It begins to appear, then, I hope, that what I am driving at is that the way to convey information as to subject and scope of books is to talk about them, and to talk about them in such a way as to transmit not only the information, but our own interest in them, our confidence in them, and our point of view—which is not different from that of the people we seek to serve, though it may be more clearly defined when it comes to books. We are all human beings together and our chief common interest is human interest. When we can establish that bond between ourselves and those whom we desire to reach the task is done.
Why is it that the Chicago Evening Post, three weeks ago today, devoted 500 words in its editorial columns to comment upon the shelf of classics and the illuminating explanatory legend accompanying it, in the Springfield, Mass., library? Why is it that when we receive the St. Louis bulletin, we turn first to the page of "Books I like and why I like them?" Why do the pleasant little informal chats in the Chicago book bulletin about the troubles of the reference department meet with so wide a response? Why is Mr. Wellman's charming booklet about "Some modern verse" still kept in every librarian's little private file of things really worth keeping? Because in all of these, in one form or another, there appears the common bond of sympathy, the common note of human nature, which finds its complement wherever nature is human; the common ground of interest in the self-revelation of human beings which these little isolated and intrinsically unimportant enterprises bring to light. The book bulletin that would report upon the books of the month in the same pleasant, informal fashion, that would embody a page or two of book-chat in the same style of sprightly, intimate, personal causerie, think you that such a book bulletin would stand in great danger of being suspended because "it was very little used?"
Let us, then, talk more about our books: by word of mouth, in print, by placards, by whatever means ideas may be conveyed, so that the means be effective and the ideas—our own! When we annotate, and so breathe the breath of life into the dry bones of a catalog entry, let us honestly assume responsibility for the presence of the books in the list, by giving our own appraisal, and not always by quoting from some organ of orthodoxy whose very name connotes oppressive solemnity to the man in the street. We have our own collective opinion ready made for us every month in the A. L. A. Booklist, concisely put, simply worded, and the result of the combined judgment of a body of collaborators of the highest respectability. But this we mostly keep to ourselves, as a sort of trade secret, instead of giving the public at large the benefit of this most admirable product of co-operative skill.
And let us do these things not by way of pretending to oracular gifts or the possession of omniscience, but as a means of revealing ourselves and so of establishing a channel of communication between ourselves and our people through which the clear stream of human nature, which is common to us all, may flow unobstructed. And upon that stream we may confidently launch our several ships, freighted with wisdom and joy, profit and pleasure, inspiration and growth and life itself, safe in the knowledge that they will be wafted straight down the stream to their destinations, the hearts and minds of our patrons.
Perhaps this is one of the things in the mind of the president when she laid down the following query as the point of departure for this week's program: "Should not the library, neglecting no other known service, make very certain that it fulfills its own unique task, that is, to provide and to make known the sources of joy?"
The PRESIDENT: I think it is quite evident from several references in Mr. Roden's very delightful paper why the president went to Springfield for a paper on making known the charm of books. The librarian at Springfield was by "royal command" compelled either to write a paper himself or produce some one who could write it, and Mr. Wellman has produced Miss Grace Miller's manuscript, which he will read to us.
Mr. WELLMAN: Madam President, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very sorry that Miss Miller could not be here to present her paper in person. She is known to some of you through the notes which she writes for the Springfield Bulletin.
Mr. Wellman read the following paper, prepared by Miss GRACE MILLER, of the Springfield city library.
BOOK ADVERTISING: ILLUMINATION AS TO ATTRACTIONS OF REAL BOOKS
The reputation of the American people as a nation of readers evokes a pleasurable sensation of pride in the patriotic heart. But when we pause to ask, "What do they read?" that pride is destined to fall. Newspapers, periodicals, novels, the popular books of the hour—yes, but how many of the books of all time? It may be doubted if the present generation, with all its opportunities, reads as many of these as did its fathers.