The first article quoted on the subject of discipline was contributed to The Library Journal,October,1901,by Miss Lutie E.Stearns,who gives the experience of a number of librarians and interprets them from her own standpoint.Lutie Eugenia Stearns was born in Stoughton,Mass.;was graduated from the Milwaukee State Normal School in 1887,and taught in the public schools for two years.From 1890to 1897she was in charge of the circulating department of the Milwaukee Public Library;from 1897to 1914she was connected with the Wisconsin Library Commission,part of the time as chief of the Travelling Library Department.
Miss Stearns now devotes her time to public lecturing.
In these days of children's shelves,corners,or departments,or when,in lieu of such separation,the juvenile population fairly overruns the library itself,the question of discipline ofttimes becomes a serious one.The pages of library journals,annual reports,bulletins,primers,and compendiums may be searched in vain for guidance.How to inculcate a spirit of quiet and orderliness among the young folks in general;how to suppress giggling girls;what to do with the unruly boy or "gang"of boys --how best to win or conquer them,or whether to expel them altogether;how to deal with specific cases of malicious mischief or flagrant misbehavior and rowdiness--all these questions sometimes come to be of serious importance to the trained and untrained librarian.
It was with a view of gaining the experience of librarians in this matter that letters were recently sent to a large number of librarians,asking for devices used in preserving order and quiet in the library.The replies are of great interest,the most surprising and painful result of the symposium being the almost universal testimony that the leading device used in preserving order is the policeman!One librarian even speaks of his library as being "well policed"in ALL of its departments.Personally,we think the presence of such an officer is to be greatly deplored,believing him to be as much out of place in a library as he would be in enforcing order in a church or school room.The term of a school teacher would be short lived,indeed,who would be compelled to resort to such measures.In several instances,janitors do police duty,being invested with the star of authority;and in one case the librarian,who openly confesses to a lack of sentiment in the matter,calls upon the janitor to thrash the offender!"The unlucky youth who gets caught has enough of a story to tell to impress transgressors for a long time to come,"writes the librarian."The average boy believes in a thrashing,and it is much better in the end for him and for others to administer it and secure reverence for the order of the library."In one state at least,Massachusetts,there is a special law imposing a penalty for disturbance;and one librarian reports that he has twice had boys arrested and tried for disturbing readers.Another librarian does not go as far as this but adopts the device of showing unruly boys a photograph of the State Reform School and the cadets on parade."The mischief is quite subdued before I am half through,"she writes,"and they frequently return bringing other boys to see the photograph.This fact undoubtedly acts as a check upon the boys many times."Apleasing contrast is offered to such drastic and unwholesome methods as these by the gentle and cheery methods pursued by a librarian who says,"The children in this library talk less than the grown-ups.When they do raise their voices,I go up to them and tell them in a very low tone that if everybody else in the room were making as much noise as they,it would be a very noisy place.That stops them.If children walk too heavily or make a noise on the stairs,I affect surprise and remark in a casual way that I did not know that it was circus day until I heard the elephants.This produces mouse-like stillness at once.Really,Iknow no other devices except being very impressive and putting quietness on the ground of other peoples'rights."But it is not always such smooth sailing.One librarian writes:
"We have had no end of trouble in a small branch which we have opened in a settlement in a part of our city almost entirely occupied by foreign born residents.A great many boys have come there for the sole purpose of making a row.We have had every sort of mischief,organized and unorganized.We have had to put boys out and we have had many free fights,much to the amusement and pleasure of the boys.We have never resorted to arrests,but instructed the young man who acted as body guard to the young lady assistants to hold his own as best he could in these melees.
