THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

Evening Star, Issue 22452, 24 September 1936, Page 10

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

It is notoriously difficult to please everybody. It would be too much to hope for in the first stages of any system that means a change. A correspondent has complained that, now that everybody can take as many books as he likes on one day, instead of only one book, from the Public Library, there is small chance of finding anything that is worth while to take. One would expect the innovation to work out more or less in that way, but, to the extent that it does so, the disadvantage will be temporary. Part of the plan is that, in six months’ time, at the beginning of next financial year, £4,000 is to be spent on new books for the library, and £4,000 should go a long way. Meanwhile the complaint must be suspected to be much exaggerated. There are times, and frequent ones, when a borrower can complain of “ nothing new in the'most conservative library, even though its shelves are well replenished. There is a limit, nnder this new system, to the number of books a borrower is likely to take out, since he will not withdraw too many when he has to return them all, under penalty of fine, by a fixed date, or by fixed dates that vary with the different descriptions of books. Another grievance expressed is against the rearrangement of tho circulating library, chiefly for purposes of display, which at the present time increases its aspect of congestion and detracts from that air of peace and restfulness which some staid persons—no doubt in this age a diminishing number—are accustomed to appreciate in such a place. Before this financial year has gone much further the space of the lending department is to bo enlarged substantially. As we read in the council’s annual report for the year, the existing magazine and lending rooms will be combined, and joined with them, ■as a “ popular room,” will be the space at present occupied by the large news room, whose department is to be removed to the basement. Commodiousness should be then a cause for pride, in the circulating library. The question may bo asked, why not have deferred changes which have their inconvenience as well as benefits now till the new books were available and floor and shelf space increased? The answer is that the authorities will know better just what further space and accommodation for hooks are required when they know to what extent shelves are relieved, in practice, by the new generosity of distribution. A variation of routine, making some addition to it, has been a. penalty of that generosity which should be outweighed by benefits. Reports on the year’s work of the library show a record of progress and improving methods at which only satisfaction can be felt. Nearly 29,000 books have been circulated by the schools’ branch, three new schools being brought within its scope, bringing the total number up to twenty-one. The alertness shown in “ letting the public know accurately and at the right time ” just what is in the library on subjects of interest has been all to the good. An increase of 16 per cent, in the issue of non-fiction during the year makes plain that more than entertainment is being provided.