Furniture for the Children's Area: Some Considerations
Doris K Stotz and Nancy C. Walker
"CHANGE--RAPID, RADICAL and often beyond our
comprehension--is the keynote of our time."1
This change, reflected in the use and growth of libraries, has
resulted in a great activity by both school and public librarians to create a
new look manifested in sizes, shapes, colors, materials, and total atmosphere.
Concomitant with the more obvious technological changes is a
subtler one, an attitude, long-growing, which considers children to be not
diminutive adults but individuals who are physically, intellectually and
emotionally different from their elders. This attitude is reflected in the
attempt to furnish children's rooms in both school and public libraries with
dignity and spirit. Recognition of differences between adults and children does
not condemn each to isolation. Although a children's area serves specifically
the library needs of childhood, it also provides a link, both physical and
visual, between childhood and the beckoning world of adulthood.
Although children constitute the largest audience in the
children's area, adult use by those seeking its services for work with
children or for personal needs is becoming an increasingly important factor,
particularly in public libraries. Gone, for example, are the picture book
characters floating flamboyantly in great murals across the room, creating a
confining atmosphere and appealing only to the youngest children. Some
librarians complain that we have replaced gewgaws with sterility and have robbed
our children's rooms of the individual objects that related the world of books
to other cultural media. Perhaps this is occasionally true. But the real
individual personality of a library is created only after the original tone is
established, and more by the staff and books than by objets d'art.
Like today's modern house, the children's area of a
library is redefined in zones where equipment, design, and decoration reflect
the use: pre-school areas, story hour locations, places for individual study and
reference, browsing, audio-visual sections, and areas for group use. This
attitude is shared by both elementary school and public libraries. But running
parallel to this is a difference, partly determined by their difference in use
and purpose, partly in their relation to a larger organization that
distinguishes the trend in each.
Because school librarians are working constantly and
simultaneously with whole classes of children, with small groups engaged in one
project, and with individuals, the maneuverability of library furnishings is
number one in importance. Tables that can be combined for large gatherings, then
separated quickly into smaller units accommodating three or four children or
used as individual carrels, and chairs that are lightweight enough to be shifted
into various group patterns by even young children are being sought, sometimes
at the cost of appearance.
Since furniture for the school library is sometimes purchased
at the same time as equipment for the rest of the school, or included in
non-separable bids, style is affected and money for any individual piece of
furniture often severely limited. Frequently, too, the person responsible for
choosing the furniture and for writing the specifications has many other diverse
tasks to perform and consequently can allot only a small portion of his time to
sifting through the literature from manufacturers, listening to sales talks,
examining products, or visiting other libraries. Hence the prevalence of the
traditional all-wood birch or maple institutional furniture, or the newer
tubular metal and plywood combinations which may be more practical but can
hardly be called more beautiful.
Certainly the need is obvious for a consultant's services
in school library planning when renovating or building. Probably because of this
there is a current trend among library furniture manufacturers to sell what is
called a "package deal" that provides all furniture and offers the special
services of a consultant. Perhaps this results in a more coordinated, better
styled appearance, but in the future it probably will also result in a new kind
of stereotype. Critics and evaluators of school libraries have noted that
"most often the library is too formal, too institutionalized, devoid of
pleasant furniture . . ." and have offered innumerable excellent suggestions
for the establishment of conditions contributing to the relaxed and comfortable,
invitation-to-learning atmosphere that the library should provide.2
Furniture for the Children's Area Public libraries, on the
other hand, having had a long courtship with eternal oak and later with opaque
birch, are in many ways freer and readier to experiment. Seeking primarily to
encourage browsing and the individual pursuit of reading for a multitude of
personal reasons, and competing for the time and attention of its patrons with
other organizations such as community centers, recreation councils, and
religious organizations, the public library places particular emphasis on
attractiveness, good taste (for so often the decor of the library may be the
only example of quality in design that a child experiences in his daily life),
warmth, comfort, and other factors which tend to promote an inviting atmosphere
conducive to reading. And sometimes this is at the expense of durability.
To be sure, they too are often severely restricted in their
pursuit of the beautiful by bid restrictions or by governmental stipulations
requiring furniture and fittings to be purchased from the lowest bidder
regardless of appearance, or produced by state prisons and similar institutions.
There are many libraries committed to life sentences with such furniture, for
while it is often cumbersome in appearance and almost unmovable, it is
frequently totally indestructible.
