RECREATIVE LEARNING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18211, 3 October 1922, Page 9

RECREATIVE LEARNING.

PUBLIC LIBRARY SERVICE.

HALF A MILLION VISITORS.

LARGER BUILDING NEEDED.

No movement in a generation of Auckland progress has shown a more remarkable advance than the Public Library. Since the opening of the main institution 35 years ago, its service has increased twenty-fold.

The popularity of the library to-day is in one sense almost embarrassing There is admittedly a desperate need of building extension. If the first impression of the majority of the 600,000 visitors who annually take, some advantage of the various departments and growing branches were sought, the response would probably be equal to a unanimous verdict that an excellent institution with a highly-organised system is handicapped by lack of even reasonable accommodation.

The most convincing test of that feature of progress is the difficulty of research. There is scarcely elbow room for the collation and comparison of references. Even the work of administration is done, and manifestly well done, in a space not much more extensive than' that afforded a tramway motor man

Keen Interest in Newspapers. Tho newspaper room at the central library, for example, is very often exasperatingly inadequate. In more conservative countries the display and filing of newspapers is not always considered to come within the functions of a public library at all. Conditions are very different in the Dominions, where the study of national newspapers is an outstanding feature of library service. The press department of the central library in Auckland daily attracts an average of 1000 readers. While the interest is naturally centred mostly in the city's journals, the press of the Dominion, as well as several of the leading newspapers of other countries, obtain a noteworthy measure of attention. The aggregate of newspaper readers annually is now approximately'3oo,ooo. A 'study of the crowded assembly in this department shows at once that the newspaper is still the strongest link with Home in the widest geographical sense. If a stranger desires to run across a neighbour from his own town they will surely meet, in the end, at the file of their Home journal. This is especially true of the roving clansmen whose love of "hame" is "ay strongest abroad." When the mail brings news from the heather it is not easy to get near the Scottish files. There is no complaint: the Aucklander understands. So the newspaper is as fine a thing for the prosperous exile as it is for the citizen who wants to keep in intimate touch with the general progress of his country. The Demand for Literature. It may be said with something of the pride thai has none of the vain spirit of boasting that Auckland's record for library service is remarkable in many ways. Not only is the attendance increasing by over 93,000 a year, but the demand for literature increases notably too. This increasing demand is in tho right direction. Fe"'." people in the Dominion, as indeed very few even in this city, would spontaneously give Auckland the laurel leaves for solid study of the bast literature. The common opinion is that- here, if snrely anywhere, must be New Zealand's centre of frivolous reading. Such an opinion in wide of tho mark.

The most recent records of the Dominion's principal public libraries discloso the fact that Auckland leads in respect to non-fictional reading. The per centage of non-fictional books, read in the Auckland Library, mostly representing the best of literature, is 31 per cent. No other centre in the Dominion equals that relatively high per centage. Thus, cities with more pretence at serious study really devour more literary trash than do the i 68,000 patrons of the Auckland Library. Well-Stocked Auckland Shelves. It need not be pretended, of course, that fiction has not a vogue in this city. In one branch of tho library 83 per cent, of the volumes borrowed is made up of " relaxation literature," that light reading which is said to be so much favoured by our brilliant politicians. The stock of the Public Library, including the Leys Institute and branch libraries, in estimated to be 108,000 volumes in round numbers, as compared with 6000 volumes at tho opening of the institution. The annual additions will soon be numerically equal to the orginal stock. The lending departments now issue over 1100 books daily. Tho total for the current year was 411,097. an increase of 55,149. These figures include the issues through the 15 school libraries. It may be mentioned with some regret that the children's section of tho Public Library, while creeping forward a little, does not yet command an admirable attention. Possibly parents and teachers have not yet realised the full scope for its useful service.

Reference Books and Useful 'Arts. One of the most arresting features of the Public Library's fine service is the value placed by citizens upon the facilities provided for instruction and study. The service of the reference departments is as excellent as it Li significant of the keenness behind the general progress of Auckland. Tha surface of thinga does not always denote their core.

To illustrate the pleasing feature of instructional study in Auckland it is only necessary to point out that the reference departments of both the Central Library and the Leys Institute record a marked increase in the consultation of purely instructional books- The latest increase was no less than 25,000, bringing the total number of reference books consulted up to over 120,000. Public interest in the innumerable books dealing with the useful arts and crafts is exceptionally noteworthy in Auckland. Thousands .of citizens with the best of their lives still before them as far as serious work is concerned are clearly seeking to improve their knowledge and capacity for the keener battle of industrial and commercial life. And the business man is not less keen than the artisan in the matter of acquiring greater efficiency. Two years ago exactly the commercial section was inaugurated as an experiment in library service. It has already passed far beyond the experimental stage. The demand now covers the use annually of over 10,000 books.

Ally of Community Enterprise. So, from youth to middle-age and. « little bit beyond, the Public Library is a ready and well-equipped airy of community enterprise, while it is no less generous to care-free children and the old folk, whose fireside needs of nights- include a book that tells % plain story simply, and follows the long straight road to the peace that rewards faith and honour.

It would be unpardonable remissness to overlook the fine service of the Auckland Public Library in the matter of supplying books in Braille type to blind readers. This is the kind of service that will always have the support of Auckland cit.zens, and anything that is needed for its development will T>e forthcoming with a will.

Much could be said of the rare books in the library, the preferences of readers, the love of romance and high adventure as befits a people still with memories of the pioneers, and the hundred and one nichts' entertainment that may be drawn from a great collection of books, but these may not be discussed discursively. The Auckland Public Library has leaped far beyond the farthest horizon of its originators, and is now scarcely equal to the needs of a city that goes forward to assured strength. Every department is overcrowded. The library has reached the limit of its accommodation. Ite future ia with enterprising administrators.