Library Service School Library Planning Conference A conference on school library planning for the southern region was held recently at Atlanta, Ga., sponsored by the library committee of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Participating in the conference was Nora E. Beust, specialist in libraries for children and young people, U. S. Office of Education. Among the recommendations of the conference of interest to school administrators, teachers, and librarians were the following: (a) "That a follow-up conference be held in the spring of 1946, on the campus of a centrally located accredited library school in the South, for the purpose of refining the school library program and correlating it with the library training program for college and public librarians. ... (b) "That the scope of the Library Committee of the Southern Association be enlarged to serve for the Commission on Higher Institutions as well as the Commission on Secondary Schools. (c) "That the Southern Association be requested to approve the revised standards for high-school libraries and school library training agencies to become effective as early as possible. . . . (d) "That it is recommended that a library degree received at the end of a fifth year of college training (based on a bachelor's degree) be recognized as equivalent to a master's degree in salary schedules. (e) "That a work conference of one or two weeks duration on in-service education for librarians and others concerned with materials and their use be held as soon as possible. (f) "That provision be made for including in the preservice program for administrators and teachers orientation in the understanding of school library service as an integral part of a good school program and preparation in the evaluation, selection, and utilization of library materials for pupil use. . . ." It was suggested by the conference that opportunity for the orientation of administrators and teachers be pro vided through "an integrated program in which units are included in already established education courses." Plans for such programs, it was asserted by the conference, should be worked out cooperatively by teaching and library representatives familiar with the needs of school libraries. What Do We Know About Library Support? That people commonly know little about the financing of public libraries is apparent from News of Public Opinion Surveys, recently released by the University of Denver. This lack of civic knowledge was revealed in a survey made by the National Opinion Research Center for the American Library Association and 17 cooperating city libraries throughout the United States. From the interviews of its trained staff with a cross-section of the civilian adult population in the cooperating cities, the survey concluded that nearly half the people of this country are unaware that they are supporting public libraries through taxes, and a majority do not know if their taxes provide adequate library support. In all walks of life, the survey found a notable lack of information about the financing of public libraries. As might be expected, users of public libraries, including a larger proportion of the more prosperous and better educated populace, appear more familiar with the support of these libraries than are those who neither patronize the local public library nor read books at all. According to the survey, even a majority of public library users, however, are ignorant or doubtful of the sources of public library revenue in their city. In an attempt to secure a reliable sample of opinion on public library financing in each of the cooperating cities, the National Opinion Research Center interviewed a typical miniature of the civilian population, including a proper representation of men and women-old and young, various minority groups, and different economic levels. For Library Building Planners Widespread current interest in modern library buildings has emphasized the need for a convenient reference manual on library design for the use of librarians, trustees, and architects. As an avowed supplement to existing publications, the American Library Association has published recently Pointers for Public Library Building Planners, written by Russell J. Schunk. This manual attempts to present briefly fundamental principles and reference data on library buildings and equipment, gleaned from the author's experience and conferences with public librarians, trustees, architects, and city planners concerned with both small and large libraries. Specific suggestions are included on such topics as the respective functions of librarians, trustees, and architects in building plans, methods of securing public support, structural details, and essential equipment. Further recommendations cover basic library building costs, seating and shelf capacity, lighting, heating, and ventilation. Pointers for Public Library Building Planners may be obtained, at a list price of $1.25, from the American Library Association, 520 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago 11, Ill. Library Plan for Kentucky "The development of adequate library facilities is a State responsibility," declares the Kentucky Library Extension Division, describing a "Proposed Regional Library Plan for Kentucky" in its recently published Annual Report, 1943-44. Declaring that few county or municipal governments in Kentucky have sufficient funds to maintain "an efficient public library system," the Library Extension Division has proposed a Statewide system of 20 regional libraries. With support through State aid, it is expected that the plan will result in increased local library appropriations, employment of trained and expert library personnel, and a broader distribution of reading materials to the people of Kentucky. Under the regional library plan, it is hoped that rural residents throughout the State will receive library service comparable to that in urban areas. PRE Public-School Attendance by Francis G. RELIMINARY public-school enrollment statistics from States for the year 1943-44 indicate a reduction of about 10 percent during 4 years of war. In 1939-40, enrollments for the continental United States were 25,400,000, and average daily attendance, 22,000,000. In 1943-44, enrollment and average daily attendance were, respectively, 22,700,000 and 19,600,000. Cornell, Chief, Research and Statistical Service with the prewar decrease in birth rates, Not so well known is the apparent Enrollment and Migration of Civilian population. A recent estimate of the The effects of