December 1958 School Magazine

December, 1958

BrisbanE• Girls' Grammar School Mag.azine

Dec:ember, 1958:

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Magazine

The Reference Library has been open from 9.30 a .m. to 4 p.m. during the week and since June it has been open to boarders for two hours on Saturdays and two and a half hours on Sundays. To provide this service a number of girls not on ihe Library Committee have given time to the Library and I should like to thank them all. Work by members of the Library Committee in the Reference Library has been of a very high standard and in particular I should like to mention certain girls who have not only supervised during their rostered hours but have given extra thought and care to their sections and work in the Library: Joy Tremayne, Anne Hutton, Susan Williamson, Helen Webster, Rhonda Vickers, Susan Pechey and Madeleine Penman. While mentioning the names of girls who have given outstanding service to the Library this year I must include the bookbinding girls, who , apart from normal Library duties, have carried a load of mending and processing of new books which must have been heavier than in any other year, and comment on the willingness and devotion with which they carried out iheir work and particularly on the care, skill and leadership with which Margaret Lauder and Ann Pressland conducted the group this year. The number of very sick books to which they gave new life and the new books which they protected and strength- ened must make the work of bookbinders in future years much lighter. Library periods began this term with most third and fourth forms having periods in the Library during which they pursued a planned course of reading. It is hoped that as soon as the work of cataloguing is completed instruction in the use of the catalogue, classification and Library techniques will be given to all forms. Some Third and Fifth Forms have worked in the Library with their subject mistresses on His tory and Geography assign- ments and apart from the informa tion they obtained they learned a great deal incidentally about the use of books and the Library. The reference library has been well used by all forms in the lunch hour. Books have been lent from the classified section this term-some overnight and others for the normal 14-day period. We have been able in most cases to answer inquiries from staff and girls through our own book stock. This clearly shows . the vision and thought which have gone into the building up of the Library over the years. The queries we have not been able to answer ourselves we have been able to reply to through the

New books have been added to this Library all through these lmt five months-173 in all. Of these new books 79 were gifts from parents, old girls and friends of the Library. All these new books have been catalogued. Of the existing fiction all books up to the letter M have been catalogued and it is hoped that the work of cataloguing the fiction will be comple':ed by the beginning of next year. The Fiction Library has been well used during the lunch hour and a new borrowing system was introduced on Monday, July 21st. This system enables me to give you some borrowing figures that may be of interest to you. Since the new system was introduced 2,293 books have been lent. Magazine reading is steadily increasing. Library representatives from third and fourth forms, as well as the Vth and VIth formers who have done duty at the charging desk, have helped a great deal in the running of the Fiction Library. There are several girls who should be thanked for the excellent work they have done towards keeping the room attrac- tive and tidy-Dawn Ramsay, Sara de Vidas, Else Butz-Olsen, Patricia Hutton, and Merrilyn Leagh-Murray. The othms have all done their jobs well but these girls have had extra calls made on their time to which they have always responded. I should like, too, to thank Miss Thomas who has been extremely helpful to me personally with information and sugges~ lions for the Fiction Library. The Reference Library : The cataloguing and classification of books in the Reference Library is moving ahead slowly. With the help of Miss Dunn, who has typed a number of subject cards for me, over 400 books have been catalogued. Of these, 142 were new books, 74 of which were presented by friends of the Library. The cataloguing and labelling of the excellent collection left to the Library by Vera Morgart Cottew is now being done and this collection will be housed separately within the Art Section. Shelf guides and section pesters are being prepared by Mr. Timmermans. All the books on the shelves have a classification number pencilled on the inside cf the back cover, but as they are catalogued they will be more accurately numbered and lettered en the spine. They will also be repaired and strength- ened where necessary. 60

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