Suggestions as to general policy of the library
In general, remember always 1) that the public owns its public
library, and 2) that no useless lumber is more useless than unused
books. People will use a library, not because, in others' opinions,
they ought to, but because they like to. See to it, then, that the new
library is such as its owner, the public, likes; and the only test of
this liking is use. Open wide the doors. Let regulations be few and
never obtrusive. Trust American genius for self-control. Remember the
deference for the rights of others with which you and your fellows
conduct yourselves in your own homes, at public tables, at general
gatherings. Give the people at least such liberty with their own
collection of books as the bookseller gives them with his. Let the
shelves be open, and the public admitted to them, and let the open
shelves strike the keynote of the whole administration. The whole
library should be permeated with a cheerful and accommodating
atmosphere. Lay this down as the first rule of library management; and
for the second, let it be said that librarian and assistants are to
treat boy and girl, man and woman, ignorant and learned, courteous and
rude, with uniform good-temper without condescension; never pertly.
Finally, bear in mind these two doctrines, tempering the one with the
other: 1) that the public library is a great educational and moral
power, to be wielded with a full sense of its great responsibilities,
and of the corresponding danger of their neglect or perversion; 2)
that the public library is not a business office, though it should be
most business-like in every detail of its management; but is a center
of public happiness first, of public education next.