Occasionally, however, when such requirements are confined to
the permanent fittings such as shelving, one finds libraries with the warmth and
noise resistance of wood shelving, well-constructed, and nicely finished at a
reasonable cost.
In general, however, public libraries have both the
initiative and the freedom to experiment with high-styled furniture in a variety
of woods, metals, and plastics which are related to the structure as a whole.
The children's area is no longer isolated but visually and physically
connected to the rest of the library. Since resources beyond the scope of the
children's department are made available to patrons of all ages, the area is
aesthetically related to the rest of the library.
Today's furniture-lightweight, adaptable, adjustable,
durable, and maneuverable-but less frequently beautiful in children's sizes,
in many ways satisfies the desire to have form follow function. Unlike
librarians of the past, purchasers of this furniture no longer limit themselves
to the traditional manufacturers of library equipment, perhaps because of the
influence of modern design on all aspects of our personal life, because of the
building boom of business and industry which has made more people on all levels
aware of new materials and their uses, or because established library
manufacturers have not kept pace with their colleagues in allied fields.
The fact is, however, that more and more libraries,
especially public libraries, turn to manufacturers and designers of other
institutional furniture in an effort to avoid the stereotype, to add flair and
imagination, and to achieve coordination between adult and children's areas at
lower costs. One librarian, commenting on the use of non-library furniture in
children's areas, says: "We feel that these have decided advantages over the
more traditional manufacturers as they have been cheaper, equally functional
and, we feel, avoid the stereotype created by much traditional library
furniture."
3
That library furniture manufacturers are beginning to
recognize this search on the part of librarians is evident. They have become
more conscious of aesthetic design and are beginning to offer more variations on
basic styles. The irony is that manufacturers who provide excellently designed
furniture in adult sizes, such as the new, beautiful oiled finishes and metal
combinations, have not followed suit in children's sizes. It seems as if there
is an unhappy combination of library equipment manufacturers who have not
recognized the importance of developing good taste early, and have consequently
provided children with durable but unimaginative furniture, and librarians who
have in theory recognized the importance of these impressionable years, but who
have not been willing or are unable to pay the cost.4
The problem of furnishing seating and tables in children's
areas is fourfold: the need to provide the right variety of chair and table
heights to suit a great variation in age, physical size, and interest of the
patrons; the search for taste-developing style and warmth or color in keeping
with the spirit of childhood; the need for durability that will be challenged
not so much by intentional misuse as by inexperienced use; and the intent on the
part of the public libraries to coordinate the children's areas with the adult
and young adult reading rooms.
Children served in libraries constitute three main age
groups: preschool through second grade, third grade through fifth grade, and
sixth grade through adult. Of these, the easiest to satisfy is the youngest.
Both school and public libraries tend to seat children of this age at slope-top
picture book tables either single or double sided (depending on space
available), approximately six and one half feet long and seating three to four
children to a side on accompanying benches or stools. This type of table, a
specialty item, is fairly expensive, and libraries rarely purchase more than one
to an area. The picture book tables are available in solid wood, in wood with
metal legs, and in wood or metal bases with plastic laminated book surfaces;
some of the newer ones have a handy book slot between the two sides. They range
in style from simple, stolid, and adequate, to simple, high-styled, and
desirable.
Because of the limited number of such items in any one area,
the less handsomely styled do not become as much of an eyesore as they might.
Bench versus stool preference is highly individual. More children can be crowded
onto a bench, but stools provide convenient access to the center of the table
and can be shifted around easily to be used for other purposes. The fact that
very young children can move them is a factor sometimes not in their favor.
One recently renovated library purchased individual stools
for its new picture book table and abandoned the old benches. Adult protest,
however, forced them to resurrect the benches, not for child use at the table,
but for parent use at the picture book shelves. They permitted the adult to
slide back and forth easily from one section of the shelves to another.
Benches are obtainable in solid wood or with metal legs and a
Naugahyde upholstered cushion. Stools are not as readily available from library
furniture manufacturers, although at least one company lists an attractive one
with metal legs and Naugahyde upholstery. Sometimes suitable stools can be
purchased from local furniture houses or interior decorators, or even made to
order. Librarians have found three-legged stools, es-pecially those on which the
seat extends over the legs, undesirable because they tip easily when climbed
upon by very young children.
