., .
THE LIBRARY SITUATION IN DARKE COUNTY, OHIO WITH A SUGGESTED PLAN FOR COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE
A Thesis Presented for the Degree of Master of Soienoe
by
Wilbur B. Wood, B.Sc. in A.gr. II
TEE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY
1936
Approved bys Xef~~--$ CONTENTS
Page INTRODUCTION ------1 CHAPTER I
FIN.ANCIAL AID FOR LIBRARY SERVI CE
Laws Governing Distribution of Intangible taxes to Public Libraries ------5
The Greene County, Ohio 1 Unit.of Library Service --- 8
The Bryan Public Library, Williams County ------12
The Book Truck1 Richland County1 Ohio.• ------13
The Book Trailer, Clark County 1 Ohio. --- - - • - 14
Warder Public Library1 Springfield1 Ohio. ---- 16
CHAPTER II
THE LIBRARY SITUATION IN D.ARKE COUNTY 1 OHIO.
The Carnegie Public Library in Greenville1 Ohio. 17
The Arcanum. Public Library ------19 Summary of the Library Situation in Darke County -- 21
The School Libraries in Darke County ------24
CHAPTER III DARKE COUNTY AS A FIELD FOR COill{TY-YrIDE LIBRARY SERVICE
Darke County as an Agricultural County - 28
The Population of Darke County ---- 29
The School Districts of Darke County - 31 Vocational Agriculture and Home Economics in Darke County ------37 The Churches of Darke County -- 40
The Grange in Darke County ------42
The Farm Bureau in Darke County ------44 CONTENTS (Continued) Page Agricultural Extension in Darke County ------45
Adult Education through the Federal Emergency Schools- - 50
Boy Scout Organizations in Darke County -- 51
Telephone Service in Darke County ----- 52
Rural Free Delivery Mail Service - 55
The Highways in Darke County --- 57
The Railroads in Darke County - 58
The County Fair ------58 Agencies Conflicting with Library Service by Providing Activities for Leisure Time ------60 CHAPTER IV COUNTY-?ITDE LIBRARY SERVICE FOR DARKE COUNTY, OHIO.
Supporting Viewpoints for the County as a Unit for Library Service ------62 Criteria for the Organization of a County-Wide Library Service ------66
CHAPTER V THE TENTATIVE PLAN FOR DARKE counTY LIBRARY SERVICE
Classification of Service -- 71
Budget for Tentative Plan - --- .. ------72
Suggestions for Book Additions ------74 Distribution of Books and Periodicals in the System -- 76
State Aid for Library Service ------85
BIBLIOGRAPHY ------87 LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
I CLASSIFICATION OF BOOKS IN THE ARCANUM LIBRARY - 20
II CLASSIFICATION OF MAGAZINES IN THE .ARCANUM LIBRARY ------20
III SUliiIM.ARY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY SITUATION IN DARKE COUNTY, OHIO. ------21
IV THE LIBRJ!RIES IN TEE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS AND THE INVESTMENT FOR BOOKS DURING THE YEAR 1935-36 • - 24
V ENCYCLOPEDIA REFERENCE AVAILABLE IN THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS OF TEE COUNTY, 1935-36 • - - - - 25
VI THE AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT FOR NEW BOOKS IN TEE TWO ROOM SCHOOLS • • ------.. ------26
VII THE LIBRARIES OF TEE OlIB-ROOM SCHOOLS OF DARKE COUNTY WITH THE AMOUNT OF MONEY SPEUT DURING THE ;t, SCHOOL YEAR 1935-36 .. ------26
VIII THE SCHOOLS OF DARKE COUNTY, TEEIR ENROLLMENT, PARENT-TEACHERS ASSOCIATIOI~S MD COMMUNITY CENTERS ------33
IX GRADE SCHOOLS OF TWO OR MORE ROOMS IN DARKE COUNTY ------33
X ONE-ROOM GRADE SCHOOLS OF DARKE COUNTY ---- 34
XI FARMERS INSTITUTES HELD IN DARKE COUNTY DURilifG THE YEAR 1935-36 ------49
XII BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA TROUPS IN DARKE COUNTY WITH MEMBERSHIP OF EACH TROUP ------51
XIII THE TELEPHONE SERVICE IN DARKE COUNTY ------52
XIV RURAL FREE DELIVERY MAIL SERVICE IN DARKE COUNTY -- 56
r-1 DIVISION OF THE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR DARKE COUNTY LIER.ARY SERVICE ------72
XVI ESTIMATED BUDGET FOR THE DARKE COUNTY LIBRP..RY FOR THE INITIAL YE.AR ------73
r,fll BOOKS NEEDED IN THE DARKE COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE TO MEET THE MINIMUM STANDARD ------74 LIST OF TABLES (Continued) TABLE PAGE
XVIII BOOKS AND PERIODIC.M.S AVAILABLE FOR COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE IN DARKE COUNTY UNDER THE PROPOSED PLAN ------76 XIX DISTRIBUTION OF THE AVAILABLE BOOKS AND PERIODICALS IN TEE DIVISimrn OF THE PROPOSED LIBRARY ORGANIZATION ------77 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE PAGE
l THE GREENE COUNTY, OHIO, DISTRICT LIBRARY --- 11
2 PUBLIC LIBRARIES IN DARKE COUNTY, O:HIO. 1936 --- 23 3 THE POPULATION DISTRIBUTION IN DARKE COUNTY, OHIO. ------30
4 THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS OF DARKE COUNTY ------32
5 TEE VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURAL JIND HOME ECONOMIC DEPARTMENTS IN DARKE COUNTY WITH THE ENROLLMENT OF ALL DAY AND PART-TIME STUDENTS, 1936 ------38
6 TEE CHURCHES OF DARKE COUN'fY • ------41
7 THE LOCATION OF SUBORDINATE GRANGES OF DARKE COUNTY - - - • ------43 8 4-H CLUBS IN DARKE COUNTY WITH MEMBERSHIP IN EACH, 1935-36 ------.. ------48 9 FREE TELEPHONE SERVICE EXCHANGES IN DARKE COUMTY, 1936 ------54 10 TEE RAILROADS OF DARKE COUNTY ------59 11 AGENCIES CONFLICTING WITH LIBRARY SERVICE IN PROVIDING ACTIVITY FOR LEISURE TIME ---- 61 12 PLAN FOR COUNTY-V/IDE LIBRARY SERVICE UNDER PRESENT BUDGET ------80 13 EXTENDED PLAN FOR COUNTY-WIDE LIBRARY SER.VICE IN DARKE COUNTY AS MORE FUNDS BECOME AVAILABLE ---- 81 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am deeply grate£ul to all who have cooperated in making this study possible and to those who have assisted in its preparation. To Dr. w. F. Stewart, Department of Agricultural Education, Ohio State University, under whose direction the study was made, £or the guidance, inspiration, and worthwhile criticisms he so willingly gave throughout the study; To Junior Dean H. w. Nisonger, College 0£ Agriculture, Ohio
State University, for the kind assistance and inspiration he gave in organizing the study;
To Dr. Ward G. Reeder, College of Education, Ohio State Univer- sity, for the advice and direction that came as a result of classes and con£erences with him;
To Paul A. T. Noon, State Librarian, and to Mildred W. Sandoe,
State Library Organizer, £or the time, in£ormation and advice they so willingly gave and for their acting as a committee of two in evaluating the criteria used in setting up the plan for county-wide library service in Darke County, Ohio;
To Albert E. Gower, County Superintendent of Schools in Darke
County, Ohio, and to the superintendents of the consolidated schools
in the county, and the librarians 0£ various libraries for their coop- eration in £illing out questionnaires used in the study, recognition is hereby gratefully given. IN'IRODUCTION
That the people of the United States., as a whole., were without
adequate library service was well illustrated in the 1926 report of
the .American Library Association in the following:
Rural people with library service •.••••••• 9.,624.,939 '.Rural people without library service••••• 47.,054.,168 Urban people with library service•••••••• 54.,404.,568 Urban people without library service••••• 3.,415.,418
It is evident from this report that the library service at that time was inadequate and that this inadequacy fell largely on the rural people. There has been an improvement in this situation since
1926., but not so great as one might think.
11 The number of people in the United States with public library service increased during the decade more than 17,000,000 •••• But the population increased more rapidly. It is startling to find that the number without library service actually in- creased slightly. 111
According to a recent recount made by the American Library Associa- tion., 11Rural people in general are still handicapped, constituting 88 per cent of the number without library service as compared with an
urban 12 per cent. Moreover., the 39,673.,217 rural people who live out-
side library service areas form 74 per cent of the total rural popula- tion11.2 Forty-five million citizens in the United States., forty million of these living in rural areas., are without access to a public
library and having fevr books of their ovm., are being deprived of a
1Public Librar Extension and Develo ment. Reprint from the Bulletin of the American Library Association. June., 1935). P• 324. 2Ibid. p.325. 2
basic means of education.1 Out of 3100 counties in the United States, less than 300 have county-wide library service, offering equal facil- ities to rural and town people. More than one thousand counties, roughly one out of three, are without a single public library within their boundaries. 2
According to Paul A. T. Noon3, 11 Under existing laws all resi- dents of Ohio have library service. However, there actually exists a condition in which we find two million of our citizens without easy access to library service.it
It is with those people living in Darke County, Ohio, who come within this two million, that the author is primarily interested in th.is study.
Just as we have experienced a more rapid development of schools in the population centers or urban districts because of the concen- tration of wealth there, so have we seen a similar development of library facilities in these same areas.
Furthermore, just as the new foundation program is tending vrl.th rapid strides to equalize educational opportunities in this state, so
is the intangible tax law tending to equalize libraJ:"'IJ service for rural and urban people. However, this equalization of library facilities is in its earliest stages and there still exists an un- balanced condition in which the urban centers are fardn the lead.
For example, the cities of Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Dayton have built up fine and expensive library systems. Columbus has at present more than 230,000 volumes housed in a magnificent building in
lThe Equal Chance. The American Library Association. Chicago: 1936. p.4. 2Ibid. P• 5. 3Paul A. T. Noon, Librarian, Ohio State Library, Columbus., Ohio. 3
the heart of the city. Five branches have been advantageously located in the outsldrts of the city so that at present books are within easy access of every citizen of Columbus. In fact., most residents of that city have a free public library within one-half mile of their homes. 1
The Dayton Public Library2., organized on a school district basis, is noteworthy because of its corps of trained librarians and other workers as well as the extensiveness of its service. Four branches are maintained in separate buildings and nine are located in schools. A trained librarian is in charge of the entire system with one assistant librarian, five trained branch librarians, eleven department heads. and two trained children's librarians. Four cata- loguers with seventy-two assistants are on full time payrolls. The
Dayton system received $196,063.00 from intangible tax funds and enough other revenue to make the budget for last year total
$211,205.00.
The circulation from the main library in this city totaled
1,643,674 books and periodicals of fiction and non-fiction types dur- ing the year 1935. The library here is rendering a service of note to the residents of Dayton., Ohio.
The rural section of the state presents an entirely different picture. In 19353, six counties in the state with a total population
1Personal visit to Library at Columbus. 2Ann.ual Report of Dayton Public Library, 1936. Ohio State Library, Columbus, Ohio. 3Publio Libraries in Ohio, compiled by Paul A. T. Noon, State Librarian., 1935. 4
of 66,7111 had no public libraries of any description. Each of four
others, with a total population of 43,272 had to rely on one strictly municipal library that ma.de no attempt at free rural service• .Another county with a population of 16,288 had to rely on one school district library to serve the entire county with one-half of the school dis- trict lying in a.n adjoining county.
The author, being an instructor of vocational agriculture, be-
came interested in this study inasmuch as it is possible by law for the rural people of the state to have "easy access" to free library
service. That there is need for study and action in each county without free accessible service is evident.
Therefore, this study is devoted to the presentation of the
library situation in Darke County, Ohio, with a plan for county-wide library service. Attention is called to some counties in which
successful systems of such service are in effect, not with the idea
of giving a complete picture of the county library situation bµt only
as these situations throw light on the problem at hand.
