Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-10-17

between the school and the library. The
librarian should know the school and its
work, in general way, as a very import
ant part of his work, just as a teacher
should know the library and It's methods
as part of her work The chill
dren should have free access to the library
shelves The community should be led to
regard the library as necessary part of a
system of public education, just as essen
tlal as the common school If it is the duty
OF the state to see that its citizens know
how to read, 1t is certainly none the less
It's duty to see that they are so trained
that the ability to read will be a blessing
rather than curse. A free public library
is the adults common school Pupils should
know what a library is, what it contains
and how to use it. A child can no more be
wisely left to get his knowledge and taste
for literature by himself. than to get his
mathematical or scientific training in the
same way. Children must be trained to use
the library as they trained to do other
things. Pupils should learn to read with
economy Of time by making use of page
hPe an1a nat tables Of contents. reviews
helps. The destiny of a child is not af-
fected by the ability to read, but by the use
he makes of that ability. The
school trains for a few years, the library
for lifetime. The ability to read
is merely a means to an end"
Taking these suggestions" says Mr.
Flint las showing the line of necessary
work for the library to do in aiding the
schools, 1t seems to me that a special eff
fort should be made to organize the chill
dren In the schools into leagues or societies
IN connection with the library to secure
the benefits of proper instruction as to what
books should be read, the proper care of
books, and in general, to train the children
how to best use books as a mart of their
education
Some efforts have been made to help
the children coming to the library, by hav-
ing the children's books placed in front
near the issue desk so they can easily
make their Selections lint he
Guilty has been the meager supply of books
suitable for them, probably not one-fifth as
many as could properly be used by them.
as on an average the children read books
in half the time that older readers take
and the small collection of books assigned
to the children's corner show by the dates
OF issue the constant use made of them.
ChiIdren's Department..
In the children's collection the same
classification is made as in the other parts
of the library, and as free access to these
books is given the young reader very soon
learns by the of this small collection
what books there are in the general library
and is fitted for better study in the future
AS children need guidance in their reading
1t becomes necessity to have, as soon as
possible, a separate department for them
under a specially prepared assistant, who
can aid them in the collection of books, in
connection with the advice and direction of
their teachers in the schools"
The registration of borrowers began De-
cember Is, 1888, the number in that month
belng SGD, and running up to {, T12 June 30,
lS99 quite large proportion being pupils
in the various schools of the District
10 accommodate these students in the
schools and others desiring extra books for
reading there has been given to those ap-
plying special students card, and this
card entities the borrower to take out one
non-fction book in addition to the one on
the regular card. This seems to work well
and giypS additional faci1itiaS n IL.
string to make a more complete course of
reading by having more than one work at
the same time. The only fear is that In
the increase of the number of borrowers
the number Of books may not equal the
demand, but the library will probably pro-
vide against such a contingency.
Creation of n Year.
The Washington Public Library. explains
Mr. Flint, is in one sense entirely the crea-
ton of the past year, both by gift and pur-
chase, and In another sense it is entirely
the result of the liberality of its friends
who have so generously given to its funds
and made donations of books. On July IL,
1898, the entire collection of the Washing
ton City Free Library was transferred to
the public library, this collection contain
ing, according to the accession book or
catalogue, 1920 volumes, besides quite q
number of pamphlets, unbound books, and
files, either whole or incomplete, of maya
zines and periodicals. There have been
added catalogued and placed upon the
shelves since that date 4 400 volumes, so
that the total number on the accession
book June 80, 1899, was 1850 volumes. In
addition to the above there are something
over 1000 bound books, 1900 unbound
books and pamphlets and 2,450 magazines
now in process of cataloguing.
Among the notable acceSSionS to the
library is the Anthony Pollok collection,
consisting of 1913 volumes of French works.
and COS volumes of English standard books,
nearly all finely bound in calf and morocco
besides some 400 pamphlets and 300 mis-
cellaneouS collections. From The Evening
Star Newspaper Company came an addition
of over thousand bound books, mostly
new, besides a very large collection of
pamphlets and magazines. A fine octave
edition Of Audubon's Birds and Quadrupeds
of America was included in the private
library given by Mr. William Gait. Quite
an addition has been made to the set of
reference works, which was greatly needed
of encyclopedias, dictionaries ALIASES
and fair working library for the cata-
loguer's and reference rooms. In the new
books added by purchase our limited means
made 1t necessary to make the collections
carefully So to meet the urgent demands
of readers as far as possible.
An insufficient Force.
Never since the library was opened, says
Mr. Flint, has its regular force been suffi-
cient to carry the work, and he CRATE
fully refers to the work performed by quite
a number of the students in the Library
School and others that volunteered to as
slst in the work of cataloguing and in the
registration and issue divisions. He refers
to the estimates of the board of trustees
of the expenses of the library for the COM
ing fiscal year. which have been published
in The Star, and explains the absolute ne
cessity for the increased number of assist
ants asked for.
The number of volumes in the library
June 80, 1899 for use, arranged by classes
and including duplicate copies, was Cen
eral works, 500; philosophy and religion,
793: biography, LII; history and travel,
1898; social science, TO; natural science,
705; useful arts, 81; athletics and recrca-
ton, 100; fine arts, 206; language and lit
erature, 2473; total of classed books, 9,S49;
fiction, 5,176; total, 1925.
Classes of Books.
Taking into account the fact that large
part-in fact, much the larger part-of the
books were received by donation in small
collections the library as a whole seems
fairly well divided as to the classes of
books. The first books purchased from
funds donated for that purpose were Sc
ected by Mr.. A. r. Spofford and the Ii