The library, the school and the child

Front matter

DATE DUE

NOV 1 7

MAR

Preface

In the following chapters an attempt is made to set forth the various ways in which children are being supplied with books through the instrumentality of libraries. The subject falls naturally into well-marked divisions. The first five chapters deal with the work of the public library for children, first, as public school pupils, and, secondly, as children. The remainder of the book treats of the efforts of the state to provide books for the young through school libraries.

Since both movements began in the United States, and since that nation stands out so prominently in its advanced educational methods and liberal expenditures for both library and school purposes, a considerable part of the book refers to United States conditions. The Province of Ontario also receives a large share of attention, educational affairs in this province being of great interest to the writer.

The various topics are dealt with, first, historically, then in their present-day relations, an effort having been made to bring the facts as nearly up-to-date as possible. The greater part of the material for this thesis was obtained from the files of various library and educational journals, from reports and pamphlets, and from personal correspondence. The writer gratefully acknowledges his indebtedness to a large number of librarians and educational officials throughout the United States, Great Bri-

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PREFACE tain, and Canada, for their painstaking replies to his many inquiries. Thanks are also due Mr. J. D. Barnett for the free use of his large and valuable library and for much timely advice. Mr. A. E. Bostwick's Library and School, and American Public Library, and Mr. Berwick Sayers's Children's Library, were found particularly helpful. The illustrations of children's rooms and other activities have been inserted by the kind permission of the libraries concerned, Stratford, Canada, June, 1917.

Chapter I

Aims and tendencies of the school — social — practical — pedagogical— Library development — the new aim of the library — library and school complementary — Charles Francis Adams' addess — W. E. Foster's plan — S. S. Green at Worcester — the spread of co-operation — efforts of educational bodies.

CHAPTER II Class-room Libraries - - - - - -19

The Buffalo system — details of the plan — advantages — Cleveland— branches in schools — Newark's plan for co-operation — Chicago — libraries in factories — Denver — vacation lists — St. Louis — books for reading lessons in schools.

CHAPTER III Other Methods of Co-operation - 40

Lessons in the use of the library — the library game — books as tools — book-lists — picture collecting — lantern slides — works of art — museums — interesting the teacher in library work — the supervisor of the school department — Sunday school libraries.

vii vm

CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV The Child and the Library ----- 48

Admission of the child to the library — history of the movement— Pawtucket — Hartford — Miss Hanaway's work in New York — Brookline — Milwaukee — Denver — a modern children's room — results achieved — the children's room versus class room libraries — the story hour— its basis — its origin — the story teller — lists of storks — use of the moving picture and phonograph in the story hour — reading clubs — home libraries — the juvenile court — co-operation with mothers — the library and the supervised play-ground — the Boy Scouts and the library— vocational guidance of the young.

CHAPTER V Canadian Libraries -c ------ 80

St. Thomas a pioneer in school work — attitude of the O. L. A. — attitude of the O. E. A. — first children's department at Sarnia — present condition in various Canadian towns and cities — Toronto —Hamilton — London — Brantford — Kitchener — Sarnia — Fort William— Ottawa — Niagara Falls — Guelph — Chatham — Stratford — Collingwood — Sault Ste. Marie — Windsor — Peterborough — Brockville — Gait — Whitby — Victoria — Calgary — Regina — Winnipeg—Westmount — St. John.

CPIAPTER VI

School Libraries in the United States - -97

New York state libraries of 1835 — other states that followed — permissive, conditional and compulsory laws — the Wisconsin law -—Minnesota — "library day" — reading circles for young people — the library commission — rural extension — the California county library law— Oregon county library — the Iowa township system — Washington county library, Maryland — the book wagon.

CHAPTER VII Early School Libraries in Ontario - - - - 117

Dr. Ryerson's work— state of education in Upper Canada — first library law of Upper Canada, 1850 — the People's Depository —steps taken to procure books — first books sent to the schools, 1853 — conditions of purchase — first official catalogue — the character of the books — prizes — attitude of the people to the scheme — opposition to the Depository — its abolition in 1881 — distribution of the stock — summary of its transactions — comparison between Ryerson's libraries and the New York libraries — causes of failure— reminiscences.

CONTENTS

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CHAPTER VIII Ontario School Libraries of the Present - - 138

Progress since 1881 — changes in the law — present statistics — the Departmental catalogue — inquiries into the nature of the present school libraries — defects in selection — lack of uniformity — lack of picture books, agricultural books, reference books and magazines — two sample libraries contrasted — the use of the books — the raising of funds — additions to the library — responsibility of the teacher. -

CHAPTER IX School Libraries in Other Provinces - - - 154

Nova Scotia — Prince Edward Island — New Brunswick — Quebec— Manitoba — Saskatchewan — Alberta — British Columbia.

