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XX. ADVERTISING BRANCH Casual newspaper advertising costs totalled £32,581 Os. 7d. Contract and campaign advertising was taken over by the Economic Information Service at tlie beginning of the financial year. This accounts for the decrease in total figures from £97,215 14s. 6d. for 1946-47. An average of from 3,800 to 4,000 press cuttings were supplied weekly to Ministers of the Crown, Government Departments, and overseas posts. XXI.|THE ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY Keeping pace with other activity in the library world in New Zealand, this Library finds itself to-day far from the time and tempo of affairs when it could be regarded as a quiet, sequestered retreat. While a scholarly research library might reasonably have such qualities, the policy pursued over a number of years has transformed it into a busy, much used, and eminently usable public institution. At the same time, the conditions for students are still convenient and congenial, the only embarrassment being at times the limited seating-accommodation for such researchers. Demands for information by students at a distance occasion the reference staff a great deal of work, and it is regretted that it is often impossible to undertake the extensive research involved. People do not always realize that the Library's function is to supply the material, but not generally to do the work as well. The increasing availability of the manuscript resources improves greatly the service to students, and the series of calendars that have been prepared should up to a point be of very wide utility. This series will be continued, but at present it describes only a portion of the McLean papers. The Photograph Collection It has become more and more desirable to develop a collection of photographs as a supplement to the New Zealand history section. Until two years ago this group was insignificant, but at present it numbers about 30,000. A number of private stocks of negatives has been acquired by gift or purchase, and the resulting pictures have been carefully culled and the useless discarded. The country is being systematically surveyed with a view to discovering negative collections in private hands. It is believed that here they can be more accessible than in provincial repositories, of which at present none exists. Facilities here for preservation, cataloguing, and the supply of prints are good. The fact that the requests for photographs are surprisingly many and steady demonstrates its value as an. adjunct of the Library's service. Photostat and microfilm copying of a great deal of Library texts were supplied during the year. Holdings and Acquisitions The number of volumes catalogued to date is 76,620. Rather fewer have been processed this year, due to a great deal of internal rearrangement, which diverted staff ordinarily on other work. The practice of acquiring texts, mainly, so far, of MSS not in the Library's shelves, in microfilm copies has been followed more actively this year. A good microfilm reader has been purchased, and it is now easy for a student to consult such records rapidly and with little eye strain. This procedure is being extended, and rare books not otherwise available will be increasingly accessible through this medium. Purchases during the year brought in, as well as the current works germane to the collections, many highlights that add lustre to several sections of the Library. William Cobbett was a virile and active writer at the end of the eighteenth century, but till the arrival this year of a score of contemporary volumes his name scarcely appeared in the

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