On 23 April, Newcastle Libraries celebrated World Book Night in style. This was a chance for us to share the joy of reading, both inside and outside of the library. Over one hundred staff and customers applied to be book givers, and we distributed a staggering 2400 FREE books across the city, double what we did last year.

As it was the date of Shakespeare’s birth (and death) we decided to kick start the programme with a book swap at the Theatre Royal while the unveiling of their statue ‘Mercutio’ took place. A total of one hundredbooks were given out within an hour!

Library staff, teenage ‘My Voice’ volunteers, members of our children’s reading group and our local councillor distributed books across the city centre, in coffee shops, bars and the Tyneside Cinema.

The celebration continued with a performance from Silver Linings which got the audience to dancing and singing in the atrium. The atmosphere was already buzzing when we welcomed our fabulous visiting author Adele Parks, who was excited to be involved with World Book Night, and did a fantastic ‘meet the author’ session. The audience were gripped with tales of Adele’s life and the inspiration behind her novels which included her latest title ‘About Last Night’. Our ‘My Voice’ volunteers excitedly interviewed Adele without any hesitation. Listen to this interview below.

We also involved talented local actors ‘Spectrum Arts’ who spent their Sunday mornings rehearsing intensely for ‘Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits’. Customers followed the group around the building enthralled in the scenes and costumes.

We were fortunate to be one of several satellite venues to live stream a World Book Night event from Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s Southbank where top authors helped spread the message of how empowering reading can be.

If you would like to be part of World Book Night 2013 register your details. From personal experience, this is a chance not to be missed!

Sharon Reeve
Reading and Learning Service Manager

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It’s been nine months since we launched our ebooks service, offering fiction and non-fiction titles to download for free. So far we’ve had over 6000 downloads by nearly 1000 people. As well as buying titles from our supplier we added titles from our in-house publishers, Tyne Bridge Publishing.

Recently I was at a conference in Manchester where staff from Derby Libraries said they had been adding titles from their local history collection to their ebooks site so that people could borrow titles that would normally be too rare or valuable to lend. Immediately I thought this was an idea we could steal, I mean, that people in Newcastle would find interesting… so we set up a team to look at what titles we could add to our website and how we would go about digitising them.

As a result of our first meeting we decided to add some titles from our heritage collection about the early history of Newcastle as well as some titles from our in-house publishers which are out of print and cannot be bought anymore. In order to give this new digital collection a big launch (as well as giving us plenty of time to work on them!) we have decided to time its release to begin with Local History Month in May 2012.

Over the next couple of months we will be making a small number of titles available to download so people can get an idea of what we will be adding and so we can see how popular they are. At the moment there are three Tyne Bridge Publishing titles available for customers to download:

‘Beneath This Green and Pleasant Land’ by John Graham, a warm and often hard-hitting account of life as a North East miner and one of our most popular titles.

‘Bygone Walker’ and ‘Bygone Byker’ both pictorial histories, using old photographs to portray that past which has given each area such a distinctive character.

The more difficult part is going to be adding rare, valuable or old items from our heritage collection which we are looking to do soon. To begin with these will probably include early pamphlets on the history of Newcastle dating from the seventeenth century. We will also be adding some more Tyne Bridge titles soon.

Why not visit our eBooks site, download some of the titles and tell us what you think! Visit the Digital Collection.

Luke Burton
Information and Digital Team

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Last week I was involved in the student event at the Civic Centre. The event took place in the Banqueting Suite where 36 tables were set up to accommodate exhibitors from a wide range of services from council offices, arts, health, careers and accommodation. The aim of the day was to welcome newly arrived international students. The event provides them with an opportunity to find out more about the fantastic leisure and community resources available across Newcastle.

Each year Newcastle and Northumbria Universities receive over 4,300 international students. Judith, Barbara and I set up our table with promotional material showcasing all that the libraries had to offer from author events to computer sessions. We handed out dozens of application forms and many students wanted to sign up immediately. We were kept busy for the whole afternoon signing them up. We ran out of forms and just had enough tickets!! All together between the three of us we joined 87 students to the library. It was pretty hectic but certainly a productive afternoon. We were all so busy that we missed the refreshments that were being served! My thanks go to Barbara and Judith who worked so hard and with great enthusiasm. The event was a huge success and well worth the effort.

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The past month has been a particularly busy one for the Information and Digital team as we’ve all been hard at work establishing a new Business and Intellectual Property Centre on level 1 of the City Library. The centre is designed to offer support and advice to the North East’s entrepreneurial and business talent. It was officially launched on 5 September with an event headlined by successful Dragon’s Den contestant Solvej Biddle (photo below). Since then, the area has been buzzing with people eager to take advantage of the business advice we have on offer.

Throughout September the team has been in a frenzy of activity, including getting up at the crack of dawn to attend business networking breakfast sessions! We are pleased to be able to offer 1-2-1 sessions which include business coaching, intellectual property and business finance, as well as legal advice from a patents attorney and solicitor in residence. You can even book an appointment with a local entrepreneur to get the low-down on what it’s really like to go it alone – and all of this is free!

Visitors to the Business and Intellectual Property Centre can access business information databases such as Corporate Researcher, Cobra and British Standards. In partnership with the British Library, Newcastle and Northumbria Universities and Newcastle Science City, we are proud to be leading the way in supporting the local business community by providing resources and advice to guide entrepreneurs and businesses on their journey to success. With new sessions and events being organised all the time, and an exciting new programme planned for early 2012, we don’t expect our hectic schedules to let up any time soon!

For more information on any of the above please contact the team on 0191 2774100, email newcastlebipc@newcastle.gov.uk. Visit the BIPC website.

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A couple of months ago I mentioned that we’d had camera crews in the library and a visit from a mystery celebrity. I can now reveal that the celebrity was none other than comedian Alan Carr. Alan was in the region filming for a forthcoming episode of the BBC programme ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ He spent an entire day in the heritage section and as you can imagine his visit caused great excitement. Alan was lovely, very friendly and extremely funny, exactly as he appears on television. We were a little disappointed to find out that the library sequence will not be screened when the programme is broadcast, but having said that, it was still a very enjoyable and rewarding experience.

City Libraries Manager, David Fay, with library staff and chatty man himself, Alan Carr.

We’ve also been busy putting together a packed programme of autumn events. These include a range of free events to celebrate Heritage Open Days. Find out more about Heritage Open Days.

We are also organising a number of activities including an archive film show, guided walks around the suburbs, a look at our Newcastle United archive, talks about our industrial heritage and an exhibition featuring the work of Thomas Bewick. View the Newcastle Libraries events calendar.

Kath Cassidy
Heritage Service Manager

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If you have been into City Library over the past week you may have noticed the development of the Agencies Space as staff are working hard to create a business area.  This area will host relevant business and intellectual property information as well as other ‘start up’ materials, relevant magazines and newspapers.  There will be a skills swap board for customers, an events programme as well as details of one to one advice sessions. Access to business databases such as Corporate Researcher, Cobra and British Standards will be available via designated computers. Staff have been down to the British Library to learn more about workshops, newsletters and business advice delivery.  There will be a business launch in partnership with Science City on 5 September to promote our events which includes a visit from a well known contestant on The Apprentice. Find out more details about the launch event.

For those who have just left school and are wondering what to do next, join our work club which supports CV writing, interview techniques, job searching and application forms.  A number of participating customers have been successful with either finding jobs or gaining an interview.  There are various sessions throughout our community libraries and City Library. Just ask a member of staff for more details, phone 0191 2774100 or email information@newcastle.gov.uk.

Sharon Reeve
Information and Digital Service Manager

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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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The Man Booker Prize longlist has just been announced for this year. We are working with Waterstones on a project called the Toon Man Booker which aims to get people in the North East talking about the national Man Booker Prize nominations and deciding on their favourite. There will be voting boxes around the City as well as the chance to vote online. Each Man Booker nominee will be championed by local library staff, booksellers and reading groups leading to a gala evening on the 18 October where we will reveal our winner on the same night as the national prize. Look out for more information in the September e-newsletter.

