exhibitions

Blackburn Central Library

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Blackburn Central Library is part of a nice muti-storey community centre in the city centre. The building is on several floors and community groups hire the rooms upstairs. There was a dance group class or show upstairs (majorettes?) and as we looked like lost parents wandering around, several members of helpful staff asked if we were looking for the dance show. 

There was also the Hornby lecture theatre and a large IT area with computers and plenty of study desks. There’s a section with local history material. The complex had two lifts and toilets so was very accessible even though it was on several floors.

There was a photography display in the corridor upstairs as the local amateur photography group meets there and a project put together by Ukrainian refugees with photos and letters. There was also a jigsaw out and I think I saw a piano. This was all evidence of a bustling community centre. 

I like the way this display shows everything you can access with your library card:

Blackpool Central Library

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Blackpool Central Library is a large Carnegie Library that opened in 1911. Inside it has a light well in the middle which helps make the place welcoming. There is an upstairs that houses the local history material but it was closed when I was there. Outside, I could see a Juvenile entrance from when the children’s library would have had a separate entrance, quite common in older libraries, but a strange idea to us now.

I had mixed feelings about the modern (?) stain glass windows. Although bright and colourful.

There is a lift and toilets. The Children’s library had a Teepee and a fake grass area with a few kids reading. However, when I was there, in the summer of 2024, the staff were dealing with an injured and crying baby. 

I love this inspired “Endangered Books” display. Displaying books that are in danger of being withdrawn as no-one has taken them out of the library for a long time or ever!

Calderdale Central Library and Archives (Halifax) 

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Calderdale Library is a really nice library. It’s a nice mix of wood and stone and feels very modern with light nicely incorporated which leads you in and up the stairs. The library reopened in 2017 incorporating the 1857 Square Congregational Church with a spire, rose window and stone arch. The spire means you can locate the library from a distance. The noise of the traffic outside is a shame but that is the price for having a library based centrally and near the railway station (and was probably accentuated on the day I was there as the weather was warm and the window slats were open).

The entrance has an exhibition area, self-issue machines, book drop, quick choice and request sections and two members of staff on the ground level. The Children’s library was to the side, with the local studies and archives in the lower level. All together there are four floors and there are some separate meeting rooms, a teen area, and there is a lift. 

I took the middle picture from a very comfy purple chair at the top of the stairs. I like the entrance to the children’s library with the model dust jackets and a Hungry Caterpillar. If you finish in the library there is an industrial museum and the Peice Hall next door.

Uxbridge Library

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My first visit to another library for two years!

As I was in Windsor for a talk, I managed a visit to Uxbridge Library which, for the purposes of this blog, is representing the libraries for the London Borough of Hillingdon. The library is nestled amongst the shops – I initially walked past.

Large children’s library with an impressive tree structure which has lights hanging down giving the impression of hanging fruit.

Uxbridge Library is a large library on five floors. As well as the large entrance area and children’s library, the ground floor has a wide open space where events can be held. There were some Remembrance Day exhibitions in place but parents and babies were appearing for the regular Tiny Tales (rhymetime and storytime combined for the under 5s), which was nice to see.

The building is quite modern with an atrium letting in light in the middle. There are several computer areas, a lift and toilets. Levels 2 and 3 have fiction, whilst 4 and 5 have non-fiction. A guide is pasted onto the pillars making it easy to find your way around. Everything looked in good condition,e.g. the carpet and bookcases. There were further banners, display cases and exhibitions on other floors.

I have not seen “Playaways” before. I get the impression they are little devices with one audio book loaded so you borrow the entire device. I quite like the idea but, obviously because of my age, it just makes me think of walkmans.

Redbridge Central Library

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It was nice on entry to be greeted with these children’s model making exhibits (below). And draped over the balcony above were banners made locally to mark the marches for women’s suffrage that took place over 100 years ago.

 

The library was built in 1986 and refurbished inside in 2012. It still looks in good nick with modern signs and bookcases and clean carpets. The library is on three floors with a central atrium. The children’s library was off to the side and too busy with kids for me to be able to take a photo. In 2013-14 Redbridge Central Library was the 14th busiest in England.

As the library shares the building with the museum they have placed some exhibits in amongst the bookshelves which is a nice touch.

There is also a Hub Central – a popular space for business start-ups, where you can use your library card to enable the use of a tablet – not seen a hublet unit before.

On-site there was also the Hardback cafe (where I presume the Hardbacks book group meets) and I saw a knitting group in action. There were few seats available as it was so busy and people were making good use of the quiet study area. There were plenty of staff about – they wore uniforms of black T-shirts and fleeces so they were easily identifiable.

Maidenhead Library

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The Royal Borough of Maidenhead and Windsor doesn’t designate a central library so I chose Maidenhead. The one-way road system of Maidenhead defeated us so we ended up parking outside Homebase and walking back to the library. This meant we approached it from the side but did mean we were able to walk alongside the canal rather than the road. There is also a fountain and amphitheatre at the side entrance.

From the front, the library is opposite the Town Hall which looked very nice with a lot of flowers in bloom outside. From the canal vantage point, our first impression was more about why the whole building was swathed in a large net?

