The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-11-20
LIBRARY INSTITUTE
HELD IN HAMMOND
State Library Board Mem
bers Come to City For
Interesting Session.
HOW TO INTEREST THE MEN
That Is the Question Discussed By the
Clever Ladies Who Handle
Books for Public.

How to interest the men in the pub
lie libraries, so that they Will avail
themselves of them. was one of the
leading problems discussed yesterday
afternoon at the library institute of the
tenth congressional district, held In the
public library of Hammond
The institute, which was held under
the auspices of the state library board,
brought out every librarian in the dis
trict with the exception Of the one at
Rensselaer,. In addition to these a
number of trustees from the various Ii
brary boards attended
Rich Change of Opinion.
There naturally was rich and in
telligent change of opinion in the round
table discussions that were conducted
by Miss Scott assistant stata
organize. 9nu It was IN one or these
that the question of how to enlarge the
male attendance at the library was
raised. Only one librarian, Miss Ber-
tha Joel of Valparaiso, reported a con-
dition of affairs different from what
the others had to report She stated
that in her town the question was how
to get as many ladies to attend as men.
The other librarians, however, COM
planned of a lack of attendance.
Hammond Has Good Attendance.
| The Hammond library, of which Mrs
Jennie Sawyer is the librarian, does
not lack such an appreciation from the
men as most of them do. On the con-
| trary, the attendance at the Hammond
library is about equally divided, al
| though more books are taken out by
| the ladies.
A smoking room was suggested by
some as a solution to the problem. il
being argued that man would fee
more comfortable where he could be
| among other men and where he coul6
smoke. Many arguments, based or
experiments, We're offered against this
however. In the first place, an extra
attendant would be necessary as vel
as a double set of magazines and pam
phlets. 1t was finally suggested thai
the attendance could be best increased
| through a process of education, 1t be.
ing left to the ingenuity of the libra.
rian and the board of trustees to ac
complish this.
DIR. Hoyvat Makes Fine Address.
Many other important questions were
brought up and thoroughly discussed
and no librarian who attended coult
have left the institute without having
been greatly benefited.
DR.. W. F. Howat one of the library
trustees, made a splendid opening ad
dress, in which he introduced Mis-!
| Clara Scott, who conducted the ins ii
tute, and Chalmers Hadley, who is sec
retary of the state library board ant
state organizer. Miss Orpha Maut
Peters of Elwood assisted Miss Scot
in the institute.
The librarians who attended were
Mrs. Jennie Sawyer. Hammond; Mis-
Jennie B. Jessup, Laporte; Miss Ber
tha Joel, Valparaiso, accompanied b.
Miss Seda Carr, librarian at Earl Park
Miss Helen Calhoun, Whiting; Mis-
| Florence Stewart assistant at Whit
| ing; Miss Marie Hansen, Crown Point
Miss Amelia Aicher, acting librarian a
| Michigan City, and Louis Bailey o
Gary.
Trustees in Attendance.
The following trustees of the var
ious libraries were in attendance