_Circulation of Books_
The first library rules that can be discovered today are those for
1869. Though it is certain that borrowing was permitted before this,
members were permitted by these rules to borrow two books for a period
of a fortnight. Even so, the privilege of borrowing was restricted to
the session.
It is doubtful if the rules were strictly enforced for as early as 1873
Mr T. Kelly from New Plymouth moved that the Library Committee should
be instructed to allow members outside Wellington the right to take out
books and to keep them for two months. Though the motion was not
approved it appears that members residing in Wellington did have books
at their homes.
No great change was made in the wording of the rules, but it appears
that at the end of the session members were taking books away, and in
1886 Mr James Macandrew from Dunedin admitted doing so. In the recess
of 1885-86 Sir James G. Wilson (Bulls) had written to the Librarian
asking for books to be sent to his home. The request was refused but
following it the House passed a motion recommending the Joint Committee
to prepare regulations for lending books during the recess to members
living outside Wellington.
The Committee, however, did not favour the idea and reported that there
were so many difficulties in the way that they would not carry it out.
On the motion of the Premier, Sir Robert Stout, the House reluctantly
agreed with the report.
There the matter rested until the session of 1891 when it was raised in
a question addressed to a Minister. As a result the Committee brought
down a report saying that they had agreed to a scheme for circulating
up to six books at a time to members in the recess. Certain reference
and valuable books, newspapers, and periodicals were excluded, but most
other works could be borrowed. The Library would provide boxes or
baskets for the transmission of the books, and six dozen were obtained
for the following recess. During it 34 members borrowed 438 volumes,
not one being lost, though two were damaged.
Both House and Council agreed to the scheme, though certain members
were violently opposed to it. Since then it has provided members with
reading material during many recesses. Certainly, some books have been
lost, but probably there would be an even greater chance of losses if
the practice of recess borrowing had not been regularised. In any case,
books often disappear from the shelves in libraries with the best
oversight and supervision and are never seen again.
_Fiction_
The provision of fiction in the Library has been criticised, but novels
have been purchased since the early seventies. The numbers purchased
have always been small, and have given well earned relaxation and
pleasure to legislators as well as building up what is the only
collection of the minor nineteenth century classics that exists in the
Dominion. These books are frequently in demand by students of
nineteenth century English literature.
_Inter-library Loan_
In keeping with the policy of allowing the widest possible use of the
Library, while at the same time retaining all books necessary for
Parliament, the Committee in 1909 drew up rules which would have
permitted university libraries to borrow. Little use, however, seems to
have been made of the privilege.
In 1936 the Committee gave approval for the participation of the
Library in the New Zealand Library Association scheme. Libraries
outside have not been slow to take advantage, and while considerable
restrictions exist on the books that can be lent, only one book is
borrowed by the General Assembly Library for every 20 or so lent.
_Recess Privileges_
Though the Library is primarily the Library of Parliament, it has
always been generous in allowing the use of its resources to students
and others. As early as 1875, while books could only be taken out by
members of Parliament, heads of Departments, and Judges, the Recess
Committee had discretion to allow the use of the Library for reference
and study.
The minutes and correspondence show that the demands were many and that
permission was frequently given. There was no general rule about
admission, and as a result individual application was necessary. Mr
Collier did his best to liberalise the privilege, but at the same time
he wanted the use limited to genuine students rather than to those who
wanted it for prestige and as a means of obtaining light reading.
A resolution of 1891 allowed the privilege to be granted on the
recommendation of a member of Parliament, head of a Government
Department, or local clergyman, but by the end of the century the right
was restricted to members of Parliament. The recess privilege did not
allow borrowers to take out current fiction though classic fiction
could be borrowed.
The rules have long permitted the use of the library for brief periods
by serious research workers. The position has now been placed on a
permanent basis, and students at the honours stage at the University or
undertaking serious research are allowed to use two special rooms in
the Library.
Here it might be well to mention the request that has recently been
made to allow the Library to keep open until 6 p.m. during the recess.
This has been done three times in the past, in 1892-93, in 1903-04, and
again in 1911, but the use was so small that the hours of 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. were quickly reverted to.
_The National Library_
Though the General Assembly Library is principally the Library of
Parliament, many of its functions are those of a national library and
this matter has been raised on many occasions. The earliest references
are those of James Collier in 1888, and his remarks are of interest,
"... the Library of the General Assembly [may] develop or, as is more
probable, bifurcate into a national library ..."
As the only large State library, it was natural that the General
Assembly Library should be regarded as the basis of a national library
and there were frequent references to this side of the Library's work
in the debates on copyright deposit in 1903 and 1913. About the same
time the Library Association meeting in Wellington carried a resolution
saying that the Library should be regarded as the nucleus of a national
reference library.
