Life on the West Island - Shhh!

Many West Islanders will remember the “cone of silence” which enveloped school and municipal libraries in times past, having experienced the terse Shhh! of the fierce librarians who patrolled the quiet zones of the hallowed shelves of books, seeking out those who dared to whisper to their companions or giggle at humorous passages they were reading.

Times change, and for years, “experts” have been predicting the end of printed books and the demise of the community library. But instead, libraries are thriving and expanding, becoming humming hubs of community activity and no longer insisting on absolute silence – in fact, they are positively encouraging quite rowdy activities for people of all ages.

In the past few weeks, Life on the West Island (LWI) has explored a number of disparate libraries and found them pulsing with life. Here are a few examples of what we found.

Gerringong Public Library

This new library is housed in the restored and renovated School of Arts and incorporates a gallery space, a well-stocked kitchen, a community historical museum and meeting/function rooms. Of course, it also has lots of books! We attended four sessions of the Sydney Writers’ Festival with around 40 others, viewing interesting conversations with prominent authors, which were live streamed onto a large screen in one of the function rooms. Between sessions, the Friends of the Library provided tea, coffee and delicious snacks. The festival, which attracts large live audiences, also provides free video links to these sessions to dozens of regional libraries.

A week later, we hosted a Worldwide Knit in Public event at the same venue, with displays of Wrap With Love blankets knitted and crocheted for distribution free of charge to needy people around the nation and across the world. Since humble beginnings in Dubbo almost 30 years ago, the organisation has donated almost 600,000 blankets to refugees, victims of war and disasters and homeless people. As part of the event, there was a noisy circle of about 30 who chatted and joked for four hours as they knitted ever more 25cm squares to be joined into new blankets. At the same time, a boisterous children’s storytime was taking place in another part of the library, advertised to include books, songs, puppets, music and movement. A noisy good time was had by all.

Orange Public Library

Set in the attractive regional city of Orange, this library is part of a wonderful civic precinct which includes an extensive Art Gallery, a Regional Museum, a performance theatre, a bustling café, an outdoor amphitheatre and an information centre – with a conservatorium of music to be added soon. The large Orange library has lots of computer workstations and plenty of meeting and function rooms. We were there to deliver another 500 books to the wonderful Mary Elizabeth Byrnes collection of thousands of books of Australian literature, originally assembled by poet, author and English teacher John Byrnes in memory of his late mother, who was born in Orange and was an early expert on Australian bush ballads and folklore. There was lots of conversation and activity in this great regional library.

Eugowra Bushrangers’ Museum and Library

Eugowra, about an hour’s drive from both Orange and Forbes, was the site of a celebrated raid on the gold escort coach by Ben Hall’s gang of bushrangers in 1862. The small town of around 600 people also suffered a devastating flood last November, when after torrential downpours two tiny creeks turned into raging torrents and swept away or severely damaged over 80% of the village’s buildings. Two residents were drowned and many locals have survived in caravans for months, although some have recently moved into single room “pods” on stilts and are attempting to salvage or rebuild their ravaged homes. We were there to deliver a carload of Wrap With Love blankets to the local CWA. In conjunction with Orange Library, we are now donating books and shelving to help attempt to create a small community library to replace the one which was swept away in the floods from the Eugowra Bushrangers’ Museum and Library. There is no quiet in this library, with lots of rebuilding going on and enthusiastic sharing in refreshments supplied by locals and visitors from the coffee and food trucked parked nearby.

Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts Library

This library in Pitt Street, Sydney, is in the West Island’s oldest School of Arts, founded in 1833. While its well-stocked central circulating collection resembles the traditional Shhh! libraries, it is surrounded by a hive of activity, with members’ groups playing Mah Jongg, chess and bridge and its spacious theatre hosting talks, presentations and movies. Celebrated author Tom Keneally has an office and large book collection there, where he presents sessions on how to write a novel, ways to solve cryptic crosswords and rugby league lore, among others. Once a quiet haven in the middle of a bustling city, it is now a lively centre for literature, arts and culture.

Rhythmic Shushing

LWI was not admonished to keep quiet in any of these libraries with a fierce Shhh! But in one of them, we found fascinating information on one of those gadgets which so fascinate our American cousins, claiming to calm and quiet infants with a battery-operated mechanical Shhh!:

The Baby Shusher’s rhythmic shush reminds your baby of being inside mom, where they were inundated 24 hours a day with loud sounds of blood flow and other utero noises (up to 95 dBs, or the sound of a very loud vacuum cleaner). What may sound harsh at first is very calming to your baby. Drawing on time-tested practices, the Baby Shusher presents loud, rhythmic shushing noises to help your baby back to sleep. Baby Shusher – “The Sleep Miracle” for only $128.19, plus handling and postage.

So, next time you want your children to be quiet, don’t take them to your noisy West Island library – just invest in a Baby Shusher and all will be well!