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 April 2007 Volume 5(2)

Lifelong learning

Learning to see libraries in a different light

The East Renfrewshire Library Services ‘Look@Libraries’ Festival achieved its aim of attracting more visitors to libraries as destinations for learning and fun. Liz McGettigan explains how they went about changing peoples’ perceptions.

In East Renfrewshire, we believe that we have radically changed and improved the quality of service in libraries over recent years. What remained for us was to communicate this to our local communities and encourage more people to visit them.

The East Renfrewshire Library Services Look@Libraries Festival finished recently. Through feedback, it appears that we have succeeded in changing perceptions of libraries and helped library visitors improve their skills – while having fun. Look@Libraries, funded by the Scottish Executive’s Libraries Improvement Fund under the auspices of the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), ran for 16 weeks, 29 October 2006 - 11 February 2007, in two libraries, Barrhead and Mearns, with breakout events in Clarkston and Giffnock. As well as improving services, Look@Libraries had a number of objectives including to help encourage community involvement; to help minimise exclusion; to support cultural activities; to work in partnership with others; and to establish a brand / toolkit.

The Scottish Executive funding amounted to £49,960 and this was used for staffing, participant fees, computer equipment, marketing & promotions, transport, refreshments and prizes. The festival branding was a very important aspect of the whole initiative, and it featured on all print work related to the festival.

To find out whether the image we had chosen would inspire the right type of responses, we sought the opinions of experts and showed the logo to five independent marketing professionals. They responded with “attractive”; “strong”; “modern”; “fun”; “sense of humour”; and “approachable” – all very positive. The brand was also carried on t-shirts, USB pens, pens & pencils, mints, snap-on bands, eco friendly bags – and ice scrapers. Further marketing included high-quality brochures and promotional materials, advertising in the national and local Scottish press, and banners strategically placed on main streets and roundabouts. Staff wearing branded t-shirts approached residents in shops and public places, handing out flyers and encouraging them to get involved.

Events
More than 50 events took place offering a diverse calendar of activities for the whole community including plays, stand-up comedy, musical evenings, storytelling, authors’ visits, quizzes and cookery demonstrations. For children these included ‘Howling Halloween’; ‘Tall Stories Theatre Co.’; and sculpting and drama workshops. The events for adults involved photography, heritage, glass painting, painting and other learning workshops. In addition some events were aimed at all the family including ‘The Games’; ‘Taste of Winter’; a fashion show, a Christmas play and a chocolate fountain.

We also included some events that we hoped would be thought of as ‘cool and trendy’. These included a performance by some of the participants of the Ballads of the Book project. Emma Pollock, co-founder of Delgados, now solo, and Martin Henry from the band De Rosa performed at Clarkston Community Library, and author Rodge Glass gave a reading. Ballads of the Book is a collaborative project between Scotland’s top writers, poets and musicians, which grew out of an idea developed by Edwin Morgan and Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble.

Another musical event was ‘Bring the Noise’. Riverside Studios (who have worked with Travis, Teenage Fanclub and Shane MacGowan to name but a few) offered people the chance to bring along their musical instruments, attend songwriting workshops, get help with new bands and sound production. Other well-known faces involved in events included Janey Godley, Tam Cowan, Nick Barratt, Tom Shields and Phil Kay.

The musical events proved incredibly popular, taking first and third place for the most popular events. Arts and crafts for children performed well across the board and there was massive support for the sculpting workshops.

Feedback
Some of the attendees comments were:
“It was great, I’ve no had so much fun in ma life!”
“Fantastic – I looked forward to this all week!”
“I found it very educational and interesting”
“We love having the library open on a Sunday…the whole family can come”

We also followed up the Festival with a public questionnaire. Some of the results revealed:

• 78% of respondents believed that Look@Libraries is a worthwhile financial investment for East Renfrewshire.
• 60% believed that the festival had a positive affect on the public perception of libraries.
• More than half of respondents felt that the range of events on offer was excellent.
• 36% of respondents stated that the Look@Libraries Festival would not encourage them to visit their local library on a Sunday; 32% stated that it would.
• 70% felt that libraries should be open every Sunday

A separate confidential questionnaire was distributed to staff across each of the 10 libraries. Key findings include:

• 64% of staff agree that it is a good idea to open libraries on a Sunday
• 82% agreed that it was the events that attracted visitors to the library on a Sunday.
• 91% believed that the Festival has had a positive impact on the public perception of libraries.
• 88% agreed that it achieved its goal to improve public access to reading, information and learning.
• 91% were happy with the briefing that they received throughout the Festival.

In addition, participants who ran events such as authors, artists, singers, dance teachers and beauty therapists received an electronic questionnaire. These results revealed that 57% of participants had never performed in a library before and, equally, 57% stated that the event surpassed their expectations. All of the participants would be happy to take part again.

Did we change perceptions of public libraries?
Look@Libraries succeeded in creating a strong brand identity that can be rolled out in the future and an enhanced image for East Renfrewshire libraries. It promoted the library as a destination to enjoy music, arts and crafts, comedy and films and encouraged members to investigate local history and heritage.

It enabled members to enjoy learning as a family activity and introduced them to different cultures. It certainly improved confidence and skills, such as the learning workshops in computing, digital cameras and MP3 players.

As for the those involved in running the festival, I found that passion and enthusiasm are transferable skills and the event undoubtedly developed a team of enthusiastic and experienced staff.

We now use Look@Libraries as our brand, and we are reviewing our opening hours in the light of the successful experiment in Sunday opening, which achieved its aim of attracting the family market. We are planning to run the festival again next year and are already enlisting storytellers and partners from Theatre and Education.

The Look@Libraries Festival was a celebration of the cultural diversity and inspirational community spirit of East Renfrewshire’s residents. Preconceptions have been challenged and a fresh, modern, approachable and exciting image for our public libraries has been born.

Information Scotland Vol. 5(2) April 2007

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