Subscribe to the Newcastle Libraries e-newsletter.

View the Man Booker longlist.

The second World Book Night will take place in April next year but readers are already being invited to submit their top ten nominations via the World Book Night website. The first World Book Night this year saw 20,000 volunteers give away 1 million specially printed books.

Nominate your top 10 titles. But hurry, as you only have until the end of August.

I made my own list and found it hard to limit myself to ten so in the end chose the ones that were ‘unputdownable’ and stayed with me after I’d finished the book. My top ten (in no particular order are):

‘My Family and Other Animals’ – Gerald Durrell
Pure escapism, I love the way he describes growing up on Corfu, the wildlife he encounter and his eccentric family.

‘The Sacred Art of Stealing’ – Christopher Brookmyre
Christopher Brookmyre id one of my favourite authors and I chose this one for the brilliant heist at the centre of the book.

‘Far from the Madding Crowd’ – Thomas Hardy
Any novel with exploding sheep gets my nomination; this is also a favourite as it shows that quiet determination wins in the end.

‘World War Z’ – Max Brooks
A novel which tells the story of a zombie apocalypse from many different viewpoints, this was so I engrossing I managed to read it in the middle of a play park in the school holidays.

‘Alice in Sunderland’ – Bryan Thomas
This graphic novel veers off on different tangents and manages to cover the history of Sunderland (yes I know, get over it!), Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland as well as featuring Sid James and Tintin (not together).

‘The Name of the Rose’ – Umberto Eco
*spoiler alert* This is a cautionary tale all those who lick their fingers before turning pages, you know who you are…

‘The Tent, the Bucket and Me’ – Emma Kennedy
This book made me laugh and cry as it reminded me so much of my childhood holiday experiences, the title says it all.

‘The Assassin’s Apprentice’ – Robin Hobb
This is the first in a series featuring Fitz who is trained as an assassin; it is fantasy and is strong on ‘Games of Thrones’ style skulduggery and intrigue rather than runes and ale quaffing.

‘Little Brother’ – Cory Doctorow
Although written for teenagers, this novel tells a tale of teenagers caught in the aftermath of a terrorist attack and how technology is used to watch us all.

‘Angela Carter’s Book of Fairy Tales’ – Angela Carter
These are fairy tales as you’ve never seen them before, wilder and more disturbing than the ones you are familiar with.

Kerry Bossons
Reading and Learning Service Manager

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As part of our regional Played in Tyne and Wear partnership, we’ve just opened a major sporting exhibition on level 6 of City Library.

Download the exhibition catalogue. (PDF, 1.17MB)

The exhibition uses archive material to illustrate the history of sport in the region and includes pigeon racing, rowing, golf, and cricket. Of course an exhibition about regional sport wouldn’t be complete without reference to the beautiful game so we’ve worked closely with  Mick Edmondson from the Back Page who has generously loaned us a great deal of fascinating material that charts the history of Newcastle United. The exhibition runs until 30 October 2011 and is a must see destination for sports fans of all ages.

In my last blog I mentioned that the History Club had been selected as one of three finalists in the prestigious CILIP Libraries Change Lives award. Earlier in the month, along with colleagues who run the club on a weekly basis, I attended the CILIP conference at De Havilland University in Hatfield to collect our certificate and a cheque for £1,500. The prize money will be a great help in adding value to the programme of club activities and we now plan to take members on a number of short excursions to places of historic significance in and around the City, something that we know they really enjoy.

We are currently planning our autumn events programme – so look out for details of forthcoming heritage events in the next edition of the Page Turner newsletter.

Kath Cassidy
Heritage Service Manager

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It is great to report that our library service has been awarded full compliance in the Customer Service Excellence Award. The assessor said he was ‘very impressed with the standards throughout the whole service from the impressive buildings, knowledgeable and courteous staff, through to the accessible information provided about the service.’

It was very good for all the library staff to hear about this accolade which was a tribute to all their hard work. Another of the feature of the service which impressed the assessor was the variety of work we do with other agencies to enhance the service. A good example of this was a project which has just been completed called The National Young Readers Programme. Coordinated by the National Literacy Trust and supported by the Universal Bank of Switzerland, we delivered this project which linked Children’s Centres and libraries. Over 1000 books were given to children who also took part in lots of literacy based activities. All children who weren’t already members joined the library and received their first library card.

I have chosen a children’s book to mention this time – Sky Hawk by a new author Gill Lewis. It’s a beautifully written wildlife adventure intertwining the lives of two children with that of an osprey. I just couldn’t put this book down and will be recommending this to as many children as possible taking part in our Summer Reading Challenge! I have nominated this title as one of the books promoted on the next World Book Night in April 2012. Send in your book recommendations for World Book Night.

Janice Hall
Libraries Development Manager (Communities)

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Staff within our teams at City Library have had a bit of a change over but it’s still business as usual.

13-19 June was National Carer’s Week and we celebrated with a marketplace event at City Library. It was great to see the Bewick Hall buzzing with approximately 90 people (and 1 dog!!) who came to find out how they could be supported as carers. They got the chance to learn how to play the ukulele as well! In addition, the Information and Digital team hosted an introduction to online shopping session where we looked at how to buy things from Amazon and how to save money on food shopping through My Supermarket – if you haven’t been on this website before do check it out. We hope this will become an annual event in the City Library during National Carer’s Week.

We’ve also had a host of other agencies in using the City Library this past month including the Housing Advice Centre, the community police, Connexions, Your Homes Newcastle advice and support team and Duke of Edinburgh representatives to name but a few! These agencies use our space on level 1 which can be booked for FREE (yes you did here that correctly – free!!)  by any information and guidance (IAG) provider. Agencies have access to prime drop-in space in the stunning library atrium, high visitor numbers, a bookable interview room for confidential appointments, information display facilities, free wi-fi and much more. If you fit into this category and would like to promote your service to a new audience contact the Information and Digital team on 0191 2774100 or email room.bookings@newcastle.gov.uk.

Alongside many other training sessions, Nick, Luke and Anne delivered ebook taster sessions to visually impaired users at MEA Housein Newcastle as part of Make a Noise in Libraries Week. This was a learning curve for all of us as we did not have experience of the screen reader software called ‘Guide’ which Newcastle Society of the Blind use on their PCs. This software not only enlarges the text, but also guides users around the page without having to use a mouse and can speak the text out loud. During the session, we showed the participants what an e-reader looks like and how it can enlarge the text so it can be more easily read. In two of the sessions we had a Sony e-reader as well as an Amazon Kindle and opinion was divided between which the group preferred! The Kindle was liked for the largeness of the text and for the contrast between the letters and the back of the page, but the Sony reader was liked for its touch screen and its navigation….so the group concluded that a combination of both of them would be just perfect. There’s a proposition for you Sony and Amazon!

In June we hosted our first business workshop in partnership with Newcastle Science City. This exciting new partnership will bring a range of workshops and public lectures on wide range of topics designed to help businesses grow including subjects from PR to market research, sales and marketing to recruitment and HR. Our first workshop, delivered by Fred Pernet from proAgile and Simon Green from Newcastle Science City, was on the subject of digital innovation and was very well received by audience members. Our next event is called Law for Business and is on Wednesday 29 June from 8:30am – 10am at City Library. This session is aimed at individuals with new product or service ideas that could be turned into businesses but need an introduction to legal issues. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sharon Reeve
Information and Digital Service Manager

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Forthcoming events include an exhibition about the interwar artist, Byron Dawson, a talk about the history of one of Newcastle’s best known picture houses, the Tyneside Cinema, and a new major exhibition exploring the region’s sporting history. Find out more in the latest Page Turner newsletter.