Some libraries still use one small round table with chairs in
place of, or in addition to, a picture book table for the youngest group. Most
frequently used sizes are twenty-two to twenty-four inch tables with twelve to
fourteen inch chairs. Libraries that use these are limited in choice,
particularly if they intend to coordinate this furniture with other pieces in
the library. Other libraries, with limited space or a limited budget, have
capitalized on the fact that many children under six prefer the floor to any
other seating and use small Naugahyde cushions which can be scattered around the
picture book shelving and also double as pre-school story hour seating. Some
supplement these cushions with small stools at the shelves. One library
installed a two-foot wide strip of carpeting in front of the picture book
section-easy on adult knees and children's bottoms. Another library set the
top of the standard slope picture book table directly on the floor where small
children could kneel or sit tailor-fashion on cushions.
Perhaps the trend toward carpeting in libraries will
eliminate more seating in this youngest area, although such a trend would make
it more difficult for parents who come to help their small children select
books. In seating the next two groups of library patrons in the children's
area, there has been a definite trend away from either a multitude of sizes in
one area or a preponderance of small sizes. Increasingly both school and public
libraries use only one size of chairs and tables in addition to whatever
furniture is purchased for the youngest group. The most popular size is a
sixteen inch chair with a twenty-seven and one-half inch table. A few libraries,
primarily those in schools, will combine this size with a much smaller number of
twenty-five inch tables and fifteen inch chairs. Still others, principally
public libraries, which serve adults and great numbers of junior high school
students in their children's area, are supplementing the twenty-seven and
one-half inch tables with the regular adult twenty-nine inch table and eighteen
inch chairs. Some children even below junior high age prefer adult furniture,
although whether physically or psychologically is undetermined.
Those libraries which mix adult and children's furniture in
one area are quite restricted in their choice. It is difficult enough with the
existing furniture styles to coordinate the two groups within the library
building. To coordinate them within one area requires either astonishing
ingenuity and knowledge, accessibility to diverse furniture outlets, or a blind
eye. A good looking, durable, light weight (in appearance and structure),
comfortable, inexpensive children's chair is the most difficult item to
procure either from library or non-library manufacturers. And it is in this
field that wide experimentation in use is being done on the part of libraries.
This seems to be less of a problem to school libraries in which chairs and
tables normally measure up to the standards of construction and taste of the
rest of the school furniture and in general are quite stolid and institutional
looking, than it is to the public libraries in which the quest for the "living
room look" has become so fervid.
Chairs in children's sizes with upholstered backs and seats
(usually in Naugahyde), of which only a small variety is available, tend to be
the most comfortable, offer an easy way to add a touch of color, need little
maintenance, and can be easily recovered. But some schools have restrictions
prohibiting upholstered seating for student use because of possible vandalism.
Libraries have experimented with the unusual looking steel wire mesh chairs (in
some cases the wire mesh split under heavy use), molded plywood (in some cases
the plywood split, and the back of the chair wore where it rubbed against the
table edge), and adult size molded, reinforced fiberglass cut down to proper
height by using fifteen inch legs.
The latter has the advantage of color and easy maintenance
but has proven unsatisfactory because the backward slope of the seat makes it
uncomfortable to use when writing at a table. Too when occupied for any great
length of time, this impervious material can become uncomfortably warm, although
this is not as much of a problem in air-conditioned buildings.
Traditional wooden chairs are still used extensively for a
variety of reasons, including preference and availability. Some librarians
believe that the warmth of wood adds a tone to the room which cannot be achieved
with any of the newer materials, such as metal and plastic, even when they are
used in color and have design advantages, and that this warmth out-weighs the
disadvantages of wood. Cane backs on regular wooden chairs, a recent innovation,
lighten the look considerably and offer a pleasant variation. Some librarians
maintain that wooden chairs are as low on maintenance and repair and are as
durable as any of those using new materials, despite the reported superiority in
strength of a welded over a glued joint. Other librarians disagree, particularly
where finish is concerned, and suggest that refinishing is a problem in time,
labor, and money. Perhaps Edward G. Stromberg's suggestion of oiled finishes
on walnut furniture, now available in adult sizes, will provide one solution, if
the cost is not prohibitive.