CPIAPTER X

The teacher the weakest link in the system — the Normal School must give library training — growth of the movement in the United States — the course given at Milwaukee Normal School — at Geneseo — conditions in the Ontario Normal Schools — a questionnaire sent to these schools.

CHAPTER XI British Libraries - - - - - - - -174

Brief history — Cardiff a pioneer in children's work — Leeds first to co-operate with schools — Cardiff's plan of co-operation — Darwen — Bootle — ■ Reading — Birmingham — Leeds — Plymouth

— rural libraries — Hereford — Cumberland — Wilts — continental libraries — France — Germany — Sweden — Norway.

CHAPTER XII Conclusion - - - - - - •- - - - 193

Dangers in children's library work — suggestions as to Ontario school libraries — a model school library — suggestions as to Normal School libraries.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY AND HISTORICAL The School

Education is as old as the race, but its aim has constantly changed. At one time it was the acquisition of knowledge, at another the discipline of the soul. At one time it was religious advancement, at another skill in arms. Now it has aimed to purge the soul of sin through asceticism, prayer, and meditation, and now it has emphasized the beauty of the world and the joy of living. Reverence for the classics, the predominating thought of one period, gives way to the study of the things of nature in the next. "According to Nature" is the slogan of one age, and "development through self activity" the watchword of the succeeding one. To-day the educational ideal is even more changing than in the past, methods used one year being frequently discarded the next. It is a time of experiment when, with open minds, our educational leaders seek to explore new fields, or turn to the great movements of the past, and attempt to sift out all that is best in them, and unite these principles into a system that will meet the needs of our present-day complex civilization.

The chief tendency of the present day is toward a recognition of the relation of man to his fellows ; hence the training of the school aims at fitting the individual for a life in which he may contribute the most to the well-being of others. "Social efficiency" is the cry. "The problem of education," says Betts, "is the problem of the inter-relation of the individual and society." While the school aims at the proper training of each child, it also tends to reach out and employ its equipment of apparatus and staff for the uplift of the whole community. We find expression of this tendency on all sides. The emphasis thrown on civics and the human side of geography and history aims at teaching the child his duties to society, while the attention given to hygiene, physical training, and moral conduct, besides benefiting the child directly, will, through him, work gradual changes for the betterment of his home life. The practice of feeding poor children at the public expense before admitting them to the schools, now gradually establishing itself in large American cities ; the institution of open-air schools for the very young and physically weak; and the opening of the supervised playground for those who must stay in the crowded city throughout the long vacation, are recognitions of the necessity of giving equal educational advantages to all the children of the land.

Again, the school is realizing that to fill its proper place, its teaching must be closely related to the lifeneeds of the pupils; hence efforts have been made to frame a course of study that fits for the duties of life. Manual training and domestic science for the children, leading to the vocational school for adolescents, with the night school for those compelled to enter industrial life at an early age, all aim at equipping young people for work in which there is some opportunity for advancement and sufficient remuneration to enable them to rise to a higher plane of life.

As a natural branch of psychological research, educationists are devoting themselves as never before to the scientific study of the child, his mental and physical development from infancy, his instincts and interests, and even the prenatal influences that shape his future. To this we may attribute the tendency to teach individual children, not classes ; to recognize the fact that there is no such thing as an average child, but that each one has a different nature and requires different treatment. The time-honoured and economical method of teaching children in classes of forty or fifty is now giving way to one in which each child receives more individual assistance and supervision. Along with child study has also come a recognition of the importance of suggestion for producing valuable intellectual and moral results in the young.

Lastly, the school is beginning to realize that since it can hold the child for such a very few years of his life, while education is lifelong, the teacher's time is best spent in pointing the child to the sources of knowledge and providing him with the tools whereby he may educate himself, deriving strength from the effort put forth and becoming possessed of a store of knowledge that is indeed his own. These educational tendencies have been thus briefly enumerated, because they coincide with the endeavour the public library is making to occupy its proper place as an integral part of the educational system of the country.

The Library

Libraries have existed from the most ancient times wherever learning has been fostered. Public libraries, however, as we know them in Canada and the United States, date from early in the 19th century. Free public, libraries are of still later origin, beginning in England in 1850, in the United States a few years afterwards, and in Canada in 1852. It is in the United States that the development of the public library has been most rapid and widespread, and it is here that we must trace the movement with which this essay is concerned. The year 1876 is generally accepted as the beginning of the modern library movement. In that year a comprehensive report was issued by the Bureau of Education, Washington, reviewing conditions throughout the whole country. The same year the American Library Association was organized, and the first magazine exclusively devoted to library work — the Library Journal — began publication. From that time progress has been phenomenal. A host of trained men and women are throwing themselves into the work with great enthusiasm, while funds from private donations and from federal, state, and municipal sources have been provided in such a manner as to make possible the finest of machinery in buildings and equipment.

