Librarian Katherine Mitchell‘s experience at Parramatta Library from 1960s as a library staff member. Interview was recorded in 2015.
Hi, Katherine, the librarian here again and right behind me is Jubilee Hall. I've got really special memories of this venue in fact because when I was in primary school and sort of junior high school I used to come to this venue and borrow books. I have memories of coming here to get some information on assignments you know probably in year five and six, but at that time it was you know a fabulous library. I mean it had books so I was thrilled but basically you know it was a basic library in many ways compared to modern libraries. It had a manual card system called the Brown System. That's irrelevant but it was just this very sort of time-consuming manual lending system. But basically it was still a wonderful place, it was full of children and adults and a great resource that Parramatta had. The librarian who started this library was a lady called Miss Margaret Miller. She was a real pioneer of libraries in Australia. She started the first vocational training course for librarians. She set it up at the Sydney TAFE. So she was a remarkable woman. We were lucky to have her here in Parramatta. She started, you know, the foundation of you know the wonderful library that we now have.
Neera Sahni, Research Services Leader, Parramatta Heritage Centre, City of Parramatta, 2021