Some projects make a big splash right away. With others, it’s something of a slow burn.
Just as the sun sets on this year’s Fun Palaces, I was pleased to see an old programme finally achieving its potential back in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Auckland Libraries have just launched Reading Between the Wines, a monthly book club which tours bars in the central suburbs of New Zealand’s biggest city. Librarians bring a selection of books to the bar for patrons to check out and discuss on the first Thursday of each month.
The original librarians-in-bars pilot was part of Dark Night, Auckland’s citywide burlesque festival of 2013. It was one in a series of experiments in offsite library services, including embedding librarians in comic book stores.
It’s great to see Kiwi libraries flourishing in the streets and watering holes of the “Super City”. For more on Reading Between the Wines, contact Laura Caygill of Auckland Libraries.
To see other adventures in offsite librarianship, check out Parkes Library’s Coffee Cup Stories and Pub Gaming sessions.
You can read more about Dark Night over at Library Journal:
matt finch / mechanical dolphin 
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