withdrawals of young people into the armed services and opportunities for employment, together U. S. Bureau of the Census places the 1 U. S. Department of Labor, Children's Bureau Young Workers in the Wartime Labor Market. Reprint from The Child, November 1944. average annual intercounty migration for the period 1941 to 1945 at 4,700,000.2 This is roughly two-thirds more than the equivalent figure of 2,800,000 for the prewar period 1935 to 1940. That this wartime population movement should have had an impact upon the school population is indicated by the fact that almost 3,500,000 of the 15,300,000 migrants were under 14 years of age. Relatively large numbers of migrants were adult workers shifting to war production areas. Of the population 14 years 2 U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Population-Special Reports, Series P-S, No. 5, September 2, 1945. and over, 12.7 percent were migrants during the war period. Nevertheless, 10.8 percent of persons under 14 years of age were also migrants. The extent of the effect of migration upon interstate school attendance shifts is evident from the high correlation between wartime changes in average daily attendance and wartime changes in civilian population. These data for the 39 States for which statistics are available are shown in the accompanying table. Though the population figures cover a 3-year period only, and are therefore not strictly comparable to the 4-year span of the attendance statistics, the relationship is striking. 3 Due to war conditions the drop in attendance exceeded the drop in civilian population. It may be noted, however, that most of the States which increased in civilian population lost very little, 3 Correlation coefficient of .80. or actually increased also, in average daily attendance; for instance, California, Florida, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington. On the other hand, States losing heavily in civilian population, e. g., the out-migration States of Arkansas, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Oklahoma, also lost heavily in average daily attendance. This is shown graphically in the two map diagrams, charts 1 and 2. Noticeable is the cluster of States on the West Coast which have faired best in civilian population (chart 1) and in school attendance (chart 2). Another band of States with less than average civilian population loss are several of the coastal States, beginning with Texas in the South Central region and ending with Maryland and Delaware in the South Atlantic region. These are also States suffering relatively small drops in school attendance (chart 2). Another cluster of States in the industrial East North Central region gained in school attendance and population. States with greatest net losses in population were those in which school attendance decreased most. For the most part they were States in the central part of the United States, with the exception of out-migration New England and Middle Atlantic areas. The foregoing does not reflect the vast redistribution which has taken place within States, but it is sufficient to demonstrate the effect upon the countrywide provision of educational opportunity of large-scale movements of the American people. It is evident that careful attention must be given to postwar population redistribution in local, State, and interstate planning of educational programs. (See table on next page) Public Documents Course Ways in which librarians can make best use of publications issued by National and State governments are taught in a short correspondence course recently announced by the extension division of the University of Wisconsin. Entitled "Government Publications and Pamphlet Collections," this course is designed to help librarians obtain, evaluate, and use public documents effectively in their service to readers. According to the university's Press Bulletin, the present widespread activities of our Government are reported to account for increased demands upon libraries for publications of Federal, State, and local governments. Nutrition Education in the Schools by W. H. Gaumnitz, Specialist in Rural Education The need of nutrition education in the schools has long been emphasized by the U. S. Office of Education, as an examination of its various publications in health education, physical training, home economics education, and agricultural education will reveal. More recently the Office has collaborated extensively with other agencies and organizations to give greater emphasis to this field of service. A nutrition education committee, consisting of representatives of home economics, elementary, rural, Negro, and agricultural education, and of distributive trades was appointed some time ago. The group meets from time to time to consider problems and possibilities in the field of nutrition education. There are no special funds to carry on the various projects and activities it undertakes. Despite this situation, the committee has accomplished considerable in the three following areas: 1. It has planned and conducted regional conferences of State school authorities in which these officers have been guided in developing ways whereby representatives of elementary, secondary, home economics, and agricultural education of the States could cooperatively provide nutrition education within the States represented by the conferees. 2. It has stimulated, collaborated, or Making School Lunches Educational, A Study of Methods of Changing A Nutrition Workshop Comes to the Food Time-A Good Time at School, Nutrition Education in the Elemen- Food for Thought (The School's Responsibility in Nutrition Education), Education and National Defense Series Pamphlet No. 22, 1941. Nutrition Education in the School Program, reprint from SCHOOL LIFE, Vol. 26, 1941. 