College and Research Libraries B y E D I T H E . H . G R A N N I S The Service Area of a Teachers College Library Miss Grannis is librarian, State Teachers College Library, St. Cloud, Minn. A N D W H A T SERVICE s h a l l t h e t e a c h e r s college library render to its affiliated rural schools, its alumni, or teachers of the vicinity? M a y I describe w h a t w e are doing at the St. C l o u d , M i n n . , State T e a c h e r s C o l l e g e L i b r a r y . W e believe—perhaps all of you d o — that there is need for service in these areas. So far, w e have dealt most w i t h the affiliated rural schools. In our section of the country, central Minnesota, there are many rural schools. Affiliated w i t h the college are t w e l v e schools of w h i c h t w o are two-room schools. Into these schools, each six weeks, go the cadets. T h e s e student-teachers live in the country and teach there under the direc- tion of the local teacher and the rural supervisor. B u t of w h a t import is this to the teach- ers college l i b r a r y ? H a v e you visited a progressive rural school lately ? If you have, you k n o w that the one-text, fixed-grade type of school is disappearing. T o d a y , you may find John of the eighth grade, M a r y of the sixth, James of the fifth, and even, fourth-grade Jean, all w o r k i n g together on a common subject of study such as the importance of rubber in modern w a r f a r e . N o r is four- teen-year-old B i l l ashamed to recognize the fact that he cannot read and to w o r k at the first-grade fundamentals of reading. T h e concern of the modern school is en- riched classroom teaching and interested, mentally-growing children. B u t such study, w e all know, cannot be accomplished w i t h o u t many good books, pamphlets, clippings, pictures, and other kinds of illustrative materials. O u r library staff believes that w e have a special responsibility in seeing that these schools, affiliated w i t h the college,. have such reference materials. W e believe that our rural student-teachers not only need these materials for effective student teaching but that the f u t u r e teachers w i l l here, in the school, learn best to use and get the habit of using library materials in building up, w i t h their pupils, a vital type of classroom study. O u r cadets have studied children's liter- a t u r e ; they have had the brief fundamen- tals of library organization, such as mending, classification, book use, and ap- preciation. W e believe that, in the af- filiated rural school, the teachers college library finds an excellent opportunity to prove that it all actually pays and " w o r k s . " The Library in the School B u t , first of all, there is the overhauling of the library already in the school. T h e " l i b r a r y " has been built up over a period of years w i t h the assistance of state library aid. ( I n Minnesota the state encourages, through this aid, the purchase of books for DECEMBER, 1942 71 the school library.) T h e books are to be selected f r o m approved lists. A public, school, or county library may assume the purchase of such books f o r these school libraries. H o w e v e r , w e feel that no mat- ter w h a t supplementary service is rendered by other library agencies, a small collection of live, factual books must always be at hand. F o r w h o knows w h a t w i l l be needed when the progressive class goes to w o r k ! M o r e o v e r , some other rural school may already have d r a w n out their required references from the central collection. T h e s e local libraries, however, are often just a hodgepodge of soiled, worn-out, small-type books of ancient date. Y o u have seen them. T h e y are frequently housed in an unattractive and even w i n - dowless closet and shelved around the upper portion of the room, so that a step- ladder must be used by the children to reach the books. U s u a l l y , the really good titles are lost in such a collection or have already been w o r n out w i t h constant use. " O u r l i b r a r y , " remarks the school clerk, pointing to this uninteresting mass. No group of pupils and teachers can be con- vinced that their library or any other library is, or can be, an effective classroom aid w h e n such a condition exists. W e e d - ing, mending, attractive rebinding, and a simple plan of classification and charging, are first essentials. ( M i n n e s o t a uses the classification outline of the W i l s o n Chil- dren's Catalog.) T h e plan or reorganization has not been the same in all the affiliated rural schools. B u t in all of them the teachers college library has had an indirect or direct part, especially in connection w i t h the discard- ing and the suggestion of desirable new titles. In one of the schools much of the w o r k w a s done by the college students as a part of their laboratory w o r k in the summer teacher-librarian courses. T h e W . P . A . assisted w i t h the difficult mending. The "New" Library T h e " n e w " library w a s exhibited and its value demonstrated in an "evening at home" put on by the children, cadet teach- ers, local teacher, and the rural super- visor. T h e entertainment concluded w i t h cocoa, served in tin cups, and cookies. G r e a t was the pride of the children, par- ents, and school board w h e n pictures of the event appeared in the St. C l o u d daily paper the next day. In