After ten years of experience we find our most difficult question
of discipline arises when the older boys and girls come into the
library. They usually come in the evening and we have the
greatest trouble with the boys. Sometimes we suspect that our
trouble with the boys is due to the influence of the girls, who
know how to keep quiet and yet make confusion!
The question of discipline depends largely on the district in
which a branch is placed and also on the planning and equipment
of the children's room--in fact of the whole branch building, and
on the personal attention of the branch librarian toward the
children.
In answer to question ten I might say that everything depends on
the children's librarian's judgment and also on the children.
Some children come into the library to be sent home. They wish to
see how many times they can make mischief, and it is really a
pleasure to them to have you send them out. In other cases
children are much mortified by being sent from the room. It is
necessary that the children's librarian and her assistants should
know the children individually, especially their names and
something of their home conditions wherever possible. The
handling of "gangs" takes a great deal of tact and sympathy with
boys.
On the whole, given a well-planned and equipped children's room,
plenty of books, a sufficient number of the right kind of
children's librarians who are firm, tactful and sympathetic
(having a sense of humor and a wide knowledge of children's
books) and by all means a sympathetic branch librarian, the
question of discipline will usually smooth itself out. We have
one room in a crowded tenement district where the right young
woman has produced unusual order. The children come in and go out
happy and interested in their books, and there is little need for
reproof. This is due largely to the fact that we started in with
a determination to have reasonable order and the children learned
that to use the room it was necessary to be orderly, and they are
much happier and get more from the library.