Library Story, The 1952

[Music] this is Steve Mason the story we are going to tell though is not his our story is about the building Steve Works in and the people who make that building come alive our story is about a library although this library is a new one it is not much different from most and the people you will see might be your own neighbors like Miss Spencer the librarian well that's about all for today isn't it Miss Spencer yes good night Steve fine so long see you Monday hi there young fell how's the Library business all SW Mr Williams see you on hello [Applause] hello that Mason boy is a nice kid yes Steve's one of the best workers we've had in a long time and what is there about this place that's so fascinating to a boy like Steve he must be a bookworm Steve likes books if that's what you mean Jim but that doesn't keep him from playing ball every chance he can get well I can't understand where the fascination lies for you and for him of course I know there's plenty of excitement in books then I'm sure neither of you has much time to read on the job how right you are then what is it Harriet what keeps you and Steve all the rest of your staff so so keyed up about the library what [Music] does why people Jim people are always exciting and we feel we're here to help them and to stimulate the their interest but what could be more exciting here look these cards are a record of everyone who's registered in the library hundreds of people all kinds why Jim if you could sit here with me and listen to their questions and hear their problems and all about their interests well maybe you'd understand what the library means to me and to Steve and to all the rest of us well we have a little time why not tell me about some of them all right well whom should we start with oh here pick one at random who is this fellow uh Abbot Franklin it's funny that you should pick his name first oh but then maybe it isn't funny at all because do you know Jim that man is on hand every morning every day the library is open Mr Abbott shows up sometimes even before I do he's a retired lawyer working on a book about the history of this community he spends most of the morning over there in the microfilm room doing research reading over back issues of local papers photographed on film and making pages of notes but you'd be just as liable to find him later in the day buried behind a newspaper magazine trying to keep a breast of world events as well as things that happen right here in town and then Mr Abbott will show up whenever I'm setting up a new exhibit in the art room you know we often feature The Works of local artists here and in that Gallery Mr Abbott gets even more material for his book about the community but no matter how busy he is about his own matters he's never too busy to notice other people and take a real interest in them like the time he noticed Nancy Smith taking a fancy to some paintings we had on display Nancy was a girl who never quite knew what she was interested in she used to come come to the library and browse a lot but she really wanted some Hobby and it took all Mr Abbott to draw into an interesting subject Nancy became very enthusiastic over painting now we have some of her own paintings on display here well Jim do you believe now that there's more to this Library business than meets the eye well I'm beginning to see what you mean here let's take another one of these cards oh This one belongs to Charlotte Gordon she came in here for the first time about 2 months ago she'd never used a library much before that and confided in me that she wanted to design and make her own costume for the class play well you know how that touched me because designing is one of my favorite hobbies so of course I took a special interest in Charlotte we went through the card catalog to begin with she was going to be satisfied looking under C only for costume designing but I showed her how there might be some more information under dress making and in some other categories too Charlotte setup shop you might say over there in the main reference room and I confess I kept running over every time I could spare a moment to see how she was doing was it long before the designing was done and you know she came in just today to show us all the finished product and believe me it was a job Worth showing I felt some pride in it myself especially since I saw how Charlotte's work was appreciated by her own friends over there in the teenage room it's funny I once doubted the wisdom of having such a room in the library I thought it might not be used but nothing could be further from the truth actually the young people get get so much from the magazines and pamphlets we have there that you couldn't keep them out it's their room and they use it often and no wonder the things we keep in there are designed especially with teenage interests in mind pamphlets on dating and going steady magazines on Sports and hobbies and of course a complete file of college cataloges so you see Jim these are some of the reasons why a librarian loves her job go ahead pick another card telling you about these people is almost as exciting as actually meeting them oh let's see whom did you draw this time lence winred oh Miss Lawrence that's interesting she comes here about twice a week oh you must have seen her around town she's blind but that's just one more reason that books are so important to her she gets so much out of them sometimes I think maybe more than ordinary People Like Us because she's had to learn to read all over again she reads with her fingers in the Braille Corner in that way