Celebrate My Library

National Libraries Day... the results!

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:04:31 +0000

For National Libraries Day 2013 Celebrate My Library embarked on a ‘London Orbirail’ of libraries spanning the route of the newly extended london over rail. The aim: to join in with each libraries National Libraries Day activity and generally discover why people in each library love it so much… simple right? Well almost…

We started at Clapham after a tour from manager Andrew we got chatting to the early birds who were in the library shortly after opening.

Seeing JoJo, and her fantastic drawing, and (with help from her dad) discovring she loved her library for Maisy book was a great start to the day. It seemed the peace and quiet of Calpham was the main reason people flocked there (at least at 9am on a Saturday morning!), and we can see why with all the individual study spaces and reflective areas.

Unfortunately we could not hang about and shot off just behind schedule to Carnegie Library.

With some seriously dodgy directions and a bus going the wrong way we eventually made it to Carnegie Library (by now very behind schedule). However what a treat we found. Neither of us had ever been to Carnegie library… and were blown over by the whole place. It is a serious contender for most beautiful library, and the staff, visitors and Friends of Carnegie Library we met there were just amazing (more videos to follow…) Some fantastic response to our love libraries questioning and tea and biccies delightfully provided by the friends topped off a great library stop off.

Next were two whistle stop-photo ops for Peckham and Canada Water Libraries. Southwark Libraries were focusing their efforts on the upcoming World Book Day so had no events on, but both these new and impressive libraries slotted in nicely on our route.

Crossing the river we hit Shorditch who had a free book give-a-way for National Libraries Day, and we had a chat with a studious revision club, who told us that they love the wifi and study space.

After a much needed pit-stop in the perfectly positioned Starbucks at the bottom of Dalston’s CRL James Library we were ready to get card making! Another library neither of us had previously visited, we loved the ‘chill out’ teen area, with several people curled up with a good book in, and the separated Children’s and under 5’s area allowing for a great range of kids activities, with no noise disruption to the rest of the library. Whilst the flavour of the day for card making was valentines day we decided to go for Happy National Library Day cards… with varying quality of results (Hilary’s infinitely better than Victoria’s pitiful glitter bomb).

Leaving our cards with the library we shot off through the drizzle to find our way further north…

Entering the unknown for these two south londoners we travelled across the top, unfortunately having to miss Kentish Town Library due to earlier directional difficulties (10 became 9). Stopping for another photo op at West Hampstead Library we made it back on schedule to Kensal Rise Library.

Dispite the slightly grim weather Kensal Rise Library pop-up library was an amazing and inspirational example of where there is a library will - there is a library way. With ready made answers to our ‘love library’ question it was things such as ‘free words’ and the sense of discovery books bring that keeps people coming back to this pop-up.

We couldn’t find any one at the pop up library, but we left them a love heart, letting them know that we popped by to say hi!

Finally, and slightly wearily, we got to West Brompton Library. And it was the perfect end to the day. The tardis-like library, with tiny un-imposing entrance, gives way to a bright vibrant space, with staff and library users to match.

We were introduced to the Octonauts courtesy of William, who loved the library computers and found out people loved their library for the smell of books, poetry and magazines.

All in all it was a fantastic day. I think the main thing that we learned from the day was that the staff in libraries bring such incredible enthusiasm and joy to these spaces. Where there is keen, engaged and excited staff, the library users seem to follow!

(Then we went to the pub and had a cracking pint!)

Thanks again to everyone who helped out during our #NLD13 marathon, with special shout-outs to Clapham, Carnegie and Brompton Libraries for being to enthusiastic and welcoming :)

Southwark Poetry Festival

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:01:00 +0000

Southwark Libraries is currently in the mist of Rhyme and Reason 4 – a packed 16 days of activities for poetry enthusiasts, whether just interested, a novice or accomplished published poet (or somewhere in between). Now in it’s forth year (explaining the ‘4’ in it’s name) with activities ranging from Poetry Slams to Family Poetry and readings from Simon Armitage are all taking place at Canada Water Library, Dulwich Library, Peckham Library, Camberwell Library and Newington Library.

