THE MASTERTON LIBRARY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10291, 20 July 1911, Page 5

THE MASTERTON LIBRARY.

WHAT THE PEOPLE READ. A DEMAND FOR FICTION. In view of the discussion which took 'plaoe at the meeting of the (Mastertaa Borough Council on Tuesday evenang, on the question of the Masterton public library, a representative of the Ago made a point of interviewing Mi&s Jago, who, with her mother, has acted as guide, philosopher aaajfl friend to the reading public of Masterton for some years past. "Hew many subscribers are there to the Library?" wasi the first question put to Miss Jago.

"There are about ithree hundred. The number varies a little. It is larger in the winjter .months than in summer. But as the charge is only 5s a year, the number should be much greater than it is." "Do many young people avail themselves of the Library?" "Not a great many. And those who do, generally enquire, for Red Indian books, or some such rubbish." "How many -works have you in the Library?" "We have about four thousand works of fiction., and two or three hundred copies each of science, biography and travel." "What class of books is chiefly in request ?" "Nearly all fiction. Only seven or eight books of other kinds are asked for in a week. During the recent competitions there was an increased demand for classical works." "Have there been, manf complainits. about the class of novels issued?" "None at all. I flatter (myself that lam about as good a judge of a novel as anybody in Masterton. I select most of the books myself, and quite a number of subscribers allow me to choose their novels for them." "Do you get 'a good general variety of books?" "Well, in works of fiction we get about the best. There is a keen demand just now for American novels. There .are more of these coming on the .market than elsewhere. Of course, we could do with a better selection of scientific and classical works. But those we have are seldom asked for, and many of them are never read."