Shields Road, circa 1900

We’ve also had our fair share of television crews visiting the section. We took part in an item that was broadcast on the local news on the eve of the Royal Wedding. You may have heard that the Duchess of Cambridge has Geordie roots and we’ve got the paperwork to prove it! Using parish registers and census records we were able to show that the Duchess had ancestors who originated from an area at the top of Shields Road – known then as Byker Hills. They were a mining family who moved from Newcastle to County Durham.

There was also a visit from the BBC’s ‘Who Do you Think You Are’ production team complete with a famous face who has local connections.  Filming in the heritage section took a full day and the celebrity was a great hit with the public and staff. We’ve been sworn to secrecy for the moment- but watch this space…

We are delighted that the History Club has been nominated as a finalist for the prestigious CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award alongside Newcastle Libraries’ NEALIS project. View videos and more information about the projects here. The winner will be announced at the CILIP Umbrella conference on 13 July 2011.

Newcastle City Libraries now subscribe to the Find My Past geneaology website. Members of the library can access both the Find My Past and Ancestry websites free of charge in any Newcastle Library. (Please note you must be accessing these links in one of our libraries to have full access to the searches.)

Kath Cassidy
Heritage Service Manager

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As the football season closes for another year we know that summer has arrived. For the Children’s Team at City Library things are well under way to get the Summer Reading Challenge into full swing. All children in the city aged 5-12 are invited to take part. Their challenge is to read at least six books during the school summer holidays. There will be lots of extra activities and events taking place for children in libraries over the summer – view our events calendar or subscribe to the e-newsletter to keep up to date.

We recently had the pleasure of sharing the work we do to promote books to children with a colleague, Huda Al Yafai  from Qatar Museums. Huda has joined in with story times in libraries, schools, children’s centres and other venues and observed the training we have undertaken to support our activities. When dashing between libraries in a heavy shower she refused the offer of an umbrella explaining that the summer rain and rolling clouds were an absolute joy to her. She is hoping to return in November for the Northern Children’s Book Festival. Perhaps the winter showers won’t be quite as joyous though she would like to experience snow!

We were delighted with the news that Julia Donaldson has been announced as the new Children’s Laureate. Julia  is known primarily for her picture books, which include ‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Stick Man’, ‘Tiddler’, ‘Room on the Broom’ and ‘The Snail and the Whale’. But her first love was songwriting and she continues to write not only songs, but also poems, plays and fiction for older children such as the ‘Princess Mirror-Belle’ series. Julia is a very committed supporter of libraries and also Northern Children’s Book Festival which she has visited many times. View Julia Donaldson’s books on the online library catalogue.

Photo: Julia Donaldson and her husband at the Northern Children’s Book Festival

Just a brief update on my own reading. I am continuing with the C.J. Sansom books but am also reading a wonderful children’s book by local author Eva Ibbotson who sadly died last year. The book, ‘One Dog and His Boy’, describes the dramatic actions of Hal who discovers that his new pet Fleck is only on loan from a dog rental agency. View Eva Ibbotson’s books on the online library catalogue.

Finally our community library in Jesmond has reopened to the public today! The library will feature new doors, a new community room, new boiler, new accessible public toilet, new flooring and lighting system, and self issue facilities for books and other media.  The local town crier will be announcing the opening of the library around the streets of Jesmond and encouraging everyone to visit.

Janice Hall
Libraries Development Manager (Communities)

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Images by Lazlo Torday, a local photographer who took fantastic social photographs from the 60s and 70s, are currently on display on level 6 until early next week. The images are of people talking or socialising and many of them are unidentified so we asked visitors to City Library to help identify the views and people. We’ve had a wonderful response with many visitors offering ideas on location and indeed identifying the people in shot. Thanks very much to all who have contributed. To get involved online, view another set of images from our Tyneside Life and Times collection – if there are no titles and if there is nothing in the image description post a comment on Flickr so we can investigate. View images.

We’ll be launching a new exhibition at the end of July called ‘Played in Tyne and Wear: Exploring the North East’s Sporting Heritage’ which will be running until the end of October 2011.

We’ll also have a display of images of the artistic work of Byron Dawson where you can rediscover Newcastle of the 1920s and 1930s.  This is from 6 June on level 6. A new book about this artist has been recently published by Tyne Bridge Publishing called ‘Newcastle Between the Wars: Byron Dawson’s Tyneside’ which is available to buy from the City Library.

We’ve had a very successful Local History Month, both in City Library and across the branch libraries. Highlights have included a fantastic talk by Paul Joannou on the ‘History of Newcastle United Football Club’ and ‘A Bit of a Giggle’ with Viz writer Simon Donald and Geoff Laws.

We also took part in Newcastle Fashion Week and hosted a number of successful events in the City Library, including the ‘Newcastle Vintage Guide’ which was a fashoin show of outfits through the decades and ‘All Tied Up’ which explored corset making. Both events proved very popular and received great feedback.

Look out for information on our Heritage Open Day events in the summer.

Sarah Mulligan
Heritage team at City Library

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I have some exciting news I would like to share with you.  You may remember local author David Williams visited Kenton Library way back in March.  I have just been notified that David has reached the semi-final stage of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award with his historical novel about the railway pioneers called ‘Mr Stephenson’s Regret’.

He has also written a short story about the Stephenson’s called ‘A Light in the Darkness’ which has won a short story competition held to celebrate the launch of Vintage Script magazine.  We send our congratulations and wish David well in the final stages of this award.  David’s other publications include ’11:59′ and ‘We Never Had It So Good’.

Author of the month for June is Bernard Cornwell and was chosen by our library assitant Helen. Bernard Cornwell OBE (born 23 February 1944) is an English author best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted for television.

Other titles include:
*    The Grail Quest novels: a trilogy that deals with a mid-14th century search for the Holy Grail during the Hundred Years’ War
*    The Warlord Chronicles: A trilogy depicting Cornwell’s historical re-creation of Arthurian Britain.
*    The Saxon Stories: Cornwell’s latest series focuses on the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex during the 9th century reign of Alfred the Great.

View titles by Bernard Cornwell on the online library catalogue.

I’m part of a group called NEALIS which includes 12 libraries in the North East as well as partners from the RNIB, Calibre and Clear Vision.  The aim of the group is to improve library, information and reading services to blind and partially sighted people across the North East.  This month NEALIS held a consultation day in the Stadium of Light, Sunderland to speak to customers across the region and find out what we can improve.  I escorted one of our reading group members to the venue.  The day was fantastic, resulting in a lot of feedback regarding the formats we buy, the equipment we have and the general support provided by library staff, which was extremely positive. This information has led us to purchase a new set of playaways from BBC Audiobooks. These are pre-recorded easy to use mp3 players which will be available for customers to borrow shortly.

Newcastle Libraries are now in the process of planning the launch of a Reading Buddies scheme as part of ‘Make a Noise in Libraries’ fortnight (6-19 June).  This is in partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh Award.  The idea is for visually impaired customers to book an appointment with a reading buddy, who will be able to assist with reading profiles, choosing materials, reservations and basic IT support.  So if you have a relative who would benefit from this service or if you have any ideas of how we can improve this area of work, please get in touch.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Service Manager
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk

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The latest blog post by the Libraries Development Manager for community libraries…

March and April have been complete ‘reading months’ in so many ways for me. In March we were all involved in World Book Day and World Book Night. I had the pleasure of accompanying the Lord Mayor when she distributed copies of Muriel Sparks’ ‘The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie’ to customers at Starbucks in the centre of Newcastle.

I also shared the enthusiasm of children from Sacred Heart RC Primary school who visited Fenham Library dressed up as fictional characters to listen to stories and vote for their favourite books. The value of reading was emphasised by Henrietta Dombey, Professor Emeritus of Literacy in Primary Education, who was the keynote speaker at our annual Love Books conference. As we work closely with teachers to enthuse children with a love of reading Henrietta described the many  social, emotional, and financial benefits of reading. The creative work schools have done to promote reading to children in their lessons  was on display at City Library.

