History Corner: The Munn-barr Report
THE MUNN-BARR REPORT
Funded by the Carnegie Corporation, the 1934 Munnbarr Report was a publication that radically shaped the future of New Zealand’s library development. Bringing together the issues and challenges faced by libraries across the country, the report became a key document for setting the New Zealand Library Association’s agenda over the next decade.
John Barr, Auckland Public Library’s chief librarian, had already made his mark on Auckland’s library services. Trained in Glasgow, and arriving with library experience in Scotland and Australia, Barr opened six suburban branch libraries across Auckland, advocated to abolish lending subscriptions, and ordered the central library’s twelve foot high shelving units be cut down to a more welcoming seven feet tall.
In 1932, the Carnegie Corporation of New York offered Barr a visitor’s grant to study library practice in the United
States. Carnegie Corporation president Frederick Keppel suggested New Zealand follow Australia’s example and conduct a stocktake of the current situation in New Zealand’s library sector. Following a vote by the Libraries Association of New Zealand, the Association made a formal request to the Carnegie Corporation for help with the survey.
The Americans sent Pennsylvanian library director Ralph Munn to carry out the work alongside John Barr. Ralph Munn was also behind the Munn-pitt Report, the similar survey the Carnegie Corporation was funding for Australia’s library sector. The pair and their wives (Jessie Barr was also a librarian), toured the country, stopping in city and university libraries to assess what worked and what needed to change.
The finished report made ten major recommendations, bringing problems that had been discussed for years in the library sector together into one handy document. The pair were critical of the subscription system in public libraries, advocating for free public libraries instead. They were also concerned by the lack of a national library, and the disparity in service between city and rural libraries. Munn and Barr advocated for introducing professional training for librarians to postgraduate level, and free library services for primary schools.
The Munn-barr Report, along with New Zealand’s improving economy as the Great Depression lifted, helped to give our library sector a new lease on life over the next few years. Library Association branches were formed across the country, the Country Library Service was established, the New Zealand Library Association was incorporated by an act of Parliament, and formal librarianship qualifications were established.
Nicole Thorburn; (@nicole_thorburn) is a library assistant and heritage geek at Thamescoromandel District Libraries. She studied history at the University of Waikato, and worked in both museums and archives before moving into libraries. In her spare time, she writes Adventures in the Archives, a monthly column about the quirkier side of Thames’ history for the Grahamstown Gazette.