Is it okay not to return books to their original shelves? The Australian underground library that's changing the "norms of reading"

You can place a book you picked up at the library on a completely different shelf on another floor.

Hearing that, you might immediately think, "Won't that make it difficult for the next person to find it?" However, there is a library on Tasmania Island, Australia, that embraces this concern with technology and allows the freedom to move books.

The Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, commonly known as MONA, has a new library called "Phrontisterion."

According to an article provided by WAtoday, the plan took 10 years and construction took 4 years, with the initial budget of 11 million Australian dollars ballooning to over 100 million Australian dollars. The underground space, which opened in June 2026, houses about 30,000 books.

The numbers alone are overwhelming. However, the intrigue of this place cannot be explained solely by the construction costs or the price of rare books.

What is being tested here is how to balance storing books in designated places with allowing people to freely approach knowledge.

A Library Without "Correct Shelves"

Library classification is a reliable tool for finding a specific book among a vast collection. If books in the same field are placed nearby, you can read them comparatively.

On the other hand, the meaning a single book holds cannot be confined to one classification.

David Walsh, the founder of MONA, uses a book about Mars as an example in his writing. If placed among books about planets, it would be near books about Mercury and others. However, would someone interested in the Roman mythology connection, from which Mars derives its name, find it on the mythology shelf?

Even the same book can be approached differently by someone entering from the cosmos and someone entering from mythology. Phrontisterion values these multiple entry points.

The library does not adopt the Dewey Decimal Classification. However, this does not mean they have stopped organizing. They have made it possible to combine books according to themes and ideas and to change the way they are arranged.

Walsh aims for a library where librarians can demonstrate the relationships between books like curators. Just as the combination of artworks in an exhibition creates new meanings, bookshelves also become places to convey ideas.

The Freedom to Move Books Supported by Invisible Technology

The freedom of arrangement is supported by a system that recognizes the appearance of books and tracks their location.

According to Art Processors, who were responsible for the development, books are identified from images of their covers and spines. The dedicated guide "The O" helps in finding books and guides you to related titles.

On the interactive bookshelves, the relationships between books are indicated with light. The book in front of you becomes an entry point to other books.

What emerges from this is an intriguing idea about how to use technology.

Convenient searches are powerful when you know what you want. However, when you are in a state of "I don't even know what I want to read," it's hard to put that into search terms.

In such cases, a cover that happens to catch your eye or an unexpected book placed next to it can be helpful. From a book about your favorite music to the history of a city, from a book about the universe to ancient stories. Such detours can create new interests.

The attempt at Phrontisterion can be read as an effort to preserve the time spent physically moving and gazing at bookshelves, rather than leaving the entry to reading solely to search windows.

Why is a Book Worth Approximately 12 Million Australian Dollars So Important?

The collection that symbolizes this library is the 1623 publication of Shakespeare's "First Folio."

The WAtoday article introduces the value of the books held by MONA as 6 to 8 million US dollars, which translates to 8.7 to 11.6 million Australian dollars. The headline's "12 million dollars" is considered a rounded expression of that upper limit. It is not 12 million yen in Japanese currency, nor does the article indicate the actual purchase price.

In 2026, it will have been 403 years since its publication. However, the importance of this book is not just because it is old and expensive.

The "First Folio" is a collection of 36 plays published seven years after Shakespeare's death. According to the Folger Shakespeare Library, 18 of those plays had not been previously printed.

It includes works like "Macbeth" and "The Tempest." Without this collection, some works might have been lost.

It preserves the words from the stage as printed material and passes them on to readers and performers of another era. A single book has supported that long transmission. Beyond the price tag lies the weight of the stories reaching us today.

The Original You Can't Touch and the Pages You Can Turn Yourself

When displaying rare books, museums and libraries face a difficult problem.

While they are materials meant to be seen by people, increased opportunities to touch them pose a risk of damage. Protecting them in glass cases increases safety, but it often limits viewing to only the open pages.

At MONA, this gap is bridged with digital displays.

The original is protected, and a digital reading stand called "The Dial" is provided for viewing its contents. Visitors can operate a brass dial to turn pages reproduced in actual size. The 36 works of the "First Folio" can also be viewed using this system.

Of course, the experience through a screen is not the same as touching the original. Even so, there is meaning in being able to proceed according to one's interest and stop at intriguing places.

It brings displayed books closer from being "objects to be viewed" to "objects to be read." Instead of choosing between preservation and display, it combines methods suitable for each.

For Children, an Entrance That Feels Like "Entering a Book"

The WAtoday article also touches on the area for children. It is said to be a space wrapped in a plywood design, making it feel as if you are sitting inside a book.

Expensive rare books and children's reading spaces may seem like distant entities at first glance. However, they are connected in the sense of increasing entry points to books.

Not everyone visits with an initial interest in literary history or rare books. There might be a comfortable place, an interestingly shaped space, or just a desire to sit for a while. It's okay to open a book for such small reasons.

