Cultural library finds new home
ABOUT five million books a year are destroyed by libraries alone, said Toowoomba’s Australian Cultural Library’s president Steve Towson.
“Stuff is removed from libraries every two years if it’s not borrowed,” he said.
“Stuff that is removed quite often is not the famous people but (the likes of ) Mrs Smith from Gayndah’s book of poetry, if it’s in Toowoomba, will be removed because it’s not deemed worthwhile of keeping.
“We (at the Australian Cultural Library) view the complexity of Australian culture as very important and the big artists and the small artists are just as important as each other.
“We send people to war all the time to fight for their way of life and their way of life is everything from music to art to poetry and the least we can do if we don’t have to is destroy stuff and put it on shelves and do the best we can do make it accessible.”
Mr Towson was speaking to The Chronicle during the official opening of the library’s new premises in the Chandler Building at 488 Ruthven St.
The library has been previously open in Toowoomba for the last five years and contains everything from books to wax cylinders, gramophones, pianola rolls, reel to reel films, beta cams, posters and artwork.
“Basically, anything that gives people an understanding of the complexities and the mass diversity,” Mr Towson said.
Mr Towson said the new library space allowed the volunteers to mould the space to the needs of the library.
“What you see today will be different in six months and different again in 12 months time,” he said.
“Libraries are constantly growing.”
Mr Towson said he was very pleased about the building’s lift, which would give the elderly community members better access to the library.
“We’ve got pianola rolls here and that kind of stuff can bring back memories for
them,” he said.
The library is open on Wednesdays and Thursdays
from noon to 5pm and on weekends for community events.
For more information visit The Australian Cultural Library on Facebook.