It is assumed that reading, a.nd reading wisely, is an essential
part of the fuller life and no attempt is made here to prove or dis-
prove this assumption.
1Fifteenth Annual Census of the United States, 1930. 5
CHAPTER I
FINANCIAL AID FOR LIBRARY SERVICE
Library activities begin with the purchase and circulation of books. Inasmuch as books must be housed and handled, and inasmuch as all these cost money it is essential that this part of the program be considered.
Public libraries in 1920 were all operated on funds received by a special tax levied on the real estate of the territory being served.
Consequently this soon contributed to inequality of service in rich and poor areas. However, at this time we find in existence in Ohio municipal, county, township and association libraries all financed under this plan.
In 1926 a new library law was passed known as the School District
Library Law. Under this law the library board of the district could levy a tax on the real estate of the district up to one mill on the valuation. This, if approved by the Board of Education of the dis- trict, became effective. Incidentally, it became the duty of the county auditor to allow the budget in full.
However, Robert Taft brought about a revision in the tax laws of Ohio in 1931 in which property was divided into tangible and in- tangible which, when followed by the ten mill limitation in 1934, automatically abolished financial support for the School District
Library Law.
To protect and provide for the continuation of county library 6
servioe, provision was made whereby publio libraries oould partioipate in the intangible tax fund. The laws governing the distribution of intangible taxes to libraries are as follows:
11'0n or before the 15th day of July in eaoh year, the taxing authority of eaoh subdivision or other taxing unit shall adopt a tax budget for the next suooeeding fisoal year.
Sub-Seotion 20:
11 The board of trustees of any public library, desiring to participate in the proceeds of classi- fied property taxes collected in the county, shall adopt appropriate rules and regulations extending the benefits of the library service of such library to all the inhabitants of the county on equal terms, unless such library service is by law available to all such inhabitants, and shall certify a copy of such rules and regulations to the taxing authority with its estimate of contemplated revenue and ex- penditures. In all cases in which such rules and regulations have been so certified and in which the adoption of such rules and regulations is not re- quired, the taxing authority shall include in its budget of expenditures the full amounts requested therefrom by such board of 1ibrary trustees. ul
This empowers any local library board to prepare a library budget, present it to the county budget commission and expect it to be honored, at least, if not allowed in full.
This law, as is readily seen, makes it mandatory for any library which desires to partioipate in the intangible tax fund to throw its services open to any resident of the county, except in those munici- palities which are maintaining their own public library with funds
received from classified property taxes. This subsection became
1seotion 5625-20 General Code of Ohio. 7
effective June 29, 1934.
The following law deals with the distribution of intangible tax funds to libraries:
11At each settlement of undivided olassified property t~es, the county treasurer shall distri-: bute the undivided classified property tax fund in the treasury as follows:
"To the state of Ohio, one-fourth of one per cent thereof, which when paid into the state treasury in the manner provided by law shall consti- tute a fund in addition to that provided in section 5414-19 herein enacted, for the use of the tax com- mission of Ohio in administering the system for the assessment of tangible and intangible personal prop- erty and shall not be used or appropriated for any other purpose.
11 To each board of public library trustee iri the county, which shall have·qualified or be qualified according to law for participation in such fund, fifty per centum of the 8llllount set forth in the annual budget and allowed by the budget connnission as a fe- oeipt from the source. The amount or amounts so dis- tributed, together with the fees of the auditor and treasurer, shall be deducted pro rata from the shares of the undivided classified property taxes originating in the several municipal corporations in the county, and in the territory outside of the municipal corpora- tions therein, respectively. 11 1
This law provides financial aid to libraries meeting the re- quirements and presenting their budgets to the county budget commis- sion. The law leaves the local library board at the mercy of the county budget connnission for, in the final analysis, the amount of funds received by the board is at the discretion of the budget com- mission. Hence, we see at once the need for educating this commissi,on
I to the needs of the counties for library service. Public ilibraries in
Ohio are classified at present into the State library, thei Supreme Court libta.ry, various county law libraries, School District public libraries,
1section 5639, General Code of Ohio. 8
municipal libraries, county libraries, oounty district libraries, t~.m.ship libraries, and school libraries.1 Space will not warrant
sufficient detail to give the distinguishing feature of each class.
Suffice it here to say that those counties operating on a strictly
county basis at present in Ohio are Hamilton, with Cincinnati having
the main library; Lucas County, with Maumee as the nucleus; Cuyahoga
County, with Cleveland as the central library; and Greene County with
Xenia having the main library.
I should like to present in more or less detail the plan of
servioe in various counties to illustrate the service in actual prac- tice. Inasmuch as Greene County presents situations similar in type
of population and type of industry to Darke County, I am presenting
its plan of service.
The Greene County, Ohio, Unit of Library Service,
Public library service in Greene County, Ohio, has attracted wide
attention since its beginning in 1929, when it was voted on by popular vote. However, of the -t;w-elve townships of the county two showed a
dissenting vote at that time leaving ten townships to enter the free
service which was continued until 1933 on proceeds received from a
classified property tax on real estate in those ten townships.
In 1933 the library service of the county qualified for intangible tax funds and since that time has been giving service to the entire
county in compliance with that law.
A total of $12,300 was allocated to the county library by the
1Library Laws of Ohio in force June 1, 1935. Compiled by .Paul A. T. Noon, State Librarian. 9
budget commission in that county for the year 1936 with a stipulation that $700.00 of this amount be turned over to the Yellow Springs branch
for maintenance of the branch there.1
According to T. J. Smith2, "We (the tax budget commission of
Greene County) take the attitude that the library is entitled to the
same amount of funds from the intangible taxes that they had been re-
ceiving from the district tax on real estate and we have acted ac-
cordingly."
The population of Greene County totals 33,2593 which makes the
appropriation for library service average 36.9 cents per capita. This
is not in accordance with the recommendation of the American Library
Association of one dollar per capita. Nevertheless, that the service
is well organized and efficiently operated is seen by a visit to that
county.
The locations of the main library, the branches, stations, and sub ..
stations and the school stations are shown in Figure I. The main library
is almost ideally located in the center of the county at Xenia, in a beautiful, well-equipped building which houses the m,a.in collection and
the administration offices. At the time the writer visited this
library 51,107 volumes showing an annual circulation for the year
ending January 1, 1936 of 223,615 were ideally shelved and catalogued.
Ruth A. Dennis., Librarian, is in charge of the entire system.
1county Auditor's Records, 1936., Greene County., Ohio. 2Deputy County Auditor, Greene County, Ohio. 3Fi:rteenth .Annual Census of the United States, 1930. 10
Two major branches are maintained as shown in Figure 11, one at Osborn and one at Yellow Springs. At these branohes th~ book collections are the permanent property of the village in w~ch they are located.
A visit to the branch at Osborn reveals a very aotiveioondition, the circulation f'rom this one station being 1,728 volumes for the month of June, 1936. The yearly circulation of this branc~ totaled
22,000 for the past year. The population of the village is 1,2712 which, according to the librarian, 11 is a reading population". How- ever, it is evident that the service rendered has been responsible for this record which extends out beyond the borders of the village to the people of the rural sections of Bath Township. The libraries of the branches a.re supported from county funds.
Osborn and Yellow Springs each provide housing space and other operating expenses for their branches and receive book funds from the county funds. A visit to Yellow Springs reveals a new building which, although small, is adequate for service there. The building was erected by c. w. A. labor at a small cost to the city and dedicated in October, 19353
The nine stations are located in homes, stores, and o~her public buildings, as the survey shows. The conununities are each responsible
1Taken from map on file in office of Greene County District Library, 1936. 2Fifteenth .Annual Census of the United States, 1930. 3The State Relief Commission Of .2~.o _and _Its Aotivities. pompiled by Mary v. Daughtery, Supervisor, 1936. 11
GREENE 00-um!Y OHIO
I I....______, AO Q Os6orne ·-~ fe//ow"l r1'nv$ 0'1·------,
~Goes @_Coll/11.s
U_,,,'a,, © Wl,le Lhapel®
® O Po,',.,l-erv,!/e 0 _Ceq. .se_r .cr.ee l~.-
Fig12re l. The Greene Cotmty• .' 6hio~ lf\wain Library Distriot Library Unit. A Bran.eh Library . • High School Branch 0 Station 0 S11b-station ® Grade School Station for the services of circulating the books, rent., and other operating expenses. The collection in these stations range from 50 to 300 books., being me.de up at the main library according to the desires and needs of the communities to which they go. They are exchanged once each month., each station receiving a new collection.
In addition to these branches and stations., five .high school branches and twenty-five grade school stations are serving the
schools. These collections vary in size., if possible in accordance with enrollments., grade, and requests. The high school collections are usually about 100 books each and the grade schools about 50.
They are made up in the me.in library., are transported under contract to the schools, and are exchanged every two months during the school year.
The Bryan Public Library, Willi~s County, Ohio.
The Bryan Public Library is classified as a school district library but has been given county-wide service since its qualification for intangible tax funds in 1933.
The central library is located at Bryan. Seven branch libraries are being operated at present with five book stations. Approximately one thousand books have been placed in each branch and five hw;idred in each station.
A member of the library staff has been assigned to extension service in the cotmty. She handles all exchanges, hauls the books
from one station to another in her car and is allowed five cents per mile for expenses. 13
For the year 1936, the county budget committee has allowed
$8,250 from the intangible tax fund and state aid has been received
to the extent of $400.
According to Chauncey L. Newcomer,1 the library service is opera-
ting effectively as a means of getting books to the people of the county.
He states, 11 The circulation of books and magazines for the entire
county is averaging approximately eight per capita, eud the people
served, especially those interested in the schools, have expressed
their appreciation of the service. 0
Now books for the system are selected by the library board of
seven members, the librarian, and a committee of interested citizens.
Here is a county with a population of 24,3162 with a system of
county library service, which, although in the early stages of its
development, promises to do a real service for the people of the
county.
Book Trucks
Boo~ trucks, as a means of taking books out to the residents of
the county are being operated in four Ohio counties, according to
:Mildred W. Sandoe, Library Organizer, Ohio State Library. These are
Cuyahoga, Hamilton, :Montgomery, and Richland Counties. Inasmuch as
the first three mentioned embrace large cities and since Richland
County more nearly represents conditions similar to those found in
Darke County, this one is used to illustrate the practicability of
such service.
1chauncey L. Newcomer, President, Bryan Library Board. Personal letter to author. 2Fifteenth .Annual Census of the United States, 1930. 14
The Mansfield Public Library, having complied with Section 5625-20, General Code of Ohio in 1933, is now giving county-wide library service in Richland County. The library board, under the able direction of Mildred W. Sandoe, and Mrs. Robert Kennedy, Children's Librarian,. purchased a book truck in 1931 a.n.d since that time have been maki.ng regular trips to three city schools,;;;~ county schools, and to
General Hospital.1 The truck resembles an ordinary truck with sides that li.f't up, displaying the 700 books which it holds, properly shelved and dis- played. Miss Sandoe and 'Mrs. Kennedy ·accompany the truck, giving service at the various stops. Each county trip makes a total of approximately 360 miles. The annual cost of operating this traveling library has been $200 per year, exclusive of salaries and the original cost of the truck. This amount has been used principally for gasoline and garage expense. According to Miss Sandoe, types of books used range from. Curwood, Grey, and Conner types to Vlells .. That the people of :Mansfield and Rich- land County profit by the truck service is not questioned because it is the type that increases and expands to meet changing needs.2
The Book Trailer in Clark County, Ohio.
still another interesting library activity is followed in Clark County i~ the book trailer being operated there under the auspices of
1News Letter, Mansfield Public Library, April 1933 and a personal letter from the Librarian, :Mildred w. Sandoe, July, 1936. 2News Bulletin, :Mansfield Public Library. 15
the county corrnnittee of the Y. M. c. A. This conunittee is composed of farm women with the exception of one who is a trained librarian.
