Suppose the topic to be good and suitable material to have been found;for older children there are two good ways of using it--one to read through and make notes on the substance,the other to copy in selection.Children need practice in doing both.
The first method suits broad deion and narration,the second detailed deion.There seems to be a prevailing tendency to copy simply,without sufficient neglect of minor points,a process which should be left to the youngest children,since it furnishes little mental training,uses a great deal of time,keeps the writer needlessly indoors,and fosters habits of inattention,because it is easy to copy with one's mind elsewhere.The necessity for using judgment after the article has been found is illustrated by the case of some children who came for the life of Homer.Champlin,in about a column,mentions the limits within which the conjectures as to the time of Homer's birth lie,the places which claim to be his birthplace,and tells of the tradition of the blind harper.The children,provided with the book,plunged at once into copying until persuaded just to read the column through."When you finish reading,"I said,"come to me and tell me what it says."They came and recounted the items,and only after questioning did they at all grasp the gist of the matter,that nothing is known about Homer.Even then their sense of responsibility to produce something tangible was so great that they would copy the details,and from the children who came next day I judged that the teacher had required some facts as to time and place and tradition.While it is true that we learn by doing and it is well that children should rely upon themselves,it is evident that young pupils need some direction.
Even when provided with sub-topics,they often need help in selecting and fitting together the appropriate facts,since no article exactly suits their needs.About half of the reporting librarians are of the opinion that it is the teacher's business to instruct pupils in the use of books;they consider the library to have done its share when the child has been helped to find the material.The other half believe such direction as is suggested above to be rightly within the librarian's province;several,however,who express a willingness to give such help,add that under their present library conditions it is impracticable.We can easily see that time would not permit nor would it be otherwise feasible for the teacher to examine every collection of notes made at the library,but there ought to be some systematic work where the topics are thoughtfully chosen,the librarian informed of them in advance,and the notes criticised.A moderate amount of reference work so conducted would be of greater benefit than a large quantity of the random sort which we now commonly have.Five librarians state that they are usually given the topics beforehand.Several others are provided with courses of study or attend grade meetings in which the course is discussed.
