An informal "round table" meeting for the consideration of the work of
state library commissions, including travelling libraries, was held in
the assembly room of the Fountain House on Tuesday afternoon, July 9.
The chairman, MELVIL DEWEY, called the meeting to order at three
o'clock, and in a few introductory remarks outlined the subjects to be
discussed.
Mr. DEWEY: We have on our program this afternoon two of the most
interesting things in library work. The travelling library is reaching
out in its manifold forms with wonderful rapidity and gives very great
promise of usefulness for the future; organized work under the state
commissions is showing every year better and better results and
indicating that just as our schools increased their efficiency so
immensely by having state departments to look after them, we are
repeating the history of that evolution in our state library
commissions. We have only a single session this afternoon to discuss
these two subjects. If we were to give them one quarter of the time that
they ought to have, we would not get one quarter through, and I propose
therefore to deal only with questions and answers, and utilize one
another's experience or thought along these lines of state commission
work and work of administering travelling libraries.
I have noted down some of the topics that have been given to me by
persons who wanted to have them discussed briefly; we will first take up
some of these. So much has been done in travelling libraries, that
perhaps we should clear the floor of that subject, and then consider the
work of the state commissions--and in that I mean all the work done by
the state in its official capacity--chartering libraries, library
legislation, inspection, travelling libraries--whatever the state may do
for public libraries.
The first topic is, "What is the best method of getting travelling
libraries before the people?" Who has any experience or suggestion to
offer on that point--either of difficulties or successes?
A MEMBER: Go to the pastors and school houses.
Mr. HOSTETTER: Does the gentleman mean to put the travelling libraries
into school houses? Last Sunday I visited a man who had never heard of
such a thing as travelling libraries; he was a German pastor; and
probably that accounted for it.
Mr. HUTCHINS: Is there not objection to having travelling libraries in
school houses, for the reason that so many of the hours during which the
children have leisure to read, and their parents could read, the school
houses are closed? Another difficulty is the long summer vacation; and
still another is that to place the library in the school house makes the
travelling library merely a side issue.
Mr. DEWEY: Where would you put it?
Mr. HUTCHINS: Find somebody to take it in special charge. A travelling
library in a community is bound to find some good woman who would rather
have charge of it than anything else in the world.
Mr. DEWEY: Then you would put it in a private house?
Mr. HUTCHINS: In a private house or a country post-office--wherever you
can find a person who believes in its use and will give service for it.
Mr. GALBREATH: I should like to ask Mr. Hutchins, provided the teacher
is a man or woman who believes in the library, what objection is there
to placing it in the school house?
Mr. HUTCHINS: The teacher may be a person who believes in it, but he or
she makes the school of first importance.
Mr. BRIGHAM: What difference does it make if the library is a side
issue, so long as it gets in its work?
Mr. HUTCHINS: If it is a side issue it does not get in its work.
Miss STEARNS: Let us go back to the original question, How to get the
travelling library before the people. The best method, we find, is to
take with you a county superintendent who is acquainted with all the
people in his county, or ought to be. Take your travelling library with
you also, just as a travelling man takes his samples. Do not start out
with a lot of circulars; take the books themselves right with you, in
the back of the wagon. When you have brought the people together open
your box; take out your _Scribner_ or your _Youth's Companion_; take out
your books on the Philippines, on birds, on cookery; show your audience
some good stories; and you will organize a library association ten times
quicker than if you had started out by writing letters. Those are
letters, very often, that are never answered, and you wait and wonder
why the people do not want the books. Go to the people with the books.
That is the way we find we can work best in Wisconsin.
Mr. GALBREATH: Sometimes it is difficult to find the means to do the
work that Miss Stearns has mentioned, and possibly our experience,
briefly stated, in bringing the travelling library to the attention of
the people of Ohio might not be out of place here. We began by
advertising it through the daily and weekly papers. That brought us very
few responses. We next tried to reach the people through the official
organ of the teachers of the state. That brought us many responses from
rural schools. Our next effort was to reach the farming communities
through the state grange, which devoted one of its quarterly bulletins
to the travelling libraries. This brought many responses. We reached the
women's clubs through circulars issued to their membership, and this was
very effective in turn. We found it best to reach the people of the
state through the organs that were devoted to specific interests,
especially along educational lines.
Mr. DEWEY: Did you go personally to the grangers, write to them, or send
printed matter?
Mr. GALBREATH: We saw the lecturer of the grange, who issues a quarterly
bulletin in our state. We explained the system fully to him, and he
devoted almost an entire bulletin to an explanation of the system, and
advised the farmers of the state to patronize the travelling libraries.
Then we have published in Ohio the _Ohio Farmer_, which circulates
widely outside of the state. That took up the work and helped us
greatly. We reached the farmers by going to the public press and using
the organs that the farmers read. We reached the teachers in the same
way, and the women's clubs. We have advertised our system pretty widely
over the state, so that now we do not send circulars except when they
are requested. We are circulating about one thousand travelling
libraries in Ohio, and they go to all parts of the state. Not only that,
but we have travelling library systems in three counties of the state
that are in no way dependent upon the state for support and that are
doing excellent work.
Mr. HUTCHINS: Do the people pay anything for the libraries?
Mr. GALBREATH: They pay transportation both ways, and that is all.
Miss STEARNS: Do they always have to pay it?
