GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIBRARY (REPORT OF THE CHIEF LIBRARIAN FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1946)

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1946 Session I, H-32

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1946 NEW ZEALAND

GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIBRARY (REPORT OF THE CHIEF LIBRARIAN FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31st MARCH, 1946)

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by Leave To the Chairman, Joint Library Committee. Sir, — I have the honour to report on the operations of the General Assembly Library for the year 1945-46. The Book Stock The number of books accessioned during the financial year was 3,301, compared with 3,152 in the previous year and an average of 3,256 for the past fifteen years. The Library has now accessioned altogether 174,714 volumes. The stock is short of that, however, by routine withdrawals of obsolete and worn-out books and gifts made to the fighting Forces in the two world wars. The accessions for the year were classed as follows : bibliography, 106 volumes ; newspapers, 73 ; philosophy, 49 ; religion, 51 ; sociology, 714 ; parliamentary, 162 ; philology, 24 ; natural science, 81 ; useful arts, 288 ; fine arts, 184 ; literature, 392 ; travel and history, 589 ; biography, 249 ; fiction, 306 ; New Zealand, 36. Transport conditions since the war ended have affected considerably the arrival of books from oversea. Shipping from England is now more frequent and British publishers are again able, with the partial relaxation of paper restrictions, to respond to the demands of the market and afford English authors an outlet for their work. Though British book production has not regained its position as to either quantity or quality, it is at any rate satisfactory to find British books coming more freely on the market. We have had no losses in transit, and deliveries, from England especially, are much more regular and prompt than for some years past. Our balance in hand is already being reduced accordingly. The Year's Work It was fortunate, in view of the numerical weakness of the staff, that no tasks of rearrangement of stock were called for. The whole energy of the staff was required for routine work and the demands of members, which were particularly pressing during last session. The opening of the Library School also placed an unusual demand on the staff, both in the production of books for use in the school and in attendance on students using the Library for study. This work w-as, of course, cheerfully undertaken. Staff We now at length know where we are as regards staff. All who went oversea on war service have been released, and others whose duty kept them in New Zealand have made their decisions and so enabled us to take steps to reconstitute a permanent staff. Of the eight who volunteered when the war commenced, three only came back to the staff.

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Mr. J. 0. Wilson, D.S.C., since being released from the Royal Navy, lias been doing ■useful work in England, where he has visited the British Museum and other important libraries and has had helpful conferences with the officials of the Public Record Office and H.M. Stationery Office. He then crossed to the United States, where he spent some time in the Library of Congress and the United States Archives. Mr. I. K. MacGregor, who has been released from the Fleet Air Arm, is also in England on a similar tour. He proposes then to take the regular course at the Library School at Columbia University, New York. The experience these two officers are thus gaining is likely to be of considerable value to the Library. Mr. Wilson will rejoin the staff in August and Mr. MacGregor in the middle of 1947. By that time it is hoped that the staff will be restored at least to its pre-war strength. Appointments made recently include W. C. M. Jess, M.A., E. E. Carter, and 0. J. Dumbell. I would like once more to acknowledge the very fine service done by every member of the depleted staff during the war years. Private Manuscripts We have received some interesting additions to this collection, both in original manuscripts and typewritten copies. Notable amongst the former is a quantity of letters of Sir William Fitzherbert (1810-91) up to the time of his departure from England for New Zealand in 1841. These are particularly valuable for the light they throw upon social conditions in England between 1820 and 1840, upon college life at Cambridge, and medical studies in England and France. Sir William was afterwards Superintendent of Wellington Province (1871-76) and Speaker of the House of Representatives (1876-79) and of the Legislative Council (1879-87, 1887-91). The letters are presented by his grandson, Mr. W. L. Fitzherbert (Palmerston North). Donations Gifts were received from the Board for the Netherlands Indies (New York), the British Electrical and Allied Industries Research Association (London), British Museum (London), G. P. Brown (Auckland), Canadian Parliamentary Library (Ottawa), Canadian Trade Commissioner (Wellington), Chief Postmaster (Wellington), Chinese Ministry of Information (Australia), Consul-General of Belgium (Wellington), Consul-General of Switzerland (Wellington), Croatian Cultural Benevolent Society (Auckland), E. Rumbold Dibdin (Chester, England), Mrs. Freitas (Tauranga), French Legation (Wellington), High Commissioner for Canada (Wellington), High Commissioner for the United Kingdom (Wellington), C. H. Isaacson (Wellington), W. J. Jordan (London), King George Jubilee Trust (London), L. R. Poutawera (Wellington), Miss Helen Rigg (Christchurch), E. H. Schnackenberg (Kawhia), P. Shaw (Wellington), W. Tailby (Rarotonga), United States Information Library (Wellington),V. B. Willis (Wanganui), Mrs. W. A. Wilton (Mangonui), R. T. Wright (Wellington), and the Zionist Council of New Zealand (Wellington). Interloan Our operations on interloan —i.e., lending to other libraries—were on the same scale as in the preceding year. We lent 805 books (as compared with 863 in the preceding year and 618, 499, and 491 in earlier years). The number of borrowing libraries was also about the same (32, as compared with 33). The principal of these, the Country Library Service, received 545 volumes from our stock (as compared with 537) ; Wellington Public Library received 65 (compared with 52); Palmerston North Public Library, 22 ; Dunedin Public Library and Alexander Turnbull Library, each 18 ; and Victoria College, 14. Four others received more than 10, and six more than 5.

