PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20644, 16 February 1929, Page 4

PUBLIC LIBRARIES.

(Contributed.) “ I like the public library With its cloistered hushed repose, I like to browse among the books In vari-coloured rows. To mingle with those loyal friends And have them speak to me In captivating English prose Or whispered melody.” At a public meeting held at Croydon, England, to discuss the question of the value of its public library the librarian said “ that the wise type of librarian did not mind criticism, but was delighted to know that the library had become a. subject of discussion,” He also said there was nothing so bad as indifference. He noted that the Croydon Library had issued 1,500,000 books in the present year.

In his book, “How to Plan a Library Building for Library Work,” Charles Soule says: “ I not only believe, but know, that I per cent, of the cost of the building, put into employing a really competent expert libraria'n to colla-, borate with the architect will save from 10 to 40 per cent, on the cost, in space, convenience, and material.” Our own Carnegie librarian has done noble work, particularly when one considers that he came to the library at its opening, when the world’s ideas of library building construction were crude in the extreme. He has struggled along with very little public appreciation and done magnificent work on a finance that would not do credit to the financing of one of our better class picture shows Why not send our librarian on a tour of investigation to, say, the Honolulu, the San Francisco, and the Los Angeles Public Libraries, all of which represent the best known methods in the world of modem libraries?

The cost -would be a trifle, and the result of his acquired knowledge would be to place Dunedin in the forefront of New Zealand libraries and place it in keeping with our University and our Medical School. The City Council has already reaped a rich harvest from the results obtained from the investigations made in England and America by two of the chiefs of the Electricity Department.

The tragedy of most public libraries is ni the self-satisfied air that citizens have in that their library is the best of all libraries and thb,t they resent any interference or suggestions of possible improvements.

Last year, at a meeting of the W.E.A.. the Rev. W. G. Monckton, of Auckland, who is considered one of the few authori- “£ 3 . ln 'Zealand on international affairs, said: “There is real danger that, Ining at such a distance from the mam centres of the world’s activities we may get narrow and prejudiced iu our views. Reading can never quite take the place of personal discussion and the play of mind on mind.” The well-known author, John Drinkwater, cmL S r d: Takm S all things into consideiation, the most important thins in a modern city is its public health, and nl CC ?£ T ly t ar -reaching influence library" 6S -° f Cltlzens is its Public The tendency of thought in Great Britain is that towards a form of amWhfT b ®-' Veen the Public library f. ad the education system, somewhat on lines exerted by the W.E.A. or the v Th % neareßt Woach S flat Zea,and is the relation that exists between Canterbury College and the Christchurch, Library S ibr * rieS . Misted 5800 ago. Sargon, the Semitic ruler, founded the ibrary at Akkad iu Babylon, and even the name of the librarian has come down innm ® u ™ p l a . n museums there are . b °? ks ’ wh ich were at one time housed in the great Nineveh Library that belonged to Senachrib 2600 years ago. “ rmf e ldc I st book ever written, B °° k * tbe Dead >” was written 2000 years before the cradle of Moses rested among the Nile bulrushes, . This book was placed. in the tomb of the Egyptian as a safe conduct for the soul on its journey to the other world. The undertakers used to make a business of selling copies to friends of the family. The Egyptian undertakers were thus the first booksellers. The oldest book, taken as an example of the literary art, 'is “ The Instructions of Ptah-Hotep,” written 2500 years before the book of Genesis was written. The oldest book of fiction, “The Tale of Two Brothers,” was written 3000 years ago. It is the story of two brothers and the elder brother’s erring wife.’

In ancient Rome there were 28 public libraries. The . Moors had 70 libraries. The , first Alexandrian Library contained 40,000 volumes, and was burned by the Roman soldiers 47 years before Cnrist came. It was built up again to 700,000 volumes when the Saracens destroyed it. I have many times visited the Vatican Library at Rome—-perhaps the most interesting library in the world. It possesses no catalogue, in 1 the modern sense of the term, but the Carnegie Foundation has now placed almost unlimited funds at the disposal of the Holy See for a modern complete catalogue. The catato be constructed on modern American lines. Monsignor Tesserant has been recently in the United States to study library methods on the card index system.

The present Pope is an ex-librarian. He was formerly librarian of the famous Ambrosian Library at Milan, and later served as prefect of the Vatican Libiarv itself.' "*

The American card index system differs from most of the English and New Zealand card index systems. In the American system the interests of the public come first As you enter an American library the first thing that strikes your attention is a large bureau containing many index drawers. You may want to know what books a certain author wrote —say, Lothrop Stoddard. You open up a drawer marked “ S,” pull the drawer out, and select the card marked “ Stoddard,” and on this card is a register of the names of the books Stoddard has written and the shelf number of each book. In many of the American libraries classes are taken regularly from the public schools, of a morning, and instructed in the use of the index bureau.