The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-18
JACOB P. DUNN'S TALK
HE DELIVERS An ADDRESS To IL
BRARY TRAINING SCHOOL.
Early Hours of the First Session TAX
en- Up with EnrOIIment-
The Studcnts.

III n11AoNlAAAos A'Aa nAAA' Nv 0NoRACN'
of the State Library Commission, opened
yesterday morning in Room S. of the State
house. The early hours of the session were
occupied in the enrolment of students.
Among those enrolled are Misses kellogg.
Applegate, Cochran, Finch and Messing. of
the indianapolis Public Library, and Miss
Hamlin. Of this city. who is studying pre-
paratory to doing library work in the
Philippines.
Yesterday Afternoon the first session of
the school was held. Governor Durbin
was 10 have delivered an address. but he
was out of town. Jacob p. Dunn. Miss
Hoagland. state organizer. and Miss Eaton
spoke. Mr.. Dunn's address was as follows:
Members of the Library School, doubt
If any of us fully appreciate the impor-
tance OF the work which you are assem-
bled here to begin individually. You are
here not merely to fit yourselves for the
better care OF some special library, but
TO take your places as factors i'm a great
educational movement. The function of
libraries In a community is educational,
and in reality it is as important as the
school work with which we ordinarily as
sociate the idea of education. AS a mat
ter of fact, 1t would be useless TO teach a
person how to read If he had nothing to
read after he had learned, and the full
purpose of teaching a child to read is not
attained unless he is afterward led to read
the best literature.
1T is your privilege to aid in securing
that result, or rather in working toward
that result, for IT can never be attained
fully. And your work is OF special i'm
portance because at no time in the worlds
history has the world been so flooded with
literature that is utterly worthless, if not
positively harmful. What is worse. the stuff
or this class is usually the cheapest and
most accessible of all reading matter. 1t is
thrust on the public at every news stand
and on every railroad train. It's demoraliZ-
inc aNnnfG nunanfnIlwr IN tho Aann y
generally recognized. and II is an apprecia-
tion of the need of providing something
better that is largely the cause of the
library movement which is now so wide
spread in this State. On your work the
success of that movement will very largely
depend. You are TO direct and control ii
TO a large extent. You are to aid i'm max
ing 1T popular or unpopular. useful or SUI
perfuous, a blessing or a waste of energy.
And the responsibility upon you is the
greater because this may be said to be
the third notable library movement I'm In
diana, and the two preceding were failures
so far. at least. as attaining the result of
permanent library education was concerned.
THE two preceding movements went into
effect at about the same time. but the first
In inception was the Mcclure w~orkingmen's
library system. This was simply the dona-
ton of small libraries to voluntary or
ganiZations called workingmen's institutes,
from a bequest made by William Mcclure.
Of New Harmony. Under this libraries of
the value of $500 each were given to IA
organizations. located in eighty-nine of the
ninety-two counties of the State. AS a
rule these libraries were shOrt-lived. and
the books were scattered. though here and
there one formed the nucleus for a school
library or some other library still I'm ex-
istence.
TOWNSHIP LIBRARY MOVEMENT.
1.-THE other movement was The township
library movement, undertaken by the State,
which expended about $4,000 in the pur-
chase of books and distributed them to
93S townships of the State. These libra
ries were In active use for several years,
and some of them still exist, but they
failed chiefly because there was no provi-
sion for their supporting money for buy
ing new books or rebinding old ones-and
no proper provision for their care, they be-
ing put in charge of township trustees, who
frequently knew little and cared less about
libraries and regarded them as nuisances
appurtenant to their office, to be got along
with in the easiest way possible.
But. while these movements resulted In
very few permanent libraries, they had
one result whose Importance can hardly
be ove~restimated. They distributed through
out Indiana a large amount Of standard
and useful reading matter which was like
mama to thousands of hungry readers,
and the number of Indiana people who
profted by reading more or less of them
reaches into the thousands. 1t includes
practically every man and woman of note
i'm Indiana who lived in the State at the
time. And they were useful in showing
the dangers to be avoided. The present
movement has begun under much more
hopeful conditions than they did because
of the experience gained through them.
In the first place, we have very much
better library laws. They provide not only
for the establishment of libraries, but also
for their continued support and for intelli-
gent care. They provide for library boards
composed of people who may reasonably be
supposed TO be interested in library work,
and they provide for the possibility at least
of librarians.
But, most important of all, the present
library movement rests on a general de-
mand of the people and on their own eff
fort. 1t is not a system of donations to
the people, but n movement of the people
to provide libraries for themselves. In
a number of cases this has been stimulated
by the generous donations of Mr.. Carnegie
of funds for library buildings, but these
gifts are most wisely accompanied In every
case by provision that the people shall pro-
vide and maintain the libraries in the build
ings donated. Mr.. Carnegie never demon
strated his practical common sense more
fully than by those provisions. In this
country the grandly successful things are
done by we, the people And when we.
the people, engage in a work It means
that there Is public sentiment for its prose-
cution, public watchfulness for it's proper
conduct. public desire to make avail of It.
In this largeness of foundation we have the
strongest promise of the success of the
present movement. 1t is not a thing of a
days growth. It has developed and round
ed out through years of effort and agi-
tation, and the time is now ripe for the
f%ruition.
AN IMPORTANT PART.
As I have said. your part in the prosecu-
ton of this work is important. You are
10 counsel, to guide, to furnish information,
TO care for the libraries in their material
aspects. You probably know that at the
present time indexing has become an essen
tial feature of literary work in all lines.
The librarian should be a living index of
the library. I do not mean that you should
know everything. 1 used 10 know an old
lavver-a very wise and capable one-who
used to say that he did not profess to
know what the law was on all subjects,
but he did profess 10 be able to find out.
You should aim to reach that stage of
perfection. If any one applies to you for
information about books, get Ii. If you
cannot get il in your library. write for it.
write to the Library Commission. That is
not a repository Of all knowledge. but one
of its functions is to furnish Information.
and II will do it's best to aid you.
"And keep studying. The librarian who
reaches a point where he has ceased to
learn anything has outlived his usefulness.
The instruction that can be given you here
is necessarily rudimentary. AT the utmost
we can only hope to start you on right
paths. And even in that we cannot give
YOU all the facilities and accommodations
that we would like TO give. but we will do
the best we can. And that is all that we
ask or expect Of you. / am sure you will
give that. Your presence here is suf-
hcient evidence OF it And on behalf OF the