Etikettarkiv: library tourism

When in Blackpool, don’t miss the public library

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I was in Blackpool late September 2022 for a concert and I didn’t have a clue about the place. A Mancunian friend said it was one of those seaside resorts that had its heyday in the postwar decade (when it received 17 million visitors a year) but that it now was the perfect embodiment of Everyday Is Like Sunday’s line ”this is the coastal town that they forgot to close down”.

A glance on the Blackpool Wikipedia article says the town grew into a popular destination for the working class in the mid-19th century when Lancashire cotton mill owners took turns to shut down their factories for maintenance one week per year which provided a steady stream of visitors to Blackpool. Famous for its promenade, piers and perhaps especially its electrical lights – it was the first municipality in the world (1879) to have electric street lighting and its electrical tramway (1885) is also one of the world’s first. The (according to British friends apparently very famous) Blackpool Tower, inspired by the Parisian Eiffel Tower, was opened in 1894 and was at the time the tallest man made structure in the British empire.

The increased popularity of package holidays abroad meant Blackpool lost its traditional tourist crowd and as I understand it’s now mainly day tourists who go there, and not nearly as many as before. However, tourism remains a pillar in the town’s economy. A fun fact is that Blackpool shares its etymology with Dublin on the other side of the Irish sea: Dublin is derived from Irish Duibhlinn which means ”black pool” (though the common name for the city in modern Irish is Baile Átha Cliath, ”town of the hurdled ford”).

Knowing a bit about Blackpool’s history, it’s not surprising that it’s also home to a Carnegie library which serves as the main public library of the town. The Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929 with money donated from the Scottish-American philanthropist Andrew Carnegie and of the 2509 libraries, 660 are located in the United Kingdom and Ireland. What makes the Blackpool Central Library unique among Carnegie libraries is that it has a portrait of the philanthropist. As you ascend the stairs and reach the upper floor (which hosts local history collections and the Brunswick room) the donor’s gaze meet you from a stained glass window. This part of the library was closed of for renovation when I visited but the lovely librarian Jools showed me the closed section and also told me the story about the rare Carnegie portrait.

The public libraries of Blackpool have seven other branches that together with the Central Library serves the town’s population (~141,000 people). What really struck me with the Central Library was that it was so colourful. Many Carnegie libraries (and other libraries from the same era) I’ve visited look very similar, with white walls and an old fashioned sense of a library space trying to fit in with modern services. It’s hard to put my finger on it but I think it has something to do with only shelves, furniture, and signage dividing the space into different sections, whereas in Blackpool painted walls and decorations are used to create spaces (for example the children’s section). Then again, perhaps this only reflects my personal opinion about white walls being inherently uncosy, it seems to be a ”neutral” standard in apartments as well and I’ve rented plenty of places where the walls had to be covered in posters and photos to combat the eerie feeling of being lost in a desolate snowstorm. Either way, the colours of Blackpool were wondrous and if I remember correctly the decorations had been made by a local artist (maybe even a former staff member?) and the imaginative bookcase seems to have been built by local dads.

Supporting dads through collaboration with the charity Dads Matter UK was an interesting focus that I haven’t really noticed in libraries before (maybe I’m just unobservant) and it made me think about libraries as an important place for such activities. Libraries are neutral and open spaces and even if you go their for peer support groups to help with your anxiety etc. no one seeing you at the library would immediately know the purpose for your visit – you might just as well be there to print documents, get books with your children, or use the bathroom. The broad scope of library activities (and activities taking place in the library) by design helps protect the privacy of the individual who participates.

My usual library tourism is just popping in at the public library in the place I’m visiting and have a look around. If no people are around I might take some pictures and I’m a fan of studying the event boards to see what kind of activities libraries and their partners (for example local organisations) arrange. Sometimes friendly library staff ask if I want any help and sometimes this will lead to a short conversation about me being a librarian and that I like visiting libraries whenever I travel somewhere. In Blackpool I started talking to librarian Jools who prompted by my story started sharing facts about the library and the town. Unfortunately, I got to the library just 15 minutes before closing time on September 28 so we didn’t have much time, but Jools kindly invited me back the next day to see the upper floor and to hear more about the library’s activities.

