Fremantle City Library

Freo library is old but it has a great range of books, DVDs, CDs and other things you’d expect at a library. It has several free to use computers (you need to book if you want to use them longer) or you can use one of the fifteen minute computers. You don’t need to be a member to use the computers. You do need to be a member to loan books etc. There’s lots of seating, newspapers and things to keep you amused. There’s free wifi but there are no power points for public use as tourists and locals alike were charging their gadgets/​computers while using them. (I’m gueasing the power bills were getting high). You can also print and photocopy (fees apply).

Public libraries are now less communal spaces for students in need of a quiet nook to spread out there books, and more a place for aging locals to read the news and update their stamp books. Case in point: Fremantle library. The area outside has a free wifi hot spot but good luck finding peace and quiet there. Upon venturing inside the actual library, I found that there are absolutely no power points for personal computers, and Internet is only accessible via a few clunky old machines operating on Windows. Their catalogue is also incredibly limited, and I can’t say I’ve ever found a title I’m looking for. Give it a miss if you’re under 65.

I’ve lived in a few parts of Perth and until I moved to Fremantle, I always found the local library to be a great resource. Considering this one is a joint project between the cities of Fremantle and East Fremantle, you’d expect it to be better than your average, but unfortunately it isn’t much chop. With a large fiction section that I’ve found to be oddly lacking in depth, and a nonfiction section that seems to house only a few books on any given subject, it feels under resourced.
The redeeming feature of the library is its’ fantastic and colourful children’s section, where they have a regular story time on weekends and occasional school holiday activities. I believe story time is generally at 10am on Thursdays and 11am on Saturdays, but give the library a call to confirm before heading down as this changes from time to time. The librarians are generally very helpful and there’s a sense of a lot of effort put in here on their part, but they clearly need more funds to make this a useful facility for the community.