In addition to this published material, buying and reading lists are constantly being prepared to meet the special needs of individual schools, public libraries, and groups concerned with the reading of children and adolescents.
Assistance is given to schools planning new libraries or reorganising existing libraries. The visiting of schools to give help where needed and to discuss the use of books is still limited by staff shortages.
Except for small parcels which are sent by post, books are distributed in hampers or cartons by rail or road transport from 15 centres—North Island: Whangarei and Hastings public libraries; offices of the Country Library Service in Hamilton and Palmerston North and of the School Library Service in Auckland, Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui, and Wellington. South Island: Greymouth, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invercargill public libraries; the office of the Country Library Service in Christchurch and of the School Library Service in Nelson. Schools are usually served by the nearest School Library Service office.
The headquarters office at Wellington is responsible for the coordination of the service, for the selection, ordering, classifying, and cataloguing of new books and their dispatch to district offices, the maintenance of a comprehensive collection of children's and young people's books used to meet requests which cannot be supplied from local offices, and the distribution of books to schools and public libraries in or near Wellington city and the Hutt Valley. To enable children at smaller country schools to see and to choose for themselves from a wide range of books, the possibilities of service by book van are being considered.
Since its establishment schools joining the service have paid a subscription at the rate of 1s. per pupil (Standard 1 and upwards) for each of the first two years. Ministerial authority was given during the year to discontinue this levy.
Schools borrowing books are asked to accept responsibility for (a) safe-keeping of books while on loan to the school, including books issued to members of staff for school use; (b) return of books when due; (c) payment for books lost or damaged beyond fair wear and tear; (d) payment of freight and postal charges from school to School Library Service office.
Books are made available to special institutions controlled by the Education Department. Primary pupils of the Correspondence School are provided with individual postal service from district offices. Child welfare institutions, training centres, health camps, and other special groups are given service according to their needs. Teachers' training colleges, young people's groups, kindergartens, and nursery play centre supervisors are also helped. Visits to School Library Service offices by teachers in training are arranged wherever possible.
Assistance to several Pacific Island schools has been continued from the Auckland office by means of extended loans. Under this system the schools receive an original bulk loan which they check annually, reporting losses and returning damaged and worn books for replacement, wherever possible, by new titles, so that loans will not degenerate into collections of old books. The schools concerned were listed in last year's annual report. The desirability of extension of this service is constantly in review.
During the year members of the staff acted as librarians at the usual teachers' refresher courses. Appropriate collections of books always create considerable interest. Discussions at these courses have been helpful in the selection of books and have brought about an increased awareness of the uses of books in a wide range of schools.
Below are tables showing details of the School Library Service as at 31 March 1958. The figures for the number of "schools" and "pupils" include those for primary schools and post-primary departments of district high schools but do not include those for other post-primary schools as these do not receive general exchanges of books. (Figures in parentheses are for the previous year.)