STILL CLIMBING

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 10, 11 July 1936, Page 11

STILL CLIMBING

LIBRARY FIGURES

THIS YEAR'S START

Returns prepared by the Chief Librarian, Mr. J. Norrie, show that the demands made upon the lending departments of the central and suburban libraries are rising as steadily as ever, so that the suggestion that the increased popularity of the. libraries was largely a consequence of bad tim.es, when people had hours to fill, does not .fit the facts, and if the issues continue as they have commenced the totals for any previous year will be left well behind. Two returns are available, one for. the first quarter, April to June, and the other for the month of June alone: in every instance the quarterly figures are ahead of those for the same period last year, library by library, in adult and juvenile sections, subscriptions and extra books, and in the return for June a record daily issue is noted for the Karori branch and record monthly and daily issues for Miramar, though June is not as a rule the busiest library month. A NEW READING PUBLIC. The returns bring out another interesting point: that the opening of additional branch libraries has little effect upon the issues made from the Central and the nearer branch libraries, but that a new reading public is reached in each suburb to which library facilities are given. The Lyall Bay branch, for instance, was opened on April 1 of this year, /nd in three months the issues made from its lending shelves were 17,638 (9966 to adults and 7672. to children), which might have been expected to make a considerable hole in. Central, Miramar, or Newtown Library .figures. . Actually the Central figure for the quarter (94,404) was over two thousand-higher than for the first quarter of last library year, the Miramar total (15,838) was also two thousand up, and the Newtown total brought down by about one thousand. In the June return Miramar is again further ahead and Newtown has passed the figure for June, 1935. . RETURNS FOR QUARTER. The chief comparisons for the quarter are as follows, the issues for the first quarter of last year being shown in parentheses:—Central issues, adults 87,154 (85,436), children 7250 (6706)Newtown, adults 25,715 (26,481), children 5513 (5715); Brooklyn, adults 6739 (5803), Children 1532 (1420); Karori adults 9982 (8664), children 2353 (1696): Lyall Bay, adults 9966, children 7672Miramar, adults 11,577 (9586), children 4261 (3432); Ngaio, adults 6016 (5433) children 1625 (1684); Wadestown, adults 6141 (5925), children 1888 (1747). The remarkably high proportion of juvenile readers in the Lyall Bay district is to be noted; Miramar is a good second in this regard.