Literary Institutes (akin to Mechanics’ Institutes and Schools of Art) played an important role in the life of early (European) Australian communities. They housed libraries and reading rooms and typically hosted lectures and served as adult education centres. Essentially they were the centre of a community’s cultural activities – not unlike, though on a rather more modest scale than, the Grand Peoples’ Study House that I recently visited in Pyongyang, North Korea. I imagine I am the first person to draw a comparison between the Gundagai Literary Institute and the Grand Peoples’ Study House in Pyongyang! Continue reading “Gundagai Literary Institute”
The State Library of South Australia
The State Library is, as the name might suggest, the pre-eminent library in South Australia and houses a wealth of material, with a particular emphasis on South Australia. Continue reading “The State Library of South Australia”
National Library of Australia – Real Treasure Here
Libraries are not typically on my list of must dos when I visit somewhere but this one, Australia’s largest with approximately 10 million items comprising books, journals, newspapers, archives, manuscripts, pictures, photographs, musical scores, maps, websites and oral history and folklore recordings in its collection, is different somehow. Continue reading “National Library of Australia – Real Treasure Here”
Grand People’s Study House (Part 2)
In part one of my review I provided a broad overview of the Study House/ library. In this review I will cover the library’s resources available to the people.
The Grand People’s Study House is said to contain 30 million volumes and other articles including the 10,800 works of Kim Il-sung and, perhaps more famously among tourists, it does contain an encyclopaedia on chickens which forms part of the library’s English Language collection. Continue reading “Grand People’s Study House (Part 2)”
The Rambling Wombat 