In no case have we found it necessary to resort to aid from the
police. I should like very much to have a club room, or
"conversation room" perhaps it might be called. The shelves of
the newspaper room are filled with magazines for binding and
these are often misplaced and even torn and lost when that room
is used; besides it is in the basement and out of sight. The
ideal room would have glass doors and the occupants in sight of
the staff all the time. Then the high school students could come
from the strict discipline and restraint of the school room and
have a quiet discussion of their work or even a social chat and
be in a much better place than the cigar stores or post office.
Miss Grace Blanchard, Concord, N. H.
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 fellowship 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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