Returns from the Lmited States Bureau of Education show, in 1915, over 18,000 society, public, and school libraries having over 300 volumes, about half of them being school libraries. The number of books reported totals over ninety millions. Five libraries possess over 500,000 volumes each; fourteen, over 300,000; eightytwo, over 100,000, and nearly three thousand are to be found with 5,000 volumes. Statistics for Ontario compare favourably with any individual state, and show considerable progress. In 1883, one year after the free library .law was passed, there was one free library in the Province; in 1893 there were 11, and in 1903, 140. The latest report, 1915, shows 141 free and 214 association libraries. The other provinces of Canada together can muster about 30 public libraries.

But the multiplication of the numbers of the libraries and the volumes they possess represents only a very small fraction of the increase in their usefulness to the people. The aim of the library, like that of the school, has been gradually changing, and in much the same way. As the chief trend in the school is toward the uplift of all the people of the community, so the library has gradually come to realize that it has a service to perform for the poor as well as the rich, for the ignorant as well as the educated, for the artisan as well as the professor and student, for the young as well as the old. No greater contrast could be found than that existing between the modern library and that of fifty, or even twenty-five, years ago. The older libraries were buildings, often situated in gloomy and out-of-the way places, where collections of books, chosen for their age and rarity, or for their depth of learning, were kept for the benefit of a few scholars. The books were carefully guarded from the public, and could be obtained from the shelves only after many formalities. Readers were eyed with suspicion, children were an abomination. Gradually, all this has been changed. The watchword of the library to-day is accessibility. Attractive and well-lighted buildings, placed on convenient sites, now welcome all who can read, and, indeed, many who cannot. Within, books for all tastes and ages may be found, and among these the reader may ramble, free to choose the one suited to his need. Commodious and comfortable reading-rooms are provided with newspapers and magazines suited to every interest and shade of thought, and every effort is put forth to make the library a place for the people. President Wellman of the American Library Association, in his address in 1915, thus characterized the ideal of the modern public library : "This, then, I conceive to be the great fundamental obligation of the public library — to make accessible to all men the best thoughts of mankind."

Not content with providing a free and bountiful repast and inviting all to come, the modern librarian goes out into the highways and byways that his house may be full. Public lectures ; reading clubs ; branch libraries ; deposit stations in factories, fire halls, and boats ; libraries for class-rooms, playgrounds, and Boy Scouts ; travelling libraries for distant readers; vocational guidance; rural extension; all these and many other activities of the modern library are expressions of the modern tendency toward the making of vast stores of knowledge accessible to all the people of the land.

The School and the Library

Animated with this modern spirit, it was to be expected that the librarian would early turn his attention to the children, recognizing that childhood is the time when a bent may most easily be given to the life. Give children a taste for good books, establish in them the habit of using the equipment of the library for school studies and recreation, and the probability is strong that they will continue to be library users throughout life. It is being recognized that in giving a child the ability to read, we place in his hands a tool that he may use in raising himself to great intellectual heights, or may turn against himself to his ruin and debasement. Herein lies the librarian's opportunity; the school teaches the art of reading; it may in many cases also cultivate a taste for good literature ; but it sends the child away to exercise his ability where he will — the library can supply material to read, well-chosen and adapted to the needs and interests of the readers.

Again, it has long been seen that, while theoretically the public school should hold the child for eight years, and then send him to a higher school, in practice only a small percentage ever complete the public school course, and a mere handful go to the high school. Figures taken from the report of the Bureau of Education, Washington, 1913, show that 25.5 per cent, of the pupils in the public schools of the nation were in the first grade, 13 per cent, in the fourth, and 6.3 per cent, in the eighth. Putting this in another way; in 1904 nearly 4,000,000 children entered the first grade, but seven years afterwards we find only 1,200,000, or 30 per cent., of those who entered. In 1912 the number entering high school was 550,000, or only 15 per cent., of the children who were in the first form eight years previously. In Ontario there is a better showing for the public school course, 65 per cent, of the pupils who were in the first reader in 1907 being found in the fourth reader in 1914, but for the high school the percentage is the same — 15 per cent, of those who enter the public school. This means, then, that 85 per cent, of the children of this continent never enter any school higher than the elementary school, and that less than 50 per cent, are able to obtain the full public school education. A heavy responsibility is thus thrown upon the public school teacher, whose problem at once becomes this: "In the few years that I am able to teach this child, what is the best I can do for him?" Here, again, is the librarian's opportunity. "Teach the child where knowledge may be found," he says, "give him the habit of consulting books, and direct him to where he will find a choice collection, namely, at the public library."

