Suppose the topic to be good and suitable material to have been
found; for older children there are two good ways of using
it--one to read through and make notes on the substance, the
other to copy in selection. Children need practice in doing both.
The first method suits broad description and narration, the
second detailed description. There seems to be a prevailing
tendency to copy simply, without sufficient neglect of minor
points, a process which should be left to the youngest children,
since it furnishes little mental training, uses a great deal of
time, keeps the writer needlessly indoors, and fosters habits of
inattention, because it is easy to copy with one's mind
elsewhere. The necessity for using judgment after the article has
been found is illustrated by the case of some children who came
for the life of Homer. Champlin, in about a column, mentions the
limits within which the conjectures as to the time of Homer's
birth lie, the places which claim to be his birthplace, and tells
of the tradition of the blind harper. The children, provided with
the book, plunged at once into copying until persuaded just to
read the column through. "When you finish reading," I said, "come
to me and tell me what it says." They came and recounted the
items, and only after questioning did they at all grasp the gist
of the matter, that nothing is known about Homer. Even then their
sense of responsibility to produce something tangible was so
great that they would copy the details, and from the children who
came next day I judged that the teacher had required some facts
as to time and place and tradition. While it is true that we
learn by doing and it is well that children should rely upon
themselves, it is evident that young pupils need some direction.
Even when provided with sub-topics, they often need help in
selecting and fitting together the appropriate facts, since no
article exactly suits their needs. About half of the reporting
librarians are of the opinion that it is the teacher's business
to instruct pupils in the use of books; they consider the library
to have done its share when the child has been helped to find the
material. The other half believe such direction as is suggested
above to be rightly within the librarian's province; several,
however, who express a willingness to give such help, add that
under their present library conditions it is impracticable. We
can easily see that time would not permit nor would it be
otherwise feasible for the teacher to examine every collection of
notes made at the library, but there ought to be some systematic
work where the topics are thoughtfully chosen, the librarian
informed of them in advance, and the notes criticised. A moderate
amount of reference work so conducted would be of greater benefit
than a large quantity of the random sort which we now commonly
have. Five librarians state that they are usually given the
topics beforehand. Several others are provided with courses of
study or attend grade meetings in which the course is discussed.