Latest news with #LibrariesTasmania
ABC News
26-07-2025
- General
- ABC News
After-hours Open Library Access program winning users over for flexibility and convenience
It has just gone dark in Tasmania's north-west and library lovers are starting to enter their local library. "It is like a secret library club," Sam McFarlane said. Mr McFarlane is using his library card to access the library after-hours. The library, in Penguin, is unstaffed, and he is one of only a few people inside now the doors have officially closed and are locked to the general public. "It's very thrilling," Mr McFarlane said. Mr McFarlane is one of 130 Tasmanians who have signed up to be Libraries Tasmania Open Library Access members. The Open Library Access program is being trialled at the Penguin and Devonport libraries, with members able to let themselves in after-hours to check out books and use the library's facilities when staff aren't around. "Once you're in the library, you can access all of the same services you do during normal hours," Libraries Tasmania service and program delivery coordinator Kerrie Grgurevic said "You could be using the computer or printing, you can borrow books. You can access the free wi-fi, or just sit and read the paper." The trial started at Penguin early in the year and expanded to Devonport in May. Ms Grgurevic said the self-service initiative was already happening elsewhere around the world. "We know how important libraries are to our communities, but the reality is that normal business hours don't suit everybody because life is busy," she said. "In our annual client surveys, there's certainly been lots of comments that clients want extra access, particularly on weekends. "We've looked to what other libraries nationally and internationally have been doing to address that challenge and there are examples of successful self-access libraries already, so we thought it made sense for us to investigate it for us." To become an Open Library Access member, Tasmanians need to be aged 18 and over and complete a 50-minute induction at their chosen library. Ms Grgurevic said during the induction, library staff take prospective members through their conditions of use, safety and emergency information, how to self-check out a book and a walk-through of the building. Members then sign contractual agreements. Once inducted, members are able to access the library they have been inducted at seven days a week, any time between 7am and 9pm. For author Jodi Wilson, the open access trial allows her to escape the chaos of writing and editing her books at home with four children. "Writing four books in the corner of my family home has been pretty chaotic, so open libraries is essentially a publicly-funded writing space for me," Wilson said. "It offers me that separation between work and home, and studies show that really is meaningful for a sustainable creative life." Rebecca Hodgkinson usually visits the Penguin Library with her four-year-old son Xavier and baby daughter Maisie. "With kids, things don't always go to plan, especially timeframes and opening hours and nap times, so for us it was about convenience and flexibility," Ms Hodgkinson said. Libraries Tasmania hopes to one day roll out the open access program at other libraries across the state and make it part of its "normal service". But the Community and Public Sector Union, which represents library workers, is concerned that unmanned library hours will result in eroded services in smaller communities and reduced work hours for staff. "The Liberal government will say there is support for this trial, but really the support is for libraries to be open longer, not for unstaffed libraries," the union's general secretary Thirza White said. "We're really worried that this is the thin edge of the wedge, and that what we'll see is that library workers will lose shifts on weekends and public holidays and we will see services eroded in some of our smallest communities. "Just last year the Liberal government tried to cut regional libraries' opening hours and only backtracked after community pressure." Ms White said the union would prefer to see more investment in libraries. "What we'd like to see is that library staff have more resources to run more programs and services, to increase participation in libraries," she said. "We want to make sure that when someone comes to the library, there's a friendly face there. Libraries aren't just about the buildings and the books, they're about librarians. "We know that many people are struggling with loneliness and libraries are an important solution to that, but not if they don't have staff." The union said questions asked about security and safety also had not been answered. The state government said security systems at the trial libraries had been upgraded to include more CCTV, security alarms, duress alarms and sensor lights. Mr McFarlane said even though staff were not present in the library outside of normal operating hours, he felt safe. "The way the program has been put together, and the process of the inductions and the way the staff familiarise you with the building and make you aware of the facilities and how to use them and to be safe in the library, is really comprehensive and reassuring," he said He said he would love to see more libraries open longer. You can find more information on the Open Library Access program on the Libraries Tasmania website
ABC News
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Music ephemera a rare glimpse into Tasmania's underground culture
Music posters and handbills spanning 30 years of live performance in Hobart have been donated to Libraries Tasmania. They offer a rare glimpse into underground music culture in Tasmania from the 1990s onwards, focusing on when bands largely relied on street advertising rather than the internet to promote shows. Acting heritage librarian Alex Tassell said memorabilia, such as music posters, band T-shirts and DIY music releases, was "really valuable" because it was ephemeral and often not kept for preservation purposes. Musician and library worker Julian Teakle donated the posters. He said they held huge sentimental value, but public access to documentation of Hobart's underground music scene was important. Mr Teakle can recall looking for expired local music advertisements when doing poster runs, starting in the 1990s, for his own bands and gigs he had organised. As he put posters up, he would take down expired local music posters for keeping. "I put a lot of hard work into this gig." He accumulated more than 150 items, some gathered on the streets of Hobart and others given to him by friends. Mr Teakle shared the advertisements on social media, on his page Goulburn Street Archive, but after decades of collecting, he questioned what to do with the physical posters and handbills. The items are now rare because they were not made to last. "I didn't want it to stay in my garage and get gradually damaged … I didn't want the silverfish to get them," Mr Teakle said. To ensure free access for current and future generations, he donated the collection to Libraries Tasmania. He said preservation of the posters was important to understanding street culture and life in Hobart. His donation to the library is now called the Teakle Poster Collection. "History isn't all about the big things, it's about what people were doing on a day-to-day basis." Mr Teakle said "All that is represented by some of these gigs is the poster, there's no other documentation. It is more than music documented on the posters and handbills Mr Teakle collected. Many of the venues where performances took place have ceased to exist. Venues such as Round Midnight, the Doghouse, which later became the Goulburn Hotel, and the Brisbane Hotel appear in the collection. Mr Tassel, who played in bands in Hobart, can remember sticky floors, stale beer and local characters in venues. He said people could respond quite emotionally to seeing library collection items that evoked memories. "I know so many people who were around this sort of music, who are really excited to see this sort of stuff," Mr Tassel said. The collection also preserves the work of local artists. Illustrations by internationally successful Tasmanian cartoonist Simon Hanselmann are on several posters. In 2022, his cartoon series Megg, Mogg and Owl had its animated debut on streaming service Hulu, featuring the voice of actor Macauley Culkin. Hanselmann's early designs are reminiscent of his current style. Not all posters and handbills in the collection feature the work of known artists; many are made with creative use of a photocopier and marker pens. "There's great variety," Mr Tassell said. "It's really the DIY thing of people [making] their own posters." The musicians and artists who created the posters and handbills now held by Libraries Tasmania likely never imagined they would be enclosed in archival-grade sleeves and made available for public access decades later. The memorabilia is part of a growing collection of cultural ephemera kept by the library. Band T-shirts, restaurant menus and stage show posters can also be found. Mr Tassell was particularly interested in donations that documented Tasmania's underground music scene. "I'm always happy to look and chat about things people may have and if there's a place for it in our collection," Mr Tassell said. Mr Teakle continues to find posters and handbills stashed away at home that he is donating to Libraries Tasmania. "There's a huge sentimental value, I look at these posters and they're pivotal moments of my life," Mr Teakle said. "But I know that as this is a public collection, I can access them at any time."
