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Serving Readers in a Time of Depression
Acting Executive Assistant, Board on the Library and Adult Education IN THE Bulletin of last month, Julia Wright Merrill discussed the challenge of the depression in relation to library management--ways of meeting budget and salary cuts, methods of offsetting the results of curtailment of book funds--in short, the problems of internal administration of library organization. It is the purpose of this article to discuss service to readers in a time of depression and to report ways in which some libraries are meeting present needs of their communities. CIRCULATION INCREASESThe extent to which libraries have been caught in the maelstrom of the times is reflected in that most obvious of library barometers--circulation statistics. One report after another records an increase in circulation during the period of the last year or two, or compares several months of the year 1931 with the same period of time in previous years, showing an increase. "In October, 1931, the library had the largest circulation--191,472 volumes--of adult books, of any month in its history," says the St. Louis Public Library Report. A recent report from Savannah, Georgia (November, 1931), states that "the circulation is considerably larger than in any previous year, over 300,000 books having been withdrawn for home use in the twelve months just passed, or 7 per cent more than the year before." Carl B. Roden writes, in an editorial in the Staff News of the Chicago Public Library for September: "Despite the terrible heat, and despite the complete lack of new books and the suspension of replacements, the circulation for July increased by 178,000 and for August by 220,000 over last year (when the branches were on an 8-hour schedule), and while some of the gain is accounted for by the longer schedule and by new branches, the normal increase throughout the system is substantial enough to show that the library is more than ever performing a service that is needed and appreciated." Nor is this true only of large cities. The librarian of Rice Lake, Wisconsin, says: "Circulation statistics for June, July, and August show an increase of 2,117 over the corresponding months of last summer." The librarian of Superior, Wisconsin, reports an increase of 21,731 for 1931 over the circulation of the previous year. TYPES OF READERS AND READING INTERESTSMiss Linda A. Eastman, in her article, "The Part of the City Library in the Vocational Guidance of Adults," discusses the reading interests of both unemployed and employed readers who are seeking vocational aid in the Cleveland library. A glance through reports of other libraries likewise reveals a striking demand from readers for books on trades, vocations, occupations--what the President's Organization on Unemployment Relief has characterized as "such technical works as would prove most valuable to persons who are utilizing the present time to further their technical and educational training." Second in demand to the books on vocational and technical subjects are the books on the political, social, and economic questions of the day. The Los Angeles Public Library reports that the sociology room was badly in need of a "standing room only" sign during many days of the past year. The five thousand reserve postals left at the desk of that room bear witness to the interest of patrons in the field of sociology. There are also calls for books on handicraft, budget making, home industries, and ways and means of making money. DEMAND FOR BOOKS OF ROMANCEThe third type of reading for which there is a demand is, of course, the recreational reading. One library, at least--the Chicago Public Library--reports a "demand for romantic literature of the mid-Victorian authors," as reported in the Publishers' Weekly by Mr. Frederick M. Hopkins. "'Probably because of the present economic situation, modern realism has become less palatable,'" Mr. Roden is quoted as saying. "'People are selecting reading that enables them to take synthetic flights into the realm of fantasy. They want temporary release from life's realities which romance and fiction offer. Calls for Charles Dickens and his contemporary English writers are more numerous than ever before.'" "We have noticed an increasing interest in and a greater demand for book; picturing life and conditions, political, social, and economic, in Russia, China and India," states the librarian of the Davenport (Iowa) Public Library. These reports bear out Mr. Charles A. Beard's statement that this depression differs from others in that it is leading men and women to the serious task of thinking. HOW LIBRARIES ARE MEETING THESE INTERESTSHow are libraries meeting the various demands enumerated? Obviously they are purchasing as many books as possible upon these subjects, and are relating their existing collections to the current problems by issuing many and varied lists. The Los Angeles Public Library has published lists on Russia today, Various views of the world, Your financial barometer, and The unemployment dilemma. In Cleveland, the public library has issued a series of excellent lists on: Office work, Twenty-two trades, Building, Metal trades, The home repair man, and Home crafts. The lists on Unemployment, and Glimpses of New Russia, issued by the Seattle Public Library, reflect the reading interests of the people of that city. The Guide Post of the Cincinnati Public Library combined with its reading list last February sound suggestions for the men and women who, through unemployment, are seeking ways of using their enforced leisure.
