library for many pupils much the delightful spot the modern library is to-day. These teachers often bought with their own money attractive editions of books and lent them to pupils, collected pictures and clippings much as we do in our vertical file now, and filled the windows with growing plants to make the room attractive. But such rooms were the exception rather than the rule.

It is a particularly pleasant privilege in surveying briefly the part that librarians have had in this movement to pay tribute to some of those well known and honored in the library world who long ago, before the high school library appeared in the indexes to our library periodicals, helped lay the foundations for the high school library of the present and future. High school librarians in the early days found some interesting suggestions for their work in the paper by Miss Katharine Sharp on Libraries in Secondary Schools" ("Library Journal," December, 1895). She had a clear vision of what these school libraries might be. To those of us who know Mr. Brett it is no surprise to find that as early as 1895, when most of us were absorbed in the new work with children, he saw also the need of a good high school library for the older boys and girls. In that year he opened a branch of the Public Library in the Central High School of Cleveland with Miss Effie L. Power (now supervisor of work with children in Pittsburgh) in charge. Mr. Brett's contribution was the suggestion that if the Board of Education would not or could not maintain the kind of a high school library needed, the public library might step in and help by supplying books and a trained librarian. In 1899, four years after Mr. Brett's experiment, Dr. Frank P. Hill, at that time librarian of the Newark Public Library, wholly unaware of Mr. Brett's branch library in the high school, started a similar branch in the Barringer High School, Newark, granting an annual appropriation for books and attending to the cataloging of them, making the high school a delivery station of the public library, but providing no trained librarian. Since then, as we all know, important co-operative arrangements for high school branches under joint control of Board of Education and public library have been made in Portland, Ore.; Madison, Wis.; Passaic, N. J.; Kansas City, Tacoma, Gary, Manchester, N. H.; Somerville, Mass.; Pawtucket, R. I., etc. In many cities the only hope of establishing a modern high school library is in such action from outside, as boards of education and school superintendents are pathetic or cannot make the necessary appropriaions for books and librarian's salary. What priate individuals and associations did in supporting indergartens and manual training schools until chool boards recognized their educational value that, n some cities, the public library must do, to prove the alue to a high school of a good high school library. But in other cities the school boards themselves arly recognized the importance of developing the igh school library through the appointment of a brarian with some training who could devote her hole time to the work instead of closing the library

part of the day as she taught certain classes. Among these libraries were two which have had an important influence in introducing systematic instruction of high school students in the use of a library, the library of the Central High School, Detriot, Mich., and the Central High School, of Washington, D. C. In Detroit, Miss Florence M. Hopkins was a pioneer in this work and outlined a course of eight lessons which were considered of such value to the English students that credit was granted in the Department of English for work done in connection with these library talks and quizzes. In the year 1898 Dr. Francis Lane became principal of the Central High School, of Washington, D. C. He had served as high school librarian when an English teacher and knew from experience the necessity of a librarian who could devote her whole time to the library. Dr. Lane as librarian had introduced the plan of having new pupils report to him for instruction in how to use the library and this work was further elaborated into a course similar to that of Miss Hopkins by the librarian appointed in March, 1898, Miss Laura M. Mann, whose interest in the possibilities of the library led her to take a summer course in Library Economy with Mr. Fletcher at Āmherst and who had given her services to the Central High School for some months previous because of her interest in high school boys and girls.

Other librarians who early saw the need for library instruction of high school pupils and whose influence brought it about in certain high schools, were Miss Mary W. Plummer, Mr. John Cotton Dana, Miss Imogene Hazeltine, Miss Irene Warren, Miss Julia B. Anthony, of Packer Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Mr. Finney, of the University of Michigan, and Miss Rathbone, of the Pratt Institute Library School. These names are merely a few of those which might be given, and are chosen because their work in high schools and articles in educational and library journals have had an important influence.