One remarkable feature of the library is the stained glass windows that were made for the library’s centenary in 2011. They were created through consultation with community and staff members and the themes of the windows reflects Blackpool’s history, present, and future. By each window there was a sign explaining the window and I’ve included an image of the Freedom window explanation in this post (the text: FREEDOM: Words, knowledge, ideas all create new ways of thinking and ways of living. This window celebrates freedom of thought and speech.) I’m sure anyone familiar with me or my research can imagine how much this resonates with me. You can read more about the centenary redesign of the library here, or the making of the stained glass windows here.

The library also offers a lot of activities to support its community’s social, reading, and IT skills needs – among other things (see image of the event board to explore further). When I met Jools the next morning she had just broadcasted a digital story event through the library’s social media. Here’s an example of a digital story session on Blackpool Libraries’ facebook page, and below is an image of the studio which was a corner of her office. I’ve understood (not just based on Blackpool) that in many public libraries digital events have started and/or expanded during the pandemic, and they continue to be a vital part of post-pandemic library services to make sure the library can reach all of its users.

There always more to say and write and tell, but I’m wrapping up this post and I hope your curiosity will lead you to this amazing library one day. Going back to my British friends who said Blackpool was a rundown resort that had seen its best days I’d have to say that whatever else in the city may lead to this impression the library certainly doesn’t. It is such an imaginative, beautiful, and friendly space and I hope and assume that Blackpool citizens share my sentiment about the library.

True North? Yes, All Library Compasses Point at Lancaster University Library

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Whenever I’ve heard Lancaster I’ve thought about Safe Warm Lancashire Home. This all changed the past summer when I went to the LIBER conference in Odense to give a presentation on cultural heritage hackathons and met Andrew Barker, university librarian at Lancaster University, who spoke about enhancing digital discoverability of special collections in the same conference session. The thing that really got my attention in their presentation was when Andrew presented Lancaster University as small enough to innovate and build community, putting them in a great position to explore new practices – ”Through disruptive innovation, we will build lasting change” I quoted in my tweet from the event (here are some of my other LIBER tweets, in case anyone’s interested).  Being ”small enough” means the university is not so big that any innovation gets immediately drowned in bureaucracy and conflicting interests, and still not so small that the organisation has too few resources to be able to innovate. It seems to me to be a sweet spot for library innovation, and the approach (disruptive innovation! lasting change!) really speaks to me. I would’ve applied for a job on the spot if I wasn’t already so pleased with where I am right now (and also because of Brexit).

As I had already planned to spend a few days in Manchester after my conference marathon in Ireland I asked Andrew if I could stop by for a visit in early August and to my utter delight he said yes, so on August 3 I took the northbound from Oxford Road towards Windermere, passing old cotton mills and the stations of Wigan and Preston before arriving in Lancaster, a city built of yellowy gray stones rather than the Mancunian red brick buildings I had just left. I walked into town and switched to a city bus taking me to the campus of Lancaster University, situated south of the city centre and built in the 1960s. The buses normally stop in the Underpass (oh stop it with the Morrissey references!) which would immediately take you to Alexandra Square, the university’s main plaza, but during my visit there were some Underpass and road closures around campus (makes sense do to the traffic work during the summer holidays) so I arrived at the library gates from another direction, after having stealthily followed some other bus passengers who didn’t seem as lost as I did, hehe.

Alexandra Square at Lancaster University

Alexandra Square at the centre of Lancaster University. Library entrance to the left in the inner corner.

Because of the summer holidays a lot of my pictures will look quite empty. However, walking around the campus it was really easy to imagine how vibrant and welcoming it would be during the year, buzzing with students and staff on their way to lectures, people, and places, enjoying their coffee and their discussions in one of the campus cafés (I had one of the best coffees I’ve ever had when I was there so the coffee really is worth mentioning – that was some proper intellectual fuel!)

I entered the library and was welcomed by Andrew who gave me a splendid tour. The library is still located in the same place as when it was opened by Philip Larkin in January 1967, and it has since been extended twice, I think, with the most recent extension being opened in 2021. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, these extensions are quite hard to notice in the library. The spaces flow seamlessly into one another, very clearly giving the impression of one library (rather than spaces being divided into the old part and the new part, which is quite common in libraries with extensions, cf. Carolina Rediviva and Turku City Library).

