CHAPTER VIII. =WORK WITH CHILDREN.= The proper age for a child to become a patron of the library is the age when he has the inclination to visit the library, possibly with older brothers and sisters, to look at picture books, hear stories told, and in case he is too young to be responsible for a borrower’s card, occasionally to induce the older brothers and sisters to take home a book for his use. A child’s first reading is by means of pictures and his first introduction to literature through stories told or read aloud, and even as early as the picture book period the library has the responsibility of supplying the child’s need and desire for experience through books and of developing his taste by putting before him the best. The child who grows up with the library will be a more intelligent and appreciative user of the adult department than he would be had he grown up without the library. The children should have a place of their own where they can find that which is for them, be somewhat out of the way of adult patrons and feel a sense of ownership, feel that some part of the library belongs to them. In the small library, if a separate children’s room is not a possibility, let there be at least a corner fitted up as the children’s domain. Let it be made attractive for them. If possible, have the shelving lower than ordinary, or perhaps the regulation height with the two upper shelves boarded up and covered with cork carpet, making a frieze on which can be posted temporary sets of pictures. A frieze space can be utilized in a number of ways. By all means have at least one low table with chairs to correspond; the ideal way is to have two heights of tables,—about 23 and 27 inches with chairs 13 and 15 inches in height. Low racks for picture books and the magazines for children are convenient and attractive. A space for picture bulletins or illustrated reading lists is useful as a means of attracting attention to fresh interest in reading, to material on popular subjects, or to neglected classes of books. If framed pictures can be afforded, there are good prints, lithographs and photographs which, if carefully chosen, can be both decorative and educational from the standpoint of art, as well as pleasing in themselves to the children. There should be, if possible, at least one picture or reproduction of sculpture representing a work of art of permanent value. The books for the youngest children represent a distinct class of reading and should be separated from the others in order that the little children need not search through the whole collection to find their own. It is best to shelve this collection near the picture books on the one hand and the fairy tales on the other, thus allowing the children to find the next step at hand.