Merry was one of the lucky people to received a Street Library from the Prospect Council Street Library Grant. Merry shares her Street Library story with us and is loving the people dropping in to share and take a book.
I’ve always loved reading, books, libraries and bookstores and love sharing favourite books with others. For a while I was a volunteer at our local Oxfam second hand bookshop – but it was a bit of a problem as it was way too tempting and I kept bringing home more books than I took in as donations.
Not surprisingly, the idea of having a Street Library has long been an attractive idea for me so when I read that our local Prospect Council was obtaining ten of them, and anyone in the community could put in a bid for one, I rushed off an application. And lucky me got this one. It came in unpainted timber, so I had the fun of personalising it with paint. I’m no artist, but I love colour, so it has a bright pink door, and green sides, with a yellow shelf and splodges of yellow on the green outer case.
Prospect is a very diverse and vibrant community. There are houses complete with back gardens with chickens and fruit trees, and smaller workers’ cottages and units too. There are elderly residents who have lived here most of their lives and newly arrived migrants and lots of young families. Milner Street stretches between two main roads, with an early learning centre at one end and a Greek Orthodox Church at the other end, so there is a lot of passing traffic. And the library does stand out in the street and is very quickly getting attention, and proving it’s popularity. The first books were placed in the library before the cement for the post on which the library stands was even dry, and before I had put in any myself! And that first donation was three lovely children’s books. Thanks to this sharing neighbourhood I’ve got plenty of books to keep the library well-stocked and frequently refreshed.
It’s great fun to check each day and see what has disappeared and what’s newly arrived. And it’s a delightful way to meet more members of the community too, as people stop by and linger to check out the latest additions.
51 Milner Street, Prospect, South Australia, 5082, Australia