Mr. GALBREATH: Yes.
Miss STEARNS: If you found a community too poor to pay, what would you
do?
Mr. GALBREATH: We have not so far met that condition. Perhaps some
libraries have not been sent out because the people were too poor to pay
the charge, but if that problem does come up before us, we will try to
find some person who will pay the transportation.
Mr. DEWEY: Are there no remarks to be made on the use of annotated
finding lists in travelling library work?
Mr. HUTCHINS: Annotations are worth a great deal, because the people, at
their homes, sit down and talk over the books in these lists, and they
get acquainted with the books and the authors.
Mr. DEWEY: The best form of annotation, I take it, would be the brief
note, giving the best idea possible of the character of the book, and
telling the reader whether he wants to read it or not, not necessarily
as a matter of quotation from some one else.
Miss STEARNS: It is always a good plan to put in the publisher and price
of the book; if the person gets interested in the book he can find out
how much it would cost and where he can get it.
Mr. BRIGHAM: It would be well also to put in the number of pages, so
that people know how large a volume it is--150, 250, or 350 pages.
Mr. DEWEY: Has any one else tried the use of a wagon, as described by
Miss Stearns--going right to the people and reaching the homes? That
means going out into the rural districts and dealing with the farmhouses
as individual homes. There must be the right person in the wagon, of
course, who can stand and speak for an hour perhaps and leave half a
dozen or a dozen books to start the work along.
Miss STEARNS: That is the only way in the world by which you can find
what the people like to read--it is only by visiting the people, getting
acquainted with them, going right into their homes. The idea of sending
a box of books off in a freight car, not knowing anything about the
country or the people it is going to! If you want those books to do good
work, you must know where they are going.
Mr. DEWEY: That is the way men sell goods. The librarian is just as
anxious to place his books to advantage as the merchant is to sell his
wares. If he is dealing with the rural community he follows just that
method. I am inclined to think that somebody is going to make a great
success with those wagons.
Mr. GALBREATH: Where the demand for books is strong, as it is in Ohio,
and you have all that you can do to supply that demand, should not that
be attended to before you go out in a wagon to enlarge your field?
Mr. DEWEY: Oh, yes; but in Ohio everybody expects to be President sooner
or later.
Mr. HUTCHINS: Isn't the point this: Where you only supply a demand you
reach the intelligent communities first and the neglected communities
are left out; but the libraries should reach the neglected communities.
We spend too much money in buying books and not enough in educating the
people to use the books. It is the same old story. You spend $10,000 for
books and not $200 for administration, and the administration is the
important point.
Mr. DEWEY: There is another analogy. We used to have the schools only
for the bright boys. It is a modern idea to give education to the dull,
the backward, the blind and the deaf, but nowadays they are all being
trained. And we keep finding men who are among the strongest citizens of
their age, but who, if we get at their early history, we find were once
dull, backward boys that somebody hunted up and started along the right
lines.
Mr. GALBREATH: What communities, as a rule, are first served in
Wisconsin?
Mr. HUTCHINS: The neglected communities. The community in which we are
meeting is in the wealthiest part of the state of Wisconsin. We have not
got a travelling library near here. We have only 300 of these libraries,
and we seek out the neglected communities; not because we do not care to
help the people here, but we must take the neglected ones first.
Mr. GALBREATH: This is a practical question. It may be that after a
while we will all be seeking the neglected communities. What is the
practical method of going out into the state after the neglected
communities? How are you going to do it?
Mr. HUTCHINS: That is where you have got to have missionary work,
personal contact.
Mr. DEWEY: It is not a question of studying what to do; it is a case of
the man behind the idea. If a man starts out who is a born missionary,
he will go straight to the communities who need him, while another man
will take care of another class. We want to do all the work before us,
but if we are so situated that we cannot do both kinds of work in this
field, which is the more important to do first, cultivate the good field
or the poor field, which if you do not cultivate it will run to weeds
and escape us entirely? As Mr. Galbreath asks, if a community is anxious
to read, will you supply that, or will you stir somebody up that does
not want your supplies? In other words, if there is a field that is
rather poor, will you cultivate that at the expense of another field
that yields a good crop?
Mr. GALBREATH: It seems to me that a neglected community is one that has
no library of any kind of its own; nine-tenths of our travelling
libraries go out to communities of that sort.
Mr. HUTCHINS: I would not take that as a definition. In an intelligent
community they buy books, they buy magazines, they have intelligent
people. A neglected community is one that is not reached by these means,
or by any means of civilization.
Mr. GALBREATH: Suppose I go into a community which all the American
people are gradually leaving, only foreigners remaining. How can I reach
the foreign people that hardly have the English language in their homes,
and scarcely in the schools?
Mr. HUTCHINS: Take, for instance, one of those foreign communities. The
children go to school; some of them stay in school until they can barely
spell out the third reader, and then they go out and become American
citizens. Reading is hard work for them. You offer them a chance to read
a book, and they do not want it. But in that place we send first with
our travelling libraries the _Youth's Companion_ and the little picture
papers, to interest them in spelling out little short stories. Try
elementary books; simple books of American history and biography; lead
them on to better books. But the way is, first of all, to go to them. We
have many such communities in the northern part of the state, where the
people have come from foreign lands and know nothing about our customs.