What is obviously needed is a larger assortment of
children's high-styled, well-designed, and well-constructed chairs in metal,
wood, plastic or a combination of these which will satisfy a variety of good
tastes and avoid monotony, sterility, and an institutional look. Tables do not
present as many problems as do chairs. Since their design is considerably less
difficult, one might expect a swifter solution. Part of the difficulty is that
manufacturers often offer only some of their lines in children's sizes, and
the high-styled table chosen for an adult area cannot then be matched in the
children's area. This is particularly awkward when both adult and children's
tables are used within the same area. One manufacturer, for example, offers an
exceedingly handsome style in picture book table and adult size reading table,
but according to the catalog does not provide an equivalent in an intermediate
size. But, in general, an acceptable number of shapes and finishes are
available. Some companies suggest in their catalogs that unlisted tables for
special needs can be obtained.
The most common table size in use, twenty-seven and one-half
inches high, is also the most readily available. In general, schools tend to use
a rectangular table sixty inches long and thirty-six inches wide, which seats
four children, This shape easily combines into larger units when necessary, and
a child can spread out materials conveniently without interfering with another
student's activities.
Rectangular and the newer hexagonal tables offer the greatest
possibility for rearrangement into individual carrels. Round tables, forty-eight
inches in diameter, seating four, are frequently seen in children's areas of
public libraries where their informal appearance softens the tone of the room
and contrasts nicely with the more formal rectangular tables frequently used in
the adult areas.
Often a combination of rectangular and round tables are used
to break up the pattern. Forty-two inch square tables, now available from
several manufacturers, present another possibility for variation. They are more
"conversational" in tone than the rectangular tables but less informal than
the round tables. Many librarians feel that in spite of rounded corners on
square and rectangular tables, the round tables provide the safest solution,
particularly in public libraries where toddlers are likely to roam or rush about
the children's areas. Table tops are made of either wood or plastic laminate,
the latter taking precedence.
Since both wood tones and colors are available in low-glare
surfaces, most tastes can be satisfied and librarians can indulge happily in the
easy maintenance of plastic laminate, without losing too much of the warmth of
wood. Many libraries which use wood tones in adult areas turn to colored table
tops for gaiety and contrast in the children's area. Some libraries that have
experimented with plastic laminate edges on tables have abandoned them in favor
of wood edge bandings, because the plastic edges are exceedingly vulnerable to
buttons, belt buckles, and the crash of chair backs.
One of the most interesting concepts in the current
furnishing of children's areas concerns the use of lounge furniture. Thomas
McConkey, of the Free Library of Philadelphia, says: "Many libraries . . . are
moving toward the increased use of lounge furniture in children's reading
areas as well as the adult and young adult areas."5
In the last five years, we have noticed only a slight trend toward such use, but
many more librarians are talking about it, particularly in those public
libraries which serve junior high children in the children's area.
A number of junior high school libraries have small lounge
areas, often in browsing corners or in magazine sections. Their use in
elementary school libraries is quite limited partly because of space, but mostly
because the average length of stay of any one child is fairly short and his
purpose, which is most frequently curriculum oriented, is served more
efficiently by formal seating. If the trend toward lounge furniture in
children's reading areas is to blossom, it will be in public libraries. If the
growth of school libraries reduces the use of the public library for specific
school related assignments, then perhaps the increased use of the public library
for browsing and the individual pursuit of reading and learning will result in a
greater need for comfortable, informal lounge reading areas.
Up to now, since public libraries often have to substitute
for the needed school libraries, every possible square inch is devoted to table
and chair arrangements that can serve all purposes. Thus McConkey pointed out
that to his knowledge only one company produced lounge furniture in children's
sizes? and we know of no additional furniture in small sizes. Some librarians
who have felt the need for such furniture have used the molded reinforced
fiberglass arm chairs, either with or without the foam padded cover, on fifteen
inch legs-normal "cocktail" height as opposed to dining height. These chairs
have served the purpose well, since they are comfortable and light weight enough
to make reductions, enlargements, or rearrangements of the lounge area easily
possible and may also be grouped around small tables for library programs
involving informal discussions.
Librarians seeking lounge areas as another possible place in
which to add color and an informal touch find these chairs quite suitable. In
general, librarians think regular adult size lounge furniture, most of it quite
low anyhow, suitable for use by children. Very small children prefer the floor,
small stools, or picture book tables, and anyone browsing in areas other than
picture books is large enough to be accommodated by adult size lounge furniture
just as he is in his own living room. As far as expense is concerned, one and
two-seater furniture can sometimes be purchased more cheaply than the equivalent
formal table and chair seating, However, lounge furniture takes up more space,
and space costs money. The trend in the future will be determined probably not
so much by money, or by availability, but by the nature of children's use of
the library. In contrast to typical seating, special library furniture for
children is not only similar but frequently identical to that used in young
people or adult areas.
