The heartwarming story of a community rallying around Melbourne’s oldest bookshop to create a human chain to transport thousands of books to its new address, is a timely reminder of how a neighbourhood can play a key role to support and fuel these much-needed spaces of literary nourishment in our society
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Paras circulating library. This now-shuttered reading space in my home suburb had introduced me to several firsts as a young reader, who had made it her weekly routine for over a decade. I understood the true meaning of the word ‘circulating’, and secondly, I realised the joy of being surrounded by books. I was once again reminded of this key establishment in my growing-up years, recently when I came across a happy news story, amidst the gloom and doom that tends to take over most of our scrolling time. Nearly 300 people formed a human chain as they lined up along Melbourne’s Bourke Street to help the city’s oldest bookstore, Hill of Content relocate to its new address which is a little over a hundred-odd metres down the road.
The bookstore that opened in 1922 was housed in a heritage-listed building which was its home for over 100 years. That building was sold in 2024, which led to its owners having to hunt for a new location. Luckily, they found one nearby. Egged on by an idea that was a success in a US bookstore, owner Diana Johnson, we learnt from one of the local publications, had put out a volunteer call on social media a week before shifting day for 150 people to help move their collection of 1700 books. To her surprise, 300 people—who weren’t necessarily readers—turned up on moving day to show their support. Many passers-by, in fact, had never stepped into the historic bookstore, joined in this remarkable effort to shift from 86 Bourke Street to 32 Bourke Street.
This story has a happy ending, both in terms of the fact that the bookstore didn’t shut down forever, and that it had a supportive reading community who showed up to make a statement. But, Paras wasn’t so lucky. Years before the building in which it once stood went into redevelopment, ‘Mr Paras’s as we kids would refer to him, had to shut shop one fine day, without as much as a murmur from the reading community he fed. I was too young at the time to fully realise his library’s contribution to my own evolution as a reader. Credit had to be given to my mother, who gave me the freedom and responsibility to run my own library card by using my pocket money to sustain this ‘hobby’. From Asterix and Tintin comics, to the world knowledge book series, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, and Amar Chitra Katha, the library was a treasure trove, and acted as a trigger to set up my library at home. The shutting down happened well before the Internet, cellphone and social media days and hence, information was slow to pass around. We couldn’t even manage a ‘thank you’ or a ‘goodbye’ to Mr Paras, sadly. I vividly recall how regulars, mostly my school pals, brought it up during conversations for a months’ after its closing, whenever we’d bump into each other in the street.
Years later after it shuttered, it dawned on me the challenges that come with running a library, especially when the digital universe became an all-encompassing one. My suburb witnessed many more neighbourhood libraries down their shutters in similar fashion. Back then, I remember asking a friend, ‘Where did those books go? Did they get dumped in one of those second-hand bookshops or worse, in the storage area of a raddiwallah’s shop?’ Unfortunately, there weren’t any answers.
The fadeout of circulating libraries has been happening across the city and its suburbs for a while now. I’ve always believed that it’s the community that can play a key role in reviving interest, despite the odds, in small, meaningful ways. Take for example, a news article that reported on this fantastic human chain [the local and Australian media widely reported about this], which revealed that the festival director of the Melbourne Writers Festival, Veronica Sullivan, was part of this group that showed up. Mumbai’s community spirit across neighbourhoods has many success stories to be proud of, from public parks to heritage sites and open spaces, so it would be another feather in its hat, if we can do our bit for libraries and reading spaces.
All those years ago, we didn’t have the tools to create a buzz and voice to at least start a conversation when our favourite library shuttered. But in today’s day and age, with social media, if used smartly, sincerely and effectively, it would be amazing to see the same neighbourhood-ly community spirit come to life should such scenarios recur in present-day Mumbai.
Now, that collective effort would reflect the true meaning of an ‘Influencer’, wouldn’t it?
mid-day’s Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city’s sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her.
She tweets @bombayana. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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