Library Camp SW 2014 event blog

Library Camp SW 2014 was held at Exeter Library on Saturday 5^th July 2014.  I enjoyed last year’s at Bristol University and suggested that it would be a good idea to hold it at Exeter Library this year.  Luckily others also thought so and came on board to make up a brilliant team: Karen Leach-Bowdler, also from Exeter Library, Wenny Humble and Amy Bell-Worfell from Tiverton Library, Sally Long from Tiverton High School Library, Ann Draisey from Westexe Technology College Library and Francesca Bihet from University of Exeter St Luke’s Library.

People who attended the event were from a wide range of school, college, university, public, health etc libraries and from linked occupations such as Arts Council England which encouraged broad ranging discussions.  Library Camp is an unconference so people pitched session ideas on the Library Camp SW Wiki and at the start of the day.  We matched numbers of people interested and sessions with rooms and tours to make the session timetable for the day.  Then the participants chose 5 of the 20 sessions that most interested them.  

There was lots of interest in the Fab Lab and the Raspberry Pi Jam being held that morning so I led 2 sessions.  Everyone asked numerous questions, took lots of notes and were very pleased with their 3D printed mementos.  Wenny led 3 sessions of a stack tour and handling session of some of the beautifully illustrated Devon Collection of Children’s Books.  Karen led 4 tours of the new Exeter Library!

There was loads of information sharing and tips in the discussion sessions: Technology in Libraries, Libraries as Community Hubs, Engaging Teenagers, Author Visits, Partnerships with Business, Library Users’ Expectations, Moving Sectors, Customer Service, CILIP Qualifications and Networking.  There were also masses of interesting discussions during the delicious Bring and Share Lunch.  The sharing of experiences and enthusiasm of the participants made a really enjoyable day.  

The New Exeter Library is open

The new Exeter Library is open!  It is light and airy and looks great.  Please go to the photo page to see views of the interior.  The new Exeter Library is a Devon Centre so it offers a wider service than just a library.  However there are lots of books, we shelved for weeks as we moved back in.  We opened with 60,000 books in the public areas and 150,000 in the stack in the basement. 

The foyer is larger and along with the main entrance there is a new second entrance from Rougemont Gardens and a cafe.  Will Shakspeare designed the book sculpture in the foyer.  The sculpture is made from materials recycled from the old library and all the books have an important connection to Exeter Library.

40,000 people visited the new Exeter Library in the first 16 days and on Friday 30^th May we had a record 3,565 visitors.  30,000 items were issued in that period so we are continually restocking the shelves.  Half of the items were children’s stock as we opened in time for the half-term holiday.

The Children’s Library is very popular.  It is bright with lots of interesting items, the artwork being designed by apaintedmouse.

Exeter Library Redevelopment

Only 2½ weeks to go before Exeter Central Temporary Library closes on 17th April.  Then it is all hands on deck for the big move back to the redeveloped main Exeter Library ready for its opening on 22nd May.  Work is already in progress to ensure all is on track.  The cleaners are in the redeveloped library and the covers are coming off the carpets.  The shelving is going in and the enquiry pods are being assembled.  The contractors officially hand over the building this Friday 4th April.  The outside area leading to the front entrance and the patio area leading to the rear entrance will be completed by 17th April. 

In the temporary library a lot of stock work is being done.  We are moving from Dewey to Zones and categories running alongside Dewey classification.  The new stock is now supplied with an additional spine label consisting of the 3 letter code for the UK Standard Library Category.  There is however a large quantity of good quality stock in the temporary library which we want to take with us.  We are removing the items from the shelves, adding the additional spine label, updating the database record and boxing them ready to go.  At first the stock work seemed to make little impression but now the shelves are looking emptier and there are piles of cardboard boxes in every work area.  After 1½ years in the temporary library the end is in sight!  

February Visit to the Library of Birmingham

Exeter Central Library has been under £4.5 million redevelopment for 1 1/2 years and reopens on 22nd May. The new Exeter Library will have a Business and Intellectual Property Centre for the first time. Therefore a visit to the new Library of Birmingham was arranged to see what had been achieved (with a slightly larger budget of more than £180 million), what difficulties they had and to find out about their Business and IP Centre.

The Business & Learning Manager gave a very informative 2 1/2 hour tour of the 11 floors of the Library and a good insight into the thinking behind each area. Having seen many images of the library I had this picture in my mind of a cube covered in metal rings and hadn't realised this iconic building was actually in 3 tiers. This had been planned to allow for 2 gardens, the Secret garden on floor 7 and the Discovery Terrace on floor 3. I thought that the outdoor space to read, relax with friends and enjoy the views was very relevant to the new Exeter Library where a new entrance to the rear of the building has been made to allow access to the park with outdoor seating planned. The Shakespeare Memorial Room, Skyline Viewpoint and Book Rotunda were amazing. I can’t wait to see the new book sculpture designed for the main foyer of the new Exeter Library.

