Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15, 1939. THE LIBRARIAN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 63, 15 February 1939, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15, 1939. THE LIBRARIAN.

Attention is called to one of the most ancient and honourable of professions, that of the librarian, with the conference, now being held in Palmerston North, of the New Zealand Library Association. From the agenda set clown for deliberation it is evident that the delegates, however, are not fettered by musty ideas of ancient times, and it indicates a virile outlook and a sgirit in keeping with the progressive development of the library system that has marked activities in the Dominion, and in many countries overseas, in recent years. One subject for discussion is the microfilm, a scientific achievement which, while its advantages may not be reaped so largely in Dominion libraries as in the great institutions of the kind overseas, nevertheless bids fair to solve one of the greatest difficulties in the storage of millions of important manuscripts and other archives, because by its means the problem of space will largely be overcome and additional facilities provided so that posterity will gain. In brief, this method may be called the photographing of manuscripts for preservation. New Zealand’s library service occupies an important place in the community; and it is making rapid growth, a notable step forward beiug the rural service inaugurated a short time ago, the expansion of which is, on the evidence already gathered in the service, well justified. In our own city an improvement in the municipal library service has been undertaken, so that close at hand and further afield there is evidence of a keen desire to serve the people in this valuable amenity to culture and progress. It is interesting to relate that in the earliest times libraries were probably temples. In excavations of ancient works at Nineveh and elsewhere in comparatively recent years there have been discovered tablets bearing the chronicles of events or philosophical inscriptions methodically arranged. At Heliopolis, whose culture was akin to that of Babylon, the library was a centre of great importance. Attached to the temples in ancient Egypt, too, were professional scribes, whose clay tablets may still be found among the archives. Down through the ages the library has ever been an outstanding feature of cultural activity, some of the

most important, of course, being the monastic establishments. In England the first and principal collections were those of cathedral towns Bueh as Canterbury and Durham. The British Museum, founded in 1753, ranks in importance before all the great libraries of the world except the National Library of France, and excels in area and accessibility of its contents. It contains upward of 3,200,000 printed volumes and 56,000 manuscripts. Here the value of the new scientific attainment, the microfilm, will be appreciated to the full. The University and College libraries of Britain, too, are famous wherever literature is appreciated at its true worth. The Bodleian Library, Oxford, is, of course, known all over the world: in Oriental manuscripts it is perhaps unequalled by any European country. The first Act of Parliament authorising the establishment of public libraries in England, passed in 1850, was a step the significance of which was perhaps not well enough appreciated at the time; it was an advance in education that had farreaching and beneficial effects. Three years later this Act was extended to include Scotland and Ireland. Libraries in Englishspeaking countries have received an immense stimulus since 1900, when Andrew Carnegie began to present library buildings to towns in the British Isles, the United States and elsewhere; New Zealand to-day, in her library administration and equipment, is benefiting from the Carnegie Trust. In the hands of the library administrators there is a power for much good in promoting the cultural wellbeing of all who seek their service, and it is in keeping with their desire to promote the best in that service that they should get together and discuss improvement, where that is possible, and exchange their views.