State library

“ Is there a statute which authorizes a tax for the support of a public library? Your state library commission, if you have one, will tell you if your state gives aid to local public libraries. It will also tell you about your library law. If you have no library commission, consult a lawyer and get from him a careful statement of what can be done under present statutory regulations. If your state has no library law, or none which seems appropriate in your community, it may be necessary to suspend all work, save the fostering of a sentiment favorable to a library, until a good law is secured. ”

“ They can go from their homes into the library and take the books into their hands. If they are in the city almost every day they can utilize the large city library. When it comes to the question of sending books by mail or express we are all agreed that each state must have a state library and its own state commission. ”

“ Many people do not realize it, however. Every official publication of the state, counties and municipalities, if preserved here, will be a source for historical research in the future. Nothing of the kind should be thrown away. Many state libraries were founded with this particular purpose in view. The state library is the logical place for the preservation of all documents of the state. From it the municipal authorities, students of state history and political science, teachers, legislators and citizens gather the information [Pg 204] needed on the documentary history of the state. ”

“ The last generation has witnessed the spread of the public library movement westward at such a rate that many of the most striking illustrations of the usefulness of the modern library are to be gathered from the newer libraries of the western states. Within the last two decades the public library has gained strong allies in such new organizations as state library commissions, inter-state library associations, and library training schools. The library schools have inculcated into their students the body of America’s library doctrine which has grown up with the movement in this country. ”

“ The motto of every such institution should be: Libri libere liberis, which being freely translated, means: "A free people should have open shelves if possible."
WHAT MAY BE DONE FOR LIBRARIES BY THE STATE. [A] By E. A. Birge, President Board of Directors, Madison (Wis.) Public Library.
The relation of the state to libraries may be considered from three points of view. The first and oldest library function of the state has been the maintenance of a state library, usually begun for the convenience of the legislature and in many states enlarged into a general library. ”

“ Have you laid the foundation of a great public library in California? Your state, above all others, ought largely to provide public funds for a library,—say $20,000 a year for the first five years, and then, permanently so much a year. We cannot do in our days without large public libraries, and libraries are quite as necessary as hospitals or armies. Libraries are the bridges over which Civilization travels from generation to generation and from country to country, bridges that span over the widest oceans ”

“ The following states have state library commissions: Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Vermont, Wisconsin, Indiana, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, Minnesota.
The following cities have library clubs: Buffalo, Chicago, Minneapolis, New York city, Washington city.
An inquiry for information regarding any of these associations or clubs, addressed to any librarian in the states given, will receive attention.
Much of what is said above about the A. L. A. applies with equal force to the association of one's state or neighborhood. ”

“ Putnam used the other day—on the part of the state librarian toward these matters would be more effective than "benevolent assimilation," and we hope for much from the county library system.
Mr. Dewey: It is a question of what we should encourage. Is it wise to do this work by the county unit or the state unit? It is largely an economic question. How can you give the people the best reading for the least amount of money?
R. P. Hayes: In North Carolina we have practically nothing in the library field and the question is, shall we try for county library development or state library development? ”

“ State Library Commissions.—Commissions have been established in thirty-three states with the view of advancing the library interests of the state. They aim not only to promote the efficiency of the libraries already existing but also to help in the establishing of new ones. They collect statistics of libraries throughout the state and so are able to help the backward ones by showing what is being done in the more active communities. Some commissions conduct summer library schools where the untrained assistants from the smaller libraries can get valuable instruction. ”

“ The library of the immediate future for the American people is unquestionably the free public library, brought under municipal ownership, and, to some extent, municipal control, and treated as part of the educational system of the state. The sense of ownership in it makes the average man accept and use the opportunities of the free public library while he will turn aside from book privileges in any other guise. ”

“ The state of Massachusetts, where the first free public library was opened long ago, now has such an institution in every town and city of the Commonwealth. In most states, however, libraries in rural communities are not common; but in many states traveling libraries are obtainable from the state librarian which vastly broaden the mental outlook of the country people. In these days of abundant books, it is easier to secure books than it is to be sure that the books will get read. ”

“ Dewey: We have on our program this afternoon two of the most interesting things in library work. The travelling library is reaching out in its manifold forms with wonderful rapidity and gives very great promise of usefulness for the future; organized work under the state commissions is showing every year better and better results and indicating that just as our schools increased their efficiency so immensely by having state departments to look after them, we are repeating the history of that evolution in our state library commissions. ”

“ Affirmatively, the head of the state library ought to be a person of scholarly acquirements or at least in deep and appreciative sympathy with scholarship and knowledge. If he is a scholar in a limited field he should be in accord with all who are trained in other departments. He should be able to represent the state in its educational and scientific undertakings, by papers and addresses, whenever called upon. It goes without saying that he should be a trained man in educational or library or literary work and of course an executive officer. ”

