"The whole secret of success is really to be in sympathy with
children, quick to see their needs and to look at things from
their point of view; but above all to have a genuine,
common-sense love for them." This point of view is expressed in
the following paper on Personal work with children, read by Miss
Rosina Gymer before the Ohio Library Association annual meeting
in 1905. Rosina Charter Gymer was born in Cleveland, Ohio;
received a special certificate from the Training School for
Children's Librarians in 1904; was children's librarian in the
Cleveland Public Library from 1904 to 1907; supervisor of
children's work in small branches from 1907 to 1910, and since
that time has been a branch librarian.
Work with children is so large in its scope and so rich in its
possibilities that we shall only consider work in the library
proper, passing over home visiting, school visiting and
cooperation with social settlements and like institutions, all of
which, however, are of the greatest importance to the work as a
whole.
Work with children may be grouped under three heads-- that with
girls, that with boys and that with little children. While in
each group the work differs in nearly every point, one point they
have in common--the choosing of fiction according to the
individual child, boy or girl; the choosing of classed books for
the book itself. In giving fiction, the child must be known as
well as the book, his character and needs, for it is on the
character that fiction has most influence. In classed books, on
the other hand, the book is the thing to know, for if a child
wants to know something about electricity or carpentry, he is not
being influenced so much in character as in education. If the
book is not as good as some other, it will not injure him
especially as to morals and character, but of course he should
have the very best you can give him that he can mentally
understand. Girls almost always become interested in books
through the personality of the children's worker. While it is
very desirable to use this regard as a means of influencing their
reading, care must be taken to guard against a merely sentimental
attitude on the part of the girls toward the worker. As a rule,
girls want stories about people, other girls, school stories and
so forth, and will take a book that you say is a good one without
looking into it. If she likes it she will come to you to select
another, and in this way you can lead her from pure fiction to
historical fiction and biography and so on up to good literature,
all through, at the first, knowing a book that would please and
attract her. This is done, in great measure, through the girl's
liking for the worker and also through her interest in people
rather than things.
Boys, on the other hand, are not so much interested in people as
in things, and when they ask for a book it is usually on some
specific subject--electricity, carpentry, how to raise pigeons,
how to take care of dogs. When the book is given them they
usually examine it pretty thoroughly to see whether or not it is
what they want or can use. To know what book will give the boy
what he wants to know and in the most interesting way is to gain
that boy's confidence. To sum up: Boys like you through the books
you give them, while girls learn to like good books through their
liking for you. The result is the same in either case--the
personal influence of the worker with the children.
The problem of managing children is much the same everywhere.
Wherever they are there are sure to be some restless and
disobedient boys and girls whose confidence and good will must be
gained. A willing obedience must be sought for untiringly. The
children's worker must be for and not against the child. To win
is far better than to compel. Conquering may do for those who are
expected to remain as enemies, but friends are won. While a
display of authority should be avoided, a firm attitude must at
times be taken, but it should be an attitude of friendship and
fairness. If a loss to the child of some coveted pleasure can be
made to follow his fault it is an effectual punishment. For
instance, if a boy never misses the story and yet his general
behavior in the library leaves a good deal to be desired, do not
allow him to attend the story hour for one or two weeks. In
extreme cases the plan of not allowing the boys to come to the
library for a number of days or weeks has been tried with good
results.
An endeavor should be made so far as possible to follow the
inclinations of children. Every boy likes the idea of belonging
to a club and if advantage is taken of this fact it will prove a
great help in discipline. When a gang of boys comes to the
library night after night, apparently for no reason except to
make trouble, the best solution of the problem is to form them
into a reading circle or club. They usually prefer to call
themselves a club. A good plan in starting is to ask three or
four of the troublesome boys if they would like to come on a
certain evening and hear a story read. An interesting story is
selected, carefully read and cut if too long, and at the end of
the evening the boys are invited to bring some of their friends
with them next time. It is well to begin in this small way and
thus avoid the mistake of having too many boys at the start or of
getting boys of different gangs in the same club, for this will
always cause trouble. Seven o'clock is a good time for them to
meet. If the hour is later the boys who come early get restless
and it is difficult for them to fix their attention. It is better
to take the boys to a separate room as their attention is easily
distracted from the reading by people passing back end forth. It
is a great effort for boys with, one might say, wholly untrained
minds to concentrate for any length of time, and it is well not
to ask them for more than half an hour at first. Unless the
selection holds their interest they will disappear one after
another, for they simply refuse to be bored. For this reason,
begin with popular subjects, such as animal stories, Indian
stories, fire stories, railroad stories, gradually leading them
on to more solid reading. That this can be done was proved by the
boys' attention to Sven Hedin's account of his search for water
in his Through Asia. The incident is most graphically told of the
repeated disappointments, of the sufferings of the caravan and
the dropping out of one after another until only the author is
left staggering across the sand hills in his search for the
precious water. The boys listened breathlessly until one boy
finally burst out, Ain't they never going to find no water?
