20 December 2007
The Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library
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The Book Show visits a mobile library which caters to the homeless people of Sydney.
For most people, the word 'library' conjures a quiet, indoor space, filled with books organised meticulously along Dewey decimal lines. A place to borrow books - as long as you hand over details of your identity, and a promise to bring them back.
But imagine a library which inverts all that: a noisy, outdoor affair where the books are different every time you visit, where no one wants to know your last name, and you're allowed to take books away, and never bring them back.
The Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library in Sydney is all that -- it's a mobile library that looks after the reading needs of the city's homeless people.
For the Book Show, Catherine Freyne paid a visit.
If you'd like to donate to the library or contribute in some other way, you can contact founder Sarah Garnett by writing to us here at
Listener Enquiries
ABC Radio National
GPO Box 9994
Sydney NSW 2001
Or by email: info_rn@your.abc.net.au
Make sure you mark your correspondence to the attention of Sarah Garnett.
Guests
Sarah Garnett
Founder of the Benjamin Andrew Footpath Library
Presenter
Peter Mares
Producer
Catherine Freyne
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