In the newest extension, which is built to reflect the new vision of the library, there are 450 new study spaces (that’s a lot! as a comparison reading room A at Carolina Rediviva has 82 study spaces). The spaces are divided into different areas, taking into account sound levels, types of furniture, open spaces and smaller nooks, computer equipment… all to cater to different needs and wants of the library users. This is obviously quite common when building or remodeling library spaces, but nevertheless exciting to see because of the level of ambition and the success of it in the Lancaster library. I was overwhelmed by a sudden need to sit down and study in at least five spaces we passed because they looked so inviting and pleasant, it was like balm for the mind.

All floors of the building had been gifted with green walls. They’re described in the press release as ”[l]iving walls of expertly selected, glossy, vibrant plants, intermittent trickling watering systems and an array of tastefully chosen, stylish furniture all add to the calm, relaxing environment” and I think that sums it up quite well. Why we don’t make these everywhere? It seems like the kind of thing that could be easily incorporated into older buildings as well? I felt like Alice in Wonderland when I took the spray bottle and followed the ”please mist me” instruction. I’m sure it was more therapeutic for me than the plants – I just had to take a five minute break in writing this to reminisce about this moment.

While on the topic of green in the library, I also got to meet the library tree Norma! The tree was named through a vote where 41,5 % of the 1330 votes were cast on Norma (I’ll just assume Tree McTreeface was a close second).  The tree grows in an inside courtyard which is also a space for events in the library (such as the university librarian DJ’ing to welcome new students or library festivals!). Since the study spaces on the floors above this courtyard are silent reading spaces there has to be a careful balance between events and study spaces so as not to disrupt too much. However, there is quite a large amount of silent study spaces elsewhere in the library, so when events do take place it’s quite easy to temporarily redirect users in need of quiet spaces to other parts of the library.

Another place for silent studies is the main reading room, a room I really enjoyed because of the different type of desks and because of the amazing light in that room. It had a temple-like feel to it. To give you an impression of the library as a whole I also added some images from the third floor bridge below. The library is generally very spacious and very bright. I like that. It’s a bit like being in a Star Trek city in the future, you know the ones from TNG when it was still very utopian.

We also looked at the space for postgraduates in the library which was currently being refurbished to better suit the needs and wants of the postgraduate students. It took me back to the time when I was active in the student union at Uppsala University and advocated for specific reading rooms and/or spaces for master students at the university library. There had been a decrease in the use of reading rooms at the library, partly because doctoral researchers over time had gotten better working conditions (such as salaries and offices), so one way to repurpose this reading rooms would’ve been to dedicate some spaces to students. However, specific spaces for master students were instead organised by the faculties and usually in leftover rooms in the campus buildings (mine was in a basement and we rarely went there), completely disregarding the potential synergies of an interdisciplinary research environment. I still don’t know why but I assume this was related to either money, prestige, or a siloed organisational structure (or possible all three). Either way, things hadn’t changed much when I came back to work as a librarian at the same university a few years later.

Looking at Swedish higher education statistics we do have steady increase of international students who come to Sweden to study at master programmes (97 % of the incoming freemovers were studying at a programme in 2020/21 – most of them at a master programme – compared to 80 % in 2013/14, and most students who pay tuition fees are in master programmes as well) so in one way it’s baffling that we’re not better at adapting our higher ed infrastructure (including libraries) to accommodate for this group. The post-Bologna master’s craze led to many new programmes but I feel we’ve missed something crucial in creating the best study environment for this group – both regarding spaces and events. This group would also be less involved in student politics, for several reasons, so it’s hard for (especially international) master students to efficiently advocate their interests.

Anyway, comparing those experiences with the development of the postgrad spaces in Lancaster shows what a university and university library could be like, and how they could work with their users to make the best out of everything for everyone. However, the last I heard from my library (I’m on leave until 2024 for my doctoral research) didn’t make me super hopeful about a positive, student-friendly development during the next 10 years… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe the student union needs another library focused student union party? (Yes, I was in one of those. It was started by the magnificent Moa Ekbom.)

Last but not least (there is really so much more to say about my visit to Lancaster University Library, so maybe I’ll add more to this post later on), a thing that really impressed me was the fiction collection which aimed to function a bit like a public library, a cultural living room, for the university students. Since the university is situated on a campus a bit out of town, and students tend to live on campus and spend a lot of time at the campus, it becomes a sort of small society in itself. It is therefore natural and necessary that the university library takes on a wider role for its community than, say, a university library within 10 minutes walking distance from a public library would do. The collection on the photo is meant to provide leisure reading for the students, and other activities and events at the library (such as the festival mentioned above) also bear witness to how the library consciously takes on this pivotal role. When Andrew explained this mindset I was very impressed by the fact that university library management could so astutely observe and act on their role in the wider scheme of things. Well done!

