The Leeton shire library, which was opened in its current location and structure in 1990, is an example of exactly this.

Known officially as the Major Dooley Library, computer use, book borrowing, WI-FI, newspapers and magazines, are just some of the free services that are available to the community, but this was not always the case.

The Leeton branch of the Country Women's Association (CWA) was the first organisation in Leeton to see the need for a lending library.

In 1928 the CWA volunteers worked on receiving donations of books and then set about repairing and covering them. For a small fee one could become a member of the lending library and borrow books for their reading pleasure.

The library was set at the front of the CWA building on block number five of Wade Avenue and was very popular. The CWA president's report, which was circulated in The Murrumbidgee Irrigator on December 21, 1934 noted it was "... a splendid circulating library and ... reading room for members ..."

In 1931 Gaskin's Lending Library, owned and operated by Mr C Gaskin, was opened with a total of 75 books available to be borrowed.

The business model used by Mr Gaskin would be copied some 50 years later in the 1980s with the advent of video libraries, where one had to become a member and then pay to borrow a video.

It worked well for Mr Gaskin and, by 1938, he had over 4000 titles available to borrow.

By 1939 with business booming the Gaskins had moved into new premises situated at 36 Kurrajong Avenue and was once known as The Renown Café.

Their book titles had grown to 5000, including the notorious Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.

In April 1937, country residents were also able to borrow books from the Sydney Public Library (now known as the State Library of NSW), but there were conditions, and it could prove costly and untimely.

Anybody who lived more than 20 miles from the city of Sydney could become a borrower from the country reference section of the library.

One could borrow three books at a time for one calendar month with the library paying for the rail freight down and the borrower having to pay for the freight back to Sydney.

That same year a meeting was held in Leeton to discuss the possibility of a free public library being established in Leeton. This was more than likely in response to the Free Library Movement, which had been formally established in Sydney's Chatswood in 1935.

The movement's aim was to advocate and work for the establishment of Free Libraries in NSW. At that meeting it was resolved to seek assistance from the Free Library Movement and following receipt of that, to make representations to the state government for a free public library in Leeton.

The resolution was supported by the Leeton shire president, heads of churches, the Leeton Progress Association and the Leeton CWA.

The matter of a free public library was briefly discussed by council in 1939, but with the commencement of World War II, it was placed on the back burner.

The issue didn't go away however and, on January 26, 1945, Mr J Metcalfe, who was the principal librarian of the Public Library of NSW made an impassioned plea to the Willimbong Shire Council for the establishment of a library.

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He must have impressed them as councillor Washington then moved that they adopt the proposal of a library and strike a rate of one-tenth of a penny in the pound, which was passed.

The CWA offered the shire council its library room and books as a starting point, but the council preferred to establish the library at the "Patriotic Hut" in Chelmsford Place. The Leeton CWA later gave its entire stock of books to the new library.

The following year on July 22, 1946, the library was officially opened by the Hon. G Weir M.L.A., Minister for Conservation who heralded it as " ...as another step forward in Leeton's civic advancement".

And what became of Gaskin's library? Mr Gaskin was a patriotic man and wanted to do his best for the Australian war effort.

Unable to pass the medical test for overseas service, his services were required for home defence and he left Leeton in September 1941 to pursue that. His business was sold to Misses E and N Ryan who later expanded the shop, selling more general items.

The two Ryan girls were still running the shop in 1954, but it was now known simply as Gaskins and not Gaskin's Library.

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