PROGRESS MADE BY LIBRARY

Southland Times, Issue 24228, 11 September 1940, Page 4

PROGRESS MADE BY LIBRARY

VALUABLE ASSET OF CITY INCREASED DEMAND FOR BOOKS

Criticism was offered at the meeting of the City Council last night by Cr A. W. Jones, chairman of the Baths and Library Committee, of remarks made at the previous meeting by Cr A. Wachner. The words complained of were: “I feel after attending all the meetings of the Library Committee that the library is getting nowhere.”

“Cr Wachner’s statement' was erroneous and misleading,” Cr Jones said. “During the term of the present council Cr Wachner has missed 18 meetings out of 37 meetings held by the Library Committee, but in this he is consistent as he also missed 18 meetings of the Reserve Committee and five meetings of the City Council. Now, here are the facts of the library. In the year ended March 31, 1940, during which I have had the privilege of being chairman, the committee has every reason to be satisfied with the year’s work as definite progress was achieved.” The stock of books, including 1432 added during the year, now numbered about 40,000 and the actual lendings were 102,322 books against 96,898 for the same period of 1939. The income was £940/8/- against £866/5/7 in the previous year. The cost to the ratepayers was reduced from £998/3/3 in 1939 to £847/11/3, a saving of £l5O/12/-, despite the fact that during the same period extra wages to the staff amounted to £56; £5O was put away to reserve and • £2O additional was paid into the loan debt sinking fund, besides £7 extra paid in exchange. The estimates provided for £1223, so a saving of nearly £4OB was effected. Not all the expenditure was for current costs as it included reserve for structural repairs of library building, £115; reserve for painting walls and veranda, £6O; reserve for painting walls, £7O; reserve towards cost of new library, £5O; and transfer of interest and principal repayment account, £575/3/6, a total of £B7O/3/6.

SERVICE TO PUBLIC “When we analyse these figures the actual cost of the library is a small item,” he said. “In addition the ratepayers undoubtedly have one of the most up-to-date free reading rooms in New Zealand and a valuable free reference library. The reading room is open for approximately 80 hours a week and the reference library for 61 hours a week. A fair charge against the reading room and reference library for overhead charges, cost of newspapers, periodicals, lighting, heating and salaries would be well over £lOOO. The cost of fiction has increased from 6/- in 1933, 7/6 in 1937 up to 12/- a volume at the present time and because of the demand for books on current topics, travel and biography, we have had to buy at full prices locally instead of formerly ordering used copies from England. This means an increase of nearly 50 per cent. In addition the library pays rates of over £77 and in the last seven years it has paid £465/11/8.

“Since being associated with the library I have visited at my own expense libraries in Australia and Wellington and the committee made arrangements for one of the members of the staff to have experience on the Wellington library staff. Changes in routine methods are being adopted. My idea of the public library is that it should be a place to provide everyone who so desires with the means of selfdevelopment and not merely as a place to receive light reading matter, but a community storehouse of knowledge and culture, where people may go whenever they feel so disposed. In short our library is in reality Southland’s university. It should also benefit those who know and like books and reach those whose taste and capacity are to be discovered and developed. “I want to emphasize that despite the strong counter competition of the local lending libraries, of which there are a number in Invercargill, the actual cost to the ratepayers has been considerably reduced, even though more books have been lent, and they are in reality getting a very valuable service at an exceedingly low cost. The net debt as at March 31' last, allowing for the sinking fund, was £6840/10/8 while the original debt was £ll.OOO in 1934. It will be paid off by 1957.”