e nearest School Library Service office.

The headquarters office at Wellington is responsible for the
coordination of the service, for the selection, ordering, classifying,
and cataloguing of new books and their dispatch to district offices, the
maintenance of a comprehensive collection of children's and young
people's books used to meet requests which cannot be supplied from local
offices, and the distribution of books to schools and public libraries
in or near Wellington city and the Hutt Valley. To enable children at
smaller country schools to see and to choose for themselves from a wide
range of books, the possibilities of service by book van are being
considered.

Since its establishment schools joining the service have paid a
subscription at the rate of 1s. per pupil (Standard 1 and upwards) for
each of the first two years. Ministerial authority was given during the
year to discontinue this levy.

Schools borrowing books are asked to accept responsibility for (a)
safe-keeping of books while on loan to the school, including books
issued to members of staff for school use; (b) return of books when due;
(c) payment for books lost or damaged beyond fair wear and tear; (d)
payment of freight and postal charges from school to School Library
Service office.

Books are made available to special institutions controlled by the
Education Department. Primary pupils of the Correspondence School are
provided with individual postal service from district offices. Child
welfare institutions, training centres, health camps, and other special
groups are given service according to their needs. Teachers' training
colleges, young people's groups, kindergartens, and nursery play centre
supervisors are also helped. Visits to School Library Service offices by
teachers in training are arranged wherever possible.

Assistance to several Pacific Island schools has been continued from the
Auckland office by means of extended loans. Under this system the
schools receive an original bulk loan which they check annually,
reporting losses and returning damaged and worn books for replacement,
wherever possible, by new titles, so that loans will not degenerate into
collections of old books. The schools concerned were listed in last
year's annual report. The desirability of extension of this service is
constantly in review.

During the year members of the staff acted as librarians at the usual
teachers' refresher courses. Appropriate collectio