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at least, of the work of the public schools is to create these higher conditions to develop its citizens, the state favors the public-school system. It sees in that system great constructive power, which may not wisely nor safely be ignored.

The conditions of a free and stable government are only to be found in a social life that is free and harmonious. We sometimes forget that society precedes the state, that the state is based upon society, and that civil life finds the excuse for its existence in the service which it renders social life. When social life is marked and marred by narrowness and ignorance and petty divisions and ignoble strife, it is impossible that the government shall long remain either stable or free. General intelligence and general wisdom, not with the few, but among the mass of the people, lie at the very threshold of all effective social harmony.

Intelligence is the basis, and the only sound basis, of all industry. Some men are constantly assenting to the contrary and are talking about pupils being educated beyond labor, of the schools which breed a distaste for labor. But the undeniable fact is that an ignorant community is rarely an industrious community; while, on the contrary, industry and effective industry was never as widespread and as universal as it is today, with a schoolhouse with wide-open door standing within easy reach of every home in seventy-five millions of people. An ignorant people stumbling upon the conditions of life in America today could not possibly meet those conditions nor improve those opportunities. Only a highly intelligent people can and will be effectively industrious.

Last because of the necessary limits upon the length of this paper, and not because the subject is exhausted - public education is a continual and effective force in uniting society. In countries where education is left to private enterprise and can be secured only by private expenditure, education is that which withdraws a man from his fellows, which separates him from the mass of men, which takes him out of the world as one who would live apart a force which divides society. Wherever education is a function of the state, as it is in all democratic countries, there is a continual tendency to bring the results of training to the service of all; to make culture a thing for the forum and the marketplace, rather than for the cloister; to throw off cap and gown and stand in apron and shirt sleeves ready for work. There is no force today in this country working so powerfully for the unity of all people as the public schools.

The maintenance of a public library at public expense can be justified upon precisely the same grounds as those which have been presented for the maintenance of the public schools, and hardly upon any other ground. Certainly these are sufficient grounds, and afford an entirely competent. and satisfactory answer to those who may ask us for the reason for our faith.

The American system of free public education, therefore, consists of the public schools and the public libraries. The entire wisdom of this statement is seen when we remember that the average American child receives but five years' schooling. This is the narrow portal thru which men and women must enter upon life, public and private, in this country. It is absolutely essential, therefore, that the public libraries supplement the work of the public schools along precisely the lines indicated above.

This being true, there is pressing need that the officers and workers in both these sections come into helpful and efficient understanding of this common system, and see what can be accomplished by hearty and intelligent co-operation therein. The directors of public schools and the directors of public libraries should be in close touch with each other. It would be exceedingly helpful if in appointments and elections this matter were kept so closely in mind as to insure at least one or two directors common to both the schools and the libraries. It would then be possible to report in the meeting of one board the purposes and plans of the other. The board of directors of every public library should have a subcommittee on the relations of the library to public-school work, and every school board should have a subcommittee on public libraries, charged with the duty of frequent conferences and co-operation with the library authorities.

The teachers in the public schools, and the officers and other workers in public libraries, should confer frequently concerning their common work.

Those in charge of public libraries ought to make large and generous provision for (1) the teachers as expert workmen on special lines. The school authorities will, of course, supply standard reference-books such as are needed daily by both teacher and pupil; but the public library should undertake to supply the teacher with many books which she cannot be expected to purchase for herself. Some of these will be selected on the request of the teacher, some on request of the school board, many because of the interest and intelligence and expertness of the librarian. (2) For the immediate work of the child. There is much—not too much-collateral reading that can be carried by the children of the schools with profit and without overstraining. The administration of a public library will keep in close and constant touch with the work and grades and classes of the public schools, and will see that books which are tempting and helpful are within easy reach of the children. (3) Provision will be made for the work of the child after leaving school-projected along much the same lines as those set forth in the curriculum itself. As an illustration: it ought not to be difficult to maintain the interest and direct the reading of a child who has left the public schools just as he begins to take an interest in the history of his own country or in that of other lands, or has secured a smattering of the three fundamental sciences, or

has learned to read with pleasure a few masterpieces. If there has been practical and efficient co-operation between the teacher and the library up to the time of the withdrawal of the child from the school, such pupil will turn readily and eagerly to the library as furnishing incentive and opportunity to continue this work.

School authorities and teachers should give especial attention to the library work of children, and should endeavor to interest them in the public library as an institution which can minister very effectively to their later growth and enjoyment. This may be accomplished in several ways: 1. Reference libraries should be established by the school authorities in the school buildings, and pupils should be taught how to use these readily and efficiently.

2. For supplemental or other reading the child should always be directed to the public library. It is a mistake to create special or branch libraries within the school buildings. These are only convenient while the pupil is attending school, and they tend constantly to withdraw the pupil from what we know as "the library atmosphere." It was Lowell who said the foundation of his literary life was laid in his father's library "the smell of the leather," as he called it. It is of great value to a child to be daily impressed by the size of the library, even tho at first this leaves him with confused ideas; to feel the magnitude of literature and the vastness of its extent, by the number of books which he sees on every hand. The branch library gives the pupil little, if any, acquaintance with the public library as such, and leaves him practically a stranger in the place where he ought to feel most entirely at home.