The trailer service was the result of the work of a public spirited citizen, W.:rs. Amys. Bookwalter, who started out with the assistance of other women to carry her private collection in a book box from one school to another, leaving it at each school for a period of one month. Later the purchase of the trailer was financed at a cost of $100 by church suppers and public donations.1
Today the trailer is equipped to haul 1,000 books, properly shelved and displayed. Once each month it is moved from one of the 2 ten consolidated schools in the county to another.
The book collection used totals at present 1,300 books, 500 of which were loaned by the Warder Public Library in Springfield, 500 loaned by the traveling library service of the Ohio State Library, the remaining 300 being the private collection of the committee.
Several of the latter group have been donated by public spirited citizens.
According to Mrs. Bookwalter, "The total annual circulation through the schools exceeds 3,000. 11
Thelma L. Reniff, Acting Librarian of Warder Library, writes concerning the establishing of branch libraries in Clark County as a county-wide activity of that library,
1Ethel M. Fair. C6untey-wide Library Service. 2A personal visit to Clark County, Ohio. 16
"Everywhere the librarians (in traveling over the county) receive the most cordial welcome. Much of this, I believe, is due to the cordial visits made by the Y. M. C. A., county trailer. At all times it was necessary to assure the people that we1were not interfering with the work of the trailer." Warder Public Library, Springfield, Ohio. I would like to oonunent briefly on the county activities of the Warder Publio Library in Clark County. At the time this is written seven book stations of three hundred books each have been ad- vantageously located throughout the county. Here, again, local com- munities are responsible for rent, services and other operating oosts of the stations. A member of the Warder Library has been assigned to their supervision.
The budget commission of Clark County has allocated $201 000 from the intangible tax fund to the Warder Library from a total of $85,000 received from this sourc~.2 The population of Clark County being 90,9363 , twenty-two cents per capita is ·spent here. W. P. A. labor has been available during the past few months which has been used in book rebinding and other manual assistance to the service.
1a:inual Report of the Librarian, Warder Public Library. Unpublished. 2n.eoords of the County Auditor, Clark County, Ohio, 1936. 3Fifteenth .Am:tual Census of the United states, 1930. 17
CHAPTER II
THE LIBRARY SITUATION IN DARKE COUNTY, OHIO
A survey of Darke County, Ohio, shows three public libraries in existence there, one strictly municipal library located in
Greenville, and tv,o school district libraries, one in Arcanum, and one in New Madison.
Since Greenville is centrally located, Arcanum lies in the east central part, and New Madison in the southwestern part of the county, the entire :northern part of the county is without easy access to library facilities. Figure 2 shows this situation clearly.
The Carnegie Public Library in Greenville, Ohio.
This is strictly a municipal library, being financed by a four- tenths mill tax levy on the real estate property there. Any resident of the county, outside the city, desiring to use the services is charged an annual fee of one dollar which has limited the number of rural card holders to a great extent.
The library is housed in an excellent stone struct.ttr.e·:,erected near the high school and the St. Claire Memorial Hall in the heart of the city. It was erected at a cost of $40,000 of which $25,000 was donated by Mr. Carnegie and $15,000 furnished by the city. The structure was dedicated in 19031•
The building has ample space for a suitable library but, due in part to the lack of fi:ca.:nces during the past years, the collection which totals 23,5622 books and periodicals, is in need of rebinding, rearranging
1Records of the Librarian, Greenville Carnegie Library, 1936, 2Ibid; 18
and recataloging.
According to Mildred w. Sandoe1, 0 The collection is in need of new material also. 11
The budget for the year is $3,6002 which is inadequate considering the size of the city being served with a population of 7,038 and the condition of the library.
"This budget should be at least $6,000, under existing conditions," states Miss Sa.ndoe. 3
The reference material is ma.de up too much of bound periodicals as Guizat 1 s "History of France" and others of similar nature. There is need for new material here, due in part to a lack of revenue in past years.
A full-time librarian, with training received in visiting other libraries and in enrolling in a short course in library service, has been in charge there for the past twenty-six years. The library is kept open to the public from 8:00 A. M. to 8:00 P. M. for six days a week, giving ample service in this respect. Records at the librarian1s desk show a total of 51,644 books and periodicals circulated during the year 1935. In view of the fact that 125 cards are held by resi- dents of the county outside of Greenville and that the population of the city is 7,036, we see the circulation per capita for the year is
7.2, a.good circulation.
1Library organizer, Ohio State Library and librarian of lvlansfield Public Library, on leave of absence. 2county a1,ditor 1 s Records, Darke County, Ohio, 1936. 3survey Report, made to State Librarian, June, 1936. 19
The actual situation, as the writer sees it, is that not enough county residents are using the services here.
Further survey of the books show 75 per cent of them to be fiction with the remaining part mostly historical. Juvenile books and periodicals show a great need of additions.
Here is a library, centrally located i~ a good county, with a fine building, that has splendid possibilities in rendering service to the rural people, provided ample funds and organization can be provided.
The .Arcanum Public Library
The .Arcanum Library is organized on a school district basis, but having qualified for financial aid from the intangible tax fund, is open to all residents in Darke County. It is located in rented quar- ters in an old school house, two blocks from the center of the village.
Records of the librarian show 7,844 books on the shelves, June 1,
1936. These records further show a total of 8,112 books having been 1 circulated during the year ending January 1, 1936, 98 per cent of the service being rendered to the school district in which it is located.
The budget commission of Darke County has allocated $1,300 for the
.Arcanum Library for the year 1936:$ which, according to Pearl Miller,
Librarian, 11 Is inadequate for the program we would like to put on."
The collection of books is good; they are properly classified, according to the Dev,1ey Decimal system, and properly shelved and dis- played.
1..Annual Report of the Librarian, 1936. 2Records of the County Auditor. Darke County, Ohio. 1936. 20
TABLE I. CLASSIFICATION OF BOOKS HJ TIIB .ARCANtmr LIER.ARY
·c Class Number of Volumes Percentage in Each Class of Total
Fiction 3588 44 + Non-Fiction 2340 28 t Juvenile 2184 26 .f. Total 8112 100
The table indicates emphasis on the juvenile section, a com- mendable feature of the Arcanum library. Here, also, we do not find the overwhelming majority usually found in fiction.
The magazine collection can scarcely be called adequate.
Table II shows the classification of these magazines:
TABLE II. CLASSIFICATION OF MAGAZINES
IN .ARCANUM. PUBLIC LIBRARY
Class Number Percentage of Total
Women's 6 30 Children's 5 25 Fiction 3 15 Current Events 2 6 ,i, Travel 2 6 ,i, Literary 1 3 ,i, Religion 1 3 + Total 20 100
The patrons living farthest from this public library, consider- ing that the service is rendered to the entire county, being twenty- two miles away, are entirely out of the range of accessibility.
According to the records of the librarian, the most distant resident actually using the library lives 10 miles from the service.
1.AmJ.ual report of the Librarian. 21
Hera is a nucleus for a library of service, admitting as the library board so freely does that improvements are needed.
TABLE III. SID1lMARY OF THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
SITUATION IN D.ARiill COUNTY., OHIO
Circulation Library Collection for the year No. Volumes Ending Jan. 1, 1935
Greenville 23.,000 51,664 .Arcanum 7.,887 8,112 Nf1'll Madison 1.,382 1.,824 Total 32.,269 61,600
For the county as a whole., with a population of 38,0091 we find .85 books per capita for the county and a circulation of 1.62 per capita. However, those books in the Greenville library are not available to the population of the county without additional cost to the borrower. Subtracting these., a total of 23.,000 volumes., we find a different picture.
In actuality 9.,269 books, with a total annual circulation of
9.,639 comprises the library service to rural residents of Darke
county during the past year. This averages for the population classed as rural only .29 books with .32 circulation per rural resident.
That this is utterly inadequate is shown by a study made by Louis
R. Wilson in 19282 in which he finds the number of volumes in Ohio per
capita to be .75 with a circulation per capita of 3.09. Furthermore, this study ranks Ohio t~irteenth in the 48 states of the Union. Miss-
issippi ranks first with 2.22 volumes per capita and .Arkansas ranked last wit~ .06 books per capita., with a per capita circulation of .18 lFifteenth .Annual Ce.nsus of the United States, 1930. 2Wm, s. Gray. ~ Reading Interests of Adults, P• 19. 22
books.
Even if all the books in Darke County public libraries were thrown into county-wide circulation, the average per capita would
fall low in this scale. 23
nnss1.ss1.navro.------.....--""""" .H.J.len...... ------:----:'··------, ·wabash Patterson
11------·---·York
Jackson Bro'W'Il Wayne
Richland
Washington Greenville
Cl Greenvi .le
Franklin Liberty Van Neo.ve Buren
Ha.rrison Butler Twin ·· Monroe I ~ Areanlllll 1:, New .Madison
JI'iga.re 2. P11blic Libraries in .ilarke Cowity, 1936 /(ey:GM11,11c;,-1M/ L,/;.nor &I .:5c hoc/ 0,6 f, ,, f J,? rl,i I ;,., 1 et, V., fr 24
The School Lib:aries in Darke County.
An important phase of the library situation in any county is represented by the school libraries in that county. 'We can see from Table IV that a large portion of Darke county is without library service other than that represented by those collections found in the various schools. Table V will indicate something of the extent and condition of these libraries:
TABLE IV. TB~ LIBRARIES IN THE CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS
AND INVEST11ENT FOR BOOKS DURING TEE YEAR 1935-36,
Enrollment Amt. of money §ooks received Consolidated for School spent during from traveling School year 1935-36 year E::lnding Library service, Jan. 1, 1936
Jackson 171 $200.00 186 Franklin 121 190.00 Hollansburg 86 150.00 Gettysburg 231 125.00 377 Arcanum 136 110.00 Versailles 129 85.00 Monroe 176 60.00 214 New Madison 240 41.50 Arcanum 120 25.00 Union City 2~0 00.00 Palestine 118 00.00 North Star 85 00.00
Total $986.50 Arithmetic Mean 82.12 25
In a survey made to determine the quality of these-book collections,
eight of the school superintendents reported their reference material in
the fields of science, history, and literature to be inadequate, two re•
ported these references £air in their adequacy and two failed to report.
These administrators almost universally agreed that they ftelt a need
for additions to their reference lists.
The chief reason given for the condition as it exists was lack of
available funds during past years. Of these twelve school administra- tors, nine reported their encyclopedia reference as shown in Table v. TABLE V. ENCYCLOPEDIA REFERENCE AVAILABLE IN TEE CONSOLIDATED
SCHOOLS OF TEE COUNTY, 1935-36
Encyclopedia World New School No. Britannica Book Comptons International
1 No Yes Yes No 2 No Yes No --~Yes 3 Yes Yes Yes Yes 4 5 Yes Yes Yes No 6 Yes Yes Yes No 7 8 No No No Yes 9 10 Yes Yes Yes No 11 No Yes No Yes 12 No No No No
From Table V it is evident that county-wide library service would be of value to the consolidated schools in providing additional
reference material. 26
TABLE VI. THE AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT FOR NE\V BOOKS Ill THE
TWO ROOM SCHOOLS
School Money spent Two Room Enrollment for books School No. 1935-35 Yr. ending Jan. 1, 1936
l 137 $26.41 2 76 18.50 3 41 5.80 4 52 .oo 5 51 .oo 6 37 .oo 7 35 .oo 8 29 .oo
TABLE VII. THE LIBRARIES OF THE 017E ROOM SCHOOLS OF DARKE
COUNTY WITH THE AMOUNT OF MONEY SPENT DURING THE SCHOOL YE.AR
1935-36
'.Enrollment Money spent School No. for 1935-36 for 1935•36
1 26 $100.00 2 27 9.00 3 9 8.35 4 33 6.25 5 13 s.oo 6 13 5.50 7 28 3.50 6 30 3.50 9 12 2.40 10 to 87 1859 o.oo
In view of the fact that the book collection and investment in books furing the past year is so small in each of the grade schools shown in Tables VI and VII it is hardly conceivable that these libraries could reach beyond the boundaries of the small schools in which they are located. 27
The whole school library situation is well summed up in the following statement ma.de by A. E. Gower, Superintendent of Darke
County Public Schools. He states, "I am very much in sympatey with the library movement. I feel the greatest need in advanoing the cause of education is for more books to be available to the pupils and schools in general. I sometimes think we are spending too much time and money on other things, such as supplies, to the detriment of adequate libraries,"1
1Personal letter to the author. July, 1936. 28
CHAPTER III
DARKE COUNTY AS A FIELD FOR COUNTY-
'WIDE LIBRARY SERVICE
Darke County is an agricultural county. Consisting of 586
square miles of fertile farming land, Darke ranks seventh in size
among Ohio counties. The county is rectangular in shape, being thirty miles long by twenty two and one half miles wide. It ranks first in agricultural income with the value of farm products total-
ing $8,742,1301• It is interesting to note that it ranks first in number of horses, first in poultry production, first in tobacco production, first or second, depending on the year taken, in hog production and the same in corn pro~uction, fourth in the number of cattle and sixth in wheat production.