“ In Missouri five institutions have no libraries. Traveling libraries are sent to the insane hospitals. In the boys' training school the library is managed without system. If a boy wants a book the superintendent takes what may be at hand and gives it to him.
Nebraska has a state appropriation of $2,000 made directly to the Library Commission to be expended by them for the thirteen institutional libraries. This is used for books, supplies and periodicals except in two institutions which supply their own magazines. The institutions are asked to furnish cases only and some one to loan the books. ”

“ The liberal library laws of the United States have produced a great number of very large and magnificently equipped public libraries, which are administered by well-educated officers, who are paid adequate salaries for the work they accomplish. No other country in the world can show such a scheme of libraries closely in touch with all the other educational bodies and recognized by the State as part of the national system of education. ”

“ If a state already has a good library law which has worked and is working well and satisfactorily to all concerned, local libraries should be left in operation under the provisions of the law, precisely as the schools should be and generally are left, no matter what changes in the form of municipal government are contemplated or have been carried into effect. ”

“ The building should have been completed on January 1, 1911, in which case the collections of the education department and the state library would have escaped the serious injury caused by the fire which destroyed the west half of the capitol on March 29, 1911. The legislature has, however, appropriated a million and a quarter dollars to | reestablish and enlarge the state library, which in size ranks fourth among the libraries of the country. ”

“ I suppose the ideal condition would be to meet in some central place, where there are library facilities, but I believe it is worth while to move the association about; that is one way of advertising it.
Miss Olive Jones: I fully believe that the greatest work of the state association it does through the librarians individually. It is of help in the state in bringing out different lines of work, and in keeping the library work before the public; but, after all, do we not gain more from individual effort than from anything else? ”

“ In the days before public libraries were common in this country, library associations were formed to secure good literature. Such associations are still useful in small communities that find it impossible to sustain a public library, and they serve as a medium for securing from the State a travelling library, which has the special advantage of frequent substitution of books. Or the school library may be the nucleus of a literary collection for the whole community—advantageously so if the school building is kept open as a community centre. ”

“ Recent library legislation makes it possible for any country or town school library in Minnesota to combine with a public library for service. They may turn over their books not needed in the school and what is more valuable to the library, the fund which they are annually required to spend for library books. In return the library must furnish the school with traveling libraries of books selected from the state school list, suited to the pupils in the school, and the school may also be a distributing point for books for the neighborhood, a real branch. ”

“ As a help in the new order of things a strong school library is needed more than ever. Even in the smallest school there is indeed a collection of books known as the school library, the heritage of the years. These show no design in selection further than meeting the state aid requirement of the expenditure of a certain amount of money every year for library books. ”

“ This bane of political jobbery has not been confined to the libraries of States, but has invaded the management [340] of many city and town libraries also. We have yet to learn of any benefit resulting to those who use the libraries.
In the case of a few of the State libraries, trustees or library commissioners or boards of control have been provided by law, but in others, a joint library committee, composed of members of both houses of the Legislature, has charge of the library interests. ”

“ In 1895 Michigan and Iowa introduced the system as a part of the work of their state libraries and in the following year a traveling library system for one county was established through private generosity. The Wisconsin Free Library Commission soon took it up and developed it for the whole state. In some states where the traveling libraries have not been fostered by state aid, the work has been carried on by the women’s clubs, as for example in Colorado. ”

“ Some have nominal librarians, but none trained and a library without a trained librarian is like a piano without a pianist, valuable, even expensive, but of little use or pleasure."
In Vermont an appropriation of $500 was made in 1910 and $200 is now appropriated annually. This is divided between the libraries in the State Prison, House of Correction, State Industrial School and Insane Hospital and is under the control of the Free Public Library Commission which purchases the books and oversees the cataloging. A card catalog of each institution is kept at the commission office. ”

“ In some cases endowed or university or royal libraries are recognized or partly supported by the State or the municipal authorities, but so far no European nation has passed a general library law which gives communities direct control of the establishment, organization and support of public libraries by means of a tax or rate. ”

“ Dewey thought that every state commission should have an expert, to whom should be referred all suggestions for plans for libraries, in order that the bad features may be called to the attention of the library board. In the case of very large institutions the national library should be appealed to. ”

“ Every member of the public over fourteen years of age has the right of free access to the library. The trustees have evolved an admirable system of a “travelling library,” for circulation among country residents of the state. ”

“ The gifts of individuals in money, not including gifts of books, for libraries and library buildings, exceed five and a half million dollars. There are still 103 towns in the State, with an aggregate population of 134,719, which do not have the benefit of the free use of a public library. These are almost without exception small towns, with a slender valuation, and 67 of them show a decline in population in the past five years. The State has taken the initiative in aiding the formation of free public libraries in such towns. ”