I took the role of interested party and attended the Peckham Library Poetry Slam on Tuesday evening (5^th February). Getting to see a high calibre of poetry from first time ‘slammers’ right up to published performers was a treat to see. And with poignant subject matter and tales of bus journeys mixing along nicely with the more conventional love poems this has certainly inspired me to come up with something better than ‘Roses are red, violets are blue…’ for this coming Valentines Day.

Now avaliable....

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

The books created from our fabulous children’s workshops can now be bought online and delivered straight to your door! Get you hands on The Messy Book Mystery, The Jungle in the Library, The Treasure in the Library and The Hungry Ghost all here!
Available for online full preview and purchase.

Celebrate My Library on Startacus

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:38:39 +0000

The lovely people at Startacus have featured Celebrate My Library on their ‘inspiring stuff’ today… Check it out here!

Thanks Guys!

National Libraries Day 2013

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:00:56 +0000

With National Libraries Day now just 3 days away we can’t wait to do our ‘London Orbirail’ of Libraries. Following the new London overground rail route anti-clockwise, starting from Clapham Junction, we plan to visit 10 libraries on the rail network – all within in one day. Phew.

Taking part in the libraries brilliant National Libraries Day activities as we go, we will be blogging, tweeting and filming our way round and asking everyone why they love their library. We can’t wait!

The libraries we are heading to are:

Clapham Library – where we will begin the journey and hot-foot-it to Clapham Junction to begin our route.

Carnegie Library (nearest station Denmark Hill) is the next stop off followed by Peckham Library (station stop Peckham Rye) – who are in the mist of a month long Poetry Festival and holding events through out February so we will be able to catch some of that on Saturday. Our final library in South London will be Canada Water (Canada Water Station) before crossing the river and heading to Shorditch Library (Hoxton Station), Dalston C.L.R James Library (Dalston Junction), Kentish Town Library (Kentish Town West), all of whom have no specific events running for National Libraries Day but are great places to find out why people there love their libraries.

Then onto Kensal Rise Library (Willesden Junction) who have yet to be announced activities going on… keeping our eyes peeled for more information nearer the time, and finally finishing off the day at West Brompton Library (West Brompton) who have got a morning of Children’s craft activities - hopefully we can make it to see the fantastic results!

If you want to join us on route or suggest somewhere else we could stop off… or contact us about anything then email us at celebratemylibrary@gmail.com

The Messy Book Mystery

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:14:57 +0000

Our spookiest book yet featuring not only a ghost, but a vampire, a detective and a scary scream face lurking in the computer room, is nearly back from the printers. With brilliant illustrations from Peter Rhodes, check out more of his work here), we will be delighted to present this back to Ealing Road Library, Brent so all the children from Class 4N, Barham Primary School can come back and see their book.

National Libraries Day

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:49:38 +0000

As National Libraries Day is fast approaching (actually running for a week from 2^nd - 9^th February) and there are hundreds of events up and down the country going on all in aid of celebrating our libraries. Celebrate My Libraries will be doing a (soon to be announced) event but in the mean time here are our top events…

On 6^th February School Libraries across the country are all contributing to try and break the Guinness World Record for largest simultaneous story writing workshop. With an opening written by author Matt Haig, just an hour to finish the story and more than 50 schools involved here’s hoping they can do it!

There is an extra terrestrial invasion at South Shields Central Library on Saturday 9^th and earlier that week a chance to be cast back into Great Gatsby-esq glamour with readings and fashion from the 1920’s and 30’s. Prepare for some sequins!

There are also numerous coffee mornings around and about including Tadley Library (sounding particularly yummy with free refreshments), Woodley Library holding an afternoon Tea and Wadebridge Library combining their coffee morning with a winter well-being session, to not only warm your cockles, but keep them warm for the rest of winter.

Check out the National Libraries Day website for more information on all happenings around the country.

