PUBLIC LIBRARY.

New Zealand Times, Volume LVI, Issue 2210, 19 May 1894, Page 2

PUBLIC LIBRARY.

TO- THE EDITOR.

Sts, As numerous anonymous coms plaints have been made about tho working of tho Public Library By-law, and tho management of the Library, I have thought that a little definite information on some points might be acceptable to your readers, il) It is .alleged os iv . grievance , that ihcptofc^-ef-books,, ifi ,f he . Leading Libwij?; ji a inadequate;.- Put, in .another form this nf, merely a complaint that the Library is . yet in its infancy, a reproach that every rnontly will render lets- . Apart from this view of the question, I must. protest against thp 'contempt .displayed, for the books, which formerly belonged to tho Athenaimii. There, are many, excellent works among thorn, and had they not been purchased secondhand, the majority of them would have required to be purchased as now hooks for the Lending Library. ... . . (2) It is alleged that tho fines for detaining books over the time allowed are excessive. Tho fine is one penny a day for tho first week, and twopence a day afterwards. This does not seem excessive when it is remembered that no borrower need incur a fine at all. “ Victim No. 30 ” the other day referred to a lino demanded from him as excessive, but as either ho made a mistake or his imagination had increased it from Bd, its exact amount, to Is Od, his use of tho epithet may bo pardoned. (3) “ Anti-Bias ” in to-day’s issue of your paper supports “ Victim No. 30’s” contention that he had no opportunity of becoming acquainted with and digesting tho clauses of tho by-law. This assertion is , not supported by the facte, _ Copies of tho by-law can bo seen at tho Library by anybody, and could havo been referred to by “Victim No. 30” before he had incurred any penalty at • all. ; This was pointed out to him when he refused to pay his fine, and ho then said that ho was not going to take the trouble. to toad the by-laws at the counter, or Words to that effect. (4) It is asserted that tho cost of the catalogue, viz., 2s, is excessive. Now, the actual cost of printing tho catalogue was 2s 7d per copy, so that copies are sold at nearly 23 por cent, under tho mere cost of printing. ; But compare the price with that of other catalogues in New Zealand. The Auckland Library is often held up as a model for imitation. Tho last main catalogue of tho lending department of that Library was, I hellove, issued in 1889, It contains details of almost exactly half, as many books as tho Wellington catalogue, and is not ono-tliird as full, Tho amount of matter it contains is therefore less than one-sixth that of. the Wellington catalogue; and it is simply sowed instead of being bound in boards. Its price is Is. At the same rate the price of tho- Wellington catalogue would bo, not less than 6s 6d. As, however, the subscription to , the Auckland Library is 6s por annum, a subscriber to that Library for one year, who purchases a catalogue, pays just as much as a subscriber to the Wellington Library who buys a catalogue; for a longer period the advantage lies with Wellington, As almost one-third of the subscribers .to tha Wellington Library have purchased, catalogues it is clear that most people do not feid the cost excessive. It is perfectly certain that double the number would not have beeh sold had tha price been reduced to Is. , , 1 (8) It is assorted that the' time allowed . for reading a book is tod short, Tho time has now been increased to eight clear days, I have taken the trouble to find how long a hook is kept on the average. The number of subscribers; at the .end of last month was 229, tho number last night was 292: a rough average obtained by splitting the difference between these two I numbers gives 260 - 5, bht the strict aver- ! age is 264-7 for tho last 17‘days. Tho number of books- issued ,in this timo .was 800, ■ or, excluding “renewals,” 742, Taking the ! number 742 different books, it is easily , seen that the average time required for read- : ing a book, is 6-065 days. The time allowed by the by-law is 81-9 per cent, greater.' If this is not sufficient, a borrower has only : to take the trouble to pay one visit to tho ■■ Library ,to secure, tho book for another eight days. ’ The only exception to this ■ rule is afforded by the case of new books. No book is “renewed” till it lias been in circulation six mouths. , (6) With reference to tho by-law generi ally, I may state that it ; is based on the by-laws of some of tbo most important libraries in England ; in fact many of the clauses most objected to havo boon copied Verbatim from the Manchester Library Bylaw. —I am, &0.. Thomas W. Rowe,. Chief Librarian. May 18th.