Much remains to be worked out, but a beginning has been made.
Ours is one instance of the awakening of the school to the value of the privileges which the library gives it. And as the reward of doing work well is invariably to have more work to do, from the school fully awakened the library shall receive its exceeding great reward in more work to be done.
Except for the hearty co-operation of the Cleveland Public Library the little experiment here outlined could not have been undertaken.
VITALIZING THE RELATION BETWEEN THE LIBRARY AND THE SCHOOL.
II. [THE LIBRARY.]
By Irene Warren, Librarian University of Chicago School of Education.
The establishment of the Library Section of the National Educational Association was proof that the thoughtful librarians and school men of this country believed that an effective co-operation between public schools and public libraries was possible. In many states library sections of the state teachers' associations have been formed. Many public libraries have for some time past systematically sent both books and lists of books to the public schools.
No sooner had this been done than librarians and teachers both saw that they had made but a beginning, and the next steps, and, indeed, the present needs, are to bring about a more intelligent use of both books and libraries and to place larger and better arranged collections within easy access of the pupils. Rarely do the teachers find the libraries adequate to the reference work or the collateral reading they wish the pupils to do. The funds are seldom sufficient to keep the libraries up to date. There is no one person in the school who knows how to organize and administer the library, and therefore whatever work the teachers do in this line is at a greater expense of both time, energy and material than it would be were it done by one having had a library training. The school buildings are frequently closed to the students shortly after the school session, usually by five o'clock, and always on holidays and during vacations. Most of the pupils' reading and research must therefore be done in the one or two books which he carries home with him. The Buffalo Public Library made another step in organization when it offered to take the collections of books from any of the public schools in the city and in return mend, rebind, catalog, classify them, furnish such schools as agreed to this arrangement with the books they needed, either from their own collections or from that of the public library, and appoint two attendants to look after the school work.
The public school began with the one central school in the community, but it soon found that it must establish branches if it reached all of the children of the city. To-day there is no town of any considerable size but has its central school with a high school usually, and its branches on the north, east, south and west sides. The public library, following the public schools, has found that it cannot reach the people of the community unless it delivers books to the various parts of the town, and moreover establishes branch reading rooms where at least reference books may be consulted and magazines read.