TT.— 32.

1917. NEW ZEALAND.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY LIBRARY. REPORT OF THE CHIEF LIBRARIAN FOR THE YEAR 1916-17.

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by leave.

The Chief Librarian to the Chairman op the Joint Library Committee. Sir,— I have the honour to submit the following report for the year 1916-17 : — Recks s Library Committee. The Recess Library Committee, under the Chairmanship of the Hon. Sir William Hall-Jones, K.C.M.G., M.L.C., held four meetings during the recess. Lists of books suggested for order Were brought before the Committee by the Chief Librarian and duly considered. Recess Privileges. The numbers of permits issued to non-members during the recess was 560, as against 360 in 1915-16, the increase being due no doubt to the unusual length of the recess. The number of volumes issued to ordinary recess-privilege holders was 9,004, as against 3,591 in the recess of 1915-16. As usual no fiction was issued save to persons on the full-privileged list (the members of the Governor-General's staff, the Judges, and the officers of the House). I have no reason to complain of the treatment of the books by the privilege-holders. Additions to Library. The Accessions List for the year 1916-17 shows that between the Ist July, 1916, and the 16th June, 1917, the Dumber of catalogued accessions was 3,099, a total somewhat lower than that of last year, when, however, the list was swollen by the inclusion of the Monro Collection, and of a number of American official publications whioh had not been previously catalogued. The new books added during the year include many publications of exceptional interest and permanent value. Specially important additions have been made in the departments of sociology and technology, whilst the department of war literature will be found well up to date. The Staff. There have been no changes in the staff arrangements during the year. Stock-taking. In accordance with the scheme outlined in my report for the year 1.913, under whioh stocktaking proceeds every recess, different classes being dealt with each year, stock was taken of two classes, The classes dealt with during the recess were Nos. 600 (applied sciences, useful arts, i.e.) and 800 (general literature, poetry, belles lettres, ifcc). The following is the result : — Missing at Stock-taking. 1913. 1017. Class 600 ... ... ... ... ... 48 21. Class 800 ... ... ... ... ... 106 44 Totals ... ... ... ... 154 65 The above figures show that whereas 154 volumes were reported as missing in 1913, 65 volumes were unaccounted for in 191.7, 89 volumes having been recovered in the intervening period. The result is even better than the figures would appear to indicate, as during the four years between the stock-taking of these two classes 317 volumes have been added to the 600 class and 465 volumes to the 800 class", a total of 782 new books. Loss of Periodicals. I regret to have to direct attention to the increasing loss, which goes on each successive session, in the magazines and periodicals. Despite the fact that each magazine bears a plainly printed label, " Not to be taken out of the Library." copies of certain magazines, reviews, and