March 2020
Page 7
Library Notes It has been a reasonably quiet time in recent weeks in the library, with not so many ‘new’ additions to our collection coming in. As is well known we are forever looking for more storage space and it’s times like this that we use for rearranging the shelves to utilise what space we do have in the best possible way. In the new millennium, (back in the year 2000) a new Library loan book register was initiated. That’s now twenty years ago and it is interesting to look back at that recorded history of our book lending. In the intervening time, some 1321 books have been taken out of the Library on loan to our members. That’s quite a lot of reading one way and another. It means that those members have no doubt read and absorbed a great deal about the history of motoring and all that that represents. Arithmetically, it equates to 5.7 books per month or just over one book per week, but measured over the number of members we have in our Branch, it means that only a minority of our members make use of the books and material that we have at our disposal. Looking through the names of the borrowers down the years brings back memories of members who have passed on, but also there are several who were borrowing books twenty years ago and who are still avid readers and borrowers. However, what is even more readily apparent, is that the same names keep cropping up, or in other words the folk who are borrowing books regularly are a relatively small part of our Branch. This begs the question as to what we as a Library team can do to bring more members into the group who are getting greater fulfilment from their interest in old vehicles by reading more about them. If you have never borrowed a book from the Library, but would like to, the team would like to invite you to come in and select your first book and also, if you have any idea which you think could improve our lending performance, please let us know. Come and visit any Thursday morning from 9:00a.m. or you can contact us at: cdwood@xtra.co.nz Chris Wood and the Library Team:—Owen Hayward, Colin Bott, Barry Birchall, John Stokes & Barry Robert.
