ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2015.COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2015y - - ^ ' ................. " National Educational Association of the United States. Executive Committee: 1898-9. //I E. Oram Lyte, President, Millersville, v' Pa. J James M. Greenwood, 1st V. Pres., Kan- sas City, Mo. I. C. McNeill, Treasurer, West Supe- rior, Wisconsin. 1 v Albert G. Lane, Chairman of Trustees, 4) ^ Chicago, Illinois. VWm. T. Harris, U. S. Commissioner of |(5) J Education, Washington, D. C. ^ '4 Irwin Shepard, Secretary, Winona, ^ ^ Minn. j*0 ■-;! O ^ National Council of Education. Officers: 1898-9. A. R. Taylor, President, Emporia, Kan. J. H. Van Sickle, V. President, Denver, Colorado. Bettie A. Dutton, Secretary, Cleveland, Ohio. Executive Committee. A. R. Taylor, Emporia, Kansas. Nicholas M. Butler, New York. L. H. Jones, Cleveland, Ohio. John jDewey, Chicago, Illinois. Library Depar t of the N. E. A. Office 9. L. D. Harvey, President of State Normal School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Presi- dent. Myrtilla Avery, St. Lib., Albany, N.Y., Secretary. Committee on the Relation of Public Libraries to Public S$fa6otev Appointed by the Board of Dfrecte vs >f the N. E. A., at Washington, July, 1898. J. C. Dana, Librarian of City Library, Springfield, Mass., Chairman. Frank A. Hutchins, Sec. Wisconsin Free Library Commission, Madison, Wisconsin. Chas. McMurry, Rep. of the Council of Education, State Normal University, Normal, Ills. Sherman Williams, Supt. of Schools, Glens Falls, N. Y. M, Louise Jones, State Normal School, Emporia, Kansas. Sub-Committee of Committee on Libraries and Schools. Madison, Wis., Jan. 16, 1899. The committee on the Relation of Public Libraries to Public Schools is preparing a report which is to be made at the Los Angeles meeting next summer, showing the need and value of public libraries as jiids to the schools, and giving practical suggestions as to their establishment and administration. Especial attention will be given to the needs of the schools at the country cross-roads and in the hamlets and small villages. It is important to know the present conditions in such schools in many states. In arranging the work of the committee the task of attempting to get this information has been assigned to a sub-committee. Please aid in this work by giving us the information which we seek for the state or county in which you live, or by securing for us the help of some one who can give us the information. If you can give us full informa- tion about only one school, that will be an aid. We should also like statements of methods that have worked well in securing the establishment and maintenance of small public libraries, copies of lists of books in school and small public libraries, and any other information showing the condition and usefulness of such libraries. We should also like copies of state laws under which your school and public libraries are maintained. If you can give us but part of the information we ask, we shall be grateful for it. Yours very truly, F. A. HUTCHINS. Report for an Average Country School in the State (or County) of................................................................................................................. Has it a school library?.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. If so, how many books ?.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... the .hooks, well suitedto their purpose, with a due proportion of volumes for th^ g«naller children ?.................................% Who selects the books ?............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ How is the money to provide them furnished ?.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Does the library get regular accessions of fresh books ?................................... ........................... .......................................................................................................... If so, how often are new books bought ? ................................................................................................................................................................................ ................................................ Are the books kept in the schoolhouse ?...................................................................................... ................................................................................................................................■• -. Are they loaned to persons not pupils for home use ?............................................................................................................................................................................................ Has the school an unabridged dictionary ?.................................................„..................................................................... ......................-............r Any other books of reference ?..............................................,.......................................................................... ..................................................................................X.......................... Does the teacher or school board take any children's periodicals for use in the school ?....... ..........................................................— Does the State furnish your school any literature regularly, as Arbor Day Manuals ?......................................u..............What proportion of the children come from homes where there are simple and readable books for children in family libraries ?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... What proportion from families which take newspapers ?................................................................................................................................................................................ What proportion have children's periodicals at home ?........................................................................................................................................................................................ Do any pupils get books from a free city or village library ?.................................................................................................................................................................... Do any get from a subscription library ?................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... If so, what proportion ?.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Does the school board furnish any books for supplementary reading ?....................................................................................................................................... Are the pupils required to buy any such books ?........................................................................................................................................................................................................ In what proportion of the country schools do pupils have abundant opportunity to read good literature suited to their needs-?-««*.««.........................................................................................................,....................................... In what proportion do they have no more than their text books ?.............................................................................................................................................. What proportion find ways to get and read trashy literature ?................................................................................................................................................................ Does the teacher regularly train the older pupils in the use of reference books ?.................................................................................................... Are the shelves of the library open so that pupils who are not otherwise occupied may have access to them without appealing to the teacher ?....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Are the books kept in clean cases that protect them from the dust ?........................................................................................................................................... Are the pupils taught to handle books carefully ?...................................................................................................................................................................................................... Are pictures gathered and kept with the library to illustrate the work in geography ?............................................................................... Report from an Average School in Villages of from 500 to 2500 Inhabitants in the State (or County) of..................................................................................................................... •&. *?2h\\z ?............................................................................................................................... If so, how many volumes does it contain ?.................