Throughout our libraries we use every opportunity to link current events to children’s reading. The Royal Wedding was a very good example but now throughout the summer the theme will be the circus as part of the Summer Reading Challenge. In November many children’s authors will be coming to Newcastle to take part in Northern Children’s Book Festival, watch out for more details soon.

Finally my own reading experiences! On World Book Night I was given a copy of ‘Dissolution’ by CJ Sansom. This deals with murder and mystery in the middle ages which is not my favorite fiction genre. I was, however, gripped by this book and not only have I passed it on to lots of other people I have also gone on to read other titles by this author. This is the power of reading, the old cliché of being transported to other times and places.

Let’s not forget the fun in reading with a return to children’s fiction. ‘The Wrong Pong’ by Stephen Butler is the book we are promoting across Newcastle for The Big Juice Read. This deals with the difficulties of life for Neville as he is transported down the toilet to join the Pongs but in true fairy tale fashion they all live happily ever after!

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Online resources are ideal for our constantly changing world as they can be updated instantly as events happen. The Encyclopaedia Britannica has created an entry on the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan which provides verified information as events happen. The Oxford English Dictionary has also been updated to include the words muffin top, WAG and abbreviations LOL and FYI. There are some videos on You Tube of the editor and other OED  lexicographers explaining the latest additions to the dictionary. Visit the OED’s You Tube channel.

We’ve been dotting the City Library with Quick Response (QR) codes. These are boxy looking barcodes that can be read with mobile phones that have internet access. We are using the codes to direct customers to our 24 hour online services such as ebooks, reference sources and our blog. The codes are also being used to create a treasure trail for the Late Shows in May. Follow the Tyne God Trail.

You can now check in to all of our branches using Foursquare. Foursquare is a social networking application for mobile phones and members can check in to locations and earn badges. New York Public Libraries are offering a badge to celebrate their 150^th anniversary to all people who visit 5 or more branches. We are currently thinking about what badges we can offer.

New iTea and Biscuits groups have been set up at Gosforth and Kenton Libraries. The groups are aimed at over 55s who want to find out more about using computers with the added incentive of free tea and biscuits! One member of the Gosforth group enjoyed herself so much she has decided to buy herself a PC. Please contact Gosforth Library (0191 2771811) or Kenton Library (0191 2774310) if you would like to join a group.

Kerry Bossons
Service Manager
The Information and Digital Team

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Pamela from City Library has chosen Benita Brown as the author of the month for April as she will be visiting the City Library this month to talk about her latest novel ‘Memories for You’ which is about the Norton siblings who are tragically orphaned and forced to separate. As the thirties lead into the Second World War the four siblings face an uncertain future in this captivating novel of love, loss and the enduring strength of family.

Benita is the best selling author of many family sagas. She was born in Newcastle and still lives in the North East. Her first nine sagas were set in Victorian/Edwardian Tyneside and in 2006 her novel ‘Fortunes Daughter’ was longlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

Find out more about Benita Brown’s visit to City Library

View a selection of Benita Brown books on the catalogue

A book display to look out for on level 1 of City Library is ‘Great Ideas’.  This is a series of books published by Penguin which were chosen because they contain ideas which have changed the world and  ‘have inspired debate, dissent, war and revolution…enlightened, outraged, provoked and comforted” (©www.penguin.co.uk). Authors include Freud, Orwell, Woolf, Darwin, Dickens and Shakespeare. View the 100 titles on the Penguin website.

We have launched the Six Book Challenge again this year as part of World Book Day.  The challenge is (as you might have guessed!) to read six books within a given period of time.  We have a new range of ‘quick read’ materials available for loan which are written by popular authors.  The challenge was very popular last year resulting in very positive feedback.  If you have access to a group and would like to take part in this challenge please get in touch using the details below.

We’ve started to use ‘reader to reader’ cards which we hang from the shelves in the fictions areas in all libraries to suggest alternative authors and encourage you to try something new.  So if you’re looking for something different to what you usually read the reader recommendations will help and if you’ve read something good and you are dying to tell someone…tell us!  We will happily pass on a card for you to complete and will put it on display for others to read.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Team
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk
0191 2774100

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Above: United States Patent 3962748 from 1976: “A TV control device for rotating a dial of a TV set, from an area distant from the set.”

If the last month seems to have flown by, it’s because we’ve had so much going on! As part of Evolving English we saw the Newcastle Scrabble Club keenly contesting members of the public at City Library and we hosted an interesting talk by colleagues from Newcastle University on dialect and its development in the North East.

We have seen our new ebooks and audiobooks in the Newcastle Libraries Digital Collection grow so that we now have nearly 1300 items for you browse and download and we have held our first internet taster classes to introduce customer to ebooks. We also launched our first iTea and biscuits groups in the community libraries – these are informal, friendly groups for older people interested in learning more about computers and the internet.

We held our first Work Clubs at City Library and in the branch libraries in partnership with Newcastle Futures. These group meetings offer free help and support on cv writing, online job searching and interview skills. The aim is to build up the confidence of group members and their ability in finding work. If you haven’t seen it yet, take a look at the jobcentre plus kiosk on level 1 at City Library for all the latest vacancies. We’ve been doing so much and I haven’t even mentoned the Science Fest’s beautifully designed Lung Dress or our new QR codes!

In March, the Information and Digital team have a couple of highlights relating to our Business and Intellectual Property Services. Firstly, there is an Entrepreneurs’ Question and Answer event at City Library and we are also supporting the ‘Wallace & Gromit World of Cracking Ideas’ exhibition at the Centre for Life. As part of the marketing for the exhibition we are looking for one or two local inventors to showcase in the press. Would any local inventors / entrepreneurs like to step forward with their success stories? If so, please just drop me an email to the address below outlining your invention or product and how it has taken flight.

Whether you are looking to put a great idea into practice (like the one in the picture above perhaps!), learn something new on the internet, or simply pick up a good book we look forward to welcoming you in a library this month.

Nick Stopforth
Information and Digital Team Service Manager
nick.stopforth@newcastle.gov.uk

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Following hot on its heels is the Evolving English exhibition. Displaying treasures of the English language and with a specific focus on North East dialects, our exhibition moves from Early English right through to the inimitable Viz magazine, with over 70 items in between. The exhibition is in the Newcastle Collection showcase on the sixth floor and will run until 28 May 2011. It’s well worth a visit if you haven’t already been!

We are currently gearing up for a packed programme of events to celebrate Local History Month in May. This includes a cartoon workshop run by Simon Donald of Viz fame, a talk on Newcastle United by the club’s historian, Paul Joannou, family history workshops and much more. Look out for our brochure giving full details, available from April.

We’re excited about being involved in Newcastle Fashion Week this year, also in May. We’ll be hosting a talk about vintage fashion – look out for further details coming soon.

Kath Cassidy
Heritage Service Manager

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To celebrate the Evolving English campaign the Information and Digital Team have been working with Newcastle Scrabble Club who will be in residence at City Library  from Monday 21 to Saturday 26 February, to challenge the public to Scrabble matches. Club members canbe found on level 1 of the City Library. On level 2 there will be the chance to play Scrabble using a Wii (not the same because your opponent can see your tiles!) and you can use digital grafitti to record your favourite words. View a full  programme of the Evolving English events including an evening with Simon Donald (him off of the Viz).

We launched our new ebook service on 24 January and already one third of the ebooks have been borrowed. So far we have heard from a mother borrowing audiobooks to play to her children from an iPhone, and a reader with arthritis who finds ebooks easier to handle than heavy books. Let us know where you have been reading your ebooks and what you have been reading them on – to paraphrase the old adverts for Crème Eggs, how do you read yours!

