NEW LIBRARIAN

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26517, 4 September 1951, Page 6

NEW LIBRARIAN

MR R.N. O’REILLY AT WORK REFERENCE SERVICES TO BE EXPANDED "I hope to expand the reference services of the library very soon,” said the librarian of the Canterbury Public Library (Mr R. N. O’Reilly), when he assumed his appointment at Christchurch yesterday. “The room in which the reference library is housed here is particularly pleasing. It is one of the most beautifully proportioned rooms I have seen in any library in New Zealand,” said Mr O’Reilly. 'T am pleased with the alterations, as far as they have gone, and I am very happy to be going into a library as well renovated as this one.” Mr O’Reilly said he was particularly interested in the economics of library services. “One of the commonest examples of the application of economic principles to the library is the equating of supply and demand, more particularly by the comparative study of the effects of different terms of service, such as subscriptions, rental fees, or free books.” The demand for serious library service had been found to be capable of almost unlimited expansion, provided the right conditions of service or supply were present, Mr O’Reilly added. Mr O’Reilly was president of the students’ group in the first class held at the New Zealand Library School when it was opened in Wellington in 1946. “This wonderful school, which has so far trained about 120 librarians, is changing the whole aspect and outlook of the library service in New Zealand. One of the reasons for its success has been the high standard it sets for candidates for admission—it provides* a full year’s instruction for university graduates and those others who have done outstanding work in practical librarianship.” When Mr O’Relly attended the school in 1946, it was his first experience of library work. Before that time he had been employed by the Customs Department at Dunedin, while lecturing part-time in philosophy at the University of Otago. On leaving the school Mr O’Reilly worked for the National Library Service as a consultant on problems associated, with library administration and had dealings with the library committees of local bodies throughout New Zealand.