Mobile Library at Cockatoo by Marcia Holdsworth

A few years ago, Marcia wrote down her memories of  Library Services at Cockatoo, and so they don't get lost from our history I thought we would share them in this blog.

Before 1983, the Dandenong Valley Regional Library Service (DVRLS) Mobile library, a Bedford Bus, used to visit Cockatoo once a fortnight for a few hours. It parked in the car park at the top of McBride Street, above the shops.  The staff used a Telxon device to record loans and the data was then downloaded via the telephone back at the Pakenham library.

The Bedford Bus Mobile Library

After the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983 DVRLS set up a joint-use Community Library in an area of the Cockatoo Primary School library. It opened around May of that year and Marcia Holdsworth was appointed Officer in Charge in the October. The Library initially opened to the general public Wednesday afternoon and Saturday morning. The cost effectiveness of the Community Library was re-assessed in 1992 and after negotiations with the School it was decided to phase out the service and re-introduce a Mobile Library Service.

Thus in January 1993 the Mobile timetable was expanded to include a stop at Cockatoo. The mobile had been recently upgraded to a brand new semi-trailer mobile provided by the then Pakenham Shire. It now parked at the Cockatoo Kindergarten/Bowling green car park in McBride Street. The new vehicle visited every Thursday afternoon until 7.30pm and with the extended hours the circulation increased. The Mobile Library still visits Cockatoo every Thursday from 2.15pm to 6.00pm.

The Cockatoo Library

The only other photo we have of the Cockatoo Library,  sadly, it's fairly ordinary. It was taken by the Shire of Pakenham in the 1980s.