WHAT THE PUBLIC READS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 11, Issue 283, 24 November 1944, Page 18

WHAT THE PUBLIC

READS

Some Revealing Figures From a Big Library lished an article in connection with Children’s Book Week, showing how children’s tastes have changed during the last two or three generations. This week we went to the Wellington Central Library for a survey of the reading taste of the general public. We asked them whether people are reading more than they did a few years ago, what kind of books they borrow from the Library, and whether they still read Charles Dickens and William Thackeray. The survey showed that during the year ended March, 1944, there was an increase of 14,545 adult issues in the central and seven branch libraries, as compared with the previous year, and 253,321 as compared with 1940. There has been a notable increase in non-fiction and a slight decrease in fiction, due partly at least to the shortage of works | of fiction. week before last we pub-

| « The following analysis of one year’s issues taken at the Central Library gives a more definite idea of the division of reading: General Works .. e 27,778 Philosophy, Religion de «8,779 Sociology «« +» @ 6,992 Language, Literature ¢ 8,851 Science ve oe 4,347 Usetul Arts ee on 16,444 Fine Arts .. MEE SP | History, Travel 64,557 Fiction d's aa ++ 258,031 Total ..« -- 410,368 A survey taken in the Lending Department on one day showed the approximate proportion of men and women borrowers in the various classes of reading. In Philosophy, Religion, Natural Science, Fine Arts (which includes gardening and hobbies as well as music, etc.), History and Travel, the numbers were equal. In Sociology the proportion was 3:1 (men mentioned first); in Useful Arts (anything from medicine to aeroplanes) 5:3; in Biography 13:20, and in Fiction 37:63. Over the whole number of borrowers there is one and a-half times as much fiction as non-fiction borrowed, although it must be remembered that non-fiction books are usually borrowed for longer | periods, Most Popular Authors The popularity of different fiction writers is indicated by the following figures which give the number of copies of a selection of authors in the library stock and the number on the shelves on one day (not including copies kept in ¢+he stockroom):

In the more specialised Reference Department there is also definite selection, but this time according to subject and not to author, The biggest daily issue is always of art books, of which the largest proportion are music. Next comes the literature class, of which both American and English plays are specially popular, although many of these are taken out by amateur dramatic societies. The next largest group are the technical books, borrowed chiefly of course by men, dealing in particular with subjects such as amateur mechanics, engineering, and business procedure. Many inquiries have dealt with technical processes not previously carried out in New (continued on next page)

Zealand, while books on tools and machine tools, new metals and alloys, electro-plating, wood-working, plastics, and chemicals have continued to be in demand. Food Shortages and Basic English Recent food shortages have been reflected in the keen interest taken in books on bee-keeping, poultry-farming, and vegetable-growing, while the shortage of children’s toys has led to a big demand for material on toy-making. Great use has been made of books on furniture-making, weaving and spinning, compost, soil physics, and reconstruction, especially the more practical aspect, such as town-planning, architecture, and interior decoration. During the last two or three years books on child psychology have been in great demand by all types of readers. Sociology, history, and the allied group of current affairs and economics are read fairly steadily, although this class of issue is probably swelled by secondary school pupils and students who make extensive use of the reference department. For a short time there was a boom on Basic English books, but that rapidly died down, There has been a steady

rise, however, in the interest taken in modern languages since the outbreak of war, especially in French, Chinese, Russian, and Arabian, while Japanese was being studied particularly by those who were in charge

of Japanese prisoners-of-war in New Zealand. One feature of the increased reading has been a much. greater number of reservations, and on the whole they have been for a better type of book, It is the hope of the library authorities that the wider spread of adult education and the direction of children’s reading while they are still at school will rajse the general level of the public’s reading in the not-too-distant future.

Copies Copies in on Stock Shelves Austen, pA tee) eo 15 0 Baum, V. ‘ee ' ee 59 0 Bell, N. ee ee 34 8 Bennett, A. ec «a 22 2

Bentley, P. - Birmingham, G. A, Bottome, P. as Bridge, A. os Bromfield, L. ee: Broster, D. K. ce Buck, P. oe Cannan, J. ee Cheyney, P. ee Cronin, A. J € ee Deeping, W. o« Dickens, C. ee Du Maurier, D. Ertz, S. ee Frankau, G. # Galsworthy, J. «- Gibbons, S. Pe Gibbs, Sir P. H. Heyer, G. es Huxley, A, Mackenzie, Compton Masefield, J... Maugham, W. S. Orczy, Baroness Priestley, J. B. Sayers, D. L. oe Sinclair, U. o Steinbeck, J . oe Thackeray, Wm. Walpole, H. . Wodehouse, P, Young, F. B. .«- ee