Very often the subject of the next evening's reading is
determined by the boys themselves who, if they have been
particularly interested, will ask for another story "just like
that only different." If possible, have good illustrated books to
show them on the subject of the evening's reading. This serves
two purposes --it fixes the awakened interest of the boys and it
also prevents the rush for the door they are apt to make to work
off the accumulated energy of the hour of physical inactivity.
In libraries where there are few assistants it ought not to be
difficult to find some young man or woman interested in work of
this sort to come and read to the boys once or twice a week, but
the same person should have the club regularly.
Work with little children is important because in a year or two
they are going to be readers, and yet they are a problem to the
busy librarian from the fact that they require a good deal of
attention. Perhaps the best plan is to set a time for them to
come to the library, say Saturday morning at ten, when they can
feel that the children's worker is all their own. They like to be
read to, but they love to hear stories told. Telling stories to
them is a great pleasure to the story-teller, because of their
responsiveness, their readiness to enjoy. But besides the
enjoyment of the children there is something far higher to work
for--the development of the moral sense. The virtues of
obedience, kindness, courage and unselfishness are set forth over
and over again in the fairy tale. The story East o' the sun and
west o' the moon, is nothing but a beautiful lesson in
obedience, The king of the golden river in unselfishness,
Diamonds and toads, kindness-- and many others could be named,
all with a lesson to be learned. Little children love repetition
and when a story pleases them ask for it again and again. They do
not see the lesson all at once, but little by little it sinks
into their hearts and becomes a part of their very life. This is
where the fairy tale, properly and judiciously used, does its
great work. Be most careful to give children stories that are
wholly worthy of their admiration. Know your story thoroughly and
in telling it present strong, clear pictures. Tell the story in
such a way that the child's heart swells within him and he says,
I can do that, I could be as brave as that.
But let not the children's worker labor under the delusion that
when she closes the door of the library her work is finished. On
the contrary, another phase of it is only beginning, for she is
constantly meeting the children on the street, in the stores, in
fact almost everywhere she goes, and it behooves her to be on the
watch for friendly smiles, to listen with interest when Johnny
tells her that Mary is coming out of the hospital tomorrow, or
when Mike calls across the street, Did you know Willie was
pinched again? to make a note of it and take pains to find out
whether Willie is paroled under good behavior or whether he has
been sent to a boys' reformatory school; or, when she is waiting
for a street car and a newsboy rushes up and says he can't get
his books back in time and will she renew them for him, the
children's worker takes his library number and renews the books
when she returns to the library.
If the worker is at all earnest in her work she can not help but
have her heart wrung time and again by the sufferings of the
children of the poor. Not that they complain--they take it all as
a matter of course, but by some unconscious remark they quite
often throw an almost blinding light on their home conditions
showing that family life for a good many of them is anything but
easy and pleasant. Children of the poor often have
responsibilities far beyond their years, and the library with its
books, pictures, flowers and story-telling means much more to
them than to a child who has all these at home. One little girl
about 10 years old came one afternoon and was so disappointed to
find there was to be no story. On being told to come at ten
o'clock next morning, she said: What, do you think I can get here
at ten o'clock with four kids to dress! As first heard, funny;
but after all showing a pathetic side, a childhood without
childhood's freedom from care.
The whole secret of success is really to be in sympathy with
children, quick to see their needs and to look at things from
their point of view; but above all to have a genuine, common
sense love for them so that we may feel as did the little girl
who missed one of the assistants, and asking for her was told
that she was taking a vacation. I love her, said the child, and
then, fearing she had hurt the feelings of the one to whom she
was speaking added, I love all the library teachers, 'cos we're
all childs of God.
