privileges. It is a question, however, if such a system is necessary
or worth while. Under the charging system already described any
teacher can be permitted to take away as many books as she wishes, and
a record of them can be easily and quickly made. To give "teachers'
cards," with accompanying privileges, is to limit to some extent the
rights of all others. And yet teachers may very often properly receive
special attention. In a measure they are part of the library's staff
of educational workers. But these special attentions or favors should
be offered without proclaiming the fact to the rest of the community.
Many cannot see why a teacher should receive favors not granted to
all.

Take special pains to show children the use of indexes, and indeed of
all sorts of reference books; they will soon be familiar with them and
handle them like lifelong students. Gain the interest of teachers in
this sort of work, and urge them to bring their classes and make a
study of your reference books.

CHAPTER XLIX

How the library can assist the school

Channing Folsom, superintendent of schools, Dover, N.H., in Public
Libraries, May, 1898

We have to consider the teacher, the school, the pupil, the home. The
teacher is likely to be conservative; to have fallen into ruts; to
be joined to his idols; to make the text-book a fetish; to teach a
particular book rather than the subject, so that the initiative in
works of cooeperation must come from the library side.

If, then, the library is equally conservative, if the librarian and
the trustees look upon their books as too sacred or too precious to
be handled by boys and girls, the desired cooeperation will never be
attained.

In beginning the desired work the librarian must have a well-defined
idea of what is to be done and how. There should be a well-defined
line of differentiation between material which the school should
furnish and that properly belonging to the library province.

Of course all text-books, all supplementary reading matter for
classroom use, all ordinary reference books, should be furnished by
the school authorities. But the more extensive and the more expensive
dictionaries, gazetteers, cyclopedias, and books for topical reference
cannot be so furnished. If they are to be used by public school
pupils, the library must supply them, and make access to them as easy
and as pleasant as possible.

It is within the scope of the library to improve the t