A Librarians Open Shelf | Page 5

the
library as the result of a direct search for it prompted by a desire to read.
In a majority of the other cases, of course, perhaps in all of them, the
desire to read had its part, but this desire was awakened by hearing a
mention of the library or by seeing it or something connected with it.
These determining circumstances fall into two classes, those that
worked through the ear and those that operated through the eye.
Those who heard of the library in some way numbered 449, while

those who saw it or something connected with it were only 147--an
interesting fact, especially as we are told by psychologists that
apprehension and memory through sight are of a higher type than the
same functions where exercised through hearing. Probably, however,
this difference was dependent on the fact that the thing heard was in
most cases a direct injunction or a piece of advice, while the thing seen
did not act with similar urgency. There are some surprises in the table.
For instance, only four persons were sent directly to libraries by
persons employed therein. Doubtless the average library assistant
wishes to get as far from "shop" as possible in her leisure hours, but it
is still disappointing to find that those who are employed in our
libraries exercise so little influence in bringing persons to use them.
The same thing is true of the influence of reading rooms. In many of
the branch libraries in New York there are separate reading rooms to
which others than card-holders in the library are admitted, and one of
the chief arguments for this has been that the user of such a room,
having become accustomed to resort to the library building, would be
apt to use the books. Apparently, however, such persons are in the
minority. No less disappointing is the slight influence of the clergy.
Only four persons report this as a determining influence and these were
all women connected with a branch which was formerly the parish
library of a New York church.
The influence of the press, too, seems to amount to little, in spite of the
fact that the newspapers in New York have freely commented on the
valuable work of the branch libraries and have called attention to it
both in the news and editorial columns whenever occasion offered. Do
the readers of library books in New York shun the public-press, or do
they pay scant heed to what they read therein?
Another somewhat noteworthy fact is that of the 449 persons who
sought the library by advice of some one, only 89 were sent by teachers.
But perhaps this is unfair. Of 265 boys and girls who thus came to the
library, only 71 were sent by teachers. This is a larger percentage, but it
is still not so large as we might expect.
The difference between adults and children comes out quite strikingly
in a few instances. We should have foreseen this of course in the case
of advice by teachers, which was reported by 71 children and only 18
adults as a reason for visiting the library. Here we should not have

expected this reason to be given by adults at all. Doubtless these were
chiefly young men and women who had used the library since their
school-days. In like manner the advice or injunction of relatives was
more patent with children than with adults, the proportion here being
62 to 24. This probably illustrates the power of parental injunction. In
another case the difference comes out in a wholly unexpected way. Of
the 71 persons who reported that they were attracted to the library by
seeing the buildings, 57 were adults and only 14 children. The same is
true of those who were led in by seeing a sign, who numbered 41 adults
to only 9 children. This seems to show either that adults are more
observant or that children are more diffident in following out an
impulse of this kind. It completely negatives the ordinary impression
among librarians, at least in New York, where it has been believed that
the sight of a library building, especially where the work going on
inside is visible from the street, is a potent attraction to the young.
Some of the new branch buildings in New York have even been
planned with a special view to the exercise of this kind of attraction.
The small number of persons who were attracted by printed matter, in
library or general publications, were entirely adults. The one instance
where age seems to exercise no particular influence is that of the advice
of friends, by which old and young alike seem to have profited.
The influence of sex does not appear clearly, although among those
who followed the injunction of