By Dongyun Kwon
Mooroolbark Library celebrated its 40th birthday on Thursday 25 July.
About 40 people came along to celebrate the special day together.
Yarra Ranges Mayor Sophie Todorov said she was honoured to be part of the celebration.
“It’s such a fantastic achievement to have 40 years of history,” she said.
“It is much more than just being a place to borrow books or read books.
“It’s a place for people to connect and meet up with each other as well as a meeting place for community groups and a place for people to study and work in a safe environment.”
Mooroolbark Library team leader Emma Jahn was getting emotional while giving a short speech.
She said she’d like to say thank you to the community and her team.
“It’s beautiful and special to have such a strong sense of community to have so many people turn out to support and celebrate with us,” she said.
“I couldn’t do it without my team, we support each other so much in work and in our personal lives as well.”
“We all have different strengths and different quirks, and we complement each other so well and I’m just very grateful to be able to lead them.”
Mooroolbark Library has achieved a great number of statistics.
In June, it recorded the highest loan number among six libraries across Yarra Ranges.
It now has over 15,000 members, about 100,000 loans a year and about 67,000 people walk into the library every year.
All the statistics have kept growing since Covid-19 was over.
Ms Jahn said the community has brought all of the great outcomes.
“People are really engaged. They’re interested in literacy and using books as a way to unwind, educate themselves or transport themselves to different places,” she said.
“We have been trying really hard to expand our memberships and to bring in new people.
“This year, we’ve had two months that are some of our highest in terms of new member registration since probably we started to record statistics, we had over 140 new signups in May and will get somewhere around 170 this month.”
Liz Hodkinson attended the celebration with her six-year-old daughter Isla.
They are regular users of the library, using the library every couple of weeks.
The mother said the library offers good service to the local community.
“Every time we need a book that they don’t have, they often can get it in for us,” she said.
“My husband [Peter Hodkinson] published a book called Inside the Notebook, and he had his book signing and opening event here.
“They’re really supportive of local authors as well.”
Mr Alistair Lee-Archer, who officially opened the library at 7.30pm on Wednesday 25 July 1984 as the president of Lilydale Shire, also turned up at the celebration.
He said it’s ‘rewarding’ to see the growth of the library over the last 40 years.
“The staff and the people through the years have created the library. They’ve tried to offer better service and make better connections with the community, that’s more important than us opening it, ” he said.
“The community needed a sense of community activity back then.
“That was the reason we brought it and that’s what the library has done.”