Although there are some special applications, the most
important differences are usually in size. In the choice of charging desks, for
instance, there is a sharp distinction in size between those used in school and
public libraries. Thirty-two or thirty inches, referred to as sitting height, is
the size used most frequently in elementary school libraries. Although
thirty-two inches is not uncomfortably low for adults, and is accessible to most
children, public libraries tend to use a thirty-nine inch counter, providing a
real barrier to many children.
The children's card catalog is another furniture item that
is distinguished from that used by adults only in size. Since children below the
third grade rarely make use of the catalog, the most convenient height has been
found to be a seventeen and three-quarter inch base with no more than four
drawer units in height above. Additional drawer space is then provided by a
whole supplementary catalog unit rather than by drawers stacked higher on the
original base. As the trend toward book catalogs gains momentum, the card
catalog cabinet may be on its way toward obsolescence.
To date this is likely to be true more in public libraries
than in schools. As book catalogs become more prevalent, no doubt special tables
or stands will be devised for them. In the meantime, it has been suggested that
they be placed on regular tables, at counter height on shelves, or interspersed
among regular book shelves in several areas. Dictionary and atlas stands which
usually appear in adult reference sections are used sparingly and seem to be
considered of questionable value in children's areas. A contributing factor to
such limited use is the uncomfortable height for children of most of the
available stands.
But in addition, only a few of the reference tools used in
most children's areas are oversized enough to require special storage. Normal
reference size shelving adequately houses the bulk of children's materials.
Most libraries use revolving dictionary stands placed on reading tables, ledges,
or low counter-height free-standing book shelf units for their unabridged
dictionaries. Such stands used for a large atlas or other oversized reference
books bring the volume within easy reach of children. Librarians who observe
students using large reference books at the picture book table often wonder
whether or not a similar table placed close to the reference section might not
provide more adequate work space for examining these tools than the flat reading
tables.
The use of study carrels has become quite prevalent in
secondary school libraries. If the present trend continues toward
individualization of instruction and emphasis on independent study, there is
every reason to assume that carrels will soon have their place in elementary
school libraries. Curiously, their extensive use in children's areas of public
libraries seems highly remote. They are ideal for individual use of audio-visual
materials.
Carrels are available in almost every furniture line or they
may be built to specification. The School Library, a report from Educational
Facilities Laboratories, Inc., contains specifications for many types of carrels
as well as ingenious suggestions for their placement in the library area.6
Since the pattern of school libraries as instructional materials centers was
firmly established by the 1960 Standards for School Library Programs, most
school libraries are being designed with this in mind.7
In planning a new building or renovating existing quarters,
it is possible to arrange for built-in storage cabinets to accommodate films,
filmstrips, phonograph records, maps, and charts as well as the equipment needed
for their use. There are detailed specifications for filmstrip and phonograph
record cabinets in the manual which accompanies the filmstrip, Remodeling the
Elementary School Library.8 Cabinets for
the storage of maps, charts, and large display materials are available from art
supply houses. Regular filing cabinets have proven satisfactory for pamphlet and
picture files although experienced librarians warn that care must be taken to
select cabinets with drawers easily movable even when heavily loaded.
Magazines are currently a part of most children's
collections in school and public libraries. Since the variety of magazines
available within the children's area of public libraries is often limited
because of accessibility to files in the adult area, these libraries sometimes
tend to house the magazines in free-standing racks, often as part of the lounge
area. In school libraries, where magazine collections are self-contained and can
therefore be expected to be larger, regular wall shelving is often provided for
their storage.
Display and bulletin boards are most frequently provided in
original construction. They usually consist of glass front cases in the corridor
outside the library in the case of schools, or within the children's area in
public libraries. If these are not available, there are free-standing glass
cases of both vertical and horizontal types. Children's eye-level height is
usually the major consideration in their selection.
Book trucks are available in wood, steel, and wire. In school
libraries, where the shelving is usually done by children, the lighter steel
trucks have proved most maneuverable. Since a large part of the circulation in
any children's area is in oversized books, flat rather than sloping shelves
are more frequently used.
