The Frontyard Library
Frontyard library was founded on the decommissioned Australia Council Research Library and is now a growing collection of material related to, and generated by, the Australian arts community.
BOOKS ARE FOR USE. EVERY READER [THEIR] BOOK. EVERY BOOK ITS READER. SAVE THE TIME OF THE USER. THE LIBRARY IS A GROWING ORGANISM. (S. R. Ranganathan, 1931)
The Australia Council’s library was decommissioned in November 2014 due to very low usage levels over a sustained period. While the collection was small the Council has endeavoured to have key materials remain publicly available through donations to other libraries. Items that were unique to the Australia Council collection have been offered to the National Library of Australia in Canberra.
We would like to thank:
- The Australia Council for the Arts and Rachel Smithies and Amanda Coombes in particular for their generous donation of the collection to Frontyard.
- Marrickville Library for lending us some bookends
- Isabelle Hore-Thorburn, Eddie Hopely, Kailana Mia Sommer and Peter Williamson for helping cataloging this mammoth.
An incomplete list of items at the time of decommissioning is available. Not all the items listed are within the collection.
Library Working Group
The Library Working Group (all welcome) tends to the ongoing care and exploration of the library. Get in touch with the Library Working Group at the Slack|#library channel in the Frontyard Slack.
Projects
- Weeding
- Organising
- New acquisition policy
- Moving to Slims catalogue
- Catalogue the ephemera collection
- Become a lending library
- Publishing
