Fig. 175.—Children’s Hall, Cathays Branch Library, Cardiff ([Section 485]).
485. The Reference-Reading Method.
485. The Reference-Reading Method.—We have used this name for want of a better to indicate the system which limits the use of the contents of the room to the room itself—-a system, we may add, which has been approved by the Conference of Librarians held at Manchester in 1918, as the better of the two described. The library is usually a large room with wall-cases for books upon two or three sides of the room, but with one wall left blank and whitened for use as a lantern screen, and intervals of the walls covered with baize screens upon which pictures, bulletins, lists, etc., can be displayed. Part of the room is reserved for children who desire to do home lessons, or make special study, or who wish (as is more frequently the case than is generally supposed) to become authors. For these, small desks, separate if possible, are provided, and the use of ink is permitted. Another set of tables is allocated to such newspapers and periodicals as are suitable for children. The selection of the latter is a matter requiring special care. Good daily newspapers may be provided—The Daily Graphic, for instance, is interesting to most children—but there is a real need for a definitely children’s newspaper, one that presents in a manner attractive to the child mind a selection of the matter occurring in the ordinary newspaper; the recognized children’s periodicals in English and French, and in other languages where circumstances warrant it; such “instructive” periodicals as those teaching shorthand, languages, how to make things, and simple “trade” periodicals; as well as a selection of such weekly journals as The Illustrated London News and The Graphic. Children are more virile mentally than is sometimes supposed, and many ostensibly adult periodicals are quite suitable for them. The remainder of the room may be devoted to tables or desks for the reading of the books from the cases.
486. Lending Library.
486. Lending Library.—All the features enumerated in the foregoing section should be found in the department which has also a lending library, except that the number of books to be provided for reading in the room will probably be smaller, and fewer book-cases will in that case be necessary. The lending section will be conducted on principles similar to those governing the adult lending library, with such adaptations as experience suggests to be desirable. Simplicity is the keynote of the work, and the regulations governing the issue of readers’ tickets and the lending of books should be made as easy and unambiguous as possible. A few of these may be mentioned:
1. Children should be permitted to borrow books upon the recommendation of the head teacher of the school they attend. In some libraries a more definite guarantee is required to prevent possible loss and to recover the cost of loss or damages, as it is obvious that the teacher cannot be expected to accept financial responsibility in this connexion and would undoubtedly refuse to do so; and these require the children to be guaranteed by burgesses in the same manner as adult readers. It will be found, however, that children have frequently some difficulty in finding a guarantor; even parents at times refuse to bind themselves in this way; and, with careful supervision, the teacher’s recommendation will be found to be effective. A good form of application is as follows:
..............................................................No. ...............
NEWTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
To be signed by the Applicant.