Ipswich Municipal Library, corner Nicholas & Brisbane Streets (1947-1971)

Between November 1921 and June 1947, the Ipswich School of Arts Library had been located in the top floor of the Soldiers' Memorial Hall in Nicholas Street.

With the RSL requiring additional space for increased activities, following the end of World War II, the School of Arts Library had to relocate to new premises in the old Bank of Australasia building, on the corner of Brisbane and Nicholas Streets (next to the Old Town Hall, now Ipswich Art Gallery).

At 2 o'clock, on the afternoon of 25th June 1947, the Ipswich School of Arts Library reopened with 15,000 books, covering all subjects from ancient history to modern fiction.

The following year, the School of Arts Library would experience one of its biggest changes.  The School of Arts Library had been administered by a committee, comprised of Council and subscriber representatives.  The Library also received a subsidy from the Council.

Opinions were expressed as early as 1940 that the Council should take over the management of the Library.  The Library Committee struggled with a continued lapse of meetings, as a quorum was rarely reached.  Active committee members approached Council with a proposal that Council took control.  As reported in the Queensland Times on Saturday 14 February 1948:

"In view of the fact that the council owns the property and subsidises the library, and the lack of interest on the part of subscribers, the best possible move is for the council to take it over," said Ald. G.S. Stephenson, Chairman of the Building and General Purposes Committee, and a subscribers' representative on the Library Committee.  "We should be able to bring the library up to the standard it should be with a regular source of administration."

Ald. W.S. Hastie (council representative on the Library Committee): It is a waste of time as it is.

Ald. W. Whitehead: The School of Arts is rather a pathetic case.  I feel that the Finance Committee thought too much of the £.s.d. when the present building was apportioned for use.  The whole of it should have been used for the library, but that never happened.  No attempt was made to modernise it or to provide adequate lighting.  It is definitely C3 standard, and not worthy of Ipswich.

Ald. Whitehead continued that the library should be run, not by a committee, but by a single person who would have sole charge.

Management, control, and conduct of the School of Arts Library formerly passed over to Ipswich City Council on 31st January 1949, becoming the responsibility of the Building and General Purposes Committee.  At the Committee's meeting on 28th January, recommendations were made for applications to be called for a qualified female librarian and an assistant librarian, with salaries to be in accordance with the Municipal Officers' Association Award. 

When the Library relocated to this location, it did not have full access to the Council-owned building.  This was rectified by April 1949, when it was announced that the newly appointed librarian, Mr. L.J. Stephens (previously of Armadale and Melbourne, and to be paid £655 a year) would redesign the layout of the rooms.