Community purpose organisations are always looking for ways in which they can service their membership. A community library represents a valuable resource for members, and can be established quickly and cheaply if you take a creative approach.

 

Stategies/ Tips for building any library

• Start your collection with a single title, and a goal in mind: As long as you know what kind of collection you would like to develop, you can start with a single book and work towards your collection from there,
• Source cheap quality used books: Sites such as Abebooks and Better World Books have competitively priced secondhand books, and represent great value even after taking into account current exchange rates. Twice a year Lifeline also has a book sale, offering a huge selection of books for as little as 20 cents. They also operate several bookshops and may offer organisations the chance to buy in bulk at other times of the year.
• Raising funds will immediately benefit your library: With other community projects, often the amount required to make an initiative possible can make raising funds a monumental task. With a library, you can build a collection with as little as $100-$200 to start with.
• Find out what happens to books from larger, established libraries in your area: you may just be able to source cheap or free books from libraries getting rid of worn or outdated books.
• Add guides and publications from allied organisations: They can often be quite useful to your members, so make sure they are not overlooked. These kinds of publications are also usually freely available to you, which makes them easier to source.
• Make sure you decide upon a borrowing system before you start: It only takes a little work to keep track of your holdings if you keep a record. Alternatively, you might designate your library as a non borrowing, on premises facility only- just provide a comfortable area to read in.