Barbican Public Library

On Tuesday, July 5th, we visited the Barbican Public Library and were given a tour of the library by Geraldine Pote, the Adult Lending Librarian, and Jonathan Gibbs, the I.T. and Operations Librarian. The library is one of the largest public lending libraries in London and also contains a music, arts, and children's library.

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The library is a part of the Barbican Centre, which is a building that is not very attractive on the outside--it is made up mainly of concrete and has a very 1980s style of architecture, but it has a nice stream and waterfall in its courtyard. The centre contains a theatre, cinemas, cafes and restaurants, as well as other services and goods.  The inside of the library is more colorful and well-lit, with a lot of comfortable looking seating areas that are very inviting. There was a nice London-themed art exhibition as you enter the library, and there were helpful signs indicating where a library user could find fiction, non-fiction, music, films, etc. The library is arranged in a sort of bookstore-Dewey Decimal system hybrid, where each section of the bookshelf is identified by subject, but then arranged within that shelf by Dewey numbers. The Barbican Centre was a gift to the people of London from the city burghers and was opened in 1982; the area had previously been destroyed in WWII by the bombings that London endured.

Most libraries in the United States are funded by property and local taxes; however, the Barbican is in central London, where not very many people live, as London is largely a commuter city. So, whereas other lending libraries are funded by local taxes, the Barbican is funded through national funds as established by the Public Library Act of 1964. Most of the library users that the Barbican serves are men between the ages of 25 and 45 who commute to the city--and they have collections that focus on these populations. The Barbican has a large collection of books that focus on management and accounting. They also serve student populations, as there are universities, primary schools, and language schools near the library. They also noted that they have a lot of celebrities that come into the library, including Daniel Craig, the latest James Bond, and Orlando Bloom (apparently I just need to hang out here for my celebrity sitings!). The librarian noted that they have the potential to reach the 350,000 people who commute to the city on a daily basis.

The Barbican Library is very innovative--they have traditional check-out desks but also several self-service machines that use RFID tags to check out and check in books and other materials. They started using RFID because it was the only way that the Barbican Centre security would allow them to have a box for after-hour library returns, because of the terrorist threats that London has experienced. This is the same reason that it is very difficult to find any trash cans in public areas in central London and the reason that there are CCTV cameras recording pretty much everything that anyone does in central London. So, the library has had to be innovative in order to serve their patrons.

They also offer library users collections and services unavailable elsewhere in the city. They have a historical London collection with books that range from 1742 to the recent past, and they have the largest collection of musical scores and other music materials in central London. They provide outreach services to those that can't visit the library--the Barbican has volunteers that will bring materials to those that can't make it in. They also have two pianos within the library on which library users can practice. The library also has a large CD collection and listening stations throughout the library. They recently started an "Unsigned London" collection where musical groups that aren't signed to a major label can provide the library with two or three copies of their CD, and the library will lend them out for free to library users in order to provide bands with a way to publicize their music. This is a great idea for any urban public library who would like to engage a younger part of the community and for library users to hear music that they might have otherwise missed; it also creates a greater sense of community as people are listening to music that has been created by members of their community. Much like many libraries are doing in the United States, the library had an event coming up that would provide job hunting information and advice for its patrons in these tough economic times.

For children, the library has a separate section, where city workers often bring their children. They have story time once a week, and have two rhyme time sessions every week. They also lend books to teachers and provide a space for home-schooled children to socialize. They have a Warhammers group (gaming) for young adults, and hold programs for children one Saturday every month that are interactive--recently they have had a crime scene investigation event and have had the ballet come in, and they also do crafts and other activities. They do a summer reading program, much like we do in the states, where children can sign up, read a certain number of books, and receive prizes.

The Barbican Library was a wonderful example of what a public library can do and be for a group of people. Because they serve a largely working, commuter population, the library has attempted to work around that --since their peak hours are during the lunch hour, they are only open two nights per week, until 7 pm, and they are most heavily staffed between 11 am and 2 pm. The library, while not the most attractive on the outside, is one of the most innovative public libraries that I've been in, and the library staff really thinks about the sorts of services that their patrons might want and provide them with those services. This is definitely one of my favorite libraries we've visited so far, and I will definitely be returning to explore it further and do some research--and perhaps spot some British celebrities.

Pictures of the library and more information about events and hours can be found on the City of London Libraries webpage.