H.—32A.

Other Ways in which Service has been given. Hamper Service. —In places where no library exists and where it is not possible for one to be established, the service to groups by means of travelling hampers has been given. It has been found possible to give service by means of the book-vans to many places that have applied in the first instance for hampers of books. Twenty-four groups, including two groups with twice the ordinary membership, have been formed, twelve in the North Island and twelve in the South. All groups that have been formed are more than 10 miles from any public library. The service has operated smoothly, and the voluntary librarians have carried out their duties faithfully and have forwarded their collections of books at the times required of them. In genuinely isolated districts this type of service is a great boon to those who wish to have books. The limited choice in each collection is partly made up for by the number of collections that reach a group each year. Also, those needing books on specific subjects may have them posted from headquarters. Undoubtedly this type of service will grow steadily, but it is not expected to do so at a great rate. As books are made available more and more through the book-vans it will be possible to reach the bulk of the rural population through properly organized libraries containing reasonable quantities of books. The box or hamper type of service has always been regarded in countries abroad as merely a valuable forerunner to an improved and more direct type of service. Postal or Reference Service. —This service has not been greatly advertised, because the staff of the Country Library Service has had to deal with more urgent problems in connection with the main lending service to libraries through the book-vans. Further, nearly all the books that have been acquired during the year have been needed for instant use in the libraries to which they have been delivered or sent. Methods of dealing with individual borrowers by post have all been worked out, and the number of persons using the service is growing steadily. To the end of the year twenty-six persons had asked for and received books by post regularly free of charge. It will be necessary, as soon as a sufficient stock of books has been acquired, for printed lists of books on various subjects to be made available to all libraries and groups participating in the service. When this has been done there will be an immediate and rapid growth of this highly important type of service. Administration of the Service. The main problem of the first year has been to ensure that sufficient books were obtained, made ready for circulation, and despatched either to the field librarians in charge of the book-vans or directly to the libraries or groups. Since the service was expanding rapidly during the middle part of the year and new ground was being covered all the time, the demand on available books was heavy, but at no time has it been necessary to refuse or postpone for any length of time a request for service. Two main considerations have weighed as highly important. These are (1) to ensure that the libraries, groups, and individuals participating or likely to participate in the service received all possible information about it; and (2) to ensure that books of all kinds in sufficient quantity were made available by the use of efficient technical library processes. Staff Activities : Division of. At the end of the year the number of persons engaged on the staff was ten. Their activities were divided as follows, two persons being engaged in each division : — (1) Organization and Administrative Division. (2) Field Division. (3) Cataloguing, Classification, Order, and Reference Division. (4) Receiving, Processing, and Forwarding Division. (5) Clerical and Typing Division.

Book Stock. Table showing Disposition of Book Stock, 31st December, 1938.

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Fiction. Non-fiction, j Total. Oil issue to libraries or in book-vans— ■ North Island .. .. .. .. 3,726 3,297 7,023 South Island .. .. .. .. 4,135 3,348 7,483 In book hampers — North Island .. .. .. .. 390 260 650 South Island .. .. .. .. 360 240 600 In headquarters collection, Postal service . . .. 777 777 Total, all stock .. .. .. 8,611 7,922 16,533