第50章 DESCRIPTION OF FOLDER(1)

In size it is five inches long and three inches wide.On the outer cover appears a picture of the exterior of the library,underneath the picture the name of the library,its location and the hours it is open.

On the first page a picture of the children's room with this inscription underneath:

Boys and Girls come here to read and to study their lessons for school.Picture Books for little children.

On the second page a picture of the adult department,showing its use and giving the information all foreigners seem desirous to have:

Men and Women come here to read and to study.

Books on the Laws and Customs of America.

Books,Papers and Magazines in Italian and other foreign languages.

Books from which to learn to read English.

On the back of the cover these simple directions:

HOW TO JOIN THE LIBRARY

The use of the Library is Free to anyone who comes to Read or to Study in its rooms.

If you wish to take Books home you must sign an application blank and give the name and address of some one who knows you.

The information on the folder should be given in the language or languages of the neighborhood in which the library is situated.

This folder was designed for a branch library in an Italian neighborhood but a similar folder might be utilized in any community provided the information is given in simple,direct form and the pictures show the Library with people using it.

4.Joining the library is not all.However carefully and impressively the connection is made we are all conscious of those files of cards "left by borrower,"which indicate that a connection must be sustained if library membership is to prove its claim as a civic force.There are those who regard a restriction of circulation to one or two story books a week as a desirable means to this end,believing that interest in reading is heightened by such limitation.That many boys and girls read too much we all know,but I am inclined to think that whatever restriction is made should be made for the individual rather than laid down as a library rule.Other libraries advocate a remission of fines,at the same time imposing a deprivation in time of such length that it would seem to defeat the chief end of the children's room which is to encourage the reading habit.Children who leave their cards for six months at a time are not likely to be very actively interested in their library.There seem to be three viewpoints regarding fines for children.

1.Children should be required to pay their fines as a lesson in civic righteousness.Persons holding this view would allow the working out of fines under some circumstances but regard the fine as a debt.

2.Any system of fines is a wrong one,therefore all fines should be remitted and some other punishment for negligence substituted.

Persons holding this view would deprive children of the use of the library for a stated period.

3.A fine is regarded as slightly punitive and probably the most effective means of teaching children to respect the rights of others in their time use of books.Persons holding this view would reduce the fine to one cent,wherever a fine is exacted and would exercise a great deal of latitude in dealing with individual cases,remitting or cutting down fines whenever it seems wise to do so and imposing brief and variable time deprivations of the use of the library rather than a long fixed period.

Whatever viewpoint is taken it will be necessary to remind children constantly that by keeping their books overtime other boys and girls are being deprived of the reading of them.

One of the most effective means of sustaining and promoting such a sense of library membership as I have indicated is the extension of reading-room work by placing on open,or on closed shelves,if necessary,a collection of the best children's books in the best editions obtainable,to be used as reading-room books.Children may be so trained in the careful handling of these books as to become very much more careful of their treatment of the book they take home and the experiment is not a matter of large expense to the library.The reading-room books should never be allowed to become unsightly in appearance if they are to do their full work in the room as an added attraction to the children and as suggestive to parents,teachers and other visitors who may wish to purchase books as gifts.