Mr. GALBREATH: Another question. I would ask Mr. Hutchins, if a farming
community should send to the state commission for a travelling library,
and with the request state that they had no library to which they had
access, if he would decline to send to them because they were an
intelligent community?
Mr. HUTCHINS: No, we send libraries to these communities. We are sending
to all classes, but if Miss Stearns, in the northern part of the state,
finds a neglected community, and can work with them, and can find some
members of the women's clubs to go out and help, we send to them first.
Mr. GALBREATH: I think that perhaps our methods do not vary so much
after all. The women's clubs are supplementing our work in that way. In
Ohio we have succeeded in interesting a number of the members of the
legislature, and frequently they come in and look over our maps
illustrating the travelling library work, and say, "There is in our
county a community that is very backward. They have no libraries there,
and they are not very intelligent. I wish you to write to So-and-so in
that community." We do a great deal of work in the line of reaching what
Mr. Hutchins calls the neglected communities.
A MEMBER: I would like to ask Mr. Hutchins if he has forgotten that we
have something besides the readers in our Wisconsin schools? Under the
present school law every district in the state has the beginnings of a
library, and adds to that library each year. And we have in each of our
school institutes held during the summer a 45-minute period which is
spent in training teachers how to get children to read books, how to
interest them in the books, and how to show them to get from the book
the information it contains. And I would also like to ask if the library
placed in the school house is not as accessible to the district as a
library that may be placed at some central point? Very often people
would have to drive 25 or 30 miles to reach that central point, whereas
in the library in the school house the children can take the books to
their homes. During the long vacation the library need not be left in
the school house, but in some other place.
Mr. HUTCHINS: A library in a school is a school library, no matter where
it may be, and the children do not go to the school house after they
leave the school.
Mr. DEWEY: The library is an optional affair; the children are compelled
to go to school. On the other side, there are a number of advantages in
favor of the school building.
Has anybody succeeded in getting from the railroads or express companies
special concessions for the transportation of library books?
Mrs. DOCKERY: In Idaho, while the travelling libraries were in the hands
of the women's clubs. When they came in the hands of the state, the
railroads felt that they should have some compensation, and they gave us
half rates. The stage lines give us less than half rates.
E. H. ANDERSON: In Pennsylvania the Adams and the United States Express
Companies, which are the two leading companies, have made this
concession: We can send out books at full rate going, and half rate
returning. These rates apply only on condition that the books returned
are paid for at the library, so there is no confusion at any other
station.
Mr. MONTGOMERY: How about books that are transferred to another point?
Mr. ANDERSON: We do not transfer them; they must all come back.
G. F. BOWERMAN: The law of Delaware requires that the express companies
shall give the franking privilege, both coming and going, to all state
documents, and we intend, if possible, to extend that provision to our
travelling libraries, now that they are conducted by a state commission.
Mr. HOSTETTER: On the question of express, my experience in Illinois is
that the shipping of our books has been unsatisfactory, and I have had
some conversation in the matter with the express companies. They seem
willing to give us some concessions, and I believe if this meeting would
recommend that the American Library Association take up the question of
express charges, that we could get for the whole United States a liberal
concession for travelling libraries. At least I think we could get as
much concession as is given the farmers for returning chicken coops. I
think if this is taken up by the Association, as an association, we
could get a very liberal reduction.
Mr. BOWERMAN: The Seaboard Air Line runs a free travelling library
system, and I presume they send their books over that system free?
Mr. DEWEY: Yes. They also pay expenses, but would they open those
privileges to other people?
Mr. BRIGHAM: I want to raise one question. Isn't it a mistake to put the
library in the position of a beggar? Is it not better to pay for what we
get?
Mr. DEWEY: If we have money enough. We would rather beg than have no
bread. We are willing to profit by whatever concession we can get which
will enable us to do our work.
No one has spoken of the most important thing of all in this work. We
are reaching communities, but there are in all our states great numbers
of isolated homes and of farmers. They have more leisure than any other
class, especially in the winter, and we have to reach them through the
mails. We have a letter from Mr. Lane, of Harvard, upon the movement to
secure reduced postal rates for library books, undertaken through the
New England Education League by Mr. Scott. This matter is of great
importance to us all. [Mr. Lane's letter was read by Mr. Bowerman.]
Mr. MONTGOMERY: In connection with that, has any one here tried to send
single books to individuals in any of the communities through the rural
delivery system?
Mr. HUTCHINS: We have to a certain extent. We have not sufficient funds
to send out enough of the boxes, so we allow a school teacher in the
northern part of the state to draw out some book on some subject, and we
send these by the rural delivery, or by mail, whichever will reach him
most quickly, but of course we have to pay the regular postage.
Mr. HOSTETTER: We have sent out a few books to the country domestic
science clubs through the mails, and we have a greater demand for them
than we could ever supply. Now I find this experience: the express
companies, in the matter of books, would carry a book more cheaply than
the United States mail. I am quite confident that the express companies
would return the books free, or at a very low rate, if the charges were
prepaid. I move that this meeting recommend that the American Library
Association take up the question of procuring reduced transportation
rates for all free circulating library books.
