Joey’s House Early Education Centre builds new street library to boost love of books

Early Childhood Teacher Josie Loiacono has teamed up with a local marketing and outreach librarian Angie Hazelton-Kelly to create a new way to connect with the community after COVID-19 limited opportunities. 

Children in Ms Loiacono’s care at Joey’s House Early Education Centre painted and stocked a street library, using colours from their service, and providing portraits of themselves as well. 

“We are hoping this street library is a way to connect with our wider community and to encourage a love of literacy for life,” Centre Manager Tanya Tucker shared with local paper Port News. 

The initiative, which is being run in conjunction with Port Macquarie Library, was launched midway through April, with four-year-old Elijah Fuller and his mum Tara being the first official street library borrowers.

As well as children’s books the library hosts adult fiction and cookbooks which the community are encouraged to either borrow or keep. Users of the library can take what interests them, return items, keep items, or pass items on to others. 

Supporters and users can also add items to the collection, sharing the enjoyment of reading and building a sense of community. 

To learn more about street libraries, please see here. The original coverage of this story, can be found here.