Travelling readers
- 14 Aug 2014
A small and thoughtful cultural service that supports what tourists are already doing? Judy Coulthard describes a collaboration between State Library of Queensland and local governments that supports holidaying readers...
Douglas Shire adjoins two World Heritage listed areas; the Great Barrier Reef and the ancient rainforests of the Daintree. It is no wonder that 1.2 million visitors annually come to explore our natural wonders, enjoy our laid-back tropical life-style and to have a well-earned break.
The Douglas Shire Council boasts two libraries; the main library in Mossman and a smaller branch in Port Douglas. Over the years many tourists have visited the Mossman and Port Douglas Libraries wanting to become members so that they can relax on the beach or by the pool and catch up on some reading. We get a lot of grey nomads, backpackers and local and international travellers who are on the road north and travelling through outback Queensland for long periods. Then there are families who have chosen to fly to Port Douglas for a week or two.
I’d always thought how good it would be to be able to connect with these people and provide them with a library service that meets their needs without creating a large cost burden. Now we have the answer – the RLQ Tourist Card.
Library membership is available free to anyone residing or travelling within regional and outback Queensland. Obtaining a Tourist Card is not hard and visitors have several options. If they are planning for their holiday in advance they can register on line and their Card will be mailed to their home address within 5 working days or they can join in person at any branch in the Rural Libraries Queensland (RLQ) network.
Travellers are allowed to borrow up to 4 items for 4 weeks at a time. This is great for those who are on the road. It means they can pick up a book in Mossman and return it to a partner RLQ library, in another town when they get there a week later. And even better – not only can they borrow books, DVDs and audiobooks from the 67 participating libraries they can also download any of the 100,000s of e-books to read, e-music or e-audiobooks to listen to while they are driving or do an online course from the RLQ catalogue.
People think the RLQ tourist card is great. You have no idea how much positive feedback we get about “what a fabulous idea it is.” People also comment on the “high quality of books and the wide selection of titles available”. The tourist card is a new and progressive initiative and certainly affords a significant improvement in level of service offered to our visitors.
The RLQ Tourist Card is an initiative of Rural Libraries Queensland (RLQ), a service operated by local governments in partnership with State Library of Queensland and the Douglas Shire Council and its community reaps the rewards. It’s certainly brought more tourists into our libraries at Mossman and Port Douglas and this offers us the opportunity to interact with these visitors and share a bit of local knowledge that will hopefully add to their holiday experience. We look forward to promoting the RLQ tourist card through our various tourism bodies.
Please share your knowledge with us about cultural services for tourists that you provide or have experienced through cultural facilities such as libraries, museums, galleries, arts centres and theatres.