N.Z. LIBRARY SCHOOL

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28198, 9 February 1957, Page 6

N.Z. LIBRARY SCHOOL

24 Students Attend Course

“The Press” Special Service WELLINGTON, February 8.

After two years of correspondence lessons. 24 student librarians from all parts of New Zealand are now attending a five weeks’ course at the Library School, Wellington, to qualify for the New Zealand Library Association’s general certificate.

Most of the students are young employees of municipal, university or specialist libraries. While attending the course, they receive a Government allowance to cover living expenses.

The course consists of lectures on various aspects of library work, and visits to leading libraries where students can inspect facilities and see the theory of library practice in actual operation. When they return to their own libraries on February 16, the training they have received in book selection, lending methods, classification, cataloguing and many other aspects of library administration, will enable them to give a more efficient service to their community.

Improving Standard This short course is only one of those conducted annually by the Library School, which over the last 12 years has done much to improve the standard of librarianship in New Zealand. Applications are still being received for a longer diploma course, beginning in March, for university graduates who wish to become professional librarians. The diploma course will last until November and, while attending it, students will receive an allowance similar to that paid to graduate students at teachers’ training colleges. The acting-director, Mr H. Macaskill, feels that apart from the school’s role in training librarians to give better service, its main aim is to train more men and women for a career in this field. Since its inception in 1946, some 200 students—including a number of Colombo Plan students and UNESCO Fellows from Pakistan. India, Ceylon, and South Korea —have taken the school’s diploma course. Need for Good Training

“Although modern means of communication have made the world smaller in many respects,” said Mr Macaskill, “for much of our knowledge in almost every field, we still have to depend on the printed word. “Through the National Library Service and general inter-library loans, all New Zealand’s library resources are readily accessible,” he added. “To be really effective, however, the whole system depends upon having well-trained librarians, who understand the reader’s needs, and who know how to get what he wants.”