第8章 BOYS'AND GIRLS'READING(2)

Mr.Green,of the Worcester,Mass.,Free Public Library,writes:"The close connection which exists between the library and the schools is doing much to elevate the character of the reading of the boys and girls.Many books are used for collateral reading,others to supplement the instruction of text-books in geography and history,others still in the employment of leisure hours in school.Boys and girls are led to read good books and come to the library for similar ones.Lists of good books are kept in the librarian's room,and are much used by teachers and pupils."Mr.Upton,of the Peabody Library,Peabody,Mass.,gives as his opinion:"If teachers did their duty,librarians would not be troubled as to good reading.My experience of about thirty-five or forty years as a public grammar-school teacher is,that teachers can control,to a great extent,the reading of their pupils,and also that,as a class,teachers are not GREATreaders.We should have little trouble in changing to some degree our circulation,but our thirteen-foot shelves and long ladders prevent the employment of the best help.We print bulletins and assist all who ask aid."Miss Bean,of the Public Library,Brookline,Mass.,says:"I have no statistics of results relative to my school finding-list.Its influence is quietly but steadily making itself felt.The teachers tell me that many of the pupils use no other catalogue in selecting books from the library,and I know there are many families where the children are restricted to its use.We keep two or three interleaved and posted with the newest books when Ithink them desirable.Several of the teachers have told me personally that they had found the list useful to themselves;but teachers are mortal and human.Many of them think duty done when the day's session is over,and the matter of outside reading with their pupils is of little moment to them.I want to get out a revised list,with useful notes."Mr.Rice,of the City Library,Springfield,Mass.,writes:"We have a manu catalogue of the best and most popular books for boys and girls.We call attention to the best books as we have opportunity when the young people visit the library.We endeavor to influence the teachers in our public schools to aid us in directing the attention of boys and girls to the best juveniles,and such other books as they can appreciate."Mr.Arnold,of the Public Library,Taunton,Mass.,says:"What Iam doing is to indicate in the margin of my catalogues the works which are adapted to the taste and comprehension of young people,so that not only their own attention may be diverted from the fiction department,but that their parents and teachers may easily furnish them with proper lists.We aim at excluding from the library books of a sensational character,as well as those positively objectionable on the score of morality."Miss James,librarian of the Free Library,Newton,Mass.,in speaking of the catalogue,without notes,of children's books,published by that library in 1878,and given to the pupils of the public schools,says:"I do not think that catalogue ever influenced a dozen children.We have just completed a very full card-catalogue which the children use a great deal in connection with their studies.Eleven hundred zinc headings are a great help.I frequently speak to the children to get acquainted with them,so they are quite free to ask for help.Our local paper has offered me half a column a week for titles and notices.I shall,of course,notice children's books as well as others."Mr.

Peirce,the superintendent,says in his last report:"It is only from homes where the intellectual and moral character of childhood is neglected,as a rule,that the library with us is in any wise abused by the over-crowding of the mind with novels.