Norrie Report by Daisey MacCracken on Dutchess County Library needs

LIBRARY NEEDS IN DUTCHESS COUNTY h MAISRY MAC CRACKEN

1933

- I93S

1

THE NORRIE FELLOWSHIP REPORT 1933

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1.935

LIBRARY NEEDS IN DUTCHESS COUNTY by

MAISRY MAC CRACKEN u

A. B. Vassar College, 1931 A. M. Vassar College, 1935 Margaret L. Norrie Fellow, 1933-1935

Published by

THE WOMEN'S CITY AND COUNTY CLUB AND VASSAR COLLEGE POUGHKEEPSIE, 1937

NEW YORK

2"

JSC*

Copyright

1937

Maisry MacCracken

EXCHANGE

73^

PREFACE The Women's City and County Club of Poughkeepsie, New York, has created a fellowship, a gift to Vassar College

for use in the field of social studies in Dutchess County. It is given in memory of Mrs. Margaret Norrie, former president of the Club, in token of her great interest in Dutchess County.

The Norrie Fellowship was voted by the Club's committee for 1933-34 and 1934-35, for the purpose of studying actual and possible library service in Dutchess County. The study was also submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, which the writer obtained from Vassar College in the field of sociology in 1935. Dr. Joseph K. Folsom, professor of sociology at Vassar College, directed the gathering of the material and the writing of this report.

In the summer of 1933, the six New Jersey counties were visited which are comparable to Dutchess County, and which give good library service to residents of the rural area through county libraries.

The kindness of the librarians in answering the

numerous questions and in arranging special trips to see the county library at work was invaluable in giving a fair basis of comparison in visiting libraries in Dutchess County.

The librarians of public and association libraries,

school

librarians, and the four rural school supervisors rendered great service in answering questions, in showing the libraries, and

finally offering suggestions about the reports written about each library. The complete set of reports is on file in the Vassar library with the unpublished masters' theses. The writer ex of the county.

The Library Extension Division of the New York State Education Department gave full cooperation, in opening their tends her thanks to the librarians

records to the writer, and in general assistance with the field trips and the report.

986874

TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter

I.

History of Public Library Service in Rural Areas

i

The development of libraries from storehouses to service stations.

The inaccessibility of the libraries to the farmers. The development of libraries which serve rural areas. county libraries.

Chapter

II.

New Jersey

Regional libraries.

Library Service in New York State County and district libraries in New York State. The New York State Library and the

i5

Library Extension Division. The relation of the state of New York to its public libraries.

Chapter Chapter

III. IV.

-----

Conditions in Dutchess County which Affect Library Service

21

Library Service in Dutchess County

The survey of the school and public libraries.

Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie.

Poughkeepsie keepsie

High

public

School library. school

elementary

25

Pough libraries.

Millbrook Free Library. Millbrook Memo rial School library. Rural elementary schools, town of Washington.

Pine Plains Free

Li

brary. Seymour Smith Academy library, Pine Plains.

Stanford Union School library.

Red

Hook Public Library. Red Hook High School Rural elementary schools, towns of library.

Rhinebeck

and Red

Hook.

Library. Pawling High elementary schools,

Pawling Public Rural

School library.

town of Pawling.

Sum

mary of the survey of library service.

Chapter V.

Library Service Given Agencies Rental

libraries.

Private

libraries.

ii

by

and

Other 68 institutional

Chapter VI.

Conclusions and Recommendations

72

The need for the extension of library service to the rural areas. The outstanding needs of the existing libraries. solution. tion of

a

library.

A

county library

as

the

The organization and administra county library. The cost of a county

A

Dutchess County Library.

Chapter

VII. Bibliography

Chapter

VIII.

-

93

Appendix.

Statistics.

Statistics

of public and

association

libraries,

1933 Statistics of village and city schools.

97 1933-

102

34 Statistics

of rural elementary

schools.

1933-

108

34 Maps.

The unserved population and the intensive library service

The total circulation

-

areas

of

-

-

per capita of books in public and school

-

libraries

-

Il8

in Dutchess County

121

-

-

-

Transportation

routes

Public library

borrowers

Rental

in Poughkeepsie

library borrowers in Poughkeepsie

Key map showing the

123 1

23

1

24

census districts and

main streets in Poughkeepsie

in

1 1^

and the circulation

-

-

CHAPTER I History of Public Library Service in Rural Areas The development of libraries from storehouses The function of the earliest libraries As late

as the last century libraries were

houses of books.

to Sepyife stations.

• •

••««*

•* • •

*. •."

was to.preserve-136oks.\

little more than store

The writer's grandfather remembered

a

libra

rian whose happiest moments were those times when he had gathered together all the books that had been borrowed, and had returned them to their shelves. There has been a decided change from this attitude to the pride which librarians take in the in creasing yearly circulation of the books in their libraries.

As more people began to come to libraries in order to use the books, the librarians attempted to make the books more ac cessible by classifying them by subject and arranging them by order on the shelves. Some libraries formed the policy of ad

mitting anyone to the library on the payment of a subscription fee. Even so the use of libraries was limited to those people with scholarly habits of mind, who went to the library and dug out with comparatively little assistance the books that they wanted.1

In

the latter half of the nineteenth century, a wholly new conception of the purpose of a library was born. People had come to the conclusion that in order to create and to maintain democracy in the United States, local and state governments must levy taxes with which to support public education. Thomas

Henry Huxley, the scientist,

once said that

training children to

read and then not providing them with anything to read was rather senseless

procedure.2

It

has also been said:

"To

a

have

compulsory education without the free public library is to write an insurance policy and leave off the signature that makes it pro tect ;

it is to build a house without a roof; it is to raise the crop

1 Bostwick, 2 Bostwick,

A. E. Tie American Public Library. New York, 1929. p. I. A. E., editor. The Library and Society.

New York, 1920.

p. 188.

and neglect the harvest;

it is unthinkable."

3

Such people as

Grover Cleveland, while president of the United States, Ed ward Everett, and James Russell Lowell, joined in expressing the belief which, we now take for granted, that it is the duty of tlie community, fo maintain a library, interests pf real democracy.4

'''''' If the community

:

as

is to support the

well

as a

school, in the

library, certainly it will

do so only in return for the library's serving the entire commun ity, and not just the few who seek the library out. The motto

of the American Library Association at present is "the best reading for the largest number at the least cost." The modern library places its emphasis not only on its books, but also on the community in which it is situated, and in that community tries book for every reader. It now tries to create a demand for books. As a result of this atti to find

a

reader for every book, and

a

tude, libraries now engage in such activities as allowing the pub lic free access to the shelves, conducting an advisory service for readers, maintaining attractive rooms for children's books, co operating with the schools, and establishing branch libraries and package, or traveling, libraries in order to reach people who live at some distance

from the main library.5

The inaccessibility of the library to the farmers

In

this movement to make knowledge

accessible to every

one, the rural people were largely forgotten. According to a recent count made by the statistical assistant of the American

Library Association, forty-five million people in the United still without library service. Of these eighty-eight per cent live in the open country, or in villages of less than twenty-five hundred population. Approximately forty million States are

3 General Federation of Women's Clubs. body,

pamphlet.

Committee on Library Extension. Books for Every

* Bostwick, The Library and Society, p. 87-99, 129-130, 140-143.

5 Bostwick. The American Public Library, p. 1-2.

rural people who live outside library service areas form seventyfour per cent of the total rural population.9 This is partly due to a fact which is shown in surveys of the areas served by social and economic agencies made under the of the Agricultural Experiment Station at Cornell University. It was found in each of the surveys that areas which direction

churches, schools, and other social and educational agencies can effectively serve will remain small as compared to those of the more specialized economic services.

In

other words, while the

farmer who is able, will go to the city to buy groceries, he will not go even to the nearest village to borrow books.7 In a study made of one hundred and forty villages, Edward de S. Brunner found that less than ten per cent of the people living in the open country were reached by village libraries, and that this was due to membership fees charged to those living outside the village, lack of leisure on the part of the farmer, and lack of funds for adequate extension of its facilities on the part of the library.8 Theodore Roosevelt, who appointed the first Country Life Commission, thought that the strength or weakness of the nation depended on the prosperity or poverty of the farmers' lives, and that one of the main reasons for the unpopularity of farm life was not poor crops, but the failure of country life to give people any social or intellectual

opportunities,

or in other words, to

J.

Galpin in his book on

provide a good interesting life.9 C.

Rural Life points out that there

is an occupational isolation on

the farm which means a meagerness of diversified human con tact not found elsewhere. He goes on to say that the universal 6 Contrasts in Library Service. American Library Association. Bulletin, York State. Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca. Bulletins,

29:249. May, 1935.

493, August, 1929; 524, June, 1931s 529, October, 1931) J55, April, 1933s 559, May, 1933s 582, February, '934) S83, February, 1934; J84 February, 1934. These are all studies of the social, eco nomic, and community areas in New York State.

8 Brunner, E. de S., Village Communities. New York, 1927. p. 62 (Institute of social and religious research.

American village studies. E. de S. Brunner, director). Studies of 140 agricultural villages in all parts of the United States, selected as the most typical of those studied by the Interchurch World Movement. • U. S. Country Life Commission. Report. Washington, 1909, p. 4-6.

7 New

3

substitute for this variety of association with people and the human mind is found in the indirect medium of literature.10

When the New York State Federation of Home Bureaus asked 1,064 representative rural women if they should like to have more books available to read, 624, or 59% replied that they should. It was noticeable that the average of those who did not want more books, had very few to begin with — some only two, five, eleven, — and by the rest of their answers showed no book interest.11

While farmers have

so

little access to books, public

libraries in villages and cities have more and more become an integral part of urban life.

The Lynds in their study of life in

Middletown, report that book reading in that city means over whelmingly, if school-books and Bibles are excluded, the read ing of public library books, and that buying of current books is almost entirely confined to a limited number of the business

Brunner finds that probably the most important educa tional force other than the school in the villages he surveyed

class.12

was the public library.13

In

other words, while libraries

are

performing invaluable services in large villages and cities, the farmer who wants books, and who needs books if he is to have a

life of diversified interests, has little library service, and since

he does not come to the library, the library must come to him.

The development of libraries which serve the rural areas

This demand for books in rural communities has not gone entirely unheeded. During the nineteenth century, laws were in Indiana and in Wyoming permitting libraries to serve entire counties, but as no money was provided for transporta

passed

tion or supervision, little was done to increase rural book service.

10 Long,

H. C. County Library Service. Chicago, 1925, p. 11.

E. M. Countrywide Library Service.

Chicago, 1934.

Lynd, R. S. Middletown, New York, 1929. p. 230.

13 Brunner, Village Communities• p. 61.

11 Fair, 12

4

p. 51.

Township libraries, on the order of those in New England, were adopted by law in Indiana and Michigan, but these only par tially served the rural areas, and were slow to develop.14

In

Melvil Dewey, one of the outstanding figures in library history, the New York State 1892, under the leadership of

legislature created a system of traveling libraries, packages of twenty-five to one hundred books, selected either to provide reading for the various tastes of a community, or to deal with a These traveling libraries are still greatly increasing the reading facilities for rural people in the state of particular subject.

New York, and have

been copied by many other states.

Unfor

tunately they cannot provide enough books to go around, nor can they always provide the particular books desired.

In

1898 there started almost simultaneously

in Maryland

in Ohio and

for bringing books more closely to the homes of rural people. In the Van Wert county seat, in the rural section of Ohio, lived a public spirited citizen who made a a movement

fortune from industry within the county. He became interested in the attempt of some ladies to start a library in the town, but equally interested in rural people, he made a provision in his will for the establishment of a library that would serve the whole county equally. In 1898, Ohio passed a law

because he was

permitting the county to support such a library, and in 1901 the library was dedicated. Arrangements were made for books to be brought from the central library and left at stores, or postfrom which points they might be distributed to the people near-by. Now there are one hundred and fifty such stations in the county. In 1899, the Cincinnati, Ohio, city offices, or homes,

library extended its privileges to the residents of the county, and branch libraries were established and maintained by the trustees.

In 1 901, in Washington county, Maryland, the governing body appropriated funds for the support of 14

Long, p. 15.

a

county library.

For full title of books referred to in footnotes, see Bibliography,

5

A

few

p. 93.

years later, a book truck, whose sides let down to disclose shelves

of books, was purchased to facilitate the distribution

of books

around the county.15

Mr. James L. Gillis,

the California state librarian, was

largely responsible for the development of a system of county libraries for the state as a whole. In 1908, the county super visors entered into a contract with the Sacramento public library

for service to the county. Now there are county libraries in forty-six of fifty-eight of the counties, directly responsible in each case to the board of supervisors, and paying the librarian's salary from the general salary fund, in order to make them real county institutions.

New Jersey county libraries

The

of New Jersey has had library problems very similar to those in New York State. For this reason, the writer made field visits to six counties in New Jersey, and to one county of similar conditions in Delaware, where these problems have been met by the county library. In most of the counties the population is either grouped in cities or thinly distributed over the rural regions. There is found a combination of farms and of summer homes and camps, of industry and agriculture, and of state

native and foreign stock. The cities and villages had often very good libraries. The smaller communities, however, were not able to afford trained librarians or many books. But each com munity had a very great sense of pride in its library, and the thought of giving up the control or identity of that library to a

larger system was not welcomed. fairly well supplied with books.

High schools were sometimes

All

the schools were required to spend money on books, but, especially in the rural regions, they needed supervision in the arrangement and building up of their collections.

18

Long, p. 15-24.

6

The rural communities were served by a system of travel ing libraries, copied after those in New York State. But these package libraries offered a small selection, and often contained books which did not exactly suit the particular needs which they were meant to fill. Under this system rural people had none of

the advantage which city people have in a trained librarian who can help them find the books they want, or select books interest ing to each person, and who can pass on to them a love of read ing. The county leaders in the state realized the needs in their rural regions, and observed how successfully California and counties in other states were meeting the situation by county libraries. They applied to the state for aid by which to accom plish three things: first, the unification of the present libraries; second, the organization of the present bookstock so that it might be made available to everyone in the county and kept in constant use; and thirdly, the supplying and supervision of books in the

rural schools. The result of their appeal was the establishment, in eleven of the twenty-one counties in the state, of county libraries supported in each case by the state, the county, and the doing its part by giving its share toward the cost, and by having its share in the labor and the service, and each having the greatest amount of independence commensurate with efficient service.16

community,

In

each

of the six counties in New Jersey visited by the writer, she found the county librarian with her staff in offices in a county-owned building in the main town or city. Here the each

librarian keeps the books not at present being distributed through the county by the local libraries and book stations. Here also is done all the purchasing and preparing books for use. The expensive or rare books are kept here to be called on as needed by anyone in the county. The main work of the library goes on not here, but on the book truck and in the branches.

16 Askew,

S.

B.

New Jersey County Libraries.

1927.

7

Library

Journal, $2:341-344.

Each April I,

county library has from seventy to 159 branches which contain from 50 to several thousand volumes. According to a monthly schedule the librarian loads the book truck with books specially recommended by people in the communities she is going to visit, books for school children, for study or pleasure, novels, biog raphies, books of travel, books on how to make and do things, books of history and the social sciences. She may include slides, and victrola records for the school, or even

a

puppet show to

amuse the children.

Early in the morning she branches. The first stop today is

is off to visit

the appointed

library in a large town. The library contains several thousand books. But the supplementary books borrowed from the county library mean a decided increase in the use of the library. The Red Bank library, comparable in a

size and in the population it serves to the library in the city of Beacon, makes the statement that one-fourth of its whole cir culation is due to its borrowing from the Monmouth County

Library any books which it

does not own and which have been

requested by any borrower. The library is owned by the com munity in which it is situated. The local librarian is paid and most of the books are purchased through the town funds. But the small county tax enables the library to get extra copies of

popular books from the county library, expensive books, books with a narrow appeal. Any resident of the community may bor row any of the county library's 80,000 books, and receive library service similar to that in a large city system. Furthermore re for books that the county library does not have may be borrowed through the county library from any other library in the state, and from some of the large special libraries in and

quests

near New

York City.

The next stop

in the country. The garageman keeps a bookcase full of about one hundred books, which he lends to the farmers and their families who stop for gasoline.

is at a garage out

He gives his library services free. Every month the 8

county librarian takes away the books that have been read, while the garageman and those of his patrons who are present select from the book truck any new books they want, and get from in side the truck the books specially requested by the library patrons

during the interval between visits. They have already received by mail any books they needed right away. The country is dot ted with similar book stations. One country kitchen circulates sixty to seventy books a month. In fact these small deposits of books are so popular that a motorcycle county library book truck one day to ask

if

policeman stopped a he and his wife could

of a deposit of books in their kitchen. They and their neighbors were eager for books. Wherever someone is willing to be responsible for the books and keep them where others are take charge

free to go to borrow them, book stations may be established.

The county librarian stops next in a small village, which

library which used to be open a half-hour a week before the county library started. Now however the supply of books to which it has access has increased fifty times, and the interest of the farmers and others in the rural community, has become has a

such that its hours

of opening are greatly lengthened.

The two

librarians report they are kept so busy they cannot exchange a word while the library is open. Here again, the local library is entirely independent of the county library, except for its privi

of borrowing as many books as the county library can afford lend it. The rent and the salaries are paid locally. But the

lege to

county tax entitles each village to any book in the whole county

library system.

In Hunterdon County, the minister of a country church whose congregation was no longer able to pay him a salary, learned how to use his printing press and so to earn his liveli hood as a printer, through books on printing secured from the small local branch of the Hunterdon County Library, and was able to continue his pastoral duties without charge.

The final stop today

is

in a small rural school.

9

All

the

schools in districts not already served by good public libraries automatically become a part of the county library system, and are entitled to borrow books.

While the leaders in one New

Jersey county were arousing interest in the establishment of a county library, they persuaded the state and county officials to test the reading ability of the seventh and eighth grade children in two townships, one of which had good library service, and the other very inadequate service. Each child was asked to select a book from a collection of books read by seventh and eighth grade children in the city schools, and to report on it orally or in written form. In the township where there was good library service, the children did just as well as similar children in cities, and only three per cent did not report the books well.

In

the other townships, where the library facilities were poor,

not one child reported passably well on the seventh and eighth grade books, and about half passed when sixth grade books were substituted, but they had to be given fourth and fifth grade books before all the children could give reports showing com prehension of the ideas expressed in the books. These children were just as bright as the ones in the well-served township, but they had had no training or practice. Rural school children over the state were found to be often two years behind in their read ing, and rural students in high schools not able to keep up be

of their inability to get books."

Now these rural schools receive reference collections from the county libraries consisting of at least ten books per grade. cause

These collections are not standard, and are apt to contain books on poetry, books of geographical travels, studies in art, books of birds and flowers, books on making or doing things, and encyclopedias. One schoolhouse had flower boxes as a result of some books on gardening. The county libraries also often sup

ply pictures, victrola records, or supplementary books on special 17 Askew, 123.

S. B. County Libraries and Rural Schools March, 1930.

10

in New Jersey.

School Life, 15:121-

Indians, pilgrims, Africa, etc. One county library gave forty Punch and Judy shows in a winter.

topics, such

as

They also lend

each school a collection

of books for recrea

tional reading averaging about one book a child. Once a month the librarian in the book truck calls at the school, and the chil dren with the aid of the teacher and the librarian select new books to replace the ones they have read. Teachers also select at this time books for professional or recreational reading, or

for

a class project.

The result

in many schools, history

is that

and reading averages of the children have advanced two grades, and many high schools not approved before by the State Board

of Education are now on the approved list. In one high school two hundred of the five hundred and seventeen pupils received state certificates for reading twenty-five books each in a year as of the county library's services.

a result

The multiplicity of stations is necessary for reaching people who most need the books. The ideal is a station in every com munity, even if it consists of only two or three houses. The con stant exchange of books makes it possible to do an enormous amount of work with a limited bookstock. Idle or used books are taken to communities where they can be used. The fact of the county librarian keeping in touch with every station has done more to popularize the county library than anything else,

it gives people intimate contact with her, it enables her to know first hand the needs and the conditions, and to instill the love of books. The idea is growing throughout New Jersey of because

the commercial and cultural value of good libraries, attractively housed, and efficiently administered.18

At in Hot

the meeting of the American Springs, Arkansas, in

Library Association held

April 1923, the Council voted:

"That the American Library Association

has viewed

with inter

est the

growth of the county library system, and wishes to ex-

18 Askew,

New Jersey County Libraries.

Library Journal, 52:341-344.

