COUNTRY LIBRARY SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 206, 28 May 1938, Page 13

COUNTRY LIBRARY SERVICE

Two Book Vans Nearly Ready

OPENING CEREMONY NEXT WEEK

The two country library service book vans which are nearing completion at the Railway Workshops, Lower Hutt, were inspected by a representative of “The Dominion” yesterday. The vans will begin their work on ’Wednesday of next week, but they will be completed in time for the opening ceremony for the service, which, will _be performed in the office of the Prime Minister in Parliament Buildings on Monday. Brief addresses will be given by the Rt. Hon. M. J. .Savage, the Minister of Education, Hon. P. Fraser, the officer in charge of the Country Library Service, Mr. G. T. Alley, the president of the New Zealand Library Association, Mr. T. D. H, Hall, and the director of Broadcasting, Professor James Shelley. One van will tour the South Island and the other will travel in the North Island. Two trained librarians, members of the service, will drive them, and books will be distributed throughout the Dominion. Itineraries of two weeks’ duration will be planned by the head office at Wellington, and until all the books available are in circulation, the vans will be distributing new books. When the country libraries have received the new books, the work of the librarians in charge of the vans will be to exchange the books throughout the two islands. Mr. G. T. Alley, officer in charge ot the Country Library Service, and his assistants are working to have the vans loaded with their full complement of books for the opening ceremony on Monday. Each van will carry approximately 1150 books.

With an overall length; of about 20 feet, the two vans present a neat exterior, painted in light grey with the words “Country Library Service” in red on the side panels. The bodies are deep and roomy with ample space for the librarians to work in them, and they are mounted on 21-ton British chassis. The driving cabin has seating accommodation for two and an entrance into the rear of the van, where the books will be stacked in metal bookshelves.

The body of the van is six feet deep and nine feet long, allowing for free movement on the part of the operators. The walls are lined with shelves and a central stack provides a desk top for clerical work. Access from the back of the van is provided by two doors, and a detachable step-ladder that is carried inside the van when it is in motion. All the books carried in the vans will be classified and catalogued so that all the work that will have to be done by the receiving libraries will be the lending of the books to registered members.

The system of distribution offered by the Country Library .Service is the outcome of some years of study and consultation by Mr. Alley, and the service will replace the present system of subsidies to country libraries. Under the subsidy system many libraries bought the same books, and the result was a “dead” stock only a short time after new books were on the shelves. The service will make available to country libraries prepared lists of carefully selected books of a fictional and non-flctional character free of charge.