Page 54 - Training for Librarianship Library Work As a Career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

National welfare rests on an intelligent
citizenship. Those countries whose people
are best educated are not only the most pros-
perous but the best governed. In the United
States attendance at some school is obligatory
during minority. Each future citizen may
thus learn at least to read and write. In
addition many cities maintain schools for
older persons in which attendance is optional.
In this way each potential citizen is given the
opportunity of an education, and of laying
the foundation for self-development and for
becoming a useful member of the community.
-Yet, every year, about a million fourteen-
year-old children leave school, having com-
pleted no more than the fifth or sixth grade.
In addition, the large number of foreign-born
in the United States creates a problem which
must be met. The tendency is therefore to go
beyond the mere estabhshment of schools and
to create at public expense a means for adult
self-education. This means is the public
library. In it are to be found collections
of books and other printed materials available
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