SOME INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARY 
 PROBLEMS 
 
 •V ' f -" ;k V’ r'” \ * * 
 
 BY 
 
 JULIA A. ROBINSON 
 
 i 
 
 SUPERVISING LIBRARIAN, STATE INSTITUTIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 IOWA 
 
 I 
 
 
 DES MOINES, IOWA 
 1913 
 
SOME INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARY PROBLEMS. 
 
 By Julia A. Robinson, Supervising Librarian, State Institutions 
 
 of Iowa. 
 
 For seventeen months your supervising librarian has traveled 
 up and down the state, visiting during that time each institution 
 at least twice and some three times, taking from, adding to and 
 otherwise endeavoring to make your libraries a real force in your 
 . institutions for recreation, for instruction, for healing and for uplift. 
 That these libraries are not yet wholly ideal I think you will all 
 agree, though some may be in one and some in another particular. 
 That you all wish them so to be I am equally sure, even though 
 this may involve problems seemingly difficult of solution. I think 
 I realize these difficulties. Did I not, I should labor with you individ- 
 ually until like the unjust judge you should yield lest I weary you 
 with my much speaking. 
 
 While institutional libraries share the problems common to 
 all libraries, some are much more emphasized, some less. They 
 may be broadly divided into (1) books, (2) their housing and shelving, 
 (3) machinery for their care and distribution and (4) some one to 
 keep the machinery in motion. 
 
 1. Books. The question of books carries with it several 
 others, the first and most important of which is naturally 
 their selection. The object for which a library is established, the 
 use which is to be made of it and the readers for whom the books are 
 intended govern the selection of the books which are to constitute 
 the library. 
 
 I need not speak to-day of the object of our institutional libra- 
 ries, nor introduce to this audience the readers for whom they are in- 
 tended, nor tell you that the different libraries should be differenti- 
 ated to meet the needs of the different classes of readers. Neither 
 is it for me to-day to discuss those needs. That is to be 
 done by others. I may, however, be permitted to speak of one 
 problem in this connection which will probably not be elsewhere 
 mentioned. There seems to be to all of us a halo surrounding the 
 
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 printed page, especially when bound between two covers, and no 
 matter how dingy or worn those covers, how soiled the page, how 
 eye-destroying the print, or how badly worn, generally disreputable, 
 unsuitable, out-of-date or useless to ourselves a book may be, so 
 loth are we to destroy it, and so sure that it will be of value to some 
 one else, that we insist upon passing it on to become to him what 
 it has been in our own libraries, dead timber, a cumberer of the 
 shelves, a gatherer of dust and germs, but more than that a usurper 
 of the place of another and more useful book. We are all tinged 
 with this idiosyncrasy and are all happy if we can find some one to 
 whom to give a book which we no longer want. 
 
 All libraries are recipients of such donations and the institution- 
 al libraries were probably begun and their numbers often increased 
 in this way. But the value of a library lies not in numbers but in 
 selection and such books add nothing to and their withdrawal takes 
 nothing from the library, but when once they have found their way 
 to the shelves brave is the librarian who attempts their removal. 
 Even when it seems wise to make room for new and useful books by 
 displacing some of these from their office of dust gatherers their dis- 
 position becomes a serious problem, and we are often guilty of the same 
 generosity which has brought them to us and those which finally 
 reach the furnace room are neither speeded on their way nor wel- 
 comed at their destination. 
 
 There are books sufficiently old to have dinginess and germs 
 and worm holes add to their value, but I regret to say that I have 
 found none such. Nor do I mean to say that all books not constant- 
 ly called for are useless. Far from it, for we must maintain good 
 collections of standard books even though they may be seldom taken 
 out, but they will be much more seldom read if they are offered in 
 old and unattractive editions. I am a firm believer in the gospel of 
 good clothes in books and feel sure that they not only attract more 
 readers but leave a better moral influence. 
 
