over anxious to assist; to be responsive but not intrusive; to be
suggestive but never insistent; to recommend books without forcing one's
own literary tastes or standards upon others; while helping new comers,
to seek to make them independent in their use of the library instead of
leading them to rely on some one else to do the work and use all the
judgement for them, all this requires a nice adjustment of balances. And
it is well to have on hand the tact which is the art of lessening social
friction, and the sense of humor so invaluable as a lubricator in human
relations. When any one comes to the information desk with a grievance,
irritated, if not angry, to be met with simple good nature, and not to
be taken too seriously, and yet to find instant readiness to adjust the
cause of annoyance if possible, soon dissipates the feeling of
antagonism or injury. Such encounters ought not to tax one's patience.
They sometimes turn out to be rather interesting.

Nor need stupidity tax one's patience. What more pathetic than the
isolation of one who is slow to perceive and to grasp? It is a terrible
handicap. To rescue the dull from their dullness should be the first
impulse, and shallow is the sympathy that does not reach out to such
instinctively. It is not enough to be able also to unlock the resources
of the individual.

People come to libraries from all sorts of homes. To the man or woman
living in the midst of ugly and sordid surroundings, where the days are
crowded with drudgery, the weekly visit to the library becomes a social
event; it is a lift into a fresh atmosphere, into another plane of life.
A passing greeting from the information desk gives a sense of welcome
and of relationship to the reading public. Five or ten minutes of
cordial contact, a brief conversation with one unrelated to their world
of worries, is a refreshing experience. To be recognized as a thinking,
reading being, with opinions about books, instead of a human machine for
cooking, scrubbing and sewing, or money-getting, puts new life into one.

But this social side of the work of the information desk must rest on
the solid foundation of practical qualifications. One must possess the
knowledge of a wide range of books, the power of concentration on the
one person or the one subject in hand, and the mental alertness that
perceives when another person is waiting. The more perfect the
understanding of the system of classification of the books and o