FREE LIBRARIES ADVOCATED

Southland Times, Issue 24057, 22 February 1940, Page 9

FREE LIBRARIES ADVOCATED

BETTER RESULTS FORESEEN PURPOSE OF PUBLIC INSTITUTION WELLINGTON, February 21. “It is now generally accepted that the purpose of a public library is to provide for the informational and recreational requirements of the community, with the emphasis on the former. In New Zealand, on the informational side, we fall short of the standards set up by British and- American libraries,” said Mr John Barr in his presidential address to the New Zealand Library Association today. “In our case the emphasis has been placed on the recreational at the expense if the informational. As one who believes that the informational side of our work is vastly more important than the recreational, I deplore having to make such an admission. The reason for New Zealand public libraries standing on the wrong foot is due to the subscription system which is still the rule rather than the exception. Unless they become free libraries they will continue to work under severe disadvantages.” It had always puzzled him why local authorities hesitated to make the change. From the economical angle the free system had everything in its favour. It meant that the money invested in free libraries would return big dividends in a more intelligent community. The only sound argument he had ever heard advanced for the continuation of

the subscription system was that it was perfectly reasonable to levy a charge for supplying light, ephemeral reading which was so often the major portion of New Zealand public libraries. If that was the only service that public libraries could perform, he would agree. He contended, however, that public libraries should not be supplying light, ephemeral literature, but should provide an all-round service of books designed to meet the cultural, vocational and recreational needs of the people, particularly from the angle of continuing education after the normal school and college periods had passed. If light, ephemeral reading were wanted, charge for it by all means, as other forms of entertainment were charged for, but do not make a charge on learning. That should be provided free, as other educational facilities were freely provided. Better still, allow the book-shop libraries 7 to supply this service of light reading material, and give the public libraries the opportunity of providing good informative reading, which was their proper function. FREE LIBRARY MOVEMENT “It may be worth while reminding you that the public library movement, which began in England nearly a hundred years ago, and on which New Zealand’s public libraries were founded, was a free library movement,” said Mr Barr. “In England and other parts of the United Kingdom, the libraries have always been free in all departments. In New Zealand, it is only the reference and reading room facilities which have been made free. The reason which the promoters of the public library movement had in mind was to provide enlightenment for the community, and to this ideal England has remained faithful. In New Zealand, on the other hand, the local authorities have been content to provide free reference facilities only.”

In trying to discover the reasons for this divergent policy, he had come to the conclusion that when the idea of lending out books was first considered in New Zealand, the people who were interested thought only in terms of reading as entertainment, and the authorities decided that entertainment should be paid for as all other kinds of entertainment were paid for. It was an unfortunate decision which posterity had paid for dearly, for with the increase in the importance of public lending libraries all over the world, New Zealand had lagged further and further behind. Fifty years ago, when Nev/ Zealand towns and cities were much smaller than they were today, this mattered little. But at the present time it mattered a great deal. If the subscription system were abolished, thus freeing library authorities from the tyranny of subscribers who demanded light reading in such large quantities, results comparable with those obtained in other countries which had adopted a free library system in toto could be achieved. Proof of that could be seen even in a few places in New Zealand which had had the foresight to adopt the free system.