Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal October 2004 Volume 2 (5)

Public libraries

Vision and integration

John Barr describes how the newly refurbished Hamilton Town House Library is carrying on Carnegie's vision for future generations.

The Hamilton Town House, the culmination of a vision for South Lanarkshire Council, was officially opened by HRH the Princess Royal on 8 September. It is a flagship development, providing people who live and work in South Lanarkshire with a wide range of opportunities, interests, activities and experiences.

The Hamilton Town House has been designed as a new and exciting experience for our customers. By adopting a 'one door' approach to services, the partners in the project have attempted to create a visitor experience that crosses traditional boundaries of provision and is firmly customer-focused. The building includes registration and marriage facilities, a theatre, an arts centre, a library and an innovative ActiveIT learning centre.

Like many other public libraries in Scotland today, the former Central Library was gifted to the people of Hamilton in 1907 by Andrew Carnegie. Later additions to the building incorporated the library into a civic masterpiece comprising council chambers and a large theatre.

However, despite the physical integration of the building over the following 70 years, business areas remained quite separate, with little contact between the occupants. The better part of a century had taken its toll on the fabric of the building and the time was approaching where significant investment would be necessary to maintain functionality.

This presented a dilemma for library managers, as it became clear that simple fabric renewal was no longer enough to win new and increasingly consumer-aware customers. Further development was necessary for long-term sustainability.

The challenge was to recreate the spirit of Carnegie's initiatives in a modern context. Carnegie's gift of libraries gave people access to more than just books. To working class people at the turn of the nineteenth-century, access to the world of reading and education was like having the radio, the television, and the internet all rolled into one. We have attempted to recreate his vision and generosity with the Town House Library - Carnegie in a New Millennium context.

The project had four key partners, driven by the different needs of their clients but aiming to provide an integrated experience for customers. To give a musical example, at the Town House you can immerse yourself in a recital of traditional music, learn the basics of playing an instrument in an informal class, surf the Web to meet, learn and interact with artists on a virtual campus, share files with a musician in New Zealand – and then take home some music books to read in bed!

The partners from South Lanarkshire Council were:

Libraries: who would contribute significantly to the learning and ICT dimension of the building by creating the cutting-edge ActiveIT learning centre.

Community Resources: who would contribute an excellent performance, theatre and function venue and carry responsibility for the overall management of the integrated services.

Arts and Culture: who would create a new and innovative Arts Centre, with a lively programme of cultural and hands-on activities.

District Court, Licensing and Registration Services: who would create a versatile and impressive new facility for weddings and civil registration functions.

As the potential partners met, it became more and more apparent that their shared interests stretched beyond the fabric of the new building. Common client groups were identified and common lines of business activity quickly began to emerge. It was soon realised that there was more than an opportunity for collocation here – there was nothing new in that – but that an entirely new customer experience could be built, based on synergy and seamless co-operation.

As a result of this integration, multi-stranded funding bids could be prepared, with innovation – an ICT dimension underpinning an arts experience – featuring strongly in these bids. Further opportunities to link business areas soon began to emerge – joint working with registration to develop comprehensive family history research facilities, for example.

The funding package involved Historic Scotland, the Scottish Arts Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and South Lanarkshire Council itself, which contributed £9.3m of investment towards the total £10.2m cost of the project. Coltart Earley, a forward-thinking firm of Glasgow architects, with an impressive portfolio of innovation, was selected to take the landmark project forward.

A strong marketing approach to designing the Town House included identifying stakeholder groups and an intense period of public consultation. This tested the strength of the original vision and refined it to match the needs of future clients. The building was to be marketed as a whole – a complete learning, entertainment and activity venue.

As a result, the building has a strong cultural focus with the theatre and the arts centre; it is a champion of the expressive arts; a celebration of literature; but also a provider of cutting edge IT facilities.

Nowhere is the power of ICT better illustrated than in the ActiveIT centre within the building. An ICT learning resource for all purposes, it demonstrates well that there is no area of the arts that cannot be enhanced by an ICT dimension.

The main features of the building include:

• A library, offering print and multimedia lending services in a novel and attractive setting.
• A specially designed library area for younger customers, with a 'hideaway' for quiet activity or storytelling sessions.
• A reference library, which brings together classical architecture and modern functionality in beautiful surroundings.
• An ActiveIT learning centre, fusing technology and tradition, with 32 PCs for public use, spread over two main areas, an open learning centre and an adjoining IT training suite.
• A dedicated ActiveIT area for children, marketed under a sub-brand of ActiveIT 'where learning is fun'.
• A major performance venue, with state-of- the-art sound and lighting systems and seating for theatre 'in-the-round'.
• A gallery refreshment area within the library and a bar for theatre performances offering attractive surroundings in which to read, study or just relax.
• A participative Arts Centre providing a broad spectrum of hands-on arts activities and experiences.
• An attractive and distinctive venue for weddings and registration activities.
• A flexible facility for functions, meetings and events incorporating a banqueting suite.
• A spacious and modern base for Community Learning activities.

There is a single manager for the building, with responsibility for day-to-day staffing of all service points.

The Town House is marketed as a single entity. This synergy boosts recognition to a level which would not be achieved on a single service basis. Marketing budgets can be combined and communications strategies encompass a greater range of targets. Cross marketing ensures that all customers, current or potential, are exposed to the widest of messages about the venue.

Hamilton Town House truly is a building which is more than the sum of its parts. It is customer driven, has a 'one- door' approach to customer satisfaction and is a real example of partnership in action. It has saved a significant part of our built heritage for posterity and restored civic pride to the inheritors of Carnegie's legacy.

John Barr is a Librarian and a Chartered Marketer working for South Lanarkshire Council. As Development Co-ordinator, he was closely involved in the development of the vision for the Town House and a member of the Town House project team. He may be contacted on: 0141 613 5381; john.barr@library.s-lanark.org.uk.

Information Scotland Vol. 2 (5) October 2004

Information Scotland is delivered online by the SAPIENS electronic publishing service based at the Centre for Digital Library Research. SLAINTE (Scottish libraries across the Internet) offers further information about librarianship and information management in Scotland.