In order to conserve our time so that we may have leisure to give
attention to individual children, we must arrange to have the
mechanical part of the work as systematic as possible. Playground
library work is a life of stress and strain. Everything comes in
rushes. There is always a mad dash for the door as soon as the
library is opened, for each child is sure that unless he is the
first he will miss the good book that he is convinced is there.
This rush of course makes it difficult to discharge the books,
slip them, shelve them, and at the same time charge the ones the
children have selected, to say nothing of helping the children in
their choice. We have therefore found it best to collect the
books beforehand, discharge them and distribute the cards among
the children before opening the library doors. When the Newark
system is used, however, and a child has drawn two books, this
may result in considerable confusion, for the books may be
separated and one may not be sure that both charges on the card
should be cancelled. When our first playground library in Seattle
opened, we used the Browne system of charging and this proved so
satisfactory that we have continued to use it in the others.
According to this method, each borrower receives two cards. When
a book is borrowed, the book slip is drawn and put with one of
the borrower's cards in a small envelope. It is readily seen how
easy it is to avoid complications when the books are gathered
before the opening of the library, for the slip of each one is
with the borrower's card, and if the borrower returns no book, no
card is given him. After the books are discharged and shelved and
the cards distributed, the children are admitted. In this way
much of the confusion incident to opening is eliminated and more
time is secured to help the children make their choice.
In order that the care of the books may not interfere with the
children's play, we have devised a checking system by means of
which the children may leave their books in charge of the
librarian until they are ready to go home. This not only allows
the children freedom in play but obviates the possibility of loss
of books through their being left on benches and swings. The
playground is a place of freedom and fun and good fellowship, and
the library's rules should be made as inconspicuous as possible.
The librarian should be not only willing, but anxious to enter
into the life of the playground as far as her duties permit. One
way in which she will be able to make herself popular not only
with the children but with the instructors is by means of story
telling. Joseph Lee says that story telling is the only passive
occupation permissible on a playground and the librarian thus
finds her work ready to her hand. She is able to advertise her
books, make friends with the children is a most effective way,
and at the same time relieve the playground instructor of a duty
which is sometimes found irksome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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