LIBRARY DEPARTMENT SECRETARY'S MINUTES OFFICERS President-MARY E. HALL, librarian, Girls High School Vice-President-JAMES V. STURGES, principal, State Normal School Brooklyn, N.Y. .....St. Louis, Mo. FIRST SESSION-MONDAY FORENOON, JULY 7, 1913 The meeting of the Library Department was called to order in Unity Hall, Salt Lake City, by the president. In the absence of the secretary, Elizabeth C. Smith, librarian, Utah Agricultural College, Logan, Utah, was appointed secretary pro tempore. After a few words of welcome Howard R. Driggs, library secretary, state board of education, Salt Lake City, Utah, spoke on the topic, "Connecting the Public Schools with the Public Library." James F. Hosic, head of the English department, Chicago Normal College, Chicago, Ill., then read a paper on "The Conduct of a Course in Literature for Children." “The Library Hour in the School" was the subject of a paper read by Harriet A. Wood, school librarian, Library Association, Portland, Ore. This paper was discussed by Joanna H. Sprague, public library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Miss Wood then conducted a "book symposium" on "Notable Recent Books for Children." The books on exhibition were discussed by the following persons: Frances Jenkins, supervisor of elementary grades, public schools, Decatur, Ill.; Jessie Goddard, head of the English department, Lincoln High School, Portland, Ore.; Howard R. Driggs, library secretary, state board of education, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Lucile F. Fargo, North Central High School, Spokane, Wash. Two committees were appointed by the president as follows: COMMITTEE ON NOMINATIONS Howard R. Driggs, library secretary, state board of education, Salt Lake City, Utah. Esther Nelson, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Joanna H. Sprague, public library, Salt Lake City, Utah. COMMITTEE ON RESOLUTIONS Harriet A. Wood, public library, Portland, Ore. Lucile F. Fargo, North Central High School, Spokane, Wash. The meeting then adjourned. SECOND SESSION-WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, JULY 9, 1913 The department met in joint session with the Department of Rural and Agricultural Education. The meeting was called to order in the First Presbyterian Church by E. C. Bishop, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa. O. S. Rice, state library clerk for Wisconsin, Madison, Wis., read a paper on "RuralSchool Libraries: Their Needs and Possibilities." A paper on "The Influence of the Agricultural College on the Farmer's Use of Books" was presented by William M. Hepburn, Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind. This paper was read by Anna Price, of Lincoln, Nebr. "Libraries for Rural Communities" was the subject of an address by Philander P. Claxton, United States commissioner of education, Washington, D.C. This topic was discussed by E. M. Phillips, state commissioner of rural schools, St. Paul, Minn., Arthur C. Monahan, Bureau of Education, Washington, D.C., and others. Meeting adjourned. ELIZABETH C. SMITH, Secretary pro tempore THIRD SESSION-FRIDAY FORENOON, JULY 11, 1913 ROUND-TABLE CONFERENCE The meeting was called to order in Unity Hall by the president. Esther Nelson, librarian of the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, was appointed secretary pro tempore. Ida M. Mendenhall, library school, New York Public Library, New York, N.Y., chairman of the Committee on Normal-School Libraries, presented the report of that committee. This report was discussed by W. J. Hawkins, president of the Normal School, Warrensburg, Mo. Mr. Hawkins offered a resolution that the report be accepted and that copies of it be printed by the National Education Association and distributed to all normal schools. The resolution was unanimously adopted. Lucile F. Fargo, librarian, North Central High School, Spokane, Wash., read a paper on "Training High-School Students in the Use of the Library." A general discussion followed this paper. The nominating committee reported as follows: For President-Willis H. Kerr, librarian, State Normal School, Emporia, Kans. For Vice-President-Philander P. Claxton, United States commissioner of education, Washington, D.C. For Secretary-Harriet A. Wood, public library, Portland, Ore. The report was unanimously accepted and the officers declared elected. The Committee on Resolutions presented the following report, which was adopted and placed on file: Resolved, That the thanks of the Library Section are hereby tendered to Esther Nelson and the other members of the local committee for their many courtesies and cordial entertainment of the members of the Library Department. Resolved, That we express our appreciation of the exhibit materials so generously lent or given by the League of Library Commissions, public libraries, high-school and normal-school libraries, and so carefully arranged and explained by Joanna H. Sprague, chairman of the local exhibit committee. Resolved, That we extend our thanks to the presidents of the Normal and Rural and Agricultural Departments for co-operating so heartily in joint sessions and for the admission of library topics on their programs. Resolved, That this department deplores the present frequent appearance of slovenly written and carelessly edited children's books, and recommends to authors, editors, and publishers more careful consideration of the following points: a) Such simplicity of diction as will put the books within easy grasp of the children for whom they are written. b) Accuracy and simplicity of sentence structure. c) In general, the use of such beautiful, accurate, and appropriate language as will aid, rather than hinder, the boys and girls of this country in the formation of a correct literary taste. Your committee also makes the following recommendations: 1. That a committee on rural-school libraries be appointed by the incoming president. 2. That the Library Department hold a session at the midwinter meeting of the Department of Superintendence, or be represented on the program of the Department of Superintendence by a speaker. 