Take a book at North Orange!

Walking into the North Orange Shopping Centre, it’s hard to miss the purple bookshelf that sits humbly out the front of Woolworths.

It’s with thanks to good friends Dianne Waddell and Judy Jackson, and Judy’s impressive book collection that had the two ladies were deliberating how they could enhance the community centre.

Judy explained, “Di came to borrow some books from my house one day, she came in and when she had a look, she looked shocked,” Judy laughed.

Dianne smiled, “I know I did, I was blown away that they were all Judy’s books.”

Judy continued, “I said I want to get rid of my books, I’ve got nearly 3,000 books at home, the children don’t want them and it just seems silly to have this resource, sitting unused, collecting dust. So we got to talking and said let’s start a street library... we couldn’t do it in a street, so we asked the North Orange Shopping Centre.”

We felt the North Orange Shopping Centre needed a library as the area has grown so much. There’s quite a lot of new housing here so it’s great for young families.” The principle of this library was based on a ‘street library’ which is take a book and return it when read. It is absolutely free to everyone. Both Dianne and Judy estimate they have left 150 books each.

“Of all of the books I’ve put in here, there’s only one book I put that’s still there, so there’s an enormous turnover which we didn’t realise just how big until now. The good thing is we are recycling the books, they are not being wasted, people love books,” said Judy. “I’d like to expand the children’s books, they arrive and go pretty immediately.”

Dianne continued, “We are very grateful to the management of the North Orange Shopping Centre for making this library possible. I could not believe how receptive they were, the Centre Manager was so enthusiastic, and the bookcase was provided which was specially made for us. They were just fantastic.”

Bring a book and leave it on the shelf, or if one sparks your interest feel free to take it home. It is appreciated that the community are not leaving items that aren’t books in that space.

Dianne and Judy hope to extend the bookcase and add some more books in the near future!