 After the selections have been made comes the question of 
 ordering and buying. This is complicated in the institutional libraries 
 by the necessity of taking bids which increases the difficulty of al- 
 ways securing the editions desired and of buying at second hand as 
 much as we might otherwise do. If it were possible to take ad- 
 vantage of remainder sales and second-hand rates of reliable dealers 
 money might often be saved and the libraries be able to afford books 
 which they cannot now buy, but if by the present method we are pro- 
 tected from the importunities of book agents it may not be an 
 unmixed evil. 
 
 Another question much discussed in all library circles is re- 
 binding versus cheaper editions. When the cheap editions are in 
 good print and binding and a second copy can be purchased for the 
 cost of binding and will be clean and attractive, it seems better to buy 
 
3 
 
 the cheaper edition and replace instead of rebind. There are titles of 
 course which cannot be bought in this form with which early bind- 
 ing becomes economy. In one library only have we tried reenforced 
 binding with not very satisfactory results. 
 
 2. Library Rooms. A collection of books constituting a library 
 requires a safe place for their housing, with suitable shelving and 
 other conveniences for their care and use. 
 
 Our public libraries in town and city stand beside the schools and 
 churches, taking their places as educational and moral factors in the 
 community life, and the character of the buildings is in keep- 
 ing with their object, being dignified and substantial without and 
 attractive and convenient within, with no effort spared to serve 
 those who enter their doors. Not only is it the privilege of the 
 public to select and carry away books for their pleasure and infor- 
 mation but to linger and read books, magazines and newspapers pro- 
 vided in abundance, to study in quiet, or to consult books placed 
 at their disposal by the courteous attendant. Shall the libraries 
 stand for less in the institutions and shall they do less for their users 
 whose needs are so much greater? 
 
 Several of our institutions are fortunate enough to possess 
 large and attractive library rooms with adequate shelving capacity 
 and with tables on which magazines are attractively displayed. Some 
 have sufficient shelving but no space for tables, and others are 
 shelved in business offices where library and business interfere and 
 confusion for both ensues. The dignity and usefulness of the library 
 requires larger and more commodious quarters in many of our 
 state institutions, but space is so limited that this becomes one of 
 our most serious problems. 
 
 Not only do we need more space for the proper care and dis- 
 tribution of the books but for use as reading-rooms. In several 
 institutions this privilege is extended to officers and employes, but 
 in very few even where they have the space is it given to the inmates. 
 If all of these libraries could be opened for this purpose to at least 
 part of the inmates at prescribed times and under proper restrictions, 
 I believe that the usefulness of the libraries would be greatly in- 
 creased. We hear much of the waste of churches closed during the 
 week and of schoolhouses closed during long vacation periods. It 
 seems to me there is something going to waste in our institutional 
 libraries as they exist to-day— always closed to those for whom they 
 are provided. 
 
 I never prepare new books for the shelves without wishing 
 that others might share with me the pleasure of handling them, 
 dipping into them, looking at the pictures and enjoying their fresh- 
 ness. I can think of nothing in my work in the institutions which has 
 given me more satisfaction than the Sunday afternoon at Eldora when 
 we brought the boys in by companies and allowed them to look at 
 
4 
 
 and handle the new books. ’Tis needless to say that they were 
 much more eager to read them when the opportunity was given. 
 
 And what is true of new books is true of the old also. Six books 
 mean more than one, even though only one can he read at a time, 
 and twenty more than six, and a book-lined room has a cultural 
 influence hard to escape from. An opportunity to read, browse and 
 examine books has a refining effect and a book selected by the reader 
 from the many is of more value to him than one from the small 
 group parcelled out to the cottages. 
 
 To have been born into a home where books abound and to 
 grow up in this atmosphere is to have an influence thrown around 
 a life which is lasting. Naturally, then, few if any of the inmates 
 of our state institutions have been so privileged, and to give them 
 this environment for even a short time each week is perhaps to cul- 
 tivate in them a taste which will lead them to the public library 
 instead of the street when they have gone from our midst. 
 
