Bridging Worlds Conference 2008, Singapore Day Two Track Four Speaker 3 - Jean Palmer & Andrew Malin

1. Libraries for the 21st Century
Engaging with our Communities
Track 04 – speaker 3

2. Jean Palmer
Andrew Malin

3. Our presentation will cover:
• Link back to our presentation yesterday.
• Context and statistics prior to our review.
• Theme for this presentation will be
PEOPLE.

4. Hillingdon Council
• Hillingdon is located in North West London
and stretches from the Buckinghamshire
border in the north to Heathrow Airport in
the south. It is a key gateway into West
London and the United Kingdom.
• At 42 square miles Hillingdon is the second
largest of London's 32 boroughs as well as
the Corporation of the City of London.

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6. What our customers were telling us…
Only 29% said:
“the choice and condition of books is very
good”
Only 28% said:
“attractiveness of the library is very good”
Only 20% said:
“computer facilities are very good”

7. A presentation with a twist !
• They say a picture says a thousand words
– have a look at these.
• They demonstrate clearly how we have
engaged with all people representing our
diverse community.

8. Engaging with the wider Community
• How have we reached diverse sections of
our communities ?
• How have we increased popularity across
established groups?

9. Engaging with local community groups
• Throughout the year organised events and
themed sessions are held each month.
• There is always something new to see or do
at the local branch library.
• These range from our annual reading
challenge, national competitions, through to
themed day and evening classes and
workshops.

10. What are the events?
• Examples of these include:
— Cakes and Crosswords
— IT tuition for ECDL*
— Coffee mornings/afternoons
— Games afternoons
— Story time for the children
— Reading groups
— Creative writing
— Craft, art and dance sessions
— (* European Computer Driving Licence)

11. Advertising the events
• The Councils Website publicises the events.
• Posters are put up in all borough libraries.
• In addition local interested parties are
contacted – e.g. local groups, schools and
community societies and the adult education
service.

12. Advertising the events and schemes
• We also work in partnership with the
Primary Care Trust to promote events and
National initiatives such as the Bookstart
Scheme.
• 3,300 children are entitled to a free book
pack this year.

13. Promotion of the Book Start scheme 2008
• A full programme of celebrations featuring
competitions, story times, fancy dress and baby
yoga.
• Promotional material is distributed to shopping
and health centres, schools and local community
groups.

14. To promote Bookstart 2008
• To promote the whole event Pirate fever is
sweeping across the borough!
• Bookstart Book Crawl launches mid Oct 08 with
high profile launch of canal trips, Gymboree,
early years drama workshops and special
appearance by the Bookstart bear at story time.

15. Examples of posters used to advertise
events – October 2008 is Pirate month.

16. A satisfied customer!

17. The Summer Reading Challenge 2008
• Part of the National Year of Reading
Campaign it was the 10th Annual
challenge.
• Featuring a sporty theme, it tied in with
high profile sporting events such as
Wimbledon, Euro 2008 and the Olympics.

18. The Summer Reading challenge 2008
• Activities were designed to encourage
membership at libraries and included ;
• Story times, craft sessions, creative
writing and celebration parties.
• 6,503 children joined the challenge this
year.

19. Posters from other events

20. Who attends these events?
• The outreach programme at the libraries
encourages participation from people of all
ages, and with varying skills and abilities.
• The rich diversity of our local community is
actively represented at these workshops.
• The variety and range of subject matters
offered to customers is appreciated by those
who attend.

21. Games afternoons

22. Games afternoon

23. Cakes and crosswords – an event held
throughout the borough

24. Cakes and Crosswords
This event introduces library users to the IT
equipment at the Library and how to
undertake research on the Internet using
specialised software and thesaurus.

25. The informal atmosphere enables people
to relax and enjoy both the facilities and
the company of the other attendees.

26. The afternoon sessions are very popular with our
retired residents, shift pattern workers and part-
time students.

27. The groups are
normally a maximum
of 10 people - this
ensures that the tutor
has time to spend
with each individual
customer.

28. Story time

29. Story time and younger users
• The story time sessions are popular and
well attended.
• They are held after school and on
Saturday mornings.
• Local branch librarians will also visit
schools and run events within the
classroom environment to promote the
library service.

30. Story telling project
• Focuses on engagement with under 11 year olds.
• Fosters partnerships and encourages
participation.
• Stakeholders include schools, voluntary sector,
the elderly local authors and health services.

31. Story telling – involving volunteer
storytellers
Story sharers aims to produce a collection
of stories contributed by local people
across the borough. The contributors are
from different backgrounds and age
groups.

