GROWTH OF BOOK CLUBS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 35, 4 November 1937, Page 7

GROWTH OF BOOK CLUBS

Public's Fondness for Light Reading BORROWING UBRARIES That radio and the cinema ■ have not lessened the public's fondness for light reading is evident from the remarkable growth of private drcujatmg libraries or book*clubs all over New Zealand in recent mOnths. Since the end of last year the number of such establishments in Auckland has more than doubledj and their ■ subscribers are believed t0 total a good many thousands. * _ ... Commercial- circulating libraries have existed in New Zealand for many years as a side-line to bookselling- and . a smaller "number* have been carried on as separate business, states an cxchange. They have been usually on a yearly or half-yearly subscription basis, sometimes embracing magazines as well as bocks. Tho netver establishments, on the other hand, charge a small entrance feC and so much for every hook borrowed. Kew GJ.ass of Borrowers, There are many indications that the rental libraries have tapped a large class which- has not been in the habit of patronising the lending departments of the public libraries or the subscription book'Olubs, These are not '"bookish" people, but are merely in sCarch jof recreation. They include . many shop and office workers, particularly young folk, who like to soe 'books on the shelves- in their originnl paper jackets and are ratber deterrod by the necessarily. sober appearanca of ithe public libraries' stocks. Reprinted fiction- bulks largest in most of the new libraries, but they. also carry new novels and general literature, which, being higher-priced, are lent at an increased charge. The general literature consists mainly of popular biography, travel and adventure. Novels are of the ; lighter sort and .naturally include a ' generous - proportion .of "thrillere." Effect on, Public libraries.New Zealand has been Tather "be!hind other English-speakmg countries 'in developing this class of busiuess. '"Twopenny libraries" in thousands are to be found in Great Britain, and the number in Sydney and Melbourne is 'said to have grown a good deal in ex|Cess of the demand. Public library authorities here and elsewhere agreo that the development has come to stay, and that they will remain ctftnplementary to other hook-lending agen'cies, which cater for a different class of reader. .Although the public libTarios have. lost a certain number -of subscribers and doposit-borrowers to the new clubs, many of the more progressive librarians are inclined to welcome the change. Since the Oarnegie Corporation's survey of New Zealand public libraries- in 1934, it has bcten recognised that the subscription system is n liiadrance to their efficiency and that tlie ideal to he aimed at is the frec lending of books. This is already the practice of the Dunedin and Timaru' Public Libraries, and the Auckland Public Libraries make no change in their children 's departments. Pree Lending Policy. Under the frece system, public libraries are able to concentrate on lending worka of informative and ' litorary value, including current fiction that is deemed to be more than merely ephemeral. I£ the new commercial libraries can relieve them of responSibility for providing light literary fare, progress will be aided, but so long as public libraries are partly dependent on revenne from subscriptions, some loss is bouitd to result. The chief obstacle to .free publie libraries in New Zealand is tho statutory requirement that a local body may not spend more on library npkeep than the amount that a ld Tate will produce. There is good reason to believe that this restriction will be removed in the near future.