USE IN LEISURE HOURS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 40, 17 February 1937, Page 13

USE IN LEISURE HOURS

LIBRARIANS' CONFERENCE

EDUCATIVE WORK

The ninth conference of representatives of the New Zealand Library association was opened by the Minister of Education (the Hon. P. Fraser) in :.be social hall, Parliament Buildings, today.

In the course of his remarks Mr. Fraser paid a tribute to the work of the librarians throughout the Dominion, and on. behalf of the Education Department thanked the librarians for what they had done in the provision •of reading matter for children. Many country libraries were in need of assistance, and it was essential that they be helped. The Government had not announced any policy in regard to libraries, said the Minister. Library policy, and the question of a national library, had had ■ to;be postponed while more urgent matters were dealt with. Plans . had been sketched for a national library ■ scheme, and a report had been made to the Government. He hoped that : something would be done at no distant date. Library extensions were important now that the people had more leisure. KILLING TIME DEPLORED. The presidential address was dcliv- ,' ered by Councillor W. J. Gaudin, chairman of the libraries committee of the Wellington City Council, who said the nation-wide system of education in New Zealand, and the national devotion to sport, had tended to reduce the problem of increased leisure to com- . paratively small dimensions because they tended to widen the interests of everyone in the country. The man who used books to educate himself in his work, for recreation, or for general culture, demanded more and more books as time went on. He now had more time to read, and it was held that books could supply a great deal of help towards the proper employment of the extra time which the people now had. An excess of .that kind of recreational reading which was simply indulged in to kill time should be condemned, and the encouragement of reading should be conducted with discrimination and adapted to the needs of the individual, otherwise it would make no appeal. The problem »was a comparatively . slight one in the cities where clubs and societies flourished, but in-.the country it was different. Councillor Gaudin said that for many years the libraries in most places had been the Cinderellas of the municipal service, but public opinion had at last become articulate. The Minister of Education had stated that one of the most effective means of securing a stable and contented rural population was the providing of a system of edu-, cation which, while in no way inferior to that enjoyed by the towns, would take special cognisance of the conditions peculiar to country life. The position was the same with regard to adult education, and the needs^ of adults in "rural areas were very similar to the needs of children. "What the priest is to the soul, what the doctor is to the body, the librarian is to the mind," said Councillor Gaudin.. "Great power is his for good "or evil and no library or library official should forget that for one moment... If .bur., ideals are high there :'is"-jieed.'.forus-ftf keep them always before our eyes, lor our'responsibilities are proportionately great." REMITS ADOrTED. . The following remits were adopted: "That the council of the New Zealand Library Association set up a small committee, with..power to co-opt, to inquire into the training of librarians m New Zealand.". "That in order to develop the book resources of the country for the serious student and technician, libraries should be invited to co-operate in a scheme cf inter-library loans, on the understanding that participation entails no commitment to any loan that may seem undesirable to the library concerned." "That members of public -libraries visiting other towns be afforded the privileges of membership to the library o? the town visited." . "That it be a recommendation that the public libraries be relieved of the liability for land tax." "That the attention of the Government be drawn to the unnecessary mutilation of magazines by the censor, whereby portions of the reading matter are rendered useless and the public encouraged to further mutilation." 1 "That the Education Department and Teachers' Associations be approached with a view to co-ordinating the development of schopl and children's libraries."