, I own that I am somewhat sceptical. The library has its own division of labor in the work of education, and that division is the training of the people to the use and appreciation of books and literature. An argument in favor of games is that they draw in children who might not otherwise come, but I should fear they would be drawn in finally in such crowds as to be unmanageable.

Books properly administered should have the same drawing power, and their influence, once felt, is toward quietness and thought, rather than toward activity and skill with the complications of dispute and cheating that may arise from the use of games.

Children are natural propagandists. Let one child find that at the children's library he may select his own books from a good-sized collection, may find help in his composition-work, the news of what is going on in the world in the shape of an attractive ill.u.s.trated bulletin-board, different every week--and tomorrow 10 children will know of it, and each of these will tell other 10, and so on. The library will have all the children it can attend to eventually, and they will have come gradually so that the a.s.sistants shall have been able to get a proper grasp of the situation, while the earlier children will have been somewhat trained to help, like the elder brothers and sisters in a family.

Certain freedoms may be granted in the children's library as an education for the adult const.i.tuency of the future; for instance, the guarantee may be done away with, thus putting the child on his honor to pay his own fines and damages--the only penalties for not doing so being those which society naturally inflicts on offenders--the debarring from privileges and from a.s.sociation. If there is nothing injurious or doubtful on the shelves, freedom in choice of books may be allowed to the smallest child, only he must know that help and guidance are at hand if he wishes them, and if a tendency to over-read in any one direction or in all is noticed, the librarian should feel at liberty to make suggestions. And as to freedom of action, the maxim should be that one man's liberty ends where another man's begins. No child should be allowed to disturb the room or to interfere with the quiet of those who are studying, for many children, more than one would think, really come to study. But the stiffness and enforced routine of the school-room should by all means be avoided. There should be no set rules as to silence, but consideration for others should be inculcated, and in time the room will come to have a subduing, quiet atmosphere that will insensibly affect those who enter. Whispering, or talking in a low tone, where several little heads are bent together over picture-books, is certainly admissible, and the older heads are very soon quiet of their own accord, each over its own book or magazine.

After the selection of the books themselves there is nothing so important as thoughtful administration, a practical question, since the employment of a.s.sistants comes in under this head.

Educators have for some time seen the mistake of putting the cheapest teachers over the primary schools--kindergartners have seen it--and it remains for the library to profit by their experience without going through a similar one. If there is on the library staff an a.s.sistant well read and well educated, broad- minded, tactful, with common sense and judgment, attractive to children in manner and person, possessed, in short, of all desirable qualities, she should be taken from wherever she is, put into the children's library, and paid enough to keep her there. There is no more important work in the building, no more delicate, critical work than that with children, no work that pays so well in immediate as well as in far-off results. Who that has met the fault- finding, the rudeness and coldness too frequent in a grown-up const.i.tuency, would not expand in the sunshine of the grat.i.tude, the confidence, the good-will, the natural helpfulness of children! And it rests partly with the a.s.sistant to cultivate these qualities in them, and so modify the adult const.i.tuency of the future.

I say THOUGHTFUL administration because the children's library is no sooner opened than it begins to present problems. Some of these are simply administrative and economic, others take hold of social and ethical foundations. There will be scarcely a day on which the librarian and the children's librarian will not have to put their heads, and sometimes their hearts, together over puzzling cases--cases of fraud, of mischief-making, of ignorant evil-doing, of inherited tendencies, physical, mental, and moral-- and sometimes it will seem as if the whole human creation were incurably ailing, and the doctrine of total depravity will take on alarming probability. But at this point some sound, smiling, active boy or girl comes in with a cheerful greeting, and pessimism retires into the background. And all this reminds me of one more quality which the children's librarian must have--a sense of humor. It is literally saving in some circ.u.mstances.

Our own experience has led to the following suggestions, made by the children's librarian in our library to those who come in at given hours from the other departments to take her place or to a.s.sist her. It will be seen that most of them are the product of observation and thought arising from the daily evidence of the room itself:

"Always tell a child how to fill out his application-blank, even when you are busy. Tell him just where to write his name in the register and stay near him till it is completed. Whenever it is possible, go to the shelves with a child who has just received his card of membership. Show him where different kinds of books are to be found. Ask him what kind of book he likes. Show him one or two answering to his description and then leave him to make his own selection.

"Explain the routine carefully and fully to children just beginning to use the library.

"Let no child sign the register, look at a book, receive or present an application, with soiled hands. Soiled and crumpled applications are considered defective and cannot be accepted.