Sutherland Shire Libraries is an Australian

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

system which serves the

Sutherland Shire Sutherland Shire is a local government area (LGA) in the southern region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Sutherland Shire is located approximately south-southwest of the Sydney CBD, and comprises an area of . As at the ...

, in

Sydney, New South Wales Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. It was officially established in 1953. As of June 2016, the library had 76,389 registered members, and a collection of 367,049 items. There are eight branches in the system, named after the suburbs in which they are located.

Branches

There are nine (one under construction) branches in the Sutherland Shire Libraries system, named after the suburbs in which they are located. *Sutherland (Officially the Athol Hill MBE Memorial Library) *Cronulla *Caringbah *Miranda *Sylvania (Located within

Southgate Shopping Centre Southgate Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Southgate (just west of Mondeor) and is one of the ten largest shopping centres in South Africa, with over 160 commercial tenants. The centre ...

) *Menai *Engadine *Bundeena (Located within Bundeena Public School, open Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays) *Kirrawee (Under Construction, Located in South Village Shopping Centre)

Collection

Sutherland Shire Libraries had a total stock of 372,518 items as of June 2015, and 367,049 as of June 2016. The main community language collections are held at Sutherland, Menai and Sylvania libraries, covering

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Chinese,

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

. As of June 2015, adult fiction was 24.73% of the total library collection. Sutherland Shire Libraries offers several different platforms for

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

s and

eBooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

. It offers free music MP3 downloads from

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

, Kanopy on-demand video streaming, access to

LinkedIn Learning LinkedIn Learning is an American global massive open online course provider. It provides video courses taught by industry experts in software, creative, and business skills. It is a subsidiary of LinkedIn. All the courses on LinkedIn fall into fo ...

, and a number of research databases, mostly available online with a library card. Sutherland Shire Libraries also offer

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

, Consumer Health Complete, information about health for the general public, Gale Virtual Reference Library,

Infobase Infobase is an American publisher of databases, reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including ...

ebooks, Salem Press biographies, and the

Standards Australia Standards Australia is a standards organisation established in 1922 and is recognised through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Australian government as the primary non-government standards development body in Australia. It is a co ...

building standards in-library. Sutherland Shire Libraries maintains a

collection development Collection or Collections may refer to: Computing * Collection (abstract data type), the abstract concept of collections in computer science * Collection (linking), the act of linkage editing in computing * Garbage collection (computing), autom ...

policy, and a local studies collection policy. In the Local Studies collection, several historical photographs have been digitised and put online. It keeps a historical newspaper index dating back to 1900. Several oral histories with early residents of the area have been recorded and transcribed on the website, released under a

Creative Commons license A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work". A CC license is used when an author wants to give other people the right to share, use, and bu ...

. Historical studies, videos, and pathfinders are available on local topics.

Services

The library offers reader's advisory services, book clubs, author talks, and

interlibrary loan Inter-library loan (abbreviated ILL, sometimes called document delivery, document supply, inter-lending, inter-library services, inter-loan, or resource sharing) is a service that enables patrons of one library to borrow materials that are held by ...

s. Storytimes are available for young children, and the library supports the Premier's Reading Challenge. The library runs activities for Children's Book Week in August, and coding and robotics workshops are offered for children.

LEGO Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

construction clubs are offered in Sylvania and Engadine. For older people, home library services, knitting clubs, and technology classes are offered.

International English Language Testing System International English Language Testing System (IELTS ) is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP and Cambridge English, a ...

(IELTS) online courses are provided. The library provides lectures about Higher School Certificate topics, a study skills online resource, and lists of related texts for HSC English topics. Quiet study spaces are also provided for HSC students. All branches except Bundeena have internet-connected computers available for hire. Most branches have four hours of free

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

access, with a login using a library card.

