Northern Beaches Libraries

Northern Beaches Libraries is the public library service of the Northern Beaches in Greater Sydney, Australia.^[2]

Northern Beaches Libraries
Location	Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia
Type	Public library
Established	May 12, 2016 (2016-05-12) (from council merger)
Branches	6
Collection
Items collected	334,997[1]
Access and use
Circulation	1,393,472 (2020-2021)[1]
Population served	274,041[1]
Members	197,730[1]
Other information
Employees	80 (2020-2021)[1]
Parent organisation	Northern Beaches Council

History

The Northern Beaches Council was made of a merger of the Manly, Pittwater, and Warringah councils of in May 2016, which meant that the council's separate library services were also merged into Northern Beaches Libraries.^[3]

In February 2025, Northern Beaches Libraries introduced "light memberships", a limited type of membership that proof-of-address is not needed for.^[4]

Branches

Northern Beaches Libraries has six branches - Dee Why, Forrestville, Glen Street, Manly, Mona Vale, and Warringah Mall.^[5]

Dee Why Library is in the Warringah Civic Centre, and was the first Northern Beaches library building to be purpose-built as a library.^[6] It was designed by Edwards Madigan and won a Sir John Sulman Medal in 1966 the year it was completed.^[6] In 2004 Dee Why Library was considered for demolition to make space for the new Northern Beaches Hospital, but French's Forest was chosen for the location instead.^[6] Dee Why Library has a department specifically for Tibetan books^[7] and a bi-weekly Tibetan storytime.^[8]

Manly Library was opened in 1901, with a room rented out from the local School of Arts by the Manly Council.^[9] It was originally a non-lending library.^[10] Mona Vale Library opened on the 3rd of September 1972.^[11] The Cubby House Toy Library was opened in 2013 and functions out of the Manly and Mona Vales branches.^[12]

Forestville 24/7 library

The Forestville branch library is open 24/7. It was one of the first in Australia^[2] following Parkes Shire Council (NSW) in 2016, and South Gippsland Shire Council (Victoria) in 2019 ^[13] and the first in Sydney.^[14] The 24/7 library was pioneered by librarian Allison Hamilton, who was nominated for an ALIA Excellence Award as a result of her success in the project, and the support she gave to other libraries interested in implementing their own 24/7 libraries.^[15]

The desire for a 24-hour library first started during the COVID-19 pandemic, and was idea was developed over two years. Forestville Library ran a three-month trial for 24/7 opening times starting on Monday 29 August 2022. During the trial, 21% of visits were outside normal library hours^[13] and there was an 11% increase in memberships^[2] leading the 24/7 hours becoming permanent.

Outside of staffed hours, member enter the library by scanning their library card and entering their pin number associated with the card.^[14] Only library members aged sixteen or older can use the library during these hours.^[13]

Controversies

In February 2023, Manly library was the subject of protests and larger counter protests in response to its drag queen storytime.^[16][17] The library received a bomb threat in relation to the event, which was not made public by police until after the event.^[18]

In 2019, internet filters were installed on library computers after a man was filmed watching pornography at Manly Library.^[19]