The Public Library

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21973, 23 December 1936, Page 8

The Public Library

At its meeting on Monday night the Christchurch City Council unanimously decided to obtain a full report on the transfer of the control and assets of the Canterbury Public Library from the Canterbury College Council to the city and in the meantime to place £ 1000 on the estimates for the coming year as a subsidy to the library; and this step, which is the result of protracted negotiation, may be welcomed by all who desire to see in Christchurch a library fully adequate to its needs. The large facts of the matter are: (a) that the city has had the use and enjoyment of a public library without paying for it; (b) that the college, which could once find £2OOO a year for the library from its endowments, can now find only a few hundreds; (c) that the library, particularly in the reference department, has for want of income and capital expenditure fallen distinctly below a proper standard in stocks, equipment, and buildings; (d) that it is the responsibility of the city to do for the library what the college cannot, and control and responsibility ought at least to be connected, if not identified. It is encouraging to learn that the City Council is not deterred by either of the conditions proposed by Canterbury College. If the city were not prepared to agree at once that a new reference wing is needed and to accept the duty of building it, the project of bringing the library under municipal authority might almost as well be abandoned. The choice between a body unable to find the money and a body unwilling to spend it would be a painful one; but the better hope, probably, would lie with the poor and not with the blind. The council appears to be willing, also, to allow the college to share in the administration of the library; and it may very well do so. The college has always been able to furnish representatives able and ready to devote time, care, and special knowledge to the library, and it would be a mistake to dispense with their co-operation when it might be engaged. But it is here, perhaps, that one suggestion may be made. The council is seeking a report on the legal necessity and means of transferring from the college to the city the library assets, endowments, bequests, etc. If it is proposed to divest the college of all property in the library—to the extent, that is, of transferring endowments, trusts, and so on, as well as site, buildings, and stock—then the claim of the college to 'representation seems pointless, and the difficulty of the transfer may be unnecessarily complicated. It is probably simpler and certainly preferable to maintain the college in its status as trustee, for the library, of certain estates and bequests, under agreement, of course, to open their administration to the city council’s inspection. Practical and technical difficulties involved in all-inclusive transfer would be avoided, and the right of the college to representation, would continue to be supported by a measure of financial responsibility. The council appears to believe that

more than a year may be required to overcome all the legal and other obstacles to the change. Less time might suffice if the extent of the change were clearly defined and agreed to.