II

April

1, 1927.

belief that the county is the logical unit of library service for most parts of the United States, and that the county library system is the solution of the library problems for country 10 In November 1923, the National Grange, Patrons districts." of Husbandry, introduced the resolution approving county press its

the solution to the problem of the high cost of library service in separate institutions, keeping the farmers from receiv

libraries

as

ing adequate service, while libraries in the cities became an in creasingly important part of the social life. Both professional librarians and farmers are behind the attempts now being made to give

rural areas adequate library service.20

Regional libraries

At the present time, there are experiments being made in libraries that serve not counties, but regions which are generally larger than counties, and which are defined by good roads, nat ural geography of the country, and density of population rather than by arbitrary government.

In

county boundaries and antiquated forms of the Fraser Valley basin, south of Vancouver

in British Columbia, is the largest and the most interesting ex periment in regional libraries which has been carried out to a successful conclusion.

Here

a

library organized like

big city a total of distributes nineteen thousand books library through the medium of eight small deposit stations containing one hun a

dred to two hundred books each, through three sub-stations and six branch stations, each of which has a librarian in charge and a permanent collection of one thousand books, and through a large book truck, to a farming population which occupies a valley about one hundred miles long by sixteen miles wide. In the

United States similar experiments have been started or are being 19 American

Library Association. Proceedings of the Hot Springs Conference, 1923. Coun cil. American Library Association. Bulletin. 17:153. July, 1923.

20 Long, p. 7.

12

planned in order that the people in rural areas may be served as efficiently as the people in large cities.21 In Montreal, in June 1934, the Planning Committee of the American

Library Association stated it thought "the main

tenance of democratic institutions

depends largely on the en

lightenment of the people and on the vitality of their cultural and social ideals. The growth in the quantity and complexity of knowledge points to the need for a lengthening of the period of education.

If the best traditions of our culture are to be

...

maintained and our hopes for the future achieved, there must be universal

education at the lower levels, more widespread

education at the higher levels.

There must also be —what is

now largely lacking in many areas and only meagerly provided in most — opportunities for continuing self-education at all levels, rapid diffusion of uncensored facts and ideas to all citi zens, and a cultivation of appreciation

of social and cultural values which will prevent the domination of life by material motives. . . ." At the same time the Council of the American

Library Association made the following statement: ".

.

.

The

library is an agency for education, culture, scholarship, and recreation. Its maintenance is primarily the function of the state and local government. But the inequalities of taxable resources among the several states, the importance of the library's objec tives to the whole nation, and the need for national and regional especially among libraries for scholarship and re search, lead to the conclusion that the federal, state, and local

coordination

governments support.

".

.

.

might well share the responsibility ."

for library

Each state should have a system of public libraries available for all its population. A comparatively small number .

.

—say

five hundred —large public library systems might provide better service for all the people in the United States than is now 21 Paul, 393.

H. L. Regional Coordination.

July, 1934.

American Libraray

13

Association.

Bulletin,

28:389-

available except in

few cities and counties. Each system might serve a large county or several counties or a large metropolitan area. The emphasis should be on the natural area of interest, a

irrespective of city, county, or possible even state lines.

Each community would have a branch of the large library system or a community federated with other community libraries in a

large system.

.

.

22

In the monograph

on

Rural Social Trends, prepared, under

the direction of the President's

Research Committee on Social

for that committee's report, there is the state ment that library service for rural people is being developed very slowly ; that the use of the existing libraries is increasing; Trends,

as a basis

of the community for the library is being increasingly recognized; and that further extension of service on any adequate basis awaits the development of library systems that the responsibility

and

supported by larger units than just the local community, probably aided by the state.23 22

Looking

Toward

National

Planning.

American Library

Association.

Bulletin,

456. August, 1934.

23 Brunner, E. de S. and J. S. Kolb. Rural Social Trends. New York, 1933. ther Btudies of the 140 villages reported on in his Village Communities.

14

28:453-

p. 207.

Fur

CHAPTER

II

Library Service in New York State County and district libraries in New York State

Within New York State there are three county libraries.

In Tompkins County,

library headquarters are located in the public library building of Ithaca, the county seat, and a book truck brings books to the rural communities, exchang the county

ing the books which have been read for new ones. When the library was started, the state loaned it 5,000 books and the Ithaca City Library 1,298. In a short time there were 7,000 books in circulation from 130 schools, and from between forty and fifty homes and stores.24 The board of supervisors have contracted

with the Steele Memorial Library at Elmira for library service to Chemung county. County library stations were set up in village halls, schools, stores, and homes.25 In Monroe County, there is a book truck which serves the rural areas. Notices from headquarters

announce the exact time of arrival of the book

truck. Those living within a radius of

mile and a half meet the car at the designated stopping place, and spend the twenty min utes or four hours of the book truck's stop in selecting enough a

reading material to keep them busy till the next visit. Each of these libraries is supported by a county-wide tax.20 In Bethlehem Central School District, near Albany, New York, there is a public library which has been organized to serve the school district.

It

was formerly a village library with a

yearly subscription fee of one dollar for each borrower. The school district now pays three thousand dollars in support of the library. The one librarian is trained, and has a book truck with which she reaches every two weeks homes, centers, and 24 The story of a County Library.

25 Number 2,

Number

I,

Tompkins County.

Chemung County.

26 Number 3, Monroe County.

IS

schools not near the library building in the village of Delmar.

Two days

a

week she operates the booktruck, the other days

cir

culating books from the village library. The library has about three thousand books, and borrows another one thousand from

Its circulation among the four thousand inhabitants of the school district is about forty thousand volumes per year.

A trained school librarian serves the central school itself.

She is in no way connected with the public library serving the the state.

Each morning she spends in the high school library, and in the afternoon, leaving it in charge of an assistant, conducts library hours in the elementary schools. There are seven grade district.

schools in the district.

In

one is a library of 1,826 books, and

from here the school librarian makes up collections of books which she lends to the classrooms in the schools. She comes to with fresh books once a month. With these ser vices of the school librarian to the children of the district, and the each classroom

services of the public librarian to adults and children, this rural

library service that approximates the service which is expected in cities.27 area receives

The New York State Library and the Library Extension Division Aiding these forms of library service to rural areas are the New York State Library and the Library Extension Division, both part of the state educational system, the University of the State of New York. The New York State Library is first a ref library to serve the government officials in Albany, but it also lends books throughout the state. It will lend not more than twenty-five books at a time to schools and libraries for a period of four weeks. It does not lend fiction, but, rather, sub erence

stantial books which the library or school cannot obtain else27

Visit paid

to Central School District Number 6 by the writer.

16

where.

In this

way the small library can

fill requests for

unusual

or expensive books.28 The Library Extension Division is the agency which sends out the state traveling libraries.

It will

send to communities free

twenty-five books, not more than half of which are fiction, se lected by the borrower or by the Division, as the borrower wishes. These are lent on the application of five residents of the community for six months, with the privilege of renewal.

Public schools may receive free twenty-five books which are intended for general reading by the children or adults of the community rather than to supply supplementary reading for school work. Reference libraries in history, English, science, drawing, and shop work will be made up on request. Reference libraries may contain fifty books for grade schools and one hun dred for high schools. Newly established schools may exceed this

limit till their own libraries are built up. These books are

lent for the school year. Small public libraries may twenty-five books free. Clubs and organizations may dollars borrow twenty-five books. Ten books will be rural families not having easy access to libraries for three

borrow for two lent to months

on payment of a dollar. Traveling libraries made up of chil dren's books or foreign language books may also be obtained.29 Besides sending out traveling libraries, the sion Division aids and supervises the libraries

Library Exten in New York

executive for the State in carrying out laws and rulings and benefits pertaining to libraries. For convenience it State and acts

as

divided into three classes the libraries which reach the larg est public: public school libraries which are maintained primarily for the children ; public libraries which are established for free has

public purposes by the official action of a district ; and associa tion libraries which are established by a group of private indi28 New

29

York State Library. Lending rules. Albany, 1933.

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. State traveling libraries, what they are and how to obtain them. Handbook 8, pt. t.

17

viduals and which may or may not be freely open to the public.

The relation of the state of New York to its public libraries

The State of New York incorporates with absolute charter libraries showing proper provision for service and maintenance and having sufficient property to insure permanence. It gives to each free library, public or association, meeting the Regents' requirements, an annual grant not exceeding one hundred dol lars for the purchase of approved books, on condition that an equal amount is applied from local sources for the same object.

It

in the selection of books by passing judgment on lists sent in for approval by individual libraries, by lists and sugges tions in the quarterly bulletin New York Libraries, by the pub lication of bibliographies on various subjects of interest, and by assists

advice given during personal visits.

It

gives assistance and advice in planning library buildings and furnishes materials on the subject to library trustees. It provides free of cost the services of an expert in library law in interpreting and applying the law of the State to local conditions.

It

arranges for visits to libraries by trained and experienced librarians for the purpose of giving advice and counsel in all matters of library economy.

To free libraries newly established,

or to those needing reorganization, it provides free of cost the services of an expert library organizer for a period not exceeding two weeks.

It

quarterly bulletin for the purpose of dis seminating library news and promoting sound ideas in library economy. It publishes statistics of New York libraries, thereby enabling comparison of libraries and the formulation of proper publishes

standards.

It

a

operates a debate service to aid public discussion

Through the Visual Instruction Division, libraries, schools, institutions, or organizations may borrow lantern slides, and may have them exhibited without cost. With the New York Library Association, the Library Extension Division assists in and debate.

18

conducting every spring day or week institutes at which the local librarians may meet with each other and with librarians of wider experience to discuss common problems, and elements of good

library practice.

The State makes certain requirements of libraries, and it is the Library Extension Division which sees that they are ful filled.30 The

Regents require that free and public libraries abide by the fol definition: a library free to the public is defined as one where all lowing the people of the community, regardless of race, sex, religious belief, insti or professional connections, shall have not only nominally but the same privileges and freedom, and where no social, religious, actually or other associations shall act either directly or indirectly as a bar to the freest use of those privileges. An incorporated library, or one owned and tutional

body, if approved after official inspection a proper standard. Only libraries receive from the state registered may money regularly, or may be other granted important privileges.

To be registered, the Commissioner of Education has set certain controlled

by an incorporated

may be registered by the Regents as maintaining

minimum standards which the library must attain. Its selection of books, as a whole, must have the approval of the Commissioner for their literary merit and educational value and as representing in due proportion differ ent classes of literature adapted to the community.

Adequate provision must be made for the frequent additions of new books and for other cur

rent expenses. The library, in charge of a competent attendant, must be open at a fixed time for at least a certain number of hours weekly depend ing on the size of the community. An accurate record of all receipts and expenditures is to be kept, and a statement submitted as a part of the annual report of the library as required by Regents Rules. There must be kept an record in which are recorded date of accession, author, title, source and cost of each book added. There must also be one or more suit able catalogs31 for readers.

Books must be arranged on the shelves by accession

some

well-considered

place books

in order in

and system that will group subjects by themselves each subject. The loan system in use must provide

that every book lent be charged to its borrower, with the date of borrowing and of return; and that the circulation of each day be recorded, with a separate statement of volumes of fiction lent and of books lent from a pay duplicate collection. Each public and free library (in a place of over two University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. Important laws, rules and regulations relating to public libraries and free libra ries in New York State. Handbook 8, part L. A catalog is the alphabetical card index arranged by author, title, or subject, or by all three, to the books in the library.

The shelf list is a card file arranged in the order in which the books appear on the shelves.

19

may employ only librarians and professional assistants classes required for its various positions. Unpaid volunteer librarians and clerks are not affected by this requirement. Libra rians regularly employed before 193 1 received certificates valid for the thousand population)

holding certificates of the

position last held.32 School librarians receive permanent certificates for the completion of a four-year course in an approved institution, and for the completion of a year's work in library science, either as part of or supplementary to the course.

The requirements for a limited certificate include a four-year training course leading to a bachelor's degree including a minor of not less than sixteen hours in library science. The limited certificate will be valid for five years during that time, the holder completing is

if,

four-year

the requirements for the permanent certificate. into force in 1933. 33

These regulations came

is

Every library which receives state aid or enjoys any exemption from taxation or other privilege not usually accorded to business corporations required to make an annual report in the prescribed form.

In general these requirements are true also for school libraries. At

selected

books be approved

a

the State before they are purchased

by

of

by

a

it

It

a

special fund to be spent for books, present, the State does not give schools as does to the public and free libraries. gives state aid in lump on the equalization basis, and requires that schools employ trained librarians who give certain number of hours per day to library work, and that lists the

school.34

of

of

of

of

p.

S,

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. Public Libraries. Handbook part the University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Regulations commissioner education governing the issuance to school librarians in certificates New York State.

Albany, 1930.

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. Purchase school library books. School librarian's certificates.

Albany.

20

CHAPTER

III

Conditions in Dutchess County which Library Service

Affect

Dutchess County was first settled by the Dutch, the British, the Huguenots, the Walloons, and the Germans of the Palati

Until 1730 the Dutch influence predominated, and is still noticeable today in the Hudson River valley. The Huguenots never had much effect on the social life of the county. The Ger nate.

mans and Walloons settled in the northwestern Rhinebeck.

They never rose above the artisan

part, around class, but they

brought with them a tradition of industry. From 1730 the English influence began to outweigh the Dutch. People from the English colonies moved into the county.35 About 1750 the Quakers from New England settled in the Harlem valley.

They were industrious, intelligent, and greatly encouraged edu cation. In 1828 they split on religious doctrine, and from that time they had less influence.

The early settlers intermarried

and blended their cultural traits.

In

general they farmed be

the county was fertile, and became

fairly prosperous.

Gentlemen farmers who had come from New York established large estates along the Hudson River north of Poughkeepsie, and in the center of the county around Millbrook. In 1 830, the cause

first

Irish arrived to build the railroads, and then to go into

From about 1890, groups of Italians came to work on the big estates in the central part of the county. Others have come to work in the industries in Poughkeepsie, Wappingers Falls, and Beacon, and

politics, to become clerks, policemen, and lawyers.

work in the lime kiln in Dover. People from the Danubian region of Europe, especially Poles and Czechoslovaks, have

to

bought farms in the northwestern

part of the county.

Negroes

work in industries along the Hudson valley, and in Dover township. In general the Hudson valley have come to the county to

15 Hasbrouck, Frank,

York, 1909.

editor.

History

of Dutchess County, New York.

p. 552-53.

II

Poughkeepsie, New

in the county. In the Harlem valley the number of foreigners is growing, but except for the Italians in Millbrook, almost everyone in the central part of the county is of native American stock.38 In New York State 25.4 per cent of the population are whites of foreign birth. In has the largest foreign population

Dutchess county, the foreign-born whites make up only 14.5 per cent of the total population. Three per cent of the county's population are negroes, as compared to 3.3 per cent in the state as a whole. In the state 3.7 per cent of the people ten years old and over are illiterate, and in the county only 2.6 per cent.

While proportionately fewer children in the county than in the

of eighteen attend school, more go on study ing after the age of eighteen."

Most of our population is settled either in the Hudson River valley or in the Harlem valley. The towns of Fishkill, Wappinger, Poughkeepsie, and Hyde Park in the Hudson val ley, and Dover in the Harlem valley, have the largest rural state under the age

population.

The rate of

increase

of the population was greater

in 1920-30 than 1910-20.38 Dutchess County is a more self-conscious unit than most counties because of physical factors. On the southern border, the Fishkill mountains cut it off from Putnam county. One or two small communities on the southeastern border have easier access

to Putnam county than to communities in Dutchess, and

Pawling has a newspaper in common with Patterson in Putnam.

High hills mark both the east and west sides of the Harlem 36

Study of the foreign elements in Dutchess County made by the writer at Vassar College, in History 36$, in 1934.

87 U. S. Bureau of the Census.

Fifteenth census of the United States, 1930. Washington, Part 32, Reports by states: Montana- Wyoming, 1932.

1931-1933. Vol. 1, Population.

The percentage of children of various age groups attending school Table 13, p. 280. are as follows: New York State Dutchess County Age

97.7 93.9 S9.4

7-13

14-if 16-17 18-20 88

U.

S. Bureau

1931.

of the Census.

Vol. I, Population,

96.0 91.3 55.7 22.8

204

Fifteenth census of the United States, p. 754, Table 4.

22

1930.

Washington,

valley. In the southern and central part, the higher hills are on the east, and make contact with Connecticut relatively difficult.

In the extreme north of the county, the higher hills are on the west, giving Millerton easier access to communities in Connecti cut and in Columbia county than to those in Dutchess.39 The county with which we have the most natural intercourse is Co

lumbia, but even here because of the size and importance of only those living on the northern edge have much contact with that county. The Taghkanic State Park divides Columbia County in half, and people living in Millerton and its environs often go to Cppake, while those in Red Poughkeepsie,

Hook frequently go to Hudson.

The Hudson River on the

west, with its ferry and bridge tolls keeps us from much contact with the counties on the western bank.40

There are few people in the county not on a rural delivery route.41 While in the United States as a whole the ratio of tele phones to population is 1

to 5 and

1

to

I

to 7, in Dutchess County it is between

6.42

The county

is covered by ten weekly local papers, which

cover the villages and the surrounding country.

Their circula

tions vary from 500 to 3,000 copies, averaging 1,300. Beacon has two newspapers. In Poughkeepsie, the morning paper has circulation of about 5,000 and the evening paper 12,000. The Sunday paper, which is distributed throughout the county, cir

a

culates 15,000

copies.43

There are few heavy industries in the city of Poughkeepsie.

39

U. S. Department of the Interior.

State of Geological survey.

Topographical map.

New York.

Rhinebeck. Poughkeepsie.

Millbrook. Clove.

40 See Map I, p. 121 which shows the lines of communication in the county.

41 U. S. Post Office Department. Map of Dutchess County showing the rural delivery ser vice. Washington, n. d.

42 Vol. 6, Population of the United States, 122,775,046 (U. S. Bureau of the Census. in the United States, 16,800,000 (American p. 6.) divided by the number of telephones Telephone and Telegraph Company. Annual report for 1934. p. l) Population of Dutchess Vol. 3, part 2, p. 314, table County, 105,462, (U. S. Bureau of the Census.

(Poughkeepsie 14,177, 21.) divided by the number of telephones in the county, 19,014.

Red Hook 1,575, Beacon 2,099, Pine Plains 197, as given by the Poughkeepsie tele Millerton 281, Hopewell 326, by count in the telephone book.) For phone company.

Dutchess County the telephone count is an estimate.

43 See next page.

23

High-class skilled labor is employed in the manufacturing plants.*4 Most of the industry is carried on in Poughkeepsie, Wappingers Falls, Beacon, and in the district along the river between those cities. There are

a

few small manufacturing plants

in the Harlem valley. Building on the State School and on the State Hospital near Dover is attracting labor. Elsewhere in the

In the county, agriculture is the chief employment. valley there is some poultry, and some fruit farming. eral dairying is the employment

In

of most of the farmers.

and plants manufacturing

plants,

Hudson

farm

products,

gen

Milk

are found

throughout the county. The milk and its products are shipped into New York."

For the most part the county is prosperous. While in the whole, the ratio of passenger cars to persons is I to 6.5, in the county it is 1 to 4.5." In the state, thirty-six per cent of the families own their homes ; in the county forty-eight per cent. state as a

In

both the state and the county there is one radio to every 1.7

families.47 *3Ayer,

N. W.

1934.

and

Sons.

Directory

of newspapers

and periodicals, 1934*

Philadelphia,

p. 586-665.

Amenia Beacon

Harlem Valley Times Newburgh-Beacon News Beacon

Light

Circulation weekly 2,979 da'ly ? weekly 1,275

" Round Table 550 " News 3.407 ÂŤ Telegram 750 " Chronicle Pawling 955 " News 1,200 Pawling-Patterson " Pine Plains Register-Herald 1,075 Red Hook Advertiser f " Rhinebeck Gazette 1,179 11 ?

Wappingers Falls Chronicle Chamber of Commerce. Poughkeepsie. Industrial survey of the city of Poughkeepsie.

Poughkeepsie, 1930.

Dairymen's League Cooperative Association, Incorporated.

Story of the year 1931New York, 1932.

1932.

New York State.

Tax Commission. Annual report, 1933. Albany, New York, 1934, New York State has 1,926,013 passenger cars registered, and Dutchess p. 115, table 25.

County 23,554.

U. S. Bureau of the Census, op. cit., Vol. 1, part 6, Families, p. 930, table 19, 3,153,124 families in New York State, of which 1,155,036 own their homes, and 25,200 families in Dutchess County of which 12,194 own their homes, families p. 934, table 20, 1,825,723 in the State and 14,596 in the county have radios.

Millbrook Millerton

*4

CHAPTER IV Library Service in Dutchess County Survey of schools and libraries Nineteen small independent libraries form the chief source

of books available to the residents of Dutchess County. All of them are supervised to some extent by the Library Extension Division, fourteen of them are eligible for state aid, and all may borrow books from the Library Extension Division or the State

Library. They are, however, completely independent of other.

