A REVIEW OF THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION'S 150 YEARS OF PUBLIC LIBRARIES CAMPAIGN

From Hairnet to Internet

Cathy McGrath Marketing and Quality Assurance Officer for Gloucestershire County Library, Arts and Museums Service explains how she successfully kick started the 150 Years Campaign in Gloucester by generating media interest:

"January is a quiet month for the media, so I wrote to all the local media including 15 newspapers and 6 local radio stations knowing that they would be looking for newsworthy stories. My letter was entitled 'FROM HAIRNET TO INTERNET' which I have pinched from someone (thank you if you are the person who coined this phrase - I have found it very useful). I challenged their perception of public libraries and invited them to visit a library to see just how much it has changed in the last 150 years. I jokingly accused them of reinforcing the stereotypical image held of libraries and asked for their support in developing a more dynamic/sexy and realistic image of libraries.

As a result of the letter every paper ran a story on public libraries celebrating 150 years. Many ran full page double spreads with lots of photographs etc. To buy this advertising space, it would be way beyond our limited budget. I was also interviewed on every local radio station. 

The 150 years of public libraries gave me a 'peg' to hang this mailshot on and it generated substantial positive media interest. This third party endorsement has resulted in an increase in the number of enquiries and those attending events.

The 150 years celebration has helped us at Gloucestershire to really put our libraries on the map and show people the diverse range of services that our libraries offer."

Treasures of Manchester Central Library

Linda Dawes, Principal Officer of Manchester Central Library's Humanities Group co-ordinated the exhibition 'Treasures of Manchester Central Library'. The exhibition ran from August to September at Manchester's Central Library and marked the 150th Anniversary of the Public Libraries Act.

It was strangely appropriate that publicity for this exhibition featured a detail from 'Floods of England, 1607' - how did we know we were in for the wettest autumn in 300 years! Interest in the weather is timeless and it was one of the subjects highlighted in this exhibition of rarely seen items from Central Library's collection. 

The exhibition was put together by librarians and archivists with the aim of celebrating our rich resources with our users. On display were early printed books, original manuscripts, private press items, and hand-coloured fashion plates - to name but a few. 

The local media were very interested in the event. As well as coverage in the Manchester Evening News, items were filmed by both BBC and Granada local news teams - the latter featuring Fred Talbot, the local celebrity weatherman.

"How wonderful to see a public tribute to libraries - 
they are, indeed, treasures"
(A Quotation from the Visitors Book)

Remembering the Past

Stoke-on-Trent Libraries used the 150th Years anniversary as an opportunity to team up with the Potteries Museum. They worked together to re-launch their Reminiscence Loans Service. The service offers themed boxes on an assortment of subjects, each box contains a mixture of books, photographs and artifact to stimulate reminiscence.

Kath Reynolds, Principal Librarian Community Services, Stoke-on-Trent Libraries explains:

"Reminiscence loans services had been offered by both Stoke-on-Trent Libraries and Museums, we decided that it would make life much easier for our users if the services could be amalgamated. Using the existing library sturdy plastic boxes, two services were repackaged and remarketed as one service offering books, videos, CDs, posters, postcards and three dimensional objects. Themes included Childhood, Working Life, Saturday Night Out and Festivals - 29 themes are offered in total.

The launch took place in June when all of the boxes and their contents were displayed in our main library. Groups were invited to browse and spend time reminiscing. Music from bygone times helped to set the scene.

We attracted plenty of media coverage. The local radio station played a pre-recorded interview with me, browsing through our Holidays and Outings box. And as a result of the launch, we have secured a regular slot promoting a different box each month in a magazine produced by our local evening paper."

Scintillating Science Success

Librarians in Gosport came up with a tough challenge to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Public Libraries -make science exciting for youngsters! Jan Turner tells us how she managed this:

"Our team organised a week of special events in Gosport Library on the theme Scintillating Science. We decided to use science rather than the usual literary themes. 

