Vocational Guidance Through the Library

e looking to the librarian as a most important ally in their work and have laid before us a program of splendid possibilities. tn the very earliest literature on the subject we find suggestions of the part the library may play. Mr. Bloomfield, in his "Vocational guidance of youth" speaks of the work of the sympathetic librarian of an East Side settlement in New York and pays tribute to the influence of her quiet ministrations in helping ambitious and idealistic boys to find their work. Mr. Eli W. Weaver, in an interesting interview in the Outlook for August 26th, 1911, entitled "Business men in the making", tells of how a chemistry teacher's recommendation of the right book in the school library at the right time shaped a boy's entire business career. Mr. Jesse Davis, principal of the Central High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, outlines for us most definitely the work which school and public library may do. (Proceedings of the National Education Association, 1912.)/ There are four questions which we all find ourselves asking at the outset. What is the need for this movement? What are its aims ? What are the methods for accomplishing what ought to be done ? In what ways can we as librarians help ? I. The Need For The Movement. Few boys and girls carefully choose their vocation. They simply drift into whatever comes to hand. There are many misfits in occupations even among the well to do and intelligent middle class because of this. There are hundreds of ...