MUNICIPAL LIBRARY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22352, 25 February 1936, Page 14

MUNICIPAL LIBRARY

AUCKLAND INNOVATION TOWN HALL POSITION FOURTEEN APPLICATIONS Fourteen persons with university decrees, Masters of Art, Bachelors of Art, Masters of Science and Bachelors of Science, have applied for the position of librarian of the municipal reference library to be established at the Town Hall. The commencing salary is £l6O a year. The conditions of appointment make it necessary for the successful applicant to bo the holder of a univeisity degree and to be under 30 years of age. Nine of the applicants are women and the ages range from 20 to 28. lhe City Council on Thursday flight referred the applications to the library committee, with power to act. The duties attached to the position consist of the selection and ordering of material forming the library, the accessioning and processes relating to them, the classification and cataloguing of the books and the indexing and filing of reference material, such as pamphlets and newspaper clippings, which are to bo made available to the Mayor, members of the council and the heads of departments. Further duties are the preparation of reports reouired by the Mayor, councillors or officers of the council and the editing of annual departmental reports. To fit him for the work the librarian shall within two years of his appointment prepare hiniself and sit for at his own cost the intermediate* examination of the Library Association (London). . . The subject of a library of municipal literature is dealt with in an article appearing in Focus, a publication dealing with municipal affairs. The article states that the librarian would be under the supervision of Mr. John Barr, chief librarian, and provision was being_made in the council's estimates for £l5O for books. In a report to the council on the proposal Mr. Barr said that in the United States there was a large number of excellent libraries devoted exclusively- to municipal affairs. "With respect to the application of the proposal to Auckland the present small collection of books will form the nucleus of the library," the article states. To this would bo added books, periodicals and reports on topics of municipal interest, principally those published in New Zealand, Australia, Gi*eat Britain and the United States. Mr. Barr, it is stated, considered that it would bo advisable and necessary to gather together and arrange in classified order all the papers relating to Auckland's civic government and history, thus forming a municipal archives section. The books will primarily be tor the use of the Mayor and members of the council and for the chief officers of the corporation, and the library will be open daily during the usual Town Hall hours and when the council or committees are in session.