f all
the technical side of library work, the more effective will be the
service at the information desk. There the resources of the library
should be at command, and should be reached rapidly and accurately. When
any imaginable or unimaginable question may be asked at any moment, from
"May I use your pencil?" up through the whole range of history, art,
literature, politics, science or religion, one must know the ground
thoroughly in order to meet these demands. Topics requiring special
research are passed on to the reference room, but the inquirer should be
put on the right track when he wants but a single book from the delivery
room.

The new-comer must be instructed in intelligent use of the catalogs and
helped towards self-reliance from the start. The young people must be
assisted in making out their first lists, and these lists should
represent a variety of authors, in order that the author who pleases can
be followed up independently through the card catalogs. A well selected
first list for boys or girls should place at their command a range of
50, 60, or 100 books. It is surprising how few writers are known to the
average boy or girl who comes to the public library for fiction. The
field of the boy is often bounded by Alger, Ellis, Optic, and Henty,
while the girls may know only Sophie May and Miss Olcott. Beyond are
unknown seas. One of the early developments at the information desk will
be carefully-selected lists of books for boys and girls. They grow under
one's hand as the young people in turn recommend additions. This sense
of co-operation wins the confidence of those who are quick to suspect
and ward off any lurking desire for their improvement on the part of the
library. Notwithstanding that the starting point must always be the
taste and inclination of the reader, it is a simple matter to keep the
pressure in the right direction. Carefully-selected fiction lists for
older readers also meet a want. Such lists do not include the works of
the standard, voluminous writers known to every one. Into them are
gathered some of the old favorites of a generation ago, or later novels
which may have happened to miss fame and yet possess an abiding charm
and the indispensable element of interest. There are hundreds of such
books, perennially delightful, novels just now submerged under the
continually rising tide of new fiction. It is a piece of pure good
fortune for the reader who turns in despair from the pursuit of