Well here we are in our new home!
A warm welcome to all our readers, new and old, as we start the next chapter of the Stromness Library story in our lovely new home at the Warehouse Buildings in Victoria Street.
As with all moves there has been a period of transition as we get used to the new building, and our new roles as library assistants/customer service assistants.
With the expanded range of services on offer there are now two of us working at the reception desk. This means the team has grown, with Carol and Becky being joined by Soo and Sarah, along with our relief staff Keely, Angela, Lara and Evelyn.
We've been enjoying welcoming old and new faces to our fantastic new facilities and services, which include three public meeting rooms, a range of council customer services, comfortable reading and study spaces, and even a coffee machine!
As the weeks go by we'll introduce you to the team on the blog and learn a bit more about life in the Warehouse Buildings.
In the meantime you can read more about the history of the library, and both old and new buildings on the New Chapter website,which was developed for the library by Rebecca Marr, and features an original audio piece First Lines, produced for the project by Mark Jenkins.
As we continue our preparations for the move to our lovely new building, we've been reflecting on our favourite memories of Stromness Library, and we would love to hear yours.
Perhaps you remember coming to the library as a child and have memories of previous librarians, or you visited us while you were in Stromness on holiday. We would love to hear your stories, memories, favourite books and encounters with the library cats.
Do please get in touch, either through the comments below or by dropping us an email. We are gathering all these stories from and about the library for our New Chapter exhibition which will celebrate the history of the library in Stromness when we move to the new building. We want to capture as many stories as we can from the most important part of any library - you, the people who visit it.
Over the years we have worked here there have been many memorable moments, some funny, some sad, and some unrepeatable!
Today we were recalling the many items we have found inside returned books. Along with the more predictable discoveries of bookmarks, letters, bills and the like, we can reveal that we once opened a book to discover a custard cream biscuit between the pages. Whether this had been inserted as makeshift book mark, or left behind by accident during a particularly exciting reading-while-biscuit-eating-session, we will never know.
When we mentioned our find to a colleague in Kirkwall library, he claimed to have once come across a rasher of streaky bacon being used as a book mark. While we were unable to verify this claim, we would strongly discourage our readers from reading while eating a fried breakfast - just in case.
If you are in need of a bookmark we have lots here to choose from, including our very own Orkney library bookmarks - save the custard creams to go with your cup of tea!
It's been a bit quiet round here lately, which is largely due to the fact we've started the first stages of preparing for our move to the new library. Extra training means we've often not been at our usual post behind the issue desk, though some of our colleagues from the Kirkwall Library have been enjoying a taste of life in Stromness in our absence.
With our move to the new building looking like it will happen early in 2015 we are keen to find ways of marking this momentous occasion. We came up with the idea of the 'New Chapter' project which will gather material for an exhibition celebrating the history of the old library, through stories, images, and archive material.
Of course the history of the library in Stromness, as with any library, is not just about the building, but is part of a wider community history which weaves together the stories of the people who have used and loved it.
We would love to hear your stories and reflections on the library- perhaps you can still remember your favourite book you borrowed as a child? or have fond, or not so fond, memories of a particular librarian? can you help us name all the folk who lived in the upstairs flat? was there a library cat before Bubbles and Seamus?
Some of you may remember the exhibition on the official history of the building, which the wonderful staff of Orkney Archive put together for our centenary in 2005, this is now on display upstairs in the exhibition room so do come along and have a look. Alongside the exhibition we have set out paper for you to record your own stories of the library and to tell us about your favourite book in five words to be included as part of our 'Favourite Five' display (see the poster below for more details!)
So do please get in touch either by emailing stromness.library@orkney.gov.uk, give us a ring on 01856 850907, or pop past the library for a yarn - be part of the next chapter in the Stromness Library story.