another school, under the direction of teachers and rural supervisor, the pupils themselves literally created out of a clut- tered catch-all room and its contents an exceedingly attractive and effective library. C l e a n i n g , painting library furniture, classification, book charging, publicity, all were parts of this library project which culminated in a book describing the whole matter, dedicated to the teacher. T h e s e projects have proved conclusively that a small, local, attractive, and vital group of library books does create an interest in and a consciousness of libraries. T h e s e children and teachers do consider their libraries an integral part of their learning and leisure time equipment. Book loans are a second service to these affiliated rural schools. Some loans are references to supplement the classroom study. T h e s e are chosen from the juvenile section of the college library, preferably by the student teachers before they leave for the country, or by the local rural school teacher or rural supervisor. O f t e n the library staff assists. T h e rural super- visor, as an intelligent and enthusiastic user of books and libraries, plans next year to stress the use of indexes to library 72 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES materials: the W i l s o n Children's Catalog, the Rue indexes, the Office of Education " 5 0 0 " list, etc. T h e pupils w i l l be en- couraged to find references for their study through the Children's Catalog. ( T h e r e is one in each school.) M o s t of the schoods need recreational books. T h e s e w e are especially pleased to loan so that there w i l l be a constant influx of new titles and so that the book purchase money of the school w i l l be saved for the necessary local library of factual materials. O n e of the groups in the schools has been especially pleased to borrow from the college collection picture books made of in- expensive brown Bessemer Bristol from worn-out picture books by the W . P . A . and the N . Y . A . workers. D o you get discouraged when you view those easy reading books—soiled, torn, unfit for circulation? T h e children of the schools are now making their own pic- ture books and easy reading books, pat- terned after those loaned by the college library. Booklets are also made from other types of discards. Visual Materials N o elementary teaching program is com- plete nowadays without visual materials. W e loan pictures to the schools but an additional service has been the purchase, for the rural department, of sets of pic- tures which illustrate special units of w o r k . A sample set is on " T r a n s p o r t a t i o n " and is part of the Visualized C u r r i c u l u m series.1 T h e B u i l d i n g America series pub- lished by the Society for C u r r i c u l u m Study is another excellent series. T h e s e pictures are good and really w e l l w o r t h the invest- ment since they w i l l save the time of search of teachers and librarians and provide just 1 Published by the Creative Education Society, Mankato, M i n n . T h e r e are also helpful manuals to use with these sets of pictures. the right illustration for the important business of teaching. T h i s service does not mean, however, that the school neglects to build up its own file of pictures. " A n y picture may be u s e f u l " is the slogan. T h e rural super- visor was illustrating fertilization of plants the other day in a demonstration lesson. She had a colored picture of a humming bird alighting on a flower. A f t e r w a r d s , in answer to the inquiry as to source, she said, " S u n d a y Supplement." Some of you may be asking, " W h a t about the state, county, or public library contract service to these schools?" Y e s , books may be borrowed from the state library division. A county library service is being initiated in one of the counties of which w e are a part, and ex- cellent public library contract service is available. B u t this is also a fact. T h e r e are over four hundred rural schools in the three counties about us. It seems, therefore, that our affiliated schools should seek li- brary assistance from the teachers college rather than from these other overworked agencies. M o r e o v e r , as noted previously, we feel that rural student teachers should have as much attention from the library as do the campus-school cadets. Join Classroom Activities A n d finally, as part of our service to the affiliated rural schools, w e of the li- brary staff sit in on the classroom activi- ties. O u r cataloger is learning, w i t h the students in an education class, how to construct a unit of w o r k . A n d I plan, next week to visit our summer rural demonstration school. W h a t w e are learning! Just try it. T h e teacher w i l l even be pleased! T h e time and means of travel ? Ride out w i t h the rural super- DECEMBER, 1942 73 visor and turn some local task over to someone else. It really pays. Perhaps the teacher w i l l sit in on library activities some day. W e have much to learn from each other's techniques. I have described at some length our serv- ice to the affiliated rural schools because it is in this field that w e have had more experience and believe service most neces- sary. A n d yet there are t w o other areas in w h i c h I believe w e w i l l come to have an increasing responsibility for service. L e t me touch briefly on