LIBRARY SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1937, Page 10

LIBRARY SYSTEM

ASPECTS DISCUSSED

A NATIONAL SCHEME

VIEWS OF EXPERTS

Various aspects of the library system in New Zealand were discussed in a symposium of views expressed at this morning's session of the New Zealand Library Association's conference. The speakers.were Mr. T. D. H. Hall, clerk of the House of Representatives, Dr. G. H. Scholefield, chief librarian of the General .Assembly Library, Mr. John Barr, chief librarian of the Auckland public libraries, and Mr. A. G. W. Dunningham, city librarian, Dunedin. The importance of a national system was stressed by the speakers. Mr. W. J. Gaudin presided.

Mr. Hall took as his title "The National Scheme in General." He opened by paying a tribute to the Carnegie Institute for what it had done in the service of libraries, and by outlining some of his observations when abroad recently. He stressed the need for co-operation in the Dominion. "The co-operation of the Government, local bodies, educational authorities, and individuals is necessary," said Mr. Hall, "for building up an efficient system within our resources. This cooperation will be more readily forthcoming if it is clearly grasped how effective an instrument the library service can be in the life of the community. And here I mention the importance of libraries being free. After being in countries where this is an accepted fact, where every section of the community turns to the libraries for assistance, it is strange to come back here and find that the battle is still to be won. The Government would find an efficient library service an able ally in many national policies."

TWO MAJOR PROBLEMS.

After emphasising the need for adequate staffing, Mr. Hall went on to say that he was struck with the part that the library and kindred movements could play in solving two major problems of today—those of population and the utilisation of labour displaced by mechanisation. "Do we realise the significance of the figures relating to the motor industry in New Zealand?" he asked. "Today thousands of people are engaged in the building, selling, and running of motor vehicles. These people have been found for this new industry without fuss or a special immigration policy propaganda. They and those dependent on them form a considerable element in the population, and are essential to the right balance of our present economic structure. It is an example *of what flows from a change in our national habits. If we can secure a real interest in cultural pursuits, in literature, and in the arts, it will create a demand for services which must have an important bearing on the composition of our population. They will be services, too, which can never be rendered by the machine, the type of service which we must look more to for the absorption o£ our people. The urge towards culture, I am afraid, will not be as spontaneous as the urge to possess a car. It may have to be "fostered by those in authority and by private enthusiasts. A lead should be given to the public that they have it in their power, by the right use of leisure, to provide a maximum of employment for their fellows. We are convinced, and none more so than those who have been abroad, that this national library system to which we have been giving such- careful study, is something of great value to this country. It fully justifies our appeal for helo and co-operation from the Government, local bodies, and people. Returning prosDerity is filling the race courses of our country before it nils the libraries, art galleries, and the like. Behind any organisation we create we must maintain that enthusiasm which will face realities while keeping the ideal1 in view."

PARLIAMENTARY LIBRARY.

The next speaker was Dr. Scholefield, and he took as his topic The Place of the General Assembly Library, in the National Scheme." Dr. Scholefield said that in a complete library system there must be one library at least of a national character, the resources of which were not restricted to the town or district, and to which the city and district libraries would direct their readers when their own resources failed. "Generally," said the speaker, "this duty falls upon what is known as the State, or national, library The Genfcval Assembly Library has already, in recent years, developed some of the functions of the national library as generally understood. In the first place, for more than half a century it has been the library of deposit for the official publications of the British and foreign Governments received under the international exchange system. This valuable mass of documents, amounting to many thousands of volumes, is being regularly added to by the receipt every year of many cases from abroad, we have the British Official Papers complete as far back as the seventies of last century, and many of anterior date We have practically complete records of the parliaments of every British' Dominion, in addition to those of the United States of America. This international exchange is received by th- General Assembly Library in the capacity of a national library. The General Assembly Library two years aeo assumed the responsibility—not _ a light one-of acting as the agent in New Zealand for the international I exchange."

PRESERVING NEW ZEALAND BOOKS.

Dr Scholefield outlined another feature of the national library's work—the preservation of books published in New Zealand. In 1903 publishers were first required to send to the Genera Assembly Library two copies of all books published in New Zealand, explained Dr. Scholefield. Ten years ater this deposit was legally linked up with the Copyright Law. 'The obiect of requiring this gift is not, as some people facetiously suggest, to provide free reading for members of Parliament at the expense of the New Zealand author, but to ensure that a copy of every book published in New Zealand shall be preserved for all time" said Dr. Scholefield. "Fortunately the Act does not require the library to preserve everything that is published. We have the same discretion as the British Museum enjoys to say what we shall preserve and what not My view is that we should preserve as liberally as possible all original work published in the Dominion. I would much prefer not to sit in judgment on the quality of contemporary literature than to be impeached by posterity for destroying works of unrecognised genius. It is no part of our duty to decide for posterity what is worthy of preservation; it is merely our duty to preserve." Dr. Scholefield dealt with other phases of a national library's functions, and added that a national central library was called upon to lend books of a class which the average library could not afford to buy, and the demand for which was so restricted that a library . with limited funds would not be justified in buying them. The General Assembly Library already

gave a certain amount of help to other libraries in this way, and this form of co-operation could be developed without difficulty.

RURAL LIBRARIES.

Mr. Barr dealt with the place of rural libraries in a national system. He contended that the provision of a satisfactory library service for small communities was the most urgent of all library problems. As small communities were situated at present in the Dominion, it was impossible for them to provide an adequate library service for themselves, even if they allowed themselves to be taxed to the limit for the purpose. "Every librarian in the larger libraries receives applications for help and guidance from earnest but almost heartbroken men and women who are endeavouring to keep such libraries from extinction," said Mr. Barr. "Librarians also know from experience in New Zealand and elsewhere that the small town library cannot exist for long."

Mr. Ban- advocated the introduction of a co-operative scheme such as operated successfully in Britain. In England, he said, it had been proved after careful study that a community of less than 20,000 people could not successfully operate an independent library service. He was of opinion that New Zealand could allow boroughs with a population of 12,000 and upwards to undertake an independent library service. He recommended that the Government should accept general responsibility' for the whole rural library system, recouping itself from local bodies on an agreed basis. The Dominion could be grouped into a numbei of library areas for this purpose, no more than ten in number, each with an administrative centre of strategic value, and containing a depository collection in charge of a trained librarian. Such a scheme would ensure that the whole country would be provided for. Mr. Barr emphasised the fact that the scheme should be based on the free library principle.

Mr. Dunningham discussed the city library. He submitted that means of co-operation were desirable for reasons of economy. All New Zealand cities, he said, were comparatively small, and in consequence all New Zealand cities were in the position of being forced to reject from their buying list books lhal were marginally or insufficiently wanted. The need there was for help from the national centre, which would become responsible for the purchase of books for which there was a definite and sufficient demand in New Zealand as a whole, but which individual cities were unable to purchase. The cost of a national service to the cities would not be very great when compared with the cost of organisation of service to the country districts. Library organisation existed in the cities in a form which was not too expensive for local bodies to finance.

Discussing the question of regional co-operation. Mr. Dunningham said that it involved less financial responsibility and within the four regions it would permit more confident specialisation by local libraries with the knowledge that books on other specialised subjects were available and were being kept up to date in other centres within the region. In this way selection and care of specialised stocks tended to be carried out by the librarians most in contact with the actual needs, and who through experience were most expert in coping with specific reference questions. The plan of regional co-opera-tion would also require to be undertaken with- the advice and assistance of the national centre.