Evening star., 1926-05-23
BOOKS AND LABOR
President Green OF A. +. of l..
Urges Support for Libraries.

That the American Federation of
Labor recognizes the Importance of
the public library in workers educa
tion Is shown by an editorial by Will
liam Green, president of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor, appearing In
the May number of the American Fed
erationist, which urges labor organiZa
tions and especially local committees
on education throughout the jurisdic
tion of the American Federation of
Labor to "do their utmost to promote
generous appropriations for library
purposes The editorial is based on
an article in the same issue by DR..
George F. BOwerman. librarian of the
local Public Library. entitled THE
Free Public I-ibrary-Its Possibilities
as u Public Service Agency
The article states that IA study Of
the official literature of the American
Federation of Labor @hows that from
the outset organized labor in America
strongly supported the public schools
and throughout its history has cham
pioned every forward movement in
the development of the instructionaI
part of our system of public educa-
ton. During all these years, and until
very recently, this same official litera-
ture has practically ignored the ex-
istence OF the public library Recent
ly. however. there have been frequent
marks of recognition of the public
library in official addresses and reso-
lutlons, in which organized labor has
been advised to urge better support
rOr pubic libraries. to seek participa-
ton in their administration and to
secure the cooperation Of libraries in
plans for workers education and
other parts Of labor's educational pro
gram
Three Kinds Of Service.
The public library which labos is
asked to support is described by DR..
Bowerman as furnishing three princi-
pal Kinds of service: Community in
telligence service, furnishing up-to-
date facts on all questions OF human
aHalrs; an educational agent supple
menting school instruction. and u
storehouse Of cultural and recreation
al reading suited to all tastes and
needs. The modern public library II
dynamic, aggressive institution.
which seeks to draw the entire com
nun1ty within the range of it's infiu-
ence through contacts with the schools
to help teachers and pupils. with labor
colleges and unions, with factory
classes, night schools. university ex-
tension classes. womens study clubs
ana similar groups. Such services in
clude advice and assistance in plan
ming courses. furnishing books for
reference and study, and. if practi-
cane and desired. providing meeting
places in branch libraries.
The problem of the part that the
public library may play in the adult
education movement is at present the
of nd =
the library and adult education of the
American Library Association. In
this study the commission has had
the close cooperation OF a committee
on adult education appointed by the
American Federation of Labor and of
the Workers Education Bureau. The.
American Library Association is is
SUING bulletin entitled Adult Educa-
tlon and the Library one number of
which is devoted to Industrial Educa-
ton, a direct result of the cO-opera.
ton with organized labor The library
association has also brought to the
attention Of librarians the list of
books on Labor Problems prepared
by the Workers Education Bureau
10 perform these services the
library needs adequate physical agen-
cies. carefully selected stock of
hooks and a competent staff The
ideal public library system consists of
"a central library. branch libraries,
subbranches and stations, SO dis
trihuted as to furnish library service
ana books convenient to all, with a
staf that shall be educated. trained
experienced secure in tenure and
properly paid.
Stats Are Insufficient.
In too many Libraries the staff is
sufficient only to record and receive
books. with little or no margin left for
the advisory work now coming to be
recognized as necessary part of
library work. Library STATS must be
strengthened in numbers and must
consist more largely of those fitted to
do the consultative work. which is the
essence of the librarys educational
function"
10 carry on their work and to eX-
pand 1t. the public libraries need more
adequate support. The latest infor-
nation is to the effect that less than
half of the people of the United States
have any kind of public library sery
ice whatever. and with respect to the
minority who have some library serv.
ice. In many cases the libraries are
wholly inadequate. That is. they are
meagerly stocked with rather pooI.
books and are badly run by incompc.
tent librarians. In 1921 the Ameri-
can Library Association set up a mini
mum standard of 81 per capita of the
population for ordinary library service
by no means the best. With every
book costing double or more what it
did 20 years ago: with the multiplied.
ton of titles necessary for purchase:
with rapidly expanding reading pop.
ulation; with every form of library OK
pense mounting; with a need for
larger and better paid staffs, 1t is clear
that the public library must have very
much larger funds to enable II tn
measure up to the standards Of sery.
ice that the public is increasingly de-
manding.''