Organizing and Building Up the Sunday School / Modern Sunday School Manuals

by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut

1. Library Committee. For the selection of books, whether in the reading library for scholars or the working library for teachers and scholars, a wise, intelligent, and careful committee should be chosen, and should be maintained in permanent service. The pastor and the superintendent should be ex-officio members of this committee, but it should also include some other persons sufficiently acquainted with books to pass upon their merits, and willing to give time, inquiry, and thought to the library. There may be schools fortunate in possessing librarians who devote themselves to the selection of books, as well as to the care of them; and in such schools the library committees will find their labors lessened. No book should be admitted to the library without examination and approval by the committee.

(1) Purchase of Books. The simplest method for finding books is far from being the best method. It is to have a quantity of books—a hundred or more at one time—sent by booksellers on approval. This method involves hasty examination, and generally results in obtaining many useless, worthless books intermixed with a few good ones. The better plan is for the committee, first of all, to be supplied with catalogues from reputable publishers of books for children and young people, and also books on religious and biblical education; next to read carefully the reviews of books in these departments as given in the best literary and religious periodicals; then, to send only for such books as they judge will be desirable, receiving them on approval. Every book should not only be looked at, but read; and if at all doubtful read by more than one member of the committee. In some Sunday schools there is placed at the door a library box, in which may be deposited the names of books desired by members of the school. Lists of approved books are published by various houses and societies; and the catalogues of a few good Sunday-school libraries will aid committees. The library committee must scrutinize closely all donations of books offered to the library, and resolutely decline every book that is unsuitable, even at the risk of offending the donor. The Sunday-school library room must not be turned into a mausoleum for dead volumes. The committee must also beware of bargains offered by some booksellers who would unload upon Sunday schools their left-over and unsalable stock. That which costs little is generally worth less. The Sunday school must obtain only books that will be read and are worth reading.

(2) Frequent Additions. The usual method is to use the old library until its best books are either worn out or lost, and then to make a strenuous effort at raising money for the purchase of an entirely new collection. But the better plan is to add a few carefully selected books each month to the library. To examine at one time two hundred volumes is an impossibility, and in so large a purchase many undesirable books are sure to be included. It is not difficult to select after careful examination ten books each month, and thereby keep the library always at a high grade of excellence. With each purchase a slip describing the new books might be printed, and distributed to the school, thus keeping the library constantly before its patrons.

2. The Librarian. There is a close analogy between the work of the librarian in the public library and that in the Sunday school. For the public library everywhere a specialist is sought, one who knows books, can select them wisely, and can aid seekers after literature in their reading. The Sunday school needs just such a librarian, and all the more because the scholars cannot select from the open shelf, but must guess at the quality of a book from its title in the catalogue. It has been noticed that wherever a Sunday-school library is successful in holding the interest of the scholars there is found with it a librarian adapted to his work and devoting himself to it. We notice the characteristics of a good librarian in the Sunday school:

(1) A Bookman. He is a lover of books, acquainted with them, and interested in good literature. His work is more than to distribute books: he should aid, sometimes supervise, their collection.

(2) A Business Man. He is practical, orderly, and systematic in his ways of working; with a plan for his task, and fidelity in accomplishing it.

(3) Gentle in Manner. Opportunities will be frequent for the librarian to clash with the scholars on the one hand, or with the superintendent upon the other. With one he may appear arbitrary, with the other disorderly, his work sometimes breaking into the program of exercises. He should be pleasant toward all, uniform in his dealings, and attentive to the general order of the school.

3. His Assistants. In most schools one assistant, in large schools several assistants, will be required by the librarian. He should nominate them, subject to the approval of the governing board of the school; and should require of them regular and prompt attendance, and attention to their work in the library. It is very desirable that the business should be so arranged as to allow the librarians to take part in the opening devotional service with the school, and not to be at work arranging books while others are at prayer.

4. The Management of the Library. This involves four processes: the collection, the assignment, the distribution, and the return of the books.

(1) The Collection. The books can easily be collected without interfering with the order of the school, if the library window is near the entrance to the building, and the scholars as they enter leave their books at the library. This is the method employed in most schools.