Page:Traveling Libraries by Frank Avery Hutchins.djvu/12

10 and it will be done more economically if it is done in a good public library.

An association working from a central library and covering a county can have occasional meetings in the field and at the central station, which will inspire the isolated workers, cultivate the "library spirit," and ultimately lead people to study as well as read.

Many isolated communities find much pleasure in the boxes of periodicals which are frequently sent with the books. A tired housewife enjoys an illustrated paper or magazine more than a book, and a poor boy often gets his first idea that reading may be a pleasure from a copy of the "Youth's Companion."

In packing the books to send to small stations, a number of plans have been tried. In New York the books are packed in a stout chest and shipped with a suitable bookcase, which accompanies the books on all their travels. Mr. Stout sends his out in strongly made cases which serve as packing-boxes and also as library-cases when they reach their destinations. In other places the books are sent in strong packing-cases, and the communities receiving them provide their own shelving. The latter plan is the most economical, and is growing in favor where economy must be practiced. When the packing-cases are used, the covers are fastened with screws, because when locks were used the keys were so frequently lost.

The number of books in the different traveling libraries varies, but usually there are from thirty-five to fifty in those containing books for general readers, and from fifteen to thirty in those for study clubs.

In the matter of fees the States which buy the books generally follow the New York plan and charge three dollars for each visit of a library of fifty volumes, and the State pays the transportation charges. Associations generally charge no fees, and make the recipients pay all transportation charges. Theoretically it is not right to give