Once more, the school, especially in urban districts, leaves the child a considerable portion of leisure time. School is over by four o'clock, and from that time until some indefinite hour at night, and all day Saturday and Sunday, the pupil's time is his own. For children with good homes, this rest, presenting opportunities for healthy recreation, is highly beneficial, and the time may be profitably employed; but for too large a number it is different. t Idleness breeds bad habits, a taste for bad literature, bad companions, and crime. Again, the librarian sees his opportunity. He opens his library to the children of all classes, making special provision for afterschool hours and Saturdays. Then he places a highlytrained staff of assistants, and an equipment as efficient as knowledge and money can make it at the service of this crowd of boys and girls, many of whom, with unoccupied minds, poor home influences, and practical absence of parental control, are in a fair way to becoming the criminals of the future.

There are two general methods in which the library may conduct its campaign in behalf of the child. It may work through the schools by securing the co-operation of superintendents and teachers, or it may deal with the children in rooms or branches under its own management. In many cities both plans are employed. They will be dealt with separately.

Co-operation with Schools

The public library has proved its right to rank side by side with the public school as an educational agency ; the work of the two is, however, complementary, rather than competitive. While the public school has made the library necessary by teaching the children to read, the public library has made the school more efficient by providing suitable reading matter. The school tends to be systematic, rigid, and direct; the library is elastic in method and works indirectly. The school has legal backing and works through compulsion; the library must gain the voluntary consent of those who work with it. The school is for the days of youth; the library seeks to benefit each child throughout life. The teacher needs the library as a source of knowledge; the library needs the teacher as an instrument through which to reach the child effectively. The teacher knows children; the librarian knows books.

The first clear statement of the duties and opportunities of the library in connection with the school came from Mr. Charles Francis Adams, a trustee of the library at Ouincy, Mass. Speaking before the teachers of that city, in 1876, this gentleman gave utterance to statements remarkable for their insight into modern educational principles :

"The one best possible result of a common school education should be to prepare the children of the community for the greater work of educating themselves. Now, in education as in almost everything else, there is an almost irresistible tendency to mistake means for end. ... In the schools of this towTn four years ago arithmetic, spelling, grammar, and geography were taught as if to be able to answer the questions in the text -book was the great end of all education. It was ( instruction through a perpetual system of conundrums. The child was made to learn some queer definition in words or some disagreeable puzzle in figures, as if it were in itself an acquisition of value, something to be hoarded like silver dollars. Scholars acquired with much difficulty something which they forgot with equal ease, and when they left school not one in twenty could sit down and write an ordinary letter in a legible hand, with ideas correctly expressed. Scarcely one in twenty who leave our schools ever further educate themselves in any great degree. ... A man or woman whom a whole childhood spent in the common school has made able to stumble through a newspaper or a few trashy books is scarcelv better than one who cannot read at all. Indeed, it is doubtful if he or she is as well off, for it has long been observed that a very small amount of book knowledge almost universally takes a depraved form. We teach our children the mechanical part of reading, and then we turn them loose to take their chances . . .on the threshold of this vast field of general literature, full of holes, bogs, and pitfalls, all covered with poisonous plants- — here it is our common school system brings our children, and here it leaves them to go on or not, just as they please, and if they do go on they are to find their own way or lose it just as it may happen. . . . If the teacher is going to give himself the intense enjoyment in his work, he cannot stop at the border of that wilderness of literature, but he has got to take the pupil by the hand and enter into it with him; he must be more than his pedagogue, he must be his guide, philosopher, and friend. And so the teacher, with the scholar's hand in his, comes at last to the doors of the public library."1

Mr. Adams then proceeded to show wherein the library and school work may be correlated. He would begin with geography and history, and select from the library all

1 Library journal, I: 437.

the books on Africa, for example, that the children would enjoy, and arrange them in groups according to subjects, Livingstone, Baker, Stanley, Pharaoh, Moses, Hannibal, etc. The teachers were then to be informed of the arrangement and invited to send or bring their pupils to consult the books as they came to these subjects in the course of their school work.

The first paper to state the problem clearly and formulate a definite plan was read by W. E. Foster, of Providence, at the American Library Association meeting at Boston in 1879.1 He advocated (1) a course of reading arranged by the library, and based on the elementary course of study; (2) early instruction in reference books;

(3) the furnishing of material for essays and debates;

(4) "library hours" in the school, and (5) the publication of book lists in the form of library bulletins for the use of the schools. It is noteworthy that considerable time was devoted at this conference to children's reading, there being eight papers on the subject.