Half of

them are supported mainly by

age, town, or city.

a

each

tax on the

vill

The others are maintained largely by private

Except in the cities of Poughkeepsie and Beacon, the tax brings in a small return. The largest village libraries, those in Millbrook, Wappingers Falls, and Rhinebeck, rely for adequate funds.

support on their private funds.

Nearly every community of any size has its library. Eleven of the libraries are located on the Hudson River in the midst of the large population, and five

along the Harlem valley. Only three are in the center of the county. Though seven of the libraries are free to all borrowers, and though only two require

a

it,

and ten free to those from the village, town, or city supporting membership fee, none of them

Most of the libraries have

small income and serve

a

located.

a

serve many people outside of the community in which they are small population.

The schools in Dutchess County are all equipped with libraries primarily for the use of the children. The cities of Poughkeepsie

and Beacon, and the district of Arlington have

both high schools and grade schools.

Of

twelve villages, there

having both elementary and secondary departments.

these twelve schools, seven had less than 300 25

pupils

in

are schools

In

at

tendance in 1933-34." The largest served 519 children. The book collection in these schools are small. A committee of the

National Education Association

on library

organization

and

equipment reported that "An accredited high school with an en rolment of 100 or fewer pupils should have a library of not fewer than 1,000 carefully selected books, and schools with an

of 200 should have at least 2,000 volumes. This means practically ten volumes for every pupil in the high school. . . . In four-year high schools or senior high schools with an enrolment

enrolment of between 200 and 500,

...

for

a

working library 49

from 2,000 to 3,000 carefully selected volumes are necessary."

Only two of the twelve schools approximate these standards,

nor will they reach them soon, for eight schools added less than 100 volumes during 1933-34. The village schools usually have a small

library room, and

a

teacher-librarian

who can give from

library duties. The books for the ele mentary grades are kept in the classroom rather than in the library, and are rarely supervised by the librarian. one to three hours to her

Besides the schools in Beacon, Poughkeepsie city and the town of Poughkeepsie, there are five village schools in the Hud son valley. Four more are in the Harlem valley, and three in the central part of the county. Children in the rural areas of the county in 1933-34 attended 147 public schools.

Each has mentary schools have no librarians.

The rural ele a

collection

of

books, few of which are new, for the school has little money.

Either

know of the state traveling libraries, or because of dissatisfaction with the books received, because the teacher does not

few of the schools borrow them.

48 Figures

Many rural teachers, untrained

in this chapter concerning schools are given for the school year 1933-34. At for the year.

Full statis figures refer to the average daily school attendance tics may be found in the statistics for village and city libraries, pages 102-107.

49 Standard library organization and for secondary schools.

University of the equipment State of New York Bulletin.

No. 713. July 1, 1920. p. 27 and p. 30. Though the attendance and secondary figures of the village schools include both elementary pupils, and the library figures include only books in the high school library, still the schools do not attain the standards given here. tendance

26

in library methods, conduct few library activities, although

a

small number give their children good library service.

After making a study of the statistics of the school and public libraries furnished by the Library Extension Division in Albany, the writer visited these libraries to determine more adequately the extent of library service in Dutchess County.

For three months in the fall of 1934 she toured the county, visiting in all 79 schools and libraries. She talked with the librarians of the nineteen village and city libraries in order to determine from the point of view of the borrower the availabil

of the books: Was the library room attractive,

ity

and easy to user

find it?

If a person

Or if

accessible,

wanted a special book, would he be

in mind, would he find exhibits or book lists that would suggest books? She tried to apt to

he had no book

find out what effort the library made to acquaint people with its resources by such means as newspaper articles, exhibits, spe cial loans for study clubs, and reference service. She asked about the library service given to the children, and about the cooperation between the library and the school.

In

and secondary schools of Poughkeepsie and Beacon, and in the secondary schools of the villages, the the elementary

writer asked the librarian, or the teacher in charge of the library, questions about the accessibility of the books for the pupils: whether the book collection was kept in a room by itself or in a classroom, whether or not there was always a teacher in charge and the room was always open. She tried to ascertain how much

children to use the library, either by as signments requiring the use of library books, or by book talks and exhibits, or by informal encouragement to read on the part it was suggested to the

of the teachers.

Each of the four district school superintendents was asked by the writer to select a few rural elementary schools to visit which would give her a representative picture of all of them. In this

way she visited thirty schools in all parts of the county. She 27

in each one to see whether the books were ones that would attract readers by their contents and

examined the book collection

their physical appearance. She asked the teachers how much the books were used in connection with lessons, or for pleasure reading, and how much books were borrowed or neighboring libraries used to supplement the collection.

In every case the writer found the librarians, teachers, principals, and superintendents in Dutchess County most gen erous in their interest and in the time they gave. They not only answered her questions, but afterwards read over her report in order to suggest corrections or additions. Without their co operation this study of the library service in the county could never have been made.

There was not time to investigate the actual reading habits of people who are accustomed to library service, and of people who have never had it. In his survey of Reading matter in Nebraska farm homes, based on findings in 1,338 farm homes and 188 town homes, and published in 1922, J. O. Rankin found the reading in the country and small town to be much

When the New York State Federation of Home Bureaus sent a questionnaire about the need for books to names on its mailing list in 1925, answers received from 1,064 representative

alike.50

rural women living in twenty-seven counties, indicated that the library was the main source for borrowing books and that the school came second.51 The Lynds, in Middletown, indicated that the public library was the main source of books.52 Few other studies have been made comparing the use of the library with the use of other sources of books. A study of the reading habits in two communities,

one with library service and one

without, would be very valuable.

In order to present clearly the kind of library service ren dered by schools and libraries in the county, the writer has de50

Long, p. 12.

51 Fair, p. 51.

52 Lynd, p. 230.

28

scribed that given in five communities. She selected communities which varied in size from the largest city to a small unincor porated village, and which received good, inadequate, and aver age service from both the libraries and the schools.53

Adriance Memorial Library, Poughkeepsie

The residents of the city of Poughkeepsie receive library service which meets more of their demands than residents of any other community in the county. Because the residents of Poughkeepsie are much more numerous than those of other communities they can afford a much larger public library, and one which conducts more activities.

The Adriance Memorial Library is supported by a city tax.

There are about one hundred persons living outside the city who borrow from the library. Residents of the town of Poughkeep sie must pay one dollar a year for the privilege, and residents of the county must pay two dollars. Though most of the borrowers who live outside the city come from places in the town, a few come over fifteen miles from Sharon, Tivoli, Beacon, and New

Paltz. There are ten full-time members of the staff, works twelve hours clerical

assistant.

a

week at the branch library, and

Of

the full-time

a a

girl who part-time

members two are library

school graduates, two have had eighteen weeks or more in library school, and six have had six or eight weeks of training.54

The library building

is located more than three

long blocks

from the center of the city, and is set back from the street on a small height. On entering, the borrower finds himself in a cen tral room containing the loan desk and the catalog. Opening off this central room are smaller rooms containing the fiction, business and technical books, reference books, biography, maga zines, and newspapers. These rooms are open to the public.

53

Complete reports of the visits to the public and school libraries will be found in MacCracken, M., master's thesis, Library Service in Dutchess County, in the Vassar College Library.

54 For the state for the training of librarians, see p. 20. requirements

29

Behind the loan desk are the stacks. Though they are not open to the public, anyone interested in finding books on a certain subject is invited to use the stacks. Groups of books, particularly those dealing with history and travel, are displayed in the book in the central room.

cases

These displays are changed fre

quently. In the stacks are the workrooms, a genealogical room, a room containing books on education, and a room containing books and pamphlets on the history of Poughkeepsie and of Dutchess County.

Readers who are going away for the summer

may take more than the usual number of books for the period of their vacation, subject to certain restrictions.

The library contains about 80,757

books.55

The librarian

from 3,500 to 4,000 yearly, 3,681 volumes in 1933, by continually checking book reviews and lists of books approved by the Library Extension Division in Albany.58 She finds that selects

the borrowers make few suggestions. committee always

sees

The chairman of the book

the lists before they are sent out, but she

title from them. Since the appropriations have been cut, the library has bought fewer books of fiction, and there has been a corresponding drop in the amount of fiction

has never removed a

The librarian tries to maintain a balance in the non-fiction bought. The library has a collection of local history, and re

read.

cently a number of foreign books have been bought for the Poles, Hungarians, and Italians. The library receives 145 newspapers and magazines, some of which are gifts. When books are given to the library, it is always understood that the librarian may do

The librarian orders two long lists of books a month, and purchases others as the need arises. Worn books are always rebound. The library borrows from the State Library about one hundred books a year to fill special requests.

The assistants at the loan desk are frequently called on to with them

65

All

as she sees

fit.

concerning public and association libraries are for the year 1933. of public and association libraries may be found on pages 97-101.

58 See Regents' regulations for libraries, p. 19-20. figures

tistics

30

Full

sta

use ready reference books in answering questions. One of the librarians, as part of her work, answers those questions requiring questions are taken over the phone, but books are never reserved over the phone unless the person making the request is engaged in serious study. At the an extended search.

Reference

loan desk are reading lists for distribution. Four times a year the library gets out a bulletin, two numbers of which are devoted to books for adults, one to books for children, and one to the annual

The annual report used to

report.

be published

as a

pamphlet, and it always appears in the newspapers. The bul letins are for general distribution, and for exchanging with libraries whose bulletins contain suggestive book lists. The library used to display technical books at the Central Hudson Gas and Electric Company. Recently it has not bought enough to make this activity worth while.

During the winter, the American Association of University Women held a few meetings in the Children's Room. The Tuesday Club get out their program through the library. They used to have

a

reserve shelf of books in the library until mem

bers suggested they would rather take the books out themselves

might work on them at home. The library buys books and puts on reserve books for the parent education groups and for the Parent-Teacher Association. It makes lists for other

so they

clubs.

It has

never lent books to institutions.

In

1

933 the

library

had a circulation of 222,644 books.57 Outside of the library bulletin, most of the publicity is done by the reporter who occasionally comes in to get the news of the library's activities. Once in a while the library features some of

it did recently in sending a list of books on hobbies to the hobby exhibit at one of the local stores.

Through a separate entrance from outside boys and girls

its resources,

67

as

In giving circulation

figures, librarians count as one circulation each lending for home volume, pamphlet, or unbound periodical, or the renewal of a volume under library rules.

No increase is made because volumes are read by more than one during the period of the loan. use of a bound

31 1

into the children's room in the high basement of the library. The fireplace, pictures, flowers, and small tables and come

chairs, give the room an informal atmosphere. Lining the walls are low, open shelves full of books for recreational reading and

On certain shelves is a large collection of picture books for the pre-school child. In one corner are the for school work.

parents' and teachers' shelves which contain books on story telling, on reading, and on Bible stories, plays, art, music, folk dances, and special days.

Children may start to borrow for themselves when they reach the third grade, as soon as they have obtained the parents' or teachers' signature on their registration card. Parents may borrow for younger children. Pupils in freshman high school

or in the continuation school are given intermediate cards which allow them limited use of the adult books as well as the chil dren's books.

In

the second year of high school they are given

regular adult cards.

From Hallowe'en to Easter every Saturday morning there is a story hour conducted by the members of the library staff.

On Friday a similar hour is conducted at the branch. On an average morning twenty-five children under the seventh grade attend. The librarians find so many clubs in the school that they have started no clubs in the library in the winter. During the summer they have a Vacation Reading Club in which the chil dren sign up to read books which they select from lists presented in attractive ways. The librarians have frequent opportunities to

follow the reading of the children and give them help and direc tion. They have tried loaning books to Lincoln Center, a settle ment in the Second Ward, four blocks distant, but they found children were borrowing from the public library, this activity was a duplication of work.

The librarians have made a collection of dolls from differ that

as

the same

ent countries authentically dressed. They are starting now collection of models of the means man has used for transporta 3*

a

tion. During Children's Book Week the library buys a special list of books which it puts on display for the week, and at the end of the week there is

book talk.

a

The children's librarians

every Sunday for two years past have written for the Sunday paper articles on the resources of the children's room. The chil dren's librarian has spoken to every Parent-Teacher Association

in the city and

to several outside the town.

There is cooperation between the library and the schools.

The librarians send deposit collections of fifty books for six months to the three schools in the outlying parts of the town.

They to

see

in touch with the school librarians who come in often what books will supplement the school library for lessons

are

to be assigned the next week.

Teachers in rural schools, who

live in the city, may borrow twelve books for two weeks for their schools. The library also gives the books it is discarding to schools in the country. Some teachers bring their classes to the library occasionally. When they do, they often have their chil dren take out cards during the visit. The children's librarian believes that eventually the schools

will have to buy the cor

relative material that they need and let the city supply most of the recreational reading.

Although they do not send books to the parochial schools, they do send them lists and notices. These schools use the

library

a

great deal, for their libraries are not

The

in the public schools.

strong as those Poughkeepsie Day School makes fre as

quent use of the library.

The children's room

has made out lists

of books recom

mended for each grade, which are distributed to the children, and sometimes by request to the teachers. The head librarian

of the high school suggesting they continue their education by using the city library after graduation. There is no record, however, of the number of students who borrow regularly after leaving school. has twice sent greetings to the senior class

In

the stacks is

a

room

full of books on education. Though 33

many teachers use these books, they are not used enough to war rant keeping the collection up to date in all respects.

The Adriance Memorial Library has one branch library located in a rented store at 693 Main Street to serve the neigh borhood. The room has been attractively furnished with low shelves, displays of books, and pictures. All the purchasing and cataloging of the 3,257 books which it contains were done at the main library. week.

The

It

is open three afternoons

and one evening a branch librarian, who also works at the main library,

leaves her assistant in charge of the branch except during the busiest hours. The library is used chiefly by women who want fiction.

The branch librarian borrows non-fiction from the main

library, and then changes the collection every two or three months. She brings from the main library any book requested by a reader.

School children make an extensive use of the library, the

high school boys and girls borrowing books for their supple mentary reading. The younger children may not use the library in the evening when the children's room at the main library is closed.

During the winter, the Saturday morning story hours

conducted in the central library were presented in the branch on

Friday.

The public library

needs to do more to

bring the books to

the people of Poughkeepsie, and to show the public the resources of the library. As the librarian suggested in her annual report for 1934, the library needs to establish branches in the parts of the city which are distant from the library.

It

needs more

pub

licity particularly about the non-fiction in the library, more dis plays in places outside the library. There can be even closer cooperation between the schools and the library in trying to give the children of the city adequate library facilities. There needs to be closer contact between the high school and the library, in

order that the high school students may keep their reading habits after graduation.

34

Poughkeefsie High School Library As the large public library performs more kinds of services

for

each citizen than a small one can do, so the school libraries

can offer the children

a

more diversified

book collection, more

interesting activities than are available in a small school library.

The Poughkeepsie

High School

high school with forty-eight teachers and 1,137 students in attendance in the three upper grades. The school employs a full-time librarian who has a school librarian's permanent certificate, and a fullis a senior

time assistant librarian who has almost completed the require ments for a permanent certificate.58 The high school library serves the post-graduates, the freshmen who are housed in the main building of the high school, and the freshmen and teachers

in the North Clinton Street building, as well as the senior high school itself. The two hundred freshmen and six teachers in the building on Washington Street have their own library which is supervised by the English teacher with the advice of the high school librarian.

The library

centrally located on the second floor of the building. On the walls above the shelves are displays and paintings of all sorts. On the tables and window sills are displays of books and other material usually pertaining is a large, sunny room

to a particular subject or occasion.

There are 5,362 volumes in the library, which the librarian

from approved book lists. Twice a year she puts up notices asking the teachers to send in the titles of books they

has selected

want purchased.

The English

teachers often ask the students to

suggest magazines or books they would like in the library. The librarian sends in her main orders twice a year, and buys a few books in between with the money received as fines for overdue books. The library subscribes to forty periodicals. Last year a total of 372 books were sent away for rebinding.

58

For

state requirements

for the training of librarians, see p. 20.

35

it,

the good reference collection. To supplement librarian borrows books and debate material from the State Li

There is

a

She has borrowed books from the Vassar College Library

brary.

York Public Library, and she has received bibliographies from the Library of Congress. She sends the Adriance Memorial Library notification of any demands that the pupils will make on for debates and essay contests, and it

and from the New

it

of the high school reading lists. She furnishes public library registration cards for new borrowers, and encour ages pupils to go to the library for books they cannot get at the gives

copies

high school.

She has lent books, pictures, clippings, and pam

phlets to the teachers and to the libraries in the Poughkeepsie elementary schools.

Any student may come to the library during school hours

is

1933-34, there was

more than twice

as

a

In

a

if

permit from the classroom teacher, or from the librarian, or the study hall supervisor. Before and after school and for ten minutes at noon students may come in freely. he has received

circulation of 30,634 volumes.

much non-fiction read

as

fiction.

There

Students

English literature, and science books, the latter especially for the general science course and for the

use most the history books,

general biology course which assigns no text books. a

As part of the English course, students are required to learn something about the use of the library: both how to find book on the shelves, and how to find specific material through the use of the common reference books.

They come to the least three or four times year. During a

library for instruction at class periods, teachers of English, history, and science often send all or part of the class to the library to do an assignment, or to see as

a

reward for good work. The public-speak ing class comes to read plays. Students may come from English certain books, or

for library practices during their last three years. The boys and girls in the debating, dramatic, booklovers, and garden clubs use the books for their club work. Science, English, his 36

classes

tory, and drawing teachers take the books to their classrooms frequently. Each year pupils volunteer to assist in the library, and the best eight or nine are selected. They are trained by the librarian. As one assists in the library each period, and before and after school, two others serve as runners to deliver notices.

The library makes

its own book lists when the new books

come in. General lists are made for all the teachers, and special ones for each department.

These lists are posted on bulletin boards where the students may see them. The library distributed to the children this year pamphlets on the choice of a hobby.

Students purchase the yearly reading lists published by the Na tional Council of Teachers of English through their English

The English teachers keep records of the reading done by the pupils. The librarian has much opportunity personally to classes.

help students with their problems in the selection of books.

The two hundred freshmen in the Washington Street build ing use a collection of 179 books in their English classroom, which is supervised by an English teacher and by nine pupil librarians. The high school librarian helps to select the books for this collection, and each year gives the students part of their library instruction. She also lets them borrow books from the high school library, though they do not do it frequently.

The books on education are kept in the regular high school library. The teachers use the library as do the pupils, and read the education books often. The librarian talks to individual teachers about the books in their field whenever she can. Rarely the public have used the library. Alumni use it particularly dur ing Christmas vacation. The Parent-Teacher Association have asked the librarian to talk to them about the library activities.

Sometimes there is a Book Week program in the assembly hall. This year the librarian put on a hobby exhibit in the library. There is always news of library activities published in the school paper, and occasionally in the Poughkeepsie papers.

Because the

high school library is serving more than 1,600 37

it should have a collection of about eight thousand books.59 It needs more shelf space, and particularly more storage space, for the present closets are not adequate. In order to bring library service up to standard, the library should students altogether,

workroom, and a library classroom to be used for library instruction and as a conference room for the class and club groups have

a

now using the library proper.

Poughkeepsie

-public elementary

school libraries

Poughkeepsie may take especial pride in her elementary school libraries, which have some reputation in the state, because they are housed in attractive rooms, they are administered by trained librarians, and they are not only accessible to the chil dren, but their books and the best ways of using them are made

familiar to each child.

There are nine elementary schools in Poughkeepsie, all of which take children through the eighth grade. They each had in 1933-34 from 320 to 807 children, averaging about 500, and from nine to twenty-three teachers, averaging about sixteen.

Each school has a library room which is open all day, except in one case, and which is supervised by a librarian for either half or all of the day. One school has a librarian only three half librarian is untrained, and all the libra rians must have a school librarian's limited certificate by 1936, days a week.

and

Only

one

permanent certificate by 1941.

All of the libraries are attractive.

a

Many are decorated with

plants, with pictures, and with murals done by the students.

Except in two cases they are the size of the average classroom.

One school uses two small narrow rooms, one for the general books and the librarian's desk, and the other for the reference books and the reading room, though it will hold only six stu dents at a time. The largest school has a room in the basement 59 Standard library

organization

and equipment

38

for secondary

schools,

p. 33.

which will seat forty older students, and which also has little chairs and tables for forty pupils from the lower grades. Open ing off this library are two conference rooms, one of which will seat fifteen

pupils, and the other nine.

