D 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 2015 THE STOT7X CITY DAILY TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 1017. Sioux City Public Library Conducted Along Original lines First EssentialinMahing an Institution Valuah1e\ Must Be" Service" Says Librarian Public libraries are public institu- tions. and to be of the most service to the public they must be directed in such a manner that the public will make more than a cursory use of them. Sioux City's public library \has been conducted in such a manner that it is reaching the point where it is in real- ity a hofrie institution; one thai ap- peals to every member of the family and one that is made use of in alL dis- cussions where more than a super- ficial idea is desired. L One patron has remarked thatmt is "The library with the reverse •Eng- lish," in that it goes about its wofk in request of borrowers {for individual titles of books and for subj&tts is given first at- tention when buyina - bookk and often makes up the entire elder. i®ae people of Sioux City many times mention this fea- ture and are most appreciative of It. They realize that fon the average cost per capita of $0.43 that they have many advantages in the public library. ^ Observe Few Rules. The library has as feW rules as it seems* possible to have that all may share alike its privileges. We <*> not ask for a guarantor for people living in Sioux City who are over 16 years cjf age; any reason- able number of books ]nf non-fiction may } be taken at oncef with three 14-day novels le seven-day novil. We have wfth- aimost the opposite direction takoi by ] and one many of its kind. While the majority j drawn the one month j^eaehers privilege of librarians are careful ,not to $llow'~~ ~.....* patrons to take cut more than one or two books. Miss Jeannette Drake., in charge «f the Sioux City library, works on the theory that a'reader and patron should be given the opportun- ity to peruse every available volume that deals with a subject in which they are interested. She has gone further than this and has won national recognition through the originality of her plans and the success with which she has carried them out. In her ^annual report, pre- sented to the city council yesterday, Miss Drake tells how her work is ac- complished. k In substance she says: It seems appropriate at this time to note the increase in the use of the library during the last eight years. The following table shows that more income and more efficient service bring about greater results: 1909. 1916. Population Sioux City.. 47,828 61,774 Number of books....... 27,959 38,076 Income ...................$8,499.27 $26,782.01 Salaries ..................$3,513.25 $13,491.16 Books, periodicals and binding ................. 2,820.80 $7,071.19 Circulation of baokm... 8C.C80 305,030 An especially interesting fact is the number of times the books have been loaned, although, that is only a part of the work of the library. The stock at our disposal is not large but is a collection of live books that are used over and over again. In addition to loaning of books for home use thousands of people did their read- ing in the library and many questions for Information have been answered in the library, by mail and by telephone. The library board has had the interested cooperation of the city council in regard to the funds which have enabled us to es- tablish branches, buy books and equip- ment and employ people who have a de- sire to serve. An Important part of the conduct of a public library Is In having a corps of workers each of whom is will- ing and desires to give the best quality of public service to each and every patron. The patrons have had a part in the se- lection of books. This is a very difficult problem as we cannot have everything we want or need. The question of de- ciding what to select from the large out- put of books with a limited fund is not an easy one. We want, most of all, a Working collection of books, that is, books that will be used rather than those that "Will stand on the shelves in the library *iost of the time. For that reason each as many other patrorfe wish the same books they are using end we find that because of this privilege teachers often kept material longer than they needed which kept other peopte from using the books. Too, it seems that many patrons may be classed as students as much as teachers. Now every person has the same privilege in regard to length of time books are kept and same privilege of renewing more tnan once unless there is a special demand by other patrons. When a bor- rower does not find thrt book, fiction or non-fiction, he wishes, bjr the payment of one cent for postal card he may have the book held 24 hours for him when it Is returned to the library. Business Men, Too. Perhaps the most noticeable difference In the users of the library during the year has been the use made by business men. A game seems to have developed as to who will get the most Ujke of the library either for business, soclsJ or general in- formation questions. TKlise men want Sioux City to be the best city of its size, at least, in