BY CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH WALLACE, _Hazelwood Branch, Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh_.
The primary object of bulletin work is to direct the attention of the
children to the books. The bulletin, like a poster, attracts the eye,
arouses interest in a subject, and advertises the books treating of it.
By means of picture bulletins interest may be awakened in topics before
unnoticed; the children are curious to learn more about the pictures
displayed, their curiosity is further excited by the short descriptive
text, and as a result books relating to the subject are read. Thus,
without rousing the children's suspicions, we are able to guide their
reading.
The second object is the cultivation of the children's appreciation for
pictures. If we can catch the eye by attractive pictures, we may add to
the children's store of ideas, and aside from broadening their
knowledge, bring them under the beneficent influence of beauty. Pictures
of æsthetic value placed in a children's room in which harmony of
decoration, furniture, and arrangement have been considered, exert a
vitally refining influence. When we realize how painfully lacking in
refinement are many of the homes of the children who visit the library,
how blinded are their eyes to beauty because of their sordid
surroundings, we shall then see how essential it is to enrich their
lives by every means of cultivation appropriate to our field of work.
Whatever we may do in bulletin work must accord with the high standard
of taste evidenced in all of the fittings of a dignified library. While
we are to aim to attract the children by bulletins which are simple and
childlike in spirit, we must keep a sharp lookout that in our effort to
please them our bulletins do not become tawdry and fussy in style. We
are to meet the children on their level and yet educate their taste to a
higher standard.
The first practical consideration of bulletin-making is the collection
of material. Pictures may be obtained from a variety of sources. Old
magazines, book announcements, publishers' catalogues, book covers, book
plates, railroad guides, advertising sheets, posters, special prints,
etc., form the main sources of supply. In addition to a stock of
good-toned gray mounting-board for regular use, colored mounting-board
may be employed as a suitable background for colored prints, or to
express the main idea of the bulletin--a delicate shade of green making
an effective mount for certain pictures for bulletins on "Spring."
The choice of subject is of supreme importance. We should study the
children whom we are trying to benefit, that we may discover their
tastes and learn their interests. We may select a subject in line with
the course of school study. This serves not only to illustrate a subject
in which the children are already interested, but is an incidental means
of making known to the teacher and pupils the usefulness of the library
in furnishing reading supplementary to the school studies. We may
bulletin a subject of transient interest, thus informing the children
along this particular line; or, we may choose a topic which by the
novelty of its presentation, may arouse interest in an unfamiliar
subject, providing we make sure in choosing that we relate the unknown
to the known. We always have a chance of illustrating some one of the
universal interests of childhood. Spring and autumn exhibits, bulletins
on birds, flowers, and animals, certain anniversaries, etc., invariably
prove attractive to children. The bulletins should be such as to satisfy
a catholicity of taste and cover a wide range in age and understanding.
But whatever be one's choice of subject, let it be carefully thought and
wrought out, definite in plan and purpose, and worthy the necessary
expenditure of time, material, and effort.
It is well to read thoroughly on a subject before attempting to plan a
bulletin. The reading of sketchy accounts in children's books is not a
sufficient preparation for this work. It is better to turn to more
substantial sources that we may penetrate the meaning of the subject for
the children, and reflect this in the selection and arrangement of the
pictures in the text, and in the talks with the children about the
bulletin. We may thus reinforce the message of the bulletin and lead
the children to the best book where the information they are seeking may
be found.
The explanatory text of the bulletin should be direct and simple.
Accuracy of statement is essential; this is especially important in
scientific subjects. Experiment has proved that a concise and simple
account will be read, when a longer statement is passed unnoticed.
Poetry may be appropriately introduced to illustrate the thought of the
bulletin. We should select the very best poems which will serve the
purpose, making sure they are simple and clear enough in meaning to be
readily understood by the children. In bulletin work we have an
opportunity to acquaint the children with the choicest poetry. In
addition to displaying pictures which please the eye, we may also
present word-pictures, thus making a double appeal to the mind.
An annotated book list is of great service in connection with the
bulletin. This enables the children to gain an idea of the subject
matter of the various books, and, if the notes are attractive, induces
them to read a book which otherwise might be ignored. In teaching the
children the use of lists we are also preparing them for independent
work later. The books, it possible, should be placed on a shelf near the
bulletin, that they may be conspicuous and easily accessible.