As far as can be ascertained, the first library school graduates appointed to high school libraries were Miss Mary Kingsbury, Erasmus Hall High School, Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1900; the present librarian of the Girls' High School, Brooklyn, in February, 1903; Miss Bertha Hathaway, Morris High School, New York City, in September, 1903, all of Pratt Institute Library School, and Miss Celia Houghton, Albany High School; Miss Mary Groves, East High School, Rochester, both graduates of the State Library School at Albany, and appointed about 1905. Others there probably were, but their names are not known to the writer. Since 1905 more than 50 library school graduates have been appointed to high school positions, 10 of these being in New York City. Boards of education are rapidly being convinced that the establishment and maintenance of high school libraries on a modern library basis is a paying investment in all that such a library means in the life of a high school, and where the library is wholly under the board of education high school principals are urging that it be considered not only a recognized department of the school, but the most important department, inas

10. How to teach the use of indexes in books; the dictionary; encyclopedias.

11. Library technique as follows:

a. How to mend books.

b. When a book should be re-bound.

c. How to keep a record of the books belonging to the library, i. e., an inventory or accession record.

d. The best way to keep a record of the books loaned.

e. How to arrange the books in the library so that the books on the same subject may be easily found, i. e., to classify.

II. High school teachers should know

1. The best books on their special subjects. 2. Interesting books for home reading for high school girls and boys.

8. The best general encyclopedias.

4. Encyclopedias of special subjects.

5. The best magazines for high schools.

6. The best lists of high school books.

7. How to use books to advantage.

a. Dictionaries, encyclopedias, general reference books.

b. Magazine indexes.

c. Indexes in books.

d. Classroom libraries.

e. Special editions.

f. In special subjects; e. g., vocational guid

ance.

g. In reading for pleasure.

8. How to co-operate with the public library. 9. Library technique as follows:

a. How to mend books.

b. When a book should be re-bound.

c. How to keep a record of the books belonging to the library, i. e., an inventory or accession record.

d. The simplest way to record books loaned. e. How to arrange the books in the library so that the books on the same subject may be easily found, i. e., to classify.

f. What catalogue helps are available. g. How to make a card catalogue (?). III. Normal-training department teachers in high

school should know

a. In connection with the teaching. b. For the pupils' home reading.

c. In community service.

Sixty answers were received. Several of the correspondents checked all of the items, declaring that all are important. The majority selected such points as I, 1, a, Books for home reading," and were inclined to pass over as of less importance such items as Best encyclopedias for graded schools," "How to buy books economically," "When a book should be rebound," "Special Editions," How to make a card catalogue," and "How to keep the necessary records." It was clear from the checking that school men prize least the more technical aspects of the teacher-librarian's training; that they most desire their teachers to know what books children can and should use and how to train in the use of them.'

66

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It seems to me that if a course in library instruction were offered for teachers in training schools, all of the subjects indicated on the outline which you have sent me might well be considered. I have checked, however, those that seem of most importance for the teacher, having in mind the fact that someone specially trained would take care of the others. I believe that a definite library course should be offered to all prospective teachers, and that there should be a larger appreciation of the field of literature, with a keener discrimination in regard to authors and subject matter."

'Your letter of April 9th with questionnaire was submitted to our librarian. She reports as follows: 'I have answered the checked items from the side of what a teacher should know about a library, drawn from my experience here. I suppose there is a regular librarian in charge. If so, it is not necessary for a teacher to know how to mark, accession, or keep a record of the books, but if it is a rural teacher who has charge of a school library as well as teaching, the problem is quite different. From the way the questions are worded, I judge they apply to elementary and high school teachers rather than to rural teachers.'

“We have a children's library in addition to our general school library and co-operate with our State

library in this respect. We have a librarian and an assistant who devote their entire time to this work. Through our English and history teachers in the high school, every pupil is required to spend at least one to three periods of forty-five minutes each week in supervised reading and acquaintance with books."

