Story Insider: "Don't mess with library folk" with Gideon Haigh
Read now | "Imagine a society without libraries. Because that’s where we’re headed, ultimately. Once this process has started, then where do we stop? The end point is zero."
In the past few weeks, a commotion has broken out in one of the fastest growing cities in Australia - Geelong - over the future of its beloved library service - the Geelong Regional Library Corporation (GRLC). And many hundreds of passionate, community minded individuals (including myself) have been involved in the campaign to save our library system from our local Council’s budget chopping block.
One of those individuals is Australian journalist, Gideon Haigh and in this conversation exclusively on Substack, Gideon and I sit down to talk about the community powered campaign to #keepourlibrariesopen - revealing how libraries are fundamental pillars of democracy, why this seemingly microcosmic issue has ramifications for all and the moments that led to a fiery encounter with Council.
To dive deeper into the story: you can watch said fiery public Council meeting in replay here, my question to Councillors arises at 36:00 and Gideon can be heard at 1:00:15. Discover more about the Geelong Regional Library Corporation here, Council’s responses to the issues, explore the impact of local library services here, and read Gideon’s work here.
And if you’d like to stay up-to-date with the campaign, head to the FB pages: Save Geelong West Library, Save Highton Library, Friends of Barwon Heads Community Library or Support Chilwell Library.
And sign the petition at change.org.
The conversation between Joel and Gideon continues below…
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