{"id":2374,"date":"2022-09-14T12:33:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T02:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=2374"},"modified":"2022-09-14T13:29:00","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T03:29:00","slug":"the-state-library-of-victoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=2374","title":{"rendered":"The State Library of Victoria"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What would you do with a stolen day? A day you are meant to be at school and decide to spend elsewhere? Occasionally I would go shopping with friends or hang out at someone\u2019s house watching videos. But my favourite place to spend a \u201cwagged\u201d day from school was the State Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I rationalised these days by reading enormous old tomes about history, politics, and art. All subjects I was studying at school. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process was to check your bag at the cloakroom. No bags allowed in the space back then. Take your required stationery and belongings and find an available desk. Look up the books you were needing for your all-important and justifying \u201cresearch\u201d in the hundred-year-old catalogue drawers. Write down the call number on a provided torn up scrap of paper and present it to the librarian behind the big old desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The librarian I remember most vividly was very short in stature. (I am only 5\u20192\u201d so she must have been tiny). She had white hair, tied back in a bun. She wore glasses that she looked incriminatingly over the rims of. She always made me feel guilty, like I had committed a crime. In fairness, I was in school uniform, on a school day, not at school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would take my scrap of paper, give me a number, and disappear. I never really understood where too, but I would go back to my desk and patiently await the delivery of my books. A very old-style LED display would light up with my number and I would retrieve my books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the books were ancient. Some of the material was on microfiche, requiring a relocation to the microfiche room. I loved it all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was younger the library also housed the old Melbourne Museum. It was a labyrinth of spaces with grand windows and immaculate parquetry. I remember archaic (and politically incorrect) dioramas depicting the settlement of Melbourne. My favourite space was where dinosaur skeletons hung from the ceiling. The museum was a magical place for a child, or a teenager absconding from school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching the metamorphosis over the last 40 years has been a privilege. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is still one of my favourite places to spend time. I have a city routine on Thursdays. I wander through the Readings bookshop at the back entrance and then meander through the different spaces absorbing the old book smell and the surrounding promise of knowledge. Finally, I sit in my favourite zone in The Quad and write. My family call it my happy place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State Library of Victoria is the oldest public library in Australia and was one of the first free libraries in the world. When it opened, it was open to anyone over the age of 14 years, so long as their hands were clean. In 2018 it was the fourth most visited library in the world. How lucky we are to have this remarkable place in beautiful Melbourne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information about the library can be found at https:\/\/www.slv.vic.gov.au<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can read more from Kylie Eklund<\/a> here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What would you do with a stolen day? A day you are meant to be at school and decide to spend elsewhere? Occasionally I would …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[120,7],"tags":[14,169,41,8,168],"class_list":["post-2374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-memory-book","category-travelarium","tag-kylie-eklund","tag-library","tag-melbourne","tag-mountain-ash-chapter","tag-state-library-victoria"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pff1uY-Ci","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3295,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3295","url_meta":{"origin":2374,"position":0},"title":"Queensland State Library","author":"Kylie Eklund-Denman","date":"February 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone who knows me knows that The State Library in Melbourne is my happy place. Where I went when I ditched school, and where I still love to go now to write. 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They counted their questions and sharpened their pens,They rechecked the date and reminded their friends, They scoped out the library \u2013 everything\u2019s fine,They warded off covid and broke out the wine.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mountain Life"","block_context":{"text":"Mountain Life","link":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/fallon-michael-qmlGWIaIgpo-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/fallon-michael-qmlGWIaIgpo-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/fallon-michael-qmlGWIaIgpo-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/fallon-michael-qmlGWIaIgpo-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/fallon-michael-qmlGWIaIgpo-unsplash.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3777,"url":"https:\/\/mountainashchapter.com.au\/?p=3777","url_meta":{"origin":2374,"position":4},"title":"True Romance","author":"Mountain Ash Chapter","date":"August 18, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Her exquisite feet skimmed the floor, like ephemeral swallows of passion. She paused in front of the gauzy, billowing curtains in the breast-heaving moonlight. The man followed. His glistening moonlit pectoral muscles glistened. He swept her into his moonlit chest. He groaned in triumph. \u201cNo!\u201d she protested. 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