PUBLICITY FOR THE SAKE OF INFORMATION: THE PUBLIC'S POINT OF VIEW
When man first discovered that his hands would respond to the command of his brain and that he could use a club to defend himself from his enemy, and that he could through combined mental and physical effort, react upon his environment, the gateway on the road to continuous progress was opened to mankind.
The potential power of man cannot be measured. The Creator, in so far as we are able to judge, has fixed no limits to man's progress. The only limitations are his lack of knowledge and his lack of power to discern the true relations of the forces which surround him.
Mankind is a social organism, not a collection of separate and independent parts. Where any part is neglected and fails to develop so as to discharge efficiently its function, the whole organization suffers. Therefore society is not only deeply interested in education during childhood and adolescence, but it is concerned in the education of man throughout his whole life. The public is as much concerned in the education of the man of forty years of age as it is in the education of the boy of five years. One of the chief functions of the state is to secure justice, equity and equality of opportunity. Dr. Lester F. Ward says, "There can be no equality, no justice, not to speak of equity, so long as society is composed of members, equally endowed by nature, a few of whom only possess the social heritage of truth and ideas resulting from laborious investigation and profound meditations of all past ages, while the mass are shut out from all the light that human achievement has shed upon the world."
What shall be done that this "light of human achievement" shall penetrate the cloud of ignorance and cause the lamp of wisdom to burn in every home? Your reply doubtless will be, "The formal training of the schools." Yes; that is a step in the right direction, but all will agree that the training of the schools is only and can be only a beginning, a learning how to acquire and assimilate knowledge and develop power. There must be other institutions and agencies which shall carry forward the work of education, if we are to have that continuous and universal development which is possible and desirable.
The library is peculiarly suited for this work and its power and future influence are not fully appreciated even by those engaged in library work. It is not necessary to say to this audience that the public library is an essential part of a complete educational system and that there should be harmony within the system.
The training in the schools should be such as shall make a beginning at least in the preparation for social life and social service, in the broad sense. The students should be shown that the library is a social mirror, a record of the social activities of mankind. If for any cause students leave school, they should be in such close relation to the library and be so familiar with library methods that they will be encouraged to continue studying; thus we shall find the book in the hand of the worker, the ideal condition, assisting him in solving his problems and opening to him visions of life of which he had never dreamed.
The school authorities should never overlook the fact that the average time which the individual student attends school is short; but be it short or long, pupils should be trained in the use of the library, and taught how to find in books answers to their questions. Questions which shall require students to go to the library should be regularly given them. In the higher grades and in the high schools emphasis should be placed on library work. Students should not only be required to read certain specified books, as supplementary reading, but there should be regular assignments of topics for investigation, which will require them to use the library and other sources of information, thus training them in research methods and developing their power of original investigation. By this method their school work will become a living motive-force in their lives.
The colleges and universities offer a great number of courses. So many subjects are open for study that the most that can be done during the college years is to select a few and concentrate effort upon those selected and leave the great field of knowledge for future exploration and conquest. Therefore, if a student leaves college with high ideals and an ambition to explore still further the field of knowledge and develop his individuality, his immediate need is a good library. Therein is the crystallized wisdom of ages held in "magic preservation." Here he may find freedom for the development of his individuality and be able to increase his power to react on his environment, enabling him to find profit, pleasure and culture in the various activities of life.
But has he learned how to use the library? Let us take the testimony of Dr. Harper, former president of the University of Chicago. "It is pitiable," he said, "to find that many graduates of our very best colleges are unable, after taking up the more advanced work of the divinity school or other graduate courses, to make use of books. They find nothing; they do not know how to proceed in order to find anything. No more important, no more useful training can be given men in college than that which relates to the use of books. Why do so many men give up reading when they leave college? Because in college they have never learned the use of books."
This is the testimony of a man of wide experience. A college librarian should be a person of strong personality and broad culture, and the example of some of the universities and colleges of making the librarian a member of the faculty should be followed by all colleges. The most important work for schools and colleges is to arouse in the students the spirit of research, train them in research methods, and develop their powers of independent investigation. Impress upon them the fact that education cannot be received but must be acquired, and that the acquisition of knowledge is a process co-extensive with life.
President Hibben of Princeton says, "It is the nature of education that it does not result in a complete and finished product, but rather a progressive process. There is nothing final about it. Its achievements always mark new beginnings. Education must always be defined in terms of life, of growth, of progress."
It will be readily seen that those who complete the regular courses of the schools, colleges and universities need the library. It is well known that the majority do not take advantage fully of the opportunities offered by the schools, but for various reasons they drop out all along the line. For these we need the library. We have a large immigration of adults from foreign lands. These people come here to make homes and to take part in our government. Self-government requires knowledge and understanding. Great questions are constantly arising which demand intelligent action. Ignorance, whether it be the ignorance of the rich or of the poor, is a menace. One of our grave social problems is the ignorance and indifference of the ostentatious rich. Rich in material things, but poor in the things which make life rich. They have not learned that every man owes a debt to society that can be paid only in service. Complex our social organization is and it is becoming more complex each year. Grave questions are before us for solution. The people in general have no adequate conception of the possibilities of the library, when properly organized, as an effective force for dealing with these conditions; and it is doubtful if the most optimistic librarians appreciate what may be, and will be done in the future with this great instrument of education. A community without a public library lacks an essential of a well organized community.
