Stuart Kells’s speech at the launch of From Convict Printers to Book Arcades: The History of the Book in Australia Volume 1. Acknowledgement of country. Distinguished guests and representatives of Melbourne’s book community. It’s great to be back at the Athenaeum Library. Thanks for the opportunity to launch this important book – the definitive publication…
Category: Public Libraries
PMI Library: Much loved library is a legislative curiosity
After a long history of evolution, legislative changes mean the Prahran Mechanics Institute is poised for an even brighter future. In 1799 the physician and philanthropist Dr George Birkbeck gave a series of free lectures for the working men of Glasgow. Extremely popular, the lectures led to more permanent facilities dedicated to workers’ education: the Edinburgh…
The State Library of Victoria is facing a crisis. Is it time to rethink how public libraries are governed?
Stuart Kells The State Library of Victoria, founded in 1854, is one of the most visited libraries in the world. And right now it is in the middle of a crisis. Leading Australian authors such as Grace Yee, Michelle de Kretser and Tony Birch have resolved to no longer work with the library – unless…
Mildura Library, Mildura, Victoria, Australia
A Library Planet post by Fiona Kells The Mildura Library is housed in the Alfred Deakin Centre. The Centre, which was named in honour of Australia’s second Prime Minister, opened in 1997. Up until that time, the Mildura Library had occupied the nearby Carnegie Centre, a grand old dame of a building that opened in…
Library tourism by Mark Dapin
One way to get a sense of a country’s cultural touchstones is to visit its libraries — both the famous and lesser-known ones. BY MARK DAPIN Some years ago I was at a conference of international thriller writers (no, I hadn’t known they were a thing either) when a fellow Australian author suggested we visit…
State Library of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
A Library Planet post by Fiona Kells I visited the State Library of Queensland on a Thursday afternoon in May, 2023, and it was pumping: it just happened to be the opening day of the Brisbane Writers Festival. A happy and relaxed crowd of Festival attendees, participants and organisers, tourists, students, parents with young kids,…
Library Trek: Moulamein, Barham, Robinvale and Swan Hill
A Library Planet post by Rob Lee There are approximately 360 public libraries in New South Wales and 285 in Victoria.1 If you visited one library each day, five days each week, it would take two and a half years to see every municipal book space across these two regions (and this does not count…
Hyphen Library Gallery, Wodonga, Victoria, Australia
A Library Planet post from Wodonga Council. Opened in August 2021, Wodonga’s new library-gallery had more than 90,000 visits in its first 12 months. The name ‘Hyphen’ reflects the building’s twin purposes of art and literature. It also refers to the building’s amazing architecture and dash-like shape – the signature cantilever over the main entrance….
Vancouver Public Library, Canada: A photo essay
A Library Planet post by Christopher Hunt The (Central) Vancouver Public Library is at 350 W. Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 6B1, Canada.
Library Planet 