The popularity of the new library was a very good expression of interest in the library but also caused some difficulties. The first month after opening on 3rd September staff spent all their time on crowd control and it wasn't until November they really started to get business and IP activities going. This demonstrated to me the need to have everything not only in place for the opening of the new Exeter Library but also to have organised the next few months after opening. An example of this is the free tickets for Library Camp SW 2014 in July being released for sale in February https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/library-camp-sw-2014-tickets-10431961277 .

The Business Co-ordinator then gave an instructive session about the Business & Learning databases the library subscribes to, the uses of the different databases and their popularity. 

I took lots of photographs of the interesting and the amazing and the more mundane notices, signs, leaflets etc.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/soolibabc/sets/72157640653172654 . 

Business and IP Centre in the new Exeter Library

Exeter Library is to become a flagship ‘Devon Centre’ and as such will provide a broader range of services.

One of the new services it is going to offer is a new business information and IP (Intellectual Property) service to support small businesses, entrepreneurs and inventors to develop their businesses.  The delivery of this service will be supported by the British Library Business & IP Service

Business support offered by Business & Intellectual Property Centre at the Library of Birmingham

Staff trained by the British Library and the Library of Birmingham will provide small business support and access to a comprehensive collection of databases and publications to help users with trademarks, patents, registered designs, copyright and other IP queries.

This enterprise support service is funded through the Enterprising Libraries Programme.  The programme, funded and supported by The British Library, Arts Council England and Department for Communities and Local Government, helps libraries develop new, innovative ways to support economic growth within communities.

For more information including comments by Dr Stephen Fear, Entrepreneur in Residence and Ambassador at The British Library, see Libraries help the Devon Economy

#FabLabDevon at Exeter Library

A Fab Lab (= Fabrication Laboratory) is a low-cost digital workshop equipped with laser-cutters, routers, 3D scanners, 3D milling machines, and programming tools, where you can "make almost anything." There are over 100 Fab Labs around the world, open to local inventors, small businesses, students, artists and entrepreneurs.

 

FabLabDevon is on track to be up and running when the refurbished Exeter Library opens on 22^nd May.  Devon County Council has contributed £90k and the space to host the Fab Lab in Exeter Library.  It has £30k funding from RIO (Real Ideas Organisation SW Bridge Challenge Fund) and has recently bid for a further £30k from NESTA/Nominet Trust (Digital Makers Fund).

 

The electrics are in, the walls are painted, the glass is in and since I took the photo even the carpet is down.  Five University of Exeter final year Civil Engineering Students are helping with specifying and sourcing equipment, layout etc.  The equipment will be purchased by the end of this financial year.

 

Adjacent to the Fab Lab a Business and Intellectual Property (IP) Centre is being developed to offer support for anyone wanting to start up/grow their business.

 

If the Fab Lab and Business and IP Centre have caught your interest get the inside view at Library Camp SW 2014.  Go to http://libcampsw2014.wikispaces.com/ for information about this year’s Library Camp and the link to the free tickets.

Library Camp SW

Library Camp SW 2104

is being held in the new (so new it hasn’t been opened yet) Exeter Library on 5^th July 10 am – 4.30 pm.

 

What is Library Camp SW? The background to Library Camp SW is:

 

The inaugural Library Camp SW was held in July 2012 at the University of Exeter and was a success despite flooding and landslides preventing some of the attendees reaching Exeter.  This was followed by a second Library Camp SW in July 2013 at the University of Bristol. Increased attendance and the sun shining for the picnic in the park created another successful event. 

 

The people who attended these Library Camps were from a range of libraries; academic, public, museum, health etc including a completely digital library, and from linked occupations such as Library Management Systems, Bristol Literature Festival and LiteratureWorks, a literature development charity for the South West.  People journeyed from Cornwall across the South West as far as Dorset and also from Oxford and London!

 

Library Camp SW is run as an unconference where the attendees discuss the issues that matter to them.  The range of suggestions for the discussion sessions depends on the experience, expertise and interests of the attendees.  So people pitched session ideas at the start of the day and you then chose 5 of the 20 sessions which you were most interested in.

Past sessions include:

Innovation in Libraries	Social Media	External funding
Your dream library	Information Literacy	Chartership
Apps	Libraries of the Future	Disaster Management
Research in libraries	Collaboration	Library Displays
Book repairs	Reading Groups	E books
Retaining & attracting teens	Mobile devices in libraries	Promoting Library Services

 

The discussion, inspiration and networking weren’t confined to the sessions but continued over cake, (there was an impressive range of cake), during lunch and afterwards.
 

If this blog has caught your interest please go to http://libcampsw2014.wikispaces.com/ for information about this year’s Library Camp and the link to the free tickets.