The school libraries contain from 896 to 2,965 volumes, with most of them averaging from 1,200 to 1,400. They are adding from 112 to 408 books each year, the smallest libraries adding the least number of books in general, though the smallest libraries are not in the smallest schools. In each case the libra rian chooses the books, after consulting the teachers about their needs, and after checking the approved lists. Their selections must go to the principal of the school and to the Board of Edu cation before the books are bought, but additions to or criticisms of their choice are rarely made. Every month all the librarians meet to discuss books and library practices.

The libraries subscribe to from one to fifteen periodicals, with seven as the average number taken. Most of the collections show the books were selected to meet the school needs in having picture books for the youngest children,

large number of his tory, travel, biography, science, and other non-fiction books which are popularly written, and story books for all ages and tastes. Nearly all of the schools have collections of pamphlets and pictures which may be used in connection with the school work. Some of them borrow this material from the public a

library. One school has a collection of 800 slides, and another borrows slides from the State Education Department in Albany.

The three schools which are farthest from the public library receive from that library deposit collections of fifty books a term. The librarians from almost all the other schools go to the public library to borrow collections of five to ten books every week or two. The children's librarians in the public library will

fill any special request, and will answer reference questions over the telephone. They send to any of the schools that ask for them bibliographies of suggested reading for each grade, and bibliog 39

library to show them how to use as

it,

raphies on special subjects. They will help in planning book orders. Some of the school librarians take classes to the public and to get them to register

borrowers. is

in

which the librarian available only Except in one school, part of each day, pupils may come to the library at any time with the permission of their teachers. Some of the librarians during the time each day when they are in the school office will leave a

few minutes to help pupils do some reference work in the library. Pupils come to the library to get facts bearing on some for

a

question, or to get books about Indians, famous men, periods in history, countries, etc. Some

class discussion, to answer

times they come separately, and sometimes in groups. In many of the schools, the debate, dramatic, stamp, radio, science, or other clubs come to the library frequently for material. dren borrow books for their recreational reading

as

Chil

well.

a

a

Each librarian meets the fourth through the eighth grades week for half an hour in the library. Generally the lower once shorter time. The librarian in the school grades come for

a

a

is

with the small library goes to the classroom to conduct library scheduled in the library for hour, and besides this, each child half an hour week at which time he may read or do reference work. In the largest school, the older children have library period of forty-five minutes. Part of the library period in each

books

as

a

in

is

devoted to teaching children how to use and treat books, how to find books library, and how to use such reference

case

dictionaries and encyclopedias.

During the rest of the

time, the children may work on an assignment involving the use of the reference books, or they may read.

The school libraries in 1933-34 had circulations varying

5

from 1,760 to 18,392 volumes, with 9,382 volumes as the aver age, and circulations per capita of teachers and pupils varying from to 24 volumes, with 17 volumes as the average. The librarian of the largest school reported that the 807 pupils had 40

made 5,532 visits to the library for reference work, 5,447 visits before and after school, and had borrowed 2,563 magazines

well

as

In one of the schools,

the principal does not allow the children to take the books home, in order to encourage the as

books.

use of the public library.

The librarians frequently make

of pupils who volunteer to help in the library. In one case, two pupils are chosen from each class to charge and to shelve the books during their library period. In another case, the librarian appoints a student to charge books after school in order that she may be free to help those who need assistance in making their selections. use

There is cooperation in many ways between the teachers and the librarians. The librarians consult the teachers about their needs before buying books. Many of the teachers fill out every week reference sheets on which they state what subjects they will be teaching during the next week. The librarian is then able to get that material together, to borrow from the public library what she does not have, and either to give it to the teacher to be used in her room, or to make it available in the

library. Many librarians have made out bibliographies on vari ous subjects which they show the teachers in order to let them know what materials there are to work with in the library. They show the individual teachers books in their fields, and new books

in which they would be interested. Many teachers, in turn, tell the children about certain library books, and require much ref erence reading from library books. Most of the librarians keep in touch with the curriculum by attending the teachers' meet ings.

In every school in either the library or the

office, there is

collection of professional books. By the use of the list of these professional books at the Morse school, it can be ascertained a

what books the elementary schools have, and in which school

Librarians borrow these books from each other, and they also borrow books on education from the Adriance Memorial Library.

each book may be found.

41

Most of the librarians bring books and the library facilities to the attention of teachers and children by personally showing them interesting books. They also use book talks, story-telling, exhibits, bulletin board displays both in the library and outside, book reviews and book reports written by the students, and news of the library activities in the school paper. During Book Week, many of them help the children put on a play; some arrange special exhibits, borrowing books from local bookshops. Many

a

by

it,

of the Parent-Teacher Associations have shown an interest in and the library by asking the librarian to speak to them about little money for magazines. contributing The Poughkeepsie elementary schools in general need more books.

While their collections do not include

worn and out of date books

most libraries,

as

as

many

and while the

libraries are being built up, not all contain the number of books considered standard for schools of their size.80 The schools where there

by

lating their interest

by

is

the largest circulation per capita are the schools where the librarians use the most initiative in following up the children's reading and the teachers' use of the library; in stimu

a

individually displays, exhibits, and in and the library; in using the resources showing them subjects of other libraries. The school which uses two small rooms for a

a

a

library should have one large room. The school with librarian only three days week should have librarian at least part of every day. The more time each librarian has to devote to library work, the more the library facilities in that school will be used.

The library in Millbrook

is

Millbrook Free Library naturally different from one

is a

a

in Poughkeepsie, factory town and county center of more than small incorporated village 40,000 inhabitants. Millbrook 60

University of the State of New York Library for the Library in the elementary school.

42

Extension Division,

Suggested

standards

of

1,200 inhabitants, located in the center of the county in a

farming region. Much of the land in and around the village is owned by wealthy families who frequently have a city home in

New York. These families have contributed a considerable sum of money toward the running of the library. About forty years ago, some of the owners of the estates imported Italians as gar deners and stone masons. For this reason the village has an Italian population unusually large for a small agricultural vil lage. There seems to be a cooperative spirit in the village, for a community

house was formed from the

Y. M. C. A. in

order

that both Protestants and Catholics might belong, and two Protestant denominations united to form one congregation. In 1934, the Italians gave a "benefit," the proceeds of which they turned over to the free library."

The Millbrook Free Library

of the most highly en dowed libraries in the county, and in 1933 had a total income of $4,180.43 which came almost entirely from private sources.

Most of the borrowers are residents of the village of Millbrook. is one

In

1933 about thirty people and three schools from outside the town of Washington borrowed from the library, the people paying one dollar, and the schools five dollars a year for the

privilege. In the same year about two hundred people living outside Millbrook but in the town of Washington used the library. They paid no membership fee. The librarian was trained at Pratt Institute.

The library building

is a handsome one, located on the

main street about one block from the business town, and one block from the school.

center of the

The interior

is one

large

and attractive room, with low bookstacks at right angles to the wall marking off a children's corner, a reference corner, a brows

ing corner, and an exhibit corner. The many windows, the fire place with window seats on either side, the posters and book dis61 MacCracken,

M.

and

others.

Unpublished material on foreign population in Dutchess

County.

43

plays all give the library a friendly atmosphere. The full shelves indicate that further growth will be a problem.

The librarian selects books from approved lists, and often asks the borrowers to read the books and give her their opinions.

Altogether the library contains about 9,531 volumes. Fiction of a superior character, and duplicates of popular books, are put into

a

rental collection.

The reference collection

is more

complete than usual in libraries of this size. It includes a verti cal file of pamphlet and picture material. The library receives about fifty magazines, many of which are gifts. The librarian borrows from the State Library textbooks and other books for which there are requests.

In order

to help people choose the books they want, the librarian pastes in the inside cover of almost all the books an notations, blurbs from the jackets, or parts of reviews. The list of new books is always posted in the library. The circulation of

larger than in most libraries of this size. The librarian is called on to do some reference work. She receives about five questions a month calling for extended search. She non-fiction

is

answers many questions, especially for the school children. Oc casionally she makes out reading lists for individuals. She co operates with the Grange. A book club, made up mostly of teachers, has asked her to be their librarian. She does not serve other clubs, except through individuals. Children may join the library as soon as the second grade teacher says they can read.

High School children have

access

to all the books.

The third

grade teacher, who has had training in this, sometimes tells stories in the library. popular.

The Children's Book Week exhibit

is

This year it included eight tables displaying various

groups of children's books.

As the library has more reference books than the school

library, the children come to the library to do their school work.

The librarian is able to give them considerable personal atten tion. She is called on to help them do their reference work. She 44

posts lists of required and supplementary

reading for school.

She posts her own lists of interesting books.

The children

come

in class groups only when a teacher wants to show them how to use the library. The principal of the school feels that teaching the use of a library is part of the function of the school library, with the result that these groups come rarely. The school libra rian sometimes consults with the librarian in order to avoid duplication in purchasing books. In 1934 the library had to discontinue the practice of lending groups of twenty-five books to the schools outside the town for a small sum, for the library does not have enough books.

A

teacher who pays one dollar a

year may borrow a reasonable number of books, but not as many as twenty-five.

Schools within the town which want books are served freely.

The library's circulation for

1933

was 21,803

books.

The town paper freely publishes news of library activities.

The annual reports are published every year. Almost every week there is an article about the library or a list of new books,

or of books on a particular subject and often it is on the front page. One year the librarian conducted a question box, and

This practice increased the made of the reference books. The library has often had

answered all the questions received. use

circulars and booklists to distribute

till

recently when funds

have become smaller.

The library dren of the town,

If the

is

in

a

position to give better service to the chil

if the juvenile

book collection is made larger.

library would spend more money on children's books, it could perform the town a real service by first demonstrating in the schools the value of using more books in connection with school work, by providing a simple way of taking the books to the schools and to the children, and by working hand in hand

with the teachers to stimulate children's reading.

45

Millbrook Memorial School library The Millbrook Memorial School and

secondary department.

a

In

and 412 pupils. The librarian's temporary certificate. teachers

The book collection

has both an elementary

is kept

1933-34 it had twenty-one teacher-librarian has a school

in a room on the second floor

of the building which is also used as a classroom and a home room. As there is no bulletin board, the librarian puts books she wants the children to see on a desk or table.

The library contains

829 volumes.

The librarian makes

out

list of books to be purchased after checking the approved book lists and after finding out what books the teachers want, and gives it to the principal for approval. The library subscribes to two newspapers, and seventeen magazines. Each teacher handed a

list of the magazines which would help her in her subject, and the librarian suggested some to round out the collection.

The principal drew up the final list. The magazines are given in

a

field they cover for overnight inspection so that she may find articles for the class to read. The magazine list covers industrial art, art, science, French, history, English, home economics, and events of general interest. Students may to the teacher whose

bring their own magazines to add to the collection. The libra rian has made a one-drawer vertical file of pictures and pam phlets which are used particularly in connection with the senior essays. She binds the plays read in selecting the senior play in order to enlarge the play collection. Every year she borrows state traveling libraries which contain altogether one hundred books. In 1934 she borrowed twenty-five additional books for history, State

and in 1933 she borrowed

debate

material

from the

Library.

The Millbrook Free Library gives the school those dupli little used books which are suitable for a high school library, and lends collections of books to be used in the school to cates and

46

its reference

It

encourages the children to use facilities, and allows the teachers the use of its

supplement the school library.

bound volumes of St. Nicholas. Children in the grades learn how to use a library by the instruction they receive in the Millbrook Free Library. The public and school librarians often talk over their problems of book selection and of directing the chil Children's Book Week is always celebrated in conjunction with the public library.

The librarian teaches English for five periods, and is in the library for two hours and forty minutes each day. The students dren's reading.

are free to use the library when she is present, and come in for recreational reading, and reference work in history, commercial subjects, science, and English. The history teacher requires stu dents to read one thousand pages of material outside the class

work to supplement the course. The English teacher has re cently collected sixty books of fiction from the school and pub lic libraries to keep in her classroom for the benefit of her thirty freshman

English students.

She helps them select the books

they want, and under the new syllabus she is allowed to attract the non-readers with popular adventure and mystery stories. In 1933-34, the library had a circulation of 2,071 volumes. Five

bring their classes to the library to be taught the use of the reference books by working out a definite problem in each subject under the direction of the teacher of that subject and the librarian. The teachers also give

times

a

year the English

book talks in their classes. assist the

teachers

Three students have volunteered to

librarian, who hopes to organize

library club.

The seventh and eighth grades use the school library. The a

first six grades have classroom libraries, and they also use the

The school librarian

little time to give to administering the classroom collections, and most of the book fund is spent on the high school library.

The teachers' professional books are kept in the school col

public library extensively.

lection.

The librarian buys books for the

has

teachers

and person

ally talks to the teachers about them. She finds that the school is small enough so that she can get books into circulation by talk ing about them with individuals rather than by making out booklists or using exhibits.

The new club writes up the school activities for the two local papers, and the librarian encourages them to include news of new books, or book displays, or other activities in the library.

The librarian should have more time to give to adminis tering both the school library and the classroom collections in the lower grades. The school book collection should be placed in a room used exclusively as a library, and open all day under the supervision of students or teachers when the librarian is not there; or it should be put in a study hall or assembly hall where the pupils may have access to the books throughout the day.

The school library

has an inadequate supply

of books. Two

thousand to three thousand carefully selected books are con sidered a standard library for a high school of this size.62

Rural elementary schools, town of Washington Neither of the two rural elementary schools visited by the writer in the town of Washington has many books or many library activities.

School district 9 in the town of Washington has a oneteacher school with an attendance of 10 pupils.63 The book col lection which contains 247 volumes, is kept in a bookcase with wooden doors. Though the school bought in 1933-34 only one book, the teacher hopes to buy some books for the lower grades.

Children use the books rarely except as reference books. They took home forty books to read last year. Some of the children borrow books from the Millbrook library.

62 Standard library organization, p. 30.

63 In the case of rural elementary schools, ance figures refer to average found on pages 108-113.

figures

daily attendance.

are given for the year 1933-34.

Full statistics for rural schools

Attend

will

be

The one-teacher school in district

10 has

seventy-nine books are kept on

volumes for an attendance of 1 8 pupils. The open shelves and the older children have read almost all of them. Twice a week after school the teacher takes all who want to go to the Millbrook library for half-an-hour. They each select two books which

they may keep for two weeks.

The

teacher started to do this in September, and already their read ing and their respect for books has improved. They may not

borrow collateral reading for there is too great a demand on the Millbrook library for it.

Pine Plains Free Library Pine Plains, an unincorporated village located in the north eastern part of the county, differs in many respects from Mill brook.

It

The whole township

only 1,200 Most of them are of American stock, and most of

is not so large.

inhabitants.

has

A

large dairy farm nearby has brought more people into the village. There are no estates in the town as there

them are farmers. are around

Millbrook, and

no

similar contributions have been

made to the public library.

The Pine Plains Free Library

supplying the town with books for nearly one hundred years. The proprietor of the drug store has kept it for forty years in a room opening off his drug store which is about

a

has been

block from the center of the village.

It

is supported by a levy of fifty cents on every registered voter in the town. In 1932, when a large vote was recorded, owing to excitement about the election, the

library received nearly two

hundred dollars.

There are about five thousand books in the collection, ac cording to the proprietor's estimate. Most of them are fiction and most of them are old. A few books are rebound each year.

The library is always open. The proprietor tries not to let peo ple from outside the town use the library. He estimates about 49

day come to borrow books, but more come in winter than in summer. School children come in fairly often and eight people

a

both the school and individual non-resident pupils may borrow books freely.

No attempt

is made

to give the library any

publicity.

The library

does not attempt to meet the state standards,

and so does not receive financial aid from the state.

To give adequate service to the town of Pine Plains, the library should try to measure up to the standards set by the State Education Department. In particular three steps are indi cated: keeping records of the books in the library, and of the circulation; building up the non-fiction and children's collec tions; and giving the library publicity, supplying adults with the books they want, and cooperating with the school to build up circulation.

Seymour Smith Academy library, Pine Plains

The town of Pine Plains

is unique

in the county because

school districts in and around the town have cooperated to form a central school out of the many rural schools. It was opened

in 1933-34.

The Seymour Smith Academy contains both

mentary and secondary departments.

ele

In

1933-34 there were twenty-two teachers and 519 pupils in attendance. The librarian has a school librarian's temporary certificate, and as she also

English, she is in the library only three periods a day.

The library is a small attractive room adjoining the study hall on the third floor.

There are 780 volumes in the library. The librarian selects teaches

the books by checking approved lists, and by asking the teachers for suggestions. She gives her selections to the principal for his

In

1934-35 she was trying to build up the home eco nomics and agriculture collections. She is classifying some pic tures and pamphlet material. She borrowed from Albany a approval.

50

state traveling library of one hundred books of fiction, travel, and biography. at noon hours.

The pupils use the Pine Plains library especially The librarian has borrowed books to supplement

the English collection from the public library and kept them all year. The public and school librarians plan their book orders together.

Five student assistants are in charge of the library five periods a day when the librarian is not present, and pupils may come into the library at any time during the school day, before and after school, and at noon. They receive library instruction

in English class. High school history and English, and seventh and eighth grade history and science require outside reading.

High school children use the library for assignments almost en

tirely, though they read the magazines for pleasure. The grade children use it for recreational reading. While she is in the library, the librarian gives students personal assistance in select ing and finding books. A girl scout troop uses the library for meetings after school hours. culation of 6,01 5 books.

In

1933-34 the library had

The seventh and eighth grade pupils

use the school

a

cir

library.

The lower grades have collections in their own rooms, and library tables at which the children may read the books when they are through with their work. Some of the grades have a weekly library hour when pupils may take books out and read.

They may also

library the last period of each day, at which time the librarian is able to help them find the small collection of juvenile books.

There are

use the school

a

few books for the teachers which were pulled

out of the general collection because they were too mature in their appeal.

The librarian always

of books on display in the library, and uses the bulletin boards for posting booklists and jackets of new books. The local paper includes news of library has groups

activities in its school notes.

In

1934 the librarian gave a book

talk to the Parent-Teacher Association, and the student assist ants put on a pageant entitled "Alice in Bookland."

The librarian should have more time to give to library ser vice. The use of the books in the school library and classroom collections would be greatly increased if the librarian were in charge of both, and if she had time enough to gather material on the various subjects taught in the school, not only to bring to each teacher's attention the books in his field, but also to stimu

The book collection school of this size should have a library

late the interest of each child in reading.

should be built up, for a of from two thousand to three thousand volumes.64 Stanford Union School library

In

contrast to this school, the neighboring small union school at Stanford has been able to afford very little library service.

The Stanford Union School

pupils through the tenth grade, and then sends them to the Pine Plains Central School.

In 1933-34 there were six teachers, and 130 pupils in attend ance. The school has no library, and no librarian, but book col lections in each room are administered by the teachers. Alto takes

gether the school has 587 books.

The first and

second grades have

fifty-one books, but none

of them are picture books. Children may take them home when they learn to read.

The third and fourth grades have fifty-four books which the children may read in school when their work is done, and which they may take home

if

they are doing satisfactory school

work. are

The fifth and sixth grades have eighty-five books which read in school and at home by about half the class. The

64 Standard library

organization,

p. 30.

teacher tries to stimulate their interest in books by reading aloud to the class.

In

the seventh and eighth grades are more than a hundred books which students read when their work is done, and which they may take home.

The high school

has 158 books,

of which sixty-six are for

The school used

the English course, and several magazines.

to

borrow from the Millbrook library until 1934 when the Millbrook library stopped lending books to schools outside the town.

Every year, however, it borrows a state traveling library. Books are shelved wherever there is room for them in the English

The English teacher requires that students read a month, and will give an "A" to anyone who reads and

classroom. book a

reports briefly on four books a month or twenty books a year.

He gives library instruction informally to his classes.

A

community library for adults and children was started

in the school building in 1934-35, and

is being

well patronized

by the students.

The books should be brought together into one library room. They should be administered by a trained librarian, who would stimulate the children's reading by booktalks, book dis plays, library hours, and by personally directing the reading of each child, and who would make available for each teacher the books and other materials dealing with the subjects taught by her. The school should spend more money on books, for a standard collection in a school of this size should contain one thousand books.85

Red Hook Public Library Red Hook is an incorporated village of 996 persons, located in a region of small fruit farms in the northwestern cor ner of the county. Though many wealthy families own estates on the Hudson, none of the estates stretch 65 Standard library organization,

p. 25.

53

as

far back from the

Red Hook. The village is a small agricultural village, and not very rich. Many Polish, Czech, Croat, and Italian families have taken farms in the neighborhood and are prosper ing by dint of hard work.

The Red Hook Public Library is supported by a small vil river

as

lage tax of $250. Most of the borrowers live in the village.

