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Dorothy Joyce McGillivray . Picture : Evan MacLean
A life of letters
Bookworm clocks up 69 years as library member and 14,000 books .
By Conor Burke
Dorothy Joyce McGillivray has been a Liverpool Library member for a long time . Since 1952 Dorothy has amassed a huge 14,000 books borrowed and the 96-year-old holds the title as the Sydney library ’ s longest-serving member .
Pretty much the minute she landed on these shores as a “ ten pound pom ” she made a beeline for what was then just “ a poky little place ”. First as a resident of East Hills migrant hostel then living in Rossmore and Casula , Dorothy would make the trip into Liverpool , at a time when a lot of the roads were still dirt , to borrow books .
“ At that time you could only take two books at the time and you only had them for one week ,” Dorothy tells Aged Care Insite .
“ But nobody said anything about the size . So , if I saw ones on a subject I wanted and they were somewhat large , well they were the ones I took quickly . I picked something that was going to last .”
And in recent times , over a year when a pandemic has meant many social interactions have been put on hold , especially for the elderly , the library and books have been even more important .
A voracious reader , Dorothy reads most of the day , often until the small hours and only recently got through three books in one week .
History and non-fiction are her genre of choice .
“ I don ’ t know , it ’ s something I ’ ve always had [ my love of books ]. I ’ ve always wanted to read things that have happened , not things that are just a figment of someone ’ s imagination ,” she says .
And so the library has always been a special place for a woman with such an appetite for knowledge . And she too became special to the library and the community around it .
A recent trip to the library after a long COVID-imposed absence had staff jumping for joy .
“ When we went to the library a couple of weeks ago , there would have been 20 staff all jumping up and down and hugging and kissing her , because they haven ’ t seen her for 12 months , so that was very special ,” Dorothy ’ s daughter Ann says .
Librarian Mary Bush has known Dorothy and her family for over 30 years , and for the last 14 years has been delivering books to Dorothy as the bookworm became less able to make it to the library in person .
“ Libraries are
more than books .
“ She is a very well read woman , a very beautiful woman . All the people at the library know her . All of us at the library , a lot of us have been there for a long time . The ones that have been there , like me , over 30 years , they all know Dorothy from the days when she used to come in ,” she says .
“ And they all love Dorothy , because she always came in , respects them , talks to them about books , about this , about that .”
For Mary , someone like Dorothy exemplifies everything a local library should be . It ’ s a communal space rather than just a place to get books .
“ We get different people coming to the library ; we get homeless people , we get people with mental issues , social issues , poverty ,” she says .
“ Sometimes we have people just come through the door to be amongst people , sit at the library desk and pick up a magazine or a book and they find somebody they can talk to . It ’ s not only about books , it ’ s a social thing .”
And for older members of the community a library can be a trip out , to be among the community , to meet people and have a chat .
“ Libraries are more than books ,” Mary says .
Dorothy agrees . At times the library was like a friend .
“ They say that I ’ ve read 14,000 books . That is only since computerisation . That ’ s only taken up one third of the length of time that I ’ ve been in Australia ,” Dorothy says .
“ It definitely does mean an awful lot to me . I used to stagger home with two shopping bags full of library books . People would say ,
‘ I suppose you ’ re going to your second home .’” Dorothy ’ s top five books of all time reveal a penchant for biographies on the power and politics of the royal family through the generations : 1 . Queen Anne : The Politics of Passion , by Lady Anne Somerset
2 . Thomas Cromwell : The Untold Story of Henry VIII ’ s Most Faithful Servant , by Tracy Borman
3 . Elizabeth : Renaissance Prince , by Lisa Hilton
4 . Bomber Boys : Fighting Back 1940-1945 , by Patrick Bishop
5 . The Six Wives of Henry VIII , by Alison Weir ■
6 agedcareinsite . com . au