We are grateful for many telephone calls and other contacts asking when (and where) the Library will be reopening. Your Committee has been challenged a bit more over the last two years than over some longer periods, and many of us live out of Melbourne, but with the help of Fr Nicholas Pearce and his glorious student volunteers, we have moved the shopfront selection of collection to Saint Michael’s Catholic Centre at 456 Dryburgh Street, North Melbourne, on the ground floor of Saint Michael’s presbytery.

We hope to be reopening ordinary operations at St Michael’s on Wednesdays, from 11 am to 5 pm, beginning on 23 November 2022. This will be confirmed on this website. If you have any questions, please ring 0411 483 494. Depending on the availability of volunteers and the demand, these opening hours may be changed or expanded. If you are interested in being trained as a volunteer (we will all need at least a refresher on the computer catalogue and loans system!), please email cclibrary@cclibrary.org.au or ring 0411 483 494.

NOTE: Because we have only about 5,000 volumes able to be housed at North Melbourne, other items from the collection will need to be requested, and we will arrange to retrieve them from the stacks and make them available for borrowers. This may take a little time.

We hope to have a formal opening and blessing by Archbishop Peter of the new premises of the Library. The date is still being worked out. Details to follow.

The remaining 20,000 volumes of the reserve stacks need to be packed, and the shelves need to be dismantled carefully, to be ready to be moved by professional removalists to the beautiful space offered to us by Rt. Rev. Mgr Charles Portelli, Parish Priest of Keilor Downs.

If you can volunteer even a few hours to help packing, please email cclibrary@cclibrary.org.au or ring 0411 483 494.

Many of us have email, or look at Facebook or Twitter. For these we shall send electronic communications. This is an enormous saving for us in postage. If you have an email address which you would be happy for us to use to send you Library news, please let us know. But for those who have given us postal addresses but do not have email, we shall continue to send out printed Newsletters several times a year.

With heartfelt thanks for your support, and looking forward to our new adventure in the apostolate of nourishing Catholic faith and culture,

Very best wishes,

Anthony Krohn for the Committee.