A library book tour showed me how vital these free spaces are

That Australians have turned to local libraries in record numbers comes as no surprise.

- By Paul Daley

I've just returned from a speaking tour of regional and outer suburban libraries that reinforced in me the unquantifiable community value of these institutions.

I’ve rarely felt more connected to readers than during these two weeks. Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise given the remarkable bond between libraries and the readers they serve highlighted in the latest Australian public libraries statistical report.

From 2023 to 2024 there were 88m in-person visits (up 10%) to libraries, while people borrowed 119m physical and 55m digital items. Libraries delivered 409,000 programmes nationally for more than 7 million participants.

So, take one beige sedan, two ageing blokes (the crime novelist Michael Brissenden and me) each with a new novel, a 3,200km road trip and a vague idea of what we might discuss - and you have some idea of our library crawl.

An informal routine quickly evolved into good-humoured needling (“I like the way you two take the piss out of one another in a sort-of-kind way,” one man said.) It probably made for greater insight than at events where a stranger might do a solo Q&A interview with us.