The Wisconsin Library Bulletin for July-August, 1908, is given up
to the presentation of widely varying experiences in regard to
discipline, in a report by Mary Emogene Hazeltine and Harriet
Price Sawyer, who sent a list of ten questions to 125 librarians,
and incorporated the replies.
Mary Emogene Hazeltine was born in Jamestown, N. Y., in 1868, and
was graduated from Wellesley College in 1891. She was librarian
of the James Prendergast Free Library in Jamestown from 1893 to
1906, when she became Preceptor of the Library School of the
University of Wisconsin, the position she now holds. She has
given much help to small libraries.
Mrs. Harriet Price Sawyer was born in Kent, Ohio, received the
degree of B. L. from Oberlin College: was an assistant in the
Oberlin College Library 1902-1903; was graduated from the Pratt
Institute Library School in 1904; was librarian of the State
Normal School at New Paltz, N. Y., 1904-1905; a student in the
University of Berlin, Germany, 1905-1906; Library Visitor and
Instructor, Wisconsin Library Commission, 1906-1910. Since that
time she has been chief of the Instructional Department in the
St. Louis Public Library, including charge of the training class.
In 1917 this class was expanded into a library school, with Mrs.
Sawyer as principal.
In March, a list of questions concerning the problem of
discipline in the library was sent out to 125 librarians. The
answers show a most interesting variety of experiences and
conditions. A few report that it is no longer a "vexed" problem,
and one librarian thinks that it is "only a well-maintained
tradition," but most of the writers agree with Miss Eastman of
Cleveland, who says: "You will note that while conditions vary
somewhat in the different branches, discipline is a question
which we have always with us whenever we work with children. I do
believe, however, that each year places the library on a little
higher and more dignified plane in the minds of the children as
well as the public generally; and that the question of discipline
becomes more and more a question of dealing with individuals."
As to disturbance without the library, there is but one opinion,
viz., to turn the matter over to the policemen, and this is
reported in every instance to have put an end to the trouble.
Any serious misbehavior within the library has been treated by
the suspension of library privileges, ranging in severity of
sentence from one day to a month or, in a few cases, even longer.
The variation, however, in the manner of carrying out the
sentence forms an interesting study, from the lightest form
reported, at Chippewa Falls, where the child may draw a book, but
remains in the library only long enough to secure it, to the
drastic measures taken at Sheboygan where the students were
ordered out of the library en masse even in the midst of
preparation for a test in history.
Miss Wood's plan is an interesting one, but the tactful helpers
are difficult to find.
The card system at Kenosha will no doubt solve the difficulty for
many librarians who find the initiative in the disciplining of
the older visitors at the library most difficult to undertake.
In some communities, the personal letter or visit to the parents
has proved most helpful, and, doubtless, the plan reported by
Miss Lord of asking the boy to sign his name will find favor in
the larger libraries.
The aim of discipline, according to educators, is the moral
foundation of character. The library as well as the school has to
make up for the lack of moral training in many homes, and good
conduct must be taught by the librarian as well as by the
teacher. The whole matter is very well summed up by Miss Dousman
of Milwaukee.
"It seems to me that order and good behavior are absolutely
imperative in the library. Good manners, that outward and visible
sign of the respect for the rights of others, should be expected
of children. How? By never failing yourself to treat them with
respect, courtesy and justice. To distinguish between unavoidable
disturbances and those made with mischievous intent. To see and
hear only the things you can prevent, else your nerves will get
the better of your judgment.
"Allow children as much freedom as possible, consistent with the
rights of others--and don't nag.
"In case of bad behavior, make a tactful and pleasant appeal to
the child first, thereby giving him a chance to reinstate
himself. This appeal failing, reprimand in no uncertain terms.
Dismissal from the room is the natural punishment for refusal to
obey regulations. Obedience as a virtue has not entirely gone out
of fashion. Suspension for a definite or indefinite period,
according to the offense is necessary for the maintenance of good
discipline. Limitation as to the number of times a week a
mischievous child may visit the library has a good effect. A
suspended sentence of permanent dismissal on failure to behave
has a most salutary effect. Reinstate as soon as there is an
evident desire to improve.
"In our zeal to control the child, some have lost sight of the
fact that it is quite as important to teach the child to control
himself; that if he is to become a good citizen, he cannot learn
too early to respect the rights of others."
At a meeting of the Massachusetts Library Club, reported in
Public Libraries, v. 12, p. 362 (Nov. 1907), Miss Harriet H.
Stanley of Brookline said of "Discipline in a Children's Room,"
that unnatural restraint was to be avoided, but the restraint
required for the common good was wholesome, and that children
were more, rather than less, comfortable under it, when it was
exercised with judgment and in a kindly spirit.
"Judgment comes with experience. ... As far as you are able, be
just. If your watchfulness fails sometimes to detect the single
offender in a group of children and you must send out the group
to put an end to some mischief, say so simply, and they will see
that they suffer not from your hard heartedness, but from the
culprit's lack of generosity or from the insufficiency of their
devices for concealing him. Be philosophical. Most disturbance is
only mischief and properly treated will be outgrown. Stop it
promptly, but don't lose your temper, and don't get worked up. To
the juvenile mind, 'getting a rise' out of you is no less
exhilarating than the performance which occasions it. Habitually
deny them this gratification and mischief loses its savor.
"Talk little about wrongdoing. Don't set forth to a child the
error of his ways when the 'ways' are in process of being
exhibited, and the exhibitor is fully conscious of their nature.
Choose another time--a lucid interval--for moral suasion.
"When children are intentionally troublesome, the simplest means
of discipline is exclusion from the room; when necessary, formal
exclusion for a definite period with a written notice to parents.
The authority of the library should be exercised in the
occasional cases where it is needed, both for the wrongdoer's own
good and for the sake of the example to others.
"Provided you are just and sensible and good-tempered, your
patrons will respect the library more and like you none the less
for exacting from them suitable behavior. We talk a good deal
about the library as a place of refuge for boys and girls from
careless homes, and they do deserve consideration from us, but to
learn a proper regard for public law and order is as valuable as
any casual benefit from books. The children of conscientious
parents whether poor or well-to-do also deserve something at our
hands, and we owe it to them to maintain a respectable standard
of conduct for them to share. Let us be hospitable and
reasonable, but let us be courageous enough to insist that the
young citizen treat the library with the respect due to a
municipal institution."
It has been impossible to publish in full all of the replies to
the circular letter sent out, but as much as possible has been
incorporated in this report, believing that each situation
delineated may give helpful hints toward the solution of this
general difficulty. The list of questions is given in the
synopsis appended to the admirable and helpful report contributed
by the chief of the children's department in Pittsburgh.