3. During the past year, the committee has given emphasis to the problem of training leaders for teachertraining institutions and supervisory positions, who, in turn could help both teachers in training and those already employed in the schools to develop ways and means of combining nutrition education with their work. work. With funds provided through the U. S. Department of Agriculture, a demonstration workshop was held at Terre Haute, Ind., to which leaders from the various States were invited to learn of the latest methods and devices available in this field. These efforts are now resulting in a number of similar nutrition education workshops within the several States for local teachers and supervisors, directed by leaders who attended the workshops at Terre Haute last sum mer. Nutrition Education-What is it? What do we mean when we speak of nutrition education in the schools? As we think about this question many of us become aware (1) that it is something we did not get when we went to school, (2) that we did not teach it when we ourselves later taught, and (3) that even today we search in vain for nutrition education as a subject of the school curriculum. Educational leaders have awakened to the need of making teachers aware of the wide occurrence and dire consequences of malnutrition, and they are now devising ways and means of teaching essential food facts to children and of developing sat'isfactory eating habits in the schools. Conceived in its broadest sense, nutrition education in the schools is concerned with the whole business of food getting, production, storage, conservation, selection, preparation, serving, and consuming, and even with digestion and assimilation. It entails the prob lems of obtaining sufficient funds to buy food, using available funds in such a manner as to obtain the best nutritional results, planning meals economically, serving them under clean and pleasant circumstances, forming regular eating habits, and securing proper rest and sleep. Nutrition education is an integral part of health education; instruction in hygiene and sanitation; home economics and consumer education; social studies dealing with national, community, and family mores; and eating practices in the pre-school, in-school, and post-school periods of the child's life. Planned Part of School Experience Nutrition facts and the need for instruction in this field are not new. Nutrition education, like many other subjects coming into the focus of public attention from time to time, has long been a concern of the schools, but the present emphasis given to it and the progress made by it are new. The task of providing nutrition education in the schools cannot be left to chance; neither can it be solved in the usual manner of adding another subject to the curriculum. Nutrition education must be made a planned part of almost every school experience of the child. An abundance of examples are now available in the growing literature in this field to show that there are opportunities for teaching nutrition in history, science, reading, arithmetic, geography, art, and home economics classes. Like the teaching of health and hygiene, nutrition education must be a responsibility of every teacher of every subject. It must become one of the major purposes of such school activities as school lunches, school gardening, school canning centers, home projects in agriculture and homemaking, health surveys, and physical education programs. Nutrition education, in short, must become a definite part of both the curricular and the extracurricular activities of the school. Risks in "Everybody's Business" To avoid the risk that a subject which is everybody's business may become nobody's responsibility it is necessary that school administrators, supervisors, teachers, and parents shall carefully plan the nutrition education program of the schools. If definite planning and programing is to take place, the schools must employ not only nutrition leaders. and supervisors but teachers who know the essential facts of dietetics. What is more important, they must see to it that teachers receive training in nutrition education techniques and procedures. It follows, therefore, that much more emphasis than formerly should be given by teacher-training institutions to the preparation of leaders and teachers in this field. If the schools are to make their maximum contribution to this important aspect of education, more trained leaders in nutrition education must be employed by the various school systems to provide in-service training and guidance for teachers in this field. It Can Be Done! Say Home Economists Experience stories of successful school lunch programs, begun on a small scale when odds seemed against even the possibility of making a start show that "where there's a will there's a way." Take, for example, the small rural school, with one or two classrooms, and perhaps a wrap closet and a hallway, but no spot in sight for a real kitchen, no obviously suitable place for a stove or hot plate, no equipment of any kind, large or small, and no funds for school feeding. Under such conditions as these, school lunch programs have been set up. Why? Because the need existed, in the form of children who came long distances, had breakfast early, and needed some hot food in the middle of winter days, even if it was only hot cocoa, soup, or some other hot dish to eat with their packed lunch carried from home. How? The hard way, by the efforts of an interested group or one or two individuals who were determined to get together some equipment and the few funds necessary to make a start. It can be done, because it has been done, sometimes by the rural school teacher and the county home demonstration agent; sometimes by a few parents (in or out of the PTA group); other times by the county nutrition committee, and still other times with the assistance of 4-H club members working under the direction of their county leader. Seeing the need and having the will to do the job is a first requisite. Deciding on some spot in the one- or tworoom school where food can be prepared and planning how that spot can be made suitable is the next step. Listing the minimum equipment needed for the preparation of the lunch-whether it is to be one dish or a complete noon meal— comes next. At this point, equipment may be donated, or funds may be raised for its purchase by church suppers, bazars, food sales, school plays, or any one of many other means. Some of the money may be put in a "revolving food fund" so that food can be bought to supplement what the parents decide to donate, or to supplement what the school purchases with Government funds if it is eligible to take advantage of the school lunch reimbursement program of the U. S. Department of Agriculture. There are many ways for an interested local group to prove that "it can be done." The number of lists of "minimum" equipment for school feeding programs about equals the number of groups that have worked on this problem. The list which follows is representative of those found in many school lunch publications, and will be adequate to prepare one or two hot dishes for as many as 20 pupils. Stove, 1 (2- or 3-burner oil or 2 electric or Kettles, 2 (8 or 10 quart size). Vegetable brush, 1 or 2. Dish towels, 6 or 8. (Turn to page 30) |