she can keep a breast of current literature or indulge in any of the classic she may select and she often sits and listens by the hour to the talking book records that the government makes available to the blind through libraries well that reminds me you know of course that we have have other kinds of Records here too for use by anyone our regular music library people listen to them here or take the record albums home and of course we also have a very upto-date film Library consisting mostly of educational films but we also have some documentaries and some other informational films records and films I guess I must be old fashioned I always thought the library was a place to get books yes Jim books are important but the whole idea of the library has changed recently to keep up with Changing Times nowadays people get their ideas from many places newspapers magazines records films television all kinds of sources well since the library serves the community we feel we have to keep up with The Changing Times well I suppose you're right but I'll still think the library is a place to come for books you should Jim you should finding the right book for our Patron is still the most important duty of the librarian and her staff we'll often go out of our way to get a book from outside for one of our patrons from outside yes for instance the other day A Boy by the name of Anie Peterson came in he wanted a book on jet engines it was something very scientific I believe he'd read all the books on the subject in his high school library and he wanted something special we didn't have it in our catalog so I promised AR I would try to get it from another library and sure enough the book came in a week later and you should have seen AR settle down to study it so you see Jim we'll go out of our way to get a book for our patrons but books alone are often not enough here these cards will illustrate my point almost the Allen family trooped in here one day with the announcement that they were going to Alaska and what they didn't want to know about Alaska honestly I thought I was going to have to take a trip there myself to satisfy them we started with books we got by referring to a number of subjects in the catalog and believe me that's where a librarian has to be on her toes but books alone didn't satisfy the Allens Mr Allen had to have information on current conditions so I showed him how to look up the subject in the reader's guide and the children wanted to see some pictures of the country and the people while Mrs Allan naturally wanted to know about the weather and the grocery prices since they planned to stay for 3 months when the Allens left here this afternoon they were really ready to study up on Alaska they even took films on the subject home with them so you see Jim books alone are not enough the library has to cater to the interests of all its patrons sometimes to do this we have to order things from other libraries sometimes all we have to do is arrange to let a group use our conference room I can't see why you'd need a conference room in the library I just can't see it there's your answer Jim H now take this group for instance each Tuesday this group meets here generally there's a panel discussion on some topic of importance I rarely miss a meeting myself if I can help it yes Jim I'm sure that conference room of ours doesn't share to serve the community it's one room I wouldn't want to be without and here's another well even I can understand that I can imagine what goes on in here in the course of a day you probably have a story going on in one corner of the room that's right Jim surely Hunter is no far and wide for the way she can tell a story and then there's probably a group of kids using those tables to color on right and some others reading or working on projects exactly Jim take the brownies for instance they're busy working on a play about nurses you know Jim I think that down deep you're beginning to understand what a library is all about well maybe so at any rate I can't think of a more pleasant way of finding out even if we did spend almost an evening on it oh is it that late well we better get ready to go okay I'll get your code say what a coincidence here's a book I've been wanting to read it's not a coincidence Jim that this book was out where you could see it what do you mean you saw this book because in the first place it's still in its original jacket book jackets a design to be eye-catching and the titles are easy to read and we anti ipate our Patron's interest well how is that well this book was part of a display a display designed to put the books that you may want to read in a place they'll have no trouble catching your eye you see Jim Librarians not only answer questions when asked but try to go out and stimulate interest suggest new books and try and bring the library to the public well you've certainly sold me now how about it do I get to take this book home yes sir if I may see your library card well I'm not sure I still have one yes Jim's beginning to understand the fascination the library has for the people who work in it and the people who use it a Fascination due to books and Records films and art exhibits and aund little services that only a library can render for people know that whether their Library serves a particular group or specializes in one period or one study or attempts like the Library of Congress to store all kinds of recorded knowledge people know that the library is a place where they can come to relax refresh their minds and find out something about the world they live in and about [Music] themselves