The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1912-07-10
hoy SCOUTS PROVE
AID TO LIBRARIES
Miss Andrus Tells Library
Pupils of the Benefit of
Children's Clubs.

That up-to-date librarians are not
lconcerned wholly with catalogy, clas-
lGfcation and other technical process
fes was illustrated very forcibly in two
lectures before the special students at
the public library commission summer
school for librarians today. The lee
tturer was Gertrude +. Andrus, of Sc
iattle, and the lectures were on Boys
Clubs and Girls Clubs. Miss Andrus
told of many interesting experiences of
her own al childrenA librarian in
Pittsburgh and Seattle and of the ex-
,periences Of others engaged in similar
work.
Boys are naturally gregarious,"
said Miss Andrus, they always organ
lize in some way. If the instinct to or
tganize is directed along right lines,
the result Is a beneficial club of some
lsort. 1t may be a literary society, de-
batting club, a single reading club, or
"a club Of some other kind, in which
Ireading is a sort of by-product. If the
instinct is not controlled a gang is
likely to be the result"
Considerable attention was given to
the Boy Scout idea, and it was pretty
universally agreed by all the librar-
fans present hat the Boy Scout patrol
lis an excellent kind of club, from the
library point of view. 1t recognizes the
boys natural instincts and puts them
ITO use. 1t teaches good conduct and
right thinking in a sensible sort of
way without the least indication of
preaching, At the same time it re-
!quires on the part of the scout the &C
general information, a large part of
(which can only be obtained from
books. This is where the library
comes in. Many times the library, by
forganizing or helping TO organize Boy
tScout Patrols, is able to make readers
land students of boys who have never
before acquired a reading habit for
anything but Diamond Dick and the
Penny Dreadfuls.
But the best kind of library club is
the simple reading club, one that has
unlimited membership and is lea by
the librarian or her assistant. The or
iganization Of such clubs is ~unquestion-
Iably within the scope of a librarians
tduties. There are other clubs not SO
closely related to library work and
reading as these, which can be made of
service to the library and which will
help to further it's ends. Frequently
the organization Of a boys club out of
unruly youngsters will solve the prob
lem of discipline in a library, and it
Us a good dea better, Miss Andrus
thinks, to take time to bring about
Isuch organization, than simply to send
Ahn dicf,rhnpc out of tho lhroru nrn
method helps the boys, the other
drives them away.
Although she is a suffragett of the
active variety-that is a real voter of
Seattle, who knows already for which
presidential candidate she will cast
her ballot in November-Miss Andrus
made some remarks about women and
girls that might be unpleasant to the
women organizers. In the first place,
she said girls are i~ndividualists. Every
thing is translated into the personal
relations. Team work is impossible.
Second, it is hard to make an appeal
Ito girls; their interests are narrow. At
the age when boys are interested in
everything under the sun, girls are
concerned only about boys and clothes.
Consequently a girl club is a more
difficult proposition than a boys club.
But there have been some successful
girls clubs, interested in travel, social
work. philanthropy, etc, which grew
put of the librarians suggestion, and
whose work was largely with books
and reading.
Miss Andrus closed by giving a long
hist of stories that were popular with
Ghildren when read aloud.