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The books lent from our stock were classified as follows : history and biography, 235 ■(245) ; literature, 166 (192) ; sociology, 137 (131) ; useful arts, 66 (67); fine arts, 56 (49); natural science, 41 (52) ; philosophy, 29 (29) ; philology, 27 (13); religion, 21 (43); New Zealand, 12 ; bibliography, 9 (37); fiction, 5 (5); parliamentary, 1. Requests which could not be fulfilled at the moment numbered 8. Our borrowings, from five libraries, totalled 16 volumes. During the year, 204 volumes were loaned to the Library School. Recess Privilege The number of recess privilege holders continues to increase towards its pre-war level. This year 871 privileges were issued, compared with 789 in the preceding year -and a low record of 289 four years ago. lam glad to report that there have been practically no losses of books by privilege holders. The recorded occupations of the recess readers are as follows : accountants, 7 ; ■ airmen, 10; architects, 3 ; artists, 4; auditors, 7; authors, 1 ; bank officers, 11; barmen, 1 ; barristers and solicitors, 29 ; bookbinders, 1 ; broadcasting officers, 11; -carpenters, 1 ; chemists, 5 ; civil engineers, 1 ; Civil servants, 137 ; clergymen, 12 ; -clerks, 88 ; commercial travellers, 2 ; company managers and secretaries, 9 ; custodians, 3 ; dentists, 1 ; domestic duties, 119 ; draughtsmen, 3 ; electricians, 9 ; engineers, 9 ; farmers, 1 ; film producers, 1 ; hairdressers, 2 ; hotelkeepers, 3 ; insurance officers, 6 ; journalists, 12 ; laboratory workers, 2 ; law clerks, 7 ; lecturers, 1 ; library assistants, 10 ; manufacturers, 1 ; mechanicians, 7 ; medical practitioners, 7 ; merchants, 6 ; messengers, 10 ; musicians, 2 ; naval officers, 1 ; no occupation, 59 ; nurses, 6 ; police officers, 4 ; postal officials, 5 ; printers and compositors, 19 ; railway officers, 4 ; readers, 1 ; reporters, 1 ; restaurateurs, 1 ; retired, 46 ; secretaries, 3 ; school-teachers, 40 ; soldiers, 11 ; .students, 75 ; town-planners, 1 ; trade-union .secretaries, 4 ; typists, 25 ; waiters, 1 ; waterside workers, 1 ; wireless operators, 1. Books posted to members during the recess numbered 63 baskets and 180 parcels. Binding Congestion of work in the Government Printing Office owing to war demands has in recent years greatly accentuated our difficulties in regard to binding, which fell very .seriously into arrears. Following the return of Mr. R. McEwan from war service there was an increase of staff in the binding branch, which has since done excellent service. The normal work of the bindery includes the blocking and stamping of all new books -and the binding of some of the copyright publications. Additional work which the staff has carried out during the past year was the complete rebinding and lettering of 415 foolscap volumes of Appendices, Journals, Order Papers, and Gazettes and of 176 volumes from the general collection ; the binding of 134 volumes of official papers, law reports, ■evidence of special committees and manuscript letters ;' and the. repairing of 398 volumes of general literature and fiction. The total for one year is 1,133 volumes completed and 271 in hand, in addition to the normal work of treating all new books as they arrived. International Exchange During the year, as agent of the International Exchange, we received from abroad 24 cases (of which 13 were for our own Library) and 1,956 packages, compared with 28 •cases and 2,285 packages in the preceding year. Archives As Controller of Dominion Archives I have during the year attended a number of conferences of departmental heads and record officers for the purpose of discussing the preservation of war records. It seemed to the Chief War Archivist and myself that it was impracticable to separate war records from the main body of departmental papers, :since every Department was more or less involved in the war. We then, as a first measure

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investigated the schedules of destruction which were approved by me on my first appointment in 1926. Under these a vast quantity of valueless or ephemeral records created in Government Departments is destroyed by record officers as a routine operation when their immediate use has expired. This provides on the one hand against congestion of record offices with valueless papers," and on the other against inadvertent destruction of documents which may have administrative or historical value. These investigations entailed personal visits to all Departments in Wellington and the examination of the various categories of records proposed to be included in the schedules. The decisions arrived at have been embodied in a series of revised schedules signed by myself as Archivist and the heads of the various Departments. Acknowledgments I would again express my appreciation of the manner in which commissions for the General Assembly Library have been carried out by the Government's oversea agencies in London, Washington and Australia. The sympathetic interest taken by the Joint Library Committee in the work of the Library and the conditions of the staff is also gratefully acknowledged. Attached is the statement of receipts and expenditure for the year with the AuditorGeneral's certificate. I am, &c., G. H. SCHOLEFIELD, Chief Librarian and Archivist.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIBRARY ACCOUNT Statement for the Year ended 31st March, 1946 Receipts £ s. d. Payments £ s. d. Balance .. .. .. 1,112 6 6 Purchase of books and periodicals Annual grant .. .. .. 1,250 0 0 in— Refunds, lost books, &c. .. 19 1 1 United Kingdom .. .. 609 6 7 Private Bill fees .. .. 100 0 0 United States .. .. ■ 516 2 9 Australia .. .. .. 46 12 8 New Zealand .. .. 324 7 10 Bank charge .. .. .. 0 10 0 Cheque-book .. .. .. 0 10 0Petty expenses .. .. 1 15 9 Balance, Bank of New Zealand .. 982 2 0 £2,481 7 7 £2,481 7 7 G. H. Schqlefield, Chief Librarian. Examined and found correct.—J. P. Rutherford, Controller and Auditor-GeneraL 6th May, 1946.

Approximate Cost of Paper.—Preparation, not given; printing (488 copies, £7)

By Authority: E. V. Paul, Governmemt Printer, Wellington. —1946. Price 3d.}

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