The Public Library

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 180, 2 August 1938, Page 8

The Public Library

(To the Editor.) Sir, —I was a subscriber to the public library for two years. I still maintain that the great majority of the books on the shelves are scarcely ever in circulation and should be destroyed. The library certainly is up-to-date in that it purchases the latest publications, but tho covers displayed in the | vestibule, were about all I ever saw of them. I maintain that whenever a | book is returned and checked it should immediately be placed on tho shelves |of the library without reservation.—l am, etc., CITIZEN. Palmerston North, Aug. 1. (To the Editor.) Sir, —Tho recent correspondence about the public library brings before me the courtesy and management of the staff, both of which speak volume.* for the ability of our city librarian; also the work and initiative displayed by the librarian herself in tho arrangement and order of the books. Comment has sometimes been made on the apparent age of some of the books, but there are many old books on our city library shelves that are valuable, indispensible and unprocurable elsewhere. The suggested purging should be moderate lest valuable though old works are cast out. Now a word of enquiry. Do the rentals received from the shops in the library building go into the credit of the library account? They should. The effort of climbing stairs to the library and the inability to "window-dress’’ the books should be taken as an offset against the rents received for the shops. One is confident that, given proper finance, our city librarian is capable of making the library a cultural centre, comparable with any in New Zealand.—l am, etc., RATEPAYER.