THE LIBRARY AND THE CHILDREN: AN ACCOUNT OF THE CHILDREN'S WORK
IN THE CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY
The interesting experiment of conducting a Library League is
described by Miss Linda A. Eastman in the following account of
the children's work in the Cleveland Public Library. A sketch of
Miss Eastman appears on page 159.
Work with the children assumed its first real importance in the
Cleveland Public Library when the library began, about 10 years
ago, to issue books to the teachers for reissue to their pupils.
This brought the books to the hands of thousands of children who
had never drawn them before, although at no time has the library
been able to furnish all of the books asked for by the teachers.
The next step came with the establishment of our branches, where
it was soon noticed that a most important part of the work done
was that with the children, and that very few of these children
had ever used the main library.
Early in 1897 a notable change was made at the main library in
bringing all of the juvenile books together in what was known as
the juvenile alcove, but which heretofore had contained the
juvenile fiction only, the classed books having been shelved with
the other books on the same subject. This change meant much
planning and shifting in our cramped quarters, and writing of
dummies and changing of records for every book; but it proved to
be well worth all the work, for the children seldom went beyond
this alcove, and those who had been reading fiction only, began
to vary it with history, travel, science, until about half of the
books issued from the department are now from the other classes.
During the Christmas holidays, 1896, we advertised "Children's
week," and the numbers and evident enjoyment of the children who
then accepted the invitation to visit the library or its
branches, led to similar plans for the spring vacation. At this
time we were able to put into circulation about a thousand bright
new books, and the desire to impress upon the children the
necessity for their proper care resulted in starting the Library
League, the general plan of which is so familiar that I need not
go fully into the details concerning it.[2]
[2] For accounts of the Library League, see Library Journal
October and November, 1897.
Without question, the labor spent upon the Library League has
been more than repaid in the greater care which the children take
of their library books. Dirt is at a discount; it is noticed that
many more children than formerly now stop to choose the cleanest
copy of a book, and many are the books reported daily by the
little people as being soiled or torn. A boy, not long ago,
brought a book up to the information-desk, reported a loose leaf,
then very seriously, by way of explanation, opened his overcoat
and displayed his league badge; another replied in all good faith
to a query about a damaged book, "Why, I belong to the Library
League"--proof quite sufficient, he thought, to clear him of any
doubt. Most of the children stop at the wrapping- counter before
leaving the library, to tie up their books in the wrapping paper
which is provided, and which saves many a book from a mud-bath on
its way to or from the library.
But aside from the better care of the books, the Library League
has done much as an advertising medium among the children; the
league now numbers 14,354, and many of its members had never used
the library until they joined the league. Something has been
accomplished through it, too, in directing the reading of the
children, as it gives opportunities, in many ways, for making
suggestions which they are glad to accept. At the South Side
branch a club-room has been finished off in the basement, and two
clubs formed among the members of the league: one, a Travel Club,
is making a tour of England this winter; the other is a Biography
Club, which is studying great Americans; the children who compose
these two clubs are largely of foreign parentage, almost without
exception from uncultured homes, and the work our earnest branch
librarian is beginning with them cannot fail in its effect on
these young lives. A boy's club-room is to be fitted up at the
new West Side branch, in addition to the children's room, which
is already proving inadequate.
The Maxson book marks have been very useful in connection with
the league, and have suggested a series of book marks which will
also serve as bulletins for league notes, little lists of good
books, suggestions about reading, etc. The color will be changed
each time, as variety is pleasing to children. The
================================================== Cleveland
Public Library. LIBRARY LEAGUE BOOK MARK NO. 1.
Boys and Girls: How would you like to have a new book mark every
month or two with Library League news, and suggestions about good
books? That is what the Library is going to try to give you. Read
this one through, use it until you get the next one, which will
be Library League Book Mark No. 2; then put No. 1 away with your
League certificate and keep it carefully as a part of your League
records, that some day you will be proud to own and to show.
League Report: The Library League was started March 29th, 1897.
