HAWERA PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 10 December 1928, Page 6

HAWERA PUBLIC LIBRARY.

i The TO-opening to-day of the l Hawera Public Library, which has been closed to permit of extensive alterations and renovations of tlx© interior, will serve to remind residents of the borough of the fact that in respect of its library the town and tlx© district beyond its boundaries are extremely well served. Thoxiigh there have been noi outwai’d changes with which to impress the eye of the passcr-iby, there has 1 been such reconstruction inside the 1 building as to l bring the town into the position of .having a circulating library the equal of any in towns of similar size in, other parts of the Dominion. The' Borough Council has ever been generous iu its attitude towards this public service. The administration has been carried on quietly without attracting much notice from the ratepayers, as should be the case with such an institution, but for some years past there has been a steady influx of new books and' a wise- discrimination shown in their choice, until today there is a wide range of reading matter at the command of those whoi pay the very modest fees demanded. A new system of control and interior organisation is being instituted with the opening •< of the reconstructed library, with the result that the com-, mxunity service- offered by the ]ibraxy will be' widened in its .scope. The general public is to bo given access to the main room, in addition to the public reading /room as formerly, and the really excellent collection of periodicals will thus be available to any who care to outer; in fact, the only service for which payment is now demanded is that which involves the lending of books. A casual perusal of .the figures l showing the amount spent on new books and the numbers off expensive biographies and other works imported monthly, might lead to the assumption .that Hawera. is extravagant iu its expenditure on itslibrary, but such an opinion would be quite erroneous, for an examination of the latest statement shows that the cost to the ratepayers for the two years pre- 1 ceding March lost was something less •than £2 per week. When it is remembered (that the main revenue of the library is produced by the subscriptions of membe’rs, and that in addition to paying all overhead expenses the library also 'defrays the cost of tin' public reading ro.om, it is seen that the total cost to the ratepayers is exceedingly small. The council and the public | are fortunate in that they have been able to enlist on behalf of the library tho services of a small group of enthusiasts who devote much time to tlic selection of reading matter and to the supervision of tho institution generally. It is duo to these gratuitous services in large measure that tho books on the shelves are not reduced to that level of subject matter which characterises the lending departments of the libraries of some of the provincial towns.