Kerry Bossons
Information and Digital Team Service Manager

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Over the holidays we ran a competition for children to design a pantomime costume.  Thom Freeth from the Theatre Royal chose the winner of the competition who won a family ticket.  The winner is below and you can view runners up here. Well done to everyone who entered as it was a very difficult decision due to all the fabulous drawings.

To kick off the New Year we have chosen Tess Gerritsen as author of the month.  Tess is an outstanding contributor to the crime fiction genre. Her books are a treat and a thrill to read due to their heart stopping and fascinating stories and characters. Once again these are available to collect from Level 3 or reserve Tess Gerritsen books online.

For all our avid readers, we have a new display on Level 3 which ties in with the TV Book Club programme on Channel 4.  Titles reviewed include ‘Room’ by Emma Donoghue, ‘The Long Song’ by Andrea Levy and ‘The Junior Officers Reading Club’ by Patrick Hennessey. Why not reviews the titles on our online catalogue?

World Book Night is looming and several of our staff have been selected as ‘givers’ to hand out copies of their chosen book.  Areas include Northumberland Street, the maternity ward at the RVI and local hostels.  We are also exploring the brilliant idea of a ‘Modern Murder Mystery’ event.  We held a fantastic event way back in 2009 and hope that this one will be just as good, if not better.  Meetings are in place to recruit actors for the evening, so this should be one not to miss!

Plans have started for International Women’s Day on 8 March.  We are exploring possibilities of demonstrations of nail art, head massage, beauty or an afternoon dance.  Another possibility is a ‘Girls night in’ with an exclusive film showing, and also if you are feeling fit, maybe a ‘Just Dance’ session using our Nintendo Wii.  Knitting needles are also clicking as we speak for our groups to produce and item which connects to International Women’s Day, which we hope to display.  Some of these are ideas at the moment and still to be confirmed so watch out for more information or if you have any suggestions, please get in touch.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Service Manager
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk

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In December last year, we had a sparkling Wychwood Fairies event with children coming along dressed up and one lucky fairy won the beautiful book by Faye Durston. Due to popular demand, Faye is back at Gosforth Library on Friday 25 February from 11am to 12noon. Come along to meet Faye and enjoy taking part in a bit of fairy magic at the craft session. Suitable for children aged 6 and over. Children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult. To book phone 0191 2774100 or ask at any library.

It always feels a bit sad when you have to put all the Christmas decorations away and box them up for another year. However, that’s done now and the Children’s team are eagerly planning new events and author visits for a fun-packed 2011.

This year we are launching our ‘author of the month’ as a regular feature and we have chosen Giles Andreae for January. We’ve put a collection of his books on display on level 3 for you to have a look at. If you need any help choosing books please ask a member of staff who will be happy to assist.

Giles has written many books for the very young…

and for newly fluent readers.

Jenni Reay, our student volunteer, has been working on gathering a great list of authors for the coming year to suit all ages and tastes. Here’s what she has to say about Giles:

‘Giles Andreae has a talent for creating side splitting humour within four lines of text and he typically writes his books for under five’s in the format of short poems which are ideal for dipping in and out of with younger readers. Fun fact: Giles attended Eton College where he was best friends with David Cameron!’

Sadly, one of our best loved childrens’ authors, Dick King-Smith, has died, aged 88. He was author of ‘The Sheep-Pig’, the book that inspired the Oscar-winning film ‘Babe’. Dick sold over five million books in Britain. Reserve a book by Dick King-Smith.

We’re pleased to announce that we have subscribed to Clear Vision -  a UK postal lending library for mainstream children’s books with added Braille. The books all have Braille (or Moon), print and pictures making them suitable for visually-impaired and sighted children and adults to share.

If you would like to borrow Clear Vision books please contact 0191 2774100 and we will arrange for the books to be delivered to your nearest library. We can also obtain non-fiction books, books for teenagers, books if you are learning to read and books for the very young from Clear Vision. Welcome also to Chris Rutherford, a new member of the children’s team, who has started work on Clear Vision and will be as well as a new project in local schools.

Judy Zajac
Children and Young People Service Manager

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It may be cold, damp and dark outside and the last Christmas lights have faded but you will find our libraries warm, welcoming and bright. If finances are fraught after the Christmas season, our libraries offer most services not at a sale price but absolutely free. Throw off the winter blues and come to the library to explore a great book, use the internet or learn something new!

If, like me, your home is quiet as the family retreat after Christmas get together to come to the library to meet friends at one of our many reading groups or even meet up with friends or relatives on Facebook.

Fenham Library will reopen soon as damage caused by the winter weather is almost repaired. We will be continuing to improve our community libraries in the New Year with the roll out of self-service to Jesmond and Blakelaw Libraries. We are also looking forward to providing lots of activities for adults and children in our libraries – everything from Animals of the Ark activities and mask making to celebrating our Geordie dialect. So come along and enjoy the winter wonderland of libraries as there’s so much to do!

Janice Hall
Libraries Development Manager, Community Libraries

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The team is planning plenty for the New Year, including our support of a campaign called Go On: Get More Out of Life Online, which aims to help people get online and increase their confidence using computers and the internet during January and February. We will be running events at City Library – look out for more details soon. We hope that these sessions will help people meet some of their New Year’s resolutions, such as using the computer or digital camera that was bought as a Christmas present (last year!), or contacting that distant relative using email or social networks for the first time. Using computers or websites requires some knowledge of how they work, but often it is also simply a matter of gaining confidence and this is where we can help too.

I’m terrible at keeping New Year resolutions (I ate chocolate after one week of resolve last year) but if you’re thinking about keeping New Year’s resolutions more effectively than me, your library service can help you with this too. We have books to accommodate every area of self-improvement, and I’ve highlighted a few here; perhaps this will inspire you to read more about the activity you want to try, the achievement you want to reach, or the habit you want to break.

Resolving to save money in the New Year? – we can help:

Want to break a habit? – we have the books for you:

Want to be more active? – take a look at our books on health in the library, and visit our health and wellbeing page.

Thinking of learning to drive next year? – take a look at Theory Test Pro on the 24 Hour Library – a fantastic introduction to the hazard perception test and highway code.

Whatever you choose to do that’s new and exciting for 2011, we wish all our customers a peaceful New Year.

Nick Stopforth
Service Manager
Information and Digital Team

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Who am I?
”My name is Jenni and I am a mature English Literature student from Newcastle University.”

Last book that I read?
”Beloved by Toni Morrison. A truly harrowing tale of a mother that will do anything to avoid her children going back to the slave past from which she has escaped.”

What am I doing?
”I am volunteering at Newcastle City library as part of my degree. I am looking through the collections of award winning books that we have here in the City Library and also in the branch libraries to try and create a full collection of Caldecott, Greenaway, Carnegie and Newberry award winning books. Once this is complete I am looking forward to helping promote these collections to readers. I think it would be really exciting to see the reactions to some of the older books from modern children.

I am also working in the City Library activity room, collating equipment, colouring sheets, activity and reading packs into easily accessible collections.

The most exciting aspect of this task is the unearthing of the ‘growing together’ collections which have been squirreled away since the library refurbishment. This collection is made up of packs of books which will help families support children through difficult time through books, an example of this is the ‘Feelings and Emotions’ pack that contains books such as – ‘I Like It When’ by Mary Murphy, ‘I Feel Angry’, ‘I Feel Jealous’, ‘I Feel Lonely’, ‘I Feel Frightened’ by Brian Moses and ‘Some Things are Scary’ by Florence Heide.

Other growing together packs include ‘How It Feels to Get Lost’, ‘How It Feels to be Bullied’, ‘New Baby’, ‘Divorce and Separation’ and ‘Going to Hospital and Feeling Unwell’. Hopefully these packs will be updated and available to use by the end of my time at the library.”

