Everyone should make friends with their public library. Mine is one of my favourite places in my neighbourhood, and wherever you are, your public library should be one of your favourite places too. Why?
1) Free books.* Hello? And if books aren't your thing (well, what's wrong with you, for starters), there are magazines and most libraries now also have pretty good DVD and CD collections. Sure, it's not extensive, but browsing the St Kilda Library DVD section has seen me stumble along some classics that I would never have thought to pick up at a DVD store (or to, ahem, attain in other ways). Sure, you often have to place things on reserve and wait forever for them (I am currently 60 out of 69 in the waiting list for JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy), but this teaches you patience.
2) Everything you need to know about your local community, you can learn from your library. Okay, maybe not everything, but you can get a really great sense of the people in the area. You can tell this by the different languages stocked, the notices on the community board, or the kind of free seminars that are held.
3) That brings me to the next point - free events. I have been to talks about Buffy the Vampire Slayer at my library, poetry readings and book launches. I have overheard a talk on composting and seen flyers for something about worm farms (I think it was green week). Libraries also do cool things for kids, like storytime and craft things on school holidays.
4) Free wi-fi. St Kilda Library is usually packed with backpackers making the most of this. Before I got wi-fi at home, I spent even more time at the library.
5) The people watching is FANTASTIC. This relates a little to point 2. A lot of the time, people who hang out in the local library are just, you know, doing their thing. But sometimes, if you are lucky, their thing is being crazy. Or in the case of French backpackers, making out quite noisily while you are trying to concentrate on the paper you are writing. (Okay, not all French backpackers, but that one couple that time has tarred you all with the loved-up brush.)
And finally, 6) Free books. What? I thought it was worth mentioning twice.
So what's so special about St Kilda Library? I don't know, mainly just that it is my local, the place that I like to go to get a bit of work done yet at the same time get out of the house. Maybe if I moved away I would come to love my new local library as much as St Kilda, but for now it's just a familiar space. It had a bit of a refurbish recently so they have more computer banks and the like, but have maintain the slightly daggy decor that I think is important for any public library. I got a bit upset when they stopped counter service (the librarians and I used to have some good chats over the checkout) and installed self-service machines...but then a colleague who lives in the area told me that you can select "Pirate" as one of the language options. Arrrrrrrrgh.
*Yes, I know technically the books aren't free but are actually paid for by local rates and taxes, but it's not like you're paying for them upfront. And isn't it nice that our rates go to awesome things like books? read more