The library building was reminiscent of the Lord Louis Library in Newport on the Isle of Wight – although much bigger. I am assuming that the net was in place to stop birds flying in through the open slat ventilation and nesting in the open rafters above. However, the net meant that the windows hadn’t been cleaned and it did make the inside feel a little darker than I would have liked.

The local studies area was in the centre and from the teenage zone looked like an air raid shelter. My teens liked the teen zone with it’s laptop bar, sofa and collection of young adult fiction and graphic novels.

There was an area at the front of the library that had a book sale in. I can’t work out if it was intended to be a cafe area or a bus shelter area (as there was a bus times information screen) or a versatile exhibition area (there was an NHS exhibition up). Above was a huge mobile of bulsar wood type aeroplanes which was lovely but the vast open vaulted ceiling meant it’s impact was rather lost.

This is the first time I’ve noticed parcel collection boxes in a library. I’ve seen them at petrol stations which is a good idea as you can get to them 24 hours. I would be very interested to hear how well used these are.

Maidenhead12

 

Bracknell Central Library

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Bracknell

Bracknell Central Library looks a bit cubist from the outside but on the plus side it looks big and has a car park next door. It was refurbished at the end of 2012 and still looks and feels in very good condition inside.

It was quite a brave decision to go for black as the colour scheme and have black stack-ends, wood and chairs but there are splashes of colour elsewhere and the plants are a nice touch.

I really like the study tables at the end of many of the bookstacks. They are like little hidden away study pockets. The clusters of computer terminals around the pillars is an excellent way to soften the corners of the pillars.

Love the red/read display of books and the past pictures of the High Street in the hallway. Many libraries have exhibitions and displays marking the 70th anniversary of the NHS, including Bracknell.

 

And Karen, you’ll be pleased to know your colleague’s are respecting your request, even on a Saturday.

Bracknell6

 

Carlisle Library

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Cumbria Council is another area that doesn’t designate a central library. Cumbria is a large area with many libraries and book drops. Carlisle appeared to be the biggest library and had the local studies facility so that was the one I chose to visit to represent the region. Regardless, this was a wonderful opportunity to visit the Lake District and Carlisle for a few days.

Carlisle Library is housed within – and above – a shopping centre. This always worries me as I am concerned that people may not remember that their local library is still there, as it is above them, but I do see the benefit of people being able to pop in to the library at the same time as going to the shops. I also expect people drop off teenagers and elderly parents who would prefer to sit and read while retail therapy can take place for other members of the family.

The library feels quite modern and yet a bit industrial because of the tubing on display which I assume is for air conditioning. The fiction and children’s library is on the entrance floor (the first floor of the shopping centre) and then the next floor above has reference and local studies material.

There were comfy tub chairs clustered around windows and study carrels too. I had got to the library just a few minutes after it opened on a May Tuesday and there were already plenty of customers arriving and settling down for some reading or studying.

This was another library that was full of displays – which I like. I hope they are able to change them and mix them up occasionally.

Sale Waterside

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Sale 5

Sale Waterside is a very modern building which the library shares with the council and is described as a local arts complex. Although the building is great and I am in favour of these community hubs I feel that the library should have been given more space. Hubs feel quite odd at weekends when the council facilities are all abandoned but the libraries are still open. However, further along the building is the local theatre and art gallery and a restaurant and a pub. Waterside stands on the site of the old civic theatre and town hall and has preserved some of the original features.

There was a well stocked library shop in the vast entrance area, but then moving into the library area the ceilings were comparatively low adding to a feeling of “squashedness”.

The library had plenty of stock and patrons and included the local studies library and a children’s area. It even had a replica of an old shop in a corner.

There were several displays up and I thoroughly enjoyed the women’s suffrage one as I am working on a similar display in my library.

I had to take a picture of the penguin in the foyer as I love penguins. Apparently it was part of a summer public art project in 2016 created by Two by Two Hurrah.

Sale 6

 

 

 

Portsmouth Central Library

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“Standing in bold contrast to the adjacent international-style Civic Offices and neo-classical Guildhall, the Norrish central library in Portsmouth, Hampshire was designed by city architect Ken Norrish and completed in 1976.  Its striking sculptural form in incised concrete is a grandiose composition of curvaceous volumes and heraldic turrets.” Brutalism Online

I love the above quote. Brutalism is a very apt description of the architecture. Portsmouth Central Library celebrated 40 years in 2016. It became the Norrish Central Library in 1995 named after its designer. It is a vast building of five floors and packed full of books. The décor is a bit brown and orange and in a 70s way rather than a modern way.

There were two Jane Austen exhibits and what looks like a permanent local authors display. I like a library that has jigsaws out but I’m not sure of the etiquette when doing a communal jigsaw. I have seen posters about getting free ebooks from the library but this was the first time I have seen a poster mentioning free music downloads from the library – very interesting.

 

Virtually all of the second floor is the Portsmouth History Centre.

Portsmouth (19)

It wasn’t very busy on a Friday early lunchtime in August, but this library will be able to hold a lot of people without it being obvious. I think the CCTV signs are a consequence of  that.