The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-06-05
OUR SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
Miss Burdiok and Public
School Teachers Control
Juvenile Reading.

There is a special system in the Free
Public Library of this city whereby the
juvenile mind, and especially that of the
public school children, is to a great exteEt
controlled in the matter of reading.
Where in several other cities they have
among the schools what is known as a
travelling library, in this city the same
idea is carried out on a much larger scale
and its influence on the young can scarce
" be oyer-estimated.
The system has now been in practice
for the past two years. Last year the cir
culation among the schools reached eight
thousand volumes, while this year, MISS
Burdick, Librarian, reports that it is even
heavier. While in the travellinb library
system a number of books are selected by
the libraries and circulated from school
to school, in the Jersey City system each
public school has the privilege of man
aging her own selection from the entire
library, with, of course, the exception OF
books of reference which are never al
lowed to leave the library. That is, any
teacher Of any grade has the privilege ef
going to the library and selecting for her
self from the shelves as many books as
she requires for her pupils. or If she is TOO
busy or thinks herself incompetent of the
responsibility, she simply sends in the
grade under her charge with a list of the
studies and the selection is made for her
therefrom.
These books usually number from
twenty-five to fifty in each grade and are
kept out for one month when they are
renewed by a new set on selection, a
schedule being kept by both the teacher
and the library.
In the way it will readily be seen how
the reading for the young is controlled.
The teacher knows what is best suited
to her class. both as to age and matter,
and can easily give the children interest,"
ing books on the subjects they are study
ing. The books used in this way con-
sist principally Of travels, juvenile bio
graphy, histories and some fiction. Very
light literature is never allowed. The
two most advantageous features of the
system are first that the children get
better literature, suited to their age. and
minds. and second that these school
libraries reach many who would other
wise either do no home reading at all or
turn to the dime novel of the blood and
llullutE2 SQCNiC. IL 1lSO SNNtAtD - SN
of children who are too far away to
come to the library themselves, and car
ries out the Free Library idea of doing
all within it's reach for the public.
Among the schools which have these
s~ub-libraries are School Nos. 25, %, q, IL
and 9, in all of which the teachers report
themselves well pleased with the system.
There is also another school system at
the Library. This consists of a humble
OF books, about 5000 volumes, which are
used for supplementary reading in the
class rooms. These books are packed in
sets and sent to the various schools
where needed in connection with special
studies and are also kept out for a month,
In fact, so large has this department
wherein the young mind is fed become
that when the new library is completed
it will have nearly one-half of the third
floor entirely devoted to this department,
with a reference room, 3Sx42, a reading
room. 15x47, and a large study room. As
Miss Burdick remarked this morning. IN
the new library we expect to double ana
treble this work