The Little Library has been available to shoppers between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday. Activities and services include pre-school story time sessions, free book exchange, parents and baby sessions, a boutique library service, Community History Corner, printing services and technology labs.
Mayor Mark Irwin explained that the pop-up service encouraged community members to interact with the city’s libraries adding:
“Shopping centres and libraries actually play very similar roles in our communities, by acting as community hubs.”
While he admitted customer bases may differ, the mayor said libraries had the effect of bringing extra visitors into a retail centre so combining the two made perfect sense.
Library Services Manager Viv Barton said the pop-up library reflected a huge change in how people interact with the facility today and added:
“The same shift has been happening with shopping centres, as they start to extend beyond retail and become a place for people to socialise and connect.”
The feedback since the Little Library was opened has been `incredible’, according to WA Regional Manager for Scentre Group Chris Barton. Based at Scentre Group’s Westfield Innaloo Shopping Centre, the Little Library’s five-month run is due to cease at the end of September.