‘‘ A
QUESTION I asked my manager every week is: “So do we know when we’re opening up again?” I’m sure
it must have become almost an expectation for him to hear it every other day. When I finally heard “We’ll be opening on the 12 April,” it took me by surprise.
From then on everything was a whir of activity in preparing for the service users to safely return to our libraries. The biggest task was to get all the new stock added to the system and onto the library floor. Fresh new crispy books waiting; a fitting reward for the patience our customers had shown in the turbulent year. Even though it was a tremendous task I absolutely loved doing the new stock; there’s a certain satisfaction to watching the books pile up as you enter them into the system, (can you tell I like monotonous tasks?!). Additionally, it gave me a sneak peek
IT has been great to finally be able to open our library doors up to the public.
After closing in the new year, we’ve all spent our working days at home like many of you. During my time working from home, I’ve been involved with some live stream events including co-hosting a Zine making workshop, interviewing a sound artist and taking part in a LAL (Library Adventures
Being able to interact with and help customers has been really fulfilling.
into all the books we had ordered and I made a mental note of all the books I would borrow when I got the chance (said every librarian ever!). Once the libraries opened I wanted to be able to do something creative in order to showcase our stock. One morning as I came into the library; John (my manager) was visibly excited as he had an idea for my book display (inspired by one of my tattoos); Instead of standing books upright… what if we stacked them? I set about giving a theme to my book displays and before I knew it I had a book display categorised by colour (“Don’t judge a book by its colour”; credit for the name goes to John) and a complete blue one (“These Books ‘Blue’ Us Away”). They were a hit with customers, and I was incredibly proud of myself. It’s a surreal feeling being surrounded by the bustle of customers when you’ve spent your whole apprenticeship
Live) event. Although there were lots of events to still be involved in, I really missed being in the library and getting some experience working with the general public.
On 12 April our libraries were allowed to reopen to the public. However, being based at Huddersfield library we couldn’t open up fully straight away due to ongoing building work. The roof over our lending library was covered in scaffolding which meant the area underneath needed to be bordered off to both staff and the public; this meant we couldn’t offer safer borrowing in our main library. However, we could offer safer borrowing in our junior library downstairs; we also brought some of our adult stock down to the junior library for adults to browse through a small selection of books.
We decided to offer our Ring and Read service to our adult customers. Ring and Read lets customers request some books which are then picked out by our staff and customers collect them from our library door. I’ve had the chance to pack Ring and Read bags and hand them to our customers,
June 2021
Hannah Armitage is an apprentice librarian at Kirklees Libraries
www.kirkleeslibraries.co.uk
Ambreen Aziz is an apprentice librarian at Kirklees Libraries
www.kirkleeslibraries.co.uk
working in the silence of a lifeless library. A welcome change filled with new and exciting opportunities. Being able to interact with and help customers has been really fulfilling. Especially when understanding what a lifeline libraries are to those experiencing isolation and those who need our services to operate their day-to-day lives. I am excited for what lies ahead and the new learning opportunities that will arise. This apprenticeship is a gift that keeps giving. IP
I’ve also worked in the junior library checking out books to customers. On 4 May the scaffolding had been taken down and we were able to welcome our customers back into our lending library. Our customers are so pleased to see that we are open again. I’ve had the chance to answer customer enquiries face to face and to supervise customers who come along to our IT sessions. This is just the beginning of our reopening phase, I’m really looking forward to being able to open our services up even more and experience so many more fantastic opportunities. IP
INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL 43
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