The matter was not forgotten but rather lay dormant until 1935 when the
Munn-Barr report on New Zealand libraries suggested the amalgamation of
the General Assembly and Turnbull Libraries, together with a country
lending department, to form a national library. This suggestion more or
less received the approval of the Government and plans were drawn up
for a new library building.
The war intervened, but since 1950 the question has become increasingly
prominent, and there have been two inquiries. While it is possible to
combine a purely legislative and national reference library, I have
doubts on the complete absorption of a parliamentary library by a
national library. In the United States, for example, the Library of
Congress gives both services, but Congress and its needs are supreme.
The library seemingly envisaged for New Zealand would have wider scope
and unless very carefully planned and managed, there could be conflict
between Parliament and the department controlling the library.
The Library also played its part in the establishment of the Country
and later the National Library Services. In 1935 Dr Scholefield
travelled overseas at the invitation of the Carnegie Corporation of New
York and on his return made a report on rural library services, which
turned further attention to this matter.
A group of New Zealand librarians interested the Carnegie Corporation
of New York in the proposal to organise a demonstration scheme in
Taranaki and asked Mr G. T. Alley to prepare plans. In 1937, however,
£3,000 was placed on the Estimates for the Country Library Service and
Mr Alley was appointed Director later in the year. For some time the
Service was also located in Parliament Buildings.
Twenty years earlier the Library had also assisted in the
reorganisation of the Turnbull Library as a State library. Mr J. C.
Andersen was for some time on the staff, resigning to become first
Librarian. In addition, both Mr Wilson and Dr Scholefield were in turn
Advisory Directors to the Turnbull Library until the post was abolished
in 1930.
_The Library as a Museum_
The Library has during its century collected many curios which should
really have been given to a museum. The Library Committee has had to
decide frequently whether historical relics could be displayed. In
1886, after the Taiaha of Wahanui presented to James Bryce had been
refused, the Committee laid down that nothing but books, manuscripts,
maps, etc., should be deposited without special permission.
However the Library possesses today many such relics. There are the
caskets containing the Freedoms of certain cities presented to Mr
Fraser, a similar collection of Mr Seddon's and of Sir Joseph Ward's,
the pen used by Mr Massey to sign the Treaty of Versailles, a kava
bowl, mats, etc., from Samoa, and many other items. The Library also
had for a time the Bishop Monrad etchings and the Chevalier pictures,
but these were handed over to the Turnbull Library and Academy of Fine
Arts respectively.
The display of such objects tends to attract to the Library visitors
not interested in the books, but whose conversation distracts more
serious readers.
_Purchase of Books_
Though today books are purchased in many countries most of the books
have always been obtained in England. The first books were bought from
Smith and Elder in London, but this was not continued. Instead, an
arrangement was entered into with a Mr Maberly of Auckland, partner in
a London firm of booksellers, to obtain and bind books uniformly.
In the following years the Library had several London agents, none of
whom were entirely satisfactory, while some were quite the reverse.
What the Library Committee wanted was a reliable buyer who could
provide books cheaply and in addition supply the more important books
as they were published without duplicating them in later orders.
Including the time taken for reviews to reach New Zealand, for them to
be read, the books to be ordered and dispatched to New Zealand, it
would be not far short of a year before a book published in England
reached the shelves of the Library.
After several changes of agent in quick time the Committee in 1883
asked the authority of Cabinet to use the Agent-General in London to
purchase books. This was given and book purchase was put on a happier
basis. This was particularly so in the first years when Sir Francis
Bell was Agent-General. Though the books were supplied by a bookseller
in Edinburgh, Sir Francis, as a former member of the Library Committee,
took a personal interest in the orders and anticipated the purchase of
many popular books.
The High Commissioner in London, successor to the Agent-General, has
continued to oversee the purchase of books for the Library either from
booksellers or from the publishers. He has been of invaluable
assistance to the Library in this task; and the assistance given in
this field is only paralleled by that of the other overseas agencies of
New Zealand, particularly those in the United States, Canada, and
Australia.
A large and increasing number of books has also been purchased from
booksellers in New Zealand. Particularly in the case of novels, it is
of advantage to inspect the book before buying a copy.
For many years books purchased in England were rebound uniformly in
morocco. In 1886, in an attempt to reduce costs, the Committee decided
that works costing less than 10s. were to be sent out in the ordinary
cloth binding. The more expensive and important works still continued
to be rebound in leather, but as time went on this too was discontinued
and all books were dispatched in the publisher's binding.