A Librarian's Open Shelf   By: Arthur Elmore Bostwick (1860-1942)

ESSAYS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS

ARTHUR E. BOSTWICK, Ph.D.

1920

PREFACE

The papers here gathered together represent the activities of a librarian in directions outside the boundaries of his professional career, although the influences of it may be detected in them here and there. Except for those influences they have little connection and the transition of thought and treatment from one to another may occasionally seem violent. It may, however, serve to protect the reader from the assaults of monotony.

A.E.B.

CONTENTS

DO READERS READ? ( The Critic , July, 1901, p. 67 70)

WHAT MAKES PEOPLE READ? ( The Book Lover , January, 1904, p. 12 16)

THE PASSING OF THE POSSESSIVE; A STUDY OF BOOK TITLES ( The Book Buyer , June, 1897, p. 500 1)

SELECTIVE EDUCATION ( Educational Review , November, 1907, p. 365 73)

THE USES OF FICTION Read before the American Library Association, Asheville Conference, May 28, 1907. ( A.L.A. Bulletin , July, 1907, p. 183 7)

THE VALUE OF ASSOCIATION Delivered before the Library Associations of Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana and Ohio, October 9 18, 1907. ( Library Journal , January, 1908, p. 3 9)

MODERN EDUCATIONAL METHODS ( Notes and News , Montclair, N.J., July, 1908)

SOME ECONOMIC FEATURES OF LIBRARIES Read at the opening of the Chestnut Hill Branch, Philadelphia Free Library, January 22, 1909. ( Library Journal , February, 1909, p. 48 52)

SIMON NEWCOMB: AMERICA'S FOREMOST ASTRONOMER ( Review of Reviews , August, 1909, p. 171 4)

THE COMPANIONSHIP OF BOOKS Read before the Pacific Northwest Library Association, June, 1910. ( P.N.W.L.A. Proceedings , 1910, p. 8 23)

ATOMIC THEORIES OF ENERGY Read before the St. Louis Academy of Science. ( The Monist , October, 1912, p. 580 5)

THE ADVERTISEMENT OF IDEAS ( Minnesota Library Notes and News , December, 1912, p. 190 7)

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY, THE PUBLIC SCHOOL, AND THE SOCIAL CENTER MOVEMENT Read before the National Education Association. ( N.E.A. Proceedings , 1912, p. 240 5)

THE SYSTEMATIZATION OF VIOLENCE ( St. Louis Mirror , July 18, 1913)

THE ART OF RE READING

HISTORY AND HEREDITY Read before the New England Society of St. Louis. ( New England Society of St. Louis . Proceedings , 29th year, p. 13 20)

WHAT THE FLAG STANDS FOR A Flag Day address in St. Peter's church, St. Louis. ( St. Louis Republic , June 15, 1914)

THE PEOPLE'S SHARE IN THE PUBLIC LIBRARY Read before the Chicago Women's Club, January 6, 1915. ( Library Journal , April, 1915, p. 227 32)

SOME TENDENCIES OF AMERICAN THOUGHT Read before the New York Library Association at Squirrel Inn, Haines Falls, September 28, 1915. ( Library Journal , November, 1915, p. 771 7)

DRUGS AND THE MAN A Commencement address to the graduating class of the School of Pharmacy, St. Louis, May 19, 1915. ( Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association , August, 1915, p. 915 22)

HOW THE COMMUNITY EDUCATES ITSELF Read before the American Library Association, Asbury Park, N.J., June 27, 1916. ( Library Journal , August, 1916, p. 541 7)

CLUBWOMEN'S READING ( The Bookman , January March, 1915, p. 515 21, 642 7, 64 70)

BOOKS FOR TIRED EYES ( Yale Review , January, 1917, p. 358 68)

THE MAGIC CASEMENT Read before the Town and Gown Club, St. Louis.

A WORD TO BELIEVERS Address at the closing section of the Church School of Religious Instruction.

INDEX

A LIBRARIAN'S OPEN SHELF

ESSAYS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS

DO READERS READ?