fireeater

What is Australia, Melbourne in particular, like for libraries? Are there any exceptions to membership, such as temporary residence? And what are the facilities like? Such as internet connection, local info etc..

On a related subject, do you pay tax on books in Australia like back here in the UK? What's the typical price of a novel, for example?

Sorry, but I read a lot

Thanks

Carl

kirsty&al

Hello,

Australian libraries are very good. They have internet connections and all the facilities that you would expect. They also provide special areas for older people and special reading sessions and events for pre-school children. Using the internet you can search the library's catalogue, reserve books, renew existing loans and get a list of 'what you have on loan'. The reservation fee is $2.20 but you can save this if you ring up the branch and ask them to put it aside for you. All branches supply newspapers and magazines (although the magazines will differ from branch to branch).

Typically you only need one piece of id to join and I don't think there is any restriction on temp residents - your passport should be sufficient. Once you have joined there seems to be no limit on the number of items (books, videos, tapes, CDs, etc...) you can take out.

Unfortunately books are more expensive here. As well as GST (books in the UK were still VAT free when I left) they seem to have a higher duty. I used to read a lot of books in the UK, and still do here, but I am using the libraries a lot more because it is cheaper and easier to use (than UK libraries).

Regards
Alistair

fireeater

Thanks Alistair, it's all the info I need. I use libraries a lot anyway and so things probably won't change much in Oz.

Carl

Quinkana

ebooks

fireeater

sure, but for some reason I prefer hard copy. And you can't get everything in ebook form.

Quinkana

Free E-Book Library

fireeater

cheers for that. Got any for detective fiction?

Carl

bondipom

GST of 10% is applied to books along most other things. You can order through Amazon US and UK here but will have to take a shipping charge. The local seller is www.dymocks.com.au .

jayr

Remember to take your books back in time as they charge 25c/item/day if you don't. At least in QLD there isn't a sli[p in the front that gets date stamped - instead you get a printed slip detailing what you've borrowed and when it's due back - which invariably gets lost. Kids late returns also get charged, I think the same amount. You can renew on line however. Overall library services here are excellent.

teagg

Our local library in Chatswood (Sydney) is open SEVEN days a week, and on four of those days it's open till 9 at night!! I'm stunned and usually walking around with a big grin! we can take out up to 20 books at a time, and I opened 'accounts' for DD and DH as well.
The selection of books (in a couple of rather specific areas) is extremely good - much better than the equivalent in the UK!
HTh

gedge

I haven't been all that impressed with our local libraries here when compared to the UK. They are not bad, just not as good. Smaller and older collections possibly? I thought it was a case of under used and under funded - does anyone know at what level the funding comes from?

Brissiegirl

http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/cs_library.asp - libraries for those in Sydney.

And when there is funding to be cut, libraries often suffer first.. bit of worldwide tradition that one. For some reason, councils/governments/educational establishments would prefer to pay managers more meny, than stick money into the library.

Bella

When I was in Oz I was staggered at the cost of books so used the local library a lot, even second hand books were very expensive, IMO.
I was fortunate in that I had a lot of books with me which I hadn't got round to reading in UK so they kept me going, along with using the library.
I also used to order books online to send to my folks' UK address & they would mail them to me which worked out cheaper than online p&p.

Brissiegirl

I am bringing out my vast collection of books with me when all our stuff is shipped over... it'd cost too much to replace the books in Oz.

Lifeline in Brisbane had their huge book fair last weekend. I think there's another one to be held in Toowoomba soonish: http://www.lifeline.org.au/eventdetails.php?id=49

They hold them around the country - great way to get books cheaply.

OzTennis

They haven't even heard of Bryce Courtenay, Australia's best selling author! (seriously there is some copyright or similar issue with his books and most or all of them aren't even published in the US)

I'd endorse Alistair's comments about libraries. My 'local' one when in Williamstown offers all those services. You can take an electricity bill/phone bill etc as proof of identity - they usually just want to know that you are a resident of that municipality. They also have incredible sales from time to time to get rid of old titles - we once got lots of excellent books for $10 or $20. Alas, too true about books being more expensive than the UK for the reasons mentioned.

OzTennis