As in the history of the schools, so in the history of the libraries, provision was first made for the mature student. Educators have been slow to see that they should begin with the child before he has established habits of thought and action. Not until the public library is considered a vital factor in the educational scheme of a city can it hope to secure its best results, nor is this possible when the central library and its few branches are removed, as at present, from the public schools. The libraries and the schools should be housed in close proximity to do the most effective work.
It is with keen interest that the experiment in New York City is being watched. It certainly seems as if the most economical arrangement would be to have the branch of the public library so placed in a school building that the students would have free access to it, and the public also, not only during school hours but public library hours. It seems the logical duty of the board of education to furnish the few necessary reference books that are in continual demand in every school room and also the sets of books which are used for supplementary reading. It does, on the other hand, seem that the public library can furnish a larger general collection, in better editions and keep them in better condition for less money and with better results than can the public schools.
The already crowded curriculum in most of our public schools made many an educator hesitate when a course in library economy was suggested. One can indeed see a time not far distant, it is hoped, when such a course will not be thought necessary. Such a time will be when instructors have awakened to a much greater appreciation of the value and use of bibliography and the need of training students in this line. Along with this will develop a desire in the student to keep his own references and material so arranged that he will be able to use them easily. There will still be considerable of a general bibliographical character, [handbooks], etc., which would be of value in all subjects and yet perhaps be overlooked by the specialists, that could be called to the students' attention through such a pamphlet as was recently compiled by Mr. Andrew Keogh, of Yale University Library, under the title, "Some general bibliographical works of value to the students of English."
There is a phase of library economy that every teacher should know, and which it seems must always have its proper place in the curriculum of the normal school. That is the knowledge of how to obtain books. Every teacher should know what the laws of his state are regarding the establishment and maintenance of the public library and the public school library, and how these laws compare with those of other states. He should know what aid he can gain through the travelling library system, should he be in a village or country district, and the possible co-operation between the public library and the public schools should he be assigned to a city. Just as the public schools are finding that they must adapt their curriculum to the needs of the children of a certain district or class, so the public library has the same lesson to learn. The Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh has been one of the first to recognize this in the establishment of home libraries. It has thus reached a class of children that could be reached in no other way, and why should not the public library as well as the public school aim to reach these less fortunate children?
The subject of children's literature should be a serious one with every teacher of children. The best writers for children, best illustrators, and best editions should be part of the normal school student's knowledge when he completes his course and goes out to teach. It is a great problem with him now how he shall keep this information up to date, when there are hundreds of books coming out every year and his school-room duties absorb so much of his time. Here is the librarian's opportunity to be of great aid to the public school teacher by issuing lists of the best children's books on various subjects, exhibiting them in the library from time to time, and to the schools for trial, as so many libraries are now doing. In the country districts the library commissions must supply this information through annotated lists.
It has been shown in a number of schools that children love to make books, and that the making of books quite successfully lends itself to the constructive work as carried on in the schools of to-day. The materials for this work are not so costly as to make it impossible for the average school. Every child at the completion of the graded schools should know the value of a title-page, the use of the preface and introductory notes, the difference between the table of contents and the index, the best books in the several subjects which he has studied, and where and how he can obtain more books on these subjects later, should he wish them. It would doubtless be a great surprise to one who has not tried the experiment to ask the pupils in our graded and high schools even, for such simple information as the author, title and date of the text-books they are using daily.
If the suggestions in this paper be accepted, and most of them have already been successfully tried, it will be seen at once how great is the importance of having trained librarians in our normal schools and institutions of higher learning. The time has now come in a number of cities which we hope is prophetic of the future, when the public library stands equally important as an educational institution with the public school, each supplementing the other in work and still distinct in function and administration. It is therefore necessary that our teachers should be trained to use libraries, and that our librarians should be acquainted with the great educational movements of the day.