The Library Gymnasium: Elements of Success in the Work

The Library-Gymnasium. Elements of Success in the Work.

BY HOWARD R. DRIGGS, SECRETARY UTAH COMMISSION.

The Library-Gymnasium Commission is constantly receiving letters of inquiry —and many of them come from M. I. A. workers — to this effect: What can we do best to estiblish the library-gym- nasium in our community? We wish we had a satisfactory patent answer to this frequent question. But we frankly admit we have not. The question, however, is a worthy one, and it deserves careful attention. What we can do is to offer some more or less practical suggestions to the earnest workers in this great cause. And that is the purpose of this article. The first thing necessary, it seems to us, is to create the proper spirit for a library-gymnasium. This is a work that devolves upon the schools, the M. I. A. and other organizations. They already have done much and could do far more to foster it, by stimulating the young people to athletic and literary activities. A live basket-ball team, or base-ball nine, a skating or swimming contest, occasionally a track meet, or other wholesome sports, all

will do a great deal to rouse the youth from sluggish ways and put such red blood in their systems as will one day make them dis- gusted with loafing and saloon habits. An enthusiasm for literary activities, too, can be greatly culti- vated by the organization of reading circles, debating teams, lec- ture courses, historical societies, nature study clubs, farmer's win- Such an organization as the ter schools, and other like activities. M. I. A. is, and should be, a live power in bringing about such uplifting pastimes.

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One idea that we must rid our minds of is: that big, expen- sively equipped buildings are the first requisite in the movement. The most costly building might be erected and furnished, and yet fail of its great purpose, if there were no spirit to patronize it

among the people. Buildings will come fast enough if the need for them is made strong enough. Better a simple room or two with a few choice books, and a chance for wholesome games, with a spirit that demands good things to read and clean sports to play at, than the most expensive library-gymnasium without such a

spirit as will fill it with life and culture.

The great aim of this great cause, after all, is not so much to plant a lot of big buildings over the state, as it is to give men and women better ways of spending their leisure hours than wast- ing them in street and kitchen gossip over the penny affairs of the neighborhood, the water question, some saloon brawl or village scandal. The great purpose of this cause is to fill the minds of the people with something better to talk about, to fill them with a love for cleaner, higher-minded pastimes. The library idea stands for more wholesome mental recre- ation. The gymnasium means more manly games and sports. The institution, in a word, is not merely a basket-ball room and a book-house: it is a new center of culture for the community, the great purpose of which is to lead in, and to provide for, all kinds of choice recreation for body and mind. Not all our communities are ready to support a first-class, up- to-date library-gymnasium. There are, perhaps, half a hundred cities in the state that are able, it would seem, to have a live

library and some features of th3 gymnasium, as a basket-ball room, swimming pool, skating pond, etc. And these cities should be stirred to bring about such advantages. There are many other smaller towns where some library- gymnasium advantages might be offered to the people, especially if the city officers and school trustees would co-operate to keep open rooms of an evening and during a part of the day. There is no good reason, indeed, why every city, town, and hamlet cannot at least have enough good books to read. The school law pro- vides that the trustees shall spend fifteen cents per capita for all children of school age, annually, to purchase libraries. They may

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spend more, and they may also open this school library to the pub- lic. It would certainly seem, therefore, that our school boards have an excellent chance to cultivate good book habits among the people. The library side of our problem has been worked out in many other states; and it is found that the three prime essentials of suc- cess, in maintaing a library and reading room, are:

1. Permanency. 2. A Live Librarian. 3. The Right Books.

Let us discuss them in order:

