opportunity of the librarian in this work
of cooperation. Suggestions regarding "Volunteer aids in library work"
are admirably given in the report of the state library commission for
this year in the bound volume, _Public libraries of Massachusetts_, and
should be read by librarians and trustees and shown to all patrons of
the library who are available for assistance.

Surely the home should cooperate with the library by the example of the
reading habit, and by the direction of the reading of the children;
while it would be an excellent thing for parents to pursue lines of
reading that would keep them in touch with the children's studies. As it
is, I fear librarians will bear out the recent statement of a school
supervisor that "The home is not even inclined to supervise the
children's reading, and, the selection of books being left largely to
themselves, many boys and girls read books not proper for them to read."

The church, the school and the library are institutions which naturally
constitute a triple alliance. Cooperation between the library and the
schools, which has received so much consideration and is being so
rapidly developed, I need not dwell upon. But there is need for
increased cooperation between the church and the library. This
cooperation should be both direct and indirect. Ministers should feel a
responsibility for the intellectual, as well as spiritual, welfare of
the people. They should show that intelligence and breadth of mind make
a better and more efficient Christian, and that the church will become a
greater power if its members read and think. The minister has had
special privileges for his own culture, and he has peculiar
opportunities for recommending books, guiding library taste, and
directly increasing the use of the library. There should be some kind of
study club connected with every church, and those young people who have
finished their school course should be taught their moral obligation to
cultivate their God-given mental powers and grow in intelligence and
wisdom.

To advance the special interests of the church along intellectual
lines, the library should be provided with books that will improve
Sunday school work, aid in the study of the Bible, and the growth of
intelligence on religious subjects. It should be provided with up to
date histories of Bible times in the light of archeological discoveries,
with works of modern reverent scholarship concerning the Bible, and
books whic