3. =His Assistants.= In most schools one assistant, in large schools several assistants, will be required by the librarian. He should nominate them, subject to the approval of the governing board of the school; and should require of them regular and prompt attendance, and attention to their work in the library. It is very desirable that the business should be so arranged as to allow the librarians to take part in the opening devotional service with the school, and not to be at work arranging books while others are at prayer.
4. =The Management of the Library.= This involves four processes: the collection, the assignment, the distribution, and the return of the books.
(1) _The Collection._ The books can easily be collected without interfering with the order of the school, if the library window is near the entrance to the building, and the scholars as they enter leave their books at the library. This is the method employed in most schools.
(2) _The Assignment._ How to enable each scholar to choose his book introduces one of the three problems in library management. The plan generally followed is to supply each scholar with a card bearing a number which represents the scholar. He selects from the catalogue a large assortment of books, and writes their numbers upon his card: the librarian assigns the scholar any one of the books selected, crosses it from his list, and upon another list marks the number of the book opposite the number of the scholar. The weakness of the plan is in the fact that the scholar has no means of learning from the catalogue what books are desirable; and a book desired by one may be entirely undesirable to another. Theoretically the scholar has the whole catalogue from which to choose; practically he has no choice, except the suggestion in the titles of the books. The open-shelf plan cannot be established in the Sunday school, for the room is usually too small, the time of the session is too brief, and the work of the school too important to allow interruption.
In some graded Sunday schools another plan is pursued, taking from the scholar all choice, but assigning to each grade books of certain numbers, all printed upon the card of the scholar, any one of which books he may receive at any time during his stay in the grade, but each of which will fall to his lot but once. This plan demands a library of books carefully selected, and as carefully fitted to each grade in the school. But this method is apt to be unsatisfactory to the scholars, who have their own preferences among the books. The difficulties in assigning books, and disappointments of scholars in failing to obtain the books desired, is a frequent cause for the disuse of the library; and this problem has not as yet been fully solved.