Key Points
- A recent survey shows 92 per cent of the people think of libraries as a safe place
- Libraries are home to more than just books
- These safe spaces can help people fight loneliness and find new friends, experts say
This story is part of the SBS health and wellbeing initiative Mind Your Health. Click to visit the portal, featuring digital stories, podcasts and videos in English and multiple languages.
Sammar and Sabrina, two young women, say they ‘grew up in the library’ from the age of five. By reading books, Sammar taught herself illustration, and Sabrina got inspired to try out basketball.
Bev found her half-brother Kev, who she thought might have passed away, with the help of her local librarian. The family reunited after many years.
Stories like these can be found on ‘Libraries Change Lives’, a website run by Public Libraries Victoria (PLV) and the State Library Victoria, which showcases life-changing stories from library users across the state.
Public libraries in Australia offer not only books, but provide people with a safe place in which to access vital information and hone their skills.
For some, the library is a sanctuary of health and wellness.
Take the example of Kerri, who came to Australia from Korea for a three-month holiday in 2020, but couldn’t fly back because of the COVID-19 lockdown.
To kill her loneliness and maintain her spirits, she joined the ‘Conversation Club’, an initiative run by the Melbourne City Library.
Kerri said, “I joined the club almost every day. And because of the COVID thing, everyone joined the Conversation Club very regularly. So the relationship went on.”
More than books
Angela Savage is the CEO of PLV, the peak body for public libraries in Victoria, which is running a program called ‘Libraries for Health and Wellbeing’.
Angela Savage, CEO of Public Libraries Victoria Credit: Suzanne Phoenix/Suzanne Phoenix
“We want to be that inclusive, welcoming space. We know that there’s an epidemic of loneliness in Australia. And that loneliness is detrimental to both physical and mental wellbeing,” she said.
“So libraries provide a whole range of activities that are designed to support social connection. And combat loneliness.”
Springvale Library Credit: Public Libraries Victoria
She believes libraries can play such a pivotal role due to the infrastructural facilities they already have.
Libraries are free, non-judgemental, trusted, and accessible to everyone. There’s no stigma involved in coming into a library and we feel that we can offer safe and welcoming spaces for people who might otherwise experience discrimination.Angela Savage is the CEO of Public Libraries Victoria
Dr Tarannum Rahman Oshin says libraries play a key role in “creating awareness of mental health issues”. Credit: Tarannum Rahman Oshin
“People learn to cope with mental health related problems when they interact with people in places like a library, mostly because it provides a calming environment, a safe environment,” she says.
By the numbers
Data from two surveys conducted by PLV and State Library Victoria on nearly 34,000 library users in March and May this year showed that 92 per cent of people think of the library as a safe place. Some 72 per cent said they feel better when they go to the library.
The same statistics also showed that 60 per cent of users said the library played an important role in their mental health and wellbeing.
Naznine Anwar thinks libraries can help people to find new friends. Credit: Naznine Anwar
“Most people who are facing mental health-related problems, they are left alone, they feel loneliness and they don’t find anyone who they can trust, someone who would listen to their stories without being judgemental," she says.
"Libraries can help these people to finding new friends.”
Opportunities await
PLV currently runs several programs in conjunction with the State Library Victoria and is rolling out small grants with support from Vic Health to individual libraries to pilot a range of projects.
These include programs for members of the LGBTQI community whose mental health suffered under COVID, as well as young people from various cultural backgrounds.
Ms Savage says the early to late teen cohort is one of the harder ones for libraries to attract.
"I think a shift towards co-design - where young people are really telling the libraries what it is that they need from libraries - will help to build that engagement," she says.
Acknowledging the role public libraries are playing already, Ms Anwar thinks there is more potential for pointing users in the right direction to receive help.
“I also feel that the library might connect people to different kinds of mental health services, run by local communities and local councils.”
Dr Oshin too says libraries play a key role in “creating awareness of mental health issues” and can distribute information, in a variety of languages, on how such issues may impact individuals and their families.
Welcome wall at Glenroy Library. Credit: Public Libraries Victoria
“We aim to empower, support and connect our communities and partners for healthy and thriving Victoria. That’s the vision that we have.
“We want libraries to be places where everyone feels welcome and that way we can use the library to reduce social isolation and improve mental wellbeing.”
In Victoria alone, there are 283 public library branches. The number is 1,690 across Australia.
