Library Lovers' Day

Library Lovers' Day is celebrated internationally each year on 14 February. It is a day to honour libraries, librarians, and library lovers, and the valuable roles that libraries play in our lives.

Pop-up market stall and poetry pharmacy

To celebrate Library Lovers' Day this year we had a poetry pharmacy at the Kiama Farmers Market. The very talented local poet and writer Butch Schwarzkopf set up his typewriter and dispensed more than 20 personalised poetic remedies on request to soothe, revive and inspire. It was amazing to see people from all walks of life so moved by words and poetry.

We also had a pop-up library market stall alongside the Poetry Pharmacy, offering bookish gifts with a Library Lovers' Day twist - library bags, mystery books, gift packs, bookmarks, and more - and a fun free craft activity for kids, too.

If you missed us at the Farmers Market, our pop-up market stall is now at our Kiama branch for the next week or so - the perfect opportunity to take a leap into the unknown and go on a blind date with a brown paper-wrapped book, or enhance your reading experience with bookish bath salts, candles, and more. Get in quick while stocks last.

And while you're here, don't forget to post a 'Roses are red ...' poem on our Library Lovers' displays at Kiama and Gerringong branches.

when i think of libraries

by Butch Schwarzkopf

when i think of libraries, i think of books,

but not just books, i think of programs,

but not just programs, i think of study,

but not just study, i think of a safe space, 

of free resources, of history, of a place

to meet community, and drink coffee and sit 

and read and rest and breathe, or equal access,

of free internet, of printing, of reference materials,

of artworks, of kind and helpful and knowledgeable staff,

of somewhere to go after school, of somewhere to learn,

of borrowing and borrowing and borrowing stuff,

of forgetting to return stuff, of quiet, 

of hanging out with friends, of hiding from the world,

of discovering the world, of discovering myself,

when i think of libraries

i think of home.