Celebrate My Library are doing their own event for National Libraries Day but more of that later…

The Hungry Ghost

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:03:56 +0000

The 3^rd book from our Children’s workshops, this time hosted by Brighton’s Jubilee Library and with the story written by Year 3 from St Bartholomew’s School, is now off to print. We can’t wait to see Lily, Kevin, Mr Ghosty and not forgetting the fat family (running as fast as their little legs will carry them) in print. Illustrated by May Van Millingen, whose work you can see more of here, they have all been captured perfectly, and here is a little taster of the finished thing…

It was a dark wintery night...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 12:52:04 +0000

It was a dark wintery night but the library gave a warming welcoming glow to all who visited. With carol singers lit only by torchlight singing merrily outside, Christmas was in the air…

This may sounds like an opening from one of our Children’s writing workshops but it was in fact the late night Christmas opening of Bookham library last Thursday (13^th December).

Celebrate My Library was invited back, with finished books from the two Children’s workshops held in October, to give a reading. With a great turn out from the Dawnay school and the rest of the village, and fantastic response to our books, we had a brilliant evening. Kate, the library manager, and the rest of her team had laid on activities such as ‘choose a book by torchlight’, and a dark treasure hunt around the library for children. We loved the idea of a library joining in the ‘late night Christmas shopping’ fever, and this is a great annual event is a guaranteed way to get into the Christmas spirit.

For more information about Bookham Library click here or follow them on Twitter @BookhamLibrary

A double sneak peak...

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 12:16:39 +0000

Very soon Bookham Library, Surrey, will have two new books to add to its catalogue… The Jungle in the Library and The Treasure in the Library, written by local year 3 children from The Dawnay School, in Quiver class and Monkey Puzzle class. Featured in a previous post and based around a curious little door in the corner of the library the classes came up with two fantastic stories, and with equally brilliant illustrations, and we are so excited and had to share a little preview of the finished books…

First up we have The Jungle in the Library, illustrated by Lisa Grant, written by Quiver class and with a special ending by Meera Al Khudairy.

Then we have The Treasure in the Library, written by Monkey Puzzle class, illustrated by Penny Wright and with the ending by Toby Taylor.

New in from our workshop in Brighton...

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:10:32 +0000

On Tuesday Celebrate My Library was joined by Year 3 from St Bartholomew’s School in Brighton and Peter Rhodes, one of our fab illustrators, at the Jubilee Library, right in the city centre. Using the fantastic ceramic wall, designed and made by Kate Malone, as inspiration the class was brimming with ideas for our writing workshop. Starting with a little house on a hill and a ghost, the story of the hungry, lonely Mr Ghosty emerged…

‘Mr Ghosty the friendly ghost lived all alone in the big house on the hill. At the foot of the hill, the Village twinkled brightly, but Mr Ghosty’s house looked dark and cold.

Mr Ghosty was sad. He was hungry and he was lonely. His ghosty tummy wouldn’t stop rumbling and there was nothing else left to eat in the house.

He looked out of his window over the glistening village and felt sad. There must be so many people down there, all tucking in to steaming hot plates of dinner, but none of them would ever visit him – they all thought the house on the hill was haunted and scary.

Mr Ghosty let out a big, sad sigh. There was nothing for it. He would have to go down into the village and scare some people away so he could eat their dinners.

He floated down the hill, his heart sinking as he went. He hated scaring people. He was a FRIENDLY ghost. But desperate times called for desperate measures – he needed some food!’

This book will be illustrated by the lovely and talented May van Millingen (check out some of her work here). As always if you want to know more about the workshops or are interested in hosting one, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at celebratemylibrary@gmail.com

Little bit of good news… Last week one half of Celebrate...

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:52:34 +0000

Little bit of good news…

Last week one half of Celebrate My Library trotted off to the BFI for the UAL Creative Enterprise Awards as we had been nominated for an award in two categories - Enterprising Project and Ethical and Social Enterprise… And we won the award for Ethical and Social Project! We are immensely grateful for this award as not only does it give us a much needed cash boost to continue running our Children’s workshops, and start some of our other endeavours, but gives us huge encouragement to continue what we are doing. Thank you!

Read about the other winners and their fantastic projects here.

A spooky after-dark story from our second Children's writing workshop...

