THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 - BARBICAN LIBRARY

THE BARBICAN LIBRARY

BARBICAN LIBRARY - located in the City of London (London's "downtown" borough, an important business district ) with free membership to those who live, work, or study in the City of London. Current membership is 45,000, with 25, 000 active users. The City has only some 8,000 residents with some 330,000 city workers.

This library is a part of an arts complex, established in 1982, which includes a concert hall, two theatres, three cinemas, two art galleries, a conservatory, and restaurants, as well as the public library. The library now has 44 people on staff, serving some 1200 visitors per day and circulating some 470,000 items per year and is the major of the three lending libraries funded by the City of London.

The Barbican has a steep curve of circulation with 40 % of its patrons visiting between noon and 2:30 p.m. -- during business lunch hours.

The Barbican offers home delivery service for those who cannot come into the library, book box collections to local schools, reading promotions, and other events for all ages. Special collections include London history, financial analysis, arts, young adults, classic crime fiction, and basic skills learning materials.

Listening booths in the Music Library of the Barbican. Rumor is that Orlando Bloom, who was currently starring in a London play, visited the music room the day before we didl.

Its music library includes a patron piano which is frequently reserved for personal practice as well as for patrons trying out scores the library owns. Patrons can book a day ahead.Listening and study booths are also available. We couldn't photograph the keyboard because it was in use

The Children's Library was nice, but similar to most others. It did, as others I have seen in Britain, keep a number of its picture books in colorful wooden crates on rollers. It also had its books separated and labelled by actual age, as well as some by type. Sections included a spinner for 13+ with titles authors such as Francine Pascal, Reynolds, Mal Peet, and Anthony Horowitz. The section for ages 10+ included titles such as Chasing Vermeer, Peter Pan, and Through the Looking Glass.

Other sections include Folk in Fairy tales (in fiction section), Parent's Collection, First Readers, Under Five, Five to Ten, and Fiction 10+.

Individual books in the different sections have a color-coded strip of tape on the spine for easy shelving.


Spinner of books for ages 13+in the Children's Section

Books for ages 15+ are in the Young Adult Section

The Children's Library offers storytime several times a week, a reading group which read and "voted" on the latest Carnegie Awards (none of them voted for the winner), participates in Reading is Fundamental, and numerous other programs.

The Young Adults section

for 15+ was near the

entrance to the

Children's Library.

After hours, patrons can return
and check in their books in the lobby.

REFLECTIONS... This was a great visit, not as impressive or as exciting as some of the other visits, but one of the most practical, useful, and helpful as it gave me a good look behind-the-scenes, as well as out front of a public library, which is where I work. Another reminder of how we're all the same and all different --- the City of Zachary (approximately 13,000) is larger than the City of London (8,000), but the 330,000 workers in the City of London give the Barbican a definite difference. With only 600 children living in the City, the Barbican has even a bigger challenge in attracting young adult patronage (my 'specialty), but does have a small section for them. A section more for the 'tweens is included in the Children's Room, which has its own librarian, while the Young Adult librarian also works in other areas of the library.

I liked how this library, as well as others I saw in the U.K., had a section for "Just Returned" books.

I feel that good communication, i.e. signage, can be sooo helpful, so I am always on the lookout for both good and bad examples. The interior of the Barbecan had large, clear signage, rating an A+ in my book. I never did see the sign outside, though, so I don't know if I came in from the wrong side or what. Since the Barbican was so good overall, I prefer to think I came in the wrong way (quite possible, as I had trouble finding my way out of the building -- but that was the problem of the Arts Centre' s maze and signage, not this library which I really liked!

The Music Library was totally impressive, especially the patron keyboard and the listening booths. A patron was silently playing piano while we were there, with their special headphones.

Another program at the Barbican is Book Start by Book Trust encourages parents to start reading to their children by offereing them a kit with several board books, information, and a library membership form when a child is born, then another one when the child is 18 months old.

The Young Adult librarian was at lunch, then working the Reference Desk, and as I had little time to speak with her, we plan to e-mail.