Let us have in the library men and women of broad culture who have had special training in psychology and sociology, who are sincerely and sympathetically devoted to humanity. Let this great educational institution be directed by people of commanding power, trained for public service, who have entered the profession as a life work, salaries to correspond, with qualifications required and services rendered. We say services rendered because all service must be rendered before it can be measured. The library will thus become the center of intellectual activities of the community, a continuation school, a local university.
Society is under obligation to furnish every means possible for the development of human capacity. There is in the world latent talent and capacity beyond measure. For the development of this latent talent, society is in a measure responsible. If opportunity is offered, capacity will develop.
Great forces surround us pressing for admission to our lives, telephones, electric light, printing, anæsthesia, antiseptics, synthetic chemistry, wireless telegraphy, etc. These things have always been possible but the cloud of ignorance obscured man's vision, and kept him from realizing his power.
The degree to which a community discharges its obligation can be measured by the opportunities it offers for the development of the members of that community. To offer better opportunities for those who wish to continue their studies and to bring together those of like tastes and desires, let there be opened seminar rooms in the library building, or in other buildings which shall be under the control of the library authorities. To these seminar rooms bring students, from every walk of life, to study under competent direction and to investigate subjects in which they are interested either from a material or cultural point of view. Only a small percentage of those who complete the high school course go to college. There should be provided graduate courses for the high school graduates, and other students of like qualifications in these seminar rooms, directed by the library staff. The school teachers and library staff can meet in these seminar rooms and discuss questions of common interest; and also pursue advanced studies. These rooms should be the centers for university extension work.
People can be brought together here for study and discussion of questions of citizenship, government, civic betterment, and all questions pertaining to social adjustment. Study groups can be formed for regular and systematic study under the direction of competent teachers. People of all ages can be brought together for study, which is impossible under our present system of education. In these groups the mature man and woman of high ideals will exert a powerful influence upon the young. Through this system regular and systematic reading under competent direction can be encouraged. Teachers and parents can meet in these seminar rooms and discuss school questions.
Continuation schools should be maintained. Bring the people from their vocations to these continuation schools; out of these schools organize classes for special work in the library seminar rooms; thus may be secured the union of instruction and practical application which make for increased efficiency, cultivates the whole man, and brightens his life.
John Stuart Mill said, "The business of life is an essential part of the practical education of a people without which book and school and instruction, though most necessary and salutary, does not suffice to qualify them for conduct and for adaptation of means to ends. Instruction is only one of the desiderata of mental improvement. Another indispensable, is vigorous exercise of active energies."
It matters not how highly we value the formal training of the colleges we must never overlook the fact that a very large majority do not have the full benefit of such training. We must therefore deal with conditions as they exist. When we call to mind the names and careers of such men as Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Hugh Miller, Herbert Spencer, Richard Baxter, Abraham Lincoln, Michael Faraday, Sir Humphrey Davey, Horace Greeley, Sir William Herschel, we come to realize that many of the brightest stars in the world's constellation have been cut and polished by forces other than the formal training of the schools. Wide is the field and great is the opportunity.
The question may be raised, "How shall we secure the money for this great work?" We are expending in the United States more than two-thirds of our national income for wars past and for military purposes, educating men to destroy. Let this fact come to the knowledge of our people and a demand will be made to cut down the appropriations for educating men to destroy and increase the appropriations for educating men to construct.
A hundred years of peaceful intercourse between two great nations, Canada and the United States, with over three thousand miles of boundary without a gunboat or a soldier, is the best answer to the militarist who would spent the money for instruments of destruction that should be used for instruments of construction.
How shall we bring to the knowledge of the people information relating to this great work? There are more than twenty millions of students in the schools of Canada and the United States. These students touch directly or indirectly every home. With libraries at various local centers correlated with the schools, we have what may be called the nervous system of education of these great nations. Through this system the people may be reached more uniformly and regularly than in any other way. Here is a great body of people seeking information coming into direct contact with the homes.
Therefore we put the schools in the first place as a means of publicity for the sake of information. Let us bring the library and the schools into closer relation. Render service to mankind wherever mankind is. The best publicity is secured through services rendered. The patronage of the lawyer and physician depends largely on the quality of service rendered. The business man secures custom when he establishes a reputation for fair dealing. May not the library expect good measure of publicity from the reputation it has for real accomplishment? Study the problem, do things that are worth while. Bring the whole power of the organization to bear on the subject of social adjustment. This will lead to various fields of activity. Produce results which shall compel attention. Do things that will be considered news. Having done, having produced, do not hesitate to make known. Give your reports what the newspaper man calls the "news turn."
Every librarian should have training in psychology and sociology and should continue to study. Study man individually, in groups, in communities and mankind as a whole.
The PRESIDENT: The next in order will be the secretary's report.