Librarians’ Contribution To Historical Work

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30231, 9 September 1963, Page 19

Librarians’ Contribution To Historical Work

It was the responsibility of librarians in every centre to give close attention to the building up of full collections of that centre’s newspaper files for the use of research historians, Mr A. G. Bagnall told the regional conference of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Library Association on Saturday. Mr Bagnall, librarian at the National Library Centre, Wellington, was speaking in a discussion on “Library Resources and the Historian.”

Mr Bagnall said that there had been some progress in archives management in New Zealand in the last decade, but some local histories which had been published were inaccurate and inadequate because of failure to make full use of the information in these local and national archives. In districts where there were no surviving newspapers and no archives, the task of the local historian was very difficult, Mr Bagnall said. Historians needed more bibliographical aid from librarians, who should know what was in the useful books, as well as where they were catalogued. He instanced a book of recollections by an early visitor to New Zealand, written in poetic form and catalogued under poetry, which only rarely came to the attention of the historian. There was much matter of interest to the historian in the impressions of the many very perceptive and careful visitors to New Zealand in its early days. Bocks and pamphlets of this type provided valuable background material on people and places, and it was the task of the bibliographer to assess it and draw attention to it, said Mr Bagnall. “Better Organised”

To assess and make available this information was not an unmanageable task, said Mr Bagnall, and it was obvious that librarians and archivists were getting better organised in their attempts to meet the needs of those seeking to uncover the past. The other speaker, Mr W. J. Gardner, senior lecturer in history at the University of Canterbury, said that historical research by students was likely to become more and more important and would require librarians with the background to be able to direct the students to the literature most likely to be useful to them.

The biggest single group of research students would be those studying for the degree of master of arts in history and doing research for theses. The thesis in history, said Mr Gardner, was New Zealand’s greatest single vehicle of research. Many of these works were first-class contributions to knowledge of New Zealand history, and this type of work deserved the greatest encouragement from all librarians.

Mr Gardner praised the helpfui attitude of presentday librarians in these matters, and contrasted them with a librarian of the days of his own studentship whose only two answers to requests for such assistance were: “I haven’t got it” and “’What do you want it for, anyway?” Mr Gardner forecast a dramatic rise in sociological re-

search in New Zealand in the next five to 10 years, following a similar pattern experienced in the United Kingdom, Politics would oe “cut down to size” and social, religious and economic history would come into their own, he said. The speaker appealed. to librarians to preserve all the possible materials of history. If in doubt whether to keep or discard, they should seek academic advice, he said. Looking after newspapers he considered should have priority. Describing the thought of a possible fire in the basement of the General Assembly Library as his “most prevalent nightmare,” Mr Gardner urged that it was unwise to rely for too long upon single copies of the country’s most valuable material. He suggested that programmes for duplication and distribution should be -undertaken as soon as possible in such cases.