Children's This aims to in terest children in books, to develop taste for good reading, to establish the °library to co-operate with schools, and, incidentally, to teach how to use reference books, indexes, catalogs and other bibliographic tools. It ranges from a few separate shelves or an alcove in the general reading-room to one or more separate rooms in charge of a specially qualified children's librarian. Users may include children of all ages up to those beginning to appreciate adult literature. Besides an attractive collection of carefully selected books, there should be tables, chairs and other furnishings adapted to users of various sizes. Specially effective is story hour, conducted by the children's librarian or some other childlover skilful in rousing in terest in reading among those not naturally so inclined and in selecting from the great classics what appeals to children and also in interesting them in the daily events of world importance.
Work with Foreigners.—The public library should be a strong Americanizing factor where there is a considerable foreign population, often largely of those who can read only their own languages. Among many means are: (1)
Books in their own languages and in simple English to which access is made easy by: (2) branches and deliveries in immigrant dis tricts; (3) lectures and story telling; (4) classes in English and elementary civics.
It is in leading foreigners to read' books in English that librarians meet their greatest obstacle. Spoken English is easily learned, but in print appears a new language, with words not spelled but made up of arbitrary Combinations of letters incapable of being ex plained or reduced to rule, and condemned by English lexicographers and philologists as un etymologic, unphonetic and altogether inde fensible. Simplifying English spelling is vital to the librarian's highest success, for his treas ures are useless to foreigners till• they take the meaning readily from the printed page.