Unless they are students at the village high school, outsiders must pay

A

a fee

of one dollar

a

year, or fifty cents for six months.

few people come to the library from

Milan, Rock City,

and

Elizaville and in 1933, fifteen people came from Upper Red Hook. Like all the librarians in the small libraries of the county, the one in Red Hook has had no professional training, but at tends the library institutes held for two days each year some where in the county, and conducted by

a

representative of the

Library Extension Division.

The library occupies two rooms on the second floor of a building on the corner of the two main streets of Red Hook. On entering, the borrower finds himself in a room which is filled to overflowing with books. The building fund is too small for the construction of

new library, and the trustees may not use it for ordinary improvements. The librarian has put around the a

room signs requesting silence and careful handling of books, and has arranged a display of books.

The library contains 3,923 books.

The librarian makes her

purchases several times a year, selecting the titles from standard book lists, and from the preferences of borrowers. She sub scribes to no magazines, and mends books herself.

She

will buy, or borrow from the

Library, any nonfiction books which a borrower requests, and which the library does not already have. She has bought several books for people representing the Upper Red Hook Historical Club and Upper State

Red Hook Parent-Teacher Association. She does little refer ence work as she is limited by lack of reference books. The cir culation in 1933-34 was 4, 446 books.

54

In

1933 and 1934 more than

one-third of the new books

were for children ; but the librarian believes the school library has more money and is better equipped to give the

The children

vice.

use the public

children ser

library more in summer when

the school is closed.

The list of new books is published in the local paper.

The library needs more money for books in order to give new building or redecoration of the present rooms is necessary if the library is to be made more

better service.

Either

a

As the school has not the funds nor the equipment to give adequate service, the school and library should cooperate closely in order to supply the children with enough books. attractive.

Red Hook High School library

The Red Hook High School

has both elementary and sec

ondary departments. In 1933-34, it had thirteen teachers and 261 pupils in average daily attendance. It employs a teacherlibrarian who has a school librarian's permanent certificate, and gives an hour and a half a day to library work. The library is on the second floor of the building in a small classroom.

There are 1,754 books in the library. The librarian selects them by asking the teachers in September for the books they need in their classes, and by checking approved lists. The verti cal file contains pamphlets and pictures filed by subject. The to use

librarian borrows a state traveling library every year, and on her teacher's card at the Albany Public Library she may borrow twenty more books.

Students at the school, whether they are residents of the town or not, may borrow books free at the public

library.

The librarian

teaches

English for five periods

a

day, and

in the library for two. She is assisted by fourteen students who have volunteered to help her, and who have formed a is

Library Club. They meet monthly, and 55

at those times receive

They take charge of the library

instruction from the librarian.

before and after school, at noon, and the last period in the day.

They are responsible for the book displays, and for an assembly once a month.

They also give

a tea

to the Parent-Teacher

Association.

During the periods when the library is used no students may use the books.

as a

classroom,

They may come in freely dur

ing the library period, the last period in the day. In 1933-34 the total circulation was 1,932 volumes. Though they read mostly for pleasure, they also do required reading for English, Re history, Latin, general science, and physical geography. quired reading lists are posted on the bulletin board. Students receive library instruction in their English classes from the teacher and the librarian.

The librarian

has no time

for person

ally helping students with their reading, except through the Book Club and her English classes.

All ries.

the grades below the high school have classroom libra The librarian selects the books. At present about two-

fifths of the book fund is spent building up these collections.

Each teacher is responsible for the reading in her room. In library table. The teachers ask for collateral reading, and permit the children to read when they have finished their work. In the seventh and eighth grade every room where possible there is

a

for example, there are two medium-sized bookcases.

Though the room is crowded, place has been made for a library room,

table on which history books, texts, and fiction are attractively arranged. Seventh and eighth grade children may also use the high school library.

The library contains no books on education for the teach

The Library Club carries on any publicity that is needed.

The school library should be kept in a larger room which is not used as a classroom, and which can be kept open all day by members of the Library Club. The librarian should have more ers.

time in which to stimulate the interest of teachers and pupils in 56

the library by helping them to find the books that are particu larly interesting to them, and the material that can be used in connection with the various subjects. There should be a trained person to supervise the classroom libraries, and to see that the

children in the elementary department get adequate service, so that they come to high school with a real interest in books and with a knowledge of how to use them.

Rural elementary schools in the towns of Rhinebeck and Red Hook

In

the rural areas around Red

Hook there are great con

trasts in the amount of library service received by the school

children. Teachers in one-room rural schools in the town of Rhinebeck who feel rushed in trying to cover the curriculum and who have little knowledge of library methods, spend only a small amount of time encouraging the children's reading. In two-room school in Upper Red Hook, one teacher because of her enthusiasm for books has been able to build up a real library service for her pupils. a

The Upper Red Hook school in district 6 of the town of Red Hook is a fairly large two-teacher school with an attend ance of fifty-four pupils. The school added forty-four books to collection in 1933-34, making a total collection of 326 vol umes. The teacher of the fifth through the eighth grades is very much interested in the use of books in the school. She its

keeps the book collection in two bookcases with open shelves and sometimes puts out small collections of books on the table

in the front of the room. Last year the teacher purchased books with a European background, and this year books with an Amer ican background in order to build up the collection. She does not borrow the traveling libraries because in the twenty-five books sent there are so few of the books asked for. She has, however, borrowed slides from Albany.

57

Last year in order to

make the collection more attractive she borrowed

books from

the children's families.

The teacher counts

part of the creative work of the chil dren the books they read. They may read whenever they finish a lesson. Almost all of them take books home over weekends. as

One girl read over forty books last year. In the teacher's opinion she is the only one whose reading was up to that of city children.

She finds the others are reading more as the new books come in.

The teacher

is able to borrow

professionally

from Bard

College, which lends to a limited few outside the college. There is a public library in Red Hook two or three miles distant, which charges a dollar membership fee to all who live outside the vil lage except those children who are attending the Red Hook of the interest of this teacher in books, the Parent-Teacher Association is thinking of using the storage closet of the school for a community library. The local Grange

High School.

Because

and the local historical club both borrow traveling libraries from the state. The book facilities in the community are limited, and there is much interest stimulated by the upper grade teacher in anything that will bring the community more books.

The district

3

school has two teachers and an attendance

pupils. In the school is an unheated room containing 1 ,060 books which used to serve as a library to the community. Even in the last few years it was used by the children in the summer

of

2

1

time, but it is used only by the school now. According to the teachers it is not a reading community.

The library room is congested with school materials, making it hard to find the books that are really good. A few books are kept in the classrooms, but these are mostly readers.

The school buys additional readers

rather than general and supplementary books.

It

bought ten in

1933-34. The children borrow books fairly regularly, accord ing to the teachers. The other districts in Rhinebeck visited had small one-teacher schools.

District

1

has a school

with an attendance of 58

9

pupils.

The

book collection which contains 320 volumes is kept in several locked bookcases. The teacher does not use the state traveling

libraries or the Rhinebeck public library books for she feels she has better books in the school. Last year about eight to ten children took home about sixty books.

The school in district 4 has an attendance of 10 pupils.

The school library is kept in several locked bookcases, and con tains 496 volumes. The teacher borrows some books for the children from the Rhinebeck library and gets books for her own reading from there. The teacher did not know she could borrow books from the state.

The school in district

6 has 13

pupils in attendance. The

school library is kept in two locked cases which are almost never opened and it contains 1 92 volumes. The school has bought no books

since

the

teacher

or

the

school

superintendent

can

remember.

In pupils ;

1933-34 the district 7 school had an attendance of 11 and in 1934-35 of twenty or more. As a result the

teacher feels overworked,

and limited in the number of things

she can teach outside of subjects required in the syllabus. The 251 books are kept in a locked bookcase. They are used infre

quently. Neither the teacher nor the children go to the Rhine beck library.

District 8 has a school with an attendance of 10 pupils. The collection of books containing 320 volumes is kept in several bookcases

with doors, but not locked.

The teacher conducts

a

library period every day, and asks for reports on reading weekly. The children seldom take the books home.

The teacher was interested to know of the possibility of borrow twenty-minute

ing books from the state. She does not use the Rhinebeck library, but gets professional material from New Paltz.

The school in district 9 is small, having attendance of only

children. The 236 books are kept in unlocked cases. The children may use them between lessons or take them home.

3

59

The teacher supplements the collection by borrowing some from the Rhinebeck library. She does not talk much about the books to the children.

She believes that the school readers offer good

literature.

In

district

10, the school has an attendance

The teacher borrows books from Rhinebeck

of

pupils. for her own per 9

sonal reading. She keeps the bookcases unlocked and allows the children to read between lessons, but she thinks the children have read the books in the collection that are at

all interesting.

She reads aloud to the children for twenty minutes daily. She was interested in borrowing slides from the state to supplement her own collection, and in borrowing state traveling libraries.

The district

school has an attendance of

1 1

1

2

pupils.

The

recent graduate of New Paltz where she took a brief library course. She keeps the 242 books in the collection neatly teacher is

a

arranged on shelves with attractive cloth curtains. She pur chased six books in 1933-34. She was interested to learn she could borrow books from the state for the school. the children to read

a

book

a

month.

She requires Both she and the children

borrow from the Rhinebeck library.

Pawling Public Library Pawling, a village of 1 ,204 inhabitants, in the southeastern corner of the county, has a tradition stressing importance of education, given it by the Quakers who settled here. Since their split on religious doctrine, the center of trade has moved from the top of Quaker

Hill

down to the village on the railroad in the valley. At present, New Yorkers purchasing country homes here, and retired teachers, farmers and business men, moving into the neighborhood, have given it a reputation for interest in here,

as

A

summer theatre has been organized has one in Millbrook. There is not here the wealth of

educational

pursuits.

Millbrook, nor do the village people look to the city people much for financial aid. Pawling has little industry except for 60

as a

milk factory and a laundry. It is primarily an agricultural vil lage. It has a small, but growing Italian population, who tend now not to farm as they used to, but to work on the railroad.

The Pawling Public Library is supported by a small town tax of $155. Most of the borrowers are villagers. A few come to the library from Patterson, and one or two from Towners or

Poughquag. As there is no one person employed as librarian, a women's committee is in charge, each member in turn super vising the library. The committee usually go to Poughkeepsie for the library institute. The head of the committee is for con venience designated the librarian.

The library

in

is located

a

small, simply furnished room on

the second floor of the firehouse.

It

is across the street and the

railroad tracks from the main stores of the village. It contains 3,133 volumes. The librarian selects the books from approved lists, from the expression of preference of the borrowers, and sometimes with the aid of the president of the board of trustees.

She buys chiefly novels and books of biography, history, and travel. She subscribes to no magazines, but she has a number of pamphlets on local history. times

a

Books are purchased three or four

year, and none are rebound.

the State

Library to fill

a

The librarian borrows from

special request, and once or twice she

has asked for books from Poughkeepsie or New York. The library has almost no call for reference work because it cannot

afford to build up a reference collection. The Shakespeare Club, the only literary club in town, use the Poughkeepsie library and the traveling libraries from Albany. They use the local library as individuals for recreational reading.

The librarian

limit for children's joining the library. She buys recreational books for all boys and girls who can read, but she cannot afford books from which they can do has set no age

their school work. The children use the library particularly when the schools are closed. In 1933, the library had a circula tion of 5,771 books.

Because

of the lack of books in the library, the librarian

makes no effort to attract more readers.

She feels she cannot

afford to increase the demand for books.

Though this library is in one of the larger villages of the county, and though it is supported by the town, it is one of the it,

and poorest financially. It has no private funds to support to give adequate the library the town tax very small. is

is

If

it

must have adequate backing. The library should in crease the number of children's books, and should try to supple service,

ment the school collection.

As both the school and the public

library have inadequate means, only close cooperation between them will give the children adequate reading resources. By more active borrowing from the state, the collection of books can be supplemented sufficiently to attract more readers.

Pawling High School library

The Pawling High School

has both elementary

and sec

librarian's limited certificate, and gives about three hours to library work.

The library

a

a

it

had sixteen teachers and ondary departments. In 1933-34, school 406 pupils in attendance. The teacher-librarian has day

a

is

small room adjoining the study hall on the second floor of the building. It contains about 1,400 books.

The librarian selects from approved lists titles of books to be purchased for the library, and sends them to the teachers for in

The history teacher herself selects the books for the history collection. The librarian takes seven and corrections.

teen magazines, and

is

additions

beginning

to gather picture and pam

phlet material.

in

Students must get permit slips from the teacher charge of study hall in order to come into the library. The number using the library each period depends on the teacher.

They may The

freely borrow and return books before and after school.

62

librarian teaches English five periods a day, and is in the library the three remaining periods. Three post graduate students assist her, and a teacher is in the library for two of the periods while she is teaching. English students meet in the library for seven recitation periods a year to receive library instruction. Students

in English i and

book every other week, and those in English 3 and 4 must read eight or nine books a year. The librarian has all the freshmen and sophomores in her 2

are required to read

a

English classes, and is able personally to follow their reading.

Every week she asks for oral or written book discussions. The biology teacher assigns some books to be read in the library.

Lists of books for business English are posted in the library. In general, the English, biology, and history books are used more than the other non-fiction.

About half the reading done is recreational.

The children in the elementary department

use the books

in their classroom libraries, which are organized and adminis tered by the school librarian though she has little time in which to do this. Seventh and eighth grade children may use the school library. About one-third of the book fund is used in pur chasing books for the grades, and at present they have in about three hundred books.

Occasionally paper.

all

there are book reviews in the high school

During Book Week, the English teachers conduct book

contests, and talks.

The school should have

larger library room near the study hall so that students might use the library more freely.

It should contain about two thousand books.68 If the children a

in the elementary department are to receive adequate library service, they should have access to more books under the super vision of a trained librarian who

will have time to introduce

them to books, to teach them the use of books and libraries, and 66 Standard library

organization, p. 30.

63

to help the teachers find the library material they need in teach

ing various subjects.

Rural elementary school in the town of Pawling The district Quaker

Hill

21 pupils.

3

school, located in a rich district on top of

in 1933-34 of A good collection, numbering 262 books, is kept in has one teacher and an attendance

storeroom opening off the main schoolroom. In the school room itself are two library tables, on which are laid the latest a

of four children's magazines. Near one table is a low hanging bookcase with picture books and easy readers. The teacher selects the books from the state book lists. She bought four books in 1933-34. Because the collection is more adequate than that of most rural schools, the teacher does not borrow books from the state. Both she and the children use the Quaker issues

Hill

library.

The children may take books out whenever they want.

They report on their recreational reading in their English class, and for history and geography they are assigned collateral read ing.

They take books home frequently.

Summary of survey of library service

In

general, the most noticeable features of the libraries in Dutchess County is the fact that they serve small communities."

Two of the public and association libraries are located in cities, one is in a village with a population of 3,336, and four in vil lages of between 1 ,200 and 1 ,600.

The twelve remaining districts have less than one thousand population.88 each

For this reason, the actual number of people using

library is small. Outside of the two city libraries, four have

more than 400 borrowers and thirteen less than 400.

67 See Map p. 115.

68 All statistics given in this chapter

are taken

from the tables, pp. 97-113.

64

Those

who use the library use it frequently. Only two libraries of the sixteen, whose figures are available on this point, report a cir culation per registered borrower which is below the state stand ard.69

Many of the libraries are open only

a

few hours each

Seven are open for less than ten hours a week, and seven are open for more than twenty. In the book collections them

week.

selves, the deficiency is in variety of books and new books rather than in numbers. Only seven libraries have less than the num ber of books considered by the state the minimum collection for adequate library service. Considering the size of the communi ties served the libraries receive a fair income. But when the in come is divided into new books, salary, rent, and repairs it does not bring in large returns. Twelve of the libraries added less than 200 books in 1933-34, and eleven report that they buy books only three or four times a year. While four libraries pay out $ 1 ,000 or more in salaries, nine pay under $200 a year. The

libraries in the villages of Staatsburg and Hyde Park are not free libraries, but charge all users a nominal fee of one or two dollars a year. The Blodgett Memorial Library in Fishkill was built and given to the village which will contribute a large share of its support. The Starr Institute library in Rhinebeck, and the

Morton Memorial library in Rhinecliff are part of

larger institutes which were given to the village and endowed.

In the case of the Morton Memorial, the library is part of a community center. On the other hand, the Dover Plains library was built up by "benefits" and by small gifts from the farmers and residents of the village. The bandstand was made over into a library by free labor.

The people who

use the

libraries read primarily popular

Among the fifteen libraries whose figures are available, only two reported that the non-fiction circulation was greater than that considered standard by the state, and six reported nonfiction.

69

The Library Extension Division has worked out standards of library it can estimate the quality of service given by any library.

65

service

by which

fiction circulations of less than ten per cent of the total circulation.

Two of the fifteen libraries reported

a

circulation of children's

books greater than the state standard for their libraries, and six reported children's circulation of less than 20% of the total circulation.

The Arlington Free Library

has

built up a large

39.8% of the total.

The thirty-three large elementary and secondary schools in the county are similar in size. Only nine have over 500 children's circulation:

pupils.

Their libraries have in general few books. They have

of the free libraries and have not received so many gifts of books. Sixteen out of twentyeight who keep such records do not spend the fifty cents per pupil, considered the minimum amount that will provide enough been started more recently than many

new books to keep the collection fresh and interesting.70 Ar rangements are such in most schools that the librarians may buy books only once or twice a year, and are unable to take advan tage of bargains or to tempt the non-readers with new books in the middle of the term.

It

generally held that the school should spend $40 yearly on periodicals. However, eighteen of the thirty-three schools subscribe to less than eight periodicals.

Thirteen out of the thirty-three schools have librarians for three is

or less hours daily, and ten have no librarians.

Twelve of the

schools have no separate library room, but use classrooms or the

In

pupils may not go into the library in free time because of the lack of space. In other cases the pupil is scheduled in the library at certain times for classes, study hall, or library period. Out of the eighteen school libraries which keep statistics of circulation, eight have a circulation per capita of teachers and pupils of under ten books. Out of the study hall.

some cases

nine school libraries in Poughkeepsie having such records, only two have a circulation of under ten books per capita.71

Although the rural schools often have more books per pupil 70 Standard library organization, 71 See Map, p. 118.

p. 23.

66

than do city schools, actually they often contain many worn or out of date books, and they offer a smaller selection. They add

infrequently. Ninety-six out of 147 rural schools bought no books in 1933-34.

Today one of the major problems facing country life is isolation from the thought and emotions of others. Books bor books to their collection

rowed from a library are an economical and effective bridge between men of diverse ideas. For this reason the country should have rather more than less books than the city. In a rich county such as Dutchess, the wide discrepancy shown in the library service between city and country will be seen to demand a reconstruction of the library facilities, to make possible a larger book supply and a wider distribution of books.

67

CHAPTER V Library Service Given

by

Other

Agencies

Rental libraries

In

discussing the public and school libraries in the county, the question naturally arises whether people are not in the habit

of securing books from other places. There are many stores where for a few cents a day one may rent books. Do people In order use these rental libraries instead of public libraries? to answer this question, the writer with the assistance of Irma Boericke and Ethel Stacy, two students in the department of Economics and Sociology at Vassar College, made a study of Poughkeepsie to determine from what parts of the city the peo ple came who borrowed books from the rental libraries in the two leading department stores, Luckey, Piatt & Co., and The Wallace Co., and from what the adults came who used the Adriance

Memorial

libraries in the

city.72

Library and its branch, the two public Because other rental libraries kept so few

records, they could not be used for the study. As rental libraries have very few children's books, it was not thought necessary to

study the addresses of the children using the public library. It was found at once that the public library has many more bor rowers than the rental libraries. While the two department stores had together 1,300 borrowers, the public

library had, in

cluding children, 13,000. The rental library book collections in the department stores together had about one thousand books.

The Adriance library had eighty thousand. The rental libraries had books of

a

popular nature, little non-fiction, few books pub

lished more than two years ago, and practically

no children's

books.

After determining the rate per thousand population of the 72 Rental & Public Library

Maps, p. 123.

68

borrowers from rental or public libraries for each census district, the following facts came to light. Both the public and rental libraries were used by more people living in a district where there was a high percentage of native born whites than in a dis

trict containing many negroes and foreigners.73 It was also true in both cases that people of a higher economic status tended to read more than those on a lower level. The rental libraries were used mostly by people from the most prosperous sections of the city, and little by people from the poor districts. While the same fact was true of the public library, the concentration was not nearly so marked. The people from the wealthy dis tricts used the library less, and the people with moderate and low incomes used it more. It was also noticed that a larger pro

portion of rental library borrowers than public library borrowers lived outside the city limits. In fact very few outside the city use the city library.74

Public and institutional libraries

It

has been shown that people use the rental libraries much

public library, and that they can use them only for books with popular appeal. Are there other book collections

less than the

such as those belonging to various organizations which may take

the place of

a

The Boy Scouts have book collec dignified by the name of "library," according to

public library?

tions, not to be 73 These facts were

determined by studying in conjunction with the maps showing the rate of the borrowers from rental or public libraries for each census district, maps showing socio-economic areas in Poughkeepsie and areas inhabited by negroes and people of different nationalities.

