Sunday School Weekly has been discontinued and its place taken by the Sunday School Quarterly, published in New York point, beginning April, 1914. Object Teaching in Libraries and Museums: In schools for the blind object teaching has been used for years, but lately libraries are adopting this method as a substitute for pictures. In reading instead of a long explanation of something unfamiliar the object itself, or a model, is introduced, and the sensitive fingers soon convey to the mind of the blind a very accurate idea of how the bird or beast or airship looks. This method of supplementing the reading of the blind has been used successfully in the museums in London, England, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and at the American Museum of Natural History. It is also being used with the blind pupils in the New York public schools, where they are circulating collections of mounted birds, animals and other objects. Uniform Type: Mr. Elwyn H. Fowler, secretary of the Uniform Type Committee of the American Association of Workers for the Blind, has prepared the following short report on the progress of the endeavor toward a uniform system of type in the books for the blind: There are three principal systems of embossed dot characters for finger reading now extensively used. These are European Braille, the New York point and the American Braille. The wastefulness of this condition is generally recognized by the blind and their friends, and work toward the adoption of a uniform system is advancing with good prospect of success. The 1911 convention of the American Association of Workers for the Blind encouraged the Uniform Type Committee to raise a fund of $3,000 with which to carry on a campaign of investigation, agitation and conciliation. In March, 1912, pledges to this amount having been secured, the committee began active, systematic work. Two agents, one blind and a member of the committee, the other seeing, but also well informed on the subject, visited many schools and other centers of work for the blind in America, conducting tests designed to discover what is the best in embossed types, and at the same time endeavoring to spread such a spirit of harmony and coöperation as would lead to the adoption of a uniform system. In the spring of 1913 the agents continued their work in England and Scotland. In the short time remaining before the 1913 convention of the American Association of the Workers for the Blind, the committee found it impossible to classify and digest the results of its experiments sufficiently to make entirely definite recommendations regarding a system, and the convention, rather than adopt these in an incomplete form, wisely decided to wait until the 1915 convention, when it is expected that a system with definite assignments of meaning to characters will be recommended. We would recommend all workers with the blind to read regularly the Outlook for the Blind, a quarterly magazine published in Columbus, Ohio, and also The Blind, a quarterly, and the Braille Review, a monthly, both published in London, England. In these magazines all current articles and information concerning the latest books on the blind, as well as all topics of interest in regard to the blind may be found. Possibly the Outlook for the Blind might be made to answer as a clearing house, giving regularly the latest information about libraries, publishing houses, home teaching societies for the blind, thereby keeping librarians constantly in touch with the details necessary in their work. LAURA M. SAWYER, LUCILLE A. GOLDTHWAITE, COMMITTEE ON CO-OPERATION WITH THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. During the past year the chairman of the A. L. A. Committee on co-operation with the National Education Association has conferred with Mr. Willis H. Kerr, president of the library department of the National Education Association and steps have been taken for more thoroughly organizing the national movement for better school libraries in normal schools, high schools, elementary and rural schools and in private secondary schools. A member of the A. L. A. committee on co-operation has been given opportunity to address school superintendents and teachers in several cities and urge not only the necessity of better school libraries but closer co-operation with public libraries. Through the generous co-operation of li brarians in public libraries, opportunity for this work has been offered in Pittsburgh, Brockton, Mass., Providence and Haverhill. Through correspondence, the committee has had opportunity also to aid in the establishment of high school libraries managed according to modern library methods and in the reorganization of high school libraries in various parts of the U. S. and occasionally in Canada. In two cities it was possible to supply data to present to boards of education to prove the advisability of public library branches in high schools. Aid has been given to boards of education in the matter of proper qualifications for high school librarian, proper salary schedule, and in defining the duties of the high school librarian and outlining what a high school library should do for a school. Aid has also been given in showing what should be a proper high school library budget for a school with a certain number of pupils-a problem which seems to have been scarcely touched as yet in educational and library circles. There has also been drawn up an outline of the minimum equipment for a high school library based upon the data furnished by the New York high school librarians association. Suggestions have been made from time to time as to the needed changes in classifi cation in high school libraries. On short notice the committee succeeded in collecting from leading high school libraries photographs of school library