Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth General Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Kaaterskill, N. Y., June 23-28, 1913
History
Papers and Proceedings of the Thirty-Fifth General Meeting of the American Library Association: Held at Kaaterskill, N. Y., June 23-28, 1913
American Library Association; Library science -- Congresses
Another way in which the libraries can co-operate in raising dramatic
taste, is by making it easy for the playgoer to read the dramas
which have been published and are to be presented in his city. By
co-operation with the Drama League the library might receive word in
advance when a published worthy play is to be given in town. It could
then see to it either that its copy of that play is withdrawn from
circulation and held for reference only, or it could secure extra
copies of the play to meet the extra demand. If it could be thoroughly
understood that the library was doing this, interest in reading the
play could be stimulated. For instance, the library could post a notice
stating the coming of the play to town, side by side with the league
bulletin or criticism of the play, and the announcement that it could
be secured at the book shelf. With this active help of the libraries
we might go far toward securing a trained dramatic taste on the part
of our theater goers. There are several magazines of special value to
the student of drama. It would be a very great help if the libraries
made a special point of including these among their subscriptions
and of listing them under the Drama Department--as for instance, the
Drama Quarterly, and Poet Lore print in each issue a play which has
never been printed in translation before, and which cannot be secured
elsewhere. These are extremely valuable to the drama student. The
Drama Quarterly, moreover, is especially adapted to the needs of the
student of drama, and should be accessible to him. It aims to criticise
the various books on drama and dramas of special excellence, also
publishing notices of the most recent drama movements in this country
and abroad. It is not used for league propaganda, but was taken over by
The Drama League merely because it was in danger of being abandoned.
Moreover, in Current Opinion and Hearst's Magazine are frequently
printed very valuable portions of unpublished new plays. With every
issue of L'Illustration is published a new French drama in French. It
would be an excellent thing if the larger or better equipped libraries
could excerpt the plays from these magazines and have them sewed up
simply, each complete by itself, and kept with the other dramas. In
this way the library could make an excellent modern drama department
readily accessible to the league members, obtainable in no other way,
and at very slight cost to the library.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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