shelves any time during the day or till the closing hour at ten o'clock." For the good of the University, the library had to be denied for a time to every one except the 683 instructors, who could just about fill up the whole seating capacity of the 40 by 160 foot library. It would have been impossible to carry out the general library theory of the value of self-education through intelligent reading but for the addition of two more buildings. With these, the library could undertake to render both public library and university library service to all the 12,000 American soldiers in camp at Beaune, and that on a scale hardly dreamt of by ordinary librarians—at a given time approximately a book per man in circulation and at the very same time from 900 to 1,500 readers filling the library. The library staff began to feel as though every one regarded the library as the University itself. And it is very likely that some students and instructors in the University did regard it so, when they had to wait for the arrival of the library before beginning their courses.*

The Library, with its 30,000 volumes, assembled, classified and catalogued in one month, its reference department, its special study-room and reserve-book service to students, its ability to arouse and satisfy the reading demand for the best of literature, philosophy, history and travel, was a distinct library and educational achievement. The recognition of this from the military point of view appears in the commendation of the president of the University, Colonel Reeves: "There has not been a single thing come to my knowledge pertaining to the establishment of the library which has been criticized; on the other hand, there has been the highest praise of the efficiency with which it has been handled. .

All

In addition to the army schools and the A. E. F. University at Beaune, some 6,000 American soldier students were in school detachments at fourteen French and British universities. these detachments called for the general educational libraries, and some for special collections, particularly of medical and law books. The A. E. F. art instruction center at Bellevue, which served

*Such experiences are on record in Siberia, too, where capable army teachers of history, oriental questions, and English could give their measure of relief to the long Siberian winter, after the "war was over," only after being provided with some library facilities.

some 250 men, was taken over, so far as its library was concerned, by the American Library Association. Other special collections of books were those furnished to the A. E. F. Debating League, particularly for debates on the minimum wage question, and to various missions in other countries in Europe and Asia-the American Embassy at Warsaw, the A. R. A. Armenian Mission, the Y. M. C. A. regional headquarters in Greece, Turkey, Poland and Czecho-Slavia, etc.

In all, these books bought for the educational department of the American Library Association overseas totaled over 290,000 volumes; and, outside these strictly educational selections, additional "non-fiction" purchases of the Association brought the total up to some 630,000 volumes. (As for fiction, the American Library Association likewise had to purchase hundreds of thousands of volumes, in addition to all that were gleaned, time and again, from private libraries for the use of the soldiers and sailors wherever they were in service.)

One of the surprising things about these 630,000 books is that, after it is all over, many of the books are still in good condition. The survival of the books is significant of the attitude of the military authorities and the soldiers toward them, an appreciative attitude which could be written upon at length and illustrated by a multitude of expressions of appreciation, from General Pershing's testimonial, "The confidence then reposed in you has been amply justified by the results achieved," down to the satisfaction of the doughboy who came asking simply, "Have you got another book?"

The survival of the books also looks forward to further library service. A few of the "educational" libraries have been presented to the French universities which opened their doors to members of the American Expeditionary Forces, and a memorial library of a thousand volumes is to remain with the Municipality of Beaune. The rest will be brought back for use in this country. We have still Americanization work and rehabilitation work to do. The War Risk Insurance Bureau reported up to June 20th, 15,245 disabilities and several hundred more were being reported

daily thereafter, according to the "Vocational Summary" for July. Two hundred and three different courses have been offered by the Federal Board for Vocational Education-courses ranging from the professions of Theology and Medicine to Barbering and Cure for Stammering. The War Department has directed that each Department Commander within continental limits of the United States and all others concerned be informed that educational and vocational training should be carried on within their commands to the fullest possible extent possible with personnel and material locally available. In accordance with this the American Library Association has suggested that, through its camp and hospital librarians, "The library could place at the disposal of the men all the reference books they need, including a few textbooks for library use. . . . The librarian could assist in outlining courses in reading on subjects not given in regular classes. For instance, there may be only two or three men who wish a course in salesmanship, too few for a class, but a course of reading could be outlined in this and other subjects by the librarian and the army official who has charge of this work.

A definite educational and recreational program for the Army and Navy now seems assured. It may be assumed that it will be based on the various phases of work conducted during the war by the welfare organizations, with such improvements and extensions as will be possible in a permanent organization. Such a program will inevitably include a well organized library system which will make voluntary reading and study attractive to all kinds and conditions of men.

EDITOR'S NOTE.-Since Dr. Van Hoesen's article was written, the War Department has entered upon a constructive educational and recreational program for the regular army, and has created an extensive organization for carrying it into effect. To a large extent, this plan will be an outgrowth of the work carried on for the military establishment by the various welfare organizations during the war. On November 1st, the responsibility of the various organizations for this work ceased, when the war emergency

was declared terminated and the educational and recreational features of the life in the army hospitals and training camps passed to the control of the War Department. At this time the library service maintained by the American Library Association was taken over by the War Department. Included in the transfer was the personnel of trained librarians, books, and full equipment. This arrangement as yet does not extend beyond the continental limits of the United States. The library service for the forces in France and Germany, Siberia, Alaska, the Canal Zone, and the various insular possessions of the United States will continue under the direction of the A. L. A. for several months at least. Eventually this will also be comprehended in the War Department plan.

The library work for the regular army will be directed by an organization created within the Educational and Recreational Branch of the War Plans Division of the General Staff. Το assume charge of this service the Army is fortunate in securing Mr. L. L. Dickerson, who so ably directed the library work of the A. L. A. at the Beaune University and who was later in charge of the library service to the Army of Occupation.

The Association finds in the decision of the War Department to place the library service on a permanent and thoroughly adequate basis a gratifying acknowledgement of the value of the public library service in voluntary education.

H

The Books That Helped Jones

FRANK A. PAGE, STATEN ISLAND ACADEMY,
NEW BRIGHTON, N. Y.

OW and why Jones ever began to buy and read
books and profit by them-is really another story
-but there's no harm in prefacing his list with
his experience.

Superintendent Jones had dug in, ten years back. Inertia-bound in his comfortable rut, waves of educational progress had rolled over his head-Standardized Tests, Intelligence Tests, Building Scoring, Teacher Rating, Socialization, Motivation, Project Teaching, Mininal Essentials, School Surveys, Statistical Methods-they left him unscathed. It was some rut. Superintendent Jones sat reading the advertisements in a magazine. "Hello, you down there! You in the rut! Wake up, Jonesy!" Superintendent Jones rubbed his eyes and glanced again at the advertising pagesthe best paid ad. man in the country had written those pageschockful of pep and pull they were. Glittering, alluring promises they held out-and Jones was reading them-the ad. man was getting him. "$1,000 a Month!" "Get What you Want out of Life!" "Where am I going to be Ten Years From Now?" "Why Be Satisfied with an Inferior Income?" Then the ad. man's efficiency-out-of-a-book stuff hit Jones right between the eyes with this: "Books were my stepping stones. Without them I feel sure I could never have reached the position I hold today."

Those two lines woke Jones out of his ten years' nap. To be sure he didn't mail the suggested coupon. And he passed up Power of Mind, and How to Read Men, and the Economic Expense Book. But he began to buy books and read them. They put him again in the running. Jones today is an up-to-date superintendent. Now, perhaps a recently emerged old fogy isn't the best judge of contemporary educational literature, but Jones's list seems