The School Use of Cleveland’s Public Library OICiVEHSifr ur iLL-w.. . ■JUL 15 192] foie of a Series of bulletins on What Heveland’s Public chools are Doing The Work and Interests of the Cleveland Pnhlic Schools From time to time the Board of Education will issr monographs on the work and interests of the Cleveland Pul lie Schools. These monographs are published for the info: mation of the citizens of Cleveland.* (Monographs issued or in preparation:) ♦1. Adenoids and Arithmetic. — By Dr. L. W. Childs, Director of Med cal Inspection. A bulletin concerning the work of the Department of Medic Inspection; School Nurses; Dental Clinics; Open Air School School for the Crippled; Dispensaries. 2. Ancient and Modem Languages in the Schools. 3. The “Shift Plan.” — ^A plan to relieve congestion. 4. School Gardens. 5. Factory Schools. *6. Getting Out the High School Paper. — A Cleveland Course in Nev> Writing — By Clara C. Ewalt, East Technical High School, D partment of English. 7. Cleveland’s One-Story School Buildings. 8. The Continuous Census. 9. Pipes of Pan. — Music in the Schools. 10. The Price of Education. 11. Art in the Schools. 12. Housing Cleveland’s School Children. 13. The Kindergartens. 14. The Testing Period. — The Junior High School. *15. The School Use of Cleveland’s Public Library. 16. Teacher Training. i 17. Smith-Hughes Work. ^ 18. The Senior High School. ‘ 19. The Place of the Special School. 20. Technical Training. , 21. All Year Schools. 22. The Field of the Commercial School. ♦23. Salary Schedules of the Cleveland Public Schools. — As adopted 1 1 the Cleveland Board of Education May 24th, 1920. This bullet | also states the qualifications and conditions of employment I teachers, principals, supervisors and assistant superintendenti *24. A Garment-Making Project for Sixth Grade Girls. — ^By Adelaii Laura Van Duzer, Supervisor of Home Economics. *25. Elementary Embryology for High School Girls. — By Ann Crisw Arbuthnot, Department of Science, East Technical High Scho ♦26. Program of Studies and Curriculum Organization in the Juni c High Schools. ^ Persons desiring monographs should address the Director ; Publications, Board of Education, Cleveland, Ohio. . ♦Issued. (3 2,7.erve the neat rows of books, the orderly arrangement of furniture, feel the peace which pervades the atmosphere. m leave, to return at 3 :41. Is it the same place? Yes. At any rate, the walls and ing are there. But where are the orderly rows of books? /astated as by a hurricane. Where is the furniture? Hid- by dozens of restless little bodies. And where is the at- sphere of peace? Gone, apparently never to return. “I want a book about the animals of Africa.” “So do I! , Teacher told me to get that!” “Well, can’t I get one, too, want to?” “All of us want a book about Moses Cleaveland.” “Will you find me a picture of the second Mayflower? 5, it was the second Mayflower. I wrote it down.” “I want a side view of a camel to make in school.” “I want a book I can take home about steel.” “Please give me one about the invention of the telephone.” “Teacher, I had a book about steel that I have to have for ool and this boy took it away from me.” “Well, what did . lay it down for? I’ve got to have it for iron.” “My teacher wants to know if you will send her ten books ut Canada?” And so on. How the Librarian Works Ask some friendly child whence they all came so suddenly, i, you will be told from the school across the street. Linger Lile, and you will find that the boys and girls who are in rch of fairy tales and picture books hunt for themselves Dng the collection of these books, always depleted though :iuently replenished. But those who have been fired by zeal extend their knowledge on school subjects, go to the arian. A wise school-teacher has so instructed them, bav- in mind those shy and unresourceful children who wander olessly from shelf to shelf in the hope of finding a book 1 whereon is emblazoned their special topic; grapes in Eure for example. Just as the crowds and confusion begin to grow less, th is a fresh influx of children from a more distant school, i until about 5 o’clock, school children almost possess the ph There is little deliberate disorder, however. The old-fashioned librarian of fiction would no do throw up her hands in horror at the absence of quiet in busy times after school, and go away lamenting the days wl children, if allowed in the library at all, tip-toed about i spoke in whispers. But would not the old-fashioned sch teacher or superintendent be horrified if she or he happenec on a socialized recitation ? So long as we have “purposeful tivity” neither teacher nor librarian tries for prison-like qu Getting the Right Book to the Right Child “Teacher,” though she may not realize this fact at ( tain times in the schoolroom, becomes, by the time her pu] reach the library, an authority on all subjects. Her light mention of a book is sufficient to send forty-three out of forty-eight pupils to the library in search of it. Or perh she assigns a subject to one or two children. Then it at o occurs to the other young students that one way to “mak hit with Teacher” is to get a library book on the same s ject. This affords an excellent opportunity for detective w on the part of the library assistant. The official seeker after knowledge knows what he after, but the volunteers do not. She must then find what i ticular child really has the first right to the book, and at same time induce him to take something else, if the bool not in. This is sometimes difficult, for the youth of our h seem to have been brought up on the motto, “Accept no s stitutes.” It is fortunate that the members of the staffs the branch libraries and the teachers in the neighbor schools usually know and like one another, or occasionally n understandings might arise. But the librarian goes to school and the teacher comes to the library, so each kn< what the other is about. Delightfully Important Young Persons A few years ago the libraries were absolutely with child readers during school sessions. But since the vogue the project method, committees of small and delightfi important young persons come in school hours, and solem collect facts for a report to the class. Then, too, pupils fi 2 story Hour in a Branch Lihrai^. y schools appear at all hours. In the case of certain 3ols, classes are brought to the library for instruction in use of books and libraries. Besides the calls for books directly instigated by the 3ol, there are now and again some interesting requests n children whose interest in some subject has been aroused their school work and who read more along the same line : for their own enjoyment. The teacher who reads aloud some classic of childhood Pyle’s “Men of Iron” may not know that for weeks and iths after that reading, her pupils and her pupils’ friends asking for that book. All this about branch libraries. But the twenty-six nches are not the only libraries used by the schools. Eight nentary schools, six junior high schools, and all of the ior high schools have their own libraries. Discipline Not a Problem A satisfactory feature of school library