http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1617 Allerton Park Institute Proceedings (no. 23, 1977); Edited by Selma K. Richardson http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1664 Reactions by a Public Library Administrator Todd, Alexander W., Jr. I must confess that I came to this institute expecting dry dissertations on the ivory-tower level that would have a sedative effect on me in short, an opportunity to rest my weary director bones and catch up on a little napping. What a rude awakening! The speakers, participants and agenda have kept me interested and alert perhaps because they were reinforcing my beliefs. Peggy Sullivan began by asking if children's librarians are sure that they have goals for public library service for children. A good question and after three days, there has been no answer. Or, if the goals exist, you surely don't know how to state them. Bernard Spodek made the point that libraries are not schools, but are arenas for mental action. Keep this in mind: libraries are not a replacement for formal education. George Canney reinforced this premise by emphasizing that librarians do not teach reading. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1663 Goals of Public Library Services for Children Sullivan, Peggy Some years ago, Lowell Martin wrote an article on cooperation between school and public libraries which he subtitled: "Or, Why Don't We Have Any?" It was not only eye-catching and provocative , but a very reasonable question to ask. A subtitle for this discussion of goals of children's services of public libraries might be: "Are We Sure We Have Any?" However, I would not do that because I believe that when conferees have heard all of the speakers and discussions planned, and when readers later have read all the papers, they will be convinced that, indeed, there are goals. If there were not, we could scarcely now all be so convinced of the importance of children's services that we would be gathered here, and there could not be the strong thread of agreement running through the presentations which, I predict, will be discernible. It is only in individual programs of service to children, perhaps only in the minds of individual librarians, that the question may not be satisfactorily answered. The most painful question is not whether librarianship has goals for public library service to children; it is whether or not each person responsible for providing that service has recognized, measurable, articulated goals for service. I think they do not. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1662 Education and Children's Ways of Knowing Spodek, Bernard I will begin with a disclaimer: I am not a librarian. I cannot provide authoritative information about library services to children, of either a descriptive or prescriptive nature. I am not a child development specialist. I cannot provide authoritative information about the nature of childhood. I cannot nor will I attempt to present the characteristics of the various stages that children achieve at particular age levels, which enable developmental planning of appropriate services for young children. My field is education; I am an early childhood educator. I am interested in the nature of schools for young children the purposes that these schools serve, the activities that take place in these schools (often in the name of achieving these purposes), and in the personnel that staff these schools: teachers and others. I am concerned with the interactions that take place among the individuals who are related to these schools children, teachers and parents and with what is transmitted and created as a result of those interactions. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1661 The Children's Librarian as Viewed by Library School Educators Shaw, Spencer G. The triad is a combination of a group of elements that may be studied by scholars in different disciplines. A scientist may probe the secrets which are contained within its chemical compounds; a musician may extricate from it different tonal chords. Aspiring to be neither scientist nor musician, I shall utilize this unique configuration in the context of our concerns at this institute. As an educator in the field of librarianship, I perceive the individual who engages in library service for children as a 3-dimensional configuration. Within the framework of a triad, it will be necessary to focus attention on three closely related elements that will influence the structuring of any profile of a children's librarian. These three elements are: (1) to have knowledge of the total environment that may affect children or be affected by children, (2) to have a knowledge of children with their singular commonalities and disparities and of their world with its dichotomous patterns, and (3) to have a knowledge of the philosophy, organization and program of service that will make library service to children an integral part of the total structure of the public library. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1660 Services to Ethnic and Racial Minority Groups Rollock, Barbara It was remembrance of childhood experiences in the library that prompted author Bel Kaufman to write in defense of libraries: "It seems to me that especially now, when there are so many people in our city [New York] whose language is not English, whose houses are barren of books, who are daily seduced by clamorous offers of instant diversion, especially now we must hold on to something that will endure when the movie is over, the television set broken, the class dismissed for the last time." The immigrant group from which Kaufman came found that schools and libraries were the key which opened the door for achieving the "American dream." Libraries played an important part in the educational and cultural lives of the early immigrants for whom life was difficult, but for whom the formula for success lay in assimilation into the American mainstream a goal that was attainable. For later or other groups, however, some whose roots lay deep in the American soil, the very nightmare of coexistence foretold that the dream, in the words of the poet, was not only "deferred," but would be denied. Children's libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1659 Services of Large Public Libraries Rollock, Barbara This paper is intended to trace the influences that affect children's services and to indicate what is and might be included in services to children in large metropolitan libraries. Children are defined here not as a separate species, a breed apart, but as young human beings with whom adults share their lives and whose prime differences from adults are their age, size and political inactivity. In spite of concern about the status of children in today's society the battered child, the unwanted child, the exceptional child, the institutionalized child, and so on there is no "child power." The very best that can be said for children's librarians is that their actions are motivated primarily by their genuine liking for children and their dedication to sharing the child's sense of wonder at discovering the world through ideas recorded and expressed in various media. Through service to children librarians are afforded the chance to reach the child as an individual developing his or her own potential. