The first session was held at the Chateau Laurier Friday afternoon, June 28th. The chairman, Miss Mary de Bure McCurdy, presided. The general topic was "Work of special libraries with children."
MISS MARY S. SAXE, of the Westmount public library of Montreal, read a paper on the subject.
WITH THE CHILDREN IN CANADA
Miss Saxe said they had in Westmount the only properly equipped children's room in any library in the province of Quebec, and that the only library work for children in Montreal was done by the McGill university settlement workers in the slums of that city. The best children's work in the province of Ontario is now done by the public libraries of Toronto, Ottawa, London, Collingwood, Berlin, Sarnia and Fort William. Among the smaller libraries the work done at Galt is particularly worthy of mention, the quality being due, as is generally the case, to the unselfish and enthusiastic work of the librarian. At Winnipeg, although they have a handsome library building and a room set apart for the children, activities seemed at a low ebb when the speaker visited the library two years ago.
"The Church of England in Canada has done a good work up there within the Arctic circle with its Sunday school libraries. The Indian children and the half-breed children, of whom there are many, get all their reading from this source.
"Away out on the Pacific coast, a missionary of this same church became interested in the logging camps that he found among the islands of the gulf of Georgia. He returned to the Bishops of Columbia, and of New Westminster, stating that he must have a boat built, which would be a church, and also an ambulatory library. It was a beautiful scheme—it was also an expensive one. But those of you who care to read of its development in a little book entitled "Western Canada" can do so, and you will learn with delight how well the idea has worked out.
"In the past two years the library movement in Canada, especially in the Northwest, has expanded rapidly. Regina has opened a new public library within the past six weeks, and the work for children is to be well looked after. Calgary, New Westminster, Vancouver, Victoria, all tell the same tale of a long struggle in crowded quarters—and now new buildings and splendid promise of good work. It is most unfortunate for us in Canada, that our distances are so great, our ties have to be mostly railway ties.
"In Westmount we opened the Children's room in January, 1911. We began agitating the dire need of such a department fully seven years before the reality came."
The paper on County work with children prepared by Miss ALICE GODDARD, head of children's department, Washington County free library, Hagerstown, Maryland, was read by Miss Gertrude Andrus in Miss Goddard's absence.