4 December, 2025

Gunnedah Shire Library’s creativity and ingenuity has captured the spotlight at the NSW Public Libraries Association’s annual conference.

The Library won the annual Innovations in Library Services Award for its intergenerational Make It! program, which aims to make useful items by reusing and recycling every day materials.

Gunnedah Shire Librarian Christiane Birkett said the staff were thrilled to be recognised for the imaginative program launched in 2023.

“I was dumfounded. I just really didn’t expect it,” she said.

“A lot of libraries are doing what they call STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) programs.

“I entered Make It! because ours is different – it’s intergenerational, repurposing, making something useful, and it allows people to try out different crafts without paying loads of money.

“While I thought it wasn’t very innovative, it turns out it was.”

Mrs Birkett said it all started with bee hotels because Gunnedah Urban Landcare were planting natives on Pensioners Hill, and providing hotels is an easy way to encourage bees. The staff went on to brainstorm ideas and test out different crafts.

“We wanted an intergenerational program. We wanted a recycling program so we could show people what they could do. We wanted to give people a creative outlet where they could do a taster craft,” Mrs Birkett said.

She said they focused on making items that were practical and were linking crafts back to Library books, so participants could pursue the crafts that sparked their interest.

Creative, practical crafts have included making envelopes out of old calendar pictures, macrame key chains and bag dispensers made from plastic bottles.

Mrs Birkett said the hands-on program was cost-effective, encouraged socialisation and teamwork, and focused on motor skills and tactile functions in an increasingly digital world.

The Innovations in Library Services Awards was presented at the annual Switch conference in Penrith in November where Mrs Birkett also delivered a presentation on the Library’s award-winning Brain Training program.

Make It! is on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month from 3:30pm to 4:30pm at the Library in Conadilly Street, Gunnedah.

Captions:

Gunnedah Shire Library beat out the competition to win the Innovations in Library Services Award for the popular Make It! program. Pictured are Library staff Robyn Draper, Christiane Birkett and Toni Jones.

Gunnedah Shire Librarian Christiane Birkett (centre) and Make It! participants with the colourful fans they made from scrap paper.

ENDS

Media and communications team contact: (02) 6740 2100 or communications@gunnedah.nsw.gov.au