For more information about volunteering at Newcastle Libraries phone 0191 2774100 or email information@newcastle.gov.uk.

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We have a new edition to the team Kim Dryden, as Library & Information Officer. The author of the month was chosen by Kim and is P.G. Wodehouse.  Kim’s favourite title is ‘Carry On, Jeeves’.  According to Kim, ”’Carry on, Jeeves’ is the perfect introduction to the bumbling English aristocrat Bertie Wooster and his astute valet, Reginald Jeeves.  All of the stories in this collection are humorous, well written and hugely entertaining. I would recommend this and all the books in the series to those who have a love of the English language and enjoy nothing more than a good read and a hearty laugh.”  Reserve a copy online.

We are currently planning a meeting with students working towards the Duke of Edinburgh award to discuss the idea of ‘Reading Buddies’.  The aim of this role will be to guide customers with visual impairment around the library, assist with the choosing of items and may include IT support.   There is still a lot of work and training to take place before this service will be launched, and more information will be published in a later blog.

A couple of unusual characters stumbled through the city and barged their way into the City Library up to level 3…

We were very fortunate to have our display of pantomime costumes at City Library officially opened by Chris Hayward (dressed as Nurse Rita) and Steve Arnott (as the Sheriff of Nottingham). The BBC and Journal were also present to record interviews for TV, newspaper and radio. You can watch them perform in Robin Hood at The Theatre Royal.

World Book Night will take place on Saturday 5 March 2011. A million books will be given away across the UK and Ireland as part of an evening of events and a chance to celebrate reading nationwide.  To enable this to happen, 20,000 people will be recruited to hand out free copies of their chosen book from the 25 selected titles.

To be a book giver, members of the public or individuals representing organisations are encouraged to describe in 100 words which book they would like to give away from the 25 titles, why, how and where they propose to do this. View the chosen titles and apply to be a book giver on the World Book Night website or call in to your local library and we can assist you with this process.  The closing date is 4 January 2011.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Team Manager
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk

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Last week was Global Entrepreneurship Week – a worldwide call to action for inventors and people starting out in new ventures or businesses. Newcastle Libraries supported this with free 1-2-1 intellectual property sessions and a display of business and intellectual property books. The intellectual property sessions at City Library are held in a confidential environment with experienced staff who can direct you to resources, databases and information from the Intellectual Property Office. We can also help you understand the application process for a patent or trademark, and the costs involved. These sessions are well worth considering if you are at an early stage of your idea’s formulation, or if you are at the stage where you are ready to submit an application. Find out more about intellectual property sessions.

Library services that work to provide free intellectual property information form part of a network of libraries called PATLIB, and last week I attended the PATLIB’s yearly AGM and training day. This is a great opportunity to learn from other library services around the UK about the way they deliver services, consider issues currently affecting inventors and entrepreneurs, and meet with colleagues who are keen to spread the word about intellectual property. This year’s meeting took place at Plymouth, at the Lord Mayor’s official residence. The fantastic setting was the home of the Nancy Astor, MP for Plymouth Sutton and the first elected female MP to take her seat in the House of Commons.

The AGM and training day also included an opportunity to visit Plymouth Central Library – our hosts showed us the refurbishment, which reminded me very clearly of the work we’ve undertaken in Newcastle. Seeing wiring hanging from ceilings and old desks taken out brings memories flooding back of our own experiences here in Newcastle.

If you have an idea for a new product or invention (whether it involves electro-magnetics and wiring, or something less technical – perhaps a new cooking utensil you’d like to market!) call in for an IP appointment.

All the best,
Nick Stopforth
Information and Digital Service Manager

P.S I mentioned cooking utensils because it’s a tenuous link to something I mentioned in our last team blog post – new cookery books. I said that we’d happily publish a recipe and here is our winner. Thanks to Norina for this recipe – banana bread is a personal favourite of mine!

BANANA TEABREAD

200g self raising flour
Quarter level tsp. bicarbonate of soda
Half level tsp. salt
85g butter
170g castor sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1lb bananas, peeled and mashed
100g nuts, coarsely chopped

Method

1.    Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F.
2.    Grease and line the base of a two and half pint loaf tin.
3.    Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
4.    Rub in the butter till the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
5.    Stir in the sugar
6.    Beat the eggs and banana together, and then stir in to the mixture along with the nuts.
7.    Turn the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 1hour until well risen and firm.
8.    Keep for 24 hours before serving.

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I would like to thank all our customers for making our first book festival ‘Books on Tyne’ a huge success by attending the author/artist sessions and supporting local publishers in the bookshop.  Staff from the Adult Reading and Learning team spent the busy weekend meeting, greeting and directing authors, artists and customers through a buzzing City Library.  The festival finale was an event with Simon Donald which meant transforming the Bewick Hall from a busy bookshop into a packed performance area where we hung onto our seats and dabbed away tears of laughter!  Simon’s life story and the history of ‘Viz’ is the content of his new book ‘Him Off the Viz’. Simon will be visiting City Library again as part of the Evolving English project in February so look out for more information coming soon.

We celebrated Dyslexia Awareness Week (1 – 7 November) with a display of books called Quick Reads which are short novels written by popular authors. We also offered books for help, support and guidance. Find out more about Quick Reads.

We are in the process of contacting local groups to take part in the national Six Book Challenge 2011. The challenge is for less confident adult readers, to read six books within a set period of time and record their progress in a diary.  There is no age limit and the rewards for customers and staff involved are staggering.  Let me know if you have access to a group you feel would benefit from this challenge which begins on World Book Day (3 March 2011).

One of the areas of work our team manages is reading groups.  So far we have 75 groups who meet every month, read a book and have a lively discussion about the author, story and characters.  We have a new MP3 audiobook group desperate to be formed.  If you would like to join, or for further information get in touch with me via the details below.

Our author of the month was chosen by one of our reading groups – ‘Mr Toppit’ by Charles Elton. The book was chosen for the exciting plot and engaging style concerning an author, Arthur Hayman, who is killed by a concrete truck in Soho. His legacy passes to his widow, Martha, and her children.  Buried within his books are secrets which could be revealed as the family begins to crumble.  Reserve a copy and discover the full story.

Christmas is looming and we’re embracing the season early.  Working in partnership with the Theatre Royal and Qdos Pantomimes we are able to display for the very first time, fabulous, extremely colourful pantomime costumes. Staff from the team had to contact nearly every shop in the city centre to find mannequins for a very special display.   We had support from Theatre Royal staff to help dress the mannequins, which is not as easy as you think, especially as the costumes were extremely heavy. I don’t know how the cast wear these on stage under the hot lights.

We had a lot of fun putting this display together and one staff member attempted to wear Cinderella’s dress, which seemed to be a size 6!

The costumes will be on display until 6 January 2011.  Our special thanks go to Fenwicks, Julia Soares-McCormick and Great North Museum for agreeing to loan out their mannequins, staff at Theatre Royal and Qdos Pantomimes for the costumes.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Team Service Manager
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk

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…many great writers have terrified their readers with tales of witches. One of our own local authors, Lynn Huggins-Cooper, delights children with a spooky story set here in Newcastle called ‘Walking with Witches’. Copies of the book have been distributed to  various venues across the city by our young volunteers and children are invited to read it, let us know where it was found and then pass it on.

Another witchy tale, this time for younger children, features a loveable witch called Winnie. Korky Paul, the energetic and interactive illustrator, will be visiting schools and libraries as part of Northern Children’s Book Festival. On Saturday 20 November Korky Paul along with over 25 other popular  children’s authors and illustrators will be taking part in the  Gala Day event at Mortimer Community College. Whether you like to read about spooky haunted houses, ferocious dinosaurs, or wacky space aliens, all the out-of-this-world creatures you can imagine are stepping from the pages of the country’s best-loved children’s books at this year’s event.