If you think of a library only as "a place to study properly," it becomes difficult for those without a purpose to enter.

Looking, approaching, picking up, reading. It's okay to stop midway or move to another book. From the space creation of Phrontisterion, one can sense an attitude of valuing the time before starting to read.

Positive Voices on Social Media, Yet Some Confusion in Getting There

So, how do people who have actually visited feel about it?

In the Reddit regional community "r/hobart," a thread about the new MONA library was created on October 11, 2026, and posts evaluating the library as a cool and attractive place were observed.

On the other hand, the post also expressed dissatisfaction with the route to the library, noting confusion about passing through a corridor with loud exhibits and displays accompanied by darkness and thunder.

In another post on October 15, it was mentioned that people were inspired by the community discussion to visit the new library and evaluated it positively. They also spent a lot of time enjoying the outdoor grounds.

The points introduced here are summaries of individual posts that could be confirmed and do not represent the overall evaluation of visitors or the overall trend on social media. Also, these are not reactions directly submitted to the current WAtoday article but impressions posted about the facility earlier.

Nevertheless, there are points that provoke thought. The experience of a museum with strong stimuli does not necessarily align with the desire to quietly read a book.

"Being an interesting place" and "being an accessible place for that person" need to be confirmed separately.

What We Should Consider in Japan Is "How to Encounter" Rather Than Building the Same Structure

It's premature to conclude that the same system should be introduced in Japan after seeing this library.

MONA is a place born from personal collection activities and the concept of a museum, and the books in Phrontisterion cannot be borrowed outside the facility. Its role and conditions differ from public libraries that support local life and learning.

Classification systems are not merely old constraints. They are important foundations that maintain searchability and allow many people to reach the same materials. A system that allows free movement requires technology and management to maintain that freedom.

Even so, there are things that can be considered in relation to Japan's reading environment.

For example, not confining music books only to the music shelf. Connecting books transversally to the history of the city where a song was born, the plants mentioned in the lyrics, and the body mechanisms that support performance.

Or, in the display of rare materials, making it easy to read through reproductions or digital versions while maintaining the presence of the original.

At the center of these efforts is not a luxurious building. It is the imagination that "there must be other ways to spark interest in that book."

In an Era Where Answers Are Easily Found, Reclaiming Time for Detours

Phrontisterion has eye-catching amounts, a historical book, and cutting-edge systems.

However, the questions familiar to Japanese readers might be smaller. When was the last time you looked at a bookshelf without a set purpose? Have you ever picked up a book slightly outside your interest just by its cover?

Walsh reflects on his childhood library card as something that opened opportunities to seek knowledge in his writing. Behind the library, which invested enormous costs, there is also personal experience that began with a local library.

The value of a book is not just in becoming the property of the owner. It is also born in the moment someone opens it and begins to think about unexpected things.

What the underground library of about 30,000 books offers is a slightly unusual path to encounter that moment.

Sources and References

1. WAtoday: Construction period and cost, approximately 30,000 books, free shelving, children's space, evaluation value of rare books, etc.
   https://www.watoday.com.au/culture/art-and-design/a-12-million-book-is-not-the-only-reason-there-s-nothing-like-this-australian-library-anywhere-else-20261107-p61c2r.html

2. MONA Official: Overview of Phrontisterion and its position as a facility to showcase David Walsh's collection.Mona
   https://mona.net.au/stuff-to-do/phrontisterion

3. MONA Official "Playing the library card": An article by Walsh himself about his awareness of issues with classification systems, the example of Mars and mythology, and his childhood library experiences.Mona
   https://namedropping.mona.net.au/blog/playing-the-library-card

4. Art Processors: Explanation from the developer about book image recognition, bookshelves indicating relationships, and the digital reading stand "The Dial."Art Processors
   https://artprocessors.net/library-without-dewey

5. MONA Official "The O": Guidance within the library and a function to search for related titles from book covers.Mona
   https://mona.net.au/the-o

6. Folger Shakespeare Library: Explanation of the publication year of the "First Folio," the 36 works included, and the 18 works published for the first time.Folger Shakespeare Library
   https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-print/first-folio/

7. AAP: Reporting at the time of opening, conveying that it is a viewing-type library without external lending and themed arrangements.aapnews.aap.com.au
   https://aapnews.aap.com.au/news/sneak-peek-at-mona-s-100m-underground-library

8. Reddit "The new MONA library - who's been?": Positive impressions of the library and confusion about the sound and darkness of the exhibits on the way. Referenced confirmed posts from public searches.who's been?
   https://www.reddit.com/r/hobart/comments/1x2z0nu/the_new_mona_library_whos_been/

9. Reddit "Beautiful weekend alert!": Impressions of visiting the new library inspired by community posts. Referenced confirmed posts from public searches.reddit.com
   https://www.reddit.com/r/hobart/comments/1x6f65e/beautiful_weekend_alert/##HTML_TAG_