Old news from Armidale and New England

Thursday 29 June 1944, The Sydney Morning Herald

The formation of public libraries in New South Wales would be greatly assisted by the permission granted to them this week to import fiction and general literature from the United States, the principal librarian at the Public Library, Mr. J. Metcalfe, said yesterday.

Mr. Metcalfe, who is also executive member of the Book Publishing Committee and the Book Sponsorship Committee, said that about a dozen new public libraries were already planned under the recent State Library Act, including libraries at Broken Hill, Inverell, Grafton, Wagga, Lismore, Jerilderie, Glen Innes, and a children’s library at Albury.

These centres could now go ahead with their plans in the knowledge that they would not be affected by the previous ban on the import of general literature from the United States.

A booksellers’ representative said that the trade was disappointed that greater freedom had not been given for the import of general literature from the United States.

“Many standard classics are unobtainable in London since bombing destroyed publishers’ stocks and proof sheets,” he said. “We are not asking for permission to import ‘Deadwood Dicks’ and cheap thrillers. Limited import of otherwise unobtainable classics and good quality general literature could be permitted from the United States.”