74 See maps five and six in the appendix, which show the rate of rental and public library borrowers per thousand population.

In finding these rates, the 726 active borrowers of the rental library in Luckey, Piatt & Company, and the $78 active borrowers of the one in the Wallace Company were charted according to the census district in which they lived.

For the second map, a sample of the 7,160 borrowers in the Adriance Memorial Library was taken, and was considered to be representative of all. Every twelfth adult borrower of the main and branch libraries was selected, and these were charted according to the census district in which they lived.

After compiling these rates, the rate per thousand population was found for each district for first rental library borrowers and then public library borrowers. per thousand population

69

the Scout executive.

These collections vary in size, containing

never more than a few hundred

books, and are made up

of

books donated chiefly from various attics in the community.

Clinton Corners has a collection which includes books discarded

from the Adriance library, and which serves to some extent as a library for the community. A past chairman of the Sunday School Association stated that not over ten per cent of the Sun of providing peo ple with books, "they had passed out of the picture." The Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A. reported a few hundred books day Schools had libraries, and that

as a means

in no way could take the place of the Poughkeepsie library. Lincoln Center, a settlement house, has two hundred books, but the children use the city library for the most part. each, which

The Jewish Center

hundred books, and is planning to increase the number. However, the Jews in the city make more use of the collection of Jewish books in the city library. has five

Hospitals, homes for the aged or for orphans, and similar institutions report that they have often small collections of books for the use of the inmates, which are supplemented in some cases by public library books.

In

questioning

the Catholic schools

about the size of their book collections, the amount of their use by people outside the school, it was found that in general they had collections of a few hundred books which could be used

only by those connected with the school. One large school, the Novitiate of St. Andrew-on-Hudson, reported a library of fifty thousand volumes, and stated that it makes its books available to anyone through the Adriance Memorial Library.

The private

schools in the county, replying to the same questions, reported libraries of several thousand books, but only one reported that people outside the school might use them.

In

this case, the

school, a small one near Poughquag, borrows a traveling library from Albany, but as the school is located far from the village, few people use it.

The libraries

at

Bard College and Vassar

College loan books to a few county people, such 70

as

ministers and

teachers, who have special interests and who cannot easily get the books they want elsewhere.

As the Lynds pointed out in Middletown, reading in gen eral, outside of Bibles and school books, means reading the pub lic library books.75 The purchase of books by individuals is not great and does not fill the need.76 Where public libraries have inadequate resources, or where they do not serve people, there is no evidence that other sources are adequately supplying the

people with books.

75 76

Lynd, p. 230.

Fair, p. 51.

71

CHAPTER VI Conclusions and Recommendations The need for the extension of library service to the rural areas

After studying

first the development

of public library

facilities in urban districts, and then the comparatively recent attempts to extend library service to rural areas, one is immedi ately impressed with the fact that, while various ways of extend ing the service have been proved effective, the actual establish ment of the libraries necessary to accomplish this has been slow.

The inequalities in library service for country people as compared to that for city people still need to be eradicated.

Dutchess

County is no exception to the nation-wide condition. The rural residents of Dutchess County want books as much as do people elsewhere.

At the present time

at least three

small rural com

munities are making considerable effort in order to establish small and pitifully inadequate libraries to provide more books.

Reading seems to be a taste acquired by contact with books. Cer tainly the statistics of the good libraries which serve rural areas show that contact with books has been developing a desire to read on the part of many country people, who previously read little.

The

fact that nearby

villages, the Boy Scout troop, the Sun day School, or the public school have libraries from which books may be borrowed is not enough to induce the farmer to read.

Organizations and institutions have in general only small collec tions for the use of their members.

Many people feel

a certain

diffidence about using the school library which is open to the public, and this attitude results in their asking the children to

bring books home, rather than going to the library themselves.

Both borrowing books from rental libraries and purchasing books are expensive for the rural people. The traveling libraries office is too small, too remote from the people requesting them to 7*

supply all the books asked for and to send them at once. These sources of books do not fill the need.

The present village libraries are not serving the rural pop ulation. Most of the libraries charge yearly fees of one or two dollars to those living outside the area supporting the library.

With the exception of the Poughkeepsie city library, none main a

it,

tain branches or stations. Because so few people living any dis the state requires tance from a library use library to count 77

stations.

Subtracting

the population

served,

as

defined

by

is

it

the population served

it

only the city or village in which has branches or deposit located, or the communities in which as

the

a

state, from the total population of the county we find that pop ulation of 68,936 or 65% of the county, receive library service,

and 36,526 or 35% of the county do not.

In

response to the question: "How many registered bor rowers live outside the village?" the Millbrook library reported

by

by

230, and three schools, the Wappingers library 150, and the others reported that comparatively few from outside the village used the library. The nineteen libraries in the county are used at the most fifteen hundred non-residents of the communities in which the libraries are located, or, in other words, less than five per cent of the total unserved population.78 Some may say that either doing away with membership fees, or enlarging the area taxed to support each library to in

will enable the library to serve the rural areas.

An examination of the table in footnote No. 78 will show that, clude the town,

It

a

served" refers to the area whose inhabitants may minimum of effort. The actual number of people they please with borrowers and make use of the library served who are registered makes different figure. A library serves an area when possible for everyone equally to use the library with ease. The people who actually take advantage of the offered be explained the "population

and who use the library

is a

will

always

be only

offered.

78 See next page for table.

73

a

it

if

service

is

service

it

must

use the library in the population

a

77

village who may use the village library more than those who must pay fee, still they a

freely do use

it

while non-residents of

part

of the population to whom the

(See Chart

Total Borrowers (see Chart 1)

Population Served

Sources :

I,

p. 97-101)

Amenia Amenia Dover Dover Plains

FiihkUl Fishkill

$1.00 outside town

JOO

340

".933

3.99°

$1.00 outside town $2.00 outside town

S«

Hyde Park Hyde Park Staatsburg

Fees

(Questionnaire)

186

90O

Beacon

Membership

307

9JO

82

600

30

1,296

926

919

83S

1,204

315

.48

148

$1.00 outside village $1.00 for everyone $2.00 for everyone

Washington

Millbrook Northeast

Millerton Pawling Pawling Quaker Hill Pine Plains Pine Plains Pleasant Valley Pleasant Valley Poughkeepsie Poughkeepsie

Arlington Red Hook Red Hook

Tivoli Rhinebeck Rhinebeck Rhinecliff Wappinger Wappingers Falls

Total population Total

200 ?

1,209

440 40,288

178 13,188

77S

343

996

193

7>3

270

1,569

630

608

174

3.336

9S6

served- — 68,936

population not served

$1.00 outside town Free $1.00 outside

town

Free Free $1.00 deposit for summer people $ 1.00 town $2.00 outside

Free $1.00 outside

village

Free $2.00 outside town Free Free

or 65% of the population of the county. or 35% of the population of the

— 36,526

county.

Total number of library borrowers in the county — 23,293 Estimated number of library borrowers in rural areas — 1,500, or less than 5% of the unserved population.

Subtracting 1,500 from 23,293 we get 21,793 the number of borrowers in served areas, or 32% of the served population.

74

Non-residents served by the library (Questionnaire)

Population Not Served (The population of the town minus the popula tion of communities with libraries)

"Summer Residents" in the town of Amenia

1,069

"A

3,275

few from adjoining town" villages

51 from neighboring 31 outside village

2,337 few

1,888

few 230 people

A

and

3 schools

from the town and from Copake. from the town and about 5 from Putnam County.

"Only the neighborhood" few

1,200

Some

1,039

"Only town residents" Some residents

of town of Pleasant Valley and

an occasional

summer

resident.

1,080

from Connecticut, Dutchess County, and Ulster County.

"High school students" Mostly high school students and people from Upper Red Hook. very few 100

few

11,060 1,695

791

few 150 from neighboring

villages.

I>6I9

In estimating the number of library borrowers in rural areas, the writer used the figures given in answer to the questionnaire concerning the population served by the library outside the village and in the town, and the population served in the town. Where no exact figure was given, the writer estimated the number on the basis of the total number of reg istered borrowers and of the number of non-residents using other libraries.

75

find it hard to get to the library and only few in proportion to the total population become registered borrowers. Residents of a town who are supporting by tax the village library should cer

tainly enjoy the same ease of access to the library that the vil lagers do. Yet if we find the percentage of the total population of the town using the library, we will see that it is far below the standard percentage set by the state for a population of that size.

This statement of the lack of reading facilities in the rural parts of the county, may seem to lay the fault at the doors of the

village libraries. That is not the writer's intention, and is far from the truth. The flaw is not in the local libraries, in the librarians, nor in the boards of trustees. On the contrary, they are giving remarkably good service.

The librarians are working

devotedly for very little compensation, and in two cases library committees perform the duties of librarian without pay. They

supply many people in the villages with a good selection of the recent fiction and non-fiction. They have some fine children's books. Almost all of them take a number of magazines. While their reference books, and their books on special subjects are limited, the librarians will borrow books requested from Albany.

The flaw is rather in a system which allows a thickly settled urban district with high property values to raise several thousand dolState standard

79 Towns supporting a village library by town tax

No. of Population of the town

registered

borrowers

Amenia

1,969

186

Millerton Pawling

2,119

835

2.39ÂŤ 1,520

3iS

Pleasant Valley

Arlington

178

Percent of the population of town registered as borrowers in the village library

76

size registered in the village library

9% 39%*

45% 45% 45% 45% 35% 30%

13% 12% 5%

6.354t 343 io,436t Wappingers Falls 936 9% The Millerton Library keeps a record of all the borrowers who rather than a list of the borrowers using the library at the present t As the Arlington and Wappingers Falls libraries are both supported ship of Poughkeepsie, they are here counted as serving one-half of township apiece.

for the percent of the population of a town of similar

have

ever

registered,

time. by a tax on the town the population of the

lars to support a library which can supply technical books for business men, professional books for teachers, books in foreign languages and so on, and which permits a small village to scrape together only a few hundred dollars for a library which can do

little more than supply some popular books for recreational reading which will suit the tastes of the majority.

The outstanding needs of the existing libraries

To develop greater library funds

is the first requirement

for improving the service in Dutchess County. Because of in sufficient funds, the libraries cannot employ trained librarians in all cases, nor can they purchase as many new books as the state considers necessary for good library service. The result is that people do not know what they can get from larger libraries.

They do not know that books can answer questions as well as entertain. They do not turn to books to learn about things, or to learn how to do things. They do not expect that the library will serve the schools, the institutions, and the various clubs and

other organizations in the villages. Any program of adult edu cation in the libraries is almost completely lacking. The reading of non-fiction is lower in general than the standard set by the state for libraries of this size. There are few children's books, and the number of these books read yearly is below the state

There is little cooperation between many of the pub lic libraries and the schools. Furthermore there is little publicity about the contents of the libraries or about the activities in which standard.80

they engage. Usually the list of new books and a few news notes during the year appear in the local paper. In other words, the inadequate funds are the cause of the lack in most libraries of educational program, and of the extension of the library services outside the walls of the building.

In

the monograph

80 See Statistics,

on The Secondary School Library in

pp. 97-113.

77

the National Survey of Secondary Education, which reports the results of a survey of the libraries in three hundred and ninety schools in all parts of the United States, it is stated that the librarians,

teacher-librarians,

and principals

were agreed that

the enrichment of the school curriculum and the provision of

a

good use of leisure time were the two most important functions of a school library. It is also stated that inadequate facilities and inadequate staff were the chief problems with which these libraries had to contend.81 In general, in Dutchess County, the same needs are found.

School librarians who have not had much

training and who have little time to give to the library cannot build up to a great extent the use of books for either supple menting the studies or for recreational reading. Short library hours and teaching duties on the part of the librarian permit little opportunity for close contact between librarian and stu dent.

All

through the county, the elementary grades are given little service. Children are not trained in reading until they

high school, where other habits and other activities tend to dissipate any growing interest in books. Lack of funds for books and for full-time librarians is hampering public school come to

libraries.

A

of schools in New York State made a study of the number of books read by the children in all the schools in one township after he had persuaded his school trus superintendent

tees and teachers

school libraries. a month apiece.

farm boy or

to purchase a number of new books for

the

He found that they had read well over a book At this rate, he determined that an average

girl would read about three hundred and

ninety

books during his or her school years in the first eight grades.82 Of the rural elementary schools in this county, only fifteen per cent have 300 or more books.

Almost half the rural libraries

81 Johnson,

B. L. The secondary school library. (In U. S. Department of the Interior, of Education.

National survey of education. Washington, 1933.

Bulletin, 1932, number 17.

Monograph number 17.) p. 103.

82 See footnote bottom next page.

Office

78

contain less than 200 books.83 These libraries need to be cleared

of old, worn, and out of date material which make the collec tions unattractive. New books are badly needed in order to freshen the collection with material at which the children have not been looking for some years. Only thirty-five per cent of the schools added any new books in 1933. Attractive library corners with library tables, and open shelves are needed to dis

play the books, and to draw the children's attention to them.

More careful records of the books should be kept.

All

the libraries, public and school, need more money, or backing of some sort, if they are to provide librarians with enough time and training, and if they are to supply enough books to give service similar to that taken for granted in large cities.

A county library as the solution

The solution of this condition

is a

library supported by

a

large area which can give rural libraries the backing they need, and which can distribute books to unserved areas. It should be a public library serving the entire county, and reaching everyone in it. It should lend books to the present libraries, place book collections in

all rural schools, and establish book stations in

It

should purchase a book truck with which to reach remote communities, and with which to exchange books between collections. It should be so set up that the trained libra rian, or librarians, on the staff are in as close touch with the peoevery community.

82 Felton,

Bulletin.

R. A.,

and Marjorie Beal.

Ithaca, New York, 1929.

Age of pupils

The library of the open road. Cornell Bulletin 188, November 1929. p. 29.

Books read in 1Y2 months

7 years 8 years 10 years 11 years 12 years

books

4^

books

7

books

5J^ books

14 years 15 years

of rural elementary

books

3

books

13 years

83 Statistics

5

schools,

p. 108-113.

79

20

books

60

books

Extension

possible. Local libraries should be encouraged in their service rather than taken over as branches of the larger system. pie

as

They are much more effective than book truck service can ever be. They should be built up in every way.

For several reasons, the county seems the logical unit on which to base library service in Dutchess County.

As we have

seen in preceding chapters, school district libraries and regional

found successful elsewhere. Because the school districts in Dutchess County run from east to west across have been

libraries

the hills and are difficult to traverse, and because they cut across natural areas, library service based on the school district would be difficult to establish and develop.

Miss Helen Gordon Stewart, librarian of the Fraser Val ley demonstration in British Columbia, says that no public library can begin to serve the reading needs of a modern com munity without a broad range of books at its command and the resources for a constant flow of new material. Such a range is impossible with less than twenty thousand volumes, quite inde pendently of the number of people using them, and it can not be maintained on a budget of less than fifteen to twenty thousand

dollars

a

year. As a population of forty to fifty thousand persons

is required to raise such a budget, no public

library system serv ing rural areas should be planned for less than forty to fifty thousand people.84 However, physical barriers cut Dutchess off from other counties on the west, south, and east, and make the county a self-conscious unit.

While the county could join

with Columbia County to form a regional library, Dutchess County is already large enough to support a county library, and we have laws permitting the establishment of a county library, while there are none permitting the regional library.

The Education Law, section 118-b authorizes the

estab

lishment of three kinds of libraries: 84 Stewart,

Unit.

H. G. Advantages and Difficulties in the Administration of a Regional American Library Association.

Bulletin, 28:606. September 1934.

80

Library

"(1) The

board of supervisors of each of the counties of the state is authorized and empowered to establish a free public county library hereby and to raise by tax upon the taxable property of said county such sums as shall be necessary for the maintenance of such library and the necessary sal aries and expenses of the county librarians and assistants; provided, how ever, that the amount of tax raised for the support of such county library shall not exceed in any one year one mill on each dollar of the actual valua tion of said taxable property as determined by the state tax department.

Whenever the board of supervisors by majority vote shall have authorized the establishment of a county library, as hereinbefore provided, it shall proceed to appoint five residents of the county living in different towns of the county as trustees of the county library. Within the limits of the ap propriations made by the board of supervisors, the said board of trustees of such free public county library shall also have the power and it shall be its duty to appoint a competent trained librarian and assistants and to estab lish the headquarters of the county library at the county seat or at some other point conveniently located within the county and to establish such branches and book stations as may be necessary and to provide one or more

of books, as they may deem desirable.

(2) In lieu of establishing a county library system as herein provid ed, such board of trustees of any county library may contract with any pub lic or free library registered by the regents as maintaining proper stand ards for library service upon such terms and conditions within an amount appropriated by the board of supervisors and other available funds as may book trucks for the distribution

be agreed upon by the contracting parties and approved by the commis sioner of education.

(3) By vote of its board of supervisors any county may adopt a reso lution for the establishment and maintenance of a rural traveling library system for the free circulation of books from a conveyance equipped for the carriage and distribution of such books throughout the rural districts of such county and may appropriate annually money sufficient for the support and maintenance of such system." 85

In

each

of these cases the State Education Department is

empowered to supervise the county libraries established, to reg ister the ones meeting the state's standards, and to certify the county librarians.

Either of the first two types of county library service authorized may be adapted to Dutchess County. The third type, the rural traveling library, is not adequate to meet the needs in so large and densely populated a county. New Jersey 85

University of the State of New York. The State Education Department. Library Exten sion Division.

Important Laws, Rules and Regulations Relating to Public Libraries and Free Libraries in New York State.

Albany, n. d. Handbook 8, part L, p. 14-17-

8l

counties have libraries which are established

as separate

institu

Country people are apt to fear the domination of the city, and a separate library is not inclined to favor the city people at the expense of the country, and makes more effort to reach rural communities. On the other hand California counties tions.

large public library located in a central village or city. Thus they have more resources in books, library equip ment, personnel, and prestige at the beginning. Nor do they contract with

a

find that the city library necessarily serves the city better than the country. The important thing is to set up a library that will serve city and country with a minimum of discrimination and a maximum of efficiency.

The organization and administration of a county library

The headquarters of the library would

be

in the most stra

tegic position if they were placed in Poughkeepsie, which is the natural center of the county, which has the best marketing fa cilities, and which has the best transportation facilities.

A

Dutchess County

Library would then

be started by a

vote of the Board of Supervisors, and supported by a tax on property of not more than one mill on the dollar of the actual valuation.

Trustees appointed by the supervisors from different

towns would be responsible for the library.

They would

choose

the headquarters, probably selecting rooms in the county court house if any were available, or getting space near the Adri-

Memorial Library. In choosing the rooms, they would have to keep in mind that the library would receive and ship

ance

many books by mail, and that the book truck would be loaded

from the book-stock.

The trustees would choose a county librarian carefully. It has been said that the librarian is three-fourths of the library.

They would select someone with training, experience, an abun of enthusiasm, and the ability to cooperate with people.

With her, they would select such other members of the staff as dance

82

they could afford at first. A library assistant to do some of the routine of cataloging books, answering reference questions, mailing books for which there had been special requests, getting books ready to send out on the book truck, and a helper to do the typing and clerical work, would be essential. They would free the county librarian for the work of establishing collections and stations where there were no libraries, and of making arrange ments for loaning existing libraries such books as they might want. The trustees would also purchase a book truck, with built-in shelves, and sides opening to permit people to look over they do in a library building. county library would serve Poughkeepsie and Beacon, the more rural parts of the county. It would offer to

the books and make selections

The as

well

as

as

the people of these cities a wider selection of books on special subjects, and of expensive and unusual books which are used

It

would help the city library meet the demands being made on it by the schools and by the children. It would serve rarely.

the cities only through the established libraries, and cooperate

with these libraries to give better service in any way possible.

In the same way, the county library would operate only through the libraries in communities which had previously established them.

A

local library is much more valuable than

book truck service which comes once

a

month, or than a station

small collection of books in the charge of someone who has had little training or experience in library where there is only

a

work. For this reason, the county library would seek to build up local libraries in order to have as many large collections and as many trained librarians as possible near to the people.

Each local library might receive as much service from the county as it desired. Some libraries would want to give the county the management of their funds in order to relieve them selves of financial worries and to benefit by the economy of central buying and cataloging of books. They would make their book collections available to be used by other libraries in the 83

county, so that books which have been read in that community, might be enjoyed in other communities instead of gathering dust on the shelves.