In 1879 Mr. S. S. Green, librarian at Worcester, Mass., began actual co-operation, and gave an account before the American Social Science Association at Saratoga in 1880.2 Since Worcester holds itself . a pioneer in the realm of co-operation with schools, its work will be traced with some degree of detail.

A meeting was called, at which the superintendent of schools, a member of the school board, the principal of the Normal School, and the librarian of the public library were present. These decided to make the library more serviceable to the schools of Worcester, and began by experimenting with the geography of the 7th, 8th, and

1 Library Journal, IV: 319.

2 Library Journal, V: 235.

9th grades. The teachers were asked to choose some country, and the library was to select suitable books of travel, biography, history, and general information bearing on the subject. Two kinds of library cards were issued to the teachers, one on which six books could be drawn for the teacher's use, and one on which twelve books might be obtained to be loaned to the children at school. Teachers were urged to bring their classes to the library on half-holidays to look at pictures and consult books on the subject in hand. Promotion examinations in geography were adapted to the change in the method of study. The results were' good; 119 teachers out of 200 took cards, 77 taking both kinds. Many children gave up their own cards to get the benefit of the teacher's selection, and a large number of teachers made arrangements for sending certain pupils each week to the library for specific information. In 1882 Mr. Green reported : "The public school and public library connection is growing stronger."1 His library had increased the number of books allowed a teacher for school use to eighteen, while some teachers, by collecting their pupils' cards, and using their own privileges, were getting fifty books out at once and circulating these among the children of the class. A hall in the library was opened solely for the accommodation of teachers, and here talks might be given to the children on books or pictures.

In 1887 the librarian gave a further report of progress,2 showing that the issue of books to teachers on their two special school cards had nearly doubled in four years. In 1886 further experiments were made. Four little libraries, made up of books most likely to be useful

1 Library Journal, VII: 142.

2 Library Journal, XII: 119.

in school work, were made up and placed in the rooms of the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th grades in one of the city schools. In the first year 2,700 books were taken home by the children, and 6,000 references were made in the school-room, although the teachers' cards were still in operation, as before. The same year the librarian purchased thirty copies of Boys of 'j6, in order that each pupil in a class might be able to supplement his text-book in the history of the Revolution. These books created great interest, and were passed from school to school. In 1887 Mr. Green again reported on the progress of his scheme.1 Teachers had become enthusiastic helpers, interesting the children in the books by reading extracts and giving brief outlines of the contents. All teachers reported a new spirit in the studies, especially in geography, history, and literature, through the reading (jt of books on travel, adventure, and historical fiction. The use of the books in the class-room was insured by the teacher's refusing to answer any question that the books would solve. Examination of the recent reports of this library show a steady development of the school work, the school deliveries amounting, in 1915, to 65,000 volumes, and reaching all the schools but four, and including all the grades.

The idea first suggested at Quincy, formulated at Providence, and embodied in a practical scheme at Worcester, was promptly seized by other libraries, and by 1882 Indianapolis, Chicago, Buffalo, and Cincinnati had adopted similar plans of co-operation. This form of library activity speedily became general. The pages of the library journals issued between 1876 and 1890 bear witness to this activity in the reports from the various lib-

1 A. L. A. Thousand Islands Conference, 1887.

raries all over the United States, telling of the beginnings of co-operation with the public schools. These beginnings took different forms, according to the various circumstances. In Dayton, Ohio,1 the public library placed in each school of the city a copy of a catalogue of fiction, history, travel, and biography, newly issued "to stimulate the use of the library by school children." In Boston, the superintendent of schools read a paper on co-operation in 1878, after which he was nominated to a position on the library board,2 and next year suggested3 to the trustees the propriety of setting aside an annual appropriation to purchase books for school-room libraries. Milwaukee library reported:4 "Each teacher is urged to inform us some time in advance what the subject of his instruction is to be, what themes he desires his pupils to look up — so that carefully prepared reference lists, giving all the books which the library contains on that subject, could be placed in the hands of the pupil." Providence reported :5 "A new feature — small libraries are selected from the books of the public library, examined, and found serviceable by the teacher, and placed in the schools to circulate beneath the teacher's eye." The Indianapolis school board6 placed fourteen reference books, selected by the library, in each of their schools. Hartford1 reported having placed libraries and reference books in the schools, "to be used there, and not taken home." The teachers assigned topics for the pupils to look up in the library. Chicago reported8 in 1882 that a committee of principals had been appointed to consider