“I grew up in a working class family in Tyers in the 1960s. Mum used to bring us into the Traralgon Library. I fell in love with the reference section. It started me off on the history bent,” says Latrobe City local Ron Lambert.

“Books are a window to the world outside Gippsland. They give you freedom. It doesn’t matter how broke you are you can read a book and take yourself out of that situation.”

“I’ve done so many jobs. I was a nude model at a TAFE in Western Australia, a rigger, a research officer in the union, a scaffolder and a stay-at-home-dad.

“I’m lucky. I’ve been able to skill myself up and go back to university. I’ve done my undergraduate, my masters and now I’m a PhD Candidate.

“I wouldn’t have got through it without the support of the public library.”