WHEN the new Stratford Library opened its doors a decade ago Dan Brown's The Lost was the hot ticket item. As the library celebrates its 10th birthday, borrowers can not only get a best seller, but the latest tv series and even seeds to plant at home.
While the current library has been standing for 10 years, the original facility was built back in 1956, and was demolished in 2008 to make way for the new facility.
The new library's 10th anniversary will be celebrated tomorrow (18 April) with a special morning tea, including a birthday cake, hosted by Division 6 Councillor Linda Cooper.
Cr Cooper said while borrowing has changed a lot in a decade, the library's key role of bringing the community together remained the same.
"More than 111,000 items are borrowed from the Stratford library branch each year," Cr Cooper said.
"But like everything libraries have had to evolve. Today our library members can not only grab the latest titles but take part in children's activities, chat to their neighbours at a Conversation Café, or be connected to the world through our free wifi.
"And in the true library spirit of bringing people together, the public can even take part in our seed library, where they can 'borrow' seeds for their own garden."
Library goers are welcome to join the birthday celebrations at 11am.
The Stratford Library at 11 Kamerunga Road, is open 9am to 6pm weekdays and 9am to noon on Saturday.
For the full details of what's happening at the library visit the Libraries website: https://www.cairns.qld.gov.au/library
Fast facts
- 7800 customers attend the library each month
- 4334 people call the Stratford library as their home branch
- 12,783 items were borrowed in March
- 13,155 items available for borrowing, including 3,150 adult fiction books, 2,166 DVDs and 328 magazines
