The second session of the section was held July 1, at 2 o'clock. The general subject was "Work with high schools." Mr. FRANK K. WALTER, vice director of the N. Y. State library school, read a paper on
TEACHING LIBRARY USE IN NORMAL AND HIGH SCHOOLS
Within the past few years the literature of this subject has become so copious that any original discussion of basic principle has become nearly out of the question. The excuse for papers like this one, which is mostly mere reiteration, lies in the fact that outside of library circles the matter has not been very seriously considered in spite of the constant repetition, and relatively few teachers have as yet attempted to give definite instruction in the use of books.
It is one of the characteristics of the present that we are learning the necessity of saving time and effort by doing better the things we can already do passably well. To this end vocational schools and vocational courses are being established everywhere. If the use of the tools of the trades must be taught in the interests of greater individual development and greater efficiency, there certainly is need of teaching the efficient use of books which are the already recognized tools of the professions and which are more and more coming to be recognized as necessary supplements to the tools of the handicrafts.
So far, it must be admitted, the response on the part of teachers has not been very general or very enthusiastic when courses of instruction in the use of books are advocated. At first sight this may seem strange. The primary purpose of both school and library is educational and many of the principles on which each line of work is based are equally familiar to teachers and to librarians. Let me instance but a few.
1. Education is a continuous process, started but not concluded in school. This is generally accepted and correspondence schools, study clubs, and similar activities are recognitions of its truth.
2. The complexity of modern life is lengthening the period of formal school instruction and the rapid rise of new industrial processes and the social problems arising in consequence, make after-school reliance on either past instruction or individual personal experience unsafe.
3. Education is not confined to books but books of the right kind are the best single aid to education.
4. Modern methods of teaching demand the comparative use of books, not reliance on a single text-book. Modern courses of study emphasize this by their lists of references to material for the use of teacher and pupil. In a pamphlet of 40 pages on "The high school course in agriculture," issued by the University of Wisconsin, 17½ pages are devoted to references to suggested reading. Children now study a subject, not a single text-book or series of text-books.
5. The library is the only continuation school really practicable for all the people at all times and for all subjects, and like any other institution, its value increases in proportion to the intelligence shown in its use.