Abstract
THE first report of the Public Library of South Australia, which was formed under the Libraries and Institutes Act, 1939, creating a Libraries Department under a Libraries Board of South Australia, with a Principal Librarian as administrative head, covers the half-year ending June 1940, and stresses the need for the permanent allocation of sufficient land for the natural growth of such an essential service. The various properties of the Public Library, the Museum and the Art Gallery have now been reallocated, but despite adaptations the accommodation for library work, particularly for staff and for the country lending service, is entirely inadequate. War conditions have not affected adversely the use made of the Library, as is shown by an increase in readers of more than 7,000 during the year, and the Library staff has been taxed to its utmost to provide information regarding all sorts of conditions arising from the War. Financial provision for books is still inadequate and the Board has recommended the establishment of a research department for handling requests for scientific, technical and economic information. For this a more extensive range of periodicals is urgently required. The country lending service has also been called upon for books beyond the limit of its capacity, and its work has grown so rapidly that early extension of accommodation is necessary to provide adequate working space. The Archives Department has reached the limit of its shelving accommodation and offers of many important series of documents, arising from the present extensive pulping of old records, cannot be accepted because of lack of accommodation.
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Public Library of South Australia. Nature 151, 248 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151248b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151248b0