THE Riverland community has rallied around a recently installed free library outside the Riverland Central Church in Berri.
The joint collaboration between the Church, the Berri Barmera Library Service and the Barmera community Men’s Shed aims to give the community better access to books, particularly during this social isolation period.
“We knew a couple of places in Adelaide that had put a couple of free libraries up (and) we thought it might be worth exploring here,” said Peter Ison, Berri Barmera library manager.
“I’ve been sitting on the project for quite a few months now, but then David Crossfield from the Riverland Central Church approached me, and he knew that (two little) libraries were sitting in the Barmera Men’s Shed, and he said ‘we are happy to look after one out the front of the church’.
“So, when he said that, we thought this was a good opportunity, (and) they’ll be able to keep an eye on it.”
Riverland Central Church pastor David Crossfield said the Church stepped in because the libraries are a great way to address the community’s needs.
“We’re aware that up here in Berri North there’s a whole heap of people who may not necessarily have access easily to the regular library,” Mr Crossfield said.
“Since our church moved here just before Christmas last year, we have overseen a whole heap of needs, and (have looked) for ways to use this building.
“One of those was installing a library on the premises to help people access good books.”
Members of the community can access the miniature library at any time, and are welcome to both take and contribute books to be read, loved and shared by others.
Currently, the majority of the books have been sourced from the Berri Barmera Library Service and the Church, both from staff member’s collections and the library’s donations pile.
“We took about 30 books up there (to start off) last week,” Mr Ison said.
“Our idea was that we have a lot of people donating books to us at the library, and we have a bit of stall where we keep books out the back that we’ll use in the future or put out for sale.
“We don’t like throwing books out obviously, so if we can, we try to use, sell or donate them. “This is a way that excess stock from our library or donations we don’t need because we’ve got duplicate copies already, can (be taken) up there and put into that free library, and people can come and grab it.”
Mr Crossfield hopes residents will soon begin to contribute their own books and the collection will grow.
“The point of the little free library is that anybody can contribute,” he said.
“Anybody can put books in and anybody can take books out – it’s a community library project.”
And despite being brand new, Mr Crossfield said has already seen a positive response from the community, with books seemingly been exchanged not even a day after installation.
“Certainly, on Facebook we have seen the response has been fantastic,” Mr Crossfield said.
“There’s been a whole heap of people who are really encouraging both in their (Facebook) comments and likes.
“We’ve had a reasonable turn-over of books so far – some books have appeared there and some books have gone, which has been really exciting.”
Mr Ison said the Berri Barmera Library Service would be temporarily suspending deliveries to the little free library from their collection, but encouraged community members to still contribute their own.
He also said there was potential for the second library to be set up somewhere out of a town or in a smaller town – perhaps in Monash or Cobdogla – but those plans would be put on hold until the COVID-19 situation settled down.