New ANZSOG Case Library Case: The City of Melbourne’s narrm ngarrgu Library and Family Services

COVID-19 shelved many projects but for the City of Melbourne, it also provided the opportunity for a timely relocation of its City Library. 

To create the new facility, the council project team was guided by three key principles: social inclusion, responding to user needs and embedding Aboriginal culture and wisdom in City of Melbourne libraries. This involved working with numerous individuals and groups, including careful consultation with local Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung elders. 

The latest addition to ANZSOG’s John L. Alford Case Library The City of Melbourne’s narrm ngarru Library and Family Services looks at how a dedicated local government team, with the support of City of Melbourne leadership, was able to think ambitiously and expansively about what a community hub could be.  

The end result – narrm ngarrgu  (meaning ‘Melbourne knowledge’) – opened in late 2023 opposite the Queen Victoria Market and was lauded for its innovative use of space, materials and resources. It even features a rooftop terrace landscaped to reflect the city’s pre-colonial era. 

Written by ANZSOG Research Fellow Marinella Padula, this case provides a useful and instructive example of place-focused policy and design. It also invites consideration of the many roles libraries play in communities, especially as street-front government services increasingly move online. 

It outlines how such a complex project, involving 20 different divisions within the City of Melbourne and a range of local Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders, was able to be delivered on time and on budget, with community usage figures that exceeded expectations. 

ANZSOG’s Case Library was set up in 2004 by Foundation Professor John L. Alford to address a lack of locally relevant public sector cases. Now featuring more than 200 case studies, the internationally recognised library covers a wide range of topics concerning all levels of government with an emphasis on examples from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. 

With new and updated cases added regularly, it’s an invaluable resource for both instructors and researchers/practitioners seeking engaging, authoritative and in-depth accounts of important public policy and management issues. 

The case joins three others published at the end of last year detailing how public servants and their agencies confront novel or complex challenges.  

• Considerations in consultation and co-design: An assessment of Hāpaitia te Oranga Tangata Safe and Effective Justice Programme looks at a government effort to reduce Aotearoa New Zealand’s rising and unsustainable incarceration rate and explore new options for criminal justice reform. It explores the explores the development of the Hāpaitia te Oranga Tangata Programme and the important dialogue it facilitated, as well as how its design has been questioned and its uncertain legacy in the wake of COVID-19 and a change of government.  
• Measuring success in the ACT’s Drug and Alcohol Sentencing List examines the Australian Capital Territory’s decision to trial the Drug and Alcohol Sentencing List – a trial prison diversion program designed to take a holistic, case-management approach to offenders with substance abuse issues – and the issues that arose in 2023 when the ACT Government needed to measure the impact of the policy and decide whether to extend it.  

• Beyond a joke: friendlyjordies and the Fixated Persons Investigations Unit explores the dramatic arrest of a producer for the satirical YouTube channel friendlyjordies for allegedly stalking and intimidating NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro. This decision, and the use of counter-terrorism officers, sparked an outcry and this case highlights issues including: the policing of free speech, the protection of public officials, political influence on public agencies and oversight of law enforcement.