Travelling Library Service For Country

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29908, 23 August 1962, Page 2

Travelling Library Service For Country

Two Christchurch women and a man each cover more than 10,000 miles in remote South Island districts each year to provide reading material for scattered rural communities. They are Miss Eda Haggitt, Miss Elizabeth Maclean and Mr lan Maclean, of the Country Library Service. The arrival of their neat, silver-painted vans three times a year in more than 500 remote localities has become an eagerly-awaited event.

A reporter of “The Press” who shared the gipsy-like life of one of the driver-librarians this week on a typical journey through several North Canterbury districts found the job involves a combination of skills motor mechanic, handy man. office assistant, navigator, driver and literary adviser. A keen awareness of the people and their reading tastes, an ability to keep fit and active in a demanding occupation and a keen sense of humour are also required.

Originallv established in March. 1930. as the Canterbury Adult Education rural service, the present system •was inaugurated in May. 1938. but after the war it be. came absorbed into the National Library Service of which the former is now but one of the four main divisions. Now a part of the New Zealand Department of Education the service has no counterpart in any other part of the world, according to Miss J. S. Wright, librarian-in-charge at the South Island headquarters in Christchurch. With three main district offices—at Hamilton, Palmerston North and Christchurch—the service today maintains a fleet of seven vans and accompanying fulltime driver-librarians who are responsible for delivering reading material not only to country citizens, but to hospitals. prisons. Ministry of

Works camps, hydro-electric power stations. Government projects, lighthouses and other isolated spots. Varied Country

Travelling in their compact, all-purpose vans, stocked with something like 2000 books and affectionately named “Gus." “Gertie,” and “George,” the three assistants operating from the service's South Island headquarters in Christchurch each cover roads ranging from rough and rain-soaked Paringa in South Westland to the dustiness of Central Otago and the isolation of the rugged French Pass district.

They stop only briefly for re-stocking and general repair* in Christchurch between each of the year's three main trips. Each runs to a tightlyplarmed schedule where nothing is left to chance. The driver-librarians keep a detailed book of road notes to ensure a smooth coverage of the day-to-day itineraries sc routines are nqt upset. Lives In Van

Miss Haggitt’s daily routine is packed. “I get up quite early as I live mostly in the van and everything has to be stowed away out of sight for the day,” she said. "Then a good hot breakfast, cooked on a pressure stove follows and I prepare foe the day’s work ” Beginning about 9 am. with the first calling point, often a small town or district library, the field librarian supervises the returning and choosing of She district’s book allocations, helped by members of the local library committee.

T f further out in the backcountry. she will pay a brief

wait to a smaller group library to which only a few local residents belong. Apart from institutional visits, there are also visits to larger libraries, at which the van and its driver normally spend a full day. replenishing stocks at from 400 to 1000 books, depending on population and membership figures. At each stopping place, members and librarians have received in advance full details of the van’s arrival date and time, and their allocation of material.

All persons living in districts of less than 5000 are entitled to receive varied fiction and non-fiction, and to make use of the special book request service directed from Christchurch. Advantages Of Service

Advantages of the rural service were mentioned by several persons during the Canterbury tour.

“Personally, I find it much easier to choose what I want in such a small library,” said one country housewife, selecting her group's allocation from the van's shelves. “Having a smaller number of books to choose from makes one’s reading much wider, and really helps to develop a lot of new interests,” said another woman.

A close inspection of the reading choice of country readers showed that it was little different from that of townspeople, though, according to Miss Haggitt, it differs from place to place. Generally it seems that the further away one is from cities, the greater is the reading interest. “Yes. we read about five books each week,” reported one member of a relatively isolated farming family. Reading interest was not confined to practical books. “No. thank you. I don’t want this book on sheep,” said one elderly farmer to a suggestion from the librarian. “I’m having my old favourite ‘Pickwick Papers.’ We see quite enough sheep during the day as it is." “No. I can't possibly complain about the choice.” said one woman reader. “Everything I hear about and particularly want to read, seems to turn up in the van, without my even having to request it specially.”