3. That the Committee on Resolutions of the National Education Association be requested to include definitely in their resolutions the idea of the library as an educational instrumentality. The meeting then adjourned. ESTHER NELSON, Secretary pro tempore PAPERS AND DISCUSSIONS CONNECTING THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITH THE PUBLIC LIBRARY HOWARD R. DRIGGS, LIBRARY SECRETARY, STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH A public library is bounded by its reading circle. Its influence is to be measured by the number and character of those who use it. The chief business of the library is to widen that reading circle, to cultivate among its patrons the right book habits. The surest way for any library to broaden its influence, the quickest way for it to develop in the community the proper reading-habits, is to blend its work closely with the schools. The great problem before the library workers now is: How can we best establish the connection between the two institutions? The first thing necessary is to make the school people face the problem squarely. They have never yet done so. Teachers must be brought to realize that their duty is not half done when they have merely taught the child how to read. It is their business to train in him a discriminating love of good books. No teacher should be permitted to teach till she has taken a course that gives her such an acquaintance with children's books as will enable her to direct wisely the reading-habits of her pupils. The library must become an integral part of the public-school system. The movement to make our schools social centers, to equip them with reading-rooms, gymnasiums, and other means of recreational and social uplift, is rapidly sweeping over the country. We must adjust our work to meet the demands of progress. I dream of a time when every school will either maintain a public library or contain a branch of one, when every school board will purchase regularly all the supplemental reading-books needed by boys and girls, when every teacher will be an assistant librarian and every librarian a teacher-librarian, when every elementary school, high school, and college will give courses that train boys and girls to use a library intelligently, when every community will have efficient book leaders to direct the reading-habits of both parents and children. In Utah the law places the public library and the public schools under one head. The library is thereby recognized legally as an integral part of the public-school system. The Utah library laws provide: 1. That the state board of education shall also be the library commission of the state, and shall have power to appoint a library secretary, library organizers, and such other assistants as may be needed to carry forward the work. 2. That any state or town may establish a library and levy a tax to maintain it. 3. That every school district, except those of cities of the first and second class, must spend fifteen cents per capita for children within school age for the purchase of library books chosen under the direction of the state board of education. 4. That any school board may open the school library to the public under such regulations as the board may prescribe. 5. That the school district and the city may co-operate in maintaining a public library and bear the expense between them. As an effect of the example thus set by the state, most of our communities are working out the problem of close correlation between the public library and the public schools in the same way. The board of trustees usually includes the school officers. An even closer connection of the library and the schools has been effected in some communities which have adopted the plan of the co-operative library. The school board in such places pays part of the expenses, or provides a room, or regularly expends its library fund for books, and supplies the library with them. This provision for the co-operative library has made possible a public library in even the smallest of our incorporated towns. The closest correlation between the library and the school, however, is to be found in the school public library. This type of library, as its name indicates, is simply a school library opened under certain regulations to the public. Several distinctive advantages have come from this plan. It extends the influence of the school thru providing for directed reading during the vacation period, it connects the home more closely with the school by distributing books among the patrons, it takes the place of the traveling library, which, because of the peculiar geography of our state, was always difficult to distribute, and it enables every hamlet to have the advantages of the library. Many very effective school libraries are now in operation. An effort is now being made to train teacher-librarians to take charge of them. The hope and promise is that within a very few years every city, town, and hamlet in our state will be provided with a library of one of these three types, the municipal library, the co-operative library, or the school public library. But whatever the type, the library will be developed in close connection with the public schools. This we feel is absolutely essential to its fullest success. THE CONDUCT OF A COURSE IN LITERATURE FOR CHILDREN JAMES FLEMING HOSIC, HEAD OF THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT, For a number of years it has been my privilege to give to teachers in training, teachers in service, and parents in their clubs a course in the choice, adaptation, and presenting of children's literature. In fact, I may fairly claim to be one of the pioneers in this field, particularly as regards emphasis upon the sources from which reading for the immature should be drawn. What I have to say, therefore, will be based directly upon experience, and, while not new, may at least serve to enforce certain principles which can hardly be given too great weight and importance. |