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Other "Ways in which Service has been given Hamper or "C" Service.—ln places where no library exists and where it is not possible for one to be formed, the service to properly established groups by means of travelling hampers has been continued. During the year 74 groups received this service, compared with 70 for the previous year. Many additional collections were made up during the year and despatched for the first time to groups, while those which had been sufficiently long in circulation were withdrawn. Postal or "D" Service.—During the year 468 persons were registered with this Service, as compared with 250 in The regulations governing the use of this service have been altered to allow an additional book for general reading to be included in the selection sent. Up to three books may thus be borrowed at a time, of which not more than one may be the lighter sort —i.e., fiction, popular biography, current affairs, travel, <&c. Although the number of persons using this service is growing, it must be noted that there still remains a large number of people living in fairly remote localities untouched by any form of library service. It is, however, doubtful if a postal service from Wellington is the best means of dealing with this need. Obviously some measure of decentralization or more direct service will be needed in the future if the library needs of such people are to be met. During the year 5,741 volumes were issued to postal borrowers. A feature ■of the year's work in this section has been the planning of a service to lighthouses. All lighthouses under the control of the Marine Department are now to receive regular ■consignments of books forwarded in special canvas container^. Request Service.—Each of the 500-odd libraries participating in the Service displays Country Library Service posters inviting its borrowers to request books of non-fiction, •even though such books are not in the stock of the library concerned or are not at the time on loan from the Service. The high value of such a service must be stressed, for it brings the resources of printed material of all the libraries of the country, especially the technical and information resources, within the reach of a very large number of people hitherto cut off from such resources. The use made of this facility depends iargely on the energy and initiative of the local librarian, and, while many libraries make good use of the service, many have still to realize its value. During the year 9,657 requests were received at the headquarters of this Service, the range of subjects covered being very wide, and 9,154 (95 per cent.) of these requests were filled, while 503 (5 per cent.) of them were not filled either because the requested book was unobtainable or because the request was not within the scope of the service—i.e., it was fiction or non-fiction of an .ephemeral kind. Popular Request Subjects.—A list of the most popular request subjects follows: Interior decorating; woodwork and cabinetmaking; modern furniture-making; woodturning; carpentry and building; water-colour-painting technique; poultry-keeping, backyard and commercial; beekeeping; dressmaking and tailoring; fashion designing and dress modelling; floral decoration and wreath making; puppetry; architecture; housing and town planning; crafts for children; refrigeration; dancing and games. This Service •could use in all of the subjects mentioned hundreds of additional titles, especially in the more recently published and better-class books, and it is hoped that these more glaring quantitative gaps in our book stock will soon be filled. Subject Loan Collections.—Twenty-seven loan collections, totalling 898 books, were sent out to libraries on two-monthly loans. Education, child study, gardening, and drama were the collections most frequently requested. Other collections included music, art appreciation, sociology, astronomy, aeronautics, and general science. Loan collections were issued to the free libraries co-operating with this Service, to the Gisborne and Napier Public Libraries, and to the Wellington Teachers' Training College. Inter-library Loan. —A scheme of inter-library loan was begun by the New Zealand Library Association in 1937, superseding the arrangement among the university libraries and some informal lending among public libraries. From time to time the procedure has been improved. Of recent years the Country Library Service has taken an increasing share in the work. First, it acted for many small libraries which it serves; next, it was asked to function as a clearing-house for all requests for which the location was not known; finally, on account of its strategic position and its administration of the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports, as well as being the headquarters of the Union Catalogue, it has become in fact the national bibliographical centre. At present, a considerable amount of the interloan business passes through this Service, and the proportion will probably increase. If a check by the Country Library Service staff of the records available in Wellington does not reveal where any wanted item may be found, it is noted in Book Resources, which is a mimeographed sheet issued by the Country Library Service each week, listing items in detail and recording the name of the requesting library. Book Resources is sent to some twenty libraries, each of which receives two copies. One is for the library's own file and one is checked against its catalogue and then returned to the Country Library Service by return mail. The checked sheets returned to this Service make it possible for interloan application caYds to be redirected to the holding library which it is thought may satisfy the request most conveniently. Each issue of Book Resources records which items listed in the previous issue have been located.

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