MELBOURNE’S LIBRARY

Hokitika Guardian, 7 October 1929, Page 8

MELBOURNE’S LIBRARY

ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST. SYDNEY, September 2(5. A world traveller recently condemned the libraries of Australian and New Zealand cities, and said that they did not compare with those possessed by the older cities of the world. He said that in most instances they v'ere a rejection on the intelligence of the people. One would he excused for saying that this is the case as far as Sydney is concerned, but it was evident that! the critic had not examined verv thoroughly the Melbourne Public Library, a remarkably fine institution of wiiich the citizens are justly proud. In the Melbourne Library there are rfb least 450,000 valuable volumes, in addition to thousands of pamphlets and periodicals, which bring the total up to about 1,000,000 books. In addition there are more than 1,000,000 documents in the archives. It has been said that there are 110 libraries in the world that are greater than Melbourne’s, but these probably include a number otf American libraries, which are organised on a totally different principle. Many of the American libraries count among their total number of books a dozen copies of the same book, whereas Melbourne s collection consists of one copy only of each hook. Only a small proportion of the American libraries are complete under the one roof. They consist principally of circulating public libraries, whence arose the demand for a dozen copies of the same book. Melbourne is not backward in purchases, either, for about 10,000 books are added yearly to the reference library, 5000 to the lending library, and 15,000 magazines and periodicals are bought. About £IO,OOO is spent annually in this way. Melbourne’s collection compares very favourably with the Hungarian National Library of 1,200,000 volumes, Madrid’s 1,500,000, Moscow’s 1,101,000, Oxford’s 1,300,000, and Cambridge’s 1,200,000. The British Museum Library is the largest in the world. There are approximately 3.300,000 volumes 'there, besides, probably, 7,000,000 to 8.000,000 novels, magazines, and periodicals lodged foi copyright purposes. It is claimed in Australia that Australian and New Zealand cities are not so backward in the matter of libraries that the critic would have the world believe. There may not be the same grand-looking institutions as are in the cities of the other hemisphere, hut the people demand good hooks, and it is only natural that that demand should he catered for. “ All our libraries are of a very high standard, -said one librarian the other day. “ They reflect, the demand for books that are worth while.”