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 14:07:00 +0000

With Halloween only just behind us we used Ealing Road library at night, when everybody has gone home, as inspiration for our second workshop. With class 4N from Barham Primary School as our fantastic writers we hoped for some ghoulish goings-on and spooky stories to emerge… and we were not disappointed! This time illustrated by the brilliant Pete Rhodes (see his work here) we were out to solve the mystery of the moving books…

‘Something strange was happening at Ealing Road Library. Every morning when the librarians came into work, books were scattered across the floor. “I’m sure we left it nice and tidy last night.” They puzzled. “What could be happening here? We need a detective to find out.”

The very next day, as they were packing up to go home, Jack the detective arrived armed with his rucksack, magnifying glass and a whole load of confidence. “I can solve this mystery” he said, taking off his big brown over coat. “Leave it with me”. Confident that Jack could solve the messy book mystery, the librarians left for the night.

In the dark, empty library, Jack began to investigate. He shone his torch under every bookcase, and peered through his magnifying glass into every corner.

He found nothing downstairs, so turning his attention to the gloomy staircase, he nervously began to creep up the stairs. His heart racing, he reached the top.

He looked up, and to his horror a big white ghost was hovering just above him….’

We cannot wait to see the finished book and are looking forward to the upcoming Children’s workshop at Jubilee Library, Brighton in a couple of weeks. If you want to know more about the workshops or are interested in hosting one, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at celebratemylibrary@gmail.com

Another little taster...

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 20:24:04 +0100

A smelly teenager using the Library for a school project and ending up battling an evil lab coat wearing zebra called bob(?!)… it can only be the second teaser from the fantastic worksop run at Bookham Library, this time with Quiver Class.

‘Steve the smelly teenager ambled into the library, ready to start his school project on the mysterious little door that stood in the fireplace.

He gathered some books together and dumped them onto a table in the corner. He opened one of his books and froze in surprise; instead of pages, there was a big red button. Steve looked around nervously, and pushed it. PING! Before his eyes, hovering in thin air, there was a little golden key!

Steve looked from the key, to the keyhole of little door and back again and wondered…. would it fit? Could this be the lost key that could solve the mystery behind the tiny door?? He slowly pushed the key into the lock and turned it, not expecting the click as the door swung open silently.

A humid, sticky rush of air billowed out over him. It smelt of rain, plants and exotic flowers; the Amazon rain forest had appeared behind the door! As Steve stepped cautiously inside onto the soft wet floor, the door snapped shut behind him and vanished into thin air! ‘Oh no! How do I get back now?!’ he wondered aloud. ‘Don’t worry! I’ll help you find the door again’ squawked a colourful looking parrot. ‘my names Rosie and I’ll be your friend’

The two new friends began their search around the jungle, ducking under hanging vines and climbing over fallen trees, looking for any sign of the door. All of a sudden they saw a flash of beige, and heard a low, rumbling growl. Steve was very scared – he had never been to a rainforest before. ‘Don’t worry!’ said Rosie, ‘that’s Geoff the friendly lion! Geoff, stop messing around and come help us find the little door back to the library.’ Instructed Rosie bossily.

Together the tree of them carried on through the jungle, wading through muddy steams and slipping on fallen leaves. Suddenly there was a terrible squawk and Rosie went silent. Geoff and Steve panicked, where had Rosie gone?! ‘Shhhh!’ Said Geoff to Steve as he started shouting Rosie’s name, ‘I think I can hear something…’ Geoff went pale as he heard the sound of lightly trotting hooves on the ground. This could only mean one thing… Bob the evil zebra had kidnapped Rosie!’

With illustrations from Lisa (check out more of her work here) we getting even more excited to run our workshops throughout November. With Ealing Road Library, Brent, London and Jubilee Library, Brighton already on board if you want to know more, or are interested in hosting one, please get in touch with us at celebratemylibrary@gmail.com.

A taster of our first Children's workshop...

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 22:45:21 +0100

A Gorilla suit, Harry the dragon, Bob the evil lab coat wearing Zebra and a stinky smelly teenager are just some of the fantastic characters dreamt up by Year 3 classes Monkey Puzzle and Quiver from the Dawnay School on their trip to Bookham Library, Surrey last week. Taking part in our first ever Childrens writing workshop we were so excited by their enthusiasm, imagination and hard work. So excited in fact we couldn’t wait to share…

‘Crazy Fred strolled into the library, dressed from head to foot in a hairy gorilla costume. He liked gorillas. He wanted to learn more about them and thought this would be the perfect place. With the help of the friendly librarians, he found the book he was looking for and settled down in a nice arm chair to have a read.

