Working With Books

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31480, 21 September 1967, Page 10

Working With Books

(By MISS J. S. WEIGHT, Hbrar-ian-in-charge, Country Library Service, Christchurch) There are many different kinds of libraries, and many different types of work in each kind of library. Many librarians like to work directly with the public, as in the refer? ence department of a public library, while others will prefer to be in a department away from the public, or in a library that has dealings with only a limited number of people. For some there are sole-charge libraries, while for others there are positions with varying degrees of specialisation.

The most widely-known libraries are the public libraries, which cater for the serious reading needs of all citizens and also provide them with recreational reading. Public libraries vary considerably in size. A small one may be controlled by one qualified person who supervises the whole work of the library—meeting people, answering reference questions, selecting books, cataloguing and managing the business side. In larger libraries the functions are sub-divided, so that members of the staff work in departments which specialise in, say, cataloguing or reference work, assistance to readers, or work with children.

University libraries cater for the needs of university staffs and post-graduate students, as well as of the undergraduates who form the library’s most numerous borrowers and users. The selection of their stock generally is therefore determined mainly by the courses which are offered by the universities, but it is also affected by the research done by advanced workers among their staff and graduates. Some of the universities have special subject collections of national importance, such as the Hocken collection of New Zealand material and the Medical School library at Otago, and the libraries of the schools of engineering at Canterbury and Auckland.

Special libraries are libraries which serve research institutions such as the Department of Scientific an<f Industrial Research. In the subjects they cover their work is very intensive and much of it is done with pamphlets, journals, reprints and similar types of material which contain more recent information than bound books.

' The National Library of New Zealand offers a variety of work. The Alexander

Turnbull Library contains the most important New Zealand and Pacific collection, with manuscript material, photographs, newspapers, as well as books and journals, and also a valuable collection of early printed books and works in English literature. The General Assembly Library serves primarily members of Parliament and students undertaking research from its extensive collections of general literature, Government publications, and New Zealand material. The Central Division handles acquisition and cataloguing as well as some reference services for the Extension Division, in addition to maintaining its own collection and reference services, and the compilation of bibliographical works.

The Extension Division consists of a service to public libraries—the Country Library Service and a service to schools—the School Library Service. The former has its beadquarters in Wellington and has branches at Christchurch, Palmerston North and Hamilton, providing a variety of services as well as book exchanges to public libraries through book vans. The School Library Service, with its headquarters also in. Wellington, works also from offices in Auckland, New Plymouth, Hastings, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Nelson, Greymouth, Timaru, Christchurch, Dunedin and Inver? cargill. In all libraries the emphasis is on service. Libraries exist for their users, whether they be scholars or housewives, scientists or tradesmen, and it is librarians who make it possible for them to be used well and efficiently. Libraries need people of good general education and intelligence who are not afraid of work. A feeling for books is essential, but a desire to give a service to users of a library is equally important. Much of the work requires patience and understanding in dealing with people as well as in coping with the vagaries of printed matter. A good librarian finds a rich reward in being able to make the information, or the pleasure which is contained in books and similar material, available to those who need it. Those who intend embarking on librarianship as a career are advised to aim at a university degree and the Library School course so that the best prospects and opportunities are available.

The Library School is a division of the National Library of New Zealand and is housed in Wellington near to the other parts of

the library. The course runs for 37 weeks from the beginning of March to December, divided into three terms. There is no tuition I fee and students are paid allowances to cover living expenses. For people working in libraries who wish to obtain training and a library quali- ' fication, but who are not in | a position to undertake a 1 university degree course I leading to the graduate I course of the Library School, the New Zealand Library Association is responsible | for a training course. It is' a suitable qualification fori people to be employed in library positions at an intermediate level.

The examinations and course of training leading to the award of the N.Z.L.A. Certificate consist of:— (1) The Preliminary Examination held in October each year by the association.

(2) The Certificate course taken at the Library

School in Wellington over a period of three years, in three sections of four weeks each.