work is that the it of the school largely takes care of the discipline, and 3 Children’s Room the librarian can devote herself entirely to her legitimj tasks. This is fortunate, for the staff of the library is alwa small in proportion to the work, which often equals in volui that of a branch library with a larger staff and open for lon^ hours. “Preserve us! Makes me think of a bargain sah was the comment of one young woman who happened intc school library at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. The elementary school libraries, to some extent, sei the neighborhood as well as the school. In a school libra knowledge of just what the schools are teaching is indispen: ble. The librarians of the senior and junior high schools c( duct classes in the use of library tools, — reference books, dexes, catalogs, and so on. The students look to the libra not only for books, but for clippings, magazine material a aid in their school work generally. The high school libra is recognized as an absolutely essential feature of the mode high school. Advantages in Classroom Libraries Classroom libraries, first sent out to Cleveland schools 4 \,er School Hours. rSO’s, are still an effective means of reaching children who without other library facilities. Last year 460 sets of b thirty to forty books each, were sent to seventy-five of :110 elementary school buildings, beside others to parochial i)ols and various institutions. One advantage of these small > carefully selected collections is that since the range of Lce is small, the children read and re-read the books, and become interested in the attractive informational books ich they too often slight when they have access to the 1th of fiction in a large children’s room. The students in the School of Education have at hand, in building, a large pedagogical collection and have access to :h supplementary material on all the subjects in the cur- ium, and to the most usable reference material. The ng women in the Normal department receive as a part of r training, instruction in the use of the library, in story ng from folklore, and in children’s literature, from a mem- of the library staff. The children from the Observation ool come at stated times to select books from a very good 5 children's library. The teachers and the Normal pupils, training at the Bolton Training School, find here books 1 use with the children. The branch librap^ recently established at the Board Education gives specialized service to the members of t school board and headquarters staff, and is a medium for formation on all educational literature and an aid in edu» tional research. Special Department Serves the Schools The work of all these school libraries, as well as 1 library work with night schools and Americanization classi is administered through the School Department of the Put Library, the office of which is at the Main Library. The school board and the library board share equally^ the salary expense of the school libraries. Books for elems tary school libraries have been bought largely from put libraiT funds, while those in the School of Education libr£ and in the junior and senior high schools are bought fr both school and library funds. The Main Library, being in a business district, has fev school children coming to it, although older boys and gt often seek here a wider range of choice than their neighb hood libraries afford, and high school debaters are nearly ways present in numbers. The teachers, of course, make gr use of this library’s resources, for the benefit of their pup The Parents’ and Teachers’ Room, which specializes on cl dren’s books; the Fine Arts Division with its pictures; ' Technology Division with its material on science and man training; the History and Travel Division; the Literati! Division, especially useful to English teachers ; the Philosoj and Religion Division with its books on child psychology i character training; and “Desk 3,” otherwise known as Every High School Has a Library, io| 6 A Boys’ Club at the Woodland Branch. This branch is in a Jewish district where a great many of the resi- lts are newcomers to America. There are more than thirty clubs meeting at this branch through winter. Several of these have held together for a number of years have grown from junior clubs into senior clubs. The librarians ’6 watched these foreign boys grow up into American citizens and, iperating with their public school teachers, have guided them in ir reading and thinking and have aided in their development. With headquarters at this branch library, too, are debating and matic organizations of boys and girls and young men and women, are conducted, under supervised leadership. This phase of library influence in young lives may be seen in all of branch libraries. biology Division, where may be found educational literature ; these are used by teachers in increasing numbers. The comparative lull that comes with vacation time shows w much of the work is done by, for and through teachers 1 pupils. Children Borrow 2,000,000 Books in Year In the whole library system, the number of juvenile books culated divided by the number of children under fifteen reg- ered as library borrowers, last year gave an average of ^ books drawn by each child in the year. Averages, though netimes misleading, are usually more understandable than np sums, and this average, since we can safely assume that arly all children under fifteen who can read go to school, Dws something about the home reading of our school chil- m. During the school year of 1919-20 nearly 2,000,000 oks were issued on boys’ and girls’ cards. The history of the relation between Cleveland’s scho and libraries has been written elsewhere, especially in one the volumes of the School Survey, but no mention of the cl dren or libraries can be made without calling to mind the wc of William H. Brett, for over thirty years librarian of 1 Cleveland Public Library, who first made provision for cl dren in the public library, and to whom the interests of sch children were of prime importance. Cleveland schools, it is said, make more use of the pi lie library than do those of most other large cities. Why is th Because more and more, teachers and librarians have reali 2 they were working on the same job, the education of a co munity. The teacher does not “help the library” by using 1 influence with her pupils to get and read books; she is helpi the child to acquire what is essential to his education, name ease and pleasure in reading. The library assistant does not “help the teacher” i marily when she supplies her or her pupils with additio material on school subjects, but merely does her part in ei eating the child. Because of the understanding of this f by those high in the councils of Cleveland schools and Cle| land library, Cleveland children and teachers make wondi ful use of their library facilities, and, with even better undl standing of the truth, the community will provide m| library facilities to use. Library at Cleveland School of Education Published by the Division of Publications, Cleveland Board of Education, April, 1921. uartERSVii of JUL