It would be interesting to have up-to-date data on the per- centage of farm homes electrified, those with running water, and those with convenient heat for cooking, but due to the fast changing status of these conveniences in the county, available data are entirely un- reliable. It would also be worth-while to knmv the percentage of farm boys and girls having a financial share in the farm business but this would be a study in itself.
Rural people in a county like this have a claim on equal oppor- tunities with those of urban areas and other counties of the nation.
1Fifteenth Annual Census of the United States, 1930. 29
THE POPULATION OF DARKE COllJiNTY
The population of Darke county totals 38 1 0091 of which 29,668 are classed as rural population, living on farms and in villages of less than 2,500 inhabitants. These rural residents may be divided into rural farm residents to which 20,475 of the residents belong and rural non-farm residents into which the remainder of the rural group would fall.
The percentage of foreign born people is comparatively small, only 245 foreign born white and 240 foreign born negro being reported.2
The county ranks below the average for Ohio in its percentage of
illiteracy, it being seven per cent for the population of the entire
county. 3 Out of this small percentage only 4 per cent is classed as rural population.4
Figure 3 shows the distribution of the population by townships.
1Fiftee:n:bh Annual Census of the United States, 1930. 2Ibid. 3Ibid• 4Ibid. :}30
·' E's"s1ss1na:wn I Aiten V~abash Patterson
8'18 1225 940 122,
York
Jackson Brown Wayne 8363 1700 '185 2'765
Richland 912
Washington Greenville Adams
' 1100 9'112 2616
Franklin Liberty Van Neave Buren
1331 961 ll3S 1225
Harrison. Butler Twin Monroe
1728 1391 2629 1443
figure s. Poptll.at1011 Distrilnltion in Darke Oo1mt7. 19SO Oensae 31
The School Districts of Darke County, 1935-36.
That the consolidated sohool ·districts of Darke oounty, shown in
Figure 4, will serve as the most ideal districts for county library service is the belief of the writer. This belief is substantiated by the faot that New Madison and Arcanum are at present organized for public library service on a sohool district basis and Versailles
School District has already begun negotiations for similar service.
Existing conditions must be thoroughly weighed and considered from all aspects if a better system is to be brought into existence. If Arcanum,
New Madison and Versailles are to be included some consideration must be given their present organization. Furthermore, under a plan of re- organization now in effect, practically all the territory will be in- cluded in these twelve districts sooner or later, which with the school as a center, will serve as a sound basis for library organization.
There are at present eleven first grade high sohools and one sec- ond grade; eight grade schools of two or more rooms, and sixty-nine one-room schools in the county, fifteen having been eliminated during . l the present summer. It is out of the question for library facilities to be extended at present to each of these one-room schools. However, the consolidated schools, the larger grade schools and some of the one- room schools, can be included at the beginning of the service.
'Whether or not the school has a Parent Teachers Association, and an auditorium, and whether or not the school is considered a community center are all important factors to be donsidered in this study. Table
VIII shows these significant facts.
1A. E. Gower, County Superintendent, Darke County Public Schools. 32
Y\abnsh Patter on
,-J YortT Brown Wayne
Frankl
Monroe
Fignre 4. The 5ohool Districts of Darke Coanty. 1936-37. 33
TABLE VIII. TEE SCHOOLS OF DARKE COIB~TY, THEIR E:NROLLMEr;JT,, PARENT-
TEACBERS ASSOCIATIONS, AND COMMillUTY CENTERS1, 1935-36 • . :Comm- :Have :Have Consolidated:Rat- Pupils 1935-36 Teachers 1935-36:unity :audito-:P. T.A. Sehool :ing:Grade:H.S.:Total:Grade:H.S.:Total:Centers:rium New Madison 6-6 240 110 340 a½ e½ 15 Yes Yes Yes Versailles 6-6 129 227 356 4 10 14 Yes Yes Yes Jackson Twp. 6-6 171 191 362 5 9 14 Yes No Yes Gettysburg 6-6 231 191 422 6 11 17 Yes Yes No Ansonia 6-6 136 185 321 5 7 12 Yes Yes No Monroe Twp. 6-6 176 173 349 5 8 13 Yes Yes Yes Hollansburg 6-6 86 90 176 3 5 8 Yes Yes Yes Palestine 6-6 118 115 233 3 6 9 Yes Yes Yes Union City 6-6 230 149 379 6 7 13 Yes Yes Yes Franklin 6-6 121 148 269 4 7 11 Yes Yes No Arcanum 6-6 120 212 332 4 8 12 Yes Yes Yes North Star 2 yr. H. S. 45 40 85 2 2 4 Yes No Yes
Total 1803 1831 3634 53½ 88~ 142
TABLE IX. GRADE SCHOOLS OF TV\!O OR MORE ROOMS IN DARKE COUNTY,
Two or more P. T. A. room grade Enrollment Community center organization schools
Children's home 52 No No Brown #1 35 Yes Yes Neave //=l 29 Yes No Osgood 76 Yes No Yorkshire 37 Yes Yes New Weston 51 Yes No Rossburg 41 Yes No Butler 137 Yes Yes
Total 8 438
1A. E. Gower, County Superintendent of Schools, Darke County, Ohio. 1936. 34
TABLE x. ONE ROOM GRADE SCHOOLS OF DARKE COUNTY.
One room Community P. T. A. schools Enrollment Center Organization Allen #2 21 No No Allen =/14 16 No No Allen #5 17 No No Allen =#6 12 No No Allen #8 22 No Yes Allen #9 14 No No Brown =//4 27 No No Brown IT 13 No Yes Brown #9 33 No No Greenville #1 26 Yes Yes Greenville #2 21 No No Greenville 1/4 17 No Yes Greenville #f, 32· No' Yes Greenville #6 17 No No Greenville =If!"/ 12 No Yes Greenville #9 26 No Yes Greenville =//=10 27 Yes Yes Greenville #11 16 No Yes Greenville #16 24 No Yes Greenville =//=17 20 No Yes Greenville ,J}eo 13 No No Greenville #21 25 No Yes Greenville #12 21 No No Greenville #13 32 No Yes Greenville #14 9 No Yes Greenville #18 12 No No Harrison~ · 9 Yes No Liberty 4/4 36 No Yes Mississinawa =//4 32 Yes No Mississinawa #6 16 No No Mississine\Ya i/6 10 No No )!ississinewa #9 26 No No Neave #2 29 No No Neave #5 10 No No Neave #4 16 Yes No Neave #5 36 No Yes Neave =1/6 49 Yes Yes Patterson #1 28 No No Patterson ffe 26 No Yes Patterson #4 17 No Yes Patterson #6 29 No No Patterson #6 18 No No Patterson =/# 10 No No Total 43 922 35
TABLE X. ONE ROOM GR.ADE SCHOOLS OF DARKE COUNTY (Continued)
One room Community P. T. A. schools Enrollment Center Organization Richland ffe 14 No Yes Richland #1 32 Yes No Richland #5 23 Yes Yes Richland #3 24 No Yes Richland #4 30 Yes No Twin #4 22 No No Twin #9 14 No No Twin #8 25 No No Twin #3 20 No No Twin #2 26 No No Twin =I/!! 24 Yes Yes Twin #f, 22 Yes No Van Buren #1 24 No Yes Van Buren =I/!! 20 No No Van Buren #3 18 Yes Yes Van Buren #9 12 No No Van Buren f2, 11 No No Van Buren =/lf3 34 No Yes Van Buren #5 26 Yes No Wabash #1 26 No Yes Wabash #2 25 No No Wabash #3 23 No No Wabash #4 30 No Yes Wabash #5 24 No Yes Wabash #f, 29 No Yes Washington #1 18 No No Washington #5 26 .No No Washington #f, 24 Yes No Washington #10 53 Yes Yes Washington #11 38 No Yes Wayne #8 34 No No Wayne #11 25 No No Wayne #9 28 No Yes Wayne #4 18 No No Wayne #6 24 No No Wayne =!fl 23 Yes No Wayne #3 15 No Yes Wayne #5 15 No Yes York =/#3 27 No No York #3 29 No No York #4 25 No No York #1 22 No No York #f, 19 No Yes
Total 43 941
Grand total 1863 36
With 1863 grade pupils in 69 one-room schools, 438 in the grade schools with two or more rooms, and 1803 in the first six grades of the consolidated schools there was a grand total of 4204 grade pupils in the county during the year 1935-36. These added to the 1831 high school students make a worth-while field for library service as soon as sufficient funds are available to reach them.
"The schools always have been the closest ally to the exten- sion library service"1 and should be given due consideration in every plan for such service.
1John Adams Lowe, Public Library Administration. A. L.A. 1928. 37
Instruction in Vocatio111:,_l Agriculture ~~ Economics in Darke Counti·
There are six vocational agriculture departments in Darke county.
In view of the fact that the 253 boys enrolled in courses in these de- partments represent practically that many rural homes scattered throughout the county they vrnuld ai'ford a worth-while medium through which these homes might be provided with library service. Ea.ch of these departments, located in the schools at Greenville, Wew Eadison.,...,
Jackson Town.ship, Versailles, Ifonroe Tovmship and Gettysburg main- tain an up-to-date agricultural library of books, bulletins and mag- azines. Furthermore, out of this group wi 11 come the future rural leaders and, because of the nature of the groups, emphasis should be placed on selling the plan of rural library service to them.
The Future Farmers of America, the national organizatior1 of boys studying vocational agriculture, is established in all of the depart- ments. .Among the chief objectives of this organization we find those of developing rural leadership and that of creating and nurturing a love for country life.1 Surely the plan of providing more adequate reading facilities will a.id the program of this organization.
In addition to the all-day students three of the departments2 have organized Young Men's Farming Associations., an organization of farm boys between the ages of 16 and 25, whose purpose is to promote the recreational a.nd educational activities of these young men. Rere
1Future Farmers of Jimerica Manual* 2Recorda of State Supervisor of Vocational Agriculture. state Depart- ment of Education, Columbus, Ohio. 1936. 38
-1/'uss l. s sine.'wo. ! v\abash f Patterson •
• • • " • York ., fl • ' • • 6 • .• • 0 • i " • --•_ Jackson ------• Yfoyne • • • • • tO , • I - • - - •- • '•tP • • ,o_ • ' ' -Jackson To ~nship ...... ----~· Versailles.. . •_Schoo'!_ - • Richlo.nd Sehool • • . . -. • - • .. .. - - - • • • • - - ~ . ~ ,.,-• Washington • _Grpenvilie .. -.tl:t.:a:Il1.S .. • • • ·-• ,, ~ c;, , .~ . - I 0 . .. ,. -o_ " 4 • , * """'". ',_. . . .. 0 i) .. " ...... _ ..,;;;;:;-;-_ . E. 0 • 0 • .. " - .. .; " () _ -Getjysbu.rg 0 . • ,•-.o • • - School* · . Greenville .., . Schoo+ . Franklin Liberty . " . • • ,I Vo.n • Neo.ve Buren • . .. .