reading rooms for the Leipzig exhibit-high schools in Portland, Oregon, Cleveland, Ohio, Passaic and Newark, N. J., and other cities being represented. Members of the committee have co-operated with the U. S. Bureau of Education in collecting material for the permanent school library exhibit to be ready for the A. L. A. meeting in Washington and later to be loaned to the N. E. A. at St. Paul and to educational and library associations throughout the country. The various members of the committee are working out a list of school librarians in their different sections who should be invited to attend the N. E. A. meeting at St. Paul and of public libraries in Canada doing work with schools and likely to be interested in the N. E. A. meetings. The committee will see that many of these receive personal invitations to attend the N. E. A. library meetings. Through the year there has been cooperation with not only the N. E. A. but associations closely allied with it, namely, the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Vocational Guidance Association. While only a little has been done of what ought to be done, owing to the inability of the chairman to organize the work of the committee until recently, the response from educational bodies points the way to great things to be accomplished in the near future in a united effort of librarians and educators to empha size the importance of the library in all school work. Respectfully submitted, MARY E. HALL, Chairman GEORGE H. LOCKE MARIE A. NEWBERRY IRENE WARREN HARRIET A. WOOD REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CO- The special point which, at the moment, seems to call for emphasis on the part of the Committee on coördination, is the advance which is being made in systematic coöperation between libraries -and it will be remembered that it was in the sense of systematic coöperation that the term coördination was used when the Committee on coördination was originally appointed. Coöperation has, of course, for years been a well-recognized feature of library comity. But of late the feeling has been rapidly, and with reason, gaining ground that in any field appropriate for coöperation, the various activities, if they are to be thoroughly effective, must be correlated by some means or other; and in several instances this feeling has resulted in the creation of a central body or organization which exists for the sole purpose of promoting such correlation. One particular instance of the kind just referred to-an instance which illustrates but a single though important phase of coördination-is the county library. This, though it has other functions as well, is the central link in the machinery for conducting a certain class of inter-library loans, of which the importance appears from two considerations: first, that while the machinery is of recent origin, it is capable of, and promises to attain to, an immense development; second, that the loans themselves are an innovation, and arise from the acceptance of a new principle. For their object is, to supply in generous measure the average book (sometimes, it may be, the book intended merely for recreation) to the average reader. A loan of this nature is, of course, essentially distinct from the loan of the unusual book for purposes of study and research, in which category most of the inter-library loans hitherto made must be included. The significance of the loan to the average reader, also, appears from the fact that it implies an advance from a mere passive assumption to an active recognition of the complete circle of the library's responsibilities and privileges, and further, to the adoption of measures which when fully developed will, for the first time, make it possible to place a really adequate supply of literature in the hands of the great rural public, that division of the general public which, apart from the scholar and the investigator, is probably, of all others, capable of using books most advantageously to itself, and therefore to the community and to the state. The first decisive step towards accomplishing all this was taken when the first county library was opened; for this it is, as has been said, which constitutes the central link in the machinery required for such an undertaking. The term "county library" has grown so familiar, that there is already danger of overlooking its distinguishing characteristic, namely, that it acts as an intermediary, a promotor of exchange, not so much between individuals as between libraries - between the small libraries and larger ones which serve as feeders to the county libraries themselves. These latter libraries, therefore, lend to one another, and thus supplement each other's resources, in order to be the better able to lend to their smaller neighbors. But their function is to borrow as well as to lend. Hence they can, and do, draw on institutions larger than themselves, while these latter in their turn *It is of course inaccurate to characterize all loans made by county libraries as inter-library loans. Many such loans are made between the different members of a single system, and are, therefore, analagous to exchange of books between а central library and its branches. But with the exception of such exchanges, the above characterization seems to be sufficiently exact. may draw on others still larger, indeed upon the very largest. Thus the tendency is to unite into a system libraries which have, hitherto, had no intercourse with each other. Such systematic work has already had two pronounced results: It has greatly augmented the available supply of literature within the limits of several large regions; it has, at the same time, helped to define the functions of all libraries which coöperate with one another in the manner indicated. That a process like this must also prove helpful