The Kevin review. [volume] (Kevin, Mont.) 1922-1929, 1922-11-30
Who had a magic lamp?

Who had a magic lamp?
Who went down the rabbits
house?
Who drove all the rats out of Ger
many?
Who pricked her finger and fell
asleep for 100 years?
Could you believe it? There are
thousands of children in Montana
who cannot answer these questions,
the answer for which every boy and
girl is supposed to have at the tips
of their tongues!
"That is because they haven't been
able to make the acquaintance of the
dozens and dozens of charming and
worthwhile, to say nothing of the IA
nous people who live within every
good volume" says Miss Gertrude
Nichols, librarian of the Butte public
library. "And they lack these ac-
~quaintances because they cannot be
accommodated by the city Libraries"
she went on to explain. 1T is not
only these children who are book
hungry. There are equal numbers of
grownups starving for good litera-
ture, in places distant from the up
town library, which, efficient and
helpful as it is, can only serve city
residents if the law is strictly inter-
preted," she declared.
For the establishment of a county
library, 20 per cent of the taxpayers
of the county must petition the COM
missioners.
A 1-mill tax is the maximum al
lowed by law for the maintenance of
a county library. The additional ex-
pense incurred in maintaining deposit
tories and branch libraries will be
very small; far out of proportion to
the great benefits that will be re-
ceived by county jewellers, especially
those who live in remote districts,
according to Miss Nichols. 1t may
also be possible to secure funds or
extension work from the Carnegie
fund, she added.
WAS it Samuel Johnson who said:
Much can be done with a Scotchman
If you catch him young?' The same
thing can be said of the reading ha-
bits of the young generation, who
can live in an atmosphere of good
reading, which means good books. On
the other hand where children are
to grow up in homes where
there is nothing worth while reading,
it will be difficult for them to cult
vate a love of good books in later
Three Counties Adopt Plan
Three Montana counties, Chou
teau, Phillips and Missoula, have
been enjoying the benefits of the
county library law for several
years. All of them have made a feat
Ire of their work, the extension of
facilities in remote districts.
Branches and repositories have been
opened in country stores, postoffices
Ind schools; and in other places cas-
ly accessible to the neighborhoods i
hey serve. I,
County schools would especially
benefit by a county library, which
would simply be the present city Ii {
,rary with its authority and resour- /
extended, according to Mrs. Nell
lie B. Small, county superintendent {
# schools of Silver Bow. Fifty dol
ars is the maximum amount that can !
spent in a year for books by any i
ura1 school library; many cannot
ford to spend this much and the
looks, read and re-read finally lose
interest for the children who need
constant supply of new books to
leep up their interest. The state
ounty library law provides that any !
chool district, with the consent of
he board of trustees, turn its library
.nd to the county library becoming
branch library. It will then be
BILE to obtain new books as often
$ it wishes and with no greater ex- a
ense. "
Need Seen in State =
zone of our great handicaps in the
schools and especially in our q
mailer schools, is a lack of good G.
and reference books" says d
-iss May Trumper, state superinten- u
ent of public instruction. even D
here we find a large collection, the K
ooks are often poorly chosen and of Il
fashionable value. The county Ii II
rarian who is trained for her work S
in a position to supply the school,
ot only with we'll chosen books, but S
it'll a much wider choice of selection
ian any district can afford. Adults
we'll as children car be served and T
so frequently served with the par
cular books desired from the coun-
library.
"The stimulus and interest which q,
e aroused in a school from the ar Is
val of a fresh supply of we'll select f.
books is remarkable. The fact IN
at new books are seldom brought II
to the smaller school libraries in