Council Held Interested In Libraries

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 18

Council Held Interested In Libraries

The suggestion that the City Council was not interested in the work of suburban libraries was absolute nonsense, said the chairman of the library committee (Cr. H. G. Hay) in a statement He was replying to comments made at a meeting of the Suburban Libraries’ Association that the City Council library committee was “apathetic” to the affairs of suburban libraries. The comment was made when the annual meeting of the association was considering a letter from the Waltham Library committee complaining that no councillor had attended its annual meeting. Cr. Hay said he was surprised and somewhat disappointed to read the report in “The Press” that certain members of the association regarded the committee as apathetic. “I regret that the two councillors who had agreed to represent the council at the Waltham Library annual meeting had not found it possible to attend, due possibly to attendance at a Municipal Association conference engagement the same evening. “I feel sure that the councillors concerned, who are both highly regarded in the Waltham district, would not wish their inability to attend the meeting to be regarded as a lack of interest in the affairs of the Waltham Library. “Impossible” “It is impossible for any one councillor to attend the considerable number of suburban library annual

meetings, and it has been the policy of the present committee to’ share the duties round all councillors. “I agree with the suggestions made by one speaker at the meeting that it is a pity that a combined meeting could not be held to cover all suburban libraries, possibly in the council chamber. I am sure that the council would welcome an opportunity such as this to pay tribute to the voluntary work being done in so many parts of the city by the committees of suburban libraries.

“The present procedure leaves much to be desired and the council would be pleased to present its views to a future meeting of the Suburban Library Association if it is invited to attend the meeting. “A considerable part of the time of monthly library committee meetings is taken up by various suburban library matters including the building of new libraries, expansion of existing ones and generally the question of endeavouring to give a better service to these libraries and their patrons. “It may be of interest to the critics to know that I and several other councillors, together with the city librarian, have spent the last two Saturday mornings inspecting possible sites f.or new suburban libraries. 1

regard this as more constructive work than endeavouring to attend every suburban library annual meeting,” Mr Hay said.