The same general rules may be followed all through the library. Different positions require different qualifications and it rests with the librarian to see that the employee fits the position. If this is not done it will make little difference how good the collection of books may be, the contents of the library will not reach the public in a direct way. The library is what the librarian and assistants make it by their intelligent use of the material supplied.
This may all seem very commonplace. If it is, then why have we not profited more by what we already know? It must be granted that many libraries inherit employees who are not particularly well fitted for the place they are expected to fill. The only thing to do in this case is to put them where they will do the least harm. We cannot expect to maintain an all star cast, but by studying carefully the people in the employ of the library the librarian can generally so manipulate things that eventually the right person will be in the right place.
The program makers asked to have discussed "the ability to discern quality and essentials in books." For this we must have first the student and careful reader who, through the study of various subjects is able to judge the literature of those subjects. It cannot reasonably be expected that library employees will be able to have a first hand knowledge of all classes of literature, but all employees may become reasonably familiar with the names of the best writers on many subjects and the character of their work. It is by means of the various literary tools provided and the ability to acquire a more general knowledge of many subjects by much reading that the library employee increases in value. In this particular part of the work the library assistant gains more by much reading than she does by experience.
It is not my duty to discuss the kind or the extent of the education possessed by those who become library employees. We all agree that this should be the broadest and the most general possible with emphasis placed on literature and history. Most of our assistants enter the library training classes at the close of a high school course, and, generally speaking, librarians do not expect more than this because the salaries which are offered will not attract people of higher education. Therefore, if an assistant is to learn to discern quality and essentials in books some provision should be made by which this knowledge may be acquired in the library after entering as an employee. Just as the librarian is responsible for the attitude of the assistants toward the public so are the librarian and heads of departments responsible for the growth of the efficiency of the employees in this particular phase of library work.
A standard of efficiency must be maintained along this line of education as well as personal treatment of the public, therefore it is impossible to emphasize too strongly the necessity of continuing the education of the library employees after finishing the work of the training class and after having become an employee of the library. It can scarcely be considered advisable to attempt to give much practice work in all departments to all employees but it should be one of the requirements of the library that provision be made whereby all of the employees in a department shall learn to know the general character and the value of most of the books in that department.
From the library periodicals of England one may gather that there is some rather severe criticism of the assistants in libraries, the general feeling being that a lack of efficiency deprives the public of their proper share of service. I should like to quote from a paper by Mr. John Bar, which appeared in the Library world (vol. 13).
"If the library would only adopt a policy whereby a guarantee could be had that the assistants in the library would be taught their profession in a thorough manner, I am positive that the now prevalent lament regarding the apathy and carelessness of assistants would be reduced to a vanishing point, because from observation, I believe that the assistant is the product of his environment; he is what the conditions in the library make him. The policy of the library should be to provide the staff with every opportunity for improvement in general, literary, and technical knowledge. In order to meet the first part of the proposal, the time of the staff should be so arranged as to allow a reasonable portion for private study as well as recreation. And in order to fulfil the latter part—that relating to technical knowledge—the work of the library should be so organized as to ensure that every assistant shall, in a series of progressive steps, obtain an adequate and thorough knowledge of all the practical details of librarianship."
The people of America cannot offer quite as severe criticism of their library employees as this would imply has been offered in England, but the suggestions regarding further education after entering the library, are such as we might well follow.
The second item suggested by the program makers reads "the power to give information rather than advice." This naturally would come through the ability of the employee to eliminate his own opinion and to put forward instead the opinions of those who are qualified to know. Here again the employee may, by much reading, become more efficient. There is nothing so offensive to patrons of a free institution as to have unsolicited opinions and advice offered by employees. And yet this is a characteristic of the new employee and is prompted not by conceit but by a desire to be helpful and to please. The best way to be helpful in a library, as elsewhere, is to help people to help themselves. In this as in all of the work of the library the standard must be that established by those highest in authority, and ways and methods must be put forward whereby the assistant may know what plan she is to follow.
The ability to be helpful comes by much experience, both personal experience and the experience of others. To quote, "experience is the force which makes life possible ... and books alone give permanence to the facts of experience." Therefore to busy people in need of the experiences of others, the greatest help comes by much reading.