A Librarians Open Shelf | Page 6

relatives the women and girls are
slightly in the majority, and the four who were sent by clergymen were
all women. Of those who were attracted by the buildings 46 were male
and 25 female, which may mean that men are somewhat more
observant or less diffident than women.
A few of those questioned relate their experiences at some length. Says
one boy: "A boy friend of mine said he belonged to this library and he
found some very good books here. He asked me if I wanted to join; I
said yes. He told me I would have to get a reference. I got one, and
joined this library." Another one reports: "I saw a boy in the street and
asked him where he was going. He said he was going to the library. I
asked him what the library was and he told me; so I came up here and
have been coming ever since."
Critical judgment is shown by some of the young people. One boy says:
"I heard all the other boys saying it was a good library and that the

books were better kept than in a majority of libraries." A girl says that
friends "told her what nice books were in this library." In one case a
boy's brother "told him he could get the best books here for his needs."
The combination of man and book seems to be very attractive. One
child "saw a boy in school with a book, telling what a boy should know
about electricity; I wanted to read that book and joined the library."
Others "followed a crowd of little boys with books"; "saw children
taking books out of the building and asked them about joining"; "saw a
boy carrying books and asked if there was a library in the
neighborhood." A woman "saw a child with a library book in the park
and asked her for the address of the library." Sometimes the book alone
does the work, as shown by the following laconic report: "Found a
book in the park; took it to the library; joined it." A cause of sorrow to
many librarians who have decided ideas regarding literature for
children will be the report of a boy who exclaimed: "Horatio Alger did
it!" On being asked to explain, he said that a friend had brought one of
Alger's books to his house and that he was thereby attracted to the
library.
Among those who were brought in by relatives are children who were
first carried by their mothers to the library as infants and so grew
naturally into its use. Sometimes the influence works upward instead of
downward, for several adults report that their children brought them to
the library or induced them to visit it. One man reports that he "got
married and his wife induced him to come."
Some of the reasons given are curious. A few are unconnected with the
use of books. One girl came to the library because "it was a very handy
library"; another, because she "saw it was a nice place to come to on a
rainy day." Still another frankly avows that "it was the fad among the
boys and girls of our neighborhood; we used to meet at the library." A
postman reported that he entered the library first in the line of his duty,
but was attracted by it and began to take out books. A clergyman had
his attention called to the library by requests from choir-boys that he
should sign their application blanks; afterwards thinking that he might
find books there for his own reading, he became a regular user. One
user came first to the library to see an exhibition of pictures of old New
York. A recent importation says: "When I came from Paris I found all
my cousins speaking English; 'well,' they said, 'go to the library and

take books'"--a process that doubtless did its share toward making an
American of the new arrival. In another case, the Americanizing
process has not yet reached the stage where the user's English is
altogether intelligible. He says: "Because I like to read the book. I ask
the bakery lady to my reference and I sing my neam" [sign my name?].
Here are some examples of recently acquired elegance in diction that
are almost baboo-like in their hopelessness: "Because it interest about
the countries that are far away. It gives knowledge to many of the
people in this country." "So as to obtain knowledge from them and by
reading books find out how the great men were in their former days and
all about them and the world and its people." It will be seen that the last
two writers were among those who misunderstood our questions and
told why they read books rather