these. W e k n o w that w e can be an important factor in the in-service learning of our alumni. W h e n books are needed, there- fore, especially for study, w e loan them, provided such books are not in demand at the college and that a deposit is made until the books are returned. Aid to Former Students W e wish w e might prepare annotated lists of recent educational books and send these out to our former students. Perhaps some of you w i l l tell us about your ex- perience in this field later on. D o not our college presidents feel, at this time, that it is most necessary to do w h a t w e can to assist our graduates in the improvement of their teaching techniques? A n d w o u l d not this be one method of approach to this problem ? A n d that third g r o u p — t e a c h e r s in the same city and the surrounding area, in- cluding the rural teachers? Is there not a possibility of service to these teachers? C a n w e not at least open our doors f o r reference use of periodicals, collections of children's literature, elementary and sec- ondary sections of the library, for survey and study of educational titles, pamphlets, and visual materials? T h e s e teachers w o u l d be free to come to the library in the evenings and on Saturdays. W h e n might and intolerance are strug- g l i n g for dominance in our present and f u t u r e worlds, should not w e librarians in the teachers colleges encourage these teachers to further study and constructive thinking by sharing our resources w i t h them? T h r o u g h w h a t better agency can w e w o r k in fighting the present-day forces of e v i l ? F o r the rural teachers w e may w e l l ad- vise and assist, if necessary, w i t h the pro- vision of a professional library in the county superintendent's office or in the county library collection. D o w n in W e s t V i r g i n i a a teachers college librarian is successfully putting through such a serv- ice in her area. O t h e r librarians, no doubt, are pioneering in such professional provision in their parts of the country. L i b r a r y indexes such as the W i l s o n ' s chil- dren's and high school catalogs should most certainly be made available to rural teachers in these collections if individual copies are not possible in each school. The Curriculum Laboratory T h e r e is another important service to in-service teachers which, in many teachers college libraries, is still in the initial stage. T h i s is the establishment of a curriculum laboratory and the inviting of teachers to make use of its resources. In w h a t better fashion may our school administra- tors and teachers be made aware of chang- ing teaching methods, of new and better school texts and supplementary materials ? T h e s e collections of sample texts and w o r k b o o k s — g i f t s f r o m the p u b l i s h e r s — curricula, units of w o r k , visual and other teaching aids, can be made vital tools of in-service teacher training as w e l l as aids of instruction for teachers-in-the-making. W e all have much to learn about this 74 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES assistance to teachers. T h e r e are out- standing curriculum laboratories in all parts of this country. A n d studies are being made of such service. L e t us become conscious of these workshops and, as soon as w e get them well-established in our teachers college libraries, let us widen their usefulness by extending their service to teachers about us. R u r a l schools, alumni, teachers of our a r e a — t h r e e important g r o u p s — a l l , w e be- lieve, merit our attention. B u t h o w far shall w e g o ? T h a t ' s the question w e must answer. Service Area of a Teachers College Library (Continued from page 70) finally through the tunnel to W e s t H a l l where " t e a " w a s served by book characters. A n entire year is none too l o n g in which to get ready for this annual event. L i - braries must be built up and put into shape. T h a t means there must be money raised to help buy books and lists, and books must be perused from w h i c h to make the selec- tion for purchase. A n d , to be sure, once the purchase is made, the books must be properly cared for. T h e college librarian or her helpers have frequent calls to the various schools to counsel w i t h the y o u n g librarians or to have secret conferences regarding program parts. T h e s e parts are, likewise, in process all through the year. T w o schools have w r i t t e n book plays and designed and made their o w n settings and costumes. A l l the schools have school papers which w i l l be a part of the display this coming fall. A n d as to the history of books and homemade examples from the earliest w a x tablets and parchment (home- processed) to a beautifully bound book of the present day, it is probable that the college students v i e w i n g the exhibit k n o w less than do these rural school pupils. O t h e r than these services outside the boundary of the college campus there are the usual college library services to alumni and services through the office of inter- library loans. T h e s e are more or less taken for granted. I t is the t w o services regarding which I have spoken that help to define, as w e see it, the service area of a college library, which area finally extends to w h a t e v e r peoples and places having a contact w i t h the college. DECEMBER, 1942 75