------~------.....,.-1" • Harrison Twin • • Monroe • .. - • ii • J::::J •• --• • • • • - - . • C.] • • • -._:-- ....."- 'p;1 - • • ,. \ ,.~ I • Monroe. • :._ rlew !fad ~eon- \ 'i'ownship _ Village St\hool • School • • • . - ,,_ - - . • • . " J'ignre 5. The Vocational Agrico.ltnre Departments in Darke Comit1 wtth the Enrollment of All-day and Part• time St~denta. 1955-36. Xe7: c Vocational .Departments • All-dq Stadenta - Part-time St~dents 39
again we find an ideal approach for library service to the rural people.
Figure 5 gives an idea of the extent and distribution of these organizations as well as the vocational Home Economics Departments.
Sixty-nine girls are enrolled in these vocational home economic departments. 1 They have an organization in each of the departments located at Gettysburg, Jackson Township and Monroe Township lrnown as the Future Homemakers Association. Here is an approach to sixty- nine other fa.rm homes of the county.
~ecords of Supervisor of (Smith-Hughes) Vocational Home Economics, State Department of Education, Columbus, Ohio. 1936. 40
The Churches of Darke County~
This picture of Darke County as a field for county-wide library service, and of the nature of the population in that county would not be complete without some allusion to the religious life of its people.
Figure 6 indicates the location of the churches by denomina- tions.
A need for empahsis on books of a religious nature is seen in this distribution of churches throughout the county. Reliable data concerning church membership is not available at present. However, a denominational summary of the Sunday Schools of the county made in
1929 shows 76 schools with a total membership of 9,2661 showing an active population in religious activity.
1The Darke County Council of Religious Education. 1929. Rev. O. O. Arnold, Greenville, Ohio. 41
, I Mississinawn Aiien t Wabash Patt erson
){ ' of' f • • .. X ')( )( • (D York 'f 0 J ackson Brown Wayne r= d • Xom 'foi.'6 0 ')( Rfcihnnd cb 0 I\ " 0
Washinqgi Greenville fide.ms 0 )(
0 A ti l(. Cl ~ - 0 )( ~ w * f.. .4 CJ ·6 t:] t1 ,a . )( • ~~ Franklin Liberty 0 Van CJ Neave )( Buren c:> "'"0 6 • . '>( 0 0 C lo Harrison Butler • Tv'}t\• ID .!Jo.pr~e
0 a,• -H 0 . &\ . Cl • X: 42
The Grange in Darke County.
The Grange is prominent in Darke county as one of the largest and most influential organizations of farm people. This organization has been active and ready to assist in promoting movements for the advancement of rural people since its beginning. According to the
American Library Association this organization has in other counties exerted a helpful influence in the promotion of county library
service. This is logical inasmuch as the service is designed and in- tended for these rural families. In some counties the Grange applied for and received collections from the traveling library service of the Ohio State library. However, according to Frank M. Coppess, 11 1 do not know of any Granges in the county that have any library ser- vice although I have urged the use of the traveling library service.
I do believe the members of the Granges of Darke county would be interested in the type of library service you refer to. 111
From Figure 7 1 which gives the location of the subordinate
Granges of the county and the membership of each, we find a total
901 members in the thirteen granges scattered throughout the county.
The membership of ea.ch of the subordinate granges in the county is as follows: Lightsville, 56; Jackson, 86; Hillgrove, 45;
Champion, 69; Anchor, 55; New Madison, 194; New Weston, 38; York,
89; Stelvideo, 43; Concord, 48; Patterson, 55; Wayne, 66; and Gettys- burg, 57.
1Grange Deputy for Darke county. Personal letter to the author. 43
_,,. ·' 1'1!iss1.ss1.nawn I A!len V1abo.sh Patterson 0 Ne. wWe5.,.D'1 Cl Ft,fkr~n
C t,,H·,J. tic. York
Jackson Brown Wayne -
Wayn~ D J4,kso,, [J Ri,/md . ork
w 'l_.H,l'J:cl/it. as 1.ngt Greenville Adams t:) .,, eivicleo
Cl ~ha "t r1on
Cl Gwffys6v7
~oncord 0 Franklin Liberty ' Van Anc-hQR CJ Nenvc Buren
Harrison Butler Twin Monroe
t:l Ne.w /VlaJ, ~011
Figure "1. The Location of the Sa.bordinate Granges in Darke Coanty. The Farm Bureau in Darke County.
11 The Farm Bureau, organized in Darke county in December 1917, has at present a membership totaling approximately 300 families located in all of the twenty tow.nships of the countytt states Mrs. Ira 'White,
Secretary-Treasurer of the Darke County Farm Bureau~ 1
This organization, in itself, is not a service organization but has sponsored the present organizations of farmers into service groups for handling food and livestock and gasoline and oils, rural electrification and other prooects existing at present in the county.
In the rural electrification project alone 502 farmers have been 2: signed up for line extension to date.
Here, again, we find an organization founded on the fundamental idea of securing equality for rural people which would, without doµbt, be a splendid approach for proponents of rural free library service.
1.Article written for Greenville Daily Advocate, 1936, On file in Farm Bureau Office in Greenville, Ohio. 2Farm Bureau Office Records, August 10, 1936. 45
Agricultural Extension and 4-H Clubs. Another integral part of this descriptive picture of the county is the agricultural extension force and its activities. D. P. Miller,
County Agricultural Agent, and Emma E. Sparks, Home Demonstration Agent, are performing a service to the residents of' Darke county and
offer a desirable entry to the problems and needs of the rural people of that county. These individuals have a broad knowledge of the whole county, its industries and population and through them valuable insight can be gained for the promotion of such a service as is proposed. Adult education in groups throughout the county is one of the major phases of the county agricultural extension work in Darke county as well as other counties of the state. In case of the Home Demonstra- tion work, Emma E. Sparklf states, 11 The program reaches from 1,500 to
3,000 rural women each year and pertains to all phases of homemaking
of interest to these women. tt The~e women are organized into local classes under the direction of the Home Demonstration Agent. Last year classes were conducted in bread making, upholstering furniture, ready-made clothing and consumers• problems. Aocor~g to Miss Sparks she has the assistance of an organi-
zation known as the Home Economics Extension Council, consisting of one rural housewife from ea.oh township, three from the Fa.rm Bureau and three fromPamona Grange. Similar organized effort is conducted by the Agricultural Agent,
1Emma E. Sparks, Home Demonstration Agents' Annual Report to Ohio .State Extension Department and United states Department of Agriculture, November 30, 1935. 46
D. p. Miller. In the annual report of this offioe1 considerable
emphasis is placed on activity in connection with the triple A
program during the year 1935. A total of 1,860 corn-hog contracts were signed by farmers of the county through organized meetings. 2
In wheat control work under this program 305 farmers attended
ten meetings at which the plan was explained.3 ~leven meetings were 4 held on tobacco production control with a total attendance of 1,870•
Rural electrification meetings held throughout the county
during the year resulted in 856 applications for that sarvice.5
In addition to these activities the following organized groups 6 are found:
1. County meeting at which extension specialists give instruc- tion.
2. Emergency crop loan and production credit loan group meetings.
3. Demonstration days as ttpotato Daytt with 400 in attendance.
11935 Annual Report, County Extension Work, Darke Count-.1., Ohio. November 30, 1935. 2Ibid. P• 8. 3Ibid. P• 10. 4Ibid. P• 12 • 5Ibid. p. 15. 6Ibid. PP• 20-30. 47
In their organization work with adults and boys and girls we find such activities as short courses for farmers, demonstrations for ladies and last, but not least, the 4-H Club work. Figure 8 shows the location and enrollment of the various boys and girls 4-H Clubs during 1935.1 A summary of the.se clubs shaw 557 girls in Home
Economics, 238 boys and girls in livestock clubs, 75 boys in wood- working, 72 boys in nature study and 15 in crops projects, aking a total of 957 boys and girls enrolled during the year 1935-36.
Here, again, we have a group of boys and girls, who, if con- vinced of the merits of a free public library service, would give valuable a.id in its formation as well as receive unmeasurable benefit for themselves. In addition to this 4-H group proper, there is an organiza- tion of past members consisting of fifty-four boys and girls 16 years of age and up. :Meetings are held monthly at which group games are played. Rural leadership development is the chief objective of this group, the members being encouraged to take the games learned into the comm.unity meetings such as school, Grange, church and local get-together meetings. Various outside speakers are brought in from time to time to give talks and lead discussions. Through this active and aggressive group, desirable expansion of the library service could be promulgated.
1Persona.l letter from Emma E. Sparks, County Home Demonstration Agent, to author, 1936. 48
-1uss1ss1navm.
Figure 8. ~he -:s: Cla.bs in Darke Ooanty with the Membership in Each. Key: o . Horr.e. J=Gor\om,cs x. l, ves fa c. k. • Crop_:, . - WoocJi#orA '"!fJ N hbf,,re .St ( 49
Another organization sponsored by the Agricultural Extension
Service that is worthy of' our consideration .in this study is the
Farmers Institutes. Eight local institutes were held during the past year with~ total attendance of' 6,371 as indicated in Table XI. This table also shows the location of' these institutes. J.P. Schmidt, Extension Specialist, Ohio State University, who is in charge of' this work in Ohio reports "our institute speakers have included the subject of' f'ree library service f'or rural people in their discussions at practically every institute in the state during the past year.•tl It would seem that this organization, as well as others mentioned earlier, would af'f'ord a good approach for develop- ing the service in Darke County. TABLE XI. FARMERS INSTITUTES HELD IN DARKE COUNTY DURING
THE YEAR 1935-36.2
Location Attendance
Richland Township 400 Monroe Township 235 Brown Township 980 Franklin Tovmship 1882 Jackson Township 867 Hollandsburg 686 Gettysburg 760 Lightsville 671 l Personal letter to the author. 1936. 2.Annual Report of Farmers Institutes, D. P. Miller, County Agricul- tural Agent, 1936. 50
Adult Education through the Federal Emergency: S~hools in Darke Coun;!:Y. 1
There were thirty-five emergency schools conducting classes for adults located in fifteen of the tv,enty townships of Darke County dur- ing the school year 1935-36 with eleven teachers in charge of these schools. The net enrollment of these schools for July 1936 was 373 adults. According to Willard Wolf, Emergency School Supervisor, 0 the yearly attendance will average near this figure for each month."
Several types of courses are offered in these adult classes as teaching the making of hooked rugs, dramatics, music, English, History, and Current Events. Hov1ever, "the hooked rug course was received during the past year with the greatest enthusiasm't2 according to \folf.
Regardless of the fact that this organization may be temporary in its existence, being sponsored as a 1VPA project, it does reach a group throughout the county who are desirous of furthering their edu- cational attainments a:nd should be considered as an agency that might be an outlet for service from the library as well as an inlet into the needs of a group of rural people in organizing such library service.
1Records, A. E. Gower, County Chairman of Adult Education in Darke County, 1936. 2Personal letter to author. 1936. 51
Boy Scout ·Organizations in the County. In a oonsideration of the worth-while youth movement of Darke
County because of their influence on new ventures of similar value,
sane mention must be made of the Boy Soouts of Am.erioa. Table XII
gives an idea of the extent of this organization of boys in this
county.
TABLE XII. BOY SCOUTS OF .AMERICA TROUPS IN DARKE COUNTY WITH MEMBERSHIP OF EACH TROUP. 1936.1
Troup No. Location - Tovm No. of Boys
45 Ansonia 12
66 Versailles 18
78 Greenville 30
85 Greenville 29
86 Palestine 8
96 New Madison 25
Total 6 128·
Here are 122 boys actively engaged in organized activity with the foundation laid for cooperative effort in other fields. It would seem that worth-while service could be rendered this group that would in return lend support to the county library movement.
