WHY NOT A MUNICIPAL LIBRARY?

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 28 April 1937, Page 2

WHY NOT A MUNICIPAL LIBRARY?

[To The Editor] Sir.---As far as I can learn from published reports and balance sheets the facts about the so-called Public Library are these:--The committee spend roughly 11300 per annum in buying books, and £IOO in magazines. The latter, and the newspapers, are accessible to the public free of charge. The lending department is a sort of book club. The subscription is £1 per annum for a family taking three books at a time, and tlise may be changed as often as desired. There are said to be rather over 500 subscribers and I am informed that the number is diminishing.

At present the City Council contributes a grant of £3OO per annum, plus remission of rates £SO, towards the Library. 1 am not concerned to make any criticism of the management of the Library, but the fact is only too apparent that it should have a much wider reading public than it has. In a residential town the size of Nelson there should be at least another thousand families making use of it. There are somewhere about 3000 occupied houses and only about one in seven subscribers to the Library. It can hardly be argued that a public library which is patronised by so small a section of the population is fulfilling its function. Whether this is due to defects in the library itself or to other causes I do not know. It needs looking into, for. especially in these days of increased leisure, books are almost as much a public utility as parks and reserves, wafer for gardens, or other municipal services.

1 wish to put forward the suggestion that the whole thing should be taken over by the City Council and placed on a much wider basis, so that every citizen should have the right to be a borrowing member on payment of a small annual subscription. Now as to finance: At present the total revenue of the Library is about £IOOO per annum and this covers salaries, purchase of books, cleaning, repairs, and so forth. A library on an adequate scale would mean a small rate, but the advantages would be very great. It could be run for about £I6OO per annum, made up as follows.— Per Annum £ Salaries (librarian and two assistants) 600 Purchase of books and magazines 700 Light, heating, cleaning, repairs, etc 300 Total £I6OO To meet this: Threcfourths of a penny rate (additional to present contribution) producing, say, £550. £ Subscriptions (at rate of, say, lOd per month, 2/6 per quarter or 10/- per annum per family) if 1200 subscribe 600 Incidental revenue from sale of books and magazines, fines, extra books, etc., at present amounting to about 100 Present contribution by the Council 350 Total £I6OO The above figures are necessarily estimates, but they are not very far from the mark. Salaries are based on the assumption that we could get a trained librarian for £3OO per annum and two assistants at £l5O each.

A sum of £7OO per annum would buy all the books worth having which are published in England, both fiction and non-fiction. It would also allow ol purchase of a r ber of copies of individual books which were much in demand, and would admit of the gradual building up of good science and reference sections. a

The weak point in the estimate of revenue is the number of subscribers,, but I am sure that they would be forthcoming for a modern, up-to-date and well run library. It would mean that less than half the hoseholders of. the city would have to become members. After all, lOd per month is only the price of a packet of cigarettes or a seat at the pictures. I refuse to believe that less than half our householders would avail themselves of the privilege of becoming members. IVfy estimate of the cost of the scheme is a liberal one. Actually, probably a id rate would be ample. The popularity of a library depends mainly on three factors: —

(1) Its ability to purchase plenty of books of all kinds and to suit all tastes.

(2) Their being well arranged, and readily accessible at convenient hours (3) That the librarians should have a knowledge of books, and be helpful and courteous to the public.

The existence of a really good and up-to-date library in a residential town is an appreciable factor in many people’s decision 0 settle or settle in it It is one of the things that we in Nelson cannot afford to neglect. —1 am, etc., BOOK. LOVER. Nelson, 27th April