Other village public and free libraries would continue to operate with entire freedom from county control. Their income would not be reduced county appropriation

their support would not come only from but from local sources as well. These

as

libraries might receive many advantages free from the county

library if they so wished. They might borrow from the county library books which had been requested and which they did not have. They could borrow several hundred books at a time in order to increase their collections, and then every month or two exchange the ones that had been read by the community for new ones. They might ask the county library to purchase their books for them, in order to take advantage of the economy of buying

in quantity. They might also ask the county to catalog, classify, and prepare their books for use, freeing the local librarian for valuable contacts with the borrowers.

If

requests come in for

books needed for school work, for study clubs, or for other spe cial groups, the local librarian might expect the book truck to

deliver the books she needed to fill these requests promptly. She could also turn to the county librarian whenever she wished for advice or help in library matters.

Each village library might receive such help

as

it wanted

from the county, or it might receive none if it wished. At the same time, each community would be offered a constant supply of new books,

larger selection of recreational books, books for people with special interests, more books telling people how to a

do things and answering questions, more encyclopedias and dic tionaries and other expensive books of which small libraries can have only a limited supply, more children's

books, books for

study clubs and schools, and books for organizations and institu tions in the community.

A library 84

supported by a county tax

could help a village library approximate city library service, if the village library so wished.

In the parts of the county where there are no libraries, the county library would establish deposit collections wherever there was a person willing to look after them. On various maps

of the county, there are shown from seventy-five to one hundred Each of these could have its own twenty-five communities.89 book station of forty to a few hundred books, depending on the size of the community.

The book truck would visit

these com

munities every month or two, take away the books that had been read, and leave new ones. The custodian or borrowers might

If

select the books they wished from the shelves of the truck. they wished books the station did not have, a telephone message

to headquarters, or a post card would bring the books on the next visit of the truck, or by mail if they were desired immedi ately. Stations might be established in post offices, general stores, churches, garages, restaurants, homes, anywhere that people

would feel free to come. Farm homes not near communities might have their own collections for themselves and their neigh bors. Probably the custodians would not be paid, nor would the county pay the expenses of the local station. Certainly this could not happen at first. In a county like Dutchess where so many communities are supporting their own libraries already, there

would be less jealousy if the other communities were expected to provide a custodian and a place to keep the books. This could be done very inexpensively.

Furthermore, many librarians feel that local communities appreciate more something for which they are at least partly responsible.

A county

library would be able to enrich school collections in the same way that it enriches collections of local libraries.

Schools might ask the county to purchase and prepare their books for use, thus being able to purchase more books for the same 86 See map 2 in the appendix for library service, p. 115.

the

name

85

and

locations of communities now without

money, and freeing the busy librarian from much routine for more contact with the children. They might limit themselves to

borrowing from the library expensive or unusual books which they could not afford. They might ask the county to leave collec tions of books in the school to enlarge the meager library. Schools would keep their own collections intact, or they would turn the collections over to the county so that books not used in one school could be put to use in another. Elementary rural schools, and the elementary grades of village schools would ask for more books and more supervision because of their present lack of books.

The ideal arrangement would

be to have a trained school

librarian attached to the office of each of the four district super intendents to supervise the high school libraries, and to conduct library hours in the elementary grades and rural schools, and to in training the children to read for pleasure as well as for information in connection with school work. These librarians would work very closely with the county library, and would be assist

dependent on the county library for adequate book supplies to use for the rural children.

Failing this plan,

a trained school

librarian to do this work

for the whole county should be employed by the county library trustees. Her work could not have the thoroughness of that of the district librarian, for she would have more than one hundred

fifty schools outside of Beacon and Poughkeepsie to look after.

Such school librarians with the facilities of the county library for securing good books equal in city and county, thus helping to equalize the educational opportunities in both places. could indeed make opportunities

Besides providing the residents of the county with books through public libraries, book stations, and schools, the county library would serve the county people through their organiza tions and institutions.

If the

Boy Scouts, the parochial schools, women's clubs, county agents, churches, homes for the aged or 86

for orphans, wanted books, an expression of this wish to the county library would bring service similar to that given to com munities. In fact, the county librarian would seek out the clubs and county officers and county organizations to bring to their attention books in their particular fields, and to show them how indispensable

a

library can be.

The cost of a county library

Of

The Library Exten

course such a service is not free.

sion Division of the State Education Department suggests taking fifty cents per person in the area without library service as a basis

for the county library budget. This comes to $17,717.00. Cer tainly the library cannot live up to the service which has been

outlined above with a smaller budget. If it cannot live up to this service, it has not solved the problem of inadequate library service in the county, and the county will not be interested in

supporting it at all. If we compare this cost with the budgets of county libraries in the counties in New Jersey most nearly re sembling Dutchess in size and population, we find they receive about the same amount.

Population

Place

Dutchess Co.,

N. Y.

Morris Co., N. J. Monmouth Co., N. Hunterdon Co., N. Newcastle Co., Del.

J. J.

Area

County library budget87

105,462

806 sq. mi.

110,1+5

475

147,281 34,728

475

161,032

435

437

" " " "

" " " "

$21,500(1933) $24,000

(1928)

$15,000

$13,500(1931)

87 These figures were obtained from annual reports of the libraries, and from the librarians Below is a detailed statement of at the time the writer visited them in August, 1934. the budgets of the two libraries serving counties most resembling Dutchess County.

Monmouth

—

Budget

Income $24,252.52 Itemized estimated account Salaries Telephone Books Periodicals and indexes Supplies

and

—

1928

Expenditure $24,314.00 $10,300 140 11,129 300

Printing

Furniture and equipment Truck, gas, oil, all repairs Travel Postage and freight Victrola records and pictures (Continued on the foot of the following 87

400 250 500 1 50 300 20 page)

$15,000

Budget

A

$15,000 budget would amount to $.126 tax on each $1,000 valuation or $.142 per capita of the population of the county.

Poughkeepsie would contribute $6,315

Annual Budget for First Three Years

of

property

Beacon $1,408.50

Normal Budget Beginning Fourth Year

Staff

Staff

Librarian Asst. Librarian

Librarian Librarian Asst. Librarian Helper

2,400

Asst.

1,500

Helper

700 4,600

Truck

2,600 1,800 1>500

850 6,750

Cost

300

Upkeep

500

Truck 800

Cost

300

Upkeep

500

Maintenance

800

Equipment

Maintenance

800

Janitor and

800

Janitor

Supplies

450

Equipment and Repairs

Printing and Postage Light, Heat, Power and Water Tel. and Travel Misc.

450

Supplies

450

Printing and Postage Light, Heat, Power and Water Tel. and Travel Misc.

456

Repairs

300

450 450 200 -

3)!00

Books

450 450 200

-

3,1oo

Books

6,500

5,200 at $1.25

300

3,480 at $1.25

4.350

15,000 15,000 87

(Con't.)

Budget

Morris Income $22,006.27

1933

Expenditure $19,579-71

Salaries Books Periodicals Binding Postage Furniture and equipment Telephone Automobile Insurance

Traveling

—

Expenses

Interest

88

$8,022.85 7.320.55 152-39 1,349.51 316.71

584.00 99.72 658.27 101.94 57-34 301.67

Initial

bookstock

needed:

24 vols• each for 169 schools 40 vols• each for 92 communities

4,225 3,680 7.905

Educ. Dept. will lend Library purchase State

2,700 5,200 7,900 $20,000

Budget

A

$20,000 budget would amount to $.169 tax on each $1,000 valuation or $.189 per capita of the population of the county.

Poughkeepsie would contribute $8,420

Annual Budget for First Three Years

of property

Beacon $1,878

Normal Budget Beginning fourth Year

Staff

Staff

Librarian

2,400

Assistant

1,500

Helper

Librarian Asst. Librarian Asst. Librarian Asst. Librarian

700 4,600

Helper Truck Cost

300

Upkeep

500

2,600 1,800 1.500 1,200 850 7.950

Truck Cost 800

Upkeep

300 750

Maintenance

1,050 1,000

Janitor

Stations Equipment

Maintenance

Janitor

500

Stations

and

Repairs Supplies Printing and Postage

Light, Heat, Power and Water Tel. and Travel Misc.

400 600

Equipment and Repairs

600

Supplies

Printing and Postage Light, Heat, Power and Water Tel. and Travel Misc.

600 600 300 4,600

400 600 600 600 600 300 5,100

Books

Books 8,000 at $1.25

1,000 1 ,000

10,000

4,800 at $1.25

20,000

6,000 20,000

89

Initial

needed:

bookstock

vols, each for 169 schools 35 vols, each for 50 92 communities

5.9I5 4,600 10,515 2,500 8,000

Educ. Dept. will lend Library purchase State

10,500

$25,000

Budget

A

$25,000 budget would amount to $.211 tax on each $1,000 of property valuation or $.237 per capita of the population of the county.

Beacon $2,347.50 Poughkeepsie would contribute $10,525 'Normal Budget Beginning

Annual Budget {or F irst Three Years

Fourth Year Staff

Staff

Librarian

2,400

Librarian

Assistant

1,500

Assistant

Helper

3,000 1,800 1,500 1,200

700 4,600

Helper

850 8,350

Truck

Truck Cost

Cost

300

Upkeep

300 1,000

Upkeep

500 800

1,300

Maintenance

Maintenance 1,200

Janitor

Equipment

Stations

and

Repairs

Equipment 750

Printing and Postage Light, Heat, Power

750

and Water

Tel. and Travel

1,500 and

Repairs

500

Supplies

1,200

Janitor

1 ,000

Stations

750

Printing and Postage Light, Heat, Power

750

and Water

750

Tel. and Travel

750 6,100

750 750 6,600

Books

Books 10,800 vols, at $1.25

7,000 vols, at $1.25

13,500 25,000

Initial

500

Supplies

bookstock

8,750 25,000

needed:

vols, each for 169 schools 60 vols, each for 92 communities

7,604

45

5,520 13,124 90

State Educ. Dept.

Library

will

lend

2,300 10,800

purchase

13,100

In

general, the New Jersey and Delaware counties which the writer visited spent more proportionately on books and salaries

and somewhat less on maintenance.

will give will cost. It will

The suggested

very good idea of what the county library be noticed immediately how little overhead there is in such a library. Most of the money goes directly into books, and into the salaries of trained people who will make

budgets

a

It will

those books available.

be noticed also that the suggested

very small addition to the county tax bill as a whole. Fifteen thousand dollars, if added to the aggregate property taxes of the county, would be only three-tenths of one

budgets would make

a

per cent of the total, and twenty-five thousand dollars,

if added,

would be only six-tenths of one per cent. The man with ten thousand dollars of taxable property, would pay about the price of one book, or less than the price of a magazine subscription, for the privilege of receiving in his own community as many books and magazines as he and all his family could read.

Each person in the county can be assured that the state will do everything in its power to help the county library give ade quate service from the time it opens, and that it will hold the county library up to high standards of good service thereafter.

It will help the county organize the library, plan the budget,

plan the book truck routes, and map out the communities where there should be stations. It will cooperate in making known to the county residents what they may expect of the library. It will loan from one thousand to five thousand books from the

traveling library collection for a period of one to three years varying with the population and the local needs. It will recom mend to the state officials that they expend their school funds

through the county library for school use.

9'

It will

recommend

to the local libraries that they borrow books from and lend books to the county library, and that they turn their book funds, if

limited, over to the county library for the purchase of books for the library which might later be borrowed by other libraries. It will supervise the county library through its approval of the books purchased, and through its aid to the librarian and trustees in problems of administration. Furthermore the county library may borrow books and obtain information which are not avail able in the county from the State Library.88 Dutchess County Library

A

Dutchess County

Library

is then the solution

A

and library needs in the county.

of the book

two-year demonstration of

service would prove this conclusively.

The

one

thing necessary

to its establishment is a county-wide campaign which will result in the residents of all parts of the county requesting their super visors for a county library service.

A county library means: equal chance for country children; educational opportunity for all; recreation through books for everyone.

It will

come

as

soon

enough organizations individuals in the county become active in its behalf.

88 Felton,

R. A.

Library of the open road.

as

p. 27-28.

9*

and

BIBLIOGRAPHY For

those interested in reading further about county library service, Miss Long's book, County Library Service and Miss Fair's book, Countrywide Library Ser vice give an authoritative and adequate picture of what can be done for a rural

area.

American Library Association.

1923. Council. American

Proceedings of the

Library Association.

Hot Springs Conference, Bulletin, 17:153. July,

American Library Association. A Survey of libraries in

the

United

States.

Chi

4 vols.

American Library Association. Committee on Library Extension. Books for town and country. Chicago, 1928. 16 p.

American Library Association. Committee on Library Extension. Library ex tension: a study of public library conditions and needs. Chicago, 1 926. cago,

1927.

163 p.

American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

Annual re-port for 1934.

Washington, 1935. 27 p.

Askew, S. B. County libraries and rural schools in New Jersey. School Life,

March, 1930.

15:121-123.

Askew, S. B. New Jersey county libraries.

April 1, Ayer, N. W.

1927. and Sons.

Directory

delphia, 1934.

Bostwick, A. E. The American 471 PBostwick, A. E., editor.

Brunner, E. de S. and

of newspapers and periodicals, 1934. public library.

T he Library

J.

Library Journal, 52:341-344.

New York, 1929.

Phila 4th ed.

and society . New York, 1920. 474 p. social trends. New York, 1933.

H. Kolb. Rural

386 p.

Brunner, E. de S. Village Communities. New York, 1927. 244 p. (Institute of Social and Religious Research. American Village Studies. E. de S. Brun ner, director)

Chamber of Commerce, Poughkeepsie. Industrial survey of the city of Pough keepsie. Poughkeepsie, 1930. Pamphlet.

Contrasts in library service. American Library Association. Bulletin. 29:249.

May, 1935.

Dairymen's

League Cooperative Association, Incorporated.

Story of the year,

New York, 1932. Pamphlet.

1931-1932.

Fair, E. M. Countrywide

library service. Chicago, 1 934. 208 p. the school. Chicago, 1930. 453 p.

Fargo, Felton, R. A., and Marjorie Beal. The Library of the open road. Cornell Ex tension Bulletin. Ithaca, New York. Bulletin 188. November, 1929. 50 p.

General Federation of Women's Clubs. Committee on Library Extension.

L. F. The Library in

Books for everybody. 8 p.

Hasbrouck, Frank, editor. History of Dutchess County, keepsie, New York, 1909.

93

New York.

Pough

Johnson, B. L. The Secondary school library. U. S. Department of the In terior. Office of Education.

National Survey of Education.

Washington, Bulletin Number 1932, 1933.

17. Monograph Number 17. 109 p.

Lathrop, E. A. County library service to rural schools. U. S. Department of the Interior. Office of Education.

Washington, 1930. Bulletin 1 930, Number 20. 53 p.

Lathrop, E. A. A Study of rural school practices and services. U. S. Depart With the cooperation of the ment of the Interior. Office of Education. of New York.

Chicago, Carnegie Corporation 1934. 105 p.

Long, H. C. County library service. Chicago, 1925. 206 p.

Long, H. C. Library extension through county libraries. Public Libraries, 26: 7-8. January,

1921.

Looking toward national planning.

August,

28:453-456.

American

Library Association.

Bulletin,

1934.

Lynd, R. S., and H. L. Middletown. New York, 1929. 550 p.

New York State. Tax Commission. Annual report, 1933. Albany, New York, 1934-

New York Doran,

363 PState.

H. F.

Agricultural Experiment Station. Ithaca, New York.

Social and economic areas of Yates County, New York. Bul

letin $20. October, 193 1 . 51 p.

Hoffsommer, H. C. Relation of cities and larger villages to changes in rural trade and social areas in Wayne County, New York. Bulletin 582.

February, 1 934. 61 p.

Melvin, B. L. Village service agents. Bulletin 403. August, 1929. 1 17 p.

Paxson, A. M. Relationships of open-country families of Onondaga County, New York, to socio-economic areas; villages and cities. Bulletin 584.

February, 1934. 71 p.

Sanderson, Dwight. Social and economic areas of Broome County, New

York. 1928. Bulletin 559. May, 1933. 79 p.

Taylor, E. A. Relationship of the open-country population of Genesee County, New York, to villages and cities. Bulletin 583. February, 1934- 59 PWakeley, R. E. Communities

of Schuyler County, New York, 1927. Bul letin 524. June, 1931. 74 p.

Wasson, C. R., and Dwight Sanderson. Relation of community areas to town government in the state of New York. Bulletin 555. April, 1933-

New York Paul,

56 p.

Library. Lending rules. Albany, 1933. 8 p.

American Library Association.

Regional coordination.

State

H. L.

Juty> 193428:389-393Ronan, E. C. Instituting a county library.

Bulletin

Public Libraries 26:9-11. January,

1921.

Standard library organization and equipment for secondary schools.

University of the State of New York Bulletin, number 713. July I, 1920. 39 p.

Stewart, H. G. Advantages and difficulties in the administration of a regional library unit. American Library Association. Bulletin 28:606. September, 193494

Stingley, Grace. Studying a community in order to render better library ser vice. Public Libraries 26:4-6. January, 192 1.

The Story of a county library. Number I, Tompkins County. Number 2,

U.

Chemung County. Number 3, Monroe County. Pamphlets.

S. Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930.

Volume 1.

Washington, Population.

Population, Volume 3, 1931-33.

U. U.

part 2. Reports by states: Montana- Wyoming, 1932. Population. Volume 6. Families.

S. Country Life Commission. Report. Washington, D. C, 1909. 65 p.

S. Department of the Interior. Geological Survey. Topographical map.

State of New York. Rhinebeck.

Poughkeepsie. Millbrook. Clove.

S. Post Office Department. Map of Dutchess County showing the rural de

U.

livery service. Washington, n.d.

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Regulation of the Commissioner of Education governing the issuance of certificates to school librarians in N'ew York State. Albany, 1930. 2 p.

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. Important laws, rules and regulations relating to public libraries and free libraries in New York State. Albany, n.d. Handbook 8, part

L.

106 p.

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. Public libraries. Handbook 8, part p. 54 p.

University of the State of New York. State Education Department. Library Extension Division. The Purchase of school library books. 2 p. Mimeo graphed.

University of the State of New York. State Education Extension Division. School librarians' certificates. 2 University of the State of New York. State Education Extension Division. State traveling libraries, what obtain them. Handbook 8, part t. 12 p.

Van Sant, Clara. Planning a county library campaign.

Department.

Library

p.

Department.

Library they are and how to

Public Libraries 26:1-4.

January, 1921.

Wheeler, J. L. Library and the community. Chicago, 1924. 417 p.

Williams, A. W. How good is your town? Forms for citizens survey. Madi son, Wisconsin,

193 1.

124 p.

95

STATISTICS OF PUBLIC AND ASSOCIATION LIBRARIES,

1933

The source of the statistics for public libraries is the reports of the libraries to the Library Extension Division of the New York State Education department for the year 1933. The Education Department gives aid in purchasing books to public libraries which fulfill certain requirements as defined on pages 19-20.

From these libraries it requires an annual report. The statistics of those libraries which do not make annual reports were obtained directly from the libraries by the writer or were left incomplete. Hyde Park and Staatsburg libraries are asso ciation libraries and require a membership fee of borrowers. Comparing them to public libraries is not really fair because they do not intend, as public libraries do, to serve the whole population. The libraries in Pine Plains and Quaker Hill are public, but they are small and not eligible for aid from the state. They keep almost no statistics. The library in Fishkill has applied for aid from the state but it had been opened for less than a year at the time of this report.

The "population served" is taken to mean the population of the city or village in which the library is located. A circulation of one book means that one bound volume, pamphlet, or unbound periodical is lent for home use, or that the loan of the volume is renewed under the library rules. No increase is made be cause the volume is read by more than one person during the period of the loan.

The Library Extension Division has worked out for libraries, according

The classification, "state standard" to their size, certain minimum standards. includes those standards to which the statistics given by the libraries here may be compared. Credits are given to libraries for attaining a minimum standard as regards bookstock, circulation, budget, staff and service given. On the basis of these credits, ratings are given to the libraries. A rating of one hundred percent or over indicates highly satisfactory service; a rating of seventy-five percent to one hundred percent shows fair to good service; a rating of fifty percent to seventy-five percent shows poor to fair service; and a rating of less than fifty percent shows very poor and unsatisfactory service.

The number of registered borrowers in Millerton and the total circulation in Tivoli can not be compared fairly to similar categories of other libraries.

Both of these figures have been compiled by in other libraries.

