Library Service's Move Completed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30586, 31 October 1964, Page 21

Library Service's Move Completed

The Country Library Senice in Christchurch, now installed in the new Lancaster House at the corner of Peterborough and Madras streets, has the best accommodation in its history. For the first time the thousands of books are all accessible and staff have excellent conditions for work. There are virtually no partitions on either side of the two upper floors occupied by the Country Library Service yet each department has privacy. Shelves of books form natural screens.

The general reception area' is on the first floor. There are modern lounge chairs j and low tables where visitors? may relax while settling their orders. Modem new display stands hold new samples of adults’ and children’s books and periodicals. Beyond are the main book collections and issuing areas. There is a schools’ section where request books may be chosen, the vast records department for both school and public libraries which draw on the service, a post-primary section, the big New Zealand collection and (overlooking Peterborough street) the huge school libraries exchange area. The dispatch department has long work benches and there are other work areas

for book preparation and maintenance. The second floor has many rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves holding the main book stocks of the Country Library Service. There is a meeting alcove, which will hold groups of up to 50 librarians, teachers, and others with whom the service deals, and a bright staffroom-cafeteria.

For sentimental reasons there is preserved near the entrance to this floor original shelving from the first library van to operate in Canterbury. On the ground floor the Library Service has its own loading bay where vans can be supplied direct from the lift.