The Parliamentary Library would certainly benefit from more funding, but the Parliamentary Budget Office urgently needs a wider brief and greater independence
Pre-pandemic, reading rates among teenagers were falling. But BookTok, a subculture of social media platform TikTok, has made teens read more often – and influences what they read. Here’s how it works.
Illustration by O. Sudomora for the children’s story ‘Bim-bom, dzelen-bom!’
(O. Sudomora)
Funding for writing and publishing is not just low: it’s also declining. Ben Eltham looks at a grim federal budget for literature, in the context of ongoing neglect for written culture in Australia.
Colorized version of a 1935 photo of a male ivory-billed woodpecker, now believed to be extinct. Photographed by Arthur A. Allen.
Forestry Images/Wikipedia
My friend, with whom I co-founded a library in Mazar-i-Sharif, tells me books are like lights. With no one visiting the library and opening books, ‘the lights are off.’
A major survey shows learning to read for pleasure can help children and their communities in many ways, but the field remains under-studied and under-resourced.
Tents and other structures are seen in an aerial view at a homeless encampment at Strathcona Park in April, 2021.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
While public libraries and faith-based organizations may not be able to solve the issue of social stigma, looking at how they provide spaces for homeless people is a good place to start.
The Johannesburg version of the library.
Anthea Pokroy/Courtesy Kudzanai Chiurai
With vinyl records, zines and political posters instead of just books, The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember offers a way to reimagine African history.
A spinning wall puzzle helps kids develop spatial skills and understand how different objects relate to one another.
Sahar Coston-Hardy Photography
Headed off to college? A librarian shares four tips for college students ready to hit the books.
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank held a distribution event at the LA county library’s headquarters on Jan. 22, 2021.
Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group via Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images
Losing archives has significant implications in a country like South Africa with a fraught and contested history because voices from the past, which may carry alternative histories, are lost.
Nikki Luman works part-time for a public library in Sycamore, Ohio.
AP Photo/Tony Dejak
The mass production of religious items such as rosaries and holy cards poses a problem for the curators of religious artifacts at libraries and museums. How do you dispose of unwanted donations?
Lockdown life accelerated the role of digital technology in the virtual classroom, but there is still no substitute for physical books in children’s lives and learning.
COVID-19 has intensified the UK’s digital divide.
Juliya Shangarey/Shutterstock
During the coronavirus pandemic, digitizing archives can help increase access. But in addition to the labour and financial costs, issues of privacy, copyright and resources need to be considered.
Principal Fellow (Hon), Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Editor in Chief, Design and Art of Australia Online, The University of Melbourne