National Library delay attacked

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32525, 8 February 1971, Page 2

National Library delay attacked

(New Zealand Press Association) PALMERSTON NORTH, February 7. It was surely time the Government realised that a properly housed and efficient national library had a vital role to play in New Zealand’s economic development, said Mr M. C. Sexton, immediate past president of the Library Association, at the week-end.

Mr Sexton, a Palmerston North city councillor, said, in an open letter to the Under Secretary for Education (Mr Gair), that the last conferences of the association had been seriously concerned about the lack of progress in establishing the National Library building in Welling ton. Both times, there had been an immediate response from Ministers, he said. In 1969 it was advised that a firm site had been selected, and last year authority was given for an architect and librarian to go overseas to study design It was now six years since the National Library Act had been passed, and five years since a model of the building had been ceremoniously unveilled. “Is it too much to hope that the Government has at last decided on its priority for this important building or will the high-powered demands for office space from more influential departments continue to push our national library to the bottom of the barrel,” he asked. The task of keeping New Zealand up to date with the knowledge explosion of the

1970 s demanded the most sophisticated library facilities for this key unit in the library system of New Zealand, Mr Sexton said.