On December 31st, 1897 it numbered 14,074. How large is it going
to be on its first birthday anniversary? What the League has
done: It has brought many children to the Library who never used
it before. It has taught many boys and girls to love books and to
handle them carefully with clean hands. Many books have been
reported which were in bad condition, and the juvenile books are
now in better shape than before the League began its work.
Library League Reading Clubs: Some of the League members have
been starting reading clubs. One of these clubs is a Travel Club,
and another is a Biography Club. The Library assistants will be
glad to tell League members about these clubs if they would like
to form others.
Library League Motto: Clean hearts, clean hands, clean books.
(OVER) ==================================================
The other side of this book mark contains a list of the juvenile
periodicals in the library. No. 2 gives the beginning of a little
serial, in which a thread of story will weave in hints on reading
and on the care and use of books.
At our main library the children have come in such numbers after
school and on Saturdays, that it has been impossible to push the
work much this past winter, for fear the adults should suffer. It
was finally decided that we must achieve the impossible, and by
shifting about and putting up glass partitions, have a separate
children's room instead of the open juvenile alcove. This room,
while not half so large as it should be to meet the needs of the
work, is indeed a great improvement in giving the children a
place which they feel to be really their own; the change has
involved the re-registration of the children having cards here,
but it is affording much needed relief at the general receiving
desks, and will greatly facilitate the service to adults, at the
same time making it possible to do much more for the little
people.
The library is endeavoring to co-operate more and more closely
with the schools. More books have been issued to the teachers
this winter than ever before. A new course of study having been
published, all of the books referred to in it were looked up, and
if not in the library or its branches, were purchased as largely
as seemed desirable or possible. A list of "References for
third-grade teachers," compiled by Miss May H. Prentice, training
teacher in the Cleveland Normal School, has recently been
published by the library. It was given to all of the third-grade
teachers of the city, and sold to others. This is, we believe,
the most comprehensive list ever prepared for a single grade of
the common schools. We are hoping that it will prove so helpful
to third-grade teachers that all of the other grades will demand
similar ones for themselves, and that somehow the way will be
found to meet the demand. The list of books noted by Miss
Prentice for the children's own reading has been reprinted,
without the annotations, in a little folder and 5,000 copies of
it have just been distributed among the children of this grade.
Recently our school children were treated to the largest
exhibition ever made in the United States to photographic
reproductions of the masterpieces in art; to the work of the
library in circulating pictures to teachers and children for
school-room decoration and for illustration, is due no small
share of this new interest in art.
While the children come to the library daily to look up subjects
in connection with their school work, very little attention can
be given to training them to use reference books as tools.
Somewhere, either in the school or the library, this systematic
teaching should be given. It is one of the things which is not
being done.
And another thing is not being done--we are not reaching all of
the children; in spite of our branches, our stations, our books
in the schools, our Library League, there are many children who
sadly need the influence of good books, who are not getting
them--whole districts shut off from the use of the library by
distance and inability to pay carfare. And we cannot give them
branches or send books--for lack of funds.
It is a growing conviction in my own mind that the library, aside
from its general mission, and aside from its co-operation with
the schools in the work of education, has a special duty to
perform for the city child. No one can observe city life closely
without seeing something of the evil which comes to the children
who are shut up within its walls; the larger the city the greater
is the evil, the more effectually are the little ones deprived of
the pure air, the sweet freedom of the fields and woods, to be
given but too often in their stead the freedom of the streets and
the city slums. The evil is greater during the long vacations,
when the five-hour check of the school room is entirely removed,
and many a teacher will testify to the demoralization which takes
place among the children who are then let loose upon the streets.
For these the library must to some extent take the place of
Mother Nature, for under present condition it is through books
alone that some of them can ever come to know her; books must
furnish them with wholesome thoughts, with ideals of beauty and
of truth, with a sense of the largeness of life that comes from
communion with great souls as from communion with nature. If this
be true, the school vacation ceases to be the resting time of the
children's librarian; she must sow her winter wheat and tend it
as in the past, but she must also gather in her crops and lay her
ground fallow during the long summer days when school does not
keep; she must find ways of attracting these children to spend a
healthy portion of their time among the books, always guarding
against too much as against too little reading. For this work the
individual contact is needed, and there must be more children's
librarians, more branch libraries. This necessity and the problem
of meeting it require grave consideration by the librarian of
to-day.