Your questionnaire very strikingly illustrates the truth of the suggestion that it would be quite well for any teacher in any work to know quite well everything that touches his work. This truth, however, should not make us forget the other truth that we are human and have our limitations. To let teachers feel that those in charge of administration or supervision are unconscious of these natural and necessary limitations and unsympathetic with people who have to suffer and work under them would destroy their confidence in the value of our administration and supervision.

I think the questionnaire is very suggestive, and, instead of stating dogmatically that the teachers in any of the departments must necessarily know all of the things suggested in connection with library work in their department, you can do the most good by placing such a list before them as indicating the ways in which they may render themselves more efficient through the aid of books."

"I was very much interested in the outline of your committee's report on library instruction in normal schools. I do not see how it is possible to comply with your request, namely, to check the topics of first importance. It seems to me that all of these topics are of first importance. I do not see how any satisfactory course could omit a single one of them. This may mean more time than is ordinarily accorded in normal schools, but it seems to me that library instruction is one of those practical phases which have been sadly neglected and to which we must give more time."

After examining the answers to the question sheets and reviewing the reports and articles on the subject which have appeared in the Proceedings of the N. E. A. and in the Library Journal and other similar periodicals, the committee formulated the following

STANDARD COURSES IN LIBRARY TRAINING FOR
STUDENTS IN NORMAL SCHOOLS.

1. A course in the use of the library for the personal assistance of all normal school students, both while they are in school and afterward. Minimum time, ten class periods.

2. A course in directing the reading of children, including the use of libraries so far as this is possible by them. Minimum time, fifty class periods. 3. A course in library organization and administration for teacher-librarians. This should prepare a few students in each normal school each year to take charge of the libraries in elementary and rural schools and to be of general assistance to supervising officers in building up and administering libraries. Elective, minimum time, one hundred class periods.

To comment upon each of these courses, the first should include at least the following topics: im

portance of training in the use of books-the possibilities of the library; classification; arrangement in the library; the catalogue; reference books; periodicals; indexes; public documents; the investigation of subjects; how to read for various purposes; book selection. All these topics should be presented in concrete fashion by means of actual problems and demonstration. This course should be given in the library itself by the librarian.

The second course should include at least the following topics: the importance and possibilities of children's reading; the problem of directing it; kinds of children's books and value of each; standards of choice; grading; adaptation from the sources; storytelling; dramatization; graphic illustration; the use of pictures, maps, etc.; how to get books in the library of the school and in the public library; library rules and regulations; the care of books; what books to buy for one's self. This course should usually be given by a member of the English department with the co-operation of the librarian, and it should involve practice in conducting lessons in general reading and in the "library hour," as well as in the handling and care of books and lists.

The third course, which should be elective, should be open to high school graduates who take all the regular work in English and history and who wish to elect the library course in order to add this to the usual equipment. (It is assumed that normal schools. which undertake to train librarians as such will look elsewhere for assistance in making out their courses.) The topics taken up should be of a strictly practical nature and should keep steadily in view the actual opportunities which will lie before the graded and rural school teacher. In addition to the topics included in courses one and two, the following should be covered: selecting and ordering of books; accessioning; labeling; cataloging; arranging on the shelves; issuing; mending; binding; attracting and directing readers; co-operation with public libraries; helpful library agencies; community service. All these topics should be taught in the library and should be enforced by apprentice work.

The above outline is submitted as representing the minimum standard. It omits, for example, the interesting topics concerning the history of book making and the book trade which Miss Ovitz suggests,1 but it covers, it is believed, the really essential features.

The material for conducting such courses as are outlined above has now been fairly well sifted and organized; as aid to supervisors, librarians, teachers, and students who may be interested in one or more of the courses, the committee submits the following brief list of REFERENCES.

Baldwin, Elizabeth G. Report of a Joint Committee Representing the American Library Association and the National Education Association on Instruction in Library Administration in Normal Schools, 1906. D. W. Springer, Secretary of N. E. A.,

1 Proceedings of the New England Association, 1914, p. 816.

the s

e sha

Ann Arbor, Mich. 25 cents. (References fairly complete to date.) Bostwick, Arthur E., Editor. Reprints of Papers and Addresses on the Relationship between the Library and the Public Schools. The H. W. Wilson Co., White Plains, N. Y., 1914. $1.35. Brown, M. W. Mending and Repair of Books, A. L. A. Publishing Board, Chicago, Ill., 1910. 15

cents.

