Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 222, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 October 1917 — LIBRARIES OF REAL SERVICE [ARTICLE]

LIBRARIES OF REAL SERVICE

Exclusiveness That Marked Them So Many Years Practically a Thing of the Past. The American public library has during the last two or three decades undergone a wonderful change in the direction of usefulness From a repository .of books accessible to a small class of patrons who knew about what they wished, the open-shelf system has grown, and now in most libraries the books' are available for Inspection. Instead of being only a place to keep books, the library is a place to study books th the aggregate, to gain some knowledge of the wealth of printed information and entertainment. With this idea there Jhas com® the reference function, and the whole development has been accompanied by a tendency toward taking the books to the people. The librarian during this time has grown from a bookish person, rather inclined to resent the intrusion of patrons on the ground that they left gaps in the shelves, to the true public servant, who if the public does not come to him with its needs tak&s upon himself the business of discovering what he can do for the public and then doing it. Such is the modern librarian.