549. Other Schemes.—As the North of Scotland scheme is continuing in the control of the Carnegie Trust, it is on a rather different footing from the county schemes, which are in the control of the county education committee. In general, however, the methods are the same. There is a central repository where books are selected, catalogued, dispatched, and overhauled on return, and where reading courses, special catalogues, etc., may be prepared; indeed, whence skilled advice and assistance may be drawn by all the village centres. And, as recommended by Professor Adams, local village schools are the deposit centres, with schoolmasters as a rule for librarians. The smaller towns have in some places made arrangements by which they amalgamate or co-operate with county schemes, but the larger towns usually work independently.
A rough estimate of the cost of an actual rural library scheme founded on a Carnegie grant may be given:
| Capital expenditure: | ||
| Repository, building | £800 | |
| Books | 2100 | |
| Boxes | 140 | |
| Accessories | 100 | |
| Initial clerical labour | 100 | |
| £3240 | ||
| Annual expenditure:[484] | ||
| Salary of librarian | £180 | |
| Clerical assistance | 50 | |
| Heating, lighting, cleaning | 50 | |
| Rates and taxes | 25 | |
| Carriage of books | 100 | |
| Repairs, etc. | 25 | |
| £430 | ||
| Ultimate additional annual cost: | ||
| Repairs and renewals | 160 | |
| 160 | ||
| £590 | ||
Thus the annual cost of the scheme after the initial expenses have been met is reckoned at £590, but the salary allowed here is inadequate. It is at this point that the legal powers of the County Councils may be tested. It is difficult to imagine the Local Government Board auditor ruling that they cannot provide such library maintenance out of education funds because the Education Act of 1918 does not mention it (although the Scottish Act of 1918 does, and permits it), but the matter has not been questioned yet.
550. General Considerations.
550. General Considerations.—Every librarian will see the potentialities of this work, as completing in a large measure the public library system of the country; moreover, its rapid and successful development is an earnest of the immense future of libraries as a whole. By co-ordinating this village work with such educational agencies as University Extension, and the Workers’ Educational Association, it will be possible to give to rural life many of the intellectual advantages hitherto exclusively the possession, for the non-wealthy classes, of town life, and this at a time when settlement on the land is proceeding apace. Meanwhile the supervising rural librarian may make regular visits throughout his area, in which he will give advice on reading, demonstrations in the use and care of books, and exercise the undoubted opportunities he will have of bringing people of like intellectual pursuits, but in different villages, into touch with one another. All this presupposes the existence of a professional librarian in control of the entire scheme. An initial mistake has been made in some counties in appointing teachers to this position, on the theory, no doubt, that the training of teachers is a very suitable basis for work with libraries which are locally administered by teachers. It may be so—the evidence is not yet forthcoming—but we do not think so. Library organization, especially at the outset, demands the specialist, and the librarian differs radically in training and mental attitude from the teacher. Further, the salaries hitherto offered have ranged from £150 to £300 per annum—have in only one case reached the higher figure—and these sums must be augmented considerably if the rural libraries are to attract and retain the librarians they really need.
551. Bibliography
Adams, W. G. S. Report on Library Provision and Policy, 1915.
Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. Annual Report, 1915 to date.
Farr, Harry. Libraries in the Rural Districts, 1909. Library Assistants’ Association Series, 2.