the country knd they should be library boosters and tisers. We have and are collecting infomiatlon on every kind of profession and business, thus making it worth while to bring all scrts of questions to the library. When we have not the nonessary information we ixrunss'sHaiely »l ur~ivm aome larger library. Abolish Readers! Cards. After a year's experlmerlt/ of doing with- out reader's cards we are*«atlsfied that It Is a great saving of time t j the library as- sistants and patrons. Tl£ time formerly used in making and fllinf reader's cards Is more profitably spent lit other work as well as the saving of the e different children a variety '»f books tyere selected such as biography, travel,v history stories, folk lore, I'airy tales, science and interesting wholesome storie?. The children's li- brarian visited the: schools near the main library and gave {talks about the books, the advantages and lasting Influence of reading good bookjfi and distributed lists. In order to makja the reading more in- teresting and foii record purposes an "honor roll" Is posted in the children's room and every tiftic a book is read from one of the lists a.od a written review of the book handed JJh, the child's name is posted on the roH with a gold star at- tached. This plan was sorted In November and already more than ioo names have been countries to find pictures and description placed on the "honor roll" and over 450 of flags. When a child« had the correct names of the country to which the flags belonged their names were placed on* the honor roll. A bird contest was held by placing pic- tures of birds on the bulletin with five questions to be answered on each bird. This made the bird books very popular. A catalog game was played several times during the year which consisted of ques- tions about authors and titles of books to be found through the catalog. 1mBMM «?*• •v jjj p | ... « '-xtine ' * '' V ' books have been road from the lists. Scout Book Week. From Decembers to 9 was "Boy Seoul juvenile book wew." The library placed an exhibit for books and posters in the display window in a city drug store. Book lists . entitled "Bo^ks Boys Like Best" were purchased from the Boy Scout li- brary commission and distributed freely at the library. Tfcere were rnaijy inquiries about the books on, display In the window at the drug store. The story hour is held from November to April when s^o.'ies are told the chil- dren to interest them in people and books. Publicity Displays. During one we eft in February 13 differ- ent down town Merchants gave us per- mission to use th«j|r show windows to dis- play library bool^ and posters. Each | member of the staff trimmed a window | using posters tellllig the advantages or the I public library, books and magazines. Rooks and magazines on flowers and gar- dens were placed |n a florist's window, on furniture and hf^sehold decoration In a furniture store, cfo (ravel in the ticket of- fice of one of the jrftljroads, and so on. The 13 exhibits were blaeed at the same time ho that If they :V,>re not seen one. place they probably wefa another. This brought many new patrols and caused much com- ment. Many of those ^o loaned us the space said It was also; ivofitable to them ns It (made an extra abaction In their window. 1 Many of the mo^|n^ picture houses ran ! slides advert!Ming ':ho library for seven j weeks. The llbTfl-rjan gave a number of . talks at club mksi0n every subject have been displayed during the yesr. Some were railroading, Mexico, hobbies, poetry, housekeeping, business, embroidery, me- chanics. Special Work. We believe that some public institution should furnish a free educational program for the public on Sutiday afternoon. For that reason we asked musicians and rca,d- to P-fve *dx programs in Januarv 1 ■ '."ih'-m * t. do. TiiO'O were very popular and many requests came, for their eontiriu- ance. The lecture room has been used for club meetings, recitals and lectures. A reception was given for all teachers In the city in February. The attention was centered in the children's room where we had an exhibit of pictures of Ameri- can artists, educational exhibits, stere- scopic pictures, and attractive books. A string quartet furnished music and we served frappe. Special exhibits held were the "Thistle facsimiles" of famous American paint- ings loaned by Iowa library commission; photographs of Mr. Lorado Taft's sculp- ture and an exhibit for one month of 130 cartoons by Mr. Orson Lowell. School Department. The work In the school department has developed greatly as shown by the large number of books circulated. The key- note to this advance is the personal in- terest taken by the teachers in the books and the knowledge of their special value to their particular grade. The Interest and splendid use made of the school libraries by new teachers, es- pecially those from our own normal train- ing school is particularly encouraging. The enthusiasm of the children reflects the keen interest of the teacher. In schools where library books have been for a few years, the steady increase in the upper grades in the habit of read- ing