Mr. DEWEY: If this large meeting is practically agreed on the importance
of that, we could send the recommendation into the Council meeting
to-night. It seems to me simply inconceivable that we are willing to
allow periodicals, bad and indifferent, and the yellow journals, to
receive the pound postal rate, while our libraries, suffering from lack
of income and working for the public benefit, cannot use the public
facilities as cheaply as the people who are using them for public harm
instead of public good. I had supposed there would be unanimous approval
of an act to register public libraries, owned and maintained for the
public benefit, so that they could receive the pound postal rate on
books.
Mr. HOSTETTER'S motion was seconded.
Mr. DEWEY: Let us see if there is anything more on this question before
the motion is put. There is a bill closely allied to this going into the
next Congress. Mr. Hutchins, will you state it briefly?
Mr. HUTCHINS: We have twice tried to secure better transportation in the
state of Wisconsin. We have found rural mail carriers who said that they
would carry books to the farmers for a travelling library without cost,
but the United States law said that we could not do this; that we cannot
carry in this way anything under four pounds in weight except it is
stamped. Congressman Jenkins, therefore, has drawn a bill which gives
libraries authority to send their books free along rural mail routes. At
present the farmer must either carry the book himself and return it to
the public library, or he must pay postage.
Mr. DEWEY: You say that the carriers cannot take packages under four
pounds without stamps?
Mr. HUTCHINS: Yes; the government rules that packages under four pounds
are to be sent by mail. Larger packages we could send by the carriers,
and we have sometimes thought of sending 15 or 20 books to a
neighborhood for distribution. I think that could be done, under the
government rule, if the mail carrier was willing to carry them.
Mr. DEWEY: The idea is, that the carrier must not carry anything to
compete with the postal service.
Mr. HUTCHINS: Mr. Jenkins, who has drawn this bill for us, has submitted
it to all the Senators and Representatives in the United States, and
nearly all favor it. Now, I am in favor of Mr. Scott's bill, which gives
libraries reduced rates through the whole United States. As things are
to-day, if you want to send a travelling library book 100 miles out into
the country it costs as much as to send it to San Francisco or New York.
If we can get the government to allow transportation by rural free mail
delivery it will be an entering wedge for this other bill.
Mr. BOWERMAN: Why cannot the legislation adopting the rural mail
delivery also include this matter of the pound rates? Why not have both
provisions in one bill? My library is practically free to the whole of
Newcastle county, not confined simply to Wilmington, but it is a farming
community. We would like to send books to every part of the county,
practically to every part of the state. The library is practically free
to the state of Delaware, so far as people can come to us, but they
cannot come to us; we would like to go to them, but we cannot do it,
because of the expense. We could do it if we could afford sufficient
postage to send books.
Mr. DEWEY: These are two closely allied questions. Has any one any
objection to this Jenkins bill, which, on its face, promises to be so
useful to us? I think we can get it, if we work together.
Miss STEARNS: If the government admits library books into this country
free of duty, why cannot it allow a man to carry a book free on the
rural delivery route if he wants to do it? In our state we have people
who cannot afford to pay postage on the books; if the mail-carrier is
willing, in the goodness of his heart, to take the book to them, why
can't it be done? Why should not a book from a free library be sent
free? I do not mean from one state to another, but I mean by rural free
delivery.
Mr. BRIGHAM: Would you make it optional with the carrier? Why not make
it compulsory? You say, "if he wants" to carry the book. Suppose he does
not "want" to carry it?
Miss STEARNS: I would have it so that he can do it for nothing if he
wishes, or he can charge a little for express. The rural mail delivery
people have to work hard, and they make but little. Now, the United
States government has to employ good men to do this work, so it puts in
a premium by allowing them to conduct an express business in connection
with it. In order, however, that the government may receive its revenue,
it does not allow the carriers to carry any packages under four pounds
in weight. What we want is to have that embargo removed for free library
books, so that they may carry books weighing a pound or a half pound.
Mr. BRIGHAM: The post-office would probably say that this would
interfere with the delivery of the regular mail.
Miss STEARNS: If it interferes, then the whole express business
interferes. The carriers are doing such a business now for packages
about four pounds in weight.
Mr. DEWEY: Then all you need to do is to attach a brick to your book and
make it weigh over four pounds. Is there any motion before the meeting?
Mr. BRIGHAM: The motion of the gentleman from Illinois has not been
disposed of.
Mr. HOSTETTER: My motion relates to express transportation. Rural
delivery is somewhat of an experiment, and it would not reach the case I
have in mind. We spend our money for expressage, and we want the
express companies to give us a minimum rate.
Mr. DEWEY: I rule there is no motion before us until it is repeated.
Mr. HUSE: I move that we recommend the passage of the Jenkins bill. We
ought to pay no attention to all this talk about lines of least
resistance. If we have no law, we will find the Post-office Department
ready with an objection that will answer any request we may make. If we
can get a law authorizing what we want, the Post-office Department will
obey it whether we seek the line of least resistance or not.
Mr. DEWEY: Is the motion seconded?
Mr. BRIGHAM: I rise to a point of order. There was a previous motion
made and seconded, and I call for the question.
Mr. HOSTETTER: I made a definite motion in regard to the express
companies. It was made for the reason that arrangements can probably be
effected with the express companies, but we are not likely to get the
legislation we want. This motion was this: That this meeting request the
Council of this Association to negotiate with the express companies of
the United States for reduced rates upon travelling libraries and
travelling library books.
The motion was adopted.
Mr. HUSE: I renew my motion that we recommend the passage of the Jenkins
bill.