32. Story time with local community volunteers

33. Story time sessions
• Our librarians often select the story book
theme based on other events being held in
the borough or National initiatives.
• This Spring the theme at Harefield branch
focused on a National TV Campaign on the
BBC called ‘Springwatch’. It was based
around wildlife preservation and
environmental issues.

34. Boys into books
• This is a 5-11 yr old reader development
project.
• It improves literacy skills especially
amongst children from less advantaged
backgrounds and boys.
• Helps with Peer support.

35. Involving new younger customers
• In previous years there has been a declining
enrolment level at the libraries amongst boys
and young male adults.
• To address this we have introduced new book
stock and other activities which now engage
with subjects in which they have an interest.

36. Creative learning, literacy and conversation

37. Evening events for older children and
adults
• The evening events have encouraged older
children, teenagers and young adults into
the libraries.
• We focus on more modern subject matters
and embrace current trends. This helps to
retain the customer base.

38. Evening events
• In February this year we held a very
successful Manga evening.
• Other computer technology evenings have
also been popular - including Nintendo Wii
games evenings.

39. Wii – enjoying the game

40. Wii evening – Bowling !

41. Modern IT equipment and electronic
services at each branch
• Each branch has state of the art IT equipment
available.
• Free Internet access is offered to all library
users.
• The branches also run ECDL accredited courses
to teach basic IT skills.
• Many children use the facility where they do not
have access to these facilities at home.

42. IT equipment
• Local branch libraries have a selection of
PC’s available including Apple IMacs.
• Hillingdon Council is working in
partnership with Apple to set up
accredited Apple training centres at some
of the branches.

43. Child using Apple IMAC

44. Homework clubs
After school Homework clubs are run at
branches, where children of a similar age can
research and complete assignments.

45. Homework club
• Subjects covered at the sessions are linked
to the national curriculum.
• These groups provide an excellent
environment to discuss and research subjects
in safe and supervised surroundings.

46. Homework club
It is a good opportunity for children to meet
and engage with children from other schools in
the area.

47. Engaging with users who speak English as
a second language
• In Hillingdon we have a diverse community
with people from many ethnic backgrounds.
• Our libraries stock books written in many
other languages.
• Many events at branch libraries reflect the
language needs of the local ethnic
community.

48. Partnerships enhancing local engagement
projects
• A partnership between Healthy Hillingdon,
Hillingdon Library service and Hillingdon
HOPE developed the highly successful
‘Welcome to Your Library’ (WTYL) project of
during 2006-2008.
• This is an action-learning project for
effective library service engagement with
refugee and asylum seekers.

49. Welcome to your library

50. Welcome to your library
• Through the work of WTYL, Hillingdon
libraries demonstrated their value and
appeal for minority groups in offering
neutral community-based venues that
promote learning, integration and
engagement.

51. Welcome to your library
• Encouraging participation, the value of
community and the importance of well-being
were key factors in the success of the
Hillingdon WTYL project.
• Such themes are now embedded in the way
individual libraries seek to engage their local
communities. The lessons learned and the
confidence built through WTYL has provided
a solid foundation of good practice that is
currently being rolled out across the
borough.

52. Punjab Radio celebrating art project in
partnership with Yeading school -open day.

53. Adult learners enrolment

54. Yoga celebrating the Week of the Elderly

55. Citizenship question workshop

56. Coffee mornings

57. Coffee mornings

58. Women's group

59. Reflexology for the Elderly

60. Arts, craft and culture at the libraries
• Other events include dance, theatre, musical
and crafts workshops.
• Regular exhibitions are held and many of the art
pieces are created by local artists.
• Contributors have acquired their skills through
study at the Adult Education Centres in
Hillingdon.

61. Literary Groups

62. Creative writing workshops

63. Dance

65. Theatre

66. Music

67. Art

68. Crafts workshop

69. Crafts – working with people with learning
difficulties

70. Celebrating success
• Many of the learners in the borough use
the library facilities and resources in
conjunction with the adult education
tuition at our dedicated centres.
• We have an annual award evening to
celebrate their success.

71. Celebrating – Learners success

72. Our libraries are used by local groups and
societies for various meetings or informal
gatherings.

73. Sri Lankan New Year celebration

74. Our buildings attract visitors
• The 17 libraries within the borough vary
greatly in size, architectural style and age
of the buildings.
• They all have a loyal customer base, and
many are used as community centres and
a local resource for group meetings.

75. A selection of the library buildings

76. We are proud that our libraries are a focal point
within our community - for all the residents to enjoy