cardiShorts episode 12 – Clare Presser


I’m the Digital Library Activation Specialist for Newcastles Libraries. It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which this video was captured. The Digital Library sits where the lands of the Awabakal and Worimi people meet and I would like to pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.  

Newcastle Libraries opened this new library space in early September of this year. It was a (very) soft launch, due to health concerns around the pandemic. Due to low community transmissions, staff at Newcastle Libraries can elect to wear masks during customer service shifts – I thought it easier to talk to the camera without. I am using a stylus instead of my fingers for the touch screen technology and we have cleaners that wipe down the screen every hour.

A full tour of the library service normally takes anywhere between half an hour to an hour (depending on questions) so 10 minutes was a challenge, which was fuelled by my slightly chaotic end-of-day energy. Many thanks to my colleague Steve Benko-Nehme for holding my phone for me whilst I scampered about the place.

Do you work in GLAM and would you like to do a short video for cardiShorts? For beginner filmmakers, Andrew Kelly has written a blog with some helpful pointers. If you’re interested in submitting a cardiShort, please contact us at hello@newcardigan.org.