No reference to witches would be complete without a mention of the master storyteller Roald Dahl. Recently a performance of his book ‘The Witches’, took place at Moorside Library. Library assistant Claire Toyne received one of Newcastle City Council’s star awards for her work with children on the production and performance of the play in one of our smallest libraries!

Janice Hall
Libraries Development Manager, Communities
janice.hall@newcastle.gov.uk

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To kick off we have selected Iain M Banks as October’s author of the month.  We have chosen this author for all our science fiction fanatics, including the one on our team who has worked very hard in refreshing titles and changing the look of the stock area. Iain M Banks has written several titles which include ‘Algebraist’, ‘Excession’ and ‘Matter’ which you can reserve online.

We have recently had a visit from Katrina Porteous.  Some of you may know that Katrina is a poet and historian living on the Northumberland coast.  Her publications include; ‘The Lost Music’, ‘The Wund an’ the Wetter’ and ‘The Blue Lonnen’. The poetry readings demonstrated local dialect, local history and personal knowledge regarding the coastal areas. As part of the audience I could feel the passion and enthusiasm Katrina has for her work.  I’m sure the rest of the audience would support me in saying how enjoyable and entertaining the event was especially when we all had to take part and chant our own verse to compliment a reading.  You can book now (phone 0191 2774100 or email information@newcastle.gov.uk) for Katrina’s session on Saturday 6 November as part of our book festival!  Which leads me onto…

Books on Tyne! A lot of behind the scenes planning has taken place for the Newcastle Libraries very first book festival as mentioned in our last blog entry.  We were thrilled to find out that our hard work had been rewarded recently with the success of a funding bid with ‘The National Lottery through Arts Council’.  This funding has enabled payments to authors and artists involved, the production of publicity materials and staff support.
With the added support of Newcastle College, we can now provide British Sign Language interpreters to a number of sessions held in the Bewick Hall, which is something we have been aiming to do for a long time.  We are taking bookings now for individual events but you will have to be quick as tickets are in high demand and places limited. See the Books on Tyne post for more information.

Earlier in the month National Customer Service Week  saw the launch of our new area for visually impaired customers.  Staff gave away free magnifying sheets along with a free large print newspaper and the chance to win £50 of Eldon Square vouchers.  We informed VIP customers of local history by ‘Touching the Past’ whichincluded recordings from our website, handling old books and listening to snippets of local history.  A big thank you to all our customers who visited enrolled and passed on their valuable positive comments to staff and thanks to Doug from the VIP Reading Group who very kindly posed with the equipment for publicity photos.

Another area we have been discussing is the World Language stock.  This month I met up with our Friends of the Persian Library group to discuss the collection with the aim of improving access and selection of stock.  The team are currently working on a booklet to be printed which will support customers in choosing these materials both in the library and via the website.  This will be available soon, and will then lead to further work on the rest of the world language stock, with a similar approach.  I am interested in any comments or suggestions you have regarding our world language books.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Team Service Manager
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk

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Perhaps it’s because there’s so much mention of food at this time of year that some of the glossy brand new books arriving on our shelves stand out. We’ve had some great titles arriving recently Nigella Lawson’s Kitchen which “brings us feel-good food for cooks and eaters, whether express-style and exotic-easy during the week, or leisurely and luxuriating at weekends or for occasions.”

For different tastes we have Feast in which Heston Blumenthal “is back with six new feasts inspired by history, literature and legend.’

We also have Jamie Oliver’s latest offering Jamie Does… This collection of recipes “celebrates the vibrant foods of six very different countries, in which Jamie Oliver explores both classic dishes and new recipes inspired by the things he learns on his travels”.

If none of these catch your eye, how about Grown in Britain: ‘be inspired to make the most of the amazing range of produce that is grown, reared and caught in Britain”.

Reserve any of the books using the title links above.

And we even have a few food books online for you to browse – simply visit Oxford Reference Online at the 24 Hour Library – free to access with your library card – where you can read An A-Z of Food and Drink and The Oxford Book of Health Foods. For those who like to eat out rather than cook, try The Good Food Guide available via our KnowUK subscription also on the 24 Hour Library.

For next month’s Information and Digital team blog, we would love to hear which books have inspired you, whether from latest releases, our cookery books or anything that catches your interest. Why not send us a recipe suggestion and we’ll share it here!

Whatever your culinary or surfing tastes, have a warm and wonderful October.

Nick Stopforth and Kerry Bossons
Information and Digital Service Team Managers
nick.stopforth@newcastle.gov.uk
kerry.bossons@newcastle.gov.uk

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I thought I would begin by sharing my summer at work and play. This has been a summer of new experiences for me. It began with youth hostelling in the Lake District, attending my first Polish all day/all night wedding and enjoying the company of lifetime devotees of the Harley-Davidson in Laconia near Weirs Beach on Lake Winnepesaukee in America.

Work has also been a busy summer of new experiences. The library service offers a Summer Reading Challenge to children aged from 7 to 11 every year and this year for the first time over 30 young people aged from 16 to 20 volunteered to help us which proved very successful. This summer library staff and volunteers have been out in shopping centres, community and sports centres, in parks and fields to promote the Summer Reading Challenge. With the theme of ‘Space Hop’ there have been many activities to promote reading including comic and author workshops, building spacecrafts and even three Dalek invasions!

I had the opportunity to refer to all this activity with another of my new experiences, putting a question to the panel during Radio 4’s Any Questions? programme recorded in Newcastle in August. Having referred to the outstanding visitor figures for the City Library the rapturous applause from the audience gave me quite a thrill!

With autumn fast approaching lots of things are happening in our libraries. Outer West is the latest library to go self -service and now has many new features including a new relax area where coffee will be available and a new look children’s area. East End will follow in October, Blakelaw in November and Jesmond library will be having major improvements carried out early 2011.

Activities taking place in the community libraries in the Autumn include health taster sessions, smoothy bike rides and much more as part of the Time to Get Moving campaign. Children will be invited to join in The Big Juice Read as part of the Newcastle Juice Festival by reading Walking with Witches written by local author Lynn Huggins Cooper. There will be lots of witchy events taking place during the half term holidays in libraries. Finally the Northern Children’s Book Festival takes place in November with children’s authors visiting libraries and schools in the city with a free spectacular gala day at Mortimer College on Saturday 20th November. Details of all of these events will be listed on this website.

Janice Hall
Libraries Development Manager, Communities
janice.hall@newcastle.gov.uk

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The autumn season has got off to its usual busy start. We marked the popular Heritage Open Day weekend with a number of events. An absolute beginner’s event for budding family tree researchers proved very popular, and due to demand we will definitely be holding similar events in the future. A Touching the Past session concentrated on our extensive Theatre Royal archive. There was also a workshop aimed specifically at children. We have now hosted three of these interactive explorations, the first was about the Great Fire of Newcastle, the second featured the terrible Tudors and the latest was an opportunity for children of the 21st century to explore and imagine what it was like to be a child living in Tyneside during World War Two.

On Monday 13 September we invited the public to come along to the City Library and share their memories with the authors of’ Women Lives in the West End’. During October and November, Kenton Library and Fawdon Library Express are both holding reminiscence events, further details can be found in the Page Turner.

Later this month we are holding two events to mark the 175th anniversary of the historic Grainger Market. These events, held in partnership with staff from the market, will take place Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 September. If you would like to attend more information can be found on the Touching the Past: Grainger Market blog post.

We are continuing to hold a regular programme of Ancestry.co.uk taster sessions. You can use this comprehensive and excellent website free of charge at any library in Newcastle. If you would like to find out more and learn how to explore its full potential; please get in touch and book a taster session. Genealogy is becoming increasingly popular and the heritage section is a great place to start your research. In addition to Ancestry.co.uk we hold the General Register Office index, census records, historic electoral rolls, trade directories, parish records and much more. Free guides giving further information about our stock and useful hints and tips for family tree researchers are available to download on the Heritage webpage. We also have a team of helpful and experienced staff who can provide you with advice and guidance.

