In answer to your circular just received, I hardly know what to
say. We have practically no disciplining to do. Of course
conditions are not the same as in a public library. At the
beginning of the school year every evidence of disorder is nipped
in the bud, and after a few weeks we are entirely freed from any
annoyance from visiting or other disorder. The children from the
model school some times show a little inclination to talk too
much in getting their books. If a word does not quiet them, the
ring leader as it were is sent down to his department room which
is the worst possible punishment as they love to come to the
library. This never happens more than once or twice a year.
The greatest help I have at the opening of the school year in
creating the spirit I wish in the library, is the small work room
opening out of it. If students visit, or get to talking over
their work, I ask them if they will please take their work into
the work room where they can talk things over without disturbing
any one. They never resent that, when many times they would
resent almost anything else in the way of reproof. If they talk
too loud in there or seem to be still disturbing, I call
attention to the fact that others are trying to work, and find it
difficult to do so under the conditions.
After the first few weeks of the year, I think I have to speak to
a student not oftener than once in several weeks if that.
I think the student body recognize the library as a place where
they can find absolute quiet, and welcome it in that light, and
most of them are glad to help to keep it so.
Mrs. Alice A. Lamb, Litchfield, Minn.
Our library opened four years ago. An acquaintance, through
teaching, with most of the children of the town has been of great
assistance. Possibly, mature years with a reputation for strict
order in school have been of value.
At any rate disorder is almost unknown. We started with the idea
of perfect quiet in the building. The text "Be gentle and keep
the voice low" was given a prominent place on the walls of the
children's room for the first year and I'm sure was helpful.
If the little children get to visiting, usually a glance or a
shake of the head is sufficient. To the older children it has
been necessary a few times to say quietly, "We must have perfect
quiet here." This of course is said privately so that no one but
the offender hears.
Sending home seems a legitimate punishment and if judiciously
used ought to produce good results.
The good will of the children, with good nature and firmness on
the part of the librarian would seem the chief essentials to good
order.
If disorder has once become a habit the problem is a serious one.
In small libraries with but one person in charge it would seem
wise to hire an assistant or have an apprentice to do the desk
work during the evening hours or whenever disorder is likely to
occur, and let the librarian be free to go about the rooms and
use her best efforts to establish order, by every tactful means
possible.
Our building is so arranged that every part of it can be seen by
the librarian at her desk. This doubtless is a very great aid in
discipline, and perhaps explains why we have never been troubled
by the boys and girls making a "meeting place" of the library.
Miss Agnes J. Petersen, Manitowoc, Wis.
Reading over your questions on the subject of discipline in the
library, brought back very vividly to my mind, the first years of
our library work.
From the first day of opening, absolute quiet was made one of the
rules of the library, and many boys and girls went home early in
the evenings before they would recognize the rule. The fact that
no disturbance of any kind would be tolerated was so impressed
upon everybody, but, especially upon the children, that now,
though the supervision is not so strictly kept, the same good
order is easily maintained. A word or look of warning is at most
times sufficient now to keep a roomful of 75 children in order
except on rare occasions. We did practically I believe what every
librarian does. The offender was warned concerning his conduct,
and if, after several warnings, he still "dared us" he was sent
home, not permitted to return to the library, nor draw books for
a week or two as the case might be, only returning after
promising good behavior in the future. When, as it happened a
few times, the offender did not respond to this treatment, the
president of our Library Board sent a note by the chief of police
to the offender's parents, and that inevitably ended the matter.
Only one boy was suspended for two weeks during this past year,
and he gives a great deal of trouble at school, also.
SPECIAL METHODS AND TYPES OF WORK: STORY-TELLING; READING CLUBS;
HOME LIBRARIES, PLAYGROUNDS, ETC.
The function of the story hour as a recognized feature of library
work with children has been variously discussed. The five papers
given below represent these different points of view, and the
experience of several libraries is included in the report of the
Committee on Story- telling given at the Congress of the
Playground Association of America in 1910.
Another group method, which has been adopted as a means of
introducing children to books and of securing continuity of
interest, is that of the reading club. The three articles given
show the influence of the direct, personal effort of Miss Hewins,
and the carefully organized work of somewhat different types in
two large library systems.
The early history of home library work with children as conducted
by the Boston Children's Aid Society and a consideration of the
place of this method in extension work of libraries in general
are included.
Library work in summer playgrounds is one development of
cooperation with other institutions. The first article included
may be supplemented by a statement made by Miss Frances J. Olcott
in an article on "The public library, a social force in
Pittsburgh," printed in the Survey magazine, March 5, 1910. She
states that "Perhaps the most important phase of the library's
work with children which is being developed at present is that of
playground libraries. ... Now that the Playground Association is
establishing recreation centers for winter as well as summer,
arrangements have been made with the library to supply books, the
Association providing the necessary reading rooms in its new
buildings." Practical difficulties in administration are
discussed in the second article.
The last group of articles brings together several unrelated
phases of work. Two special kinds of children's libraries are
mentioned, one a type--the Sunday School library--and one a
library organized for specific work in connection with the
Children's Museum in Brooklyn. Work with colored children in a
colored branch library is described. The last paper gives a vivid
picture of work with children in a foreign district of a large
city.