The Wisconsin Library Bulletin for July-August,1908,is given up to the presentation of widely varying experiences in regard to discipline,in a report by Mary Emogene Hazeltine and Harriet Price Sawyer,who sent a list of ten questions to 125librarians,and incorporated the replies.
Mary Emogene Hazeltine was born in Jamestown,N.Y.,in 1868,and was graduated from Wellesley College in 1891.She was librarian of the James Prendergast Free Library in Jamestown from 1893to 1906,when she became Preceptor of the Library School of the University of Wisconsin,the position she now holds.She has given much help to small libraries.
Mrs.Harriet Price Sawyer was born in Kent,Ohio,received the degree of B.L.from Oberlin College:was an assistant in the Oberlin College Library 1902-1903;was graduated from the Pratt Institute Library School in 1904;was librarian of the State Normal School at New Paltz,N.Y.,1904-1905;a student in the University of Berlin,Germany,1905-1906;Library Visitor and Instructor,Wisconsin Library Commission,1906-1910.Since that time she has been chief of the Instructional Department in the St.Louis Public Library,including charge of the training class.
In 1917this class was expanded into a library school,with Mrs.
Sawyer as principal.
In March,a list of questions concerning the problem of discipline in the library was sent out to 125librarians.The answers show a most interesting variety of experiences and conditions.A few report that it is no longer a "vexed"problem,and one librarian thinks that it is "only a well-maintained tradition,"but most of the writers agree with Miss Eastman of Cleveland,who says:"You will note that while conditions vary somewhat in the different branches,discipline is a question which we have always with us whenever we work with children.I do believe,however,that each year places the library on a little higher and more dignified plane in the minds of the children as well as the public generally;and that the question of discipline becomes more and more a question of dealing with individuals."As to disturbance without the library,there is but one opinion,viz.,to turn the matter over to the policemen,and this is reported in every instance to have put an end to the trouble.
Any serious misbehavior within the library has been treated by the suspension of library privileges,ranging in severity of sentence from one day to a month or,in a few cases,even longer.
The variation,however,in the manner of carrying out the sentence forms an interesting study,from the lightest form reported,at Chippewa Falls,where the child may draw a book,but remains in the library only long enough to secure it,to the drastic measures taken at Sheboygan where the students were ordered out of the library en masse even in the midst of preparation for a test in history.
Miss Wood's plan is an interesting one,but the tactful helpers are difficult to find.
The card system at Kenosha will no doubt solve the difficulty for many librarians who find the initiative in the disciplining of the older visitors at the library most difficult to undertake.
In some communities,the personal letter or visit to the parents has proved most helpful,and,doubtless,the plan reported by Miss Lord of asking the boy to sign his name will find favor in the larger libraries.
The aim of discipline,according to educators,is the moral foundation of character.The library as well as the school has to make up for the lack of moral training in many homes,and good conduct must be taught by the librarian as well as by the teacher.The whole matter is very well summed up by Miss Dousman of Milwaukee.
"It seems to me that order and good behavior are absolutely imperative in the library.Good manners,that outward and visible sign of the respect for the rights of others,should be expected of children.How?By never failing yourself to treat them with respect,courtesy and justice.To distinguish between unavoidable disturbances and those made with mischievous intent.To see and hear only the things you can prevent,else your nerves will get the better of your judgment.
"Allow children as much freedom as possible,consistent with the rights of others--and don't nag.
"In case of bad behavior,make a tactful and pleasant appeal to the child first,thereby giving him a chance to reinstate himself.This appeal failing,reprimand in no uncertain terms.
Dismissal from the room is the natural punishment for refusal to obey regulations.Obedience as a virtue has not entirely gone out of fashion.Suspension for a definite or indefinite period,according to the offense is necessary for the maintenance of good discipline.Limitation as to the number of times a week a mischievous child may visit the library has a good effect.Asuspended sentence of permanent dismissal on failure to behave has a most salutary effect.Reinstate as soon as there is an evident desire to improve.
