The Hawera Star THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1924. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 19 June 1924, Page 4

The Hawera Star

THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1924. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Delivered every evening fcy 6 o’clock in Hawera, Manaia, N-'Tmanby, Okaiawa, Eltbam, Mangatnki, Kaponga, Awatuna, Opunake, Otakehc Maautahi, Alton, Hurleyville, Patea, Waverley, Mokoia, Whakamara, Ohangai, Meremere, Fraser Road, and Ararats.

The Hawera public library has a total of 460 subscribers. Endeavour is made in choosing books to meet the popular taste, and members derive great pleasure from the institution, especially during the long winter evenings. That pleasure is, however, marred by the carelessness, and want of thought on the part of some subscribers who treat the. books in a shocking manner. One has seen books which have been in use only a few weeks thumb-marked, stained with tea, and with pages disfigured with butter and jam and bread crumbs, showing that previous borrowers hail a very poor regard for the rights of other people. Suc-h treatment of the books is deplorable, and though tlie librarian and her assistant arc keen to keep the books in good order, their efforts are to a large extent defeated by the continued disregard of those who handle the books carelessly. It is not easy to trace the offenders, and one- can appreciate the librarian’s difficulties. We appeal to all subscribers to the library to take proper care of the books in future, and to remember that damaging, or disfiguring the property of the institution is most unfair to other members. The library

building is coming to tlie end of its days, 'and people look forward to the time when the new municipal buildings can be erected near the Soldiers’ Chib, when provision is to be made for an up-to-date library. Many of the old books need replacing, but the bad treatment which the books have received at the hands of some subscribers is very disheartening. We cannot understand people who are fond of reading treating books in such a manner. To the true lover of literature books are precious, whether they are personal possessions or belong to a public institution. Maybe that the ill-treatment of the books has been the cause of many people not subscribing to the library who otherwise would have done so, and if so the institution lias suffered considerably. We should like to see the membership increase and the institution grow in strength, for we believe that the reading of good books, especially books of travel, history and philosophy, is invaluable to a community. If more people would read instead of wasting time in nseless talk they would gain a much sounder knowledge of the world and its problems, and though they might have but little opportunity of taking part in solving the problems facing the world they would be in a much better position to judge the merits of the varous theories and suggestions put forward. A public library provides its members with a 1 wide range of literature, and with the constant addition of new books, as well as having opportunity to read the old, one can for a very small amount of money each year keep closely in touch with the world and its affairs. The earliest collections of written works appear to have been the official preservation of government and administrative records or archives in Babylonia, Egypt •and Crete, dating back many hundreds of years before the Christian era, but municipal public libraries are of comparatively recent origin. Their birth may be given as 1850, when the Public Libraries Act was passed in England. Throughout the Empire and in the United States the public library movement spread rapidly, .and there is scarcely a town to-day which does not p'ossess a public library. It- rests with the people of Hawera and district to decide -whether their library is to glow’ and Improve. The subscription is small, and w© see no reason why membership should not increase rapidly and the institution be put upon such a good footing that it will be possible to make great improvements. But members ishould take proper care of the books which they borrow, and show that they are really interested in the institution and its progress.