1. Permanency. The library must be run on a business basis;
   

must be open regularly, rain or shine, during such hours as best meet the needs of the people. It, therefore, cannot depend on

charity; it must be provided by a regular fund, and the best way to provide this fund is through a city tax, or if the city is not ready to assume the burden, the school board can carry it, and must car- ry it, of course, if it be carried, in the smaller districts where there is no town. Let us say right here that the M. I. A. and other like organ- izations can do much to foster the library spirit in their communi- ties, but it is too much to expect them to carry for a whole com- munity more than a just share of the burden of the public library. The public library, like the public school, should be carried by the whole people; and every organization or private citizen can then have the full benefits of the institution without feeling its burden. The M. I A. and other associations can do much to help the library, not only by cultivating the reading habit; but, if they so desire, by donating such books as they would have their members read. Any library would be glad to get such books to enrich its col- lection and bring readers to its rooms. 2. A Live Librarian. This is a work that demands skill and tact as well as common sense and a good heart. The success of any library depends almost wholly upon the librarian. We need not hope ever to get splendid results, therefore, if we run a library by employing some "charity" person— some one who has no better qualifications than mere goodness and need of the position. Neither can any library succeed for long; if it must depend on voluntary service — this willing person one week, another next, and so on. It is for this reason largely that many reading rooms have

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gone to the wall, despite well-meant and generous efforts on the part of most deserving people who have —bless them for — car- it

ried the burden till they could carry it no longer. Let us recog- nize now that we must employ a live librarian —one who love s books, who will work, will keep pace with the times, and one who can cultivate in boys and girls a discriminating love of good books. 3. The Right Books. This is the third great essential of library success, and a most important one. If we want to bring about

good reading habits among young or old, we must offer them books first of all that they will read, and second, that will do some good when they are read. The book shower method of sup- plying a library, is a proved failure. We need not expect to get many choice books by gleaning from the homes. People have very few books to give away; and not many can afford to give their best. It is wrong to try to rob the homes to make a public

library. It may be, of course, that some homes have a choice book or set of books which is of use no longer in the home, that would do good in a library; if the owner desires to give it, all

right. But to make a library dependent for its reading material on such book collections, is to kill its influence at the very outset. A few really choice books that have been proved successful is the collection to start out with. Get a cash donation. Spend it under wise direction. If you need expert help, ask the library commission, and it will be freely, cheerfully given. Then add a few good books every month or oftener. Keep the library fresh and growing. Let people know by bulletins and notices in the local paper when new books arrive — and the readers will come to you faster than they can be supplied. Live libraries managed by live librarians, and kept open, sun or shower, during the hours when people can best visit them, will certainly succeed.

And now a word as to the gymnasium side of the question. This part of the work we know is a more perplexing problem It

has not been worked out as fully as has the library. Yet it has been made, by such organizations as the Y. M. C. A. and the schools, to succeed splendidly. Think of the gymnasium not merely as a basket-ball room, or a drill-hall. It should be a home for the boys — or athletic head-

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quarters. Rest rooms, supplied with books, magazines, stereo- scopic pictures, and wholesome, quiet games, should be among its attractions. The gymnasium should also give opportunity for meeting of athletic commit'ees, teams, etc. It may and should

provide basket ball rooms, equipped with gymnastic apparatus; and there should, if possible, be provided shower and plunge baths. There might be a bowling alley and such other attractive games as can be managed well and kept wholesome. If such a house u provided and is placed under the wise direction of a real boy-leader — one who has sense as well as life

one whom the boys respect and follow with instinctive trust, then it will succeed. It can hardly fail. And we can develop such directors if we try. All these things cannot, of course, be had at once, but a lead toward them can be made, and should be made as soon as the time is ripe. Let your community get together. Do not attempt to split up and run things in any "one-horse" fashion. Here is one thing on which all creeds and parties, all business and social in- terests can unite. Get together. Decide according to local con- ditions the best plan to pursue, and follow it. If the school is

best prepared to take the lead, all right, if the town government is able and most ready to go ahead, then let the town take the burden. If there are strong, live organizations that can best bring about the results we seek, then give them the right of way and get in behind to push for them. If by co-operation of all the forces the result can be brought about, let the forces be joined. It is a cause that belongs to all the saving of our youth — the redeeming of the desert wastes of humanity — the providing of better, more wholesome pleasures for all.

University of Utah.

The Thing Worth While. "The longer I live and the more experience I have of the world, the more I am convinced that, after all, the one thing that is most worth living for— and dying for, if need be— is the oppor- tunity of making some one else more happy and more useful." Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington.