#LibraryLife black and white challenge

In common with many people in the library world – and many beyond (although they clearly have their own hashtag!) the Libraries Taskforce took part in the #LibraryLife black and white challenge recently.

Not new to me – @juliac2 published ‘7 photos in 7 days, no people* no explanations’ back in July. Mine was a bit of a hybrid challenge, some days #LibraryLife, some days library related, and others just my life. And as a veteran of photo-a-day projects, my photos were taken on the day, but they absolutely don’t have to be!

So, once @LibTaskforce was challenged by @emilyjmacaulay how could we resist. And when I read the blog post from Helen McGinley about their experience, I realised it echoed exactly the response from Emily to our first tweet, so thought I too would share how we planned our 7 days. I also *explained* that the library I challenged might be a tiny hint as to where the photo was taken (recognising that this might mean services were challenged who had already done the challenge….. But hey – it’s just a bit of fun!)

I roughed out a plan and shared it with colleagues, inviting them to suggest photos which illustrated either current or past visits to libraries.

Day 1 of 7

First photo WAS a reflection of our activity that week. In advance of a workshop in Barnsley, two of us stopped off in Rotherham, and besides a tour of the new Riverside library (opened in 2012 when the central library moved into the civic centre), we also went to Mowbray Gardens – a library which captured my attention after a passing reference in a presentation at work, and has led to some fascinating conversations about the wide range of activity which takes place there, a guest blog post on the Taskforce site (and another in the queue), plus a case study in one of the Taskforce brochures. So it was lovely to see for real.

Day 2 of 7

Day 2 continued the theme of the team visit to Barnsley, as we held the workshop in the central library. A solid 1930s building, that was previously (I think) used as council offices, and before that was built for the Co-operative Society. Lots of activity on the day we were there – a rhymetime was in full swing downstairs as we set up in the former co-op boardroom, and I never did get a photo of the table tennis table in the children’s library, as every time I saw it, a game was in process!
There will soon be a brand new library in Barnsley – Library@Lightbox is due to open in Spring 2019.

Day 3 of 7

Over to a colleague for this photo. Sheila visited Suffolk to see the launch of their NPO programme and used the opportunity to extend her trip to cover a weekend: to visit other friends and explore Suffolk’s libraries. She saw 7 in total, and the photo chosen was the impressive Northgate Room in Ipswich library.

Day 4 of 7

Back to me for Sunday’s photo, and I chose one from my recent holiday in the Isle of Man. A blog post will follow on the libraries I saw there, but for now, I loved this piece of book art in one of the study bays in Onchan library. The whole library had some imaginative displays, including Mischief Making in the children’s space related to the Summer Reading Challenge, an interesting exhibition on the ancient carved celtic stones found in the area (promoting a book) and a beautiful tree and wildlife pictures in the entrance.

Day 5 of 7

Charlotte suggested one of the photos from Middlesbrough central library – a classic galleried reference room with bespoke furniture. We visited this library a while ago, together with one of their community hubs – North Ormesby – which sticks in our mind as the building also contains a full size boxing ring!

Day 6 of 7

Foluke attended the opening of the newly refurbished Hastings library, and was impressed with the attention to detail paid to making the best use of a historic building. She loved the artwork created by Quentin Blake, which shows the historic Stade area of town, with young readers suspended in mid-air enjoying their books.

Day 7 of 7

And finally, one of the most beautiful modern libraries I’ve visited during my time with the Taskforce. Opened in 2016, The Word in South Shields has won awards for its architecture – and visitor numbers prove that local people love it too.

In a break from the model of the previous 6 days, I challenged 2 – both @TheWord_UK, and @DcmsLibraries. The latter to promote and share the new account set up by colleagues in the libraries policy team, who will be keeping central government’s mind on public libraries long after the task-and-finish team I’m in has closed. I look forward to seeing which libraries they choose!

And as a parting thought, I have lots of sympathy with the comment from @FlindersLib mentioned in Helen’s blog which started this piece: “Personally, much prefer a library with people. No point otherwise.” I do too – we need many more photos showing the vibrancy of activities that take place in many libraries. However, publishing and sharing photos of people can be fraught with permissions, and needing to demonstrate and store that you have obtained that permission, so very often, what we take, and have access to is photos either of unidentifiable backs of heads or hands, or photos which at least record the features and general look of a library.

* I’m amazed that no one picked my up on it, but one of my photos DID include a person – not as the main feature, he was a tiny figure on the beach, but nevertheless, I was mortified, as I only noticed when I went to publish a photo the following day!