[Gutenberg 52627] • Library Ideals

LIBRARY IDEALS BY HENRY E. LEGLER Compiled and Edited by His Son, HENRY M. LEGLER. CHICAGO LONDON THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918 COPYRIGHT BY THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 1918 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 9 1 Qf CONTENTS Preface VII The Problem of the Cities 1 Certain Phases of Library Extension 10 Next Steps 21 The World of Print and the Worlds Work. ..... 36 Library Work With Children 57 Traveling Libraries 64 Administration of Library Funds 73 PREFACE fISCONSIN, a true cradle of freedom and successful government, has fostered several librarians who were true humanists. Dr. Peckham was one. Dr. Thwaites was an other. Henry E. Legler was unlike either of these, but greater than either in his continued and unabated activity for the good of the people. Once, on being complimented for his splendid work in natural history and his persistence in the pur suit of scientific facts, Dr. Peckham remarked Oh, yes, but the facts have no value in themselves. They merely build up the groundwork of the ideas, and help you climb to the point of view where the deeper aspects of the subject spread out before you like a landscape beneath a mountain-top. Mr. Leglers activity in behalf of libraries will support the same explanation. He seemed always immersed in detail, always planning some movement and carrying it into effect by his peculiar, dynamic persistence. But he who observed the man kindly and closely cannot have failed to have noticed that there was a distinct Beyond illumining and overshadowing it all. There was a dream to come true, a vision to be unfolded. The dream and vision were in the mans speech and eye. He lived under a prophecy. It is not for us to estimatewhether this prophecy became fulfilled in his life as one of us. But it is our privilege to confess that it brought to us the VIII PREFACE things which Europeans have designated as culture and which really is enlightenment. Thus it is that many of Mr. Leglers associates and friends will recollect with gratitude that some gave them knowl edge, and others gave them opportunities, but it was for Mr. Legler to illumine their knowledge and oppor tunity with the live spark of inspiration. The dream was in his eye, inspiration was in his speech and manner. Library work was the means in his power of making his fellow-men ever more free and happy, ever more master of themselves, ever more capable of being guided, not by fear and never by prejudice, but by a live responsibility to the spirit within them. Personally, though a most assiduous worker at his official desk in Milwaukee, Madison or Chicago, he always thought of escaping and of seeking some quiet spot in the wilderness where, doubtless, he hoped to view his work from above. How many librarians nowadays have such a hope Of his method with the men and women of his age many of us will retain unforgettable memories. He was prompt, precise, perhaps even brief, but in variably gracious. His Italian ancestry told in the inimitable grace he unfolded to kindred spirits in confidence. We never were in doubt of the things he admired and fostered. We never felt there were hidden recesses of doubt and perplexity behind his sympathies. His grace of manner never was marred by contact with less enlightened surroundings. It is inimitable and unforgettable how he would pause in the midst of some matter of the moment, to plunge into some subject which heknew would interest and benefit the other person. And how grateful he was to strike a vein of gold in a seemingly unpromising human ore PREFACE IX Secretary of the Milwaukee Board of Education, and Secretary of the Wisconsin Free Library Com mission, Mr. Legler was already well versed in official service when chosen Librarian of the Chicago Public Library. He had declined several offers of important posts before that time, because the work he would give called for perfect freedom to work out the problems as he saw them. Wisconsin had given him this free dom...