Thursday Island Creative Library Project - 20141. The library

A children’s library opened on Thursday Island on 16th November, 1949. The library was a huge success when it opened, with the local newspaper reporting that only 16 books remained in the library for the second day after what must have been a frenetic first day of activity. Since opening, the library has continued to play a role as a much loved community facility.

Now, situated in the heart of the Thursday Island community, this library is housed in a building attached to and owned by the local supermarket. The local Council had for some time sought to refurbish the library to re-engage with its community and to deliver to the residents of Thursday Island a contemporary library service.

The challenges of delivering a modern library service which met the flexible needs of the community within a small footprint were numerous. Design consultant Kevin Hennah provided advice on the design and fit-out of the library, including furniture and fittings, and the team of State Library and Torres Shire Council staff embarked on an ambitious refurbishment for the library space.

Thursday Island Library received $70,000 worth of funding through the Online Access in Public Libraries (OPAL) Program in 2014. The aim of the project was to refurbish the Thursday Island library, to showcase best practice in technology, use of space, design and fit-out, signage, access to digital collections and, access to digital libraries

2. The challenges

The Thursday Island library had recently been relocated, but there remained some challenges. Among these were:

The library had declining usage, and the collections were not being borrowed. As the library was only staffed on a part-time basis, it was difficult to find time to develop and implement new or alternative programs, or develop a future direction for the library service. Items from the Adult Fiction, Adult Non Fiction and Picture book collections accounted for 7 out of 10 items loaned with the loans of Adult Non-Fiction collection increasing over time, a trend which was unlike the majority of other libraries in Queensland.

The library had a total of 5000 items in its collection, all displayed ‘spine out’ and the small space was cluttered with shelves, leaving little room for chairs, other furniture and no ability to utilise the space in a flexible manner.

3. The plan

Design consultant, Kevin Hennah, was engaged to visit Thursday Island library, assess the layout and provide advice and guidance on redevelopment of the space. Following a visit to Thursday Island with representatives of State Library in February 2014, Kevin provided a detailed proposal for refurbishment of the library and its collections.

Kevin’s concepts aimed to make the space less cluttered and better organised with increased functionality to support library programming.

How:

introduction of mobile shelving and furniture relocation of key collections around the walls of the library. housing the collection using face out shelving installation of bay end panels to increase face out displays large multi-media screen iPads for public internet access improved signage

This allows for ultimate flexibility when using the space while contemporary furniture and fittings ensure the space is light, bright and welcoming.

Thursday Island library Design Overview PDF

4. The fit-out and results

Equipment, suppliers and cost

Product Supplier BudgetFURNITUREComputer table RAECO $6,696.80

Ottomans (2), moona chair, moona bar stool, laptop table, typist chair

RAECO $3,938.01

Book boxes (2) Robertson Commercial Joinery $2,464.00

Ying Yang desk RAECO $575.01Rusty dog (2) RAECO $157.98SIGNAGEShelf, front windows, wifi advice, decals Merchandising Libraries $4,104.16

SHELVINGShelving, including book ends, book trolley RAECO - Merv Murray $9,965.82

ITComputers (4) Lenovo $5,196.00iPad air (3) Apple $2,397.00TV and mount Harvey Norman, Cairns $1,240.00

Microsoft Office 2013 Home and Business (4)

JB HiFi $1,131.80

Printer (1) Apple $329.95iPad air cases (3) Gumdrop $264.85

OTHERCarpet Supplied by Council – local contractor $5,000.00Design consultant’s fee $2,618.00FreightTravel & accommodation for install team

5. The learnings

Logistics: As with any remote site, ordering from several suppliers and following up on freight and delivery of items to Thursday Island was a challenging task. Orders need to be better aligned, with responsibility for checking items received shared with the local council.

It is not all about the fit-out. While there was no effort to promote the fit-out/ redesign in the local community while it was actually happening, there was also no effort to create a launch or small program of events to coincide with the fit-out/redesign. As several items of furniture and equipment had not arrived in time it was felt that the library may not be ready for a community launch until a later date.

In retrospect, there were missed opportunities to promote the actual fit-out/redesign activity in the local community and a small schedule of programming at the completion of the fit-out/redesign should have been created. This would have rejuvenated community interest in the library immediately.

Mentoring/ networking opportunity. A significant change to the layout of a library service such as this provides an excellent opportunity to engage other public libraries to assist with professional development of local staff. State Library continues to work to encourage Thursday Island staff to attend professional development opportunities, while working more closely with other libraries in North Queensland to share ideas about possible programs which would be of interest to the local community.