 I would not have these rooms used for visiting or playing games. 
 There are other places more suited for those things. Put I would 
 have them reading-rooms in the truest sense of the word . 
 
 If reading-rooms of this kind could be provided in the state 
 hospitals it would give the patients an opportunity to look at books 
 and pictures which cannot be loaned and would add greatly to their 
 pleasure in the library. 
 
 I might be considered a candidate myself for one of these 
 hospitals when I advocate a reading-ioom for the reformatory were 
 the warden not as anxious for it as I am. This would need to be 
 under supervision of course and the privilege could not be ex- 
 tended to all, but those are matters for the warden, not the librarian, 
 to settle. I wish that a similar room might be provided at Fort 
 Madison also. 
 
 Lack of space in some institutions and lack of time on the part 
 of the librarians in others has been in the way of carrying out such a 
 plan in the past, but I am looking forward to better things in the 
 future. 
 
 3. Machinery. The simplest methods of organization and 
 administration are most desirable, yet they must be such as to fur- 
 nish information of the whereabouts of the books at any time, wheth- 
 er in the hands of the readers or on the shelves, and to make the 
 resources of the library available to it users. 
 
 These requirements are met as in a public library : (1) By 
 records consisting of (a) the accession book, containing a record of 
 books by acquisition with information as to source, cost, classification, 
 etc., etc., which with the withdrawal book will show at any time 
 the number of volumes in the library and their value, and (b) a card 
 list of books as they stand on the shelves ; (2) By classification 
 
 and arrangement on the shelves according to the Dewey decimal 
 
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 system and a catalogue or finding list of some kind. For those who 
 visit the libraries card catalogues by author, title or dictionary ar- 
 rangement have been provided in most of the libraries, and for those 
 who cannot do so bookmarks or special lists until such time as find- 
 ing lists can be prepared ; (3) A loan system which shall most 
 
 readily bring books and readers together and leave a record of the 
 borrower. Books are charged by cards in all the institutions. In 
 the penitentiary and reformatory the readers cannot visit the library 
 and selections must be made from finding lists, and called for by 
 cards. In several of the other institutions the readers make their 
 own selections and exchanges of books by personal visits to the 
 library. In the educational institutions, however, the selections 
 are made by the matrons of the cottages and the books sent there 
 to be reloaned to the individual readers, two sets of cards being used. 
 It is here that I wish a change might be made and that the boys 
 and girls might have the opportunity to visit the library and make 
 their own selections with the advice and help of the librarian. 
 
 I have already spoken of the use of the library as a reading-room 
 and of its value to those who may thus visit it. If they could also learn 
 something of the classification and shelving of the books and the use 
 of the card catalogue and become familiar with the methods of ex- 
 changing books it might make their visits to the public library much 
 more sure and frequent some day. The boys and girls who have 
 been my helpers have learned to regard books with a new interest 
 and have finished their library work with regret. 
 
 Another problem is the difficulty of securing accurate reports of 
 the reading done where the books are sent in groups to the wards 
 where there are many more readers than the cards show. To at- 
 tempt to loan by card only would probably cut down the reading very 
 materially and we have not yet been able to devise a remedy for this 
 difficulty. The same is true of the periodicals. Yet if we cannot 
 have both reading and accurate reports the reading is the more im- 
 portant and should not be interfered with. 
 
 4. Librarian. All library machinery is but a means for bring- 
 ing books and readers together, but behind the machinery there 
 must be intelligence and sympathy. To keep the records however 
 accurately and to hand out books in however large quantities is not 
 the whole duty of a librarian. No matter how excellent the selec- 
 tion of books not every one is suited to all readers, and if they are 
 to bring the best results there must be a wise application to indi- 
 vidual needs. This is recognized in the public library where the most 
 ^mpetent librarian in the children’s room is not placed at the desk 
 to stamp dates and enter numbers. But one who knows children 
 and books is on the floor among the shelves helping the readers to 
 find and choose the right books. Such a librarian is equally needed in 
 our institutions where the books are to be used for mental and moral 
 
6 
 
 healing and should be selected with care and loaned with discrimina- 
 tion. Some who now make the selections are competent and inter- 
 ested bat not all are and few have the time to do it well. 
 
