Library Work with Children | Page 7

subtle influence extends even to those who are
too young to read and understand them. If it fails to do this it is hardly a
fit adjunct to our school system, whose aim it is to give every man a
chance to be the equal of every other man, if he can.
It is not claimed that the arguments used in support of an age limitation
are of no force; but it is believed that they are founded on objections to
the admission of the young to library privileges which are good only as
against an indiscriminate and not properly regulated admission, and
which are not applicable to the extension of the use of the library to the
young under such conditions and restrictions as are required by their
peculiar circumstances.
For example, the public library ought not to furnish young persons with
a means of avoiding parental supervision of their reading. A regulation
making the written consent of the parent a prerequisite to the
registration of the name of a minor, and the continuance of such
consent a condition of the continuance of the privilege, will take from
parents all cause for complaint in this regard.
Neither should the library be allowed to stand between pupils in school
and their studies, as it is often complained that it does. To remove this
difficulty, the relations of the library to the school system should be
such that teachers should be able to regulate the use of the library by
those pupils whose studies are evidently interfered with by their
miscellaneous reading. The use of the library would thus be a stimulus
to endeavor on the part of pupils who would regard its loss as the
probable result of lack of diligence in their studies.
Again, it must be understood that to the young, as to all others, the
library is open only during good behavior. The common idea that
children and youth are more likely than older persons to commit
offenses against library discipline is not borne out by experience; but
were it true, a strict enforcement of rules as to fines and penalties
would protect the library against loss and injury, the fear of suspension
from the use of the library as the result of carelessness in its use,
operating more strongly than any other motive to prevent such
carelessness.

If there are other objections to the indiscriminate admission of the
young to the library, they can also be met by such regulations as readily
suggest themselves, and should not be allowed to count as arguments
against a judicious and proper extension of the benefits of the library to
the young.
CHOICE OF BOOKS
But when the doors of the public library are thrown open to the young,
and they are recognized as an important class of its patrons, the
question comes up, What shall the library furnish to this class in order
to meet its wants? If the object of the library is understood to be simply
the supplying of the wants of the reading public, and the young are
considered as a portion of that public, the question is very easily
answered by saying, Give them what they call for that is not positively
injurious in its tendency. But if we regard the public library as an
educational means rather than a mere clubbing arrangement for the
economical supply of reading, just as the gas company is for the supply
of artificial light, it becomes of importance, especially with reference to
the young, who are the most susceptible to educating influences, that
they should receive from the library that which will do them good; and
the managers of the library appear not as caterers to a master whose
will is the rule as to what shall be furnished, but rather as the trainers of
gymnasts who seek to provide that which will be of the greatest service
to their men. No doubt both these elements enter into a true conception
of the duty of library managers; but when we are regarding especially
the young, the latter view comes nearer the truth than the other.
In the first place, among the special requirements of the young is this,
that the library shall interest and be attractive to them. The attitude of
some public libraries toward the young and the uncultivated seems to
say to them, "We cannot encourage you in your low state of culture;
you must come up to the level of appreciating what is really high toned
in literature, or we cannot help you." The public library being, however,
largely if not mainly for the benefit of the uncultivated, must, to a large
extent, come down to the level of this class and meet them on common
ground. Every library ought to have a large list of