Would it not be wise, in view of this possible danger, to follow the example of the graduates of Harvard College in electing overseers, and provide by law that no trustee shall hold office for more than (say) three successive terms of three years, or nine years in all? While a library might thus lose occasionally an active and efficient trustee (who could still be reëlected after being only a year out of office), would it not gain much more than it could lose, in keeping that close contact with popular needs and with new ideas, which is so healthy and stimulating in the management of all public institutions?
The ideal qualifications for a trustee of a public library (a fair education and love of books being taken for granted) might be summarized somewhat thus:--
Sound character; good judgement and common-sense; public spirit; capacity for work; literary taste; representative fitness.
Men of character and position in the community are usually selected as trustees; but it may be assumed somewhat too confidently that, because a man has been prominent in political or business or social circles, he will make a good trustee. It is a mistake to put in such a position any man who has outlived his public spirit and energy.
Library taste is placed low on this list of qualifications, because in any administrative position, even in connection with a library, capacity and willingness to work, united with common-sense and a fair education, are much more useful than a taste for literature without the practical qualities. And of the different grades of literary taste, general culture and a wide range of reading are generally more serviceable to a public library than the knowledge of the scholar or the specialist.
In selecting men of prominence for trustees, there is danger of excluding too rigidly the younger men who might contribute to the strength and efficiency of the board. There is so much activity and progress in the library work of this generation, that the adage "Old men for counsel, young men for action" is not wholly inapplicable to the choice of trustees, whose work requires counsel and action in nearly equal degrees.
With a large board it would seem wise to select members with some reference to representation of different sections of the town, and different occupations, interests, or nationalities among the inhabitants. This tends to prevent dissatisfaction, and to adapt the purchase of books and the general policy of the library to the needs of the whole community, rather than to the wishes of special classes.