Page 157 - Training for librarianship; library work as a career

TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

possible, to restore their charges to normality
and to economic self-dependence.
That certain books may help as a means of
diversion for persons afflicted with some form
of mental disease or physical ailment is now
well recognized. Such books being rather
for recreation than for instruction, must not
require close attention or concentration. Fic-
tion, biography, travel, books of outdoor life
and light scientific literature have proved
themselves best, but for those too ill to read,
illustrated books and picture books are to be
preferred. The library in the hospital and
sanitarium, where properly administered and
used, is found helpful in speeding convales-
cence and in preventing nervous diseases and
incipient dementia. It is an aid in the educa-
tion of the feeble-minded, in developing
higher ideals, morale and improving the men-
tality of those confined in prisons and re-
form schools.
Thus from a therapeutic and educational
standpoint, these hbraries are of immeasur-
able value. But they have also won favorable
recognition as a source of happiness to those
141