RUSH FOR HOLIDAY READING

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 94, 14 January 1939, Page 8

RUSH FOR HOLIDAY READING

Lending Services Are Appreciated

CANISTER OF TEA FOR LIBRARIANS

At Christmas a grateful Wellington reader sent a canister of tea, artistically but inappropriately adorned with pictures of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “to the Lending Library ladies, in recognition of their smiling and courteous service.” Besides providing an excuse for a mid-afternoon interruption of their duties, the gift reminded the librarians that at any rate a portion of the public was aware and appreciative of the facilities provided by the Wellington Public library, and particularly its lending department. Perhaps the busiest time of year for this department is immediately before the summer holidays. Then book-bor-rowers crowd round the counter from morning to dusk, selecting and collecting their holiday reading matter. By a special arrangement to meet the convenience of those going away for Christmas and the New Year, all but the newest books may be taken out for six weeks instead of the customary fortnight. It says much for the stocks held, by the library that at that busy period it is seldom at a loss to supply a book in popular demand.

Literary Preferences. What sort of books do people take on holiday? One class of reader is not fussy, provided only that his or her choice is a bulky tome containing a good many hours’ entertainment.. Another class —presumably the hiking, tramping, camping sort of people chooses its holiday reading for thinness and lightness, a thin volume to slip into the pocket and provide a moment of enchantment during brief breathers on the mountain tops, or while the billy boils. Tastes are, of course, varied. One might expect the red-blooded outdoor men to read mainly stories of battle, murder and sudden death, travel and adventure, and leave to the office girls for holiday reading love-stories and light romances; but as a matter of fact it does not work out like that at all. The librarian cannot tell from the appearance of the man or woman bearing down upon her what kind of book to produce, till long acquaintance has familiarized her with the individual tastes. However, travel, history and biography are safe lines to recommend to the majority of readers. Fiction is much sought-after; indeed, the librarian cynically remarked that one of the reasons for the popularity of modern biographies was that they comprised largely fiction'. New Zealand books, and in particular impressions of travellers who have visited the Dominion and committed to paper their impressions, scathing or commendatory, are in constant demand.

Wanted the Britannica. Any book almost, except reference volumes, can be taken out by arrangement; but the advances of the holidaymaker who proposed to take away a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica were politelj’ rebuffed. Study of book-borrowers does not reveal that there is any age at which mankind is particularly prone to become addicted to literature. Young and old alike take books on their summer holidays. The sedentary habits of elderly people might be expected to make them better customers of the lending library than the young and active. But it is not so. It is noteworthy, however, that the very young, to whom a special department is devoted, do not take many books away with them. Librarians consider this is because they baulk at the responsibility rather than because they do not wish to read.

Brief Life of a Book. Most of the books, like homing pigeons, eventually return to their shelves. Some—happily few—come back plucked of their illustrations. Few are lost. Many, however, come back a wee bit the worse for wear, and the usual fate of a lending library book is its condemnation as worn out. The average life of such a book is only about a year. When they have been lent out some 50 times, for an average of a week or 10 days, they are inspected, if their condition had not indeed already drawn attention to them—for it is an important part of the library policy to keep Us lending department books in the best possible condition. As a rule, a worn volume is condemned. A book has to be a valuable one, or of special interest, to merit the expense and trouble of a visit to th'e library’s bindery at Newtown. A curious aspect of book-lending is the manner in which (he merits or demerits of a book become known to readers. Not all the publicity of the publishers can make a bad book popular. By word of mouth in casual conversation the news goes round that such-and-such a book is well worth reading and immediately half Wellington is asking for it.

Now, however, the Christmas rush of borrowers is over, and the holidaymakers are coming home to return the books they have been reading. The next few weeks will be a reversion to normal, till the approach of the Etrster holidays brings another rush of long-term book-borrowers stocking up to go away.