1Personal letter from B. w. Stayton, Scoµt Executive, Dayton-Miami Valley .Area Council, Dayton, Ohio. 1936. 52
Telephone Service in Darke Countz.
County-wide library service is either assisted by adequate
telephone service in the county or hindered by inadequate service.
Those familiar with servioe as it exists in Ohio counties are famil-
iar with the telephone call for a desired book, renewal of a book
already borrowed or for information needed in many fields. Table
nII shows the situation in Darke oounty.
TABLE XIII. TEE TELEPHONE SERVICE IN DARKE COUNTY 1936.1
Location of exchange Total Subscribers Rural Subscribers
Greenville 2166 481 Versailles 348 89 Bradford 286 110* Arcanum 267 94•* New Madison 200 89 .Ansonia 166 51 Hollansburg 140 89 Gettysburg 116 80 Rossburg 82 62*** Total 3771 1145 * Darke County Residents. ** Includes Pitsburg and its Rural Routes. *** Includes :new Weston and Burkettsville and Rural Routes.
1nireotory of Ohio Telephone Service Company, Greenville, Ohio. 1936. 53
According to a recent ruling of the Ohio Telephone Service
Company the 31 771 subscribers, of which 1,145 are rural residents of the county, have free service to a:ny of the exchanges listed in
Table XIII. This service in itself should be a decided asset to county-wide library service in that practically any resident can telephone to Greenville and other points without additional expense.
Figure 9 shows the location of these free exchanges in the county.
In addition to the nine exchanges included in this free service, the survey shows other Darke county residents with tele- phones on New Paris, Eldorado, West Manchester in Preble county, and Laura and West Milton in Miami County, Union City, Indiana, who can secure telephone service at a nominal cost. 54
______..__""'!"'Ol~...."""!"."----:---·------1 -1,1ssissinaWU I Llen \labash Patterson
York 0 Ro~sburgi------,-' co Bradford 1-,,------Jackson Brown Wayne
Dversailles
Richland o An: onia
·washington Greenville
D Gettysb .rg
CJ Greenville Frnnklin Liberty Van Nenve Buren
Harrison Butler Tvtin Monroe CJ Hollandsb11rg D .A.roan~ 1 J New Madison I
Figure 9. Free Telephone Service Exchanges in Darke County. 1936. 55
Rural Free Delivery Mail Routes in Darke Countv.
In addition to the telephone as an agency for the transmission of library services to rural people, we find the rural free delivery mail service equally important in this respect. 0 Requests for in- formation, for books desired, and for renewals are frequently made on post card"1 according to Ruth A. Dennis, Librarian of the Greene
County District Library. Likewise# the librarians of county-wide service find this mail service almost invaluable in contacting patrons of the library for books due and other phases of the service.
Table XIV shows a county total of 6,081 rural box holders, easily accessible by mail.
The other information included in Table XIV, as the location of the post offices, the number of box holders on each route and the route number should be of value in the promotion of county-wide library service.
1Personal letter to the author. July, 1936. 56
TABLE XIV. RT.J"R.AL FREE DJELIVERY lviAIL SERVICE IN DARKE COTJNTY. l
Box holders on Total bo:x: Post Office Route Number each route holders of each P. o.
Ansonia 1 326 326 Arcanum 1 215 2 220 3 212 4 225 872 Bradford 1 154 2 325 3' 147 626 Burkettsville 1 20 20 Greenville 1 369 2 286 3i 309 4 3,71 5 360 1695 Hollandsburg 1 125 125 Laura 1 83 83 New Madison 1 190 2, 195 385 New Paris 1 110 110 New Weston 1 265 265 Ft. Reoovery 1 4 3 85 89 Rossburg 1 215 215 Union Cii;y, Indiana 1 88 3 201 4 21 5 194 504 West Manchester 1 32 32 Versailles 1 178 2 208 3 206 592 Yorkshire 1 140 140 Total 32 Routes 6081
1Record on file, office Darke County Agriculture Extension Agent, Greenville, Ohio. 1936. 57
The Highways of Darke County.
Good roads are a decided asset to county-wide library service because, in final analysis, the majority of the books will be trans- ported to various parts of the county over the highways. Darke county is favored with a good road system with 171.87 miles of state road, 22.51 miles of which is brick, 64.53 miles concrete, and 83.45 miles stone, gravel, and tar-bound macadam.1 The county has 218.5 miles of county and 873,49 miles of township stone, gravel and tar- bound macadam roads with only 21.35 miles of earth roads in the county.2
Darke County has a total of 1285.81 miles of roads with 1.6 per cent of these·being earth roads as compared to 23 per cent of the road mileage of Ohio being classed as earth roads.3 Ohio has a total road mileage of 85,705.61 with 21,402.10 miles of these being 4 earth roads.
1ohio State, County and Township Road Mileage. Prepared by Office of Statistitian, Ohio Department of Highways, Columbus, Ohio. Jan- uary 1, 1936. 2toc. cit. 3toc. cit. 4Loc. cit. 58
The Railroads of Darke County.
Figure 10 shows approximately 84 miles of railroad network throughout the county. This contributes to the store of knowledge concerning the county as a field for the contemplated service in that the wealth and progressiveness of any county is shown in its roads and railroads as well as in other physical factors. Inasmuch as the roads are of excellent quality and kept in a good state of repair it will within all probability be unnecessary to transport books from one center to another by rail.
The County Fair,
Advertised as the greatest county Fair on earth, the Darke
County Fair does rank high for its boys and girls exhibits, its at- tendance, and its race program.
The exhibit in 1936 represents the eighty first annual Fair sponsored by the Darke County Agricultural Society. It is not my desire to give a history of this county fair but only to point out that it is a live, well attended and worth-while annual affair in
Darke County.
County Fairs find a place in library extension in that they afford an ideal medium through which interest in the service may be created by book exhibits, demonstration, lectures and publicity programs. 59
l.:.1.S Sl.S S1.l1f;.W0. , en ¥~abash atterson
York i f Jackson Brovm. Wa. €l
II C Richlo.nd
Liberty Vnn Buren
Ho.rrison
Figure 10. !he Railroads of Darke Coant7. 60
Agencies Conf'licting with Library Service by Providing Activity for
Leisure Time.
That there are agencies in every county, public entertainment centers as moving picture theatres, dance halls, swimming pools, beer parlors and pool rooms, is a well known fact. Darke county is not without these agencies as Figure 11 will show.
Out of sixty-one places classified as liquor houses, forty-one have been issued beer permits alone, fourteen have license to sell wines and seven permits are issued to clubs.1
Out of five dance halls in the county, three are located in
Greenville, one on a Greenville rural route and one in Versailles.
That the residents of Darke County attend movies, some in cities outside the county, is an accepted fact. However, according to data 2 presented by Gray and Monroe, reading interests are not destroyed by attendance at movies. Studies presented by them indicate movie going people, contrary to public opinion, read practically the same amount as non-movie going people.
The p9ol rooms and dance halls are not serious conflicts in the field of rural library service in that they are in the minority in the county. Attendance at the existing places is comparatively small due to the fact that they are so few in number.
1state Liquor Control Commission Records. 1936. 2wm. s. Gray, and Ruth Monroe, Reading Interests of Adults. pp.120-21. 61
B --"'- nw4,, - . 1.'n..1. SSl.SSJ.navm 1,11en"' Y;e.bnsh Pntterse:n· · . 0 Oegocd .i 0 North tar 0 York hire
0 /'.Ros 1bargork
Jackson Brown Vfnyne
)<4 £:] ~u.tersaill a .. .. ~.,..... ooo , Richlo.nd •o Uni ,..o..t. . on City Ansonia
Washington Greenville i,druns
0 6 ·O A xA4 ii Gettysbarg 0 0 00 X~,m~ o O o A ...i.1 ~- ~, Greenville Franklin Liberty Von Neo.ve Buren CJ .
lmrrison Butler -0 T111in Monroe . • A o"O .6 o :.O ~ri:New Madison Aroanam Pitsbarg
Fi.gare 11. Agencies Conflicting with Library Service by providing Activity for Leis11re Time. Key: o t. "lvor . R,,lcr.s CJ sw1111m,,19 Ho/ X Ot1nce I ),/4// Ll l'Wof,cn R'c./..,,e 7'1e,1f,r A. Pool ,f',.o,.., 62
CHAPTER IV
COUNTY-'i'ITDE LIBRARY SERVICE FOR DARKE COUNTY, OHIO
"The .American Library Association has viewed with interest the growth of the county library system, and wishes to express its belief that the county is a logical unit of library service for most parts of the United States, and that the county library system is tl:e solution of the library problem for the county districts.n1
This quotation represents the belief of the professional libra- rians of the country in the county unit of library service.
The following resolution was introduced at a meeting of the Na- tional Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, held in Pittsburgh in November,
1923.2 "Whereas, Public libraries have become such an important factor in social life of towns and cities: and whereas, those living in tle villages and on the farms are deprived of library service because of the much greater proportional costs under such conditions: therefore, be it resolved, that the National Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, ap- proves of the county library plan, which has proven very successful in (sections of) Maryland, Ohio, Indiana, and many other states, and hopes to see it universally adopted. 11
1Harriet Catherine Long. County Library Service. P• 7. 2Harriet Catherine Long. loo. cit. 63
This represents the farmers belief in the county as a unit of library servioe and carries considerable weigh:t with the author in
_view of the fact it is to this rural group that this study is pri- marily direoted.
nThe best reading ;Cg,t... the largest number at the least costtt, 1 will express the fundamental idea underlying the county library service plan. It is in accordance with this principle that the fol-
10'\'ll':ing tentative plans are presented, which the author sincerely hopes may serve, in a small part at least, as a nucleus for such an extension service to the rural ~e of Darke county. That the plan, when completed,'·-may carry consistency with some assurance that it is based on sound principles, the foll0'\'11':ing criteria have been set up by the author and evaluated by a committee consisting of Paul A. T. Noon., State Librarian and Mildred w. Sandoe, Library Organizer, Ohio State Library.
In the development of these criteria it has been assumed that the ideal cannot be obtained at the outset of the project. For example., fairly conclusive data are available to show that the expenditure of one dollar per capita for county-wide library service, as a minimum, is necessary for adequate service. It is assumed here that the people of Darke county are entitled to service that meets, as a minimum, a standard equally as good as conditions found in the state as a whole.
This is not given as a standard for all times but merely as a nucleus for more adequate service as time and funds permit. Under present lMotto of American Library Association. 2The Equal Chance, .American Library Association, 1936. 64
conditions to attain at the outset the goal of one dollar per capita is praotically impossible.
If an individual wants a radio or a new oar and the money is available to purchase it, we have an individual matter. However, if one desires library service that will serve the needs of himself and community, that will keep him in touch with the thoughts and ideas of others, useful and entertaining, past and present, it at once involves the expenditure of smn.s of money and time that take it away from the possibility of individual accomplishment and makes it a community matter.
We must make use of the possibility of all contributing a reasonable amount in the form of tax for the support of such service.
Furthermore, these neighbors must be willing to be ta,ced for this purpose.
11Although a public library affords perhaps the greatest benefit for the least money of any public enterprise the lack of any one of the requirements, people enough, money enough, stimulus to coopera- tion---is the reason why so many .Americans have no library service, and why it is so hard for them to get it.tt1
If county-wide library service is to be organized in any county certain standards or criteria for organizing such a service are needed.
The writer, after consideration of several existing units of county library service, a study of records of the .American Library Associa- tion, and a study of conditions in Ohio and Darke County, has attempted to formulate certain criteria to be used as a guide in the proposed plan.
1The Equal Chance. American Library Association. 1936. 65
In order to be assured that these be valid they were presented to a committee consisting of Paul A. T. Noon, Librarian and Mildred
W. Sandoe, Library Organizer1 Ohio state Library1 who acted as judges of their worth. The following pages are devoted to the presentation of these standards. 66
CRITERIA FOR TBE ORGANIZATION OF A COUHTY-w:rnE LIBRARY SERVICE
FOR ,ANY COUNTY.
