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Caption: UI Library School Alumni Newsletter - 29
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\ * . * Alumni • News Letter I i • ,«ning many years and embracing a variety of jobs \s/\ . S ration al on th vva> vou look at it-whether from the standpoint of the first year iftT, " T U graduat S from the standpoint of a lifetime If we concentrate -ill n> o u r aquation afl of c " n ! attention on getting the young librarian ready for his first job, it may °* u framing we give him is only theoretical y practical for the yea m out thatc the ahead. Ir r P a " ration for a career as librarian must, if it is to be practical in X " , I o n g run S k to acquaint the student with the accumulated sum If IK > a y t must set forth the aims and the criteria o f S f e c t ^ e lihr, ' *?**«**• Zst systematize the principles by which t h e s e * mS can ^ ^ l ? ™ « * ractical situations; and it must above all, cultivate fft^^tffi> PP telligence without which no profession is able to undergo tnrConstant rL' 2" con struction that inner growth and social change require. ^ n t remn. > cover « W( > < u nib ? * some l T detailed as I jfc f do » * fecultj v * 1 and me k t we oi pocrs ui ^ ice. although to 9 'boot, asaoj h the fid 1 lined. Ra*-' guidance »J id <*i lead out thiP L7rr-Jirt "'r" cumprenension and the critical that go with professional maturity cannot be attained apart from famiU. l i y with such basic considerations. To paraphrase a famous maxim, "Theo™ without practice is empty; practice without theory is blind." 3. Uphold the Ideal of Service. A distinction needs to be drawn here. Stress on the service motive has sometimes led to treating hbrarianship as a species of missionary endeavor dealing not with necessities of life, but with some of the "oughts" of life. An illustration may be found in the encouragement we give to the formation of the reading habit. Now it is true that people ought to read—as we are fond of saying—but why? It is hardly enough to say, "They ought to read because they ought to read." No, a better approach is a functional one which sees society creating the instruments it needs to get its work done. The library is one such creation. As the social scene changes, demands made upon libraries and librarians change. But whatever its role at a given time, the library exists broadly to serve society, and it is in this sense and because of this fact that the ideal of service should be held clearly in view in all of the work of a library school. It is an idea which, to be realized, depends not simply on fine sentiments about the value of reading—worthy as these are—but upon an understanding of the modern world, of the place of the library in this world, of reader interests, means of satisfying those interests, etc. TOW^«».-« F 111 U1 Aet i 4. Carry the Torch of the Literate. . Again a word of caution as to what I do not mean Librarianship has often been accused-and justly-of being identified too closely with the fateng tradition in the sense in which literature means belles; lettres V i e g d » * light, the central function of the library is to ^ ^ / ^ ^ ^ S ^ ^ mploy thepr* if utidy crkal »••, tar enough, and a training program that tacitly assumes a « s 'he mark and gives a mistaken emphasis. d } k rcprcscnt f le . Suppose we take a cord roughly eighty « * j ^ £ f t h e e a r t h . Ten inches the total span of time man is supposed to ^ e 'iv©a 01 ronphly from the end to the right let «s suspend 8 a 1 o " ' ^ s c „ p t o^ ^ ^ s . the proportion of time during his n™*.^ *? "**] type to indicate the pro'"ie inch from the end let us suspend a »ne,?Aj™iri«,Critinff bv hand. Too •/» a s s . ot .ib^hip wj-fMyyft as yra* s 4 liflHN*
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