TYPES OF BOOKS BEING READ

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22197, 14 September 1937, Page 8

TYPES OF BOOKS BEING READ

DECLINE IN POPULARITY OF FICTION EFFECT OF COMMERCIAL LENDING LIBRARIES i The decrease in numbers of books of I fiction being read by subscribers to the' Canterbury Public Library during the last few years, is attributed by the librarian (Mr E. J. Bell) partly to the! comparative increase in popularity of history, travel, and biography books, and partly to the growth of private commercial or lending libraries in the city. Discussing -the influence of private libraries, Mr Bell said yesterday that he thought one beneficial result to the public library would be to increase the numbers of readers in the city. Ultimately these readers would be diverted to the public library because of its superior stock of books. The figures taken at the library showed that the total number of books taken out remained fairly steady, and it was only the type of literature read that was changing. Figures for August (with figures for August, 1936 in parenthesis) were:— Lending Library—Books in circulation 15,732 (15,691), fiction 10,241 (10,776) and 12.000 for 1935; history and travel 1149 (868), biographies * 804 (651). sports, fine arts, 200 (136), literary 268 (233), sociology 313 (313). The increasing demand for non-fic-tion books had been shown by the figures for some time past, Mr Bell added. In the circulating library for August, 204 new books had been added, and 298 subscriptions paid in compared with 286 in 1936 for the same month. The membership of the children's library was almost back to normal after its setback earlier in the year because of the epidemic. The 3771 books taken out included % 500 on non-fiction subjects. s In the reference library for the month, 6000 books had been consulted and 77 new books added.