My own system of dealing with the problem has been to warn them
as pleasantly as possible that they are forgetting themselves and
then to impress on them individually as the chance offered, the
necessity of remembering that the library is a place for reading
and study--not a "conversation room" as an irate gentleman one
day said a group of ladies seemed to think. Though it is very
seldom that people who meet friends, either by chance or
appointment cause any annoyance by remaining to carry on
conversation. No signs enjoining silence are in evidence. The
younger children have their own reading room and have given very
little trouble. This I believe to be in a measure due to the
influence of their teachers, who keep in close touch with the
work of the library. One lad of about ten, the ringleader of a
group, was sent from the library for misbehavior. I was pleased
but surprised to have him appear at my home one morning and say:
"I am sorry I cut up at the library and I'll never do it again."
He never has and he comes regularly.
We were at one time troubled with boys gathering outside the
library evenings, making considerable disturbance with malicious
intent. I was forced at length to call a police officer, who took
the names of the offenders and walked through the reading rooms
effectually quelling any budding aspirations toward hoodlumism in
the children seated at the tables and we have had no trouble of
that kind since.
Miss Molly Catlin, Stevens Point, Wis.
The matter of discipline has not been a difficult one with us, of
course we have a good deal of noise, the adults are very apt to
forget and talk noisily but as far as real trouble is concerned
we have not had it.
The Boys' Club room is a great help, in that the boy who just
comes down town for fun and not to read goes into that room from
preference.
The girls and little children are often times noisy but with a
glance or gentle reminder of some kind, they seem to be all
right.
The discipline of the Boys' Club Room is, however, a different
matter, it really is hard to discipline, but the reason is that
we never yet have gotten just the right kind of an attendant to
care for the room, we need one who is interested in boys, who can
mingle with them and teach them games, etc. We now have a young
man, well educated and a good man but he is lax in discipline and
careless about the room. Nevertheless I think the Boys' Club room
a success, for during the months of February and March we have
sometimes between fifty and seventy boys in attendance at one
time and they seem to enjoy it.
Miss Ella T. Hamilton, Whitewater, Wis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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