Mr. HUTCHINS: The Jenkins bill provides that wherever there is
established a public library from which rural delivery routes radiate,
books may be carried upon those routes from the public library to the
patrons in the country without cost. They may not, however, be returned
free; in returning they must either be returned personally to the
library or postage must be paid.
The motion made by Mr. Huse was adopted.
Mr. DEWEY: We come now to the question of pound rates. That has been
before Congress for some time, and I think there is hope of its passage;
but it needs our support. I am heartily in favor of it. I think it is
just, and that a great deal of the criticism it has received is based on
misapprehension. Some people look only at the rates that extend
throughout the country, and say that the government will be carrying
books at a loss, but these books will largely circulate within 100 miles
of the library, and you will pay exactly the same rate within that
circuit as you would if sending to San Francisco. Does anybody want to
move that the Council be asked to support this bill?
It was moved and seconded that the support of the bill be recommended.
Mr. HUSE: It seems to me we are trying to get a good many things. If we
get the cheap postal rates, that will include rural delivery, and then
the express companies will come down in their rates to compete with the
government.
Mr. DEWEY: The rural delivery is limited to a single section, and is
analogous to newspaper rates.
Mr. HUSE: But if this pound rate is extended to library books the
express companies will come down in their rates, and the rural delivery
will be almost free.
Mr. DEWEY: But in any case if we want all these things, it won't do any
harm to ask for them.
Mr. EASTMAN: I would like to raise one point, and that is, what would be
the effect of the extremely cheap rates of postage upon small libraries
or upon libraries which we want to establish? In the remote parts of the
state, where the population is small, won't the tendency be to have one
great library dominate the whole state? Then when you go to a community
to awaken library interest the people will probably say, "We don't care
about a library; we can get our books from New York, or Albany, or
Cincinnati, or Chicago." Won't this measure tend to hamper the work of
establishing libraries in the small places?
Mr. ANDERSON: That is a difficulty easily remedied. I do not think that
any library should act as a forwarding agent to a person in any place
where another public library is or can be established. Our library takes
that position very firmly. We refuse to be a forwarding agent to any
person; if a library, however small, asks us to send books, we are glad
to do it. I know we have helped small libraries by making people feel
that the small library was very important, as it could get concessions
that they reasonably could not obtain.
Mr. DEWEY: Mr. Eastman's point, if this were a commercial question,
might have something in it, but as long as books are circulated free, we
should make the road free to the reader, for a short distance or a long
distance.
The motion was adopted.
Mr. DEWEY: We will now take up the topic of county libraries as units in
a state library system. Mr. Hodges, of Cincinnati, has something to say
on this.
N. D. C. HODGES: By an act passed April 21, 1898, the privileges of the
Public Library of Cincinnati were extended to all residents of Hamilton
County. While the trustees did not derive any revenue from the taxpayers
outside of the city limits until the beginning of 1899, steps were taken
at once on the passage of the act to enable all the residents of the
county to avail themselves of their new privileges. There has been some
discussion in the public press as to whether this library or that might
claim priority as a county library. The Public Library of Cincinnati has
been loaning its books to all the residents of Hamilton County for more
than three years. I believe there is no other library in the state of
Ohio which had furnished books throughout a whole county before January
of this year. This method of supplying books over a comparatively
limited territory has interest when we are discussing the circulation of
books over a whole state from the state capital.
For those who cannot, or will not, come to the central library, there
have been established throughout the county forty-one delivery stations.
Four of these are branch libraries. All these branch libraries had
previously been village libraries with very respectable histories;
started as subscription institutions they had in years past taken on a
public character and were supported partially by taxation. There are
several other local libraries in the county which are supported more or
less by taxation and which are likely to come under the general
management of the trustees of the Public Library of Cincinnati, as
otherwise the taxpayers in the regions where they are located will be
subject to double taxation for library purposes, and, moreover, there
seems to be a consensus of opinion among those who are interested in the
branches which have come under the wing of the central institution that
they have found the change to their advantage.
Hamilton County is not a flat region. The old part of the city of
Cincinnati is located on what might be called the river bottoms, though
the land is, most of it, at a safe height above the river floods. Half a
mile or a mile back from the river there are sharp rises of four hundred
or five hundred feet to the hill tops, on which the newer portions of
the city are built. Again, these hill tops are not tablelands but are
cut here and there by deep gorges. The hilly character of the county
adds to the difficulty of transportation. It is slow work for a wagon to
climb the steep ascent from the old city to the suburbs. The library
does not have its own service of wagons, but depends on the local
expresses. There are portions of the county with which there is no
regular system of communication by stage or express. It is in these
regions, more or less inaccessible, though not uninhabited, that the
authorities of the library have placed travelling libraries. Twelve of
these travelling libraries were sent out in March of this year. In each
library there are 62 or 63 books. New books were purchased for the
purpose, books of a character likely to interest the readers, the new
novels with a 40% sprinkling of the best classed literature. The
travelling libraries were arranged in three circuits of four each. Each
library containing 62 or 63 books, the four libraries in a circuit
contain 250 volumes. The books in circuit A are the same as those in
circuit B and as in circuit C. The libraries were placed with school
teachers. Right here a difficulty has arisen on account of the closing
of the schools for the summer. The country schools have rather long
vacations. Some of the teachers are willing to care for their libraries
during the summer and see that they are open to the patrons. Some are
not in a position to undertake this work. For the summer months there
has been a gathering of these 12 travelling libraries at less than 12
stations. The idea has been, in general, that one of these travelling
libraries should remain about six months at a station before it is moved
on.
