ONE MILLION BOOKS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 311, 24 October 1929, Page 2

ONE MILLION BOOKS.

MELBOURNE CITY’S LIBRARY. A world traveller reecntly condemned the libraries of Australian and New Zealand cities, and said that they did not compare with those possessed by the o’der cities of the world. He said that in most instances they were a reflection on the intelligence of the people. One would be excused for saying that this is the case as far as Sydney is concerned, but it was evident that the critic had not examined very thoroughly the Melbourne Public Library, a remarkably fine institution, of which the citizens are justly proud. Whereas in Sydne” say, “Have you seen our harbour ? ” in Melbourne they say, “ After you have seen the Yarra I will take you to the Public Library.”

■ In the Melbourne Library there are at least 450,000 valuable volumes in addition to thousands of pamphlets and periodicals, which bring the total up to about 1,000,000 books. Ip addition, there are more than 1,000,0°0 documents in the archives. It has been said that there are 110 libraries in the world that are greater than that of Melbourne, but these x ably include a number of 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 book. Only a small proportion of the American libraries are complete und js 'we roof. They consist principally of circulating public libraries, when arose the demand for a dozen copies of the one book. Melbourne is not backward in purchases, either, for yearly about 10 000 books are added to the reference libahd 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 1,011,000, 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 for 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 to be found in the cities of the older world, but the people demand good books, and it is only natural that that demand should be catered for. “ All our libraries are of a very high standard,” said one librarian the other : day. “ They reflect the demand for j books that are Iworth while.”