Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-02-26
LIBRARY RULES
FRAMED TO GET
BEST SERVICE
Aid to Public Made Study in
n Handling Reading
Matter.
MORE BOOKS ARE NEED

4 Sdlu SOUlE OuC dLC LAO
people who keep you from getting the
books you wish"
1t is curious that the notion still per
sists of a librarian as a modern dragon.
There is scarcely a public library which
does not know Of one or two persons
s who are constantly in trouble with its
rules. You cannot please everybody all
the time, but the indianapolis Public
Library tries to do 1t as hard as any
library in the country, so far as rules
are concerned.
The rules have been amputated and
decimated until now you will have to
Akunt long before you will find a IL
= Ary anywhere which tries to phase you
10 or makes more of an effort to treat
3zry one lake. 1t is so easy to get
that you soon wonder why you put
y so long. Once you have a card
ENPod may take the kind of books you
Ylik.e The library says never a word
about the sort of books they must be.
If you wish to read fiction all the time,
no questions are asked. If you special
lie on history or drama, you may read as
you choose.
EASY To
GET BOOKS
In other words the Indianapolis public
j library has made it so easy to get books
that great many people have fOun1 1t
out. As a consequence many more books
8 are being read and worn out now than
there were four years ago. The number
Of readers has increased 30 per cent.
This should mean that the library is
buying at least 80 per cent more books
than it did four years ago. This is,
Of course, far from possible, as the book
fund is considerably lower than II was
four years ago and at the same time the
cost of books has greatly increased. The
4 library is actually buying 40 per cent
less books than it was four years ago,
81 and at that time the book fund was low
for city Of this size.
If any one is saying that the Librarians
8 at the indianapolis public library are
s. the people who keep you from getting
4 the books you wish, just stop a minute
and think If it is true. II Won are actual
4 " sure that the fault lies with the librar-
fans or with unjust and unnecessary
4 rules. then register a complaint quickly,
for the library is yours. But II, after
consideration. you realize that the trouble
lies in lack of books, then cast about in
i your mind for a remedy, for again the
library is yours.
LACK OF BOOKS
HAMPERS SERVICE.
When your library finds itself, because
of lack Of books. unable to serve with
satisfactory results the children. Clubs
manufacturers. schools, hospitals, COM
munity houses. teachers, dramatic organi-
cations. ministers and practically every
er group in the city, it is time for
! ok action. That is the reason for this
heal to you who have been reading
fese4ibrary articles.
If you do not believe in books then you
do not believe in libraries or schools
and you should see to it that they are
4 abolished. If you do believe in books
you should see TO It that your library Is
equipped with enough books to enable it
! adequs tely to serve a city so large as
i indianapolis.
What can YOU do as an individual?
. II you are interested in any one Of the
n groups of people mentioned above pro-
vide the library with books. or with
money to buy books, for one Of these
groups If You cannot buy S25 worth
of books then give s. or so or s. worth.
Buy them yourself at n local book store
or give money so that the library may
osTING
LII HELP.
Il you can not give material aid your
s8kelf you can become a library booster
You can plant the idea in the mind Of
a more moneyed friend. Then, too, there
are many people In Indianapolis who
will wish. in making their Wills, to dis
3 nose of a part Of their possessions In
way that will benefit their city. You
! can help spread this idea Of library be
q quests and endOwments. A fund furnish
4 ing a permanent source Of book money
s. for the Public Library on some special
subjects, such as engineering, general
@aIisRCture sociology. history and travel
- = automobile manufacture, could not be
-Tn11 70
reaching results. All books purchased
through such a memorial or endowment
fund would be provided with special
3 bookplate and so bear testimonial to the
q spirit and ideals Of the giver. Keep this
Il idea in mind and help to spread 1t.
3 Above all, remember that the library
a needs help at once. 1t needs books by
8 Cooper, Dickens, Shakespeare, Hugo,
Il Dumas, Verne and many other standard
u authors It needs books by the newer
writer's of fiction such as II. G. Wells,
s John Galsworthy. W L. George, Comp
4 ton Mckenzie. Edith Wharton. Hugh
q walpOIe, May Sinclair or Joseph Herges-
= heimer 1t needs more copies of such in
q teresting books as the Autobiography
81 Of Andrew Carnegie" Tahiti Days" by
MacQuarrie; Wells Outline of History"
IAN Americans London" by Mrs.
= Louise Closer Hale; Harry A Franck's
Roaming Through the West Indies. or
4 Steeplejack," by J. G. Huneker.
! NEED OF
8 MAGAZINES.
You could not better please a great
1 number OF library readers than by sub
\ scribing to several popular magazines
! which could be placed at once at the
service Of home readers. At present all
/ magazines must be held at the library
one month before they may be taken for
home reading, as the library is unable
B to subscribe to more than one copy Of
each.
z Furnish subscriptions for one or two
n years to such magazines as the Century,
4 Harper's Magazine, Everybody's Maya
q zine, American Magazine, Survey, Alta ntic
81 Monthly, BOokman, Independent or Liter
AIRY Digest. II you are alive to this op-
- ortunity for service and wish to help
~ some immediate and telling way, fol
g .NAup one Of these suggestions, or come
N4FAe library for more. Above all, re-
4 90 er that your library needs your
q - Rhnd needs 1t now.
e Underwriters
Form Central Body