LIBRARY LIBERTIES.

NZ Truth, Issue 327, 30 September 1911, Page 4

LIBRARY LIBERTIES.

Points iov Parliamentarians.

The recent debate m the House of Representatives on the Parliamentary Library was interesting as showing the queer ideas some members have about library management. Tho discussion cropped up on a suggestion to restrict the concessions of what are called "Recessprivilege holders," who mostly belong to the "classes," the ordinaryworking man bein^f unable to visit the library owing to its being open, less than 40 hours per week, whereas the ordinary municipal libraries are open for 78 hours per week. The ch.vinuan of the .Joint .Library Committee (Mr W. Fra-ser, M.P.) stated that m ten years the number of persons on the stall' had mot been increased. Well, according to Parliamentary Paper R7 of 1900-1, the number of staff is given as eight, drawing salaries amounting to .Ll2Bl, while for 1010-11 the number is nine, drawing a total of £2248, showing n substantial increase m salaries, even- if tJiere bus been no increase m the amount spent for books. Mi- Fraser, m speaking on the necessity for appointing a new tissistant. said that "Someone- having library experience should bo appointed." 1-ater on, he said that "Someone .vhould lie appointed who could be trained" to take the place of those now do ins? tne advanced work, What advanced work ?■ Mi-

;G. M. Thomson, M.P., apparently I thought otherwise. "They were not asking for a mere library assistant," he said, "but for a qualified [man, who would m time be able to jdo the higher and better class of ! literary work." This is rather rough on those of the present stafT who are scheduled as "Assistants." What is Mr Thomson's idea of a library assistant if he is not competent to do the work for which he is paid ? Is he supposed to be able to dust books ? As a. matter of fact, "someone" has been appointed at a salary of £1.5(1 per annum, said "someone" having actually been m tliu position for somq months pngaged iipon the work of "transferring books, dusting, uti\," according to the 'Rpport of, the Great Panjandrum of thfi C'eneral Assembly Library laid o n the table of ithe House ;i few days ago. despite the fa.ct th ;i t the "appointment" has only just been authorised by Parliament, such is the way things are em'.iiverud m political .circles. The stall' at present consists of Mr Charles Wilson, chief librarian, at £525 : an assistant librarian, at £360 ; a lii-st and :1 . second assistant m the Library, at £260 each ; a third assistant at £180 ; the recent- ' ly-appointed additional assistant, at £156 ; a binder, at £198 ; an attendant, at- £190 ; a messenger, at £18;"3 : and (during Session) a mailman, at £Bii ; the total salaries paid amounting- to £2399. Yet, Mr Fraser, M.P., stated that m ten years the number of pers.ons on the staid h a d not been increased Some members will saying- anything. Now. let us investigate the details. Is is not a fact that a £260 man is kept entering works to the "privilege holders" which could be done by an intelligent youth, and the £260 man be put on some of the "advanced" work ? And could not some of the "advanced" work be given to the assistant librarian at £360, instead of" his being kept at the mere mechanical work of cataloguing-, which could be done by a cataloguing clerk at £3 56 ? Again, is there any need for the chief librarian to be his own typist, drawing a salary of £525, when the commercial value of a typist is £104 ? There is no doubt that the present assistants are quite capable m their various departments. The Report does not show that the Library staff requires extra assistance, except perhaps during session, but it does .show that there is a want of re-organisation. Another point is the strange id?a that some members have that the Library, which costs anything up to £'.u>oo per annum to maintain, exists for their sole benefit, and yet these members call themselves democrats ! It would be of interest if the librarian could furnish some figures relating to the class of books issuod to members themselves. According- to Mr W. T. .7 innings, M.P., the institution "was a parliamentary library pure and simple, for the use of members and for students .at the scholastic institutions." « • « By law, every publisher of a book m New Zealand is required to send copies to the Parliamentary Li- ' ,brary. For this there is absolutely no ciuid pro quo. It has been copied from the English and American law. but m the countries where those laws obtain the provision forms part of the copyright system, and the book is thereby given protection. It would be much better for the Parliamentary Library if it bought and paid for what it wanted, instead of having to find room fpr all the rubbish t'Mat is printed and published m New Zealand. This must be a serious matter m the Library, as we know how rapidly files accumulate m a newspaper office. We agree with Mr H. G. Ell, M.P., and, for /once, with Mr Evangelistt Fowlds, M.P., that the Parliamentary Library should be a National Reference Library, open to any respectable citizen to use the books m the room provided. The Library should also be open for longer hours. As for the visitors who come to look through the Library as one | of the sig-lvts, any intelligent janitor would bo of sufficient intellectual calibre for the ordinary Library visitor. In cases of special visitors, of course, it is the chief librarian's duty and privilege.to do the honors. It sounds strange to hear expressions of class feeling emanating from our legislative "superiors/ Mr J. P. Luke, M.P., considered that "men with gold braid were hardly the propei- officials to attend to visitors to the Library." Does "-old braid, m Mr Luke's opinion, take > away a man's respectability or intelligence ? What would Major-Gene-ral God »ey say t o that ?Mr J. A. Hamm, M.P., who claims to have visited the various libraries associated with the State Parliaments of Australia, said that the New Zealar.d Assembly Library, as far as equipment, management, and salaries were concerned, was conducted on extravagant lines. He believed m plain speaking, and he challenged cny honorable member who had gons through the different libraries m the different States to prove that his statement was incorrect. It certainly does seem to us that the Parliamentary Library is a heavier tax upon the community than its use to the average citizen actually justifies. Members of Parliament already have numerous privileges, and it is unreasonable that those privileges should be augmented at the expense of au already overburdened tax-pay-er, who gets nothing whatever m return.