During planning objectives were agreed these were; to appeal across the age range, promote the services offered by the library, and consolidate partnerships in the community. Themes for the programme presented themselves quite naturally, working with elements within and surrounding the library.

Gosport Library holds the Hampshire Naval collection and in one event representatives from the Royal Navy Submarine Museum demonstrated the difficulties of navigating a submarine. 

For a special under-fives story-time Search (the children's arm of the Museum Service specialising in science) loaned costumes to the children who had lots of fun transforming themselves into fish cats and crocodiles -and learning about animal classification. 

Meanwhile, Gosport's University of the Third Age met upstairs and discussed how scientific developments had changed their lives.

The week culminated with Experiments 4 Everyone. Four experiments had to be completed to receive a certificate of Achievement. 100 certificates were awarded; a total of 400 experiments carried out in three hours! This and Nick Arnold's horrible science quiz evening were a hit with the dads and lads.

The event was organised by a small team, who put in a lot of their own time as well as coming up with excellent ideas like wearing lab coats, and having experiments in the library all-week.

There was good news coverage. Events were posted on Hantsweb; the local newspaper, and local radio. Posters were sent to schools, local sheltered accommodation schemes, and local naval establishments. As a result both evenings were sold out."

Cluedo Style Crime

Kate Mackie and the team at Leamington Library encouraged Library users to investigate beyond the shelves of their local library. . . 

"We decided that the new library's first birthday and 150 years of Public Libraries should be a joint celebration, and as the crime novel is one of the mainstays of our service why not also celebrate its success."

The result was the 'Body in the Bath'. During August customers were invited to enter our competiton to solve the crime. Librarians were the main suspects, and caricatures and profiles to help choose the perpetrator were provided. For example, did Mrs. Barker our Children's Librarian have a very different story to tell? or was Mrs Caven our Internet Officer tangled in another type of web?

Hundreds of entries were received and staff were amused by the comments and looks of horror on customers faces when they encountered the body.

Best of all our crime section was much depleted and hopefully we introduced our readers to new writers. 

The Past Inspires the Future

At Stourport Library they looked at the past with a firm focus on the future running a number of activities linked with the 150th anniversary of the Library Act. 

James Rose Assistant Librarian gives us an idea of what they got up to:

"During the year we have been running exhibitions featuring pictures and articles that relate to the library services in both Worcestershire and Stourport. 

For our main project we decided to fill a time capsule to be unearthed in 2150. We asked our borrowers to choose items that they felt represented the Library to be added to the capsule alongside articles about the library and photographs of Library events. Overall we wanted to capture a snapshot of all of the different personalities that make up the library in 2000. At the end of the year a selection of the items will be placed in the time capsule for burial and will not be opened for another 150 years.

'Silver surfing cyber sessions' have been very popular, running throughout the year and providing our older users with time and facilities to experience the Internet through the library.

Children's activities have also been linked into the celebration, the main feature, a competition to design a library for 2150. In this way encouraging youngsters to imagine all of the great things that a library will offer in the 21st century!"

A Precious Heritage

The North Western Branch of The Library Association celebrated 150 years of public libraries by sponsoring an exhibition held at John Rylands University Library in Manchester.

The exhibition, titled 'A Precious Heritage', ran until September 23 and was opened in August by MP Gerald Kaufman. It showcased rare and ancient books from collections held at libraries in the region. 

Works that were exhibited included King David's The Vale Royall of England, dating from 1656, with contemporary descriptions of Cheshire; an edition of Chaucer's works, published by William Morris at Kelmscott Press at the end of the nineteenth century and eleven miniature editions of John Keats poems.

The pieces displayed were from libraries all over the north west including Manchester, Cheshire, Bolton, Wigan, Warrington, Blackpool, Liverpool and Wirral.

The Library Association
7 Ridgmount Street, London WC1E 7AE
Tel: 0 (+44) 20 7255 0500; Fax: 0 (+44) 20 7255 0501; 
Text phone: 0 (+44) 20 7255 0505
E-mail: info@la-hq.org.uk

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