The Public Library has also sent out 36 travelling libraries to the 36
fire companies of the city. Each of these smaller travelling libraries
contains 20 volumes and they have been moved more rapidly than the
larger travelling libraries sent to the remote parts of the county. The
deliveries to the delivery stations vary. With some there is a daily
delivery, with others triweekly, for a few twice a week and there are
two which have but one delivery a week.
There are a good many women's clubs in Hamilton County, Ohio. Last
winter we received programs from 37 of these clubs, and reading lists
were prepared on these programs by the cataloging department. A club
alcove was set aside and an attendant assigned to aid any of the members
of the clubs visiting the library for study on the papers which were to
be read. We have not attempted to send out selected lots of books for
the clubs in the suburban districts. Much better work can be done for
the readers if they will only come to the central library; and it
cripples the resources of the library to scatter its reference books far
and wide. We have sent such selected lots of books for limited periods
to the university for the use of the students and professors, but, in
general, for such reference work the policy has been to encourage the
use of the central library.
This brings me to the consideration of whether there is any advantage in
the system of county libraries. No very great expense is involved in a
journey from the most remote corner of Hamilton County to the central
library in the city. Those who are intent upon serious study can, in
most cases, make a journey of 15 or 20 miles. At the central library
with a concentration of financial resources there can but be a more
valuable collection of books. On the other hand, it is perfectly
feasible for the officers of the library to visit even the most remote
portions of the county and by personal interview estimate the character
of the people whom they have to serve; with the result of a more
intelligent distribution of books in the outlying districts. Serious
study is provided for at the central library, while desultory reading is
supplied through the delivery stations and travelling libraries.
Dr. STEINER: It seems to me that it depends somewhat upon your unit of
local government as to how much you need a county library. I should
think in Massachusetts or Connecticut the county library would be rather
an unfortunate enterprise, unless used in connection with the town
libraries. But in many of the southern states the county library is
going to be almost indispensable. With us the unit of local government
is the county, except in the case of the incorporated municipality.
There is a county in Maryland with 75,000 people without a single
municipality. The county commissioners attend to the minutest details of
administration in that county. It is manifestly unwise that the state
should take all the functions of the local library. But it seems that in
the states where we have no township system, or where the township
system is little developed, the county library is at present a
necessity.
Mr. DEWEY: How do you support the schools?
Dr. STEINER: By a county tax. We have school districts; but their only
function is to have district trustees, appointed by the county
commissioners, whose duty it is to take care of the school house and
appoint teachers. The taxes are raised by the county. It is the same in
other southern states, so far as I know.
W. T. PORTER: Mr. Hodges has said that the Public Library of Cincinnati
was a county library. Possibly that was a little misnomer, in that the
library still remains the Public Library of Cincinnati, but we have
extended the privileges of that library to the county at large. That was
done under act of legislature of 1898, continuing the board of trustees
of the public library in office, and then authorizing that board of
trustees to make a levy upon the county for the maintenance of the
library.
Miss STEARNS: How much of the county is embraced outside of the city of
Cincinnati?
Mr. PORTER: We have about 14 townships outside of Cincinnati township.
Our county is possibly 28 miles in extent.
Miss STEARNS: Then it is a small county that you supply?
Mr. PORTER: It is a small county, but the population is extensive. We
commenced the county delivery system in June, 1899. Up to the present,
and through the stations alone, there have been about 7500 new
registrations, and we are to-day, through our stations, carrying 20,000
books.
Mr. DEWEY: This question seems to be of a city library extending its
privileges. What I thought we were to talk about was whether the county
should be used as a library unit. That is quite a different matter.
Mr. GALBREATH: But in this case the county here is the unit, and is
taxed for the support of the library. There are no other public
libraries in the county.
Mr. DEWEY: But there is a different side to the question. Suppose you
take a rural community and establish a county library there? I think it
would be a great extravagance to maintain not only local libraries
throughout the state, but also county libraries; it is going to cost too
much.
Miss STEARNS: Would it not be better to have a central library?
Mr. PORTER: We have also in Ohio, something which approaches the county
idea, known as our Van Wert law. The state of Ohio, by an act,
authorized the county commissioners of any county to accept library
donations, funds, or building. Upon the acceptance of that donation the
county can be required to maintain a library within the building. In Van
Wert county, the Brumback Library building and grounds were given in
this way and the agreement was made with the county commissioners, that
they maintain thereafter a library.
Mr. DEWEY: Our question is not whether such libraries should exist or
can exist, but are they desirable?
Mr. HUSE: What is the use of asking questions that must be governed
entirely by local conditions? This matter must be governed by local
conditions.
Mr. BRIGHAM: We are trying a line of rural travelling libraries in three
counties of our state, in advance of any county or state legislation.
Miss Brown, of Lucas county, and myself, in correspondence, could see no
reason why a travelling library sent to Sheridan should not go on to
another point, and to another point, and so on, and then back to
Sheridan, back to me, and then after it had made its rounds, take
another start, and so on. We tried the plan and it has worked so well
that we are now trying it in two other counties. What the development
may be I do not know, but the satisfaction and the gratitude of the
people in the small towns it reaches is worth all it has cost of extra
effort.
