The Children's Librarian as Viewed by Heads of Children's Services

Field, Carolyn W.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1650 Copy

Description

Title

The Children's Librarian as Viewed by Heads of Children's Services

Author(s)

Field, Carolyn W.

Issue Date

1977

Keyword(s)

Children’s libraries

Abstract

"""Only the rarest kind of best in anything can be good enough for the young."" These words are engraved on the Regina Medal, awarded annually by the Catholic Library Association for excellence in service to children by either a writer, publisher, illustrator or librarian. It is a goal toward which every children's librarian should strive. What is a children's librarian in this age of the generalist, the information specialist and the computer? No one has defined it more concisely than Alice Hazeltine did in 1921: ""A children's librarian is, first of all, a librarian whose vision of library work with children as an integral part of library work as a whole and as an educational movement is clear and compelling."" The children's librarian must have all the essential qualities of the librarian plus two important attributes: a liking for children as individuals and a keen appreciation of children's books. Knowing techniques for eliciting the patron's needs is helpful, but more importantly, the librarian must possess an innate intellectual curiosity to go beyond the superficial and to help the patron express those information needs. To do this, the librarian must be an avid reader of newspapers in order to be alert to current events and ideas. This is particularly true of the children's librarian, because children are exposed to the latest events and ideas through television and may want to know more on a particular subject but be unable to express this desire succinctly."

Publisher

Graduate School of Library Science. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Series/Report Name or Number

Allerton Park Institute (23rd : 1977)

ISSN

0536-4604

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1650

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 1977.

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