David Fay, City Libraries Manager, shares his thoughts below after working a shift at Denton Burn Library…

As part of a series of ‘back to the floor days’ for senior staff, I was nominated to work at Denton Burn Library for an afternoon and evening. When I arrived, my colleague Gloria and I couldn’t decide who was the most nervous, but I was promptly given a tour of the building, shown where the fire exits were, and was told what sort of events were taking place that afternoon.

Apart from serving customers, there was plenty to do including accessioning new stock, replacing date labels and of course lots of shelving (I got a sneaky feeling they’d been saving a few things up for me!). Gloria was very patient as I tentatively issued and reserved books to some very nice customers.

A regular craft session was booked for the afternoon but we weren’t sure how many children would come. Having spent 6 years as a children’s librarian I felt on surer ground with this. Sure enough I soon got back into the swing of making things out of not very much! The children were aged from about 8 to 10 and were suitably energetic and cheeky. I was quickly told I had ears ‘like an elf’ and that they were going to make me an emergency wig! It was interesting to see Gloria running the group whilst keeping an eye on the counter – very impressive.

The evening was much quieter and gave me chance to do all the jobs I’d been left as well as finish the shelving and put books on display – it was very satisfying to do something with a tangible end result.

The day went by in a blur and gave me a tantalising reminder of why I started to work in libraries almost 30 years ago!

David Fay
City Libraries Manager

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We will shortly be subscribing to a new service called ‘SmartSM’ which is designed to make sure that libraries have the right type of stock and that stock gaps are quickly filled. It does this by analysing the stock at every library, working out how often it is borrowed and identifying stock gaps. In this way it is possible to identify under-performing stock at one library and move it to another where there is a demand. We hope to start using this in September and results should be noticeable shortly after that.

My colleague Andrew Scrogham is currently busy rolling out more self-issue machines to our libraries. The next in line to be converted are East End and Outer West in September and October. Self issue has been a big success since it was first implemented at Gosforth in 2007. It frees colleagues more time to spend with customers and to make sure the stock is attractive and up-to-date.

City Library Manager, Angela Forster, and I recently enjoyed the first meeting of our new Focus Group, the first meeting was just to explain what the purpose of the group was and we will meet for the first time in September. We still have places available on the focus group so if you would like to join us, please contact Angela for more details (angela.forster@newcastle.gov.uk or phone 0191 277 4148).

David Fay
City Libraries Manager

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It hardly seems possible that it’s been almost a year since we were frantically getting ready to open the new library. The year has flown past in a bit of a blur and last month we were delighted to have been visited by over one million people. We have also been excited to have won some more awards recently: the City Library won a top prize in the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors awards and most recently has won the Building Structures (large firm) category of the Association for Consulting and Engineering Excellence Awards. We were also delighted to renew our Customer Service Excellence Award for the whole library service. The award followed a rigorous inspection regime looking at a number of libraries in the city; overall we were thought to be delivering exceptional customer service.

I’ve often been asked by people visiting the City Library if there’s anything we would have changed about the building and the honest answer is – very little. When we opened we received lots of comment cards and replied to every one, over 800 in total. Two things stood out, firstly the ‘voice’ from the lifts which echoed around the building and secondly, the hand driers in the toilets! The noise from the lifts was sorted out quite quickly but it’s taken rather longer to resolve the issues with the hand driers. My favourite comment about this said “library from the 21st century, hand driers from Beamish!” I’m pleased to be able to say that 20 of the driers will be replaced in the next couple of weeks with new versions that seem to be powered by jet engines – we’ll be able to offer the driest hands in Newcastle.

We recently installed self-issue machines in to Fenham Library and will be looking to roll this out to at least four other libraries this year including Outer West and Jesmond. We are also having some detailed discussions about building a library for Newburn within a new doctor’s surgery. This will make visiting the library in Newburn much easier as the current building can only be reached via a long flight of stairs. It should also mean we will be able to open for longer with a wider range of services. Our implementation of online book reservations has been delayed but should be running during June.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to Iceland in March. I was only there for a couple of days but it was an amazing visit. At the time, the volcano was just starting to rumble but we could never have guessed the chaos that was about to ensue! Perhaps the geyser (shown in the picture) was trying to tell us something! On the last day I popped into Reykjavik Library and was surprised to see that they also had shelving with built-in lighting just like the City Library. I’ve attached a picture to show what it looked like. The library was modern and attractive and ironically featured a large display about volcanoes!

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I have also been working with colleagues at Fenham Library to install self-service facilties at the end of March. This will mean that Fenham will benefit from the same technology as City Library and it will be easier than ever to use the library. The excellent staff at Fenham will still be on hand to help customers get used to the new service. At the same time our Home Delivery Service will also be moving from Brinkburn to Fenham. The Home Delivery Service take library materials like books and audiobooks to the homes of residents who can no longer visit a library. It’s a valued part of Newcastle Libraries that is much appreciated by the people using it.