Leisure reading in the fiction collection and the library as a campus living room.

Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 in Maynooth

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I had the pleasure of attending Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 in Maynooth just outside of Dublin on July 23-24. I got roped into the convention through librarian extraordinaire Laurie Bridges, and they suggested I join the scholarship committee to help assess applications from scholarship applicants. It was interesting work and I noticed it was quite similar to assessing scholarship applications for my student organisation V-Dala Nation where I once served as scholarship secretary (although in this case much less financial data and less extensive spread sheets – thankfully!)

The library, Maynooth University – Leabharlann, Ollscoil Mhá Nuad. Photo by me, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The setting for the convention was the beautiful library of Maynooth University. I didn’t take a lot of pictures of the library, but it was a beautiful, bright building with great spaces for studying, teaching. and meeting people and I could really picture myself as a student enjoying spending time at the library.

The conference started of with an excellent keynote by Dr Nkem Osuigwe, one of my library role models. Their talk was titled Wikimedia through the Prisms of Critical Librarianship, and I really appreciated the critical take on librarianship which I feel is sometimes lacking in the Nordic LIS field. According to Osuigwe, critical theory

examines what exists in society/particular field and,
challenges assumptions and practices,
asks questions about historical, economic, social and cultural issues underpinning practice,
interrogates whose perspective is being heard/seen and promoted in existing structures and systems,
views how the frameworks and standards of existing structures and systems came to be, and
configures in social justice

and it’s employed to

– explain what is wrong with current realities of praxis
– identify those who can think through critically to suggest and drive change, and
– provide practical pathways for social transformation as well as more criticism.

These extracts are verbatim from a couple of slides in Osuigwe’s presentation and I find them very relevant. For me, being critical of something is not negative criticism (which I think it’s often interpreted as!) but rather something that drives positive change in an organisation. The last four years I’ve worked at a university library and I think there has been a shift towards being an isolate service provider rather than being an intellectually driven integrated part of the university driving change through its activities. It’s both the activities the library does as much as the general mindset that cause this. For example, the shift to open science (a value libraries typically advocate) is hindered by bureaucratic obstacles and complacency. It sometimes seems as critical theory is left at the door when one moves from library education to the library profession. I have never been able to accept this since I believe critical thinking is a skill you acquire for life, not for education. This has put me in a tight spot several times in my professional career!

As you can see, Osuigwe’s talk helped me critically assess my own professional situation, which is very valuable to me. But of course the talk had a broader impact as well and I appreciate how they placed Wikimedia as an emancipatory tool to support fundamental human rights, such as freedom of expression and access to information. According to Osuigwe (and I agree!) ”a core aspect of critical librarianship is that librarians are activists by calling as they defend intellectual freedom and promote cultural resistance irrespective of prevailing political, economic and social attitudes that promote the ’caging of knowledge’.” They also mentioned that the default setting of a library is open, and this is worth mentioning because I think there is an idea that libraries are neutral, which is all good in one sense, but what happens when neutral is in conflict with open?

Libraries, politics and activism is something I briefly mention in this article in Biblioteksbladet (in Swedish), regarding climate action in libraries. The shortened quote makes me sound very harsh, but I do think there is a certain anxiety in Swedish libraries regarding anything that might be considered ”political”. In this column on Wikipedia in Bibliotekbladet (in Swedish) I theorise that our perceptions of power is at the core of how Swedish librarians act and think about Wikimedia, activism and other issues – there seems to be preference for hierarchical structures rather than a flat power distribution. I wonder if responsibility is at the core of this (i.e. when do want to assume responsibility, and when do we prefer to be indifferent and unconcerned) and if it is connected to the move from critical librarianship in library education to the neutral public servant in the library profession.

Osuigwe also underlined how Wikimedia encourages the plurality of voices, for instance through linguistic availability, and this theme was also something that came up in Michael David Miller’s presentation in the session A Booktalk: Wikipedia and Academic Libraries, A Global Project (presentation available here) where they talked about the LGBTQ+ content of francophone Wikipedia and how they had discovered it wasn’t really representative of the francophone communities, but mainly consisted of articles on events in the United States (see image from presentation below).

