newy.com.au – Wallsend Library is marking 20 years in its current building, having recorded almost four million visits and 7.9 million book loans since it opened in 2006.
The branch was Newcastle’s most visited library for 19 of those 20 years, before the Newcastle City branch drew more visitors in 2025, the council said.
Built to serve the growing western corridor, the current library replaced the Wallsend Branch Library on Cowper Street, which was built in 1948.
Wallsend Library has also become something of a second home for newy.com.au team members when reporting from Newcastle’s western suburbs, providing a familiar base to work between assignments. It is a connection that gives our team a personal appreciation of the library’s place in the community and its value beyond the books on its shelves.
City of Newcastle director of Museum Archives, Library and Learning Julie Baird said the branch’s location and design helped it serve the area’s growing population.
“We are in the heart of the Wallsend retail precinct, you can catch a bus to our front door, and we were purpose-built for the growth we’re continuing to see in this part of the city,” Ms Baird said.
The anniversary celebrations include a display of butterflies created by community members for the library’s windows.
For local resident Ashraf Abdelbkay, the branch has played a significant role in his family’s life, as well as providing a place for people from different backgrounds to meet.
“The library means a lot to me and to my family and to the community I belong to. I’m trying to connect my kids with a library here, to read books from a young age, to be familiar with the environment here in the library,” Mr Abdelbkay said.
“For my community, it’s a place where they come to the different programs here, [such as] Multicultural Book Club where people come and meet other people and exchange cultures. And I’m happy to see a lot of books here in the library in different languages.”
Information about programs, events, study spaces, catalogues and other services is available on the Newcastle Libraries website.
