Page 186 - Training for librarianship; library work as a career

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TRAINING FOR LIBRARIANSHIP

the trend of public opinion. They aid him in
the preparation of speeches on questions
being considered, and in some states even
aid him in drafting bills to secure spe-
cific legislation.
Dr. Charles McCarthy, a pioneer in legis-
lative reference work, whose activities have
won him a national reputation, describes this
phase of the work as follows
" We are convinced that the best way to
better legislation is to help directly the man
who makes the laws. We bring home to him
everything that will help him to grasp and
understand the great economic problems of
the day in their fullest significance, and the
legislative remedies which can be appUed and
the legislative limitations which exist. We
must take the theory of the professors and
simphfy it so that the ordinary layman can
grasp it immediately and with the greatest
ease. His work is new to him, he is beset
with routine work, he has to have conferences
with his friends upon political matters, he is
beset by office-seekers and lobbyists and he
has no time to study. If he does not study
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