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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Sara Garrity

A local library fetching the attention of furry locals

Tom Corra and his seven-year-old son made the Watson Stick Library following a conversation with another local about the lack of sticks in the area. Picture supplied

We've all seen street libraries around Canberra, popping up all over the place and entertaining Canberrans - human ones anyway - throughout lockdowns and quiet evenings.

Around 3700 street libraries are scattered around the country, with just under 200 in Canberra specifically.

But there's a good chance a significantly smaller number of Canberrans have seen anything like what has recently popped up in Watson - the Watson Stick Library, a street library for dogs.

On one early Saturday morning, Tom Corra was going for his usual walk with his dog around the local neighbourhood.

The walk Mr Corra regularly conducts is by a local dam, but, with his lead in hand, he started to notice something was missing.

He stumbled upon another dog walker and struck up a conversation about what was going on, and she agreed.

There was a dire lack of good throwing sticks in the area around the dam.

"This led to an idea whilst I was walking home that I could create something with my seven-year-old son," he said.

So off to The Green Shed in Mitchell they went to purchase a $5 CD tower.

"That afternoon was spent tinkering away together and by 5pm that same day, the Watson Stick Library was installed," Mr Corra said.

The sign on the library reads, "take a stick, leave a stick," and adds to what was already an area extremely popular with dogs, he said.

The sentiment is shared amongst the street library community in Canberra, with an honesty system allowing passers-by to pick-up and drop-off any books that have sparked interest or will do so for others.

Street libraries brought communities together and transported them to different worlds during the pandemic, and the stick library, in its comparatively short life, has had an equally large impact on the community. For the furry members of it, anyway.

Since its installation, the online presence of the library has grown.

"I didn't realise the impact it was having until the photos started popping up online," Mr Corra said.

"Overnight, it went somewhat viral, amassing over 25,000 likes."

One post also shows an additional 3200 comments, and more than 3000 shares. And that doesn't even include the attention it has gotten from its most regular users, the dogs.

"The library has further enhanced the local dam area and it's so good to see dogs of all walks of life enjoying a stick from the library to fetch at the dam," he said.

"I feel like I'm just giving a little back to the beautiful suburb I call home."

The Little Street Library concept was founded in America and has since exploded with popularity all over the world.

Putting up a street library has always been voluntary, but the Street Libraries not-for-profit organisation makes things easier for people looking for their next read.

Stick libraries have a bit of catching up to do, but this one in Watson shows exactly how well loved they can be - from humans and dogs alike.

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