No matter how beautiful the collection of pictures, nor how happy the
choice of subject, a bulletin will not be successful unless it is well
executed. Technical skill is also necessary in carrying out the idea.
Not only should the bulletin direct attention to books but it should
nourish æsthetic taste as well. Form is as important as subject.
Slipshod mounting, unequal margins, untidy work in general, detract from
the appearance of the bulletin, and are most disastrous object lessons
to children.
We must collect only material which is worth while and even from this
select with the greatest care. Sometimes it may be necessary to make use
of weak or faulty prints in reference work, if a subject is sparingly
illustrated, but such material should be reserved for this purpose
rather than posted on bulletins.
There is danger in exhibiting more than one bulletin at a
time--exception being made, of course, for such bulletins as illustrate
allied subjects, thus forming an exhibition. The display of too many
pictures on any one bulletin is equally inadvisable. Have we not all of
us at times felt oppressed and confused by the seemingly endless array
of pictures at a large art exhibit? The mind is overtaxed in the effort
to grasp it all. Knowing the patience with which little children study a
picture, even dwelling on the smallest detail with delight, it would be
better to choose with discrimination, and avoid bewildering the minds of
the children, and fatiguing their attention by a large collection of
pictures. A miscellany of pictures or bulletins defeats its one
purpose--that of making a definite impression which should lead to
further investigation of a subject.
The arrangement of the bulletin should make its central thought and
object apparent. A bulletin on Lincoln's life if properly arranged could
easily tell the story of the experiences between the log-cabin and White
House. The pictures should have some logical grouping, whether by
succession of events, or according to some natural relationship, as
bringing a collection of wild flowers together in the order of their
appearance, birds and animals by families, etc.
Concerning the composition of the bulletin, we may borrow the rules of
pictorial composition and adapt them to bulletin purposes. According to
John C. Van Dyke, "Pictorial composition may be defined as the
proportionate arranging and unifying of the different features and
objects of a picture.... There must be an exercise of judgment on the
part of the artist as to fitness and position, as to harmony of
relation, proportion, color, light; and there must be a skilful uniting
of all the parts into one perfect whole." In a bulletin as in a picture
there must be a center of interest. We should strive to effect this by
selecting for this purpose a picture which has earned its place, because
it best suggests the subject, or because pictorially, either through
tone or color, it best adapts itself to the principles of composition.
The other pictures should be grouped accordingly, always taking account
of the subject and artistic value of each in placing them. The bulletin
should be built up architecturally as well, letting the heavy pieces
support the light. Such a picture as Rosa Bonheur's "Ploughing" should
not surmount Breton's "Song of the lark."
Color has its legitimate place in bulletin work as children are keenly
alive to its attractiveness. It is because they are so sensitive and
impressionable in this regard that our responsibility is proportionately
greater; this alone should make us most discreet and careful in its use.
Van Dyke cautions us in the following terms: "Beware of your natural
taste, beware of bright pictures for they are generally bad." He tells
us "That 'color' does not mean brightness alone; and that a 'colorist'
is not one who deals in flaming colors with the recklessness of a
crazy-quilt maker, but one who justly regards the relationship, the
qualities, and the suitableness of his colors one to another...."
Harmony strives to associate colors which are congenial to each other;
however, it cannot be comprehended in the abstract. We bring to our
bulletin work the results of our previous standards of taste, be these
high or low. But we may raise our standards by holding ourselves
receptive to the influence of art, whether it be decorative, ceramic,
textile, or pictorial, and appropriate the lessons which it teaches in
blending color into harmony. The love of prime colors is characteristic
of primitive man, while the appreciation of the neutral tones is the
acquirement of civilization. Intellectual development conforms to the
epochs of racial progress. Children love crude and elementary colors.
But while we make concession to their taste we should also educate it to
an appreciation of the refined in color.
The question of economy often arises in connection with bulletin work.
Are bulletins sufficiently useful and effective to pay for the outlay of
time and money? In a system of central and branch libraries this is not
so serious a problem as the same bulletin may be of service in the
various libraries. The tendency toward extravagance would appear in the
excessive quantity of bulletins exhibited, rather than in the expensive
quality of any one of them. Certainly we should strive to be economical
in the sense of planning the material without loss or waste, but
"whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well," and the main
question is, are bulletins worth doing at all? The bulletin justifies
itself by the results it accomplishes in calling attention to subjects,
guiding the reading, circulating books, and increasing the children's
observation and enjoyment of pictures.