The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-11
CIR Gthrartat1'H Nnrttrr
CONDUCTED BY
FRANK PARKER. STOCKBRIDGE.
THEY READ TO LEARN.

a middle West small town librarian, "be-
cause we have put all our funds since the first OF
the year into vocational books for the returning
soldiers and others"
"There are no particular infection titles In
special demand,' writes another, "and all OF our
books on business and vocations are in use con-
stantly."
The "Booklists" Story.
Similar expressions come from librarians every
where. They are symptomatic OF the new function
of the public library to which have frequently re-
ferred in this column, that of helping the people
of its community to get ahead in the world. One
finds this new library movement reflected in that
useful little monthly publication the BookIist, pub
lished by the American Library Association Pub
fishing Board The current issue Of the Booklist
carries this Introductory note:
"The great demand, now, in the libraries IN tho
camps on the transports and overseas, is for voca
tional books-books on the job back home. AS de-
mobilization gradually progresses the centre OF this
demand will change from the camp libraries to the
public libraries Already this demand for voca-
tional books has been felt in many of the larger
libraries in the East, and many Of them are taking
unusual steps to prepare for it.
every known means Of publicity is being en-
ployed to reach returning soldiers, sailors and ma
rnes, and to assure them that at the library they
will receive hearty welcome In one city free
library service has been extended to include all men
in the county who have returned from the service.
Books for Non Readers.
One has only to glance at any list Of new publi-
cations whether a careful selection such the
Booklst or an all inclusive enumeration like that OF
the Publishers Weekly, to be impressed with the
fact that here is enormous new literature dealing
with a range of subjects that come very much
closer to the everyday life and needs of the general
run of men and women than all the fiction, all the
philosophy and all the history put together. They
might be called, as class books for people who
have never acquired the reading habit, and that
would include probably from ree-fourths to seven
eighths of the population of America. Yet this
great body of human beings to whom the idea OF
reading anything but newspaper headlines is as
foreign as the idea Of being invited to Washington
to dine with the President, does actually read with
eagerness, and presumably with individual profit,
books touching on the means whereby they earn
their livings once they become aware Of the exist
ence of such books.
This single issue Of the BO0ktist lists 1873 titles
on subjects ranging all the way from aeronautics
to woodworking, and these only the most recent
and specially recommended output of the presses
that are working day and night in the production
of this sort of literature all the country Every
one Of these books, moreover, has involved in its
preparation painstaking care and skill in the pres
entation of its subject at least equal to that
quired for the construction of works Of the magi-
nation and necessarily backed moreover by practi-
cal experience and thorough knowledge of the SUBJ
ect with which all too few writers, either of fiction
or philosophy take pains to equip themselves
The Step Beyond.
When the Motor Transport Corps required .
textbook on motorcycle operation, maintenance and
repair for use in its motorcycle school it had to be
written to ORDER with the collaboration of dozen
experts; when it was finished and mimeographed--
because there not time to set the type and print
tit created a new class Of readers who gained
instant and permanent benefit from its perusaL
Al Il a. -