Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-11-04
ANOTHER
GOOD PAPER
"H0W to Inrease Our Book Cir
Culation," Read by Mrs. Geo.
P. Hambrecht, at the City
Federation Meeting Held Oct.
14th, 1909.

I4th, lSUS.
No one living in the shadow of
public library, be it good or poor,
has any idea what a famine of read
ing means In the isolated rural
districts (the Wilds) the poorer class
es who do not subscribe for period
icals and papers, and have no books
suffer as much from dearth of read
ing matter, as we often do from over
supply. Those who can scarcely get
time to look over the mass of accu-
mulating s4pply of reading matter
can little appreciate the absolute
loneliness of the less favored, who
In long evenings or during long sea-
sons of sickness and storms, have
absolutely nothing upon which to re
gale their impoverished minds.
We should consider ourselves most
fortunate who live in a state where
such conditions are unheard of, for,
in the field of library work, Wiscon-
sin stands well to the front. Supt.
Cary tells us that Zone Of the most
significant movements of the present
day in Wisconsin is that which has
for its object the education of the
adult population. The day is happily
past when the last day of school for
any individual is his educational day
Of judgment. We now have the uni
Versity of the people, in which every
citizen should take a postgraduate
course, no matter at which stage in
his educational career he left the
public school. This university of the
people consists Of the newspaper, the
magazine, the periodicals for the
various trades and professions, the
correspondence schools, the free Ii
braries." There is scarcely a nook
or corner in the state of Wisconsin
that is not reached by one or more
OF the hundreds of travelling libra
ries maintained by the generosity of
such phiIanthropists as Senator Stout
of Dunn County and the late Jere D.
Witter of Wood. But a Wisconsin
woman deserves the credit of stimu-
lating this particular branch of libra
ry work. II or 10 years ago, the
wife of Ex-Governor Upham, at the
suggestion of the W. G. T. U. of this
state took it upon herself to collect
books, papers and magazines, to send
to the men in her husbands logging
pleasure that she soon conducted
the work on a larger. scale and call
ell upon others to assist her in sup
plying all of the logging camps in
northern Wisconsin. A system of
exchange of books and papers be-
tween camps was adopted so that
all the contributions were made to
do the greatest possible amount of
good. Mrs Upham's travelling Ii
braries were the first in the state
and they did excellent service.
The question as to how to increase
circulation in public libraries, is the
one that has been discussed prob
ably at every conference of librar-
ians ever held, and doubtless will
continue Indefinitely just as long as
these conferences are held. If asked
for general suggestions on this sub
ject, regardless of local conditions,
| should say:
Know your books, both fiction and
non-fiction, and also the resources
of your library in order that ali in
quiries may be met. Often one en-
ters the library with definite want,
which failing to meet, he or she
will leave with no book. Do not
let him, without first suggesting some
book or books similar to the one
requested, or calling his or her at
tention to other good reading fiction
al reading, no definite story or
novel is wanted, suggest some good
book, some standard author and to
entice them to read it, briefly out
line the plot Hence, to return to the
first statement, it is imperative {
Know Your Books.
Post lists Of good books, books
of interest to boys of various ages,
viz. books for boys under II, IA, etc.,
good girls stories-books on differ
ent subjects.
Play the hostess, that is, if stran-
ger comes in, or one who is diffident
make him feel at home. Show him
where the books or periodicals that
would be apt to interest him are;
post a notice, "If you don't see what
you want, ask for it." All these sug-
gestions tend to make the public feel
that the librarian is interested in
each patrons wants; that she is in