GORE LIBRARY

Southland Times, Issue 22487, 23 January 1935, Page 4

GORE LIBRARY

NUMEROUS SUGGESTIONS REPORT TO COMMITTEE. At the meeting of the Gore Borough Council on Monday night the Mayor (Mr A. T. Newman) read a report which the recently appointed librarian (Miss D. Slater) had presented to the Library Committee recommending numerous reforms in the system. The report , read as follows:— An urgent need of the library is to increase the number of subscribers, and to do this it is necessary to make the lending department more attractive to the average reader. Much of the present stock is out-of-date or in a bad state of repair. I would suggest that the books be gone through systematically, and as many as are desirable rebound or replaced with, cheap editions where .necessary; also, that more money be spent on new books. At present. the magazines', and illustrated papers rapidly become .very, tattered; this could be prevented at a small cost by having the.co vers stiffened or supplying each magazine with a hard cover. .The system of cataloguing and card indexing requires, complete revision, but as this is a lengthy process and does not involve any expenditure except the librarian’s time, I do not propose to trouble the committee With details. . The system ,of issuing books at present in use is both cumbersome and. out-of-date, and I strongly recommend the introduction of the card issue system at the earliest possible date. This would involve a total expenditure of approximately £l5, but as it would take some months to. prepare for the change-over, this expense could be spread over that time. If the present system is continued, new checking books and ledgers will be required very soon, so that the new system would not really.be costly* . Juvenile Library; This department is at present" in a very bad state, and requires a complete overhaul and stocktaking. I would suggest that the present reference room be fitted as a juvenile library at very small expense. The newspaper file case could be removed to the reading room, and the files of Government publications stored on the office shelves. Extra shelving along one wall would be required, linoleum for the floor, and possibly another table. Many of the books at present in stock are worth rebinding, but some outlay on new books would be necessary. Reading Room: The fittings of this room are vety shabby and out-of-date. I would like to have new fittings on the newspaper boards;, also to have the boards- enlarged so that they would hold larger dailies properly, and the board along the top wall extended to the door. Files for holding the papers for a month can be obtained at a cost of 5/6 each, and would add to the usefulness and tidiness of the room. I have written to the managers of several leading daily papers who send free copies of their papers to the Dunedin Library, and hope shortly to have a more comprehensive collection of newspapers. Reference Section: This section requires re-cataloguing, and would be more accessible to the public if placed on the shelves at present occupied by the juvenile books. I hope, to be able to proceed with this work in the near future.

New Zealand Books: I believe there are many books in this section which should not be used for general circulation. I propose to take stock of these books at an early date and place the more valuable ones in a special case.

General: The cords and pulleys on the fanlights require repairing, and the fanlights in the lending library should be fitted with fastenings so that they could be opened when required. The linoleum in both rooms would be greatly improved by a coat of linovarnish. Cleaning; The present methods of cleaning are not altogether satisfactory, but before I instruct the charwoman in a new routine for cleaning I would like to have the whole place thoroughly spring-cleaned. This would give the charwoman a better chance to keep the building in proper order. Councillor R. S. Green said he thought Miss Slater should be congratulated on her report. She had evidently tackled her work in the proper manner and he had no doubt that if she was allowed to carry out her suggestions the library would benefit greatly. She had come from an efficiently organized library and was evidently keen and capable to put the Gore library on a sound basis. Councillor A. H. W. Aitken said that “a new broom swept -lean.’’ He hoped that the committee would let Miss Slater have a free hfind and not clip her wings. The Mayor said that it depended whether the council did anything to clip the wings of the committee. Certain of the proposed reforms were already receiving attention, while others had been held over in the meantime. Councillor D, L. Poppelwell said that the report presented by the committee showed that the sum of money , spent on books bore a very small relation, to salaries and other administrative charges. The Mayor said that one of the difficulties had been that the committee had had very little money to spend on new books and people could borrow these from private lending libraries in the town at threepence each. He urged, however, that the library subscription was very cheap, subscribers receiving a minimum of two books with magazines for 12/6 per year.