As he read he noticed a small white door tucked inside an old fireplace. It was tiny, the smallest door he’d ever seen and he couldn’t help but wonder what was behind it. Suddenly, the door clicked and slowly creaked open. No one else seemed to realise – the old lady carried on reading her newspaper, the little girl turned the page of her picture book and the librarians kept tapping at their computers…

Fred crept towards the fireplace and opened the door a little wider. It was very dark, he couldn’t see a thing. He shuffled his feet further through the door, when suddenly the floor gave way and he was sliding down a slimy, dark tunnel, bumping his head as he whooshed down the tight tube. With a splash, he landed in a bobbing boat, in what looked like a huge, damp cave.

Magically the boat started to row itself down river until it gently bumped into a rock.

The rock trembled and growled. ‘uh oh’ thought Fred, ‘that’s not a rock, it’s a dragon!’. Fear ripped through Fred’s chest as the dragon reared its scaly head…’

And with brilliant initial sketches from Penny Wright, who is currently working on final illustrations for the book, we cannot wait to see the finished item and present the children with the library book that they helped to write!

You can see more of Pennys work on her website.

We are excited to announce that throughout November we are also hosting workshops at Ealing Road Library, Brent, London and Jubilee Library, Brighton. If you want to know more about the workshops or are interested in hosting one, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at celebratemylibrary@gmail.com

Smokey the Cat at Towcester Library!

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:35:35 +0100

If you follow me on Twitter (@hilarychitty) you will know that Sunday was a big day for me. Really big. Really really big… It was the day that Smokey the Loud Purring Cat came to Towcester Library.

Victoria and I stocked up on car snacks, hopped in my rusty Clio and hit the M1 to make the long trip up to Northampton. We arrived at the sweet town of Towcester a few hours later, and immediately found the clearly signed library, housed in a lovely red brick building. We were just in time – Smokey was about to arrive!

This gave us a few minutes to have a nose around the colourful library. The staff clearly put a lot of care into the appearance and the displays, and the presence of a small ‘shop’ and donation boxes reminds you that donation, fines and the ‘friends’ fund 30% of Northamptonshire libraries.

Any way. Back to the cat! We took our seats in the adult fiction area amongst children and adults who had come to see the famous Smokey. Ruth, Smokey’s owner, gave an hour long talk about her precious cat, whilst Smokey sat and purred VERY LOUDLY while being fed a whole packet of ham. Diva tendencies? Can’t say I blame her! Smokey’s purr sounds like a really loud dove coo, and we were told that at home it often drowns out the TV. Smokey has made it into this years Guinness world Records book, and has been on NBC and CNN in the USA, as well as all the national British newspapers! You can read more about Smokey and see the book she’s written(!) at her official website.

Over all it was a really great fun day, and lovely to see people gathering in the library to see something a little bit unusual! While enjoying a nice cup of tea provided by the Friends of the Library, we were able to have a bit of a chat to one of the lovely library assistants, who was really enthusiastic about running events to bring people into the library. Having trained as an actress, she encourages drama groups to put on productions in the library, and jumped at the chance to get Smokey in the library. It was great to see such a positive attitude to bringing new people in to libraries, and using them as a community hub, rather than simply a place to borrow books. Thanks Towcester for a lovely day out!

http://northamptonshirelibraries.wordpress.com/tag/Towcester-library/

Mobile Libraries around the world!

