Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1912 — Public Library [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Public Library

How Attitude Toward Fiction ~ May be Fixed ■

By H. H. BOND. Cambridge. Mass.

HE attitude of public libraries toward fiction must be determined by the purpose for which they have been established and maintained. This purpose, as recorded in, their deeds of gift, in the charters under , whose authority they act, and in the published reports of their trustees, is public education. The charter of a typical Massachusetts library gives as the purpose of its incorporation, “the diffusion of knowledge and promotion of intellectual improvement.” Trustees uniformly base appeals for public support upon the educational value of their libraries.

The promotion of education was uppermost in the mind of the man who inaugurated the movement for the general establishment of public libraries in Massachusetts, and formed the basis of his appeal for state encouragement. In 1839 Horace Mann devoted the annual report of the board of education to this question. He showed that there were only fifteen free town libraries in Massachusetts, and that few books in them were of educational value. He deprecated the evils of excessive novel reading, and insisted upon school libraries which should “cultivate the germs of intelligence, benevolence and truth.” „ Through his influence the general court passed a series of statutes which culminated in the act of 1851, granting to every city and town of the commonwealth authority to establish and maintain a public library in the interest of public education. What the state understands by public education appears in the preambles and statutes of Massachusetts relating thereto. The first such statute, May, 1642, declared that “Forasmuch as'the good education of children is of singular behoof to any commonwealth, the selectmen of every town shall see that children are taught perfectly to read the English tongue.” „ , . • Before 1780 the views of Massachusetts had so expanded that the following article was inserted in the state constitution: “Wisdom and knowl-edge,-as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties, ... it shall be the duty of legislatures and magistrates in all future periods of this commonwealth to cherish the ihterests of literature and the- sciences, . . . to encourage private and public institutions ... for the promo-

tion of agriculture, arts, sciences, trades, tnanufactures and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, charity, industry and frugality; honesty and-punctuality; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections, and generous sentiments among the people.” So long, therefore, as this conception of'the scope of public education prevails, and so long as the promotion of such education is recognized as their legitimate purpose, the ideal attitude of our public libraries toward all fiction which tends to accomplish this great design must be one of friendliness and welcome.