1. Does the county service have a trained~ full-time librarian at
its head?
1. Does the librarian have four years of college training?
2. Has she had an accredited course in a recognized li-
brary school?
3. Does she have power of supervision and administra-
tion of the county unit?
4. Does she render the following services to the unit?
a. Cataloging and classifying all collections.
b. Conducting suitable publicity work in the county.
c. Discussing the work of the library at the educa-
tional meetings in the county~ including
teachers meetings, P. T, A., and Fairs?
5. Does she have one or more trained assistants for
each 20~000 ciroulation1 if that circulation would
be equivalent to the average for the state as a whole?
6. Does she read one or more professional magazines reg-
ularly, and read three or more professional books
annually?
7. Does she maintain membership in the O. L.A. and the
A. 1. A. each year and attend a professional conference
annually?
1standard used by Ohio State Library - Library Survey Form. 2The average circulation per capita for Ohio is 4.99. The Equal Chance. Chicago: American Library Association. 1936. 67
II, Are library facilities adequate and within easy access for all
residents of the county?
1. Is each and every family within four miles of library
facilities, main library, branch or book station?
2, Are branches and stations located in centers used fre- quently as trading or social centers?
a. Does each villa~e with 1~000 or rnorl'l po-pule.tion have a
branch library?
b. Does each hamlet of less than 1,000 population have a
book station?
3, Are all branches and stations easily accessible by road
and telephone?
4. Is service being given to each school in the county?
5, Is service being given to the hospitals, county institu-
tional farms, and the county jail?
6. Is the total number of volumes in the county system equiva-
lent to the average number of volumes per capita in the state of
Ohio as a whole?
a. Does the system have as a minimum one volume per capita?1
7, Has special attention been given to the juvenile section?
a. Has a separate room or section been set aside for juvenile
reading and reference in the main and branch libraries?
1The average number of volumes per capita in Ohio is .96. Ref., The Equal Chance. 68
b. Have attractive fiction and non-fiction books and maga-
zines totaling at least 25 per cent of the total collec- 1 tion been provided for this group?
c. Has provision been made to render trained assistance to
the juveniie group?
8. Does the supply of fiction average as a maximum, not more
.than 70 per cent of the total number of volumes of books
and magazines.. ?2
III. Are buildings and equipment adequate?
1. Is the main library in a separate building?
a. Is it located n~ar the center of the city?
b. Is the furniture (tables, chairs, catalogue cabinet,
verticle file, book truck, bulletin board, magazine rack,
newspaper stand, typewriter, chEJf;:~gt .....,· desk) standard and in suitable condition for service?
c. Are separate reading and reference rooms maintained?
d. Is a separate work room or rooms maintained from which
all books circulated throughout the county are returned
for rechecking, rebinding and recataloging?
e. Has the building been renovated within the past five years,
at least, is it in good repair?
f. Are the grounds attractive and is the building properly
marked as a free public library?
2. Has provision been made to transport the books to and from
branches and stations?
a. Are provisions made to cover the costs of this transporta- tion? llfu.rriet Catherine Long, County Library Service. 2Ibid. P• 127. 69
IV. Is the service adequately financed?
1. Does the co~ty budget conunission allow an amount at least
equivalent to the per capita expenditure of the state as a
whole?
a. Is the county, in Opio, spending at least 68 cents per
capita?1
2. Are the funds available being spent in a manner that will
give the most reading to the greatest number of people?
a. Is the amount being spent for service, in salaries, not
more than 40 per oent of the total?2
b. Is the amount being spent for new books and periodicals,
as a minimum, 35 per cent of the total?
c. Is the amount being spent for operation and maintenance
not exceeding 25 per cent of the total?3
d. Do local communities assume the responsibility for the
building costs in branches, and for building costs and
librarian service in stations?
v. Is the administration effective?
1. Are the books properly cataloged in each library branch and
station, according to the Dev{ey decimal system or some
equally good one?
2. Is the library properly publicized within the co:unty7
a. Are new books announced as received?
b. Are book displays made in public exhibits?
1The Equal Chance. American Library Association. 1936. P• 23. 2rrarriet Catherine Long, County Library Service. P• 64. 3Ibid. 70
o. Is the program explained and encouraged through public
meetings as teachers meetings, P. T. A., and others?
d • .Are arrangements in effect to interchange books and
magazines in various parts of the co'llll.ty periodically?
3. Has a survey been made to determine reading interests and
habits of the communities being served?
4. Have proper steps been taken to render service in the public
schools of the 001.mty?
a. Have needs of the schools for additional reference mate-
rial been studied?
b. Have the needed reference books been made accessible to
the schools? 71
CHAPTER V THE TENTATIVE PLAN FOR DARKE COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE
Darke County belongs to that group of counties that lends itself almost ideally to the organization o:f county-wide library service, with a central library located in the county seat and with branches and stations located throughout the county. In accordance with the criteria presented in ~he :foregoing pages,
Table X)l is given as a tentative suggestion. Justification o:f the plan as presented can be made on the basis o:f the criteria. The service can be divided into the :following classes: 1. Service from the main library.
2. Service from branch libraries located in villages with 1,000 population. 3. Service from book stations in hamlets with less than
1,000 population. 4. Service to the eleven consolidated schools of the county.
5. Service to the rural schools or one, two and three rooms o:f the county.
According to criterion number Iv1- $25,856.12 should be allocated to the project of oounty library service from the intangible tax fund or other sources. Inasmuch as only $14,000 is available from intangi- ble tax funds in 19362 and in view_of the fa.ct that this is far in ex• oess of what is being spent at present it seems advisable to base further calculations on this figure.
1Population multiplied by sixty-eight cents per ca.pita. 2county Auditors Records, Darke County, Ohio. 1936. 72
,Te at once see that the minimum standards entail the expenditure of far more money th.an is available. These standards will of necessity need be gained in years of expansion rather than at the outset.
On the basis of criterion number IV - 2, we make a division of this sum in Table n.
TABLE X:,f. DIVISIOH OF TEE PROPOSED BUDGET FOR DARKE COU:NTY
LIBRARY SERVICE.
Nature of Expenditure Per cent of Amount of Ex- total penditure in budget
Salaries and service $5,600
Books and Periodicals 4,900
Operation and maintenance, main branches and stations 3.,500
Since state aid is a possibility in Ohio counties it seems ad- visable to suggest the addition of $800.00 from this souroe,1 the total a.mount of which can well be applied to new book and periodical purchases. This would make the total a.mount of money available for this part of the program $5,700.00. Further study will prove the ad• equacy or inadequacy of this amount.
The proposed plan will nece·ssitate the services of a trained librarian in charge of the entire county unit, three branch librarians, one in charge at .Arcanum, one at Versailles, and one at Union City, and two assistants at the main library. Table XVI shows what these services will cost in terms of estimates based on the Greene county district library plan and the Van Wert coll!lty plan, taking into con- sideration the amount of money available, as follows: lconteroplated state aid assistance for Greene County District Library. Mildred w. Sandoe, Library Organizer, Ohio State Library. 1936. 73
TABLE XVI. ESTIMATED BUDGET FOR THE ]?.ARKE COUNTY LIBRARY FOR
THE INITIAL YE.AR1
Service Cost o:f' Yearly each item Cost $5620. Librarians Head librarian $1800. Branch librarians (Three) 2520 Assistants (Two) 1200.
Books and Periodicals 5700. New Books 5300. Rebinding 300. Postage and Printing 100. Operation and :Maintenance 3500. Main library - heat, light and supplies 2030• Transportation of ~ooks 3000 miles@ $.05 150. Janitor@ $60. per mo. 720. Page $50. per mo. 600. Postage and Printing 100.
1Drat'ted from conditions found in Greene and Van Wert counties. 2Estima.ted from truck service in Greene and Richland co'lm.ties. 74
That the a.mount set aside for librarian service should be ade- quate is based on the assumption that Greene1 and Van \Vert counties2 have operated on a comparative equal budget during the past year.
There are at present, two librarians connected with the
Greeneville public library wh~ should the county-wide system of ser- vice be put into effect, would handle the central library circulation a.nd render assistance to the librarian in charge of the county unit.
The $5,700. set aside for new books and periodicals will not, of course, bring the collection up to the minimum standard during the first year. However, Table XVII indicates the needs in books and periodicals in the county at present.
TABLE XVII. BOOKS NEEDED IN THE D.ARKE COUNTY LIBRARY SERVICE
TO MEET THE MINIMUM STAIWARD
Books at present in public libraries of the county 32,269
Less 25% for removal of undesirable books 8,033
Number of volumes available 24,236
Number of volumes required to meet minimum of one
volume per capita 38,009
Number of volumes needed 13,773
1R~port of Librarian, Greene County Library. 1936. 2Harriet Catherine Long. The County Librar.z_. P• 62. 75
In view of the fact that several titles of popular fiction are on sale for one dollar per copy and since several book concerns give attractive prices to libraries for large orders, it is believed that fiction books can be purchased for an average of two dollars per volume.
The American Library Association quotes a much higher figure as the average cost per book,1 including reference titles. Using this assump- tion, approximately five years will be required to meet the minimum standard.
After the deductions have been made for rebinding, we have the possibility of purchasing 2,400 new books and periodicals during the initial year. This, supplemented with a probable loan of 2,000 books by the traveling library service, Ohio State Library, would place an attractive collection in co1..mty circulation.
In the budget for operation and maintenance it is imperative that local communities provide costs as rent, heat and light for branch library service and that stations be located in centers where the services of circulation may be donated also or at least financed locally.
Referring again to the Greene county library service, Ruth A.
Dennis, head librarian, states,2 11 Since the beginning of the Greene county library in 1926 local communities have furnished light, rent and the librarian's salary, with the exeeption of the branches, with the county board furnishing cataloging, supplies and delivery. The
Greene county library board hopes to be able to care for the mainten- ance of all its branches whenever funds are available."
1Library Extension. American Library Asrociation. 1936. P• 39. aPersonal letter to the author. 76
This situation will apply equally well, I believe, to Darke county in that funds are not available to handle the entire cost at the outset.
The proposed plan would make the following books and periodicals available for county service, as presented in Table XVIII.
TABLE XVIII. BOOKS AND PERIODICALS AVAILABLE FOR COUNTY
LIBRARY SERVICE IN DARKE COUNTY UNDER THE PROPOSED FLAM
Books and periodicals available at present in system after deductions have been made 24,236
New books and periodicals 2,400
Loan from traveling library service 2,000
Total 28,636
This collection of books and periodicals will not make it pos-
-sible to meet the minimum standards at the beginning, but in view of the fact it is so muoh better than.existing conditions, it seems worth-while.
The collection, it seems, might well be placed in the various divisions of the service organization as suggested in Table XIX. 77
TABLE XIX. DISTRIBUTION OF TEE AVAILABLE BOOKS AND PERIODICALS IN
DIVISIONS OF THE PROPOSED LIBRARY ORGANIZATION
Number of Books Type of Organization Location and periodicals
Main library Greenville 17,400
Branches
Versailles 500 Union City 500 .Arcanum 7,887 Total 26,287
Stations
New Madison 1,019 Gettysburg 200 Palestine 150 Ansonia 125 Pitsburg 100 Fort Jefferson 75 Hurchbargers Corners 50 Rose Hill 50 Total 1,769 78
TABLE XIX. DISTRIBUTION OF BOOKS, ETC., (continued).
Division of Organization Location No. books and Periodicals
Schools New Madison 50
Arcanum 50
Monroe Twp. 50
Palestine 50
Franklin 50
Gettysburg 50
Versailles 65
Ansonia 50
Union City 50
Jackson Twp. 50
Hollansburg 35
North Star 30
Total 580
Grand Total 28,636
The collections in the branches will, of necessity, be the permanent property of the communities in which they are located. For
example, if Arcanum enters the county-wide service plan, it could not be expected to throw its existing splendid collection into county
service. Versailles has, at present, plans started for a local li- brary and will support the project in building up a good collection.
