The Sydney Morning Herald is today reporting that Leichhardt Public Library, located in Sydney’s Inner West, has cancelled a planned exhibition about Israel and Palestine -
“Al-Nakba”, a pictorial exhibition about Palestine and Israel, should have opened at Leichhardt municipal library last Friday.
But after the police visit on Thursday night, it was suddenly cancelled the next morning.
The exhibition was coordinated by the Friends of Hebron, a group external to the library.
I would be interested to know if other libraries have exhibitions coordinated by groups outside the library. Universities and school libraries often take student works for exhbitions, but is the development of exhibitions by groups in public libraries common? What policies do public libraries (and other libraries) have about exhibitions?
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May 13, 2008 at 22:38
My last library promoted ourselves as an excellent alternative exhibition space for people who wanted to reach people who might not be popping into galleries.
So, yes they had plenty of exhibitions organised by external groups, from the SA museum, some interfaith group, local schools…
And while it was less common in the library before that, I can remember at least one.
It can be a very good thing for the library, the exhibitors promote their exhibit which (with luck) brings in some people who wouldn’t otherwise be coming into the library.
The library gets something to keep the regulars interested in the space, the space gets a regular makeover.
You can promote resources which match with the exhibit…
I’m sure there is more,
Oh yes, you get another thing to put in your reports. And you get to argue for a bigger library because the space is so well utilised by the community.