H—32A

BOOK COVERAGE Owing to the general staff shortage it was not possible to carry out the check of the 1943 Cumulative Book Index against the Union Catalogue; a start has since been made by the National Library Centre. For this reason only 671 books were ordered, compared with 2,457 in the previous year, all of these being titles not located in New Zealand after they had been requested in Book Resources. CENTRAL BUREAU FOR LIBRARY BOOK IMPORTS From Ist April, 1945, to 31st March, 1946, 159 recommendations for special license to the value of £7,280 (New Zealand currency) were made. The recommendations have covered both books and periodicals. In addition, block licenses totalling £16,191 were: recommended for four city and two University college libraries. BOOK RESOURCES COMMITTEE Two meetings of the Book Resources Committee were held during the year, on the 22nd August, 1945, and 4th February, 1946, when reports on the above projects were presented and discussed. Other matters handled by the Committee were the preparation of a list of private libraries for possible use in inter-library loan and the drawing-up of an inter-library loan poster to advertise more widely the inter-loan scheme. A draft proposal for a music library service, based on a union list of the holdings of musical societies with consequential inter-loan, was circulated to those interested for comment and suggestion. Through the generosity of the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Library Association has donated to the National Library Service 543 titles, comprising a selection of books published in the United States of America during the war years which have been considered significant of the research and scholarship of that period. The books, which will form part of national stock, may, after arrival and processing, be on display in the four main centres. The American Library Association has also offered to fill gaps in sets of periodicals held by New Zealand libraries, and a return is at present being compiled of New Zealand requirements. Gr. T. Alley, Director.

Approximate Cost of Paper.—Preparation, not given; printing (723 copies), £22 10sBy Authority: E. Y. Paul, Government Printer, Wellington. —1946. Price 6d.]

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