How Did We Get Here?
Staff -- School Library Journal, 7/1/1999
In the blink of an eye, libraries for young people sprang up and took off
A century is a negligible amount of time when talking about the universe. Yet in the space of roughly 100 years, librarians who work with young people have constructed a world where children can dive headlong into the vast pool of human knowledge and creativity.
Think about that. This magazine couldn't have existed before the 20th century. Children's rooms in public libraries didn't debut until the close of the 19th century, and it wasn't until 1900 that a Brooklyn high school hired the nation's first school librarian, Mary Kingsbury. Without these libraries or the librarians running them, we wouldn't have much to publish.
Yet here we are at the end of the century, taking for granted the fact that our libraries are packed with young people.
What amazing success. If the field's pioneers could have known that within the century virtually every community in the nation would fund school and children's libraries (let's, for the moment, gloss over the actual dollar amount), they would have been enormously gratified. The rapid development makes me wonder: How did we get here?
That's the question that my predecessor at this magazine, Lillian N. Gerhardt, posed in her 1999 May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture. To answer it, she proposes a book-length, cross-disciplinary study to delve into how the decisions and actions of librarians, book editors, publishers, distributors, and others have shaped children's literature and library services. What effect, for instance, does winning the Newbery or Caldecott -- awards bestowed by librarians -- have on book sales? Most important, how have librarians' tastes and philosophies influenced the very course of publishing for young people?
Hard documentation is what Lillian, one of the most historically minded librarians in the field, wants -- proof that far from being second-class citizens in the library world, librarians who work with young people actually exert tremendous influence on both libraries and the publishing industry. Her speech appears in "Tilling the Field of Children's Literature."
One of the earliest librarians to till the field was, of course, Anne Carroll Moore, the first coordinator of children's services at the New York Public Library (NYPL). In "Moore Than Meets the Eye" on pages 26-29, Julie Cummins, NYPL's current coordinator, discusses the impact Moore had on the publishing industry in the first half of the 20th century. Moore's reviews, published in the Bookman, could make or break a book's sales. In today's world of media conglomerates, it's difficult to fathom that kind of influence, but who knows? Moore earned national recognition, but the Web allows a new generation of librarians to forge global reputations.
Give yourself a few moments to celebrate how far the field has come. Let the photocopier stay jammed. Postpone mastering copyright law. Hold off until tomorrow on reforming that obstinate, tightfisted administrator. Instead, belt out an aria or two, do a jig, or send yourself roses. Then open the doors and let the kids rush in.
To contribute to a special project at SLJ, I invite you to nominate the 20th-century's key figures and ideas in libraries and publishing for young people. Send them to me at the address on page six or visit SLJ Online (www.slj.com) and click on "Nominate the Century's Library Milestones and Icons." I'm also looking for objects, such as handwritten catalog cards, that tell the story of our history. I will hover near my mailbox, waiting to hear from you.
RenA"e Olson
Editor-in-Chief
rolson@slj.cahners.com
Renée Olson
Editor-in-Chief
rolson@slj.cahners.com