It will soon be easier than ever to reserve items with the introduction of online reservations. We are currently working with our library catalogue suppliers to introduce a much more streamlined system for book, CD and DVD reservations. It will notify you by email that your item has arrived and is waiting to be collected at library of your choice.

I have recently been to a meeting in London with a group of publishers to discuss the lending of e-books. A number of library authorities are now starting to loan e-books, which can be downloaded onto a variety of handheld devices. We hope to be launching a trial e-books service in Newcastle in the not too distant future. If you think e-books are a good idea (or not) we’d love to hear from you.

I’m off to Iceland for a couple of days for a short break. I’m going to try to find some examples of Icelandic libraries (well I will be wearing an anorak!) and if I do, I’ll post some pictures on the blog when I get back.

Please get in touch if there is anything you would like to say about the library, good or bad. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

David Fay
City Libraries Manager
david.fay@newcastle.gov.uk

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It seems strange to settle down to something like normal again after the preparations for the royal visit to the city library in November. Since then we have been having meetings with the company who supply our computerised book issue system to find out what new products are available. We’ll hopefully we will soon be able to tell customers when items are due for return by email and text and March should see the launch of a new online book reservation system which will be much quicker to use.

I was invited to Calderdale Libraries in November to describe some of the ways we have changed the library service in Newcastle. It was a valuable visit and our colleagues from Calderdale have now said they want to visit Newcastle. So far we’ve had visitors to libraries in Newcastle from all over the world; the furthest visitors that I have spoken to came from New Zealand and Arkansas!

In the middle of November I went on a two day course as part of a regional training programme. The aim of the course was to give us lots of tips so that we could improve as managers. There were colleagues attending from all over the north east, from a wide range of jobs and there were lots of things to try out on my colleagues (but I’m not doing anything straight away so they won’t suspect it’s because I have been on a course!)

Throughout November I have been chairing a meeting of council staff who are busy working on improving the look and feel of the Newcastle City Council website, hopefully we’re making good progress and the results should be visible by the end of February.

It was a pleasure to visit our Library Express in Fawdon during December to celebrate its first birthday – it’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since we opened the library in the Community Centre and it was good, thanks to the superb community centre and library staff, to see it thriving.

Looking at my diary it looks as though we are going to be very busy right up to Christmas with, among other things, planning our stock allocation for 2010 and preparing for a change in our library book supplier.

But there’s still plenty of time to say Happy Christmas and best wishes for 2010 from all of us at Newcastle libraries.

David Fay
City Libraries Manager

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These were just some of the things we were told when it was confirmed that the Queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, would be opening our new £40.2m City Library. In hindsight, these were minor points as we started to realise what had to happen to make the visit a success.

First guests had to be invited. Not quite as easy as it might sound, particularly with a series of postal strikes to contend with. Head of Culture Tony Durcan and Library and Information Officer Nick Stopforth started work on this vital task and soon a spreadsheet of mammoth proportions started to emerge. We needed a stage, a banner behind the stage, an opening plaque, a plinth for the plaque – so another series of calls ensued to make sure everything would be available in time.

Then we had to decide what would happen when the Royal party actually arrived. We had lots of ideas and in discussion with the Lord Lieutenants Office these were finessed and refined over the next couple of weeks. Tony Durcan remembered reading that the Queen was a fan of musical theatre and had a particular fondness for the song “People Will Say We’re In Love” so library manager Angela Forster started to look for a suitable group to sing to the Queen! The Newcastle upon Tyne Musical Theatre Company sounded fantastic on the day. Angela also contacted the Newcastle Schools Music Service Trumpet Ensemble who would played the ‘Newcastle Collection Fanfare” on trumpets as the Queen entered the building.

We discussed menus with our café and thought about how we could feed over 350 people as quickly as possible. Then we had to make sure that all the guests knew where they had to be during the opening so that everyone would get a good view and also so that all the floors of the building would have lots of people on. As Baldrick might say, we came up with a cunning plan to colour code guest’s badges so they would know exactly where to go.

Eventually everything was as ready as it could be and I found myself standing outside the building with the welcoming party as the official Bentley pulled up. It’s a strange feeling to see at close quarters, one of the most famous women in the world. It’s even stranger to be shaking hands and trying to speak a few seconds later! Perhaps unsurprisingly the Queen exuded warmth, charisma and undoubted star quality as she entered the building to a fanfare of trumpets and a huge banner drop which said ‘welcome’.

The rest of the visit went like a dream and both the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh seemed to genuinely enjoy looking round the building. Fifty minutes passed in a blur and it was soon time to take our leave as the Royal party departed. For me and everyone in the building I suspect it was a day we will never forget.

Thanks must go to all the library staff who all coped superbly well, the Girl Guides,  the Newcastle Musical Theatre Company, the Newcastle Schools Music Service Trumpet Ensemble, the Reading Group, the rare book and genealogy experts on the 4^th and 5^th floors and Stewart and Co for their fabulous food.

David Fay
City Libraries’ Manager

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