Our amazing public libraries

Recently, I became aware of the amazing services that our state and local governments provide to all citizens in the form of our public libraries.

Most council areas in Adelaide have at least one local branch or physical location. These places are amazing, particularly for students who might be wary of regularly heading into a busy campus every day, but are looking for a change of scenery from their usual home workspace.

Not only do they provide physical locations to study, work or just read, they also have an amazing breadth and depth of resources. These include physical books, magazines and newspapers, all of which you can request online and pick up at a time that suits, as well as a substantial online e-book library. I was very pleasantly surprised at how many of my searches for, lets face it, pretty obscure book titles related to my research, found the resource sitting their, waiting for me to access it, all for free!

These libraries are a classic example of a public good, and a place of both physical and virtual community.  COVID-19 has shown us many things, but none have I think been more important than the realisation that we are not just individuals, floating unmoored from those around us, but we are a community that should, and indeed must, band together.

These public libraries are a concrete reminder and a tangible expression of that idea, and something I think more South Australians, particularly us young people, should take advantage of and get involved with!