31 MARCH 1958
Presented to the House of Representatives by Leave
by authority:
r. e. owen, government printer, wellington, new zealand—1958
CONTENTS
The Hon. the Minister of Education.
Wellington, 16 July 1958.
Sir,
I have the honour to submit the following report of the activities of the National Library Service. The report covers the work of the Service as a whole and its four divisions—Country Library Service, School Library Service, Library School, and National Library Centre.
The functions of the Service may be summed up as the provision of such assistance to any New Zealand library maintained directly or indirectly from public funds as circumstances and policy permit. More specifically, help is given by a lending service to rural, borough, and county libraries, by the provision of books for school libraries, by advancing professional training through the Library School, and by maintenance of records of all library holdings of books and periodicals, as well as other facilities and stock to aid the cooperative use of this material.
The National Library Service was formed in 1945 from the Country Library Service by Cabinet decision with the strong support of the New Zealand Library Association. During the war the Country Library Service had been given responsibility for several tasks of national scope, such as the War Library Service, the Central Bureau for Library Book Imports, the formation of a Union Catalogue, and the operation of part of the inter-library loan scheme.
The Country Library Service, which began in 1938, has maintained its van services to rural areas and has been brought into closer contact with its districts by decentralisation to three district offices—Christchurch in 1944, Palmerston North in 1948, and Hamilton in 1953.
The number of free libraries regularly receiving service has grown to 112. Special assistance in a number of cases has been given to libraries serving a population of up to 50,000 operating a free and rental service. The assistance given to the Gisborne and Wanganui Public Libraries has continued. New Plymouth Public Library which changed to free service in November 1957, and Palmerston North Public Library, which is expanding its service, have also received assistance. The fundamental principle of encouraging full local responsibility for adequate rate-supported libraries has continued.
The School Library Service has continued to bring a wide range and variety of books to school children, the rate of issue now exceeding one million copies annually. Distribution is effected through 15 centres.
During the year this Service received three valuable sets of books chosen to represent all phases of American life and thought. The Carnegie Corporation of New York made these sets available to some 26 libraries in New Zealand.
[Scientific, Technical, and Commercial Library Service]—A recommendation has been made by the New Zealand Library Association that impetus be given to scientific and technical library service, chiefly through public libraries. At a time when increasing reliance is being placed on the efficiency of our secondary industry the necessity of providing the fullest technical information to aid manufacturers will be apparent. Authority was obtained 12 years ago to establish such a service but it was not then possible to obtain qualified persons to begin it. It is hoped that conditions will permit a senior appointment during the present financial year to inaugurate the service.
[Regional and District Library Service]—Study has continued on the problems of ensuring an efficient and soundly based library service for New Zealand's whole population. The problems facing a local authority overseas with a population of 2,000,000 within a radius of a few miles are minor ones compared with those facing New Zealand library authorities, where the secondary cities are small, where the pattern of local government is uneven, and where the population as a whole has a high standard of education and is avid for books. Costs in New Zealand, per head of population, are bound to be relatively high; vigilance is necessary to ensure that they are no higher than they need be.
It has been apparent that cooperation between local authorities will be the major factor in making economies on a national scale. A note of the work of the Working Party on Library Cooperation of 27-28 August 1956 appeared in last year's annual report, and it was recorded that the Minister of Education, at the request of the New Zealand Library Association, had authorised payment of travelling expenses for its Committee on Regional Planning to enable its work to be carried out.
The committee worked during the year and met in Wellington for two full-day sessions on 6 and 7 June 1957 for consideration of the "establishment of regional and district library services as the best method of providing a more effective library service for the whole country". Its report was made to the New Zealand Library Association. After consideration by the executive of the Local Authorities Section, some amendments were made and the report published by the Association as Co-operation: A New Phase. Fifteen hundred copies were printed and were circulated to all local authorities for discussion.
The report states:
"1. The main problems facing public libraries are:
(i) The unfair distribution over the whole community of the costs of library service.
(ii) The continuing growth of the cost of municipal government to the point where it has become an embarrassment to the cities and boroughs concerned.
(iii) The failure of some local authorities to provide for library services."
"8. The basic factor in improving library services will be cooperation among local authorities. Such cooperation should be the condition of increased Government assistance."
"10. Government assistance to such federations should take the form of cash subsidies on all expenditure approved for subsidy by the federation, and by the Minister (or National Library Board)."
This report formed the main topic of discussion at the New Zealand Library Association conference in Invercargill in February 1958. The Association approached the Government for favourable consideration of the proposals contained in the report on 11 April 1958.
In the meantime the work of the Royal Commission on Local Government Finance is being followed carefully, as its findings will have considerable bearing on the problem of library finance.
An effort is also being made to foster among local authorities the willingness to cooperate, but progress in this field is slow.
[National Library Proposal]—The report of the Working Party of the Public Service Commission on the National Library proposal was earlier considered by the Government, which had approved it in principle. The House of Representatives last year approved the terms of reference of a Select Committee to be appointed to make recommendations for "ways and means of carrying out the decision of the Government to establish a National Library" and to consider various other associated matters. The decision to appoint such a Committee was reaffirmed in February 1958, the Committee was named shortly afterwards and has since met on several occasions. Independently of any solution of the accommodation problems of the Service which such a move might bring, the proposal merits the most careful consideration.
[Book Stock]—During the year, 19,283 fiction and 35,573 non-fiction were added to stock, a total of 54,856. Of these, 10,442 separate titles of non-fiction and 205 fiction titles were added to the headquarters collection, which now contains approximately 135,000 titles together with 11,000 volumes of periodicals; 15,305 volumes were withdrawn—12,134 fiction and 3,171 non-fiction—making the net additions 39,551. The total of headquarters and Country Library Service stock now amounts to 652,308, comprising 176,600 fiction and 475,708 non-fiction. As at 31 March 1958 the stock of the School Library Service was 1,091,189 the grand total of stock in the Service as a whole being 1,743,497.
[Request Service]—All libraries and groups receiving library service from the Country Library Service and all Government Departments may ask for special short-term loans of books of an informational type from the headquarters stock of this Service and, in addition, the headquarters stock is used extensively to satisfy inter-library loan requests. (See also the report of the Librarian, National Library Centre.)