LIBRARY PATRONAGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 133, 7 June 1929, Page 3

LIBRARY PATRONAGE.

LESS INTEREST SHOWN.

TWO NEW FACTORS.

WIRELESS AND DAYLIGHT SAVING,

A suggestion that the longer period of daylight saving and the increased number of people interested in wireless have had an effect upon the patronage of the libraries, particularly as regards the use of the various reading rooms, is made in the annual report of the Public Library, which will be presented to the town 'clerk by Mr. John Barr, city librarian.

Taken as a whole, the report says, the year exhibits two distinct features. The issues from the lending departments were more numerous than in the previous year, but the reading room and reference sections were less used. The number of volumes contained in the libraries, including the .Leys Institute, is estimated to be 150, 292* volumes. Of this total 70,567 volumes are located in the reference departments, 63,301 volumes in the lending departments, 15,156 volumes in the children's sections (including the school libraries) and 1268 in the music section. The attendance at all the libraries, exclusive of the lending departments, totalled 592,139, a decrease of 66,621 compared with the previous year. Since the opening of the Lewis Eady music section the public interested in music has'made considerable use of the department, and as its facilities become better known a greater use is certain to result.

All the branch libraries except Epsom, Grafton and Pamell show increased patronage in the lending departments. Twenty-nine schools are now participating in the scheme of public library and public school co-operation, the schools in the newly amalgamated areas of Avondale and Tamaki being among the latest to become partners in the system. The number of books issued through the schools totalled 86,070, an increase of 14,324 volumes over the previous year's issues. There can be no doubt about the popularity of the system, and there is no uncertainty of its value as an aid in the education of the children.