number of counties that have not received one cent of the money provided by the Legislature for this purpose. The children of one county are as much entitled to their share of the library fund as the children of another, and it is the duty of the County Superintendent and teachers to see that they get their share of all the benefits provided by the State.

As will be seen by referring to the above table, some counties have established as many as fifty libraries. These counties, with the aid of the State, have spent more than fifteen hundred dollars for school library books. This does not mean that one county has taken advantage of another, but it does show that some school officials have aroused more interest in the library work and have secured for their children the benefits which have been provided alike for all the children of the State.

The blessings resulting from the use of books cannot be estimated. The public school library not only delights, instructs and educates the child from the first grade through the entire school course, but we believe, if properly used, it will help to stimulate and keep alive the child's interest in school work at that period in his development when studies become most irksome and the desire to leave school is strongest.

I appeal to you as the guardians of the children's interests to see to it that a movement is started that will secure to the children of your county opportunities equal to those which are enjoyed by the children of any other county in the State.

Very truly yours,

J. W. BRISTER,

State Superintendent.

TRAVELING LIBRARIES.

The same Act which provides for the establishment of permanent school libraries also provides that libraries may be circulated in the counties under the direction of this department and the State Library. The State Librarian reports that 96 of these traveling libraries for rural schools are now in circulation in sixteen counties of the State. It is hoped that the people of every county can be interested in the libraries provided by the State; to raise sufficient funds to secure State help in establish

ing libraries in every school; and then to supplement the public school library by one of the traveling libraries furnished absolutely free by the State. Information in regard to the circulating libraries can be secured by addressing Miss Mary Skeffington, State Librarian, Nashville, Tenn.

HOW STATE AID MAY BE SECURED.

The General Education Bill of 1909 set aside 25 per cent of the gross revenues of the State for school purposes. One per cent of the fund derived from this appropriation is used to encourage and assist in the establishment and maintenance of libraries for the public schools, as provided below:

"Whenever the patrons and friends of any public school in any county of the State shall raise by private subscription of otherwise, and tender to the County Trustee, through the County Superintendent of Public Instruction, the sum of $20 or more for the establishment and maintenance of a library for that school, said County Superintendent shall notify the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and upon the certificate of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Comptroller of the Treasury shall pay to the Trustee of said county, out of the fund herein provided, a sum equal to half that raised by private subscription or otherwise, to be added to the library fund of said school; and whenever $10 or more shall be raised by private subscription or otherwise to supplement a library already established under the provisions of this section of this Act, said library may in like manner receive from the fund herein provided a sum equal to half the sum so raised.

"Provided, That no school shall receive in any one year from this fund more than $20 for the establishment of a new library, or more than $10 to assist in supplementing a library already established.

HOW TO SECURE LOCAL FUNDS.

There are various ways of raising the necessary local funds. We give here some suggestions, but any teacher who is awake to the need and has a sufficiently strong desire for a library, will find some way to secure it.

1. Interest your pupils in a library and have them make a canvass of their homes and among their friends for subscriptions.

2. Give a school entertainment, or a series of entertainments, and charge a small admission fee, having it distinctly understood that the purpose is to secure funds for a library.

3. Have the pupils agree to contribute a certain amount during each week for a stated period.

4. Have a series of spelling matches with other schools, charging a small admission fee.

5. Give a tea or supper to the mothers and ask their cooperation.

Celebrate a national holiday or commemorate the birthday of some great man and take a voluntary collection or subscription at the close.

7. Interest some public spirited citizen to make a proposition to give as much money towards the library as the school will raise otherwise.

REPORT OF STATE LIBRARY EXTENSION WORK, BEING DONE IN COUNTY SCHOOLS

Section 6 of the General Educational Bill of 1909 provides first for the establishment of permanent school libraries, and provides further that one-fifth of the amount accruing annually for school libraries, under the provisions of this Act, may be used for the purchase and maintenance of circulating or traveling libraries for the public schools of the State, under the joint direction of the State Library and the Department of Public Instruction.

Under the provisions of Section 6 of this Act, the Tennessee State Library sent out in August of 1910, the first traveling libraries ever sent out and operated by the State. A two-fold object is in view in operating traveling libraries in the public schools.

First-Attention is given to the school children, recognizing in them the future citizens of the State, and endeavoring to make of them, the children of to-day, the reading men and women of tomorrow. By circulating libraries through the schools where the teacher becomes the librarian and is held responsible by the County Superintendent, these books do in fact circulate through the schools, and the advantage of good books is given from the primary grades through high school. The libraries are made up of picture books and books of simple little rhymes and jingles, then little nature studies, easy reading, etc., for the primary grades. Then nature, geography, description, travel, history, biography and general literature, from the primary grades through the high school. In the majority of cases, when a child is carried from the primary through the high school in constant association with books, and where the teacher insists on these books being read, the reading habit is formed, and the boys and girls of to-day have become the reading men and women of tomorrow, for reading comes by habit.

Second-The adult member of the family is reached through the child. The teacher gives the books to the child to take home; they take them home and they are eagerly read by the

adult members of the family, as well as by the children themselves. All the reports tell the same story: "The books are eagerly read, both by old and young.'

To-day, the State Library has six libraries of fifty volumes each in the following counties: Anderson, Fayette, Henry, Carter, Benton, Davidson, Hickman, Knox, Lincoln, Madison, Williamson, Montgomery, Rutherford, Robertson, Wilson, Carroll, James, Franklin, Coffee, White, Putnam, Maury, Humphreys, Bedford, Lawrence, Dyer, Hardeman, Rhea, Giles, Lewis, Claiborne, Obion, Smith, Hamilton, Sullivan, Sumner, Fentress and Blount. Two hundred and twenty-eight libraries, the equivalent of eleven thousand four hundred books.

The purpose of the traveling school library is not to supersede, but to supplement the permanent library, and to go into the schools and communities where there are no permanent libraries, and arouse the desire for books that will lead to the establishment of permanent libraries. In this work of circulating traveling school libraries, the State Library has received the active co-operation of the Department of Public Instruction.

MARY SKEFFINGTON,

State Librarian.