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1658 The Children's Librarian As Viewed By Children Rogers, Norma L. In an attempt to find out what children, i.e., patrons, think of librarians, three different techniques were utilized in the Urbana Free Library to elicit responses. The first was a brief survey, involving a one-line question asked of the children in thirty classes visiting the public library last spring. The second was a 2-page questionnaire filled out by some children who were regular library users, and the third was a 2-hour discussion with members of the Junior Critics organization of the library. The first technique attempted to determine how children describe librarians. Children were asked to write a brief, even one-word description of a librarian. Most of the responses defined a personal quality, but a number of the children chose to list types of work performed by the librarian. The examples of work cited were almost entirely of a professional nature, with fewer than 10 percent describing any clerical jobs. Forty-four different descriptive terms were used, ranging from words like happy, smart, intelligent, dramatic, interesting, understanding, cheerful, fun and polite, to mean, unfriendly, grouchy, weird and strict. Some even thought of librarians as "pretty." The number of positive words far outweighed the negative, but of the variety of words used, 50 percent of the children described librarians as "nice" and another 20 percent as "helpful." Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1657 Services of Small Public Libraries Lamont, Bridget L. The purpose of this paper is to discuss both state library agency services and children's services in small public libraries. I will present my perspective on some of the realities of these two institutions today and the effect of these realities on library services for children in those communities with small public libraries. Small is a relative term and, no doubt, everyone has arrived at his/ her own concept of a small public library from personal experience as a library patron, as a practicing librarian, and/or from the literature about the small public library. Elizabeth Gross's study defined small libraries as those serving populations under 35,000. Informal conversations with fellow state library agency children's consultants lead me to define small libraries as those serving populations of less than 20,000 or even 10,000. Of the 597 public libraries in Illinois, 56.4 percent serve populations of less than 5000, as do 54 percent of New York's 737 public libraries. 2 Therefore, employing the term small in reference to libraries serving populations of less than 5000 is very realistic. I will refer primarily to these very small public libraries when discussing services because I believe they deserve some attention and should be remembered when planning for the future. Small libraries do not always indicate rural location small libraries are also situated in maturing suburban communities. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1656 Keeping Out Of Trouble: Research And Children's Services Of Public Libraries Kingsbury, Mary E. The nineteenth-century humorist, Artemus Ward, once said: "It ain't the things we don't know that get us in trouble. It's the things we know that ain't so." That pithy statement sums up the value of research to the library profession. Good research can help to keep us out of trouble; it brings respectability to a profession. However, as members of a profession not noted for the quality or even the quantity of its research, librarians would do well to worry less about achieving respectability and concentrate more on finding out what they need to know to keep out of trouble. Twenty years ago Frances Henne called for a systematic program of research. "Thus far," she wrote, "many, if not most, of the problems in the area of library work with youth have not been explored objectively, and many principles, standards and procedures commonly accepted and practiced have never been tested or evaluated." If, during the past twenty years, librarians had systematically and objectively evaluated what they were doing, would they be in the trouble they are today? Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1655 Services to Preschoolers and Adults Kellman, Amy 6 'Children in the library/ stand no longer by your knee./ Children turning page on page/ are not children, have no age./ Have no heed, no hand to take;/ go at will, with whom they like." These lines from Norma Farber's poem describe the self-confident and independent modern child, who approaches the library as one more experience in a busy life. For the preschooler, who by virtue of age shares the library experience with an adult, some wide-eyed wonder may still remain. For librarians the word "preschooler" has taken on a new definition. It no longer refers to the three- to six-year-old child. From birth on the child has a place in the library's scheme of things. For instance, Toronto, Ontario hospitals send the new mother home with a pamphlet from the Mississauga Library System describing sources in the library that will help her cope with and enjoy her baby. In short, the public library is involved in "early childhood education," aptly defined as being "concerned with the total development of each young child from birth with all his components for growth, including physical, intellectual, emotional, social and adaptive." Materials are chosen with child's developmental and recreational needs in mind, creating an increased interest in realia, especially toys that can provide the concrete experiences to which the very young child responds best. Toy-lending arrangements of all kinds have been tried. Children’s libraries Sat, 01 Jan 1977 00:00:00 GMT