the year, and the special classes during the summer months
are most useful and popular.
The special need for production which developed during the War induced
many girls and young women, including a number of women students from
universities, to volunteer for farm work. During the summer months some
hundreds of young women engaged in fruit picking and worked in canning
factories under government supervision, and were lodged in club houses
managed by the Young Women's Christian Association. Others undertook
various forms of work connected with agriculture, meeting with success in
their employment and with public approval. In the summer of 1918 a special
course of instruction for young women in farm work was arranged at the
Ontario Agricultural College, and later regular courses were established
throughout the year. Women now may qualify for the degree of Bachelor of
Science in Agriculture at the Ontario Agricultural College and at Macdonald
College, Quebec. Wider opportunities for women in agricultural employment
are thus being recognized.
CHAPTER XVI
THE LIBRARIAN
Library work, although unusually attractive, does not employ a great many
workers. The work is pleasing, it is valuable to the community, and the
associates with whom the librarian works are trained and intelligent.
Almost any girl who loves books and reading may be attracted to library
work. She should test herself first to see if she has other necessary
qualities before she makes up her mind to train as a librarian. A girl
who really dislikes detail and who fails in detail work is hardly likely
to succeed in this occupation. The usefulness of a library depends on a
constant routine of work faithfully performed by its staff. An assistant
does not spend her time in reading new books, although the best type of
library worker must always find time for reading. The librarian is
working for the interests of others. Her mind should be sensitive and
alert to the needs of the public. She must love books, but it is equally
true that she should be a lover of humanity. If she feels only impatience
and irritation when she is asked to leave some routine work to find a
special volume for a boy or girl, man or woman worker, or some old person
who has come into the library to read, then she should not be in library
work.
The standard of education required for a librarian is constantly being
raised. The entrance examination to a university is often requir
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