I - LIBRARIES IN THE NATIONAL PARKS
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THE PARK LIBRARY
By C. A. Harwell and G. C. Ruhle
Purpose:
The purpose of the park library should be that of furnishing readily
available information to the park naturalist and his staff, as well as
for members of the other departments of the park administrative staff.
It should serve also for general and recreative use not only to these
but to park visitors as well. It should aim to be an asset for visiting
scientists engaged in research.
Scope:
The park library ought to be limited in its general scope. The
library should take special pains to collect all works pertaining to the
park and immediate regions, especially those of historical value. It
should endeavor to build up as complete sections as possible of
literature on the sciences of special interest to the park (example;
Mesa Verde, Archeology; Canyon, Geology; Hawaiian, Volcanology), as well
as all National Park Service literature. It is advisable to include as
far as available such periodicals as Nature Magazine, Forests and Forest
Life, American Museums, etc. It is well to choose fiction with great
care, using only the highest typo of literature. It is well to associate
the library with the museum, if possible, since it essentially is a
portion of the Educational Division of the park and augments information
imparted to the tourist by the division through the staff members or the
museum.
Staff: The park naturalist should serve as chief librarian,
making such appointments for library service as he sees fit. In larger
libraries, it may be possible to have a permanent librarian during the
park season.
Discussion
Most of the park naturalists were of the opinion that park libraries
were chiefly for the use of the educational staff. Mrs. Taylor said that
in her experience in Yosemite the greatest value seemed to be to persons
outside the Service who were carrying out research work or looking up
matters of special interest. She stated that the ranger naturalists used
the library occasionally, but only seemed to do so to become familiar
with the park.
Probably the use of the Yosemite library by ranger naturalists was
not apparent because of the fact that certain of the books were removed
to the upper offices for their work. Also, it was noted that a number of
ranger naturalists had their own reference books.
After a discussion of the purposes of the park library, these were
set down as follows:
(1) Basic reference material for use of staff
(2) Material for use of public
(a) Casual
(b) Research
Mrs. Taylor said that her experience in Yosemite indicated that the
most frequent demands by the public were for (1) Indian legends; (2)
Handbooks.
She stated that visitors seemed to want short articles on history,
Indians and geology, and that there is very little demand for "popular"
literature.
It was agreed that all books in the park library should be directly
or indirectly related to the park. This includes not only the field of
science, but also fiction and poetry. It has been found by experience
that the books most needed are first general informatory works on
history, ethnological, and scientific studies directly related to the
park; secondly, technical books; and thirdly, books on subjects more
distantly related to the parks.
It was agreed that it was most advantageous to house the library
within the museum building.
