TIME TO RETURN OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOKS IN GREYMOUTH

Grey River Argus, 21 January 1948, Page 2

TIME TO RETURN OVERDUE LIBRARY BOOKS IN GREYMOUTH

Last week at the meeting of the Greymouth Borough Council, the librarian, Miss E. Webster, sought permission to hold an “open season” of book returning to the library. Miss Webster’s scheme, which was sanctioned by the council, was that for a fortnight all overdue books held by the public were to be accepted free of fine, and with no .questions asked. This period commenced last Monday and up till last night the public support had been satisfactory, although not quite what the library expected. Interviewed by the "Grey River Argus” yesterday, Miss Webster said that if all the books were to be returned to the library within the prescribed time, the public would have to hunt around more of their shelves and 'cupboards. A probable cause of the large number q£ books overdue was, in Miss Webster’s opinion, the recent lire which gutted the Borough Council chambers and necessitated the removal of the library to the existing temporary premises at the rear of the Town Hall. She said that there were possibily many people who were not aware of the existence of location of the temporary library, and that those who had held books at the time of the fire did not know what to do with them.

“Many of the- books overdue now are those belonging to the Country Library Service,” said Miss Webster, “and as the van will soon visit Grevmouth next month, it is most urgent that we have all those in as soon ns possible.” She added that any books which the library was unable to account for to the Service had to be replaced by the Greymouth library, this expense in turn, being of course, passed on tn the ratepayers.