Frances Jenkins Olcott

“ As a premise it is assumed that the public library is already an acknowledged educational factor, its chief duty being the distribution of good reading to the masses, and that in order to secure generally an intelligent use of the library by adults, it is necessary to begin by educating the children. This last does not mean, however, that we should organize our work with children at the expense of adult work. To do so would be to defeat the object for which library work with children exists. ”

“ It is impossible to define the scope of home library work. Its aim is not only to take books into the home, but to carry with them every influence to make the poor into more happy and useful citizens. The library provides the books, a supervisor, and visitors; while, on the other hand, means for teaching basketry, cooking, etc., is provided by private individuals. The visitor from the library has a strong influence upon the home in which her group meets, as well as among the neighbors. ”

“ Although we have a very full program of lectures, and students are required to do much reading and close study, still we do not lay our stress on class-room work, but on the daily practice work of the student. Each student is required to work from eighteen to twenty hours a week in the children's department, under supervision, thus coming in actual contact with the children. This laboratory work is divided between the division of children’s rooms, the division of work with schools, and the division of work with home libraries and reading clubs. ”

“ The use of rooms for this purpose is given us by school boards, mission houses, bath houses, the Newsboys' Home, and by a Jewish synagogue. In almost every case we are given heat, light, and janitor service.
The statistics for the use of books in this division are never overwhelming, neither is the collection of books large. The amount of good done can never be recorded in figures: it is the social side of the work that counts. The vital gains are those of the influence exerted on ignorant but eager children by good reading, reading aloud, story telling, playing games ”

“ From the very back doors of many fine residences in the East End and from near beautiful parks there stretch, hidden by the hills, long runs and gullies that are filled with shanties, while in the down-town districts are networks of alleys and courts, lined with unsanitary brick buildings and tumble down rear tenements, crowded with foreigners. ”

“ The student also has work in the deposit stations and in the summer playground libraries. She has opportunity to work with all classes of children, both as individuals and en masse, and in this way she gets her knowledge of children, of their tastes and habits, and she gets her training in discipline, in story telling, and in the practical application of the principles taught her in class. We lay more stress on the student's ability to do practical work than on her examination papers. ”

“ The object of this department is to place good literature into the hands of every child in the city, and especially to carry the influence of good books into the homes of children of few opportunities and no advantages. When it is understood that there are more than 59,000 children enrolled in our public, private, and parochial schools, besides large numbers of children employed in factories or elsewhere, and that our collection of juvenile books numbers only 48,000 volumes, it will be seen what a huge task we have before us. ”

“ Rational library work with children must adjust itself to the needs of the library as a whole, and be based on a study of the social conditions of the people who will use the library. Nationality, religion, occupations, and living conditions should be considered, books selected, and methods adjusted according to actual needs. ”

“ The solidity of all the work of the children's department, as outlined above, depends upon not only the quality and extent of the book collection, but on the personality, training, and experience of the library workers. ”

“ This branch of educational work is young and is growing rapidly, has tremendous possibilities, and is open to all sorts of dangers in the way of sentimentalism or fads, and in order to avoid these we must keep before us continually our dignity as custodians of literature, our obligation to the citizens of our community who have entrusted us with the task of interpreting literature to their children. ”

“ We have a great many candidates, but comparatively few of them are accepted as students. We are continually raising our standard for admission. The ideal applicant should have the following characteristics: Sympathy with and respect for children, strength of character, a genial nature, a pleasing personality, an instinct for reading character, adaptability, and last but not least, a strong sense of humor. ”

“ Wages, as a rule, are excellent; work is easily procured, and it is not poverty only, but chiefly ignorance which is to blame for the present shiftless conditions. Jacob Riis recently made a tour of our tenement district, and in a public meeting said that he had never seen tenement conditions as bad as those in Pittsburgh. ”

“ First technical training along the lines of adult library work, such as ordering, accessioning, classifying, shelf-listing, cataloging, the study of library organization, history of libraries, history of printing and bookbinding, business methods, such as making out of reports, statistics, blanks, and schedules. ”

“ The visitor's main idea is to introduce the children to books, but she cannot hold them by books alone. She reads aloud or tells stories, plays games with the children, and teaches them some such art as sewing or basketry, thus giving them employment with which to fill their idle hours. ”

“ This division has two distinct fields of work; one is in the homes of the children, the other is in the boys' club rooms. The home library work is peculiarly fitted to the needs of Pittsburgh. It reaches directly the homes of the working classes, foreigners, and sometimes criminals. It helps to Americanize that part of our foreign population whose filth and ignorance is our worst menace. ”

“ Within her present limits the census records show a population of 321,616 persons, more than two-thirds of whom are either foreign born, or children of foreign born parents, and persons of negro descent. The negroes alone number more than 17,000, which is 5.3 per cent. ”