Part 22 (1/2)

When a librarian is much ”dressed up” and can take time to play that she is an agreeable hostess, all children, whether little aristocrats or arabs, enter into the civilized spirit of the occasion and become more mannerly.

Miss Lucy Lee Pleasants, Menasha, Wis.

To achieve the best results, the librarian should never make an enemy and should lose no opportunity of making a friend. If children talk at the tables, separate them by asking them politely to change their seats. If they have really something to talk over, such as a lesson or a sleighride, permit them to go into another room to discuss it. They will appreciate the privilege and will behave better in consequence.

I have known a gang of little boys, who had the habit of coming to the reading room to make a disturbance, completely won over and converted into agreeable patrons by being captured red handed and told an amusing story. Children who come to the library are like everybody else--very apt to treat you as you treat them.

Mrs. C. P. Barnes, Kenosha, Wis.

About a year ago, I submitted a rule to the Board for their approval, and asked permission to have it printed on cards, for use on the tables in the reading room. It was worded as follows:-- ”A rule has been made that no whispering nor talking shall be allowed in the reading room, even for purposes of study.

For the good of the public, this rule will be strictly enforced, and anyone failing to observe it will be requested to leave the building. By order of the Board of Directors.” It has been more effective in promoting order than any other experiment. Of course it occasionally happens that the card is overlooked or unheeded, but it is a very simple matter to hand one of these cards to the offender, and with a pleasant smile say, ”We have no choice but to enforce this rule” and the deed is done.

Miss Helen L. Price, Merrill, Wis.

When we know our young scamp and always speak to him in a spirit of good fellows.h.i.+p when we meet him, and take an opportunity in the library some time when there is no one to be disturbed, to discuss postage stamps, chickens, rabbits, or, best of all, dogs with him, he will soon lose all desire to torment, and when it is only exuberance to contend with, then that is easy.

For malicious disturbance, we send the offender out, quickly and surely and discuss the matter with him later, if at all. ”Go-- quickly and quietly--and no noise outside if you want to come back.”

Miss Agnes Dwight, Appleton, Wis.

We do not have absolute quiet all the time and I do not aim to have, but it is a favorite place for all ages to come. I, myself, never tell a boy that if I have to speak to him again I shall send him out. He goes the first time if it is necessary to speak to him at all. That sounds savage, but it is a long time since I have had to be so cruel. We have the goodwill of the small boy, that is for the time being, they may begin to act up at any time.

Mrs. W. G. Clough, Portage, Wis.

Judging from the impression made upon people from other libraries I should infer that our library is in a pretty well ordered condition in the matter of discipline.

From the opening of our library we have impressed upon the public the necessity for quiet and order. We do not permit any talking aloud, a rule to which there are very few exceptions. The use, even, of subdued tones in the routine of selecting and exchanging books is not allowed among children and is discouraged among adults. The public understand and appreciate the fact that the library is no place for visitation or conversation. It has been necessary to pursue this course as we have but one large room for stacks, reference books, reading tables, children's department and charging desk.

We have in a measure to contend against the noise attendant upon hard wood floors, and we are disturbed at times during the last hour of the evening from the room above which is the armory of the city company of the national guard. This, however, in no way affects the discipline of the library, excepting as it makes discipline there more essential.

Miss Deborah B. Martin, Green Bay, Wis.

Occasionally we have had difficulty from a crowd of boys entering the room in a body with a great deal of noise, annoying the librarian and readers by making a disturbance at the tables and altogether proving themselves a nuisance. We found that the most effective means for putting a decisive stop to the trouble was to write a polite note to the parents of each offender, saying that as the boy was proving an annoyance to library patrons, it might be well if he was kept away from the library until he was old enough to understand its uses. The parents have never resented this notice and after a reasonable time, the youth has returned to the library chastened and pleasant and there has been no further trouble with him.

High school boys and girls do make the library a meeting place, and two years ago it became so noticeable that the Princ.i.p.al of one of the high schools, in a communication to the parents of scholars, spoke of the public library as a rendezvous. It is certainly not the province of the librarian unless these young people prove an annoyance to the reader, to discipline them or tell them what company they should keep. At a meeting of the Woman's club, the librarian was asked to speak to the club on the Public Library and its Work. This gave an opportunity to bring in the question of library discipline in its relation to the young people who flocked there less for study than for pleasure. The talk in this instance fortunately reached the right people, who perhaps had never thought the matter over before, and the library is not now, to any extent, used as a meeting place for high school students, although they still use it largely in their reference work.

Miss Nannie W. Jayne, Alexandria, Ind.

A few boys and girls from the high school and eighth grade have made two or three attempts to use the library as a meeting place.

These meetings have been promptly broken up and a private talk with each offender has been the means used to prevent a repet.i.tion of the offense. A special effort has been made to impress the girls with correct ideas on this point, and in almost every case, these talks have resulted in an apology from the girl for her behavior.

If all general conversation be prohibited, the library offers but little attraction to those who would come merely for a good time.