Page 50 - Training for Librarianship Library Work As a Career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

thorough as circumstances will permit. The
competent person will naturally not regard
his office as a sinecure. While the trustee
should not, on the one hand, be regarded as a
figurehead, he should not on the other act
as a dictator in library pohcy. Teamwork
should rather be the aim, with the librarian
regarded as the manager or executive officer
and the board of trustees as the ultimate
court of appeal.
No matter how good a collection of books,
how beautifully it is housed or how plentiful
the funds for its maintenance, all is of little
avail if the right persons are not chosen and
if the proper spirit does not prevail. Boards
of trustees and city councillors are at times
prone to accept appearances for realities, but
while the librarian may fool a trustee or a
board of trustees, a city official or a group of
officials, it is doubtful whether any librarian
fools for any extended period a large part of
the public or of his assistants. When libra-
rians comment on the apathy of the pubhc
in their city as regards the library, or where a
business librarian blames department heads