RURAL LIBRARY SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22413, 28 May 1938, Page 16

RURAL LIBRARY SERVICE

! * OPENING ON MONDAY BOOK VANS BUILT AT v RAILWAY workshops I THE PRESS Special Servicc.l WELLINGTON, May 27. The two Country Library Service book vans are now nearly complete at the Railway Workshops in Wellington, and will begin the service on Wednesday; The opening ceremony for the service will be performed at Parliament Buildings on Monday. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) and the Minister for Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) witi attend. One van will tour the South Island and the other the North Island. Two trained librarians will drive them and the books will be distributed throughout the Dominion. Itineraries of- two weeks’ duration will be planned by the head office in Wellington. When country libraries have received the new books, the work of the librarians in charge of the vans wul be to exchange books throughout both islands. . , . Mr G. T. Alley, officer in charge of the Country Library Service, and his assistants, are working to have the vans fully loaded with books for the opening ceremony. Each van will carry approximately 1150 books. With an overall length of about 20 feet, the two vans show a neat exterior. They are painted light grey, with the words, ■ “Country Library Service,” painted in red on the side panels. The system of distribution offered by 4he Country Library Service is the outcome of some years of study and consultation by Mr Alley, and the service will replace the present system of subsidies to country libraries. Under the subsidy system many libraries bought the same books. The service will make available to country libraries prepared lists of carefully - selected books, both fiction and nonfiction, free of charge.