Scholastic Children's Library at The Children's Hospital at Westmead!

Open Monday to Friday, 10am - 3pm

At The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Scholastic Australia has created a library haven for sick children. This very special project has made a real difference to the lives of sick children at Australia's largest and most modern specialist children's hospital.

The innovative children's library, called the Book Bunker, was officially opened on 14 August 1997, by Mem Fox.

The library has been made possible by the company's fundraising activities, and the efforts of Scholastic staff who, each year, undertake to fundraise for the Variety Club of Australia. The library is staffed by trained volunteer librarians and is open from 10am - 3pm, Monday - Friday.

Design Edge!

The Book Bunker has been designed as an inviting and interesting place for children - a place of refuge and escape - away from the reality of illness and treatment. The furnishings and decor reflect the vibrant contemporary design of the hospital and afford children, including those who are wheelchair-bound, snug individual spaces where they can relax with a book, audio tape or CD-ROM.

The facility offers sick children a chance to resume a part of their normal daily lives - to read and learn, listen to a story, enjoy the latest CD-ROM - and meet and talk to new friends in their own environment.

Books and Technology

The library has the capacity to house over 20 000 books, donated by Scholastic and many Australian publishers. In addition, children have access to listening posts and four computers loaded with popular CD-ROMs. Bed-bound children have access to the library through regular visits by The Book Bunker librarians. Specially selected books can be borrowed immediately from The Book Bunker trolley, or the children can access the entire library collection from a laptop computer networked to The Book Bunker inquiry software.

The library is building its resources of books in foreign languages to cater for the many non-English speaking patients. It is also developing a major collection of children's books dealing with medical issues and trauma which will be managed separately by a committee of medical and children's literature professionals and used by hospital staff for counselling and education.