When the Library entered its new quarters it possessed 52,000 volumes. Ten years later it had grown to 80,000 and by 1921 to 102,000. This growth of between two and three thousand volumes a year was reduced somewhat in the twenties and in 1931 the stock was 123,000. Accessions increased during the depression years and after, so that in 1941 they totalled 159,000. Another increase occurred during the forties and an average of 5,000 volumes was added annually, bringing the number of volumes in the Library in 1951 to 200,000. It took over 60 years for the first 100,000 volumes to be added, but only 31 for the second, and early in the present financial year the quarter-million mark was passed, so that the third hundred thousand should only take 15 years.
Again the growth was not without its problems. As early as 1908 the problem of housing the stock was again causing worry, but for a few years it was solved by better arrangement of the shelving. By 1915 the situation was again difficult and approval was given for the removal of the Valuation Department from the attic, the provision of stairs, and the adapting of the area as a stack room. This provided welcome relief, but only for a short while until in 1926 the attic space over the main reading room was shelved and provided a makeshift storeroom for books.
The next expansion came in 1933 when the committee rooms adjacent to the main reading room were taken over and portion of the walls removed to give an open area. In 1938 the Library took over the remainder of the attic and portion of the first floor vacated by the Health Department. Though other alterations were made to increase shelving, no further space was taken over until 1950 when a further committee room was given to the Library. About the same time earthquake risk and alteration to the building caused the removal of books from a portion of the attic to the basement where further space had been made available. Other rooms have more recently been provided to store the books and periodicals in the Library and constant ingenuity is necessary to see that the most economical use is made of the area available.
The reasons for the expansion of the Library can be found in the increased interest in libraries generally, and in the increased vote which resulted. The fund received £600 until 1920 when it was raised to £800. It was reduced to £700 in 1922 and remained at that figure until 1929 when it was raised to £900, though it suffered the depression cuts.
These amounts were not sufficient to adequately finance the purchase of books needed for the service the Library was expected to give, and in 1938 the grant was once again raised, this time to £1,250. Further increases were made in 1947 (£2,000), 1949 (£2,250), 1952 (£3,000), and 1955 (£4,500).
In addition there has been considerable expansion in the exchange arrangements, Government publishing having increased considerably in the United Kingdom and the United States. Arrangements for the exchange of official publications with Australia were made in 1952, while during 1957 the Canadian Government made the General Assembly Library a select depository for its publications.
Another source of material for the Library has been by gift either of individual books or of collections. They have been many and varied, and it is safe to say that the Library would not possess the wide variety of stock it does had it not been for the kindness and generosity of many donors.
COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT
The Copyright Act has also provided the Library with an increasing amount of material. Like so many other of the Library's activities, this was foreshadowed in the days when James Collier was Librarian. In his report for 1888, he suggested that the time was ripe for the enacting of a Colonial Copyright Act. Whatever was done about this there was one thing that ought to be done immediately and that was the passing of a law making provision for the deposit of one copy of every colonial publication in a central library, which library could only be the Parliamentary Library.
A letter was written from the chairman of the Library Committee to the Premier asking for instructions to be given to the Solicitor-General to prepare a Copyright Act, but nothing was done. The matter was raised again by the Acting Librarian in 1891 and 1894. In 1895 Mr W. Hutchison, M.H.R. for Dunedin, introduced the Literary Copyright Act requiring the deposit in the Library of two copies of works published in New Zealand. Nothing came of the Bill, which was discharged, though the Library Committee in welcoming it had, however, considered one copy sufficient.