Arizona republican., 1900-07-14
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY.

Charleston, S. C.. July I3.-One of the most interesting of the departmental sessions of the National Educational association convention today was that of the library department Fl. L. Elmendorf of Buffalo opened the ses- sion with an interesting paper entitled 'The Greater School. or the School. Plus the Library. Greater than Either" Superintendent EImendorf spoke in part as follows:
 The object of our compulsory. tax supported system of education is to make good citizens. The good citizen is, without doubt, the happy and intel ligent man, and no less an authority than President Eliot asserts that life long happiness and increasing intelli- Sence are best assured by the forma- tion in early youth of the taste for good books. School libraries. familiar to all as part of the equipment of the modern school, have been found helpful in this direction. but the institution of the greater school by the federation of the public school and the public library Is a much longer step toward true demo- cratic education.
 School libraries have usually been made up of books of reference and books for supplementary reading for children in the higher grades. Statis- tics show that a large majority of the children leave the public school before they are F years old, that is. before they have reached the sixth grade. There. if we propose to teach the love of goods books to all, and not to the few only who persist to the higher grades, We must adopt a system to sup ply good books to all. even the young est. If the children are taught that the books which they learn to love in the public school are part of the public ii- brary in which as citizens they have joint and proprietary rights which con tinue after their school days end, our means for the education of good cit!- zens is complete
 TEACHERS AND BOARDS.
 Before the department of school ad- ministratiUn. at it's concluding session. Dr. w. A Hunt of Minnesota spoke as follows concerning the relation of school boards to teachers.
 The primary aim of the public school system is to train and educate the youth of the nation towards the highest morality and the best citizen ship. The state has assumed the duty and claimed the right to educate it's youth, to train them into useful and upright citizens. Authority to super- wise and means to provide for this most important undertaking are entrusted by the people to boards of education From the best citizenship only of q community should D chosen those who are to manage and supervise a school system. The field of work of the school board is mainly one of legislation, with a corps of skilled laborers to execute and carry out it's orders. The relation of the school board to the teaching force is of the greatest consequence to the welfare of the school. The su- perintendent chosen to manage and direct the local school system for the board should be selected with the greatest care. His duties and privileges and his relation to the board and fellow teachers should be clearly defined and well understood. How much liberty he is to enjoy in developing and per- fecting the school system is a matter for the board to decide. As a rule it may be stated that however superior the qualifications of the superintendent, or however inferior those of the board, it is undoubtedly best that in every phase of school board duty, the power should, whether used or not, re- main with the board. As to choice of teachers the selection should devolve