 Much as this side of the work appeals to the supervising- li- 
 brarian, and she recognizes it as that for which all others are but a prep- 
 aration, her visits are too brief to give her the necessary acquaint- 
 ance with the readers, too crowded to give her time for this part of 
 the work, and too infrequent to yield results. What is needed in 
 each institution is some one with an appreciation of the value of the 
 book in the development of mind and character, an acquaintance 
 with at least the books in her own library, an acquaintance with her 
 readers, a desire to increase their number and to bring to them what 
 may be theirs through the printed page. With a trained librarian in 
 the field to supervise the work the qualities which I have named are 
 more important than technical training. 
 
 I am glad to say that in some of our institutions we have 
 librarians who answer this description, but with few exceptions they 
 are busy people who undertake this work in addition to other duties 
 and without extra pay or the time to give to it which it needs. 
 There are in some places those employed in other capacities who 
 would make excellent librarians if they could be relieved of part of 
 their work and given time for this. 
 
 Such a librarian giving the needed time to this work would be 
 economical, both materially and ethically, for reasons as follows: (1) It 
 would enable her to keep the books in better repair by mending when 
 needed, thus prolonging their usefulness ; (2) It would secure bet- 
 ter care of the books by making the readers directly responsible toiler, 
 where now as sent to the cottages and reloaned there is often dif- 
 ficulty in locating the blame and administering the penalty for a 
 damaged book ; (3) She would be better able to watch the books 
 loaned and secure their prompt return, thereby avoiding losses ; (4) 
 On the ethical side she would be able to increase the efficiency of 
 the library by permitting its use as a reading-room ; (5) By allowing 
 more frequent exchange of books she would secure a larger circula- 
 tion, for many -would read more books than they are now able to 
 obtain: (6) By having time for visiting wards and cottages for 
 talks about books and reading aloud she would increase the interest 
 and secure a larger number of readers and, last but not least, there 
 might be secured a better fitting of books and readers. 
 
 To show how this works may I quote from a letter recently 
 received from the librarian of one of the state hospitals: 
 
 “I have had quite good success this winter in getting the patients 
 to read, and the circulation has increased materially. While I do not 
 give half my time to the library, I have all the time I need, and that 
 usually means four afternoons a week. The library is only open one 
 hour once a week, but I often supply books to patients during the 
 
7 
 
 week and also give out a good many books to employes when I hap- 
 pen to be working in the library. I take lists of books to the wards 
 and the patients choose what they want. Since I have been going on 
 the wards I have been able to keep track of the books and have not 
 lost one. I think I can tell you now what kind of books the patients 
 want, and I hope we may have some new ones soon.” 
 
 While this is not wholly ideal in all particulars since the library is 
 open only once a week and there is no reading-room in connection 
 with it, yet it is a step in the direction toward which I am looking. 
 
 What then is our aim? 
 
 1 . For each institution a library adequate in size and adapted 
 in selection to the readers who are to use it, including collections of 
 standards, some reference books and an officers' library on subjects 
 relating to that institution, and magazines and current papers for 
 both the inmates and employes. 
 
 2. A library room with shelving for present needs and allow- 
 ance for expansion, with the necessary equipment for library use and 
 with tables and chairs and light for reading and open for that pur- 
 pose to officers and inmates as conditions make feasible. 
 
 3. A system of organization and administration which shall 
 make the resources of the library most available to all its readers, 
 and give them so far as possible the opportunity to make their own 
 selections and exchanges of books. 
 
 4. A librarian interested and competent to whom the work is 
 as important as any other assigned to her and with the time to 
 give it needed attention, and a desire to so use the books as to make 
 them show their value in individual cases and with different classes 
 of readers. 
 
 5. Readers who shall make evident in increasing numbers that 
 the libraries in the state institutions of Iowa are accomplishing the 
 results for which they are maintained.