DIVISION XIII
LIBRARY WORK WITH CHILDREN
CHAPTER XXXII
THE CHILDREN’S DEPARTMENT
482. General Considerations.
482. General Considerations.—The declaration of the Library Association that library work with children is the foundation of all other library work represents, so far as Great Britain is concerned, an ideal rather than an accomplished fact. The will to make provision for the child has not been lacking, but the means at the disposal of library committees have hitherto been insufficient for other activities, and the child has necessarily been dealt with in a parsimonious manner. Undoubtedly, in circumstances hitherto prevailing, the axiom that to pursue work for children at the expense of the efficiency of the library as a whole is to defeat its very purpose, is true. But from comparatively early times the book needs of the children have been recognized. So long ago as 1882 Nottingham possessed a reading room for children, and, with intervals, such departments have been multiplied, and there is now hardly a town of any size which does not make some provision for young readers. The object of the children’s department is to provide the intellectual workshop for the use of the child. He is taught to use intellectual tools in the school, but the library provides him with the material upon which they may be exercised. Usually the department serves children from the age of six to the age of fourteen. In a completely organized department there are library, reading department, and study corners; and such activities as story hours, lectures, reading circles, and the keeping of festivals are maintained.
483. What has been Done.
483. What has been Done.—Separate, distinctive children’s departments are a quite modern institution. Hitherto, in the majority of libraries, an alcove, or a number of shelves, have been set aside for children’s books in the adult lending department, and no provision has definitely, been made for newspapers, magazines and other reading material for the young. Many difficulties have arisen from this arrangement. The age of admission to libraries is usually fourteen, and children under this age, except in special circumstances, have been limited to books in the shelves allocated to children. But children of eleven or twelve frequently require books which cannot by any ordinary reasoning be regarded as juvenile works; and on every such occasion special concessions have been made, the requiring and the granting of which are irritating both to the child and the librarian, however liberal-minded the latter may be, and therefore subversive of the best results. More recently the age of fourteen has been regarded as too high, and in some towns twelve, or even ten, years has been regarded as a suitable age at which children may be given the freedom of the whole lending department. This seems better, and where such low age limits have been set the results have been good. It is obvious, however, that the limited provision we have described in this section is not calculated to prove the “foundation of all library work.”
484. Children’s Libraries.
484. Children’s Libraries.—From these considerations has developed the modern children’s department as an entirely separate part of the library, equivalent in rank and importance to the adult lending or reference departments. In England the most elaborate system of such libraries is that at Cardiff, but many other towns, including Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Islington, Chelsea, Hampstead, Coventry, St Helens, and Nottingham, have such separate departments, and every modern librarian in planning a library system provides for them. The limits of this Manual do not permit of an exhaustive study of the many varieties of children’s libraries and their manifold activities, but an outline of the methods most commonly in vogue here and in America (where the work is far more highly developed than here) are an integral part of our work.
The children’s department, then, should be an apartment as effective in architectural character as any other department: well-lighted, spacious, lofty, and decorated tastefully. These factors are overlooked at times, sometimes, unfortunately, of necessity; but we insist upon them, because the atmosphere induced by a handsome and suitable library is necessary if we are, first, to avoid ruffling the sensitiveness of children who are as jealous of their rights in the public libraries as are adults; and, second, to create that feeling of reverence and respect for books which is a factor in obtaining discipline in the apartment. An ill-lighted, crudely-decorated basement is sometimes devoted to the purpose, and this may have its uses, but it is certain to fall short lamentably of the full possibilities of a children’s library. The apartment being provided, several problems have to be settled. The systems in existence differ in different places. In some towns the children’s department is a reading room and reference library merely, and books are not lent for home reading. It is thought, in such cases, that the children can best be provided with books for home reading through a system of school libraries, such as we describe in the next chapter. This, however, seems to ignore the fact that such school libraries are usually restricted to public and council schools, that there are other kinds of schools in every town, and large numbers of children, therefore, who have not access to school libraries; and their claims to library facilities are as strong as those of public and council school children. Such is the system in vogue, we believe, at Cardiff. In other towns the department embraces lending library, reading room, and reference library, and good examples of these are to be seen at Islington. Here the room is divided into two parts, the smaller part being an open access lending library, and the greater part a reading room, with special tables set apart for quiet study, and containing a carefully-chosen collection of reference books. These methods have both great advantages, and are worthy of rather more detailed consideration.