Although Union City lies partly in Indiana, it has sufficient population
in Ohio to wiµ-rant the establishment of a branch, according to the cri- teria adopted. Local support in these places will hasten the meeting of the minimum standards. 79
The small oolleotions will need to be changed monthly until such time when more books oan be· purchased. The school collections may well be exchanged every two months. as the plan is carried out in the Greene Coi.mty District Library Plan.1
Figure 12 shows the location of these proposed division of the county library organization in its earliest stage. That this is not _an ideal set-up in the final analysis has been pointed out. A more detailed and extensive organization is given in Figure 13 which can gradually be put into effect as sufficient money becomes available.
1Annual report of Greene county librarian. 1936. 80
i'1hs~il.ssine:wn...... _.!!_...... _.,.._...,"""""------~------. 1 1u1en v~abash Patterson
Sliorth s1 ar
XRoee Hill
Jackson Brown i------·-Wayne
f8) Jaoks WB.shington ·Greenville Adams ($ Gettysburg Bo_. G:reanv...,l..,.l_e ______--1 Franklin Liberty Van 0 ,® Neave Buren Franklin Sehool Palestine X Fort Jefferson 0 Harrison Butler Twin Mif"oe liollandsbo.rg JS 0 Arcanwn Pitaba.rg f~ Bew Matison Figtire 12. Plan for Cou.nty•wi.de Library Service under the Proposed Budget. Key: L 1 /Vla,h .L.,br_a7 CB!J. Breu?<=; I, l....1br,:;r1 18) .:c,fq/,a;J 0 Co11.sal,dq/~/ Sc.heio/ ,Sf4 f,o 1,;_ 81 .... ,.,!, .... ,, -' i"llSSJ.SSJ.nawn .a11en Wabash Patterson Osgood ~ New Weston J df)North 3tal4 •Yorksh· re ~ E )Be Hill York -,-- ;_.______,..______X # ------J a.ckson Brown Brock 0 ®·; Jacicson School BJ Versa: lles lilll'llhbargars Co,·n~,a~·--~---~4 An1onia Richland I*' Union 01 ty Woodint.?to :i, • ·Beamsv1· le X Vfo.shington - Adruns Greenville I ~ Ooletown :.-..--,.---i ® GettJebo.rg c::::J frea.;,1.z..""·.,.il-..lia:.a"--..,..._-----1 ------·- Franklin Liberty 1 Van Neo.ve j Buren ®Frankliti Palestine18!.~ XJaysv1lle School X Fort JeffeJ son $,-Harrison Butler Tvtln Monroe Hollandsb11r1 ~ ® Pits~11rg . New Madison Arca.nam. C~ • BlltlE r X• Ithaj~• )( . SchO!l Bral:fetsv11"1i 8st1ne •. • Go:r1lon l :Figure lZ. A Suggested Plan for County-Wide Libra:ry Service ae sa!fioient Fonds are Available. 82 That the number of books in each branch and station is small is evident from an observation of these figures. Interesting comment on 1 this point is made by Long: "The collection of books at both branch and station will at all times represent but a sample of the wealth of the county library to that community. But is must be an effective sample, and must be chosen from the larger book stock with due regard to special interests of each community and to include books which will develop or meet those interests. The number of volumes sent will depend upon the size of the community, the character of the population and the character of the library repre- sentative in that community, for upon the enthusiasm and interest of the custodian depends to a large extent the usefulness of a book collection. It would seem wise to look toward the time when each of the branches and stations will contain at least one volume for each person in that community, but in the early beginnings the early collections at each point will fall below this ideal. 1' The quality of this collection of books and magazines cannot be over stressed•. Attractive fiction of recent titles will meet the most popular demands in this early stage of the service and should be prop- 2 ortionately larg&, even up to sixty-five per cent of the total. Children1 s books, the best that can be purchased, should com- prise at least twenty-five per cent3 of the total. The basis for a strong reference collection, in the ma.in li- brary and in its branches, should be laid in the early book orders. More expensive titles that are used more or less infrequently will of necessity be kept in the main library, and each branch and station should be provided with aids that will answer those questions that are brought to the library daily. In this respect, reference was made 1Harriet Catherine Long. The C~rmty Library, PP• 131-32. 2Ibid. P• 127 • 3Ibid. P• 128. 83 The purchasing of books and periodicals, with the accompanying: problems of proper selections, will be one of the first duties of the county librarian. She should be guided in these selections by stand- ard printed aids Vllhich are available for both current books and older literature, such as .American Library Catalogue 1926, with an addi- tion in 1931; Webster's Buying List of Books for Small Libraries; Standard Catalogue, Corrine Bacon; Graded List of Books for Children, A. L.A., 1922; Books for High School Libraries, A. L.A., 1924; and such publications as Booklist, Book Review Digest, New York Libraries, Stand- ard Catalogue Bimonthly. A mimeographed publication by the committee on Rural Literature of the Agricultural Extension Service of the College of Agriculture, Ohio state University~. gives twenty-six valuable fiction, and thirty- one non-fiction titles with an annotation on each, that are ideal for rural readers. These in a great many cases depict the place of the ploneer farmer in the early development of our commonwealth. The whole field of county or rural library service belongs to that larger field of community building which, according to J.P. Scbmidt,1means, 11 community management, community planning, community organization, community developmen~ or improvement and better rural life programs. 0 Surely the library service wi~h all its services will add much ~o this plan of developing or improving this unit of the nation. Mr. Schmidt states further; 11No matter how fast the autos or how good the radio or any other special service most families, especially farm families, 1Rural Economic Specialist, Ohio State University, 11Program Helps. 11 (April, 1936). 84 · must still share in living together---sohool, church, trade, leisure programs (we would include library.services). Even so it is the sharp differences about these comm.on or community needs th~t-remind many families of' the need of pooling their money, their time and their talents for better community life. These are two fundamentals: Unde.rstanding and sharing. Without sharing there can be no community 1 but that is a matter of' spirit and must be practiced at all times." It is this spirit of sharing that we hope to develop in the field of library sejvice. Through the county unit, in Darke county, all oiti• zens can enjoy reading and other library service that would be in the realm of the impossible for the individual. Finally, great good will come to the rural resident through the broadening of' his reading interests. E. L. Kirkpatrick states,1 "Where the farmers reading interests are largely confined to local and neighbor- hood events,- their standard of living is comparatively low and as their reading interests broaden their standard of living, however measured, gradually rises~ 11 Contrary to the opinion· of certain writers, it is not wholly a case of' educating people to use libraries~ Good_pnough sums up this situation as follows: 2 t1From the data available it appears that the establish- ment of' municipal branch libraries (and this applies equally as well to county branches) easily accessible to homes, is a means of' increasing the effectiveness of' the library as an educatione.l agency in the com- munity. If circulation figures can be accepted as an index of library work, it appears that1 in cities (and counties) easily accessibility is a more potent factor in determining the ex.tent to which the library 1E. L. Kirkpatrick, "Reading of Newspapers, Farm Journals, Books and :Magazines and Participation in :Musioal Activities." Attitudes and Prob- lems of' Farm Youth. United States Department of' Agriculture Extension Service, Circular 46, 'Washington. (June, 1927). 2Florence L. Goodenough•. "Factors conditioning Municipal Library Cir• culation. 11 School and Society XXIV (July 10, 1926) PP• 54-56. ras shall be used than the general rural or educational status of the population. 11 The ideal in mind in this type of service is to take books, maga- zines, and service within the reach of all residents of the county. 86 State Aid For Library Service. With increased demands of the public for reading material and limitations placed on taxes levied on real estate, many libraries are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain adequate book collecN tions and to render efficient service. At present seven states have placed limitations on the truces that may be levied on real estate,1 Ohio being included in this group. However, Ohio has provided, as previously shown., for financial aid to her libraries, which if' given adequate support will greatly increase the ef'f'ectiveness of' the service to·ti.he people of' Ohio and Darke County. This plan, as is seen, calls f'or state aid to the extent of $800. in view of the present condition of service in this county and the need for immediate expansion. A large group attending the winter session of the American Library Association in December., 1935 was unanimous in the opinion that such support was "not only desirable but essential.tt As a result of this meeting the council of the A. L.A. passed the following resolution: 2 0 The Council of the American Library Association, in session in Chicago on December 31, 1935, reaffirms its interest in state aid for libraries. It believes that increased demands for library service, complied with reduced library appropriations and the shifting of revenN ues from local units to states, emphasise the need for financial help f'rom other than local sources. The Cotmcil believes also that state aid should tend to equalize the distribution of library f'acilities. The Council therefore urges the Executive Board and the officials of' the American Library Associ- ation to take measures that will present this need to planning boards., library associations, and library extension agencies in various states. 0 Thus, two reasons are presented f'or state aid for library service; namely, tax limitation and the shifting of revenues from local communi- ties to states. The state has been gradually taking over certain functions 1Judson T. Je:nnings, State .lid for Libraries. Reprint from Bulletin of' American Library Association, February, 1936. 2Judson T. Je:nnings, Loe. Cit. 87 in which the state as a whole is interested. This is well illustrated in the transfer of road building and maintenance1 and provisions for public health service. States assist in providing county agricultural agents and their activities for the people of the county also. Schools are steadily being financed more and more from stste funds. The aver- age state contribution toward the cost of local schools is twenty-three per cent, in thirteen states the state contribution exceeds one-third , of. the total oost~ .and in one st·ate this contribution exceeds: ninety per cent of the, t.'otal cost•1 This should be conclusive erldence for thinking people that there is need for state support for public libraries 1 in this case county- wide service1 as a part of the provision for public education. Ohio has recognized her responsibility for public library service in that it maintains a state library with a traveling library service. It has recently made the generous appropriation of $1001 000 to be used as aid for public libraries of the state. It is the sincere desire of the author that these efforts may render some assistance in the hoped-for county-wide system of library service for Darke County. 1Judson T. Jennings. Loe. cit. :ijIBLIOGRAPHY Antrim, (Mrs.) Saida (Bromback). The County Library. Van Wert, Ohio: The Van Wert Press, 1934. The pioneer library (the Brumback Library of Van V'fert County, Ohio) and a history of the county library movement in the United States. Bennet, Constance. 1tThe County Library - What is It'?" Librarz Journal 5'7. (December :i., 1932), PP• 9'79-81. Galbreath, Chas. B. "Library Movement in Ohio." Reprinted from PrOJp:ess and Ohio. (November 1909). Gray, Wm.. s., and Monroe, Ruth. 1!!,! Beading Interests ot Adults. New York: The Maomil.lan Company, 1930. A compilation ot various surveys and experiments on reading interests ot adults, with a cbapter on reading interests of rural people and one on what children read. Hamilton, w. ;r. "County Library Work in Indiana." Library Journal 45. (April 15, 1930) , PP• 343-6. A brief sun:marization of that work in Indiana. Lathrop, .Eclith A. State Direction of School Library Service. United States Department at .Education Bulletin No. 6 1930. Washington: Government Printing Office. Long, Harriet Catherine. Countz Librar1 Service. Chicago: American Library Association, 1925. 194 PP• A splendid treatise on the place of the library in rural life, with valuable information in the developnent of such service. Lowe, John Mems, Publf.c Libr!:!7 Administration. Chicago: American Library Association, 1928. A treatise ot the problems confronting the library administrator. Library Extension, Chicago: The American Library Association, 1986. US pp. A study o1' library conditions am. needs, with emphasis on :rural needs. Jennings; Judson T. "State Aid for Libraries." Reprint from Bulletin o1' the American Lib:,ary Association. (February 1936) • Gives needs for state financial aid for public libraries. Kirkpatrick, E. L. "Reading of Newspapers, Books and Magazines Md ' Participation in Musical Activities." "' Attitudes and Problems of Farm Youth. United States Department of Agriculture Extension Service, Circul. er 46, Washington. (J'une 192'1).