The library is peculiarly suited for this work and its power and future influence are not fully appreciated even by those engaged in library work. It is not necessary to say to this audience that the public library is an essential part of a complete educational system and that there should be harmony within the system.
The training in the schools should be such as shall make a beginning at least in the preparation for social life and social service, in the broad sense. The students should be shown that the library is a social mirror, a record of the social activities of mankind. If for any cause students leave school, they should be in such close relation to the library and be so familiar with library methods that they will be encouraged to continue studying; thus we shall find the book in the hand of the worker, the ideal condition, assisting him in solving his problems and opening to him visions of life of which he had never dreamed.
The school authorities should never overlook the fact that the average time which the individual student attends school is short; but be it short or long, pupils should be trained in the use of the library, and taught how to find in books answers to their questions. Questions which shall require students to go to the library should be regularly given them. In the higher grades and in the high schools emphasis should be placed on library work. Students should not only be required to read certain specified books, as supplementary reading, but there should be regular assignments of topics for investigation, which will require them to use the library and other sources of information, thus training them in research methods and developing their power of original investigation. By this method their school work will become a living motive-force in their lives.
The colleges and universities offer a great number of courses. So many subjects are open for study that the most that can be done during the college years is to select a few and concentrate effort upon those selected and leave the great field of knowledge for future exploration and conquest. Therefore, if a student leaves college with high ideals and an ambition to explore still further the field of knowledge and develop his individuality, his immediate need is a good library. Therein is the crystallized wisdom of ages held in "magic preservation." Here he may find freedom for the development of his individuality and be able to increase his power to react on his environment, enabling him to find profit, pleasure and culture in the various activities of life.
But has he learned how to use the library? Let us take the testimony of Dr. Harper, former president of the University of Chicago. "It is pitiable," he said, "to find that many graduates of our very best colleges are unable, after taking up the more advanced work of the divinity school or other graduate courses, to make use of books. They find nothing; they do not know how to proceed in order to find anything. No more important, no more useful training can be given men in college than that which relates to the use of books. Why do so many men give up reading when they leave college? Because in college they have never learned the use of books."
This is the testimony of a man of wide experience. A college librarian should be a person of strong personality and broad culture, and the example of some of the universities and colleges of making the librarian a member of the faculty should be followed by all colleges. The most important work for schools and colleges is to arouse in the students the spirit of research, train them in research methods, and develop their powers of independent investigation. Impress upon them the fact that education cannot be received but must be acquired, and that the acquisition of knowledge is a process co-extensive with life.
President Hibben of Princeton says, "It is the nature of education that it does not result in a complete and finished product, but rather a progressive process. There is nothing final about it. Its achievements always mark new beginnings. Education must always be defined in terms of life, of growth, of progress."
It will be readily seen that those who complete the regular courses of the schools, colleges and universities need the library. It is well known that the majority do not take advantage fully of the opportunities offered by the schools, but for various reasons they drop out all along the line. For these we need the library. We have a large immigration of adults from foreign lands. These people come here to make homes and to take part in our government. Self-government requires knowledge and understanding. Great questions are constantly arising which demand intelligent action. Ignorance, whether it be the ignorance of the rich or of the poor, is a menace. One of our grave social problems is the ignorance and indifference of the ostentatious rich. Rich in material things, but poor in the things which make life rich. They have not learned that every man owes a debt to society that can be paid only in service. Complex our social organization is and it is becoming more complex each year. Grave questions are before us for solution. The people in general have no adequate conception of the possibilities of the library, when properly organized, as an effective force for dealing with these conditions; and it is doubtful if the most optimistic librarians appreciate what may be, and will be done in the future with this great instrument of education. A community without a public library lacks an essential of a well organized community.
Let us have in the library men and women of broad culture who have had special training in psychology and sociology, who are sincerely and sympathetically devoted to humanity. Let this great educational institution be directed by people of commanding power, trained for public service, who have entered the profession as a life work, salaries to correspond, with qualifications required and services rendered. We say services rendered because all service must be rendered before it can be measured. The library will thus become the center of intellectual activities of the community, a continuation school, a local university.
Society is under obligation to furnish every means possible for the development of human capacity. There is in the world latent talent and capacity beyond measure. For the development of this latent talent, society is in a measure responsible. If opportunity is offered, capacity will develop.