Florey street library fighting crime, book by book

Ever since a street library was established in Florey, alongside Neighbourhood Watch, crime in the area has dropped significantly. Street librarian Rachael Thorpe believes the new, stronger sense of community has helped to reduce crime.

There are 190 street libraries in Canberra – and counting. This one, however, is different. It also boasts a food staples pantry, fresh produce cart, herb garden and succulent propagation. The list goes on but it’s worth noting here that Rachael has organised all of this while in a wheelchair.

After surgery for a rare spinal cord cancer, Rachael found herself in a wheelchair and looking for a purpose.

“Ever since Neighbourhood Watch and the street library started in 2018, our crime stats dropped in Florey,” Rachael says. “It’s down significantly to what we had five years ago. With street libraries, people will stop and have a chat; in school holidays, parents take their kids there. These sorts of things help bring back a sense of community, which I think we’ve lost.”

The beauty of the food staples pantry is that it is discreet.

“We can’t completely see it from our house because some people don’t feel comfortable receiving charity, it’s a very difficult,” Rachael says. “We’ve set it up so that we can’t really see people coming and going and people feel comfortable grabbing a jar of pasta sauce and some pasta or a box of porridge.”

The produce cart is laden with fresh tomatoes from Rachael’s husband’s garden, a donated metal bathtub is full of fresh herbs, and an old toolbox is crammed with succulents for anyone to take home. Oh, and there’s also a geocache site.

“It gets a lot of use,” Rachael says. “Two groups keep it well stocked – Florey Neighbourhood Watch and local Buy Nothing groups. During lockdown, the jigsaw puzzle box and library were really popular. Now the food pantry is getting far more use than it ever did; people are really in need.”

One last thing, there’s also a bench and a post with dog leash hooks so people and pets can stop and rest.

“It’s a benefit to me,” Rachael says. “Because I have to have support workers for the majority of the week and my husband has to care for me, this I one very small way that I can contribute to society. It’s just a small way but it’s the satisfaction of having achieved something at a grassroots level.”