can be tfaced to the use made ofrthe books by thffse same children in the low- er grades, »ius proving that the read-, ing habit mist "be acquired in the be- ginning of fchool life. Story tellHg in the various grades has been used ar another incentive to increase the reading habit. The stories told were! taken from ooks In the school room col- j tacttcn as, Tales from the Ajhar^hra," j I "Tales, of t CavAQrb;ury Pilgrims," a3$ I ' stories. Ot»r~aOft" stoilc.s cit' ItWf told during the school year by the librar-' ian in charse of the school duplicate col- j leettdn. There arc 3,675 books in 17 different ' school bulllings divided in 107 different j groups. There are splendid returns for the money invested in books in the school, duplicate collection as is very apparent j by the fact that the 3,675 books were | read 71,772 Umes in 12 months. Branch Department. Wall street branch Was discontinued In | . the fall and we reach the children of i I the community through a school duplicate | collection in Worcester school. Because of the success of the deposit j station started during the winter in the j fire station at North Riverside, the Wall j street collection of books was used as a nucleus for the North Riverside branch ' opened hp November. The Morningside branch has been moved , into bigger and better quarters in a splen- • did location. A complete inventory was taken of the ; five branches in the spring. Few books j were missing, and many of these have now appeared. The total number of volumes in each branch and the circulation to January, 1917, was as follows: Volumes. Circulation, j Greenville ................ 1,452 17,S05 ! Leeds ..................... 1,977 20,074 North Riverside and Wall street ............. 873 Smith's Villa ............ 1,1S8 Social Centers. The branch libraries grow more and more to be community social centers and more intimate forms of publicity are possible in connection with them than with the main , library. During the winter mimeographed cards were mailed to all registered bor- rowers who had not drawn books for some time. It was a cordial greeting stating that we had missed them and Inviting them to return to the library. They were very successful, patrons being universally pleased with the personal tone of the postal. Following the library window exhibits in downtown stores, each branch with the exception of Wall street had its win- dow exhibit. It brought the branch li- brary into prominence in the community and to our surprise and delight aroused pride among the local people that "our" library could have exhibits similar to that of the main library. Library talks have been given to all grades in the schools and to various so- cieties in the churches near the branches by the branch librarians. Publicity of all kinds is worthless if not based on effective service in the library. Every effort has been made to make the branch libraries attractive and of practi- cal value to their patrons in every way possible. During the winter a Saturday story hour was held at Leeds with an average atten- dance of 50 children. The children take great pleasure in the observance of the various days in the branches. At Christ- mas time small table trees are trimmed, on May day the libraries are decorated with flowers and the spring bird charts are a source of never failing interest. Deposit Stations. Several new deposit stations have been established during the past year and sorn« have been abolished, the object in ea V.ifirv.. 7 of books on practical subjects* &t &&£,.«. ,Abr(*i*v studying their own problems to find'whei'e they can do awny with unnecessary work and then have time for earnestly serving those who come voluntarily and of inter- esting more to use books. It was the privilege of the librarian to attend a meeting of the General Federa- tion of Women's Clubs in New York city. May 23 to June 1. This meant much per- sonally and professionally as there was an unexcelled opportunity to hear experts speak on many subjects, and the doors of New York city were open to those in at- tendance. Misses Barnard, Boehm, Lutkemeyer, Plaister and the librarian attended the Iowa Library association meeting at Col- fax in October. The librarian, being the president of the organization, presided. The librarian attended the North Da- kota Library association at Williston, Oc- tober 28-28. She gave an address on "Re- lation of Public Library to Social Better- ment" and one on "Library Publicity." She also gave a talk at the district meet- ing: of the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs in Sheldon on "Iowa Artists," in October, and attended the mid-winter li- brary meeting in Chicago, December 28-29. Miss Plaister attended the meet of the A. L. A.%at Asbury Park, in July. To board members and to the staff mem- bers belong much credit for the achieve- ments of the year. WW. . •• ... .. , J if; ■ I; Msi® - ' i ii T ,asj# iHil$ - SIOUX CITY'S PUBLIC LIBRARY. No building in Sioux City is made moro general use of than the public library, located at Sixth and Jackson streets.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