Fishermans Bay street artist Nick Stuart spent many hours over two days last week painting the mural, which was developed from research by the Port Stephens Council Youth Advisory Panel (YAP) members and funded by the state government as part of a 'Youth Opportunities' program.

The council's community engagement officer Jim Campbell said that the connectivity theme was a result of a conversation about a need for a youth hub in the Tomaree area well before the virus outbreak.

"Around the same time Raymond Terrace library had started a Thursday evening program targeting youth. The program had been running for about six weeks before COVID-19 brought it to a temporary stop," Mr Campbell said.

"Given that we also had to cancel all Youth Week events we thought it would be a good time to recognise our youth through the mural. The fact that the theme is 'connectivity' - something that people are embracing and struggling with due to the coronavirus right now - is coincidental."

NSW Youth Week was due to be staged April 1-9.

Mr Stuart, who has been plying his art for 12 years, said that following collaboration with the area's youth it was decided to depict connectivity in three parts: social, emotional support and online.

"The social theme is represented with a 'shaka' [a symbol made with the thumb and little finger extending from a semi-fist], set in the foreground to a pattern depicting sun, surf, peace and happiness," he said.

"The centre of the mural features a speech bubble with two young people in conversation, one talking and one listening, and the third part shows a hand pointing to a world globe with a WiFi symbol."

In addition to adding some attraction for young people to the library space, Raymond Terrace branch librarian Donna Lloyd said that the concept arose from a youth space called 'The Lounge', which was launched earlier this year.

"The Lounge was held weekly in a safe, welcoming space for young people to enjoy, make friends, share ideas and have fun. The mural promotes the whole idea of connectivity for young people and it seemed a perfect fit for what the library is trying to achieve," Ms Lloyd said.

"The opportunity to launch it in youth week when everyone is feeling isolated and disconnected from each other will hopefully send a positive message and a reminder that we will be here for our young people when normality returns."