The Stratford Library branch is open!

Congratulations to Cairns Libraries and the Cairns City Council for the opening of the fabulous new Stratford Library branch. Stratford is my local branch, so I was a keen attendee of the official launch on Friday 17 April. The guest speaker for the launch was Dr Alan Bundy, and he presented a wonderful speech on the role of libraries in modern communities. The paper he based his speech on is Places of Connection: New Public and Academic Library Buildings in Australia and New Zealand. Dr Alan Bundy is the former University Librarian for the University of South Australia and the current President of Friends of Libraries Australia.


Claire Ovaska
Technical Librarian for Flightline Services

National Library building turns 40

The National Library of Australia is celebrating 40 years since the opening of its iconic building in Canberra.

The concept for the National Library emerged from federation and in the 1920s the collection was moved from Melbourne to Canberra. But by the mid-1950s the collection was being stored in 15 different buildings across Canberra. It was not until 1961 that Sydney firm Bunning and Madden was appointed to design a new home for the hundreds of books, photographs and documents. In March 1966, Sir Robert Menzies laid the foundation stone for the building on the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin. Two-and-a-half years later Prime Minister John Gorton officially opened the library and the entire collection was finally brought together under one roof.

National Library Director-General Jan Fullerton says the building, with its Parthenon-like columns, is considered one of Canberra's landmarks. "It's a fabulous building, it's a building that's stood the test of time, a classic building," she said. "But it's the content that's really exciting. The National Library's responsibility is to collect all documents relating to Australia and Australians. So every single thing that tells the story of Australia." Ms Fullerton says the library collects more than books. "People tend to think 'library, books', but of course our collecting is much, much wider than that," she said. "So pictures, maps, oral history sound recordings ... things that come in the mailbox on weekends that tell us what the price of pizzas are - those sorts of things are important social documents. It's the accumulation of all those little pieces that really add up to marvelous institutions."

From: ABC News 25-Aug-08

Libraries second most popular cultural venue

The Australian Bureau of Statistics says figures show libraries are the nation's second most popular cultural venue, behind cinemas.

The figures on library habits were released to coincide with National Library and Information Week. This year's theme is 'Libraries are for everyone' and it seems Australia agrees. In 2006, 46 per cent of Australians over 18 visited one. Over a 12-month period in 2005 and 2006, females were more likely to visit, with 41 per cent making the trip compared with 27 per cent of males. Almost 1.5 million children made the journey to the library outside of school hours. During that time, state and territory governments spent $394 million on libraries - just under $20 per person.

Source: ABC News 21-May-08