Evening star., 1933-12-18
EDUCATION VALUE
Of LIBRARY CITED
DR.. G. +. BoWerman Answers
Critics Who BeIittIe CuI-
turaI Importance.

titled to credit for their share In the
education of the people.
Such, in any event, Is the answer OF
DR.. George F. Bowerman, librarian OF
the Washington Public Library. to
critics who have made light of the
function Of libraries IN the cultural
life Of the Nation.
In pamphlet recently published. DR..
Bowerman takes issue with Harry Miller
Lydenberg, assistant director, New York
Public Library, who said: 1T is no
wonder then that we should sometimes
assume the librarian and his books are
an essential part of the educational
scheme Essential? Nothing of the
means essential helpful instrument,
to be sure, but always a means rather
than an end. No one can surpaSS me
in admiration for the work Of the
librarian or find greater satisfaction
than I in having a part in that work.
Yet I feel that If we library workers
view ourselves and our work in proper
perspective we must realize that we
are not educators but rather the care
takers of important instruments OF
education"
DIR. Bowerman fatty declares: LAS one
who has devoted practically all his
adult life to library work, have al
ways supposed that I was engaged in
educational work and could make
modest but nevertheless valid claim to
being an educator.
Narrow Idea.
st admit at once" DR.. Bowerman
continues, that certainly the older
view and probably still the most popular
and widely accepted idea of education
is that it comprehends chiefly. If not
exclusively, teaching and teaching
agencies. Such a narrow and limited
idea, however, does not fit our present
age. an age which is putting SO much
emphasis on adult education.
The Washington librarian then
quotes the Standard Dictionary as fol-
lows: Education, as understood today
connoteS all those processes cultivated
by given society as means for the
realization in the individual of the
ideals of the community as a whole
1t includes not only the narrow
conception of instruction, to which il
was formerly limited, but embraces all
forms of human experience, owing to
the recognition of the fact that every
stimulus with its corresponding reac-
This definition DR.. BoWerman In
sists, lis surely wide enough to en-
brace library work among the processes
and among all forms of human ex-
perlenCe,
He cites J. McKeen Cattel, editor OF
Science" and of School and Society,
as AN important authority, calling
attention to the preface of his Lead
ers in Education" wherein 1t is Specl'
fed that the directory is con-
cerned with the whole of education
1t includes libraries, museums
social agencies and other activities out
side the standardized schools and col
leges. An adequate biographical di-
rectory may in a modest way empha-
size and promote the unity of education
and contribute to its advancement"
Supplements Education.
DR.. Bowerman then points out that
Congress, in enacting the law 1996)
under which the Washington Public
Library operates, declared it to be a
supplement of the public education
system"
The library personnel, DR.. Bower
man says, are college and library
school graduates" Staff members are
selected for their ability TO under
stand educational problems and to help
readers along educational lines They
are not mere custodians and auditors
Of the books on the library shelves.
The circulation of children'S books
through the Washington Library, DR..
Bowerman points out, exceeds million
volumes a year. Most of this" he
notes, was voluntary reading; little
of it grew out of school tasks. All
books for children are carefully Sc
lected by trained children's Librarians
in whom teachers and parents and
the children themselves have conf
dence Who will say that IN
providing such services-the training OF
children in the use of the library, the
inculcation of the love of good books,
the teaching of teachers and parents
the library is not fulfilling an important
educational function?"
Among adults, DR.. Bowerman con-
tends. 1.-The library reinforces the
school, and helps to establish reading
tastes and habits. By so doing
we hope to insure that the adult
reader will carry on a continuous
lifelong course of self-education, util-
izing to that end what believe to be
the principal, the most effective, and
the most universal agent for adult