After launching in December 2009, Mount Gambier Library has already been labelled the ‘best smaller city public library in the world’ by industry journal APLIS (Australasian Public Libraries and
Information Services).
Over the past few years, libraries have become much more than a place to borrow books. They have evolved as a place where people come to sit and read, listen to music, undertake research, socialise and connect. Libraries have developed into places that are a focus of community activity.
Mount Gambier City Council has recognised this and since 2005, the Mount Gambier Library has implemented many community based initiatives, resulting in increased patronage.
But being located beneath the Council building and the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre – a building within a building that suffered from accessibility issues and an extreme lack of space – there was a need to relocate and expand the library and its resources to realise its potential as a true community asset.
As South Australia’s second largest city, the City of Mount Gambier is located equal distance from Adelaide and Melbourne and has a population of 24,250 people.
The City’s new Library and Community Centre is now located at the site of the former Council car garage and the Civic Centre carpark, which was pulled down to accommodate the new centre.
The development is part of the $15 million ‘Mount Gambier – Vision for the Future Towards 2015’ plan, which aims to revitalise the City Centre of Mount Gambier.
Library Manager Cathryn Harris said the Mount Gambier Library and Community Centre revitalises many of the community services offered by Council, delivering an innovative suite of services and programs, onsite, online and throughout the wider Mount Gambier region.
“It is a key community site, a place of social contact where individual and community learning has a distinct and valued role,” she said.
The Library and Community Centre is equipped with lounges, coffee tables and casual seating strategically positioned to allow customers to read in a comfortable informal setting.
An integrated café with indoor and outdoor seating options provides the community with a central meeting point for library use or simply to engage in the company of others. A number of educational and meeting rooms are also available, including a local history room, learning lounge, group room, meeting room, a multipurpose room which can be divided in two, an activity room, study rooms and a parenting/nursing room.
Mount Gambier Mayor Steve Perryman said the library is a fantastic new centre for the community.
“The new library has been a huge success and has doubled the business of the old library with 7,000 visitors on its opening day last December; over 18,000 in its first week of operation; and 50,400 passing through the doors in October this year,” he said. “It’s vitally important to provide our community with the resources to connect and engage with one another in an open, welcoming and friendly place that is accessible to all.
“The public library and community centre allows schools, groups and individuals to meet, learn, research and conduct business in the centre, but it is much more than a physical redevelopment – it has challenged perceptions of what a library is and can be.”
In addition to a sustained increased in visitation, library staff have also noticed a steady increase in loans. For example, borrowing from the music collection has increased by 80 per cent, DVDs by 50 per cent, adult non fiction by 300 per cent and youth fiction by 60 per cent.
“An increase in local purchase funding has allowed us to supply more copies of the latest fiction books to assist with the huge demand, and in turn, has reduced the number of complaints about the lack of new books,” Cathryn Harris said.
“Saturday storytelling was also introduced in September and has proven a huge success with families – especially the dads who would normally miss out due to work commitments.”
For further information contact Cathryn Harris, telephone
(08) 8721 2541.
