Rising from the Ashes

On Thursday November 18, 2010, the Town of Claremont Council building and the attached Claremont Library caught fire.

The next morning, staff rallied together around the empty husk of the great building, grief stricken but still determined to serve the community. That day the Claremont Library Without Walls was born.

The Claremont Library Without Walls concept is about continuing to serve the community, despite the lack of an actual physical library. We are concentrating on how our online resources can best be used, and how we can come to the people since the people can't come to us. We are dealing with the loss of our building, our books, our walls and the daily contact with our readers, but are spirits are high as we dream of the future. 

Working out of the Meals on Wheels building behind the park, we have spent the past few days devising ways to maintain as many of our services as possible. Here are some things we have come up with:

· All Claremont Library items will be accepted for return at Western Suburb libraries.

· All overdue fees and fines are frozen until further notice.

· You will be notified of reserved books that will be available for pickup at other western suburbs libraries.

· We would like to continue our Books on Wheels services, and although we are missing this week’s delivery, we will continue this service and are making it a priority.

· All the Western Suburb libraries have been very generous with offering to share their resources and space. We plan to do some work based from the Grove library in Peppermint Grove within the next few days.

The support and love we have experienced from the community is overwhelming. Thank you for caring.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the Claremont Christmas Carnival.

Please don't hesitate to post further comments below.