Miss TYLER: The point of the plan is that the librarian of the
county-seat library is responsible for the travelling library. She
guards the books, watches over them and makes her library the point of
distribution. She distributes the books through the county, they come
back to her library for exchange, or are passed on to the next exchange,
whichever is most convenient; but they come under her direction.
Mr. DEWEY: Let me state the point as I understand it. We are all agreed
that we must have local libraries for the people. They can go from their
homes into the library and take the books into their hands. If they are
in the city almost every day they can utilize the large city library.
When it comes to the question of sending books by mail or express we are
all agreed that each state must have a state library and its own state
commission. The question is, Should there be an intermediary point
between a state library and the local library? It seems, at first
thought, that there should be, because you would have a shorter distance
to travel, but all commercial experience is against this. Manufacturers
are closing factories all the while and paying transportation, because
they can do their work more cheaply in one place. Thus, repair of books,
checking lists, and all that kind of work can be done under a single
executive at some central point in the state more cheaply than if there
was a library in each county. In Wisconsin, with 71 counties, you would
have 71 libraries and you would have to duplicate great quantities of
books. My experience indicates that we can do this work more cheaply and
more economically by putting the books under control of a central
library. As to the extra distance, very often the identical trains that
would take the books from a county seat would have brought them from the
capital as it went through, so that they would have been received almost
without delay. Is it going to pay to introduce a new ganglion--that is,
the county library?
Dr. STEINER: Take Baltimore county in Maryland. There is a county with
75,000 people; it has an electric lighting system, a police court, fire
engine houses; there are towns in that county of a thousand people.
There is no government in that county except the board of county
commissioners, who are as complete autocrats as the czar of Russia.
There is no municipality in the county; there is one town which has 5000
people. You must have a county library with a county administration,
because you cannot have anything but the county library; you cannot
discriminate between one part of the county and another. That library
must send books equally to all parts of the county; you cannot put it
where the great centers of the population are, because you cannot
deprive any citizen of the county of his right to draw books.
Mr. DEWEY: Of course, we are not discussing a peculiar condition such as
exists in Maryland.
Dr. STEINER: It is not a peculiar condition; it is the condition of at
least one-third of the United States.
Mr. GALBREATH: It seems to me that there is nothing peculiar about this
condition. Of course, it differs from conditions in the north, but it
includes a state government, to which the county is subordinate, and if
I understand Mr. Dewey, it is his purpose to do this work from the state
as a center, and the question he has raised is whether it is better to
do it from the county as a center, or from the state as a center. I
think that in our state it would be well to use the county as a center,
for a time at least. However, I believe that in our state "benevolent
neutrality"--to apply the term that Mr. Putnam used the other day--on
the part of the state librarian toward these matters would be more
effective than "benevolent assimilation," and we hope for much from the
county library system.
Mr. DEWEY: It is a question of what we should encourage. Is it wise to
do this work by the county unit or the state unit? It is largely an
economic question. How can you give the people the best reading for the
least amount of money?
R. P. HAYES: In North Carolina we have practically nothing in the
library field and the question is, shall we try for county library
development or state library development? I would like to get some
definite word on that.
Dr. STEINER: It seems to me we should try distinctly for county
libraries. In the southern states at least there is no question about
it; you have got to have county libraries. I started with the idea of
the local township libraries, but we must wait until we have a township.
My idea is, in any county wherein there are no incorporated
municipalities or where the incorporated municipalities do not care to
support libraries, the county library is the proper thing. In the south
the county takes the place of the town in New England; it is the taxing
unit, the unit in which all the local administration is carried on.
Mr. HUSE: It seems to me that for the south, as stated by the gentlemen
here from Maryland and from North Carolina, the county system is very
probably the best one; but in New England we could not work by a county
unit, any more than the people of North Carolina and even further down
south could run a toboggan slide nine months in the year--they would not
have the ice; we haven't the counties. At least, we have the counties,
but they are of no importance to us except to have court houses, and
courts of justice. Now, each state must solve this problem according to
its own conditions and according to the desires and enthusiasm of its
own workers. The gentleman from Maryland, I haven't any doubt, will soon
have the county system operating fully and successfully in his state,
and the same will be true in North Carolina and throughout the south;
whereas in New England it won't be done because the county is not a
unit. In Wisconsin and New York, Mr. Dewey and Mr. Hutchins, and the men
and women who know more than they do, will run the library system
safely; whether it is state or county. But we cannot adopt any general
rule or take any general expression of opinion, for the people in each
state must work out their own salvation according to their own
condition.
Mr. DEWEY: There are a number of other topics that have been specially
asked for.
Can state commissions provide travelling libraries for hamlets which
furnish the money, and make such hamlets travelling library stations?
Mr. HUTCHINS: I wish to say a few words on that question. All through
Wisconsin, when we started travelling libraries, some people found that
there was a chance to make money by using the idea in a commercial way.
