A New Chapter

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.

Having a yarn

We are always delighted to welcome visitors to the Stromness Library, and even more delighted when they come back for a return visit.

In the last couple of weeks we've had visits from two former writers in residence at Stromness Library, Jan Natanson, and Nalini Paul , as well as our Ravelry friend Westendangela.

While Jan and Nalini shared news of recent writing projects - Jan has a community play in production, and Nalini has a poetry book coming out soon - when knitters get together the talk soon turns to work in progress and recent projects on the knitting needles. 

We were rather pleased to be able to show off our library cushions, and Becky even posed for a photo beside the windows which were the inspiration for the design. 

photo by Westendangela

Watch this space for news about the date of our move to the new building, but in the meantime here is a sneaky preview of the cushions in their new home.

Now doesn't that look comfy?

Just perfect for relaxing with a good book, or even a bit of knitting!

Bookmarks and biscuits.

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!

Cushions

We thought you might like to see what the Yap and Yarn group have been working on in preparation for our move to the new Library. 

We decided it would be nice to find a way to make something for the new building which reminded us of the old library, and came up with the idea of cushions for our lovely new comfy sofas. 

As you can see, the design is based on the coloured glass windows in the old library.

We decided to make 6 cushions and here we are working on the final one!

Bookmarks and Bags

We were overwhelmed by the entries to our competitions to design a bookmark for the new Stromness Library and a new children's library bag. The quality of the entries gave our judges a very difficult decision to make but we are delighted to be able to announce the winners.

Congratulations to Erin Rose Bayliss and Magnus Groundwater, joint winners of the bookmark competition. 

Congratulations also to Lucy Barton whose winning entry will be the new design on our children's library bags.

Thank you to everyone who entered. We can't wait to see the winning designs as bookmarks and bags. 

Advent Quiz - Day 17

Apologies for the break in service over the past few days. Getting caught up all in one go today, it it will keep you busy over the weekend :-)

Question 17

Can you name the architect of the new Stromness Library building?

Post your answer in the comments below.
Closing date for entries is 31st December. 
Answers will be posted and the winner announced on 5th January 2015.

Answer: Malcolm Fraser

Favourite Five

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. 

New Chapter

There's a moose loose aboot this - library!

The weather on Sunday may not have been kind to St Magnus Festival goers, but it hardly mattered to those lucky enough to have tickets for the Arne and Carlos Knitting Workshop in the Stromness Academy Library. 

Becky has returned buzzing with excitement, and inspiration for even more knitting projects - members of the Yap and Yarn group beware!

Apart from providing help and encouragement to workshop participants, as they tackled their very own Magnus the mouse, Arne and Carlos shared photos of the beautiful