Report of the Honorary Librarian

Following on the appointment of the Library assistant and the completion of the shelving in the new stack-room, the Library is now undergoing a gradual rearrangement which offers also an opportunity to check the runs of journals and other holdings in the sections, as each is dealt with in turn. The arrears in the entry of accessions have now been overtaken, and the Library assistant is up-to-date in the handling of accessions.

During the year the number of accessions was 1,983 individual items. Nearly 600 borrowings were arranged, which involved the Library assistant in some 1,200 further separate transactions, including the searching out of the item, recording the loan, wrapping and mailing, if an inter-loan, recording the return of the item and its replacement on the shelves.

The Library assistant has totalled the face value of the accessions for a year: this amounts to £1,057 2s, a figure which indicates that the Library holdings have a face value in the order of at least £30,000 to £40,000, suggesting that the Society could well take further insurance covering the Library holdings. At the present time the cover is for £8,000, including £500 for the Carter Library and a further £500 on stocks stored in the Parliament Buildings.

The Society's binder has been unable to undertake work for the past year, only one volume being bound.

Checking has shown that our total number of Exchanges is now 416, a number lower than previously reported. This discrepancy represents mostly exchanges which have not become active since the end of the war, but these are slowly resuming—six more re-entered into exchange relations this year.

This report brings ample evidence of the value to the Society of the Library assistant, and it is fitting to record here the excellent services which Mrs. J. W. Brodie has rendered in the past year. L. R. Richardson, Hon. Librarian.

On the motion of Professor Richardson, the report of the Honorary Librarian was adopted.

In speaking to the report, Professor Richardson referred to the monetary value of the Library based on figures which had been taken out on recent accessions, and he gave notice that he would move that the matter of revaluing the Library for an insurance policy commensurate with its value be referred to the Standing Committee.

This motion was later carried.

In discussing the reasons for the small amount of binding done during the past year, it was disclosed that the Society's binder had not been able to undertake work which had been prepared for him.

Dr. Falla stated that the Dominion Museum was finding the Lumbeck method of binding suitable for many of the books in the Library, and it was much cheaper.