The wide variety of wood, steel, and plastic shelving
available offers more leeway for the imaginative use of color and materials than
is often possible with furniture, Each type has its advantages. Wood offers
softness, silence, and durability, while steel and plastic provide color and the
opportunity for greater flexibility.
To date there seems to be a predominance of wood in school
libraries, while public libraries tend to use steel. There are several possible
explanations for this tendency. School administrators are usually most
interested in durability. One purchasing agent suggested that school libraries
were too poor to economize on permanent installations. Since a larger portion of
the furniture budget must be devoted to shelving in public libraries and steel
is much less expensive than wood, except for State use system installations,
most public library administrators feel that the initial outlay for wood
shelving is too great and hope that excellent acoustics will alleviate the noise
problem. Public librarians, too, in their search for sparkle, often find the
available color range in steel shelving a boon.
In addition to wood and steel, some experimentation has taken
place in the use of plastic laminate shelves. Apparently the success of this
type of shelving depends upon the core materials on which the plastic surface is
laminated. In cases where particle board core is used, the shelves are subject
to warping. Plastic surfaces are durable, even easier to care for than wood and
less noisy than steel, all decided advantages if the tendency to warping can be
overcome. Shelving for children is usually the same as for adults except for the
size factor.
Generally, shelving in children's areas is no more than
sixty inches in height. In school libraries, where the use of the non-fiction
collection is likely to be more specific than in public libraries, it has been
possible to use seventy-two inch shelving in this area. Step stools are then a
necessity. The kick-stepstool which is on wheels and moves readily is most
satisfactory. Picture book shelving has more particular characteristics than
other types. The usual maximum height is forty-two inches, which allows for two
shelves with a sixteen inch clearance, as well as toe space and top.
Most picture books require twelve inches in depth, and this
is necessary despite the tendency for some small books to fall behind. Upright
dividers at least every eight inches along the shelves make it possible to keep
the oversized books in order. The thinness of the steel dividers has been found
to be a book hazard. Picture book shelving in libraries using steel units is
adjustable, but frequently permanent wood installations meet the same
requirements without such adjustability.
That librarians are seeking to provide the best that
contemporary creativeness has to offer is indeed laudable. However, the zealot
may, in his eagerness, rush headlong after an unnecessary goal. H. K. Gordon
Bearman remarks: "It would seem to me that in our chase after modernity and
variety, we are in danger of overlooking the basic requirement that furnishing
should be related to the use for which it is intended. In simple terms the task
is to furnish a library and not to create a library showroom."9
Perhaps the following succinct statement in Standards for
Children's Services in Public Libraries best sums up the goals of all
librarians concerned with furnishing children's areas whether they are in
school or public libraries: "The physical facilities of a children's area
should be conducive to efficient and economical library service to children and
adults. They serve as a symbol of library service, inviting children of all ages
to enter, browse, read, and listen.10
References
1. Ellsworth, Ralph
E., and Wagener, Hobart T. The School Library: Facilities for Independent Study
in the Secondary School. New York, Educational Facilities Laboratories, 1963,
p.11.
2. Ibid., p.14.
3. Martin, Allie Beth.
Letter dated May 8, 1964.
4. American Library
Association, Library Administration Division in co-operation with the University
of Miami. Proceedings of a Three-Day Institute on Library Furniture and
Equipment Conducted at Coral Gables, Florida, June 14-16, 1962. Chicago,
American Library Association, 1963,pp. 10 and 12.
5. McConkey, Thomas W.
"Products & Equipment," Library Journal, 84:2286, Aug. 1959.
6. Ellsworth, up.
cit., pp. 32-35; 52-69.
7. American
Association of School Librarians, School Library Standards Committee. Standards
for School Library Program. Chicago, American Library Association, 1960.
8. American Library Association,
Library Administrative Division, Remodeling the Elementary School Library;
Manual for Filmstrip. Chicago, American Library Association, 1961.
9. Bearman, H. K.
Gordon. "Furniture and Fittings," Assistant Librarian, 56:56-57, April 1963.
10. American Library
Association, Public Library Association, Sub. Committee on Standards for
Children's Service, Standards for Children's Services in Public Libraries.
Chicago, American Library Association, 1964, p. 23.
Doris K. Stotz, formerly Coordinator of Children's Library
Services, Baltimore County, Maryland, is now a consultant to Maryland State
Division of Library Extension, and Nancy C. Walker is Supervisor of Libraries,
Board of Education of Anne Arundel County, Annapolis, Maryland.