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:30:00 +0100

How many books can you get on the back of a donkey? As serious question if you are Luis Soriano of the Magdelena River region of Colunmbia and run the library from the saddles of two donkeys. This is not something uncommon looking at the explorations of writers from the blog Polis, and with so many mobile libraries of all shapes and sizes (including a nifty camel one in Kenya) documented it demonstrates that regardless of location or situation, libraries will find a way to succeed! With just a handful (or saddleful) of books these methods have meant that being able to love your library is truly reaching even the remotest corners of the earth.
http://www.thepolisblog.org/2010/01/el-biblioburro-donkey-library.html

But it is a recent project for Mexican foundation alumnos47 that has stood out to me as a nice, slightly different, concept on the mobile library. Commissioning Mexican architectural firm Productora, alumnos47 have made a foray into the traveling library world through focusing on art and design books. Workshops, talks and a relaxing reading environment are all incorporated into the ‘A47” thanks to a hydraulic floor and shelving for the 1500-or-so books. This gives the maximum number of people possible a place to reflect, read and converse… sounds like a top library!
http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/22497/productora-a47-mobile-library.html

Have you seen any unusual mobile libraries? We’d love to hear about them! Drop us a line at celebratemylibrary@gmail.com or find us on twitter - @hilarychitty and @v_m_foster

A library gallery

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 10:24:00 +0100

A photography exhibition with works by Bailey, Cowan and Linchfield… it’s a show in London or New York right? Well thanks to professional photographer Richard Dawkins these works were on show in the market town of Salibsury, in the gallery space belonging to the library.

Salisbury library gallery space regularly holds brilliant exhibitions by local artists, something Salisbury and the surrounding areas seems in no short supply of, and with it sitting next to the reference area on the second floor it creates an extension of the screen calm atmosphere exhumed from this area. Holding exhibitions within libraries is no new thing and being able to wander through art with the peace and quiet natural to these spaces: a true match made in heaven.

So, as is often the case, it was a chance conversation with Peter Riley, the curator of the Galleries at Salisbury Library, which led to this particular borderline blockbuster exhibition being staged. Dawkins, a local resident of Salisbury and himself a world renowned photographer, has worked with many of the big hitters in the photography world and began collecting their works along the way. This natural curation process created something that just had to be shared! A stunning accumulation of works display for just the month of July… I only wish it was touring (maybe to other libraries?!) so more people could see it.

http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/artsheritageandlibraries/librarieshome/librarylocations.htm?act=show&libcode=SALLIB

aMAZEme

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 10:29:32 +0100

Ok so this isn’t strictly about libraries. But it is about books – and a hell of a lot of them. I stumbled across ‘aMAZEme’ while perusing the Southbank the other day and was delighted! Created by Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo, and currently being displayed in the Clore Ballroom in the Southbank Centre, London, thousands of books make up a towering, twisting maze.

The installation was visually beautiful, but the thing that I loved about it was how it was encouraging people to pick up books. People of all ages – from toddlers through teens all the way up to golden oldies – everyone was really studying the books. I can’t help but think that there could have been some sort of additional element to this. It seems a shame that people were looking at the books in such a different way, but then just had to put them back to keep the installation in tact. What if people could take a book with them, so the sculpture eventually got broken down? Then there would be more encouragement to read, rather than just look at the books as objects. Could people be encouraged to take a book and pass it on/donate it to a cause of their choice? Could this sculpture be replicated in our libraries with old stock?

(All books will be donated to Oxfam at the end of the installation – but I still like the idea of somehow making this a living sculpture…)

Any way, food for thought! It looked gorgeous, and everyone was really enjoying exploring it, and it’s definitely worth a look if you’re in the area. aMAZEme will be in the Southbank centre until the 26^th August.

http://festival.london2012.com/events/9000965121

Round the world in 6 easy-reading steps

Thu, 09 Aug 2012 10:27:01 +0100

Nicely timed to coincide with the summer holidays (and handily linked to our very own summer holiday project of mapping library books travels) the South West Reading Passport is a super scheme to make the globe that little bit smaller in 6 reading steps. Choose a book either set in or written by an author from each continent, plus one more of your choice, and use the reading passport to review and submit each of these reads. They have compiled a handy list of book suggestions, including a teen reading section, for each continent and with reviews online from people already trotting the globe (in the literary sense) it makes navigating the world all that more simple. Pick up your passport from any of the participating libraries (but with such brilliant reading lists not getting a passport is no hindrance) and get travelling!

http://readsouthwest.blogspot.co.uk/

Finally, if you’re getting away this summer, don’t forget to tell us where you’re off to with your library books so we can add you to our globe! (Update coming soon!)