We are currently in the midst of planning a major new exhibition. This is entitled ‘Taking Liberties in the North East’ and is based on an exhibition held at the British Library in 2008. It will chart the development of democracy and civil liberties in the United Kingdom and show the impact these advances had on the North East. The exhibition will begin in mid November and I look forward to giving you an update next month.

Kath Cassidy
Heritage Service Manager
kath.cassidy@newcastle.gov.uk

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Starting from September we have launched ‘author of the month’.  This is a chance for our team to recommend popular authorsto you.  September kicks off with Dan Smith.  Visit the enquiry pods on level 3 of City Library to pick up your copy of Dry Season which is the of a two book deal Dan has with Orion.  We chose Dan as a result of a fantastic event at City Library, which involved a slide show of photographs of areas in Brazil which were related to Dan’s childhood and his latest book.  Dan took us on a journey through Brazil and identified areas of significance in his life.  I thought it was a fantastic book to read and I would be interested to know what you think of it.

We are currently planning a major book festival in November, ‘Books on Tyne’ in association with Northumbria Press and sponsored by Newcastle College.  This started as a brief conversation which involved a handful of authors and publishers as a one day event to raise awareness of quality authors.  Within a matter of days as word got round, the festival grew into a three day event involving sixteen authors and a programme of entertainment.  A few details are still to be confirmed but publicity will be available very soon.

Our team have also been collating titles for a display for the start of Banned Books Week which will be launched on 25 September and celebrates the freedom to read.  There will be a display of these books which fall into this category and we will be encouraging customers to read and pass on comments, which will be published and shared on our website.  In addition, members from two reading groups based in City Library will be selecting a book from the collection, reading it and writing a short review to indicate why they thought the book was chosen and if they agree.  Look out for these on our website.

Summer is over and September indicates the start of another academic year.  In partnership with Newcastle City Learning we have organised a variety of courses to be delivered throughout Newcastle and our library venues from 27 September. We have a good choice this term and courses are available on computer skills from beginner to advanced. The ever popular “Tracing your family ancestry”, involving the internet and the vast resources at the Heritage department, will be delivered in the City Library. We have various language courses ranging from Spanish to Russian and new courses include “Counselling skills” and “Creative card making”. To enrol on one of the courses or for more information call the enrolment free phone number 08000730911.

Staff are busy preparing for the promotion of the library service at the Student’s Union Bar on Northumbria University campus.  We won’t be socialising with alcohol, but will be offering the chance for new (and old) students to become a member of our exciting library service.

Recently, we attended a Sight Loss and Advice Day on a mobile unit parked on Northumberland Street.  We spoke to fifty customers about the library service and were most impressed as they were all members.  Since this event we have been involved in consultation with customers and partners regarding a designated area to improve access to resources for visually impaired people.  Although we hold a variety of formats and tools, we felt it was time to alter the look of level 3 slightly, rearrange the furniture and bring all resources to one space  A computer will be installed together with a 22” screen. Supernova screen magnification software will be available as well as a  large keyboard and headphones to enable customers to work independently or alongside staff on a one to one basis.  A new book magnifier will be available for use and staff will provide a demonstration of this as well as the new ‘PENfriend’ to assist customers choosing library audio materials.  We are currently working with a volunteer to record the labels for this device.

If you would like to find out more about our programme of events or to subscribe to our author newsletter, please email information@newcastle.gov.uk or phone 0191 2774100.

Sharon Reeve
Adult Reading and Learning Team
sharon.reeve@newcastle.gov.uk


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We have had a productive summer as over 30 young people volunteered to help with the Summer Reading Challenge. The children taking part really enjoyed other young peoples’ company which them focus on activities. The young volunteers really did make a difference to the sessions. One volunteer said she felt like she’d done two hours in the gym! Another comment was, ‘I find interacting with children easier and have learnt to think on my feet’.

The City Library will be hosting a celebration event for young volunteers on Saturday 25 September to say thank you personally. The Reading Agency, V Inspired and Starbucks will be attending together with Jo Colton, who kindly mentored young people over the summer.

We will be asking our volunteers to get involved in our next big project, The Big Juice Read. This is part of the Juice Festival, NewcastleGatesheads’ award-winning festival for children and young people from 20 – 31 October. Look out for 1,400 copies of Walking with Witches in venues and open-air locations across Newcastle during the Juice Festival and you’ll be able to mark where you find it on an online map.

We’re brimming with ideas for events and things to do throughout the year but we need to hear from you to help us shape our future programme, so please feel free to get in touch with your ideas.

If you work in a local school and you would like your pupils to see what we do then get in touch. Class visits are popular and can be arranged to include curriculum tie-ins and snapshots of library skills. To set up a visit to a library near you, please get in touch with your local library.

Finally, we love books! The children’s team have a wide knowledge of books and stories for all ages, so if you’re stuck for a story, please ask us. Drop in to the City Library for a story any Wednesday, Saturday or Sunday between 2pm – 2:30pm.

See you next month!

Judy Zajac
Children & Young People Service Manager

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We’ve also been working in partnership with local psychologists, who have been using City Library to deliver computerised cognitive behavioural therapy sessions for the treatment of depression. This means that instead of these sessions happening in a GP practice with a laptop, the patient uses one of our public computers to go through an 8 week programme. Feedback about the scheme has been really positive so far, with one of the benefits being the relaxed, non-clinical environment of the City Library.

Another project we’ve been working on is how we can support the national ‘Time to Get Moving’ week which is taking place between 9th-15th October 2010. We have offered up some of our libraries and community rooms to health providers in the area, so do keep your eyes peeled for our events programme nearer the time. So far we have oral health checks booked in, along with art exhibitions, cycling events, patient information providers, health internet taster classes, massage sessions and so much more. This is one week, not too miss!

Moving away from our thoughts on health-related events to another key area of our service – we are holding our first Business and Employment Show later this month. The team are busy with preparations: marketing is a constant process, so we’re sending our flyers out to as many small and medium enterprises as possible, and through our online presence with the website, Twitter and Facebook. The aim of the day is to help people setting up or developing their business by providing expert advice and guidance. We even have two speakers: Susan McKeown from Bsi will be talking about how British Standards can support your business, and Nick Stopforth from the Information and Digital Team will give a presentation on how to build brands online. We’re hoping for a busy and successful show. Watch the blog for photos!

In other news, the Intellectual Property Office has now introduced a green channel. If an invention has an environmental benefit, for example, a manufacturing process which uses less energy, or a wind turbine, or a recycling process, it can be requested that the application receives accelerated prosecution using this new green channel.
More information is available on the IPO website or you can make an appointment for Intellectual Property advice at City Library.

Whatever your information and digital needs are, we wish you healthy and prosperous September!

Nick Stopforth and Kerry Bossons
Information & Digital Team Service Managers

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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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With one exception, everyone went for fiction and we had an enjoyable wallow in nostalgia as the choices sparked off childhood memories. A theme which cropped up frequently was the appeal of stories in which children escaped to a secret world free from parental authority. One member traced the beginning of her interest in crime fiction to her love for Emil and the Detectives. Enid Blyton was also mentioned in this context although no-one nominated her as their absolute favourite.

The books selected as our favourites were:

The Water Babies (Charles Kingsley)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Jules Verne)
Emil and the Detectives (Erich Kastner)
Where the Rainbow Ends (Clifford Mills)
Puck of Pook’s Hill (Rudyard Kipling)
The Story of Helen Keller (Lorena A. Hickock)
The Little White Horse (Elizabeth Goudge)
The Silver Chair (C S. Lewis)

We all agreed that it had been a successful experiment and we are looking forward to trying new authors in 2010 and looking at new ideas for our meetings.

Liz, Outer West library

See the reading group page for more information on reading groups in a library near you.

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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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