LGBTQ+ Content in Francophone Wikipedia, presentation by Michael David Miller (page 16 in this presentation, CC BY-SA 4.0)

This highlights that even though translation of articles about important people and events are prevalent, the Wikipedia content might not be representative of the community that is reading the encyclopædia and this is an issue that must be dealt with, since it creates a sense of invisibility. As Miller quoted Kelly Doyle:

“The cultural capital of Wikipedia is such that existence within it denotes a level of power and importance. The phenomenon of considering something or someone truly significant or insignificant, through its presence or absence on Wikipedia, can be a damaging one.

Or in their own words: Ultimately, I want to exist. Of course a large part of the presentation was focused on how they had attempted to solve this issue: McGill University Library (where Miller works) had in partnership with Bibliothèque du Centre communautaire LGBTQ+ de Montréal and the Café des savoirs libre organised LGBTQ+ contribution events, which had resulted in new articles being created on historical LGBTQ+ events and spaces in Montréal, Montréal drag queens Rita Baga and Barbada de Barbades, and queer Quebecois authors Kevin Lambert and Antoine Charbonneau-Demers.

Miller’s presentation was very inspiring and it gave me the idea to try to organise a similar editing event focusing on LGBTQ+ articles in Swedish Finland, perhaps in collaboration with the organisation Projekt Fredrika r.f., which aims to increase access to information about Swedish Finland on Wikipedia (mainly on Swedish Wikipedia, but also in other languages). We’ll see how that goes! Anyway, if you want to read more about Miller’s (and other cool people’s) projects the book Wikipedia and Academic Libraries can be found here.

Wikimedia+Libraries International Convention 2022 – Group photo. Photographer: B20180, CC BY-SA 4.0

There so many more things to mention from WikiLibCon (so many great people! so many awesome ideas! and I chaired a session for the first time in my life!) so maybe there’ll be a part two to this post, we’ll see! In the meantime, you can check out my tweet feed for those days which lists the highlights as they happened!

A Quick Stop in Holyhead

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Since the early 19th century Holyhead has been the primary sealink along the route from Dublin to London. Departing by ferry from Dublin I had a couple of hours to spend in this town before taking the train to Manc’r.

The face accurately describes the feeling of not being able to find the library. Also, the post office was in the opposite direction.

As one does, I immediately headed for the local library. On the way I dropped in at the post office to buy new stamps for my Dublin postcards – this morning when I left for the port I could not find a post box to save my life, and of course there wasn’t one at the ferry terminal.

The library turned out to be quite hard to locate, as the map location led me to a location which advertised hypnotherapy. While libraries continuously branch out to stay relevant, it’s still customary to use the word library, so I did some internet searching for alternative locations of the library.

Not a library.

Turns out the library moved into a new location three years ago and was now situated in the old market hall. They had moved there in late 2019, and so because of covid hadn’t had too much time to use the community spaces at the centre of the new library.

Main space in the library. Upper floors are office spaces for tent, mezzanine floor consist of library collections.

Even though there are quite few Welsh speakers in Holyhead, all signage was bilingual. I was recommended a book called Welsh in 12 Weeks by the librarian and I am very tempted to order it online. The librarian taught me the correct pronunciation of llyfrgell (literally ‘book cell’) to get me started (ll is voiceless in Welsh! So I assume lloll is some kind of wheezing laugh).

One of several meeting spaces library users can book.

Like in many new libraries, there were plenty of places to meet other people in this library. This mirrors the original use of the market hall, which according to the exhibition on one of the walls was the social and cultural centre of Holyhead in past times, hosting events and exhibitions on Dr Livingstone’s travels, Egyptian artefacts, and more. As a library in the centre of the community it has the same potential now.

Main hall from the inside, with main entrance and information desk at the far end. To the right an exhibition about the market hall.

The library staff was very friendly and happily shared facts about the library with me. After signing the guestbook (such a nice touch! Apparently they get a lot of cruise ship visitors) I went down the street and had the best coffee I’ve had in years at The Hive (!!!) so that’s a strong recommendation if you’re ever in town. The barista said the good quality of the drinking water in town contributes to the amazing taste of the coffee (very similar to Iceland in that regard).