The Alaska citizen., 1915-10-18
HOW THE LIBRARY SHOULD B.
 USED

USED
 While it is easy to realize the value of the ideal library in its re- lation to the school the home. and people in general. the immediate question which interests us is how we can make the best possible Il e of the library We have. and in il~ present form. What books shall We begin with? How shall we improve our own taste in reading. and guide that of our children? And how shall We secure the most profitable ad ditions to our library in the future .?
 The majority of people read more fiction than anything else; first. be cause it is easy and interesting. and then because 1t takes them out Of the real world of daily tasks and transports them into ideal conditicns where all humdrum routine is care fully concealed, and where difficult ties and dangers. if such there be gre undergone by somebody else
 
 besides the leader.
 Fiction is desirable at times. and in homeopathic doses. It is to more substantial reading what dessert is to good dinner. It gives the final touch of perfection, but it should not provide the whole repast. When it does, the system gets out of order, and soon rejects the real food needed for it's upbulding.
 To get out of the fiction habit it is often a good plan to select the first question that really inter ests you, find what books are avail able on the subject, and begin with the most pleasing. The wealth of ma terial on even an ordinary topic is often surprising, while the knowledge thus gained and the wider horizon that such reading opens up is not only an increasing source of grati- fication to the reader, but it is insensibly shaping his taste to finer ends.
 Individual tastes are worth culti. yating, for it Is only by following whatever worthy direction they may run that one may hope to contribute any original thought whatever to the worlds store.
 It is for just such topical reading that the card index system of our library has been devised. One who has never used 1t will be surprised to find how much material is thus suggested It Is one of the dutie, courage the use of this system, and it is a duty which she is always glad to fulfil
 The following out of single topic in this way frequently sus- gests an entire course of reading or study, and here, too, both li- brary and librarian are at your service in helping to plan such work and in selecting the necessary ma tcrial.
 It is such reading and study that are of most benefit to the library as well as to the individual, for the more one reads on a subject the more he wishes to know about it, and the greater the demand foj books not now in the library, but which can usually be procured when ever the pressure is strong enough. The good friends who have hitherto remembered this library so gener- ously cannot but be gratified to know that the books already here are read and appreciated, and no doubt they will be glad to have their attention called to others that may prove of special value.
 Judge Wickersham has already of fered to make complete our files Of cen gressional records, and as the needs in other departments are known, We may feel confident that theae also will be met, and that the George C. Thomas Memorial library of Fairbanks will not only be of ever increasing service to the town but will continue to hold it's pre- eminence as the best equipped li-