Strand Library is finally old enough to sit at the ‘grown-ups table’ of Cape Town’s oldest libraries after it celebrated its 120th birthday!
Strand, South Africa (02 September 2024)—Librarians traded shushing motions for applause last week as the Strand Library celebrated 120 years of book-loving, caring and community.
Now, the library sits among other grand dames and pillars part of Cape Town’s historic library scene at the ‘grown-ups table’, including Woodstock Library (142 years old), Mowbray (137 years old), Rondebosch (128 years old) and Muizenberg (124-years-old).
What began as a little subscription library on 20 December 1904, occupying just a room in the Strand Town Hall, has grown, moved, enjoyed generations of members, and survived the rise of technology and a pandemic.
20 years after the little subscription library opened, it was decided that a bigger space was needed because the membership kept growing (a great problem to have). A new library was subsequently built in Wesley Street, where the ribbon was cut and the doors opened to the public on 3 September 1924. Later down the line in history, circa 1972, the municipality began building a new library on the corner of Mills & Piet Retief Street that would eventually join the Cape Provincial Library Service. This new library became a free municipal service and opened up for service two years later in 1924 on 29 August—Strand Library’s decided birthday!
Today, Strand Library boasts an impressive 5450 members and an annual circulation of nearly 200,000 items, with Colleen Hoover and Christelle Wessels being hot commodities along with recipe books.
Big, Recent Chapters for Strand Library:
2022
- Launching a talking books service after teaming up with Tape Aids, making reading more accessible.
- The 1000 Stories Before School outreach programmes to connect with communities through local clinics.
2023
- Helping Hendrik Louw Primary School have access to books after the school’s library closed with weekly class visits.
- Strand Library also won first runner-up in the Innovation Category at the LIS Service Recognition Awards that year.
2024
- The library won the Customer Service Category at the LIS Service Recognition Awards.
- And it was first runner-up for the Innovation Award at the same awards ceremony!
“It has been a beacon of hope and knowledge in the area and continues to provide an essential service to residents in the surrounding suburbs. Strand Library is about more than the books and other material. It’s a collection and reflection of history, and an important social meeting point.” – Councillor Patricia van der Ross, Mayco Member for Community Services and Health