Librarian Replies On Simplified Reading

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 15

Librarian Replies On Simplified Reading

There was a problem in finding suitable material to help mature adults with reading difficulties, and it was hoped shortly to have simplified material on the main, adult shelves of the Canterbury Public Library, the city librarian (Mr R. N. O’Reilly) says in reply to a correspondent, “E.H.” i i 1 i i 1

“E H.” wrote: “The Canterbury Public Library has an intermediate section which is not available to adult readers. There does not appear to be an alternative for the adult reader who has not an extensive English vocabulary but who wishes to read serious books, for example, new immigrants, Maoris, and some of the slower readers in our society. We tend to blame the Maori for his poor English, but perhaps the books available to him are too difficult to give enjoyable reading. Also some better readers like to gain rapid background knowledge to a serious subject and a simple English section might be useful to them.”

“Anyone who cannot find comprehensible material on a subject should ask at the inquiries desk and, if there is in fact no suitable material on the main shelves, he or she will certainly be allowed to borrow from the intermediate section or from the children’s library: this is often done, the children’s library having the wider range of simple subject material,” Mr O’Reilly replies. “There is indeed a problem in finding suitable material to help mature adults with reading difficulties, a problem causing acute concern to libraries in emergent countries overseas and a real enough one here amongst the groups mentioned by ‘E.H.’; at least one American publisher is experimenting in the field and we hope to take advantage of this shortly and so have more simplified material on the main, adult shelve . But a great deal of the material in the intermediate section duplicates what is already in the popular and serious adult sections and we cannot have unrestricted adult borrowing from a section catering to young people,” Mr O’Reilly says.