to the libraries combining to carry it on, seems quite clear, since it will show how each can be made most effective in its own field. But that the process is capable of much further extension seems at least equally clear. The borrowing ra nation. Among other phases which may be touched upon later are the coöperative information bureau, and the institute for industrial research. On behalf of the committee, C. H. GOULD, Chairman. Dr. Hill, the chairman of the Committee on the Book and Graphic Arts Exhibit at Leipzig, submitted the following report: REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON THE PARTICIPATION OF THE A. L. A. IN THE INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION OF THE BOOK INDUSTRY AND GRAPHIC ARTS, 1914 At the Ottawa conference in 1912, the Committee on international relations presented an invitation from the Committee on libraries to participate in an international exhibition of the book industry and graphic arts to be held at Leipzig in 1914. By vote of the Association the matter was referred back to the Committee, with a request to report at the annual meeting in 1913. In the meantime a circular was issued by the Leipzig authorities, over the signatures of Dr. K. Boysen, director of the University library, Leipzig; Dr. Paul Schwenke, director of the Royal library of Berlin, and other librarians of international reputation, outlining a very comprehensive scheme for an international exhibition of library methods, statistics, architecture, etc., and offering free space for an American exhibit. The A. L. A. Committee on international relations, having carefully considered all phases of the question, reported to the Executive Board at the Kaaterskill conference in 1913 that it could not take the responsibility of recommending favorable action, as the information at hand appeared to indicate that the exposition would be devoted primarily to industrial and commercial enterprises. A number of librarians, however, man な ifested a strong interest in the project, and believed that merely as an exhibit of the book industry and graphic arts in all phases the occasion would prove instructive and beneficial to librarians, as well as to the trades. Being assured by German librarians of high position and great influence that library interests would be fully represented and fairly set forth in a coöperative manner, they felt that the A. L. A. should take part. Upon the presentation of this statement and with the approval of the Committee on international relations, the Executive Board in June, 1913, appointed a special committee to ascertain the cost of participation and the probability of a creditable exhibit from American libraries. Dr. Frank P. Hill was appointed chairman, with power to add two other members. Miss Mary W. Plummer and Miss Mary E. Ahern were named by the chairman. At the first meeting of the Committee, Dr. Herbert Putnam also being .present, it was decided that two points must be definitely settled; first, that a sufficient amount of money could be raised, and second, that someone could be found who would undertake the collection and preparation of material for the exhibit. September 12 a circular was sent to libraries throughout the United States and Canada asking for coöperation. The responses from both large and small libraries were so general and generous that the Committee reported unanimously the feasibility of the scheme. October 21 the Executive Board unanimously adopted the report of the Special Committee and authorized the Committee to proceed with plans for a suitable exhibition. The Committee immediately circularized libraries and individuals for subscriptions and material, outlining the plan and suggesting sums which might be appropriated according to the size of the library. Responses to this circular were so gratifying that the Committee continued its work with a light heart and the assurance of success. In December out of a clear sky came a thunderbolt from the exposition authorities, to the effect that as the United States government was likely to make an exhibit, the A. L. A. would have to find space with the government exhibit. To this the Committee cabled that, unless the free space already guaranteed us was allowed, the A. L. A. would make no exhibit. The answer was brief and to the point: "Space granted." This was followed by a letter satisfactorily explaining the situa tion. Headquarters were established at the Bedford branch of the Brooklyn public library, where the work of arranging the exhibit was carried out. The work of sorting the mass of material received, and selecting from it that which best represented the various phases of library activity in this country, proved an arduous task. Practically every phase of library work in the United States was represented by photographs, charts or descriptive matter. The material, however, came in all sorts of shape, unmounted or mounted on cardboard of various colors. Mr. John Cotton Dana and Miss Beatrice Winser of the Newark public library volunteered to undertake the mounting of the material which was to be exhibited, on the screens forming the divisions of the space allotted us by the exhibition authorities, on mounts of a uniform color. This portion of the work was transferred to the Newark library, and done under the direct supervision of Mr. Dana. In addition, Mr. Dana undertook the printing of the various labels required for the different posters, and through his efforts the exhibit assumed an aspect of harmony and uniformity which will materially add to its attractiveness. In addition to the posters prepared by Mr. Dana, twelve winged cases were filled with photographs and charts supplementing those shown upon the main screens. The Committee believes that the exhibition as a whole will be instructive and |
