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and 223,016 periodicals were allocated, after preliminary collection and sorting, &c., to libraries and to units of the Armed Forces. In the year just ended 60,143 books and 66,014 periodicals were so distributed. Army Education and Welfare Library Service.—This Service, part of the wider scheme for providing educational facilities for Armed Forces of New Zealand, is directed by Army Education and Welfare Service headquarters. A Staff Officer, Libraries, is responsible to the Director of the Army Education and Welfare Service, for the general organization. By providing proper domestic facilities for the establishment and maintenance of circulating library systems to all units, both in New Zealand and in the Pacific, Army Education and Welfare Library Service meets a very great need. The Service aims to provide books of entertainment, general reading of some educational or cultural value, information on current affairs, information on military training, and information on vocational training. The Country Library Service is thus no longer directly concerned with administration of library service to the Armed Forces at the point of distribution, but it has been necessary, to ensure adequate supplies of books to the Army Education and Welfare Library Service, and also to ensure the availability of service to Naval and Air Force units as well as Army units, for this Service to be responsible for the supply of books, and also for the provision of premises in districts at or near the points of distribution. Sup-ply. —Previously supply to the War Library Service had been almost entirely through the National Patriotic Fund Board, although the Country Library Service had lent fairly freely to established libraries from its own stocks. Large numbers (over half a million) of books and periodicals had been collected through book drives, sorted and distributed, and purchases were made from National Patriotic Fund Board funds. Obviously this source of supply must still be preserved, if Army Education and Welfare Library Service is to function, because the flow of purchased material will not be sufficient for some time to come to give coverage. As it is necessary for a civilian organization to act for the National Patriotic Fund Board, the Country Library Service therefore retains its original position as expending agent to the Board, and is charged with the responsibility of seeing that National Patriotic Fund Board material, both collected and purchased, is available to all three branches of the Armed Forces. When consideration was given by the Government to allocating funds for the Library Section of the Army Education and Welfare Service, it was decided:— (a) That the advice and recommendations of the New Zealand Library Association and the Country Library Service should be fully considered in the determination of Army library policy : (b) That the machinery of the Country Library Service, suitably extended to meet wartime needs, should be the chief means for carrying out library service for the Armed Forces r (c) That the Library Staff Officer, when appointed, should carry out the duties of liaison officer between the Army Education Service on the one hand and the Country Library Service and the New Zealand Library Association on the other: (d) That the Library Staff Officer should also be designated Library Liaison Officer and be recognized as such both by the Country Library Service and the New Zealand Library Association. It was also decided, when the need for extending the Army Education and Welfare Library Service to Navy and Air Force was raised that a single civilian source of supply acceptable to all branches of the Armed Forces was desirable. All books and materials purchased are to remain the property of the Country Library Service, but after the war this Service will take over the books, &c., at valuation for normal civilian use, the War Expenses Account being reimbursed accordingly. The machinery of the Country Library Service for purchasing book stock and library supplies is also desirable for the following reasons : — (1) The Country Library Service is already responsible to the National Patriotic Fund Board for the allocation of material given by the public ; it is convenient, therefore, if the same body is responsible for obtaining purchased material. (2) The use of the Country Library Service is a convenient carry-over from the War Library Service, and continuity between that Service and the combined Service to be administered by the Army Education and Welfare Service is made to ensure the interest and practical help of New Zealand libraries. (3) The Country Library Service has a skilled staff, the knowledge of book markets, and the bibliographical tools necessary to make it the most effective means of purchasing books. The provision of premises for use by the Army Education and Welfare Service as library depots has been arranged in the following places : Whangarei, Auckland, Palmerston North, Blenheim, and Christchurch. In addition, the Wellington Public Library has made available space for housing the Library Service for the Central Military District, while the Dunedin Public Library is giving facilities for Army Education and Welfare Library Service purposes there. Full treatment of results of the new Service belongs to next year's report, but preliminary results, indicate that satisfactory work is being done. Central Bureau for Library Book Imports From Ist April, 1942, to 31st March, 1943, 206 recommendations for special license to the valueof £10,497 10s. (New Zealand currency) were made for 23 libraries. A small proportion of this amount represents orders for which fifth-period licenses had been recommended, but the books had not been received until the sixth licensing period, when new licenses were required. The recommendations have covered non-fiction books and periodicals and junior fiction of recognized quality. (Approval

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