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Is there a fair proportion of interesting books for children ?.................................................................................................................................................... Has the librarian had special training for her work ?................................................................................................................................................................................. Has the library a reading-room ? ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. Are the children given access to the shelves ?.................................................................................................................................................................................................... Is there an age limit ?...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Are teachers allowed more than one volume at a time ?....................................................................................................................................................................... Does the librarian take special pains to help teachers and pupils ?.................................................................................................................................. Does she teach children how to use cyclopedias, indexes and books of reference ?.............................................................................. Has the library a good reference department ?.................................................................................................................................................................................................Does the librarian find ways to help and to interest the boys with no love of general reading who have special mental aptitudes ?.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... What proportion of the pupils are habitual patrons of the library ?........................................................................................................................................... Has the library a regular income?..............................................................................................................................................................................................................................!......................... Is it sufficient to buy an adequate supply of new books each year ?............................................................................................................................................... Has the school a library ?....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Of how many volumes ?......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Is there a suitable proportion for the younger children ?................................................................................................................................................................................. Are there many reference books ?....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Are most of the books simple enough for practical use ?.......................................................................................................................................................... What .proportioo-of the pupils read twenty books each year froirrthe iibrary ?....................................... What proportion go to it fairly regularly for information to supplement information of their text books ?......................... What proportion of the pupils in the grades above the fifth can use dictionaries, cyclopedias and atlases in- telligently ?..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Are the pupils allowed to draw books for home use ?......................................................................................................................................................................................... Are pictures gathered and kept in the library or school to illustrate and supplement the work in geography ? Who selects the books for the village library ?................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Who selects the books for the school library ?................................................................................................................................................................................................................... How and where does the book committee, the librarian or the teacher get suitable lists of books from which to select ?........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ In what proportion of your village schools are such literary masterpieces as A Wonder Book, The Water Babies, The Lady of the Lake and Hiawatha read by the children of the lower grades as a part of their schoolroom work ?......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Am. the honks af the school. arjdistributed among the rooms ....................................................................... Are the pupils trained to use books carefully ?................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Who selects the books ?......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... How often are new books bought ?................................................................................................................................................................................................................ Is there a regular appropriation for their purchase ?...................................................................................................................................................................................... Where does the money come from ?............................................................................................................................................................................................................ What is the average annual income expended for new books ?............................................................................................................................................................ What proportion of the children come from homes where newspapers are taken ?................................................................................................. Where children's periodicals are taken ?............................................................................................................. Where there are a number of children's books ?................................................................................................................................................................................................ What proportion read trashy literature ?..............................................................................................Does the school board buy books for supplementary reading for the lower grades ?............ ..................................................................!... Are the pupils required to buy such books ?............................................................................................................... ............................................................................................. Does the teacher, the board or the school buy any children's periodicals for the use of the school ?.......................................... In what proportion of the villages of your state (or county) are there adequate, well administered public libraries which train nearly all the children to read good books habitually ?...................................................................................... What proportion have adequate, well managed school libraries which do that work ?.................................................................................... Where there are good school libraries what proportion furnish books to the children who have left school ? Remarks :This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper). Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2015