=WORK WITH CHILDREN.=
The proper age for a child to become a patron of the library is the age
when he has the inclination to visit the library, possibly with older
brothers and sisters, to look at picture books, hear stories told, and
in case he is too young to be responsible for a borrower’s card,
occasionally to induce the older brothers and sisters to take home a
book for his use. A child’s first reading is by means of pictures and
his first introduction to literature through stories told or read
aloud, and even as early as the picture book period the library has the
responsibility of supplying the child’s need and desire for experience
through books and of developing his taste by putting before him the
best. The child who grows up with the library will be a more
intelligent and appreciative user of the adult department than he would
be had he grown up without the library.
The children should have a place of their own where they can find that
which is for them, be somewhat out of the way of adult patrons and feel
a sense of ownership, feel that some part of the library belongs to
them.
In the small library, if a separate children’s room is not a
possibility, let there be at least a corner fitted up as the children’s
domain. Let it be made attractive for them. If possible, have the
shelving lower than ordinary, or perhaps the regulation height with the
two upper shelves boarded up and covered with cork carpet, making a
frieze on which can be posted temporary sets of pictures. A frieze
space can be utilized in a number of ways. By all means have at least
one low table with chairs to correspond; the ideal way is to have two
heights of tables,—about 23 and 27 inches with chairs 13 and 15 inches
in height. Low racks for picture books and the magazines for children
are convenient and attractive. A space for picture bulletins or
illustrated reading lists is useful as a means of attracting attention
to fresh interest in reading, to material on popular subjects, or to
neglected classes of books. If framed pictures can be afforded, there
are good prints, lithographs and photographs which, if carefully
chosen, can be both decorative and educational from the standpoint of
art, as well as pleasing in themselves to the children. There should
be, if possible, at least one picture or reproduction of sculpture
representing a work of art of permanent value.
The books for the youngest children represent a distinct class of
reading and should be separated from the others in order that the
little children need not search through the whole collection to find
their own. It is best to shelve this collection near the picture books
on the one hand and the fairy tales on the other, thus allowing the
children to find the next step at hand.
=Rules.=—It should be remembered that rules and discipline are for the
moral benefit of the children even more than for the protection of the
library and it is wise to make rules only as they are found necessary,
but once made, let them be enforced. The key note of successful
discipline is sympathy with child nature. Through personal, persistent
work a desired atmosphere of order becomes to a great extent
established and obedience to unwritten laws a habit, although each
individual case requiring discipline may require individual treatment,
children being individuals. Problems of racial temperament and social
education, depending on the classes of society with which one is
dealing, enter largely into all phases of library work. One working
with children has many opportunities to become an influence for good in
their lives by way of little courtesies and obedience to laws of order
and fairness, which are taught as a matter of course.
Rules governing fines for overdue and damaged books must be decided
according to the policy of individual libraries. It is not good for
children to feel that a fine can be outlawed; better remit it for
sufficient reasons or try the plan of allowing them, in certain cases,
to work out the fine,—a plan which has been found satisfactory in some
libraries. A damaged book should never be passed without notice.
=Books for children.=—The great purpose of library work with children
is to attract the children to books: satisfying individual needs and
demands, and guiding their reading. Hence, the two most important
requisites for the children’s librarian are a knowledge of children and
of books, and if there is but one thing she can do by way of
preparation for this work, let it be that of becoming acquainted with a
few children’s books representative of various types. Nothing can take
the place of first hand knowledge of the books and of intelligence in
placing the right book in the hands of the right child at the right
time.
To be capable of guiding the reading of children it is necessary for
one, first, to have appreciation and discernment in adult literature,
second, to gain the child’s point of view. The various printed book
lists are helpful, but the librarian should depend upon her own
judgment as final critic in the selection of books for her children’s
collection. She must realize the qualities essential to particular
classes of books, such as history, and biography, science, travel,
fiction, and the qualities which make them suitable for children. In
the matter of books of science, etc., it is always best to obtain the
judgment of some authority in this line as to their accuracy. As to
their suitability for children in presentation,—simplicity of
treatment and interest of style,—the worker with children is still the
best judge. The story style of presenting science is, as a general
thing, of little use. Children can take their informative reading in a
straightforward way. Nothing is more disappointing to them than to take
a book for the sake of the story and find that it is only information
with a story covering, or to search for some definite information and
be constantly hindered by the narrative.
As to the real literature for children, or the story, perhaps there is
no surer way of gaining discrimination than by reading some of the
classics for children and some of the standard fiction; e. g., a few of
the old favorite folk tales, myths, and such adaptations for children
as Marvin’s Adventures of Odysseus and French’s Heroes of Iceland;
books of fiction such as Pyle’s Men of Iron, Kipling’s Captains
Courageous, Spyri’s Heidi. The children’s collection should be kept
well rounded and should contain a fair proportion of good poetry,
chosen from various standpoints: all that is childlike in subject and
form, much that is beyond the average child but appreciated by the
unusual one,—poetry chosen for beauty of sound or charm of movement.
=Work with Schools.=—The library must keep pace with the course
of study in the schools and develop its school reference work
with teachers and pupils by proving its helpfulness. The adult
collection will always be found an important help in reference work.
The duplication of certain titles to meet the school demand for
supplementary reading should be made only as far as is possible without
injustice to the children’s room collection as a whole.
The lending of sets of books for class room libraries is best begun
with schools at a distance too great for the children to walk to the
library to get their books. These collections are made up of about
fifty books, not text books nor required supplementary reading, but
books following the line of certain parts of the school work and books
of imaginative reading. A simple method is usually devised for
statistics of circulation, such as a large card for each book on which
is written the name of the child who is reading the book.
=Story Hours.=—The story hour is an ideal way of presenting the
classic literature. If there is plenty of time for story hours and for
proper preparation, a satisfactory division of children and of
literature is to invite the younger children to hear the folk tales and
other literature suited to their age, but not to have an age limit
excluding older children who would enjoy coming and perhaps have never
heard these stories; the children of ten years and over being invited
to hear Greek and Norse myths and cycles, such as the sagas, the
mediaeval legends, ballads, stories from Homer, etc., and miscellaneous
stories suited to their age. The stories which come to us from the folk
literature and other classic sources are to a great extent universal in
interest and appeal to all classes and nationalities of children.
One story hour per week is often as much as the small library has time
for and no story hour at all is preferable to the telling of stories
poorly prepared, or told by one without appreciation. Poetry hours and
clubs for reading, debating, travel study, etc., are important methods
of interesting, inspiring and guiding children. The love of poetry may
be kept alive by giving it orally and for pure joy in the story hour,
reading circles or occasional readings to small groups.
Visits to the homes of the children for one reason or another, and
visits to the school rooms to tell stories, to remind the children of
the library, or merely to show an interest in the work of the different
grades, will prove fruitful in many ways. Short printed lists of books
on different subjects are useful in suggesting new lines of reading to
children.
It is the privilege of the librarian to enrich the lives of her
youthful patrons. There are compensations for those in charge of small
libraries, where a trained children’s librarian cannot be afforded, in
opportunities for a greater share in the joy of working with the
receptive thought of the child, while the work with parents and
teachers as well gives deeper insight into the sympathy for the needs
of the children.