The Rad Library

“THE RAD LIBRARY”

The Rad Library is a mobile community library full of rad books, zines, DVDs, and games and operating out of a van in Perth, the library has been stocked with stuff bought by those involved, donated by friends, or borrowed from mother’s bookshelves (with some significant donations made by a few kind folks). We try and include only rad material (see definition below) ‘cause you can get other stuff from normal libraries (and sometimes rad stuff there too!). The library made its debut appearance at the Really Really Free Market at Hyde Park on Sunday 19 September, and because several people borrowed items, we’ve now committed to rocking up at the pagoda on the North side (Vincent St side) of the park, every Sunday for several hours between 12 and 6pm. Our opening hours vary slightly seasonally and according to volunteer availability, and sometimes we also have to set up at another location in the park, so write down our phone number: 0426 273 124 and call us before you visit to check our current hours, and bring the number with you in case you can’t find us when you’re at the park. We know it seems a little haphazard but we do our very best, and anyway, this is the nature of truly radical anti-authoritarian grassroots ventures run by real live people!

The library is special (rad) because it is full of resources, most of which:

•  are hard to find and/or expensive to obtain
•  present perspectives and voices that are often marginalised in our society
•  are donated by people who hate to see things collecting dust on shelves when they deserve to be read or watched!

Some of the themes we’ve organised our collection into include:

- queer, gender, feminism and sexuality
- race and Aboriginal/Indigenous/First Nation
- health, ability and mental health
- environment
- religion, religious issues and spirituality
- food, gardening and DIY
- exposé
- praxis, community and collective organising
- political theory and philosophy
- australian/local
- fiction (including speculative and less speculative)
- young adult
- kids
- autobiography/biography
- the arts (inc. poetry, scripts, performance, visual arts)

So please pay us a visit and tell your friends. We will be there each and every Sunday, and considering this is super exciting and we’re in little old Perth, there’s no excuse to miss us

The Rad Library was inspired by the amazing library at the short-lived ‘Charlie’s Galley’ social centre in North Perth, as well as by the Anarchist bookshops and libraries in Sydney and Melbourne. These projects empower people through education and community and are about putting into practice our dreams for tomorrow, today. If you’ve got some books, zines or other resources that you think are rad, and that you’d like to donate, we’d love to share them from the library.

Email the.rad.library@gmail.com for more info or to donate. You can also contact us on 0426 273 124, or visit the facebook group (search for ‘the rad library’).

Check out the ‘Our Rad Collection’ section to see all the fantastic books and DVDs that we’ve got!!