Every public school ought to have in a prominent place a bulletin board, giving the location and the name of the nearest public library, its hours, and a brief statement of its privileges, and the way to secure these, and the name of the librarian. Beneath this there should be room for notices from the library, special lists of books, and other information which will be tempting and helpful to both teacher and pupil.

3. Teachers should urge those children who must drop out of school to continue reading on different lines, the teacher herself continuing personal and helpful relations as long as possible. I have heard of one teacher who maintained these relations with quite a number of more than willing pupils for more than ten years after the pupils had necessarily withdrawn from the school, in each case finding ample reward in the larger and happier and more intelligent life, and in the warm affection which sprang from a recognition of this unusual thoughtfulness and consideration.

Much that has been suggested is not new to either teachers or librarians. Yet it is unquestionably true that of thoughtful, intelligent, and effective co-operation we have had all too little thus far. In a certain sense the public libraries are of even more recent growth than the public

schools. Of the possibilities of each, and especially of the two combined, we have as yet but slight realization. Yet we are all beginning to understand that they constitute the two most potent factors in the future of this country. Of this we are assured given, a generation of children who understand the place and value of the public library, and there will be no question as to intelligent and effective citizenship.

DISCUSSION

F. M. CRUNDEN, St. Louis, Mo.-While it will not be possible for some time to come to have branch libraries as numerous as is desirable thru the different parts of a large city, they are the final solution of public-library work for the great mass of the people. It is not possible to render the best service with all the books housed in one central building, nor do I think that a branch library in a schoolhouse solves the problem. This makes the library savor too much of the school library, and its benefits will not be sought by the people who have finished, what we are accustomed to call, school life. Children should be early taught to look on the public library as not only a source of helpfulness open to them in their school days, but also an advantage of which they may avail themselves in after-life. This they will do, if the library be placed in the school buildings.

MR. BUCK, St. Louis, Mo.-It seems to me that the reading of the school children, particularly in the upper grades, should receive more careful oversight than is now given. I make it a rule to choose books of different classes of authors, and put them in the hands of my students to teach them to read, and to read intelligently. We meet once a week to review the contents of the book under discussion, and try to make an interesting exercise that will be helpful, without giving marks for the work. The second-year class in English literature should read Thackeray, Scott, Kingsley, and Dickens intelligently and enjoyably. This they will do, if they have been started properly in the first place, and the love of good literature installed.

WHAT THE NORMAL SCHOOLS CAN DO FOR TEACHERS ON THE LIBRARY SIDE

MISS IRENE WARREN, LIBRARIAN OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

One who studies the history of schools and libraries will find much that is analogous. Educators call this the age of the child, in contrast with the early efforts to reach only the mature student. The youngest generation of librarians can plainly recall glaring signs posted on more than one library door: "Children unaccompanied by parents not allowed in this building."

Our fathers tell us of the days when a town of considerable size was considered quite fortunate to have one school building, while today a town of the same size believes five or six schools, at least, a necessity. The public libraries, only a half-century old, are beginning to feel a similar

need of expanding, and are establishing delivery stations and branch reading-rooms in various parts of our cities.

The public library, like the public school, has come to believe that the hope of the future lies in the education of the child. The modern progressive public library has dedicated a room to the children. Nor is it a room in some dark basement corner, but a large, bright room, with plenty of light and air, attractive pictures on the walls, low bookshelves filled with carefully selected and beautifully illustrated books, and an attendant specially trained for work with the children. This year the American Library Association held the first meeting of a section formed for the purpose of studying the child's needs.

A careful examination of the many papers and discussions on the co-operation between libraries and schools, from both teachers and librarians, would lead to the conclusion that the majority in both professions believe that a closer relationship is to be desired.

Those who have thoughtfully considered the experiments of the teachers and librarians in furnishing literature to the children have drawn one general inference: that the teachers seem to be much better acquainted with the children and the librarians with the books. Each, feeling the need, has set to work, often without the aid of the other, and the result is that we find work attempted by the teachers which could be done much more economically by the librarians, and vice versa. Has not sufficient interest been aroused and preliminary experimental work been done to enable us now to consider some systematic division of labor?

There are two institutions around which community life naturally groups itself: the public school and the public library. A very large per cent. of the children leave school before the age of twelve. It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that they should know where to obtain. reading and guidance after their school period is ended.

No one outside of the home ever enters as intimately into the life of the child as does the teacher. The child is compelled to go to school a certain number of hours a day for a given number of years. He goes to the library when he chooses. Therefore we look to the teacher to inspire in him a taste for good reading, and to train him in an economical use of books. It is the librarian's duty and privilege to prepare the material for the teacher's use, and to be ready to take up the work with the child when he leaves the school for the day, the vacation, or for all time. If the preceding propositions be accepted, it is obvious that the teacher should receive training in the use of books and libraries. Two years ago this section, in a pamphlet sent broadcast to librarians and educators, recommended that every normal school and school having to do with the training of teachers offer such a course.

It seems logical to suppose that the best appreciation of such work, from both the teacher's and the librarian's standpoint, is to be found in

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