97

a

different method from that used

Amenta

Population served Volumes in the library

Arlington

Dover Plain*

Beacon

900

775

H.933

3.788

2,693

13,221

500 1,504

7.765

6,352

84,189

2,867

186

343

3.990

340

7 12

10

60

8

12

Total expenditure

9

454.12

294.13

48 5,370.68

178.12

Expenditure for books, binding, periodicals Volumes per capita of the

232.87

50.55

1,838.65

79.44

3-8

1.1

3-0

4.0

4.0

1.5

6.0

Total circulation Number of registered borrowers

Number of hours library

the

is open weekly state standard

population

served

state standard

Volumes added per capita state standard

.2

.1

.1

.2

.2

.2

.1

•3

8.6

8.2

7-1

5.7

8.0

8.0

5.0

9.0

registered

20.7

44-3

33.4

68.0

state standard

50.0

50.0

30.0

60.0

42.0 16.0

18.5

21.

1

8.4

16.0

16.7

15.0

12.0

18.0

6.0

25.0

20.0

Circulation per capita of the population served state standard Percent of the total population Circulation

per capita of registered borrowers state standard

Percent nonfiction circulation is of total circulation state standard

Percent children's circulation is of total circulation state

standard

Percent of expenditures for books, binding, periodicals state standard Percent of expenditures for salaries state

Rating

20.0

18.8

39.8

26.4

18.7

35-o

35.0

40.0

35-0

51-3

17.2

34.2

44.6

30.0

30.0

25.0

45.0

22.9

61.2

42.8

0

standard

Expenditure per capita of the population served state

10.7 20.0

standard

of the library

55.0 .51

.38

1. 00

1. 00

85.56

80.06

•45

.36

00

1. 00

67.88

62.04

1.

Fishkill

Hyde Park

Millbrook 1,296

Miller ton

Pawling

Pine Plains

950 3,802

919 2,195

1,204

1,209

9,531

3,133

5,000

4,833

21,803

5,577

5,771

82

926

835

315

*5

10

28

12

12

18

9 12

9 18

552 1, 800

307

18

3,913.27

685.65

196.49

150.00

550.82

210.63

192.49

3-3

4.O

7-4

2-4

2.6

5-0

4.0

3-5

4.0

3-5

34

•4

.1

•3

.2

.2

.3 .2

.2

.2

5-1

16.8

6.1

9.0

8.0

8.0

8.0

4.8 8.0

8.0

55.6 60.0

1 0.0

71-5

90.9

26.2

50.0

50.0

50.0

50.0

58.9 16.0

23.6 16.0

6.7 16.0

18.3

15.0

16.0

16.0

10.8 20.0

20.0

24.7 20.0

2.2 20.0

14.6 20.0

20.0

24.4

28.3

1 1.6

16.4

35-0

35.0

35.0

35.0

35.0

14.1

30.7

98.0

37-5

30.0

30.0

30.0

30.0

30.0

54.2

26.3 50.0

50.0

50.0

1. 00

1. 00

3.02 1. 00

•7S

.16

1. 00

1. 00

184.07

69.20

65.90

99

3-5

50.0

35-0

1. 00

Pleasant Valley

Population served Volumes in the library Total circulation Number of registered borrowers

Number of hours the library

is open weekly state standard

Total expenditure

440 4,902

Quaker Poughkeepsie

40,288

6,675

80,757 222,644

178

13,188

8

68

9

60

Hill

148* 4,000

Red Hook

996 3,923 4,446 •93

9

4 12

344-54

33,237-95

282.93

50.32

6,274.17

77-51

for books,

Expenditure binding, periodicals Volumes per capita of the

1 1.1

2.0

3-9

6.0

'-S

4.0

•3

.1

.1

*3

.1

.2

15.2

5-5

4-5

9.0

5.0

8.0

population registered state standard

40.5 60.0

32-7

19.4

30.0

50.0

per capita of registered borrowers state standard

37-5

16.9

15.0

16.7

23.0 16.0

7.2 20.0

28.4 20.0

20.0

population served state standard Volumes added per capita state standard Circulation

per capita of

the population served state standard Percent of the total

Circulation

Percent nonaction circulation is of total circulation state standard

Percent children's circulation is of total circulation state standard

Percent of expenditures for books, binding, periodicals state standard Percent of expenditures for salaries

16.1

24.1

1 1.9

35.0

40.0

35-o

14.6

18.9

27.4

45.0

25.0

30.0

36.3

48.5 60.0

36.0

state standard

Expenditure per capita of the population served state standard

Rating of the library

8.1

.78 1. 00

90.72

100

.83

1. 00

84.17

.28 1. 00

58.65

Rhinebeck

Rhineclijf

Staatsburg

Tivolc

''

*

TYappingers

falh

I TvWlf.

'""•:3;J3:6'*-::68;936;

1,569

608

11,321

3,251

600 6,000

3>675

7,070

16,425

2,928

1,700

20,690

27,552

63O

174

30

270

956

22^ l8

33*3

14 12

22

30 24 3,184.80

12

71V

12

5,236.59

1,672.20

500.00

379.90

214.43

128.62

40.00

66.03

717.27

7.2 3.0

5-4

1 0.0

5-2

2.1

5.0

5-o

5.0

2.0

.1

.2

.2

.1

.1

.2

•3

•3

•3

.1

IO.5

4-8

2.8

29.0

8-3

7.0

9.0

9.0

9.0

6.0

40.2

28.6

45.O

60.0

5.0 60.0

37-9 60.0

40.0

26.I l6.0

16.8

56.7

76.6

28.8

15.0

15.0

15.0

16.0

20.0

27.3 20.0

13.4 20.0

36.1

25.2

35-o

35.0

5-5

1.2

20.0

20.0

35-o

35.0

30.8 35.0

28.7

4-1

7-7

8.0

17.4

22.5

25.0

37-5

37-5

37-5

25.0

11. 2

38.5

72.0

54.0

41.4 50.0

50.0 3-34 1. 00

2.75 1. 00

108.30

122.55

•«3 1. 00

101

•53

.96

1. 00

1. 00

124.76

87.22

STATISTICS OF VILLAGE AND CITY SCHOOLS,

1933-193+

"

.

'; The statistics of the village and city schools are based on a state survey of school libraries made by the Library Extension Division of the State Education The figures are for the school year, 1933-34.

The Department in 1934. number of volumes in the library per capita of the teachers and pupils, the num ber of volumes per capita, and the circulation per capita are based on the figures

Amenta

High School Number of teachers

Number of pupils Number of volumes Number of periodicals Total circulation Expenditure for books and periodicals Number of volumes per teacher and pupil

Number of volumes

9

334

215

900

465

14

4 4,700

0

16.79

I3o-S3

31.01

14.7

2.6

2.1

.6

.2

.3

13.6

daily

hours spent in library certificate

Librarian's

6

1,779

added per capita

average

II

Arlington College Ave.

112

Circulation per capita of teachers and pupils Librarian's

Arlington High School

2j4 Limited

102

2

Temporary

No librarian

given by the schools Division.

in the questionnaires sent out by the Library Extension

The qualifications of librarians on the

basis

of which certificates

are granted

are explained on pp. 19-20.

The figures given for expenditures for books and periodicals are not quite comparable, as some librarians included library equipment in this figure, and others omitted some of their purchases.

Beacon

Beacon

Beacon

High School

South Ave.

Spring St.

II

16

2,500

520 1,054

Dover Plains High School

Hyde Park Union Free 8

430 2,655

227

183

56S

1,032

6

2

14

8

87O

603.77

IIO.74

134.00 5-5

2.0

6.0

2.4

.2

.2

.2

3.7

No librarian

No librarian

Permanent

103

2

No librarian

Millkrook Memorial

Number

of teachers

21

Number of pupils Number of volumes

Millerton High School 10

16

4I2

171

829

1,690

406 1,400

13

12

17

Number of periodicals Total circulation

2,071

Expenditure for books and periodicals

I97.79

102.10

1-9

6.0

Number of volumes per teacher and pupil Number of volumes added per capita

.1

Circulation per capita of teachers and pupils Librarian's

average

306.OO 3-3 *4

4.8

daily

hours spent in library Librarian's certificate

Number

Pawling

High School

of teachers

1

Temporary

Poughkeepsie Freshman High School

Poughkeepsie Washington St. Freshman H.S.

10

of pupils Number of volumes Number of periodicals Total circulation Number

3

Temporary

486 Pupils use the

H.S. library

2/2 Limited

Poughkeepsie

Clinton School

6

16

200

470

1 79

428

5

7

7,900

Expenditure for books and periodicals

70.18

Number of volumes per teacher and pupil

132.00

•9

•9

.1

•5

Number of volumes added per capita Circulation per capita of teachers and pupils Librarian's

average

16.3

daily

hours spent in library Librarian's

6

certificate

104

Pine Plains Central School

Pleasant Valley School

Poughkeepsie Town Fairvtew Viola

Poughkeepsie High School

6

S

48

519

281

235

225

M37

780

952

590

396

5.362

1

3

480

820

40 30,635

31.01

2.50

101.50

626.85

M

3-3

2.4

'•7

4-5

.2

.2

.1

.2

.2

'•7

3-6

22

9

6,015 165.OO

1 1.1

3

No librarian

No librarian

No librarian

and assistant Permanent

Temporary

Poughkeepsie Columbus School

25.9

Full time

Poughkeepsie Elsworth School

Poughkeepsie

Franklin School

Poughkeepsie Krieger School

IS

13

IS

12

550

410 1,140

544 947

402 1,200

6

11

896

Poughkeepsie

Lincoln School

9 320 1,228 0

4 8,822

7,608

9,900

294.71

399-50

295.38

177.00

1.6

*.7

i.7

2.9

3.7

•3

•5

•3

•5

.8

20.9

13-6

23-9

1

1,760

5-3 3

?A

S*A points in summer school

3

8

Limited

105

Temporary

hours

3 days

wkly

Poughkeepsie Morse School

Number of teachers Number of pupils Number of volumes Number of periodicals Total circulation Expenditure for books and periodicals Number of volumes per teacher and pupil

Number of volumes added per capita Circulation per capita of teachers and pupils

Poughkeepsie Smith School

Poughkeepsie

Warring School

22

18

23

667 1,640

693 1,424

807 2,965

10

10

15

6)766

13,910

18,392

389.OS

357-94

250.00

M

2.0

3.6

•S

.2

•s

9.8

19.6

22.2

4 credits

6J4

Librarian's

average daily hours spent in library

6y2 12

Librarian's

certificate

One-year

Wappingers Falls Union School

Number Number

of teachers

for permanent

Private Academies: Oaktcood

22

490 1,250

119 5,000

15

19

Total circulation

5,667

teacher and pupil Number of volumes added per capita Circulation per capita of teachers and pupils Librarian's average daily hours spent in library Librarian's

certificate

5/. Ann's Hermitage 9

of pupils Number of volumes Number of periodicals Expenditure for books and periodicals Number of volumes per

One-year

72

6,025 25

4.373

I 70.00

115.42

197-43

»-4

42.0

74-4

.2

•4

1-9

1 1.1

53-9

Limited

3 -year

7

106

Red Hook High School

Rhinebeck

Staatsburg

High School

High School

Stanford Union School

Tivoli Union School

18

14

6

8

130

168

1>754

363 2,341

288 1,500

587

943

7

7

16

8

13

26l

1,932 220.00

I3S-07

6.4

6.1

•4

•7

400.00 5.0 .8

98.00

135.00

4-3

5-4

•3

7.0

Poughkeepsie St. Peter's

II 350 1,815 4

2j4-year

Ho/>« Farm

'5

226 5,164 26 7,789

277.00

95-H

5.0

21.4

,4

1-5

32-3

4/2

.2

9.1

2J4 Permanent

10

1,604

3*4 Permanent

2

Limited

No librarian

3

STATISTICS OF RURAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS,

1933-1934

The statistics for rural schools were obtained from the Statistics and Ap The figures are for portionment Bureau of the State Education Department.

Statistics are given here for all schools, elementary the school year 1933-34. or secondary, which are under the supervision of the rural school superintend ents of Dutchess County.

NO O

1

o-

<r>,+ O

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00

1-1

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>•> vO vO O £>>

,

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2

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3

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1 9

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11

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pupil

3

34 6.9

91

1-

11 94 -91

9

8l

11

4.

-

per

added

9olumes

1

811

4

11.6

8 -81.1

I

11.1

3

11

99.-

9

-61

1.1

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52

15

11

19.8

1

9olumes

of

Number

1

5 61.9

4

69.1

6

pupils volumes

0

of

4

Number

Total

1

teachers

1 HYDE

19

1.-

-3

9-Âť

5

of

1-

1

District

FISH9ILL

10

14

-6.6

n

1818

196.9

-

Number

9 9*

1

pupil

98

per

5 1 981

19

9-

9

9olumes

added

9olumes

1 199

-

99

1.-

10

-6

14

99

9

-

9

6 1.-

114

9

911

7

18

181

-.6

46

Total

-

91

4.1

-

9>

9

pupils volumes

1

of

4

of

1

Number

9

Number

s

FISH9ILL

-

teachers

19

99.6

8

of

91

91

18.1

-

District

1AST

90

19

0

Number

9

pupil

-

4

3 1

per

added

9olumes

-

91

4

69

5 9 --.1

9

-

98

-

-9.1

8 1

19

i --.1

10

9

9olumes

of

Number

2

9 9

pupils volumes

of

Number

teachers

6

of

District

7

Number

DO91R

9 81

1

-

19

1.6

49-

91

186.1

Total

8.1

191

16.8

Total

Ul CI w .

O c> *>+"

"3

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"

OO O* <sl

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10

961

496

9

49

91 -69

1.9 14-

-8

9

per

added

9olumes

1

-.1

19

-

11

3 1

191.1

11

9.8 11

9.-

11

4816

119

1.8

96

10

11 -81

91

u

-

Volumes

of

Number

99

9

4.1

44

9

18.9

16

9 9

8.9

-15

-6.9

Total

9

pupils volumes

of

a

Number

RHIN1B1C9

94

-89

16-.1

7

of teachers

pupil

6-

-6-9

-69

19

-9

164

666.9

Total

8

Number

per

9

4

-

District

9olumes

added

-

9

5

54

6 1

8

9olumes

1 99

6

3

pupils volumes

9 94

7

--

of

41

61.9

-

4

of

9

196

1.9

8 1

-

Number

teachers

HOO9

11

194

1

5

Number

of

-

District

R1D

91

969

99

1

Number

pupil

1

per

added

9olumes

1 1' 4

4 1

4

4.1

5 1

11.1

1

9olumes

of

4 9

pupils volumes

of

i

Number

a

Number

teachers

3

of

6

Number

District

POUGH911PSI1

9 9

11

'19

12

9 1

6

-

O

1

-

-

-

-

1

981

616-

91.1

Total

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Oh g

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3

3 "3 "3

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I "Ms"?

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> >

THE UNSERVED POPULATION AND THE AREAS OF INTENSIVE LIBRARY SERVICE IN DUTCHESS COUNTY The Library Extension Division of the State Education Department has set sixty per cent

as

the highest percentage of

registered borrowers which one may expect to find in the total

population of a village or small community. In order to deter mine the area of intensive library service around each library, the number of registered borrowers in that library was taken to equal sixty per cent of the population served intensively. On a pop ulation map of the county on which a dot was placed to represent

fifty persons in the total population, circles were described which included enough dots to equal the size of the population each

intensively served. Because a city library almost never has sixty per cent of the people in the city registered as borrowers, the city lines of Poughkeepsie and Beacon were taken as the bound aries of satisfactory service.

The village boundary of Millerton

arbitrarily taken as the extent of satisfactory service, because the record of the number of borrowers is kept differently here

was

from that of the other libraries.

It will

be noted that the area

the rural libraries

This

particularly true of the libraries which must depend mainly on a town or village tax for their support. A large rural area in the county is inadequately is

small.

of intensive service around

served.

"5

is

Registered Borrower!*0

Library**

Amenia

186

Arlington

343

â&#x2122;ŚBeacon

Dover Plains

Fishkill Hyde Park Millbrook *Millerton Pawling Pine Plains

310

3,990

570 11,933

340

570

307

510

82

140

926

1,540

835

1,390

315

530

?

Pleasant Valley

178

13,188

*Poughkeepsie Quaker Hill Red Hook

300 40,288

f

630

320 1,050

174

290

â&#x20AC;˘93

Rhinebeck

Rhinecliff Staatsburg

Tivoli

Wappingers

Population Served Intensively

Falls

30

SO

270

450 1,590

956

The ratio of column I, registered borrowers, to column 2, population served is 60:100, except in the case of the starred libraries.

Statistics of public and association libraries, p. 97*101.

intensively,

117

TOTAL YEARLY CIRCULATION AND PER CAPITA

CIRCULATION OF PUBLIC AND SCHOOL LIBRARIES The

A

of the circle represents the total yearly circulation of the library. represents school and public libraries which do not keep circulation sta area

tistics.

The shading represents the circulation per capita of the population served.

In the case of a public library, the population served is taken to be the popula tion of the city or village in which it is located. For a school library, the popu lation served is the total number of teachers and pupils.

Per capita

Per capita

Total Circulation

School libraries:91

Arlington High School Dover Plains

High

4,700

School

Per

Capita

Circulation

I3.6

Millbrook Memorial School

87O

3-7

2,071

4.8

Pine Plains Central School

6,015

11. 1

408 820

3.6

30,635

25.9

7,900 8,822

20.9

Poughkeepsie

— Fairview Viola

School

School

— High School Poughkeepsie City Clinton School Elsworth

School

1-7

16.3

Franklin School Krieger School Lincoln School

7,608

13.6

9,900

23.9

1,760

5-3

Morse School

6,766

Smith School

I3,9IO

9.8 19.6

Warring School

18,392

22.2

118

11g

Public libraries:

Total Circulation

Red Hook High School Tivoli Union School

1.932 1,604

Wappingers

Falls Union School

5,667

Per

Capita

Circulation 7.0 9-1 11. 1

Public libraries?2 Amenia Library

Arlington Library Beacon Library Dover Plains Libraiy Hyde Park Library Millbrook Library Millerton Library Pawling Library Pleasant Valley Library Poughkeepsie Library Red Hook Library Rhinebeck Library Rhinecliff Library Staatsburg Library Tivoli Library Wappingers

7.765 6,352

8.6

84,189

7-1

2,867

5-7

4.833 21,803

5-1 16.8

5.577

6.1

5.771 6,675

4.8 15.2

222,644

5-5

4,446

45

16,425

10.5

2,928 1,700

4.8

20,690*

Falls

8.2

27.552

2.8

29.0 8.3

A study of this

map shows a concentration of library use along the Hud and especially around Poughkeepsie and Beacon. This is the area of the greatest population in the county. It is also true that the libraries in this area in general have a higher circulation per capita of the population they are serving than do the ones outside.

An examination of the statistics of public and association libraries on p. 97-10 1 shows that the following libraries have a

son Valley,

lower circulation

per capita than the state expects: Hyde Park and Staatsburg, which are private libraries and charge a membership fee ; Dover Plains, Miller ton, Pawling, Red Hook, and Rhinecliff, all of which serve small populations, and which have small budgets.

Private funds increase the use of the library.

A large population can support a more varied and therefore more useful library than

small population can.

The large statistics of the public schools support the latter point. central school in Pine Plains, the new high school in Arlington, which serves the Poughkeepsie suburbs, and the Poughkeepsie schools have more active libra ries than those in the small villages. The libraries in the small rural elementary a

The

of Viola and Fairview are not used nearly as intensively as are the Poughkeepsie elementary school libraries. A large community makes possible a large budget which will buy the books and pay for the trained personnel neces sary to making a library accessible and useful. schools

91 Statistics 82 Statistics

of village and city schools, p. 102-107. of public and association libraries, p. 97-101. * This figure is inaccurate; it is too large.

120

121

CARDHOLDERS IN THE RENTAL AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES PER THOUSAND OF THE TOTAL POPULATION IN EACH CENSUS ENUMERATION DISTRICT

IN POUGHKEEPSIE

An explanation of Census

these maps

will

be found in Chapter

V, p. 68.

Rate per Thousand Population Rental Libraries Public Libraries

Districts

40

4

80

41

42

4 10

95

43

6

44

4

65 108

45

5

164

46

15

47 48

35 18

91 168 223

49

48

146

50

23

5J

26

81

'75 250

52

29

103

53

149

54

25 12

55

72

191

56

69 62

275

57 58

19

57

59 60

29 40

198

61

15

62

3'

194

63 64

38

289

72

235

68

20

71

'5

72

29

73

'5

122

91

129

223 120

90 24 53 26

RENTAL LIBRARY BORROWERS IN POUGHKEEPSIE Rental libraries Rate per thousand ' of the population , *

O — location

of libraries. ; ;

PUBLIC LIBRARY BORROWERS IN POUGHKEEPSIE

Public libraries Rate per thousand of the population"

O — location of libraries :*,:::*.

123

1 24