GRIFFITH City Library added to its arsenal of modern facilities when it officially opened its state-of-the-art youth space last week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The room, featuring a range of youth-specific books, lounge areas, musical instruments and internet facilities, is specially designed for 12-25 year olds looking for a place to study or just ‘chill out’.
The space facility was the brainchild of a group of passionate locals, who were honoured as the space was officially opened by State Member for Murray Adrian Picoli and Griffith City Mayor John Dal Broi with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday.
Wade High School students and a wider range of involved parties witnessed the opening, before having exclusive access to the room to test the facilities.
Griffith City Library Collections Team manager Karen Lowe was part of the devoted team putting the project together.
The process first got underway three years ago as part of her independent studying into improving local youth services.
“I looked at what other libraries were doing and what was best practice across the industry,” Ms Lowe explained.
“It’s been a long journey. It’s been two-to-three years in the making.”
The group successfully applied for the hotly-contested $200,000 New South Wales Libraries Infrastructure Program grant on the back of Ms Lowe’s research.
Griffith City Council also contributed over $100,000, while the federal government supplied around $10,000 through the stronger communities program.
Supplied texts, study guides and other resources now found in the space came thanks to feedback from Wade High School students.
It’s the type of feedback and implementation earning the applause of interested parties outside the region.
State Library of NSW's Cameron Morley was on hand to speak on behalf of the department, and he spoke about the innovative project and how our local facility sits among libraries state-wide.
“It’s great to see the results of one of the grants … people not realise this is a much better library than most in metro Sydney,” Mr Morely said.