Dana, J. C. The Picture Collection, Public Library, Newark, N. J., 1910. 35 cents, net.

Evans, Henry R. Library Instruction in Universities, Colleges, and Normal Schools, United States Bureau of Education, Bulletin No. 34, 1914. (Gives the results of an inquiry.)

Fay, Lucy E., and Eaton, Anne T. Instruction in the Use of Books and Libraries. Boston Book Co., 1915. $2.25. (A complete textbook with bibliographies.)

Gilson, Marjory. Course of Study for Normal
School Students on the Use of a Library. Newark
Public Library, Newark, N. J. (A new edition is
in process.)

Hall, Mary E. A Suggestive List of References on
High School Libraries. New York Libraries,
Albany, N. Y., May, 1913. (An excellent bibli-
ography on all phases of library work.)
Jordan, Alice M.

1,000 Good Books for Children. United States Bureau of Education, Home Education Circular No. 1, 1914. (A classified and graded list prepared for the National Congress of Mothers.)

Mendenhall, Ida M. A Syllabus of Library Instruction in Normal Schools. Proceedings of the

N. E. A., 1912, p. 1258.

(Report of a committee of the Library Department of the National Education Association.)

Ovitz, Delia G. A Course in Reference Work, State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wis., 1910. Price, 10 cents.

Stearns, Lutie E. Essentials in Library Administration, Second edition. A. L. A. Publishing Board, Chicago, Ill., 1912. 25 cents.

Ward, Gilbert O. The Practical Use of Books and Libraries. Second edition. Boston Book Co., 1914. $1.00. (Less comprehensive than the work by Fay and Eaton.)

Teaching Outline to accompany the above, 50

cents.

Wilson, Martha. Report of the Committee on Rural School Libraries. Proceedings of the N. E. A., 1914, p. 798. Includes three reports by sub-committees on (1) A Standard Foundation for a Library for a Rural School, (2) Training of Rural Teachers in the Use of Books, and (3) Community Service from the Rural School Library. Wilson, Martha. School Library Management. State Department of Education, St. Paul, Minn., 1914. (Reprinted from the Manual for Consolidated Schools in Minnesota.)

Signed by Committee:

A generation ago the heavily burdened teacher of history was content to sit behind his desk and propound the questions which were printed for his benefit at the end of the chapter. Too often his eye glanced along the page when a question was asked to see if the proper answer was returned. Within the present generation, however, the trained teacher has appeared in our midst and with his advent there has come a change in the method and purpose of history teaching. Gone now are the charts of names and dates and highly condensed generalizations that used to frown down upon young America from above the blackboard. Gone also are the printed questions at the

references for collateral reading and topics for reI ports. The teacher still permits history to remain an informational study, but he now asks that it be studied rationally; he no longer insists on the memorization

of unrelated data.

This improvement over the old method has, I think, been generally adopted by teachers in the high

schools; but progressive teachers think that the improvement can be carried further. Without lessening the emphasis placed on the acquisition of historical information other things may be emphasized. For instance, there is such a thing as historical imagination to be stimulated. This means, I think, that a student should be encouraged to transport himself in imagination to distant periods and enter with sympathy into the life of the people—that is, to walk the streets of ancient Athens or converse with the monks of the middle ages. There is also such a thing as historical perspective to be acquired. This means, I take it, that the student should be led to see

for himself that Demosthenes, despite the glamor that

surrounds his classic personality, was really not so great a man as Gladstone or Bismarck. And lastly, there is such a thing as discipline in historical think

ing. This seems to be equally as important as the acquisition of historical information. In giving this discipline the teacher is expected to make the student see for himself that history is based on original