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HARROGATE’S DIGITAL SKILLS CLASSES
“People think of Harrogate as
being quite an affluent area, but there are pockets of deprivation, and you can’t assume that everybody has the money to buy books, or knows how to use the library. There are lots of things libraries can help with and it’s really important to get the message out there,” says Smith of the library’s outreach work. Attracting young readers is a big
priority, and the library is keen to increase its under-fives membership, which means encouraging their parents to visit the library regularly, and getting them “hooked” on attend- ing sessions every week, such as Bookstart Bear Club (numbers up 15% last year) and Storytime sessions, which can attract audiences of 50 children to the dedicated children’s library on the basement floor.
School’s out The Summer Reading Challenge is hugely popular, with close to 1,000 children taking part last year, and nine special events put on by the library for the scheme. The library has an active group of young volunteers (the Reading Hacks, aged 14–18) who have organised events aimed at encouraging younger children to read, including for Harry Potter Night, Star Wars Day and Science Week.
and does a lot to promote stock, with themed displays to tie-in with events which include author visits (Julia Chapman and Ann Cleeves have visited), a multi-author Crime Noir event, and a First World War cente- nary commemoration. The library has developed strong links with writer group Promoting Yorkshire Authors; it holds regular events there, which are recorded and uploaded to YouTube. The library also supports 40 book clubs, which pay a subscription fee to borrow multiple copies of the club’s chosen reads, with some book clubs meeting for discussions in the library itself. Meanwhile, the popularity of audio and e-book loans is growing, Smith says. The library links in with national programmes such as Mental Health Week and BookStart Week.
A PACKED CROWD AT AN EVENT WITH ANN CLEEVES, RUN WITH LOCAL INDIE IMAGINED THINGS
The library is also popular with
school students revising for exams, and has just had an exceptionally busy couple of months in the run-up to GCSEs and A-Levels. “We can have up to 70 students studying at any one time, they really see the library as a cool place to come and revise,” says Smith. “They find every nook and cranny they can. We are hoping to do more next year in revision time to extend the space we’ve got and offer extra facilities: it’s a really important thing to offer to the community, that quiet place to go and study.” With a “healthy book fund, which
we are very fortunate to have”, Smith says Harrogate Library offers an “excellent” choice to tempt readers,
Imaginative work Harrogate Library also has a rela- tionship with local indie bookshop Imagined Things, and the two support each other: the library acts as a venue for some bookshop-organised events that the shop is too small to host, and there are “lots” of opportuni- ties to promote each other’s events and activities, including on social media. Another partnership has seen Harrogate Theatre use the library as a venue for productions. “Author events and theatre performances
[We] enable people to access theatre and literature in a venue in which they feel secure to try something new
Hazel Smith, Harrogate & Craven area librarian
bring people to the library that perhaps have not visited before; performances also enable people to access theatre and literature in a venue in which they feel secure to try something new,” says Smith. The library has 15 paid staff—a
mix of qualified librarians, library assistants and supervisors—but after undergoing “significant” local authority budget cuts in recent years, also makes use of volunteers to run activities. Smith is proud of Harrogate Library’s good record of volunteer retention, and believes the volunteers have brought in a range of new skills, which has seen the library branch out into activities from coding workshops to choir performances, meditation and crochet—always, of course, with relevant book displays on hand. They help with regular clubs, such as the Board Games & Craft Group, planned to alleviate loneliness. There are also targeted events, such as a Deaf Café, which brings hearing-impaired people together at the library for support and friendship. Smith says: “Particularly in the
THE LIBRARY’S JUNIORS SECTION
past year or two, people have come to us with ideas: ‘Would you like to try this? Can we try that in the library?’ and we’ve said yes to just about everything. When people see that’s happening, say on social media, they think, ‘I hadn’t thought of that happening in a library, perhaps I could do something’—and it builds.” That said, “books and reading are at the heart of what we do”, says Smith.
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