Friday essay: the library – humanist ideal, social glue and now, tourism hotspot

Stuart Kells, La Trobe University Last year two Danish librarians – Christian Lauersen and Marie Eiriksson – founded Library Planet: a worldwide, crowdsourced, online library travel guide. According to them, Library Planet is meant to inspire travellers “to open the awesome book that is our world of libraries, cities and countries”. The name of the…

World of the Book: State Library of Victoria permanent exhibition

A Library Planet post by Fiona Kells Established in 1854, barely 20 years after the city of Melbourne was founded, the State Library of Victoria is Australia’s oldest public library and one of the world’s first free libraries. (See Jes Layton’s 2019 Library Planet post on the State Library of Victoria for more information.) A…

The Manchester Central Library – a community hub in neoclassical surroundings

Written by Concetta La Spada, library tourist from Cambridge For how to contribute to Library Planet look here:  https://libraryplanet.net/contribute/ In early July, I visited Manchester for the CILIP Conference. I had never been to Manchester and, during my free time, I could visit this city of such important history for the UK. During the Industrial Revolution…

Nørrebro Public Library – a new and buzzing community living room

Written by Library Planet editor Christian Lauersen, director of Libraries and Citizen Services in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark. For how to contribute to Library Planet look here: https://libraryplanetnet.wordpress.com/contribute/ I live on Nørrebro, a part of Copenhagen. It is a neighborhood what are characterized with a large amount of diversity when it comes to ethnical background, economic status and social…

Marrickville Library and Pavilion, Sydney, Australia – Magic in Marrickville

Written by Paul Jewell (Business Librarian, Western Sydney University) @pdjewell For how to contribute to Library Planet look here:  https://libraryplanetnet.wordpress.com/contribute/ Marrickville Library main entrance (picture courtesy of Inner West Council Library and History Services) Acknowledgment of Country Firstly, we recognise the Library is situated on land which was home to the Gadigal and Wangal Peoples of the Eora Nation. The library site…