Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 66.djvu/139

Rh public libraries. The Wisconsin commission has furnished the model which has generally been followed in the west, while the Massachusetts commission has been the type for the eastern states. The western commissions have had somewhat more legal authority, as well as larger sums to expend, and have usually employed more officers than have those in the east. The future will doubtless see an extension of this benevolent state supervision and help. It must be confessed that no other influence has been so potent in the improvement of the condition and administration of the smaller and more backward libraries as these commissions. They have fully justified their right to exist. They have also furthered to a remarkable extent the creation of new libraries in communities not previously possessing them. 'Traveling libraries' small collections of some fifty books, have been called into being and managed largely through the commissions. These small collections are sent to rural communities, and even to places in large cities where they are desired, are kept for a few weeks, and exchanged for another set. They have commended themselves most highly to those interested in bringing books to people who have few or none.

This leads us naturally to a consideration of what may be termed the missionary spirit in library work. It may be remarked in passing that this seems a peculiarly American development, and that in general a growing consciousness of the possibilities a high and useful service in the life of the municipality has been one of the conspicuous features of the public library movement. The librarian who regards himself as a missionary of the book has been much in evidence of late, and on the whole has been both efficient and sane. The idea that he is a custodian of books merely has ceased in large measure to be the librarian's conception of his office. He is rather a guide and helper to the use of books. "The best that can be said for any book in this library," said an enthusiastic leader in this sort of work, "is that it is entirely worn out, and we must buy two new copies of it." This was in answer to the faint protest of an elder librarian to the effect that children should not be allowed in libraries because they wore out the books by reading them so much. This zeal for helping others to books, to the right books, has resulted in many reforms in the internal arrangement of library buildings and in the relations of the administration to the public. As a rule, the newer libraries are allowing a great amount of freedom in direct access to the shelves on the part of all users of the library. Many of the more recent buildings have been planned so that the visitor may go directly to the shelves, and many of the older buildings have been remodeled to permit this practise. In almost every way this has been a gain. There has come with it no small loss of books, but that loss is insignificant in view of the greatly increased use of the libraries which has resulted from easy personal contact with