There are few smells better than that of a room of books. The scent alone instantly creates a cosy sense of home.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
And it's a smell which will immediately hit those attending Harry Hartog's official opening at the Australian National University's Kambri precinct on Tuesday.
It's been five months since the store first started trading as a replacement for The Co-op - which closed last year. On Tuesday they will celebrate the role a bookstore plays within the university and the wider Canberra community.
The store's event co-ordinator Katarina Pearson - like many others - considers a bookstore to be a community supporter, and part of this support comes from the different events which it hosts.
"I've been in the book industry for 25 years and just with specialising in a lot of literary events around town, but the demand here is quite remarkable and it's so optimistic," she says.
"It's wonderful. With all of the academics doing their own publications, and then you have the literary side of the book industry again.
"It's such a vibrant place and there is a huge demand for events. They're very well visited and supported. On average at the ANU we have two and three events ... happening on a weekly basis. It's unheard of."
It doesn't matter if it's for an academic textbook or a sci-fi thriller, Ms Pearson says every event is important.
"It doesn't matter if it's 10 people or 100 people, it's important for us to support the ANU community or the writers," store manager Glen Williams adds.
"We want to create some sense of community and a meeting point.
"We want to be an integral part of a university student's experience at the ANU and in Canberra."
At first glance, it seems easy to see what the store has on offer. New books - both for the students' textbooks and for the avid reader - fill the bottom level, along with a selection of gifts, while the mezzanine is filled with secondhand books.
But at a second look - and as Mr Williams explains - the store aims to be a meeting place.
"We'll come to close and there'll be a card game going on or something," he says.
"So students are starting to use it as a place to relax, as a nice place to come and rummage, and kill some time.
"We're getting alumni coming through and they come and discover Kambri - the new precinct - and they come in and talk to us and they say 'I was here in 1969 or '75' and they talk about The Co-op and that's what I want from this.
"I want students to come back in 30 or 40 years time and remember this amazing bookshop where they went and discovered something."
The official opening will be on Tuesday from 6pm to 8pm.
The event is free, but registrations for the opening can be made at Eventbrite.