They went to communities which had heard of the travelling libraries,
raised $150 or so for "subscription" and then sent about ten dollars'
worth of books once in six months. Now, the plan we have worked out may
be best described by this illustration: about a year ago Miss Stearns
heard that there was a little hamlet of fishermen far up in the state on
a point which juts out into Lake Michigan. It included about a hundred
people who had heard of the travelling libraries, but they did not want
to be indebted for a gift or a charity, and so they had a series of
entertainments, and raised fifty dollars. They sent the money down to us
and we agreed to buy a library in their name. That library was the
contribution of the fishermen of the hamlet of Jacksonport, and the
hamlet was made a travelling library station. You can see how such a
method works out. The second point is, that in communities where there
are a hundred people or so, and conditions are favorable, we offer to
give them travelling libraries on condition that they establish
permanent public libraries on lines that are satisfactory to us. We take
care of the travelling libraries and they take care of the local
libraries.
It seems to me, that in this method we have struck finally the correct
principle, the principle of self-support. The state takes the money and
gives trained service in the selection of the books, in taking care of
them, and in keeping the books travelling around their circuit. The
citizens pay for their books, and have the feeling that they belong to
an organization. More than all, when they are collecting their library
fund, giving their little "dime socials," contributing two dollars or
five dollars apiece, they are advertising that library, and it seems to
me that the library that is coming to them that way means far more than
the library that is given to them as a charity.
Mr. GALBREATH: Mr. Hutchins, how often do the communities raise that
fifty dollars?
Mr. HUTCHINS: They raise fifty dollars once, and for that the state
engages to send them libraries during the life of the library given by
them, which we estimate to be about six years.
Mr. DEWEY: What shall be the unit of circulation--the cataloged library
or the single book or combination?
Mr. BRIGHAM: We have tried both in Iowa. One of the twins is growing
faster than the other, and of course that is the hopeful one.
Mr. DEWEY: Which one is that?
Mr. BRIGHAM: That is the individual, or the single book as the unit,
rather than the travelling library; but I believe that the shelf-listed
library will always exist. The shelf-listed library of 50 or 25 books
must be a necessity in the communities where there are no libraries, and
I am sorry to say that there are a great many communities of that sort;
but the communities in which there are libraries are increasing, and
wherever there is a local library, or wherever there is a woman's club,
there the single book can be used to the best advantage. There are
disadvantages in the use of the shelf-listed library. Before we adopted
the new system, we often had requests for library no. 38 or no. 53, and
later found that the request arose from the fact that there was a single
book, or perhaps two books in that library, that some one wanted, while
the rest of the volumes would come back comparatively unused. That was
not good business economy. We might better have sent those two books,
and I became more and more impressed with this fact, and was finally
able to partially adopt the other plan. We have now perhaps 2000 books
on our shelves that are issued separately; but we have nearly 5000 tied
up in libraries. Both classes are in use, but the expense to the local
library of getting our collection of 50 books for the sake of using
perhaps two volumes is unnecessary. I am more and more impressed with
the fact--though the remark may be unorthodox--that there is prevalent a
little fad for spending money for administration, and spending it not
always economically. I believe in spending money freely for
administration that is approved by good common sense; beyond that it is
a woful waste of money. And so I would keep the use of the single book
in mind. The women's clubs as you know, are studying more and more, and
are doing less and less miscellaneous reading. Suppose we are trying to
meet the wants of the women's clubs. We put up a library covering the
Victorian period in literature, and we find that some one wants a
certain number of books on the lake poets. What is the use of sending
the entire library? We may have a library made up on the lake poets.
Then, suppose one librarian or one secretary writes for what we may have
on Coleridge, another wishes material on Wordsworth. Why not send the
Coleridge books to the one, and the Wordsworth books to the other? In
that way, make the books count. We should not be penurious in the matter
of expenditure for cases or for printing, or for any other working
tools, but we should always keep in mind that the essential thing is the
book, and if we can get on without the book case, or without the cover
that envelops it, or without the shipping case, or without the
combination book case and shipping case, all the better. We cannot get
along without them altogether, but we can send small packages all over
the state wrapped in paper, and can get rid of a great deal of expense.
Mr. DEWEY: When you send ten books, of course send them in paper, but
when you send 50 or 100, send them in boxes; that is cheaper. This is a
mere shipping question.
Adjourned.
WORK OF STATE LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONS AND WOMEN'S CLUBS IN ADVANCING
LIBRARY INTERESTS: ROUND TABLE MEETING.
The work that can be done by state library associations and women's
clubs to advance library interests was considered in a "round table"
meeting, held in the assembly room, Fountain Spring House, on the
morning of Wednesday, July 10. Miss MARILLA WAITE FREEMAN presided as
chairman.
Miss FREEMAN: At the Montreal conference last year a round table meeting
of officers of state library associations was held for the discussion of
questions affecting association work. Certain subjects, some of which
were informally discussed at that time, seem naturally to invite our
attention at the present session. We are to consider the object and
functions of state library associations--whether they should attempt
other lines of effort than the holding of a general meeting; what
principles as to time and place of meeting, topics, and participants
should govern the preparation of a program. With this general subject
has been joined the allied topic of the work of women's clubs in
advancing library interests. Few of us fully comprehend even yet the
amount of effective library extension work which has been and is being
accomplished by club women in almost every state of the Union. I have
asked representative members from some of the states which have been
working along these lines to tell us of their work. We shall hear first
from Mr. J. C. Dana, of the City Library, Springfield, Mass., the
Western Massachusetts Club, and the Massachusetts Library Club, on