LIBRARY PUBLICITY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 57, 8 March 1930, Page 10

LIBRARY PUBLICITY

PAPER BY ME. NORRIE

INTERESTING THE PUBLIC

Library publicity is constructive, its aims being to inform the public of the extent of library provisions, the range of the services that can be rendered, the ways in which they can bo used to the best advantage of each individual, and to lead people to a realisation of the functions of books. Library publicity must make a personal appeal, said the City Librarian, Mr. J. Norrie, in an address on library publicity to the Libraries Association Conference at Auckland this week. "It is not enough that everyone should, know that a special brand of soap is manufactured or that there is a public library in the town; the individual inhabitants have to be induced to use the soap, or the library, as the case may be. In other words, advertising must prompt personal action. . . . From a psychological standpoint, the aim underlying most library publicity is to endeavour to establish in as many persons as possible a habit of remembering the library under all circumstances in which it may be helpful, a habit of considering the library as an important public unstitution. Merely to persuade people to come to the library once or twice, or to register as borrowers, is not enough. To hold a reader when once he has been attracted is as important as to catch him in the first place. For this reason, not only should tho collection of books and tho service bo the very ■ best possible, but also especially as the library grows, should attention be paid to publicity addressed to library users." Mr. Norrie, who has hatl a wide experience and knowledge of library work in ' England, the United States, and Canada, as well as iv the Dominion, dealt at considerable length with various forms of booklets, posters, slogans, etc., adopted by many progressive overseas libraries, aud to a lesser extent iv some New Zealand libraries. Many British public libraries considered it to their advantage to issue a periodical publication, a "bulletin," "reader's guide," or "journal," which served the purpose of keeping the public "up-to-date as'regards additions of books and special topical lists, and also gave publicity to the general facilities afforded. Regular borrowers appreciated those publications as guides to reading. They tended to increase interest in the work of libraries, aud took a valuable part in any scheme of publicity. A very useful bulletin was issued monthly by the committee of the Dunedin Athenaeum. Notes on the progress of the institution, and articles of general interest to a circle of readers were printed. A folder or circular, explaining the essential facts about the library became desirable to supplement the librarian's welcome. A copy should be handed to every reader when he joined. LISTS, POSTERS, SLOGANS. . Book lists were prepared by libraries to meet local conditions, to encourage the use of local collections, or to meet or create special demands. '■ The most direct publicity possible was to introduce a reader to the book he would, like to read. A general list of titles had^its place; but, compared to a specific list, it was like shooting at a long-range target ■with a shotgun instead of a rifle. If the public and the individual readers composing it are known well enough to include their reading preference, the aim would be effective.

The supreme advantage of posters was that they produced an immediate and unavoidable impression. Posters impressed the memory more rapidly than other advertisements, largely, no doubt,' because they were seen when the mind was not preoccupied with other, words. ' ■

Among a number of slogans quoted by Mr. Norrie were these:-—"Lose your troubles in the pages of a book"; "On the greyest day there's sunshine in books"; "Have you a book for this evening?"; "After a tiring day, refresh yourself with a book"; "The child who reads is the child who succeeds," •

Viscount Burnhani, in speaking of I public libraries, had said: "When one remembers that these richly-stored treasures are open to all who care to enter, it seems lamentable that so many pass them by. Tho librarian should add publicity to his other studies. The more readers he enrols, the more will he contribute to the elevation of the people, and to the promotion of healthy public opinion." Mr. Nome exhibited a number of posters, booklets, etc., to illustrate his points. . .