A resolution of 1891 allowed the privilege to be granted on the recommendation of a member of Parliament, head of a Government Department, or local clergyman, but by the end of the century the right was restricted to members of Parliament. The recess privilege did not allow borrowers to take out current fiction though classic fiction could be borrowed.

The rules have long permitted the use of the library for brief periods by serious research workers. The position has now been placed on a permanent basis, and students at the honours stage at the University or undertaking serious research are allowed to use two special rooms in the Library.

Here it might be well to mention the request that has recently been made to allow the Library to keep open until 6 p.m. during the recess. This has been done three times in the past, in 1892-93, in 1903-04, and again in 1911, but the use was so small that the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. were quickly reverted to.

The National Library

Though the General Assembly Library is principally the Library of Parliament, many of its functions are those of a national library and this matter has been raised on many occasions. The earliest references are those of James Collier in 1888, and his remarks are of interest, "... the Library of the General Assembly [may] develop or, as is more probable, bifurcate into a national library ..."

As the only large State library, it was natural that the General Assembly Library should be regarded as the basis of a national library and there were frequent references to this side of the Library's work in the debates on copyright deposit in 1903 and 1913. About the same time the Library Association meeting in Wellington carried a resolution saying that the Library should be regarded as the nucleus of a national reference library.

The matter was not forgotten but rather lay dormant until 1935 when the Munn-Barr report on New Zealand libraries suggested the amalgamation of the General Assembly and Turnbull Libraries, together with a country lending department, to form a national library. This suggestion more or less received the approval of the Government and plans were drawn up for a new library building.

The war intervened, but since 1950 the question has become increasingly prominent, and there have been two inquiries. While it is possible to combine a purely legislative and national reference library, I have doubts on the complete absorption of a parliamentary library by a national library. In the United States, for example, the Library of Congress gives both services, but Congress and its needs are supreme. The library seemingly envisaged for New Zealand would have wider scope and unless very carefully planned and managed, there could be conflict between Parliament and the department controlling the library.

The Library also played its part in the establishment of the Country and later the National Library Services. In 1935 Dr Scholefield travelled overseas at the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and on his return made a report on rural library services, which turned further attention to this matter.

A group of New Zealand librarians interested the Carnegie Corporation of New York in the proposal to organise a demonstration scheme in Taranaki and asked Mr G. T. Alley to prepare plans. In 1937, however, £3,000 was placed on the Estimates for the Country Library Service and Mr Alley was appointed Director later in the year. For some time the Service was also located in Parliament Buildings.