Libraries were the reason for going to Tasmania, and well worth it, it was too.
On Saturday it was
LINC Tasmania what was the State Library of Tasmania but now united online as LINC with the whole public library network of the State. We’d been led to believe it would be a DIY tour but when they heard how many were coming (22 of us!) a couple of staff hastily came on board to conduct tours, so we saw and learned much more than we would have as DIY visitors.
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| State Library building - newly heritage listed |
We started at The Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, a collection bequeathed to Tasmania by the Allport family with enough cash to make it possible to still be adding to the collection. The exhibition space was divided into rooms to show off the furnishings of a wealthy Hobart family. No doubt at all about the wealth but everything on a very liveable scale, sumptuous to some (most perhaps) but not in a way that I imagine would pass for over-the-top "consumption for consumption’s sake" earlier in Tasmania’s history.
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| Music room |
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| Beautiful glass |
Then it was on to the main floor that is the public space, all open plan but large enough that children, reference, books, computers, etc did not seem to be vying for space at the expense of the rest. This is in a building that is newly heritage listed so changes in the future as libraries adapt (as they always do) to changing information needs could prove difficult. Some of the talk here was about staffing. It was extremely disappointing to learn that in this state-wide library network fewer and fewer qualified staff are being employed. What other occupation or profession is treated with such contempt?
Contrast that disappointment with the biggest thrill, piece of luck, privilege in penetrating all the security levels to access the home of “in storage” art and artefacts. This was when we moved from the four storey (1960s glass and steel) heritage building to the bigger building (Brutalist in style) – 11 floors, mostly of stacks, of which we visited seven or eight.
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One of many paintings in
storage
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Not to my taste but you can
recognise the quality
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As with all galleries and libraries, there is never enough exhibition space to share the whole collection with the public. The other floors were chock-a-block with compactus units.
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You'd expect a Brutalist
building to automatically have floors re-inforced
with enough
concrete for so many heavy compactus units! :-) |
Many shelves were stacked with conservation-quality archive boxes holding artefacts, photos, items from the Crowther Collection, and goodness knows what else.
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| Health focus |
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| Beautiful storage boxes |
There is a complete set of the Mercury newspaper, which apparently even the Mercury itself doesn’t have. This is hardly surprising. Few of us think that what we’re doing now is of historic significance. Perhaps with the growth in genealogy studies this attitude will change.
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The Mercury – and past
sins: labelling items with Texta
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| Conservation in progress |
This library has the usual battle with Legal Deposit, the law which requires a copy of all items published in Australia to be lodged with their state and the national libraries. Of course, that feeds the never-ending problem of running out of shelf space.
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| Legal deposit |
Because of staff showing us about and explaining how they work, we spent a good deal longer here than anticipated. The concept of all municipal libraries being linked to the state library is hardly new. Yet it works especially well in a small state with a small population. The state library complex itself made an interesting contrast to the much larger State Library of Victoria. It maintained a local library feel while having the research facilities that one expects in a state library. As I said, well worth the visit.
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Sense of humour: broken
pole, about 3.5m long, standing by the lift
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Looking back at the two main
TAS LINC buildings
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| I was there! |
