Library Tourism Down Under

Last month we went to Australia on holiday. As a good librarian and tourist my first port of call in each location was the major libraries.

In Melbourne we visited the State Library of Victoria reference library on Swanston Street.



The La Trobe reading room







Redmond Barry Reading Room



After Melbourne, and a day on the beach, we arrived in Canberra and visited the National Library of Australia.



The Reading Room



They had a really interesting exhibition about The Dunera Boys.

We then had a bit more beach time before we got to Sydney. Sydney's major library is the State Library of New South Wales. It was undergoing some building work while we were there so wasn't quite as impressive as I'm sure it usually is.



The Mitchell Library Reading Room is being restored at the moment which was a shame, this is the reading room that is open at current.



We were stranded in Sydney for an extra week due to the ash cloud. A few days before we flew we were told we'd be stuck for months so I was planning on seeing if I could do some volunteering at the library. Fortunately it didn't come to that.

Each of these libraries had fantastic shops that made me wish I had a greater baggage allowance. I stocked up on novels while I was there as I'm finding Australian fiction poorly represented on the London Libraries Consortium Catalogue. I like to read about a destination before and after visiting to make the holiday feeling last longer. I particularly like Tim Winton and Helen Garner.

Australia has a real reading culture, in there are book shops and libraries everywhere. For example, in Canberra we went to use a laundrette in a suburb precinct and there were 4 places to buy books out of about 40 retail units. I really miss that about England, or more specifically London. and have particularly felt the lack of bookshops since Borders closed.