If lack of funds or other conditions make it necessary to employ some
local applicant, it will be wise to insist that that person, if not
already conversant with library economy, shall immediately become
informed on the subject. It will not be easy, it may not be possible,
for trustees to inform themselves as to library organization and
administration. They can, however, with very little difficulty, so
far inform themselves as to be able to judge whether the person they
select for their chief officer is taking pains to acquaint himself
with the literature of the subject, or trying to get in touch with
the knowledge and experience of others. They should not submit for
a moment to ignorance or indifference on the part of their chosen
administrator. Success or failure of a library, as of a business,
depends on the ability of the man or woman at its head, and only
trained men and women should be in charge. The business of the
librarian is a profession, and a practical knowledge of the subject is
never so much needed as in starting a new enterprise.

The librarian should have culture, scholarship, and executive ability.
He should keep always in advance of his community, and constantly
educate it to make greater demands upon him. He should be a leader and
a teacher, earnest, enthusiastic, and intelligent. He should be able
to win the confidence of children, and wise to lead them by easy steps
from good books to the best. He has the greatest opportunity of any
teacher in the community. He should be the teacher of teachers. He
should make the library a school for the young, a college for adults,
and the constant center of such educational activity as will make
wholesome and inspiring themes the burden of the common thought. He
should be enough of a bookworm to have a decided taste and fondness
for books, and at the same time not enough to be such a recluse as
loses sight of the point of view of those who know little of books.