“shhh!” read all about it
Congratulations to our Sydney colleagues on a fabulous story in the November issue of The (Sydney) magazine (pp48-52), issued with today’s Sydney Morning Herald. The title is: “Shhh! Read all about it” with the subheading: “Don’t believe everything you read about libraries being close to extinction”. Writer Barry Divola profiles 5 individuals who represent today’s libraries:
Kiersten Fisburn, Manager of Culture and Libraries for City of Sydney talks us through that hip temple of books that is the new Surry Hills Library and Community Centre (one of my current favourites). Kiersten says “Libraries should be more than just about books on shelves … they should serve their local area, make people feel welcome and be a place where you can borrow an armful of books and feel as if you’ve had a shopping experience without spending a cent”.
ABC radio and television journalist, Steve Cannane, paints a picture of undertaking research in the iconic Mitchell Library at the State Library of NSW. Naturally he talks about the treasures of this great institution but he also talks about the inclusiveness of its clientele; “so many people around you are working, from high school students to people doing their family histories, to other writers and journalists”.
Kat Mayo, an IT consultant confesses that her romance reading habit initially drew her to Ultimo Library “I knew I was spending too much”! Visits to the Library have since become family affairs with Kat ensuring that her children and husband have their own library cards so that her borrowing quota isn’t taken up by their interests. Way to go.
“In my last year of school I thought ‘I buy books, I read books, I love books. I’ll become a Librarian. It was that simple”. Those are the words of Alan Tasker, Field Librarian at the State Library of NSW. It’s Alan’s job to source and assess the archives, records and collections of people who wish to donate to the library or as Alan says “they pay me to visit people”. Seems to me we need to get Alan out to Careers expos.
The final vignette is of Richard Barclay, Manly Library’s Mobile Librarian. While most mobile’s are prime movers Richard drives a golf cart and operates the Manly Library Afloat services which offers loans to commuters making the journey from Manly to the Sydney CBD. The service operates from 7.15am to 9.15am Monday to Friday and last year he issued 3,000 books with the number steadily increasing. Richard remarks in Summer every second person tells him he has the best job in the world (and I think I might agree) but more tellingly people also say “just seeing you here every morning reminds me that I need to read more”.
If you can get hold of it do “read all about it”. I was given a tip off that it was going to be in today’s Magazine last night by a Sydney colleague during the National Advisory Congress teleconference and as the publication dosen’t make it to newsagents in Orange I had to bribe a friend in transit through Sydney to bring it home today on the “first available flight”. Obviously she appreciates the value of libraries and arrived just after 2pm proffering the requested glossy.
Cheers
Jan
Jan Richards
ALIA President