NAPIER LIBRARY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 143, 2 June 1936, Page 3

NAPIER LIBRARY

Council Approves Increased Expenditure MONTHLY VOTE DOUBLED A substantial increase in expenditure upon the Napier Municipal Library was approved by the Borough Council at its meeting last evening. The sum of £lOO is to be spent immediately upon the purchase of new books for the institution, and the monthly sum for new books is to be increased from £l2 10/to twice that amount. A recommendation to this effect was made by the library committee, acting upon the following extract from the report of the librarian, Mrs W. Storkey. “While I feel that during the last few months we have been able to report not only a substantial increase in oiu revenue and our subscription lists but an increase also in the various services io the public such as the opening ot the children’s room and the magazine room, I feel that for a town of this size our lending labrary still leaves much to be desired. I understand that when the move was made from the old building a large number of books was culled out, which left our shelves, especially in the fiction department, very depleted; this, too, despite the fact that the books withdrawn were obsolete and out-of-date volumes which were never taken out by subscribers. The volumes which went out at all were retained, though a large number were veryshabby and even dilapidated, and therefore go out very rarely. These books, many of them over 30 years old, have been rebound and mended again and again, but many of them arc now beyond repair. 1 have gone carefully through the shelves, and in the fiction section alone I consider there are at least 400 books which should be replaced by new copies, which in most cases could be obtained in serviceable cheap editions.

BAD IMPRESSION OF STOCK. “I would therefore, ask if it is possible that an immediate grant be made of at least £lOO, which would replace nearly 500 of these old books, which most certainly give a very bad impression of our stock. I do not think the library has ever in past years had a definite grant for replacements, and it has not been possible to provide for them out of our present grant. The latter, now that the subscription list has increased from 197 (adults and juveniles) in May 1935, to 407 as at present, is quite insufficient to keep the library up-to-date and to provide sufficient new books, not only for our subscribers but for those who have been members, as many have, o'er a long period of years. “Unless it is possible to have a substantial increase for the purchase of new books from month to month I doubt whether we will be able to retain the new subscribers which we have gained. “I have done my best to discover why our library is so poorly supported by the public, and the most serious criticism is that lack of new, or at least clean books. WOO SUBSCRIBERS AIMED AT. “A subscription list of at least 1000 I members is not too '.much to expect or Napier, and I am satisfied that w r e could get it if your council could see its way to enable us to cater more fully for the requirements of our large reading public. “At present oar allowance is £l2 10/-, per month, which to cope with our requirements should be increased to £25 per month at least.” Revenue collected at the library during the past month was £24 17/4 in advance of the £l4 3/5 collected in Mav of 1935. Forty-eight new subscribers, 36 of them adults, were added, and 48 new books were placed on the shelf. The total revenue for the six months ending May 25, 1936, was £146 16/-, compared with £B9 0/11 for the corresponding period in 1935.