The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-28
ONE WAYTO GET BOOKS
BUT SUPERINTENDENT LEWIS PER-
SONALLY REFUSES TO STAND
FOR 1T
BOARDS STATE CATALOGUE

Weight in It's Compilation Than
Purposes Intended-SampIe Books
Make Nice Private Libraries, 1t
Is RepOrted-One Interesting Case.
1t has leaked out that the meeting of
the state library board held a. week ago,
was not so prosy as those events usually
are. In fact 1t was anything but dry.
supt Lewis attacked an alleged abuse Of
the Minnesota school system, and while
he was beaten In the unequal contest, he
stirred things up. 1t seems that the state
catalogue furnished by the board, from
which rural schools may select books
designed to be best fitted for scholars
attending such schools, contains the
names of some of the heaviest works of
fiction, and Is. in part at least, useless
for the purposes for which 1t was in
tended, and the explanation, it is said.
Is found In the alleged fact that certain
of the gentlemen who preside at the head
of the state teachers training schools
have used their official positions as mem
bers of the board to build up their own
private libraries.
1t has been the custom for the normal
presidents to write to the publishing
houses for samples Of their books from
which to make a selection for the state
library list. At first the plan worked all
right, the books that were accepted and
placed on the list were kept and those
deemed Of little value to small school
libraries were sent back to the publishers.
But anon, SO it has been said, the work
of returning these sample books became
wearisome, and as quid pro quo for
their retention the names of such books
were placed on the state list The result
is that the list, as 1t now exists, 1t is
claimed by Supt. Lewis, contains the
names Of many books that are way out
OF the reach of any rural school library.
The catalogue is very cumbersome, con-
tanning the names Of some 1000 works
that are to very large degree technical
and upon educational subjects which are
not in the least Of value to a small school
library. But there has been more than
one good library accumulated through
this means.
AT the meeting Of the board held last
Saturday very stormy session was held,
lasting all day, and did not result In any
agreement being reached Supt. Lewis
started the ball rolling with a resolution
asking that all books Of an irrelevant
nature be stricken from the catalogue.
President Weld of the Moorhead normal.
one Of the new members Of the board,
agreed With Mr.. Lewis. but the other
members, to man. voted against the
proposal. Supt. Lewis made several COM
promise motions with a view to making
the list harmonic with the uses for
which 1t was intended but when the
meeting adjourned late in the afternoon
nothing had been accomplished to place
the members Of the board on record At
a previous meeting, held early in the
summer the same proposition was SUBJ
mitted by Mr.. Lewis with no better sue
cess than at the last meeting.
1t Is also matter of report that
former normal school president had ow-
ing to his connection as member of the
board, accumulated a fine library which
he had received from the publishers with
out cost to him. After he had built up
a very complete collection Of books, many
Of the commoner editions were found to
be duplicated. These, the report says,
he sold to the normal school Of which
he was president, at or above list price,
receiving considerable money for books,
many Of which had been secured by him
in the manner indicated above At a
meeting of the state normal school board,
held in July, the matter was brought to
the attention Of that body, and If the bill
had not already been paid it would have
been promptly rejected. The normal pres
ldent Was severely criticised.
prominent educator when asked re-
garding the matter yesterday said that
several of the Eastern states, to his posi-
tive knowledge, had been compelled to
abandon the catalogue system on account
Of the hold which publishing houses had
secured upon the members Of the board
through an abuse Of their authority in
the matter, securing the latest and most
erouS volumes, without cost.
The law in this state was passed
primarily for the benefit Of rural schools,
having in mind the building up of a
system Of country school libraries that
would be credit to the state Many Of
the districts are, in the absence of any
information or date, at a loss to know
just what books to select for their libra
ries. The law intended that the list
should be Of such nature that a school
official could open the catalogue and
select any book and know that 1t would
be entirely suited to the library. The
abuse Of the law became evident years
ago. and numerous complaints have been
made Of the Worthlessness of the list as
it now stands. For instance, a fine edi-
ton issued by some standard publishing
house is put on the market, costing COM
plete $25 or 500. Any member of the board
can write for sample of this book and
receive it free Of cost. This has been
done to an extent that has rendered
valueless the paper book known as the
Estate Catalogue. But State Superin-
tendent Lewis efforts to weed out the
useless books was defeated by the other
members of the board.