Books on Feeding the Family, Ways of Making Money at Home, the Art of Family Life, and Reading were introduced and set out in a similar manner by the same library. Many libraries, forced to work on a reduced budget at the very time when their world is being expanded, are devising ingenious ways of making their old books fit the situation. Mary Katharine Reely, writing in the November issue of the Wisconsin Library Bulletin, says: "Now is the time to read old books'" and points out various ways in which old books may be used. "All of the clever promotion methods devised to call attention to new books could be modified and adapted to meet the needs of the case." She then lists fourteen ways of presenting old books. This method applies particularly to recreational reading--the reading of fiction --since it is generally the fiction budget which first receives the cut, and since it is to fiction that readers turn in an effort to forget themselves and their problems. Mr. Roden's article in the December 1 issue of the Library Journal is eloquent testimony to the reception readers give such reemphasis upon old books. There is no doubt that those "new" readers who have just discovered the public library at this time, when other means of recreation are lost to them, are a large part of the increased patronage. They are entitled to as much attention as the serious or inquiring reader, and the library is doing no small thing in serving them. To many, the public library is the only cheerful place in their lives. THE LIBRARY IN THE COMMUNITYHaving noted briefly the library in relation to its job of supplying the wants of its book-reading public, let us see what place libraries are taking as an agency in the community. "Impartial observers say that with the exception of those agencies giving actual relief, the public libraries of the United States are perhaps our most important public institutions during times of business depression," Mr. Ralph Munn, director of the Carnegie Library at Pittsburgh, has said. Obviously, they are offering a warm place to many a drifter who goes through the motions of reading for the sake of a place to sit, and the sense of shelter. Men of this character are responsible for many a filled chair in reading and reference rooms throughout the country, and who shall say that this is not a legitimate use of a community institution? As far back as 1914 the St. Louis Public Library opened a public writing room, where paper and envelopes of medium grade are supplied free, and postage stamps and post cards may be purchased at cost. "The custodian takes dictation, does typewriting and notarial work, and receives orders for translations from foreign language at current rates. The amount received by the custodian from these sources makes it possible for her to care for the room without cost to the library." Some adaptation of this idea might be applied at this time, and would perhaps be possible in many libraries which have an unused room or space. This same need for shelter and warmth might well induce libraries which are able to carry the increased hours and the resulting expense to keep their reading rooms open beyond the usual time limit. The St. Louis Public Library also makes available to groups its assembly and club rooms. "Unemployment Council No. 2 and the Workers' Union against Unemployment met in the Crunden Branch during the year," says the report. In the article already referred to, Miss Eastman mentions ways in which the Cleveland Public Library helps those seeking educational and vocational aid by means of directories of all vocational agencies in the city and also of schools and classes, with detailed records of what they offer. Men and women have a right to expect of their public libraries knowledge of this sort, and the directory idea might well be expanded to include directories of relief organizations, employment agencies, sources of credit, and--in cities where money is being spent to "make work"--a directory of sources for that work. SOCIAL WORKERS ASSISTEDLibraries are being used to a greater extent than previously by other community organizations, as adjuncts to their special work. "This year we have cooperated more than usual with social workers from various organizations who have referred both children and adults to us for guided reading to fit their special needs," says one report. Y.M.C.A.'s and Y.W.C.A.'s have asked A.L.A. Headquarters for leaflets and reading lists--"anything that makes reading attractive"-- which could be distributed in waiting rooms of their buildings, "where men and women wait for hours--all day--in hopes of getting a job of some kind." Mr. Mason, readers' counselor of Pittsburgh, writes in regard to a reading list on the Struggle for Existence: "The Y. M. C. A. asked for suggestions for reading on Stabilizing Influences during the Crisis. They wanted material that the secretaries could read to keep up courage in the face of possible salary cuts and enough morale to bear with the constant stream of men coming to them with tale. of woe, who must draw on the secretaries for new courage and new inspiration." These scattered incidents are indicative of how organizations and individuals are turning to the library, asking it to meet a need which it alone can meet. There are other noteworthy activities relating to this economic emergency which, although too recent to be recorded in reports, are attracting the interest of librarians. Cooperation with the educational radio broadcasts, especially those on economics, sponsored by the National Advisory Council on Radio in Education, and those of the National League of Women Voters, is one such activity. These broadcasts, with their suggested reading lists, are affording libraries opportunity to display and emphasize the recommended books and other books on the topics discussed. Libraries also are being instrumental in calling to the attention of women's clubs and study groups the timeliness of discussion bearing on politics and economics. They are likewise lending books to groups studying these subjects and bringing to the attention of their public lectures and speeches given in their communities as well as broadcast programs. In these and other ways the library continues to be one of the stabilizing forces in a critical time.
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