Photocopying A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...

is available at all branches, and some offer scanning and

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...

services. A monthly meeting is held at Sutherland Library's makerspace. The library has held an annual book sale since 1989 which lasts over three days, which fund furniture and equipment for the libraries. Energy-monitor devices and sustainability kits for households have also been available to borrow from the libraries, and batteries, cables and small e-waste items can be recycled at the Caringbah branch. The library also offers an app which allows users to search the collection, check out books, and manage their account. The Library website's homepage had 320,883 hits in 2014–15, and 346,920 in 2015–16.

Population served

As of June 2015, the library had 69,740 registered members. Of these, 4,922 were non-local to the area. As of June 2016, the library had 76,389 registered members. Of these, 5,743 were non-local to the area.

History

Prior to Sutherland Shire Libraries, a free library for unemployed people operated in

Engadine Engadine may refer to: Places * Engadin(e), a valley region in Switzerland * Engadine, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia *Engadine, Michigan Engadine ( ) is an unincorporated community in Mackinac County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ...

as of 1937. In 1950, the Kirrawee Progress Association asked Sutherland Shire Council to establish a library of non-fiction. Sutherland Shire Council adopted the Library Act 1939 (NSW) in 1952, which provided free library services for people in New South Wales. Cronulla School of the Arts offered their library space for the library-to-be in 1953. Sutherland Library opened in 1953 in the home of a former doctor, with 8000 books. In 1955, the Miranda and Cronulla branches opened. In 1964, Miranda Library moved into Miranda Fair. Part of the School of the Arts was used for the Cronulla branch when it opened. The Cronulla branch moved into the old Methodist church on Surf Road in 1969. In the Sydney Subject Specialisation Scheme, a defunct Sydney-wide collection development agreement which facilitated

s since 1962, prior to the advent of computerised

union catalogue A union catalog is a combined library catalog describing the collections of a number of libraries. Union catalogs have been created in a range of media, including book format, microform, cards and more recently, networked electronic databases. Pri ...

s, Sutherland Shire Libraries maintained a focus on

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

aquariums An aquarium (: aquariums or aquaria) is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. fishkeeping, Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquati ...

chemical technology Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

and

Dutch literature Dutch-language literature () comprises all writings of literary merit written through the ages in the Dutch language, a language which currently has around 23 million native speakers. Dutch-language literature is the product of the Netherlands, ...

. In 1989, Sutherland Shire Libraries withdrew

The Satanic Verses ''The Satanic Verses'' is the fourth novel from the Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie. First published in September 1988, the book was inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical re ...

from circulation due to a bomb threat. In 1994, the central branch of the library moved to Eton Street. In 2004, Sutherland Library staff won a

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

to be the longest read-alouders, with a time of 81 hours and 15 minutes.

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...

tags were implemented in 2008, allowing library users to check out books themselves. In 2011, a fire was started in Cronulla Library's return chute. In 2013, free Wi-Fi was introduced at the Sutherland, Menai, Engadine, Miranda, Caringbah and Cronulla branches. A strategic planning document tabled by

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers, also known as PwC, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, alon ...

for Sutherland Shire Council in the same year recommended the closure of two library branches. In the lead-up to the 2015 state election, Sutherland Shire Council, as the governing body of Sutherland Shire Libraries, advocated for more state funding to be allocated for library services. In 2015, Sutherland Library bought a

3D printer 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer ...

and opened a

library makerspace A library makerspace, also named Hackerspace or Hacklab, is an area and/or service that offers library patrons an opportunity to create intellectual and physical materials using resources such as computers, 3D printing, 3-D printers, 3D scanning, a ...

. Weekend hours for Sutherland and Cronulla were extended in the same year, by increasing use of volunteers. The library subscribed to the BorrowBox e-book service in 2015. Sutherland Shire Libraries won the 2015 LIAC Centre of Excellence Award for their partnership with the Sutherland Local Court and their Law Week activities. A justice of the peace help desk was offered at Cronulla library beginning in 2015. The central branch was proposed to move to Kirrawee as part of the South Village shopping centre, but this was later scrapped. A 'technology-focused library and community hub' is now planned to operate in the South Village complex, with a slated opening of April 2025.

References