Library Inquiries as to What People Read

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 67, 20 March 1936, Page 10

Library Inquiries as to What People Read

WAR AND PEACE. WIDE LITERARY FIELD. Wars bring tlicir literature, some of which, appears almost before tho sound of battle. has died away, whilo some war books,, written by commentators rather than by historians, come more gradually before the public. There is a great run on all books dealing with war (and pacifism) at the Wellington public libraries just now, and also on books about the countries that aro either now at war, or likely to bo so. There is available a quantity ot literature about Abyssinia, some of it written before the war with Italy, and some of it dealing with the war itself. People who were only faintly interested in Italy are reading about that country now, and the same is true or most countries that have been mentioned as likely to be drawn into the vortex snould a European war occur. Then there is the question of armaments. Who, in Queen Victoria’s reign, wbuld not have been surprised at the frankness with which this subject is treated to-day? Truly the outlook has changed, but tho pacifists cannot glean much comfort from the mass of literature though it may provide them with arguments. There are books, well illustrated, giving a fair idea of the British Navy, and others dealing with Great Britain’s Air Forces. Though much of it concerns progress in tho civil sphere, aviation is probably tho subject most written about to-day. Even boys’ books revel in it, while of magazines and books dealing exclusively with the subject, there is no end. Task of Selection. If reticence was over looked on as a virtue, to-day it is fast becoming regarded as a folly, except by thoso who gain by it, and must become more so, in the light of generally increasing knowledge. It is the difficult task of the Chief City Librarian (Mr J. Norrie) to select the most reliably informative modern books for his reference library, and to see that every kind of reader is catered for. The range is becoming wider yearly (states a Wellington journal). The names of some publishers are a sufficient guarantee-of the quality of many books, while others have to be scrutinised before being placed on the shelves. It may be that an observant and unbiased traveller has scurried through a country in a few weeks, and has yet produced a sincerely informative, though sketchy, book, whilo a book written by another after a residence of many years may be written from one angie only. When an author devotes the whole of a book to one particular subject, dealing with activities in which he has himself played an important part for the most of his life, the information is usually valuable, Such writers are as a rule more reticent than the commentator, but it is often possible to find on tho shelves works by those who do not agree with the conclusions of tho major work, and thus the reader is able to form his own conclusions. Modem Reading Trends. There are noticeable cycles in fiction. The heroic novel is now seldom written, the “Western” story is waning, but so far there is no definite falling olf in the popularity of the detective story, the literary quality of which has vastly improved. If any trend is apparent at present, it is away from fiction altogether, and towards broadening the outlook by systematic reading of matter which will keep the subscriber more abreast of the rapid progress of the world. More interest is being taken by the average leader in mechanics and science. Radio, besides opening up the world’s communications, has interested countless readers in electricity, and tnc tendency of the modern reader is to follow up his subject until fie has learnt all that the books on the shelves will tell him. One very definite influence of radio is the awakened interest in iko thought and actions of other nations, and the thougntful reader, realising the clost-ly related effect of territory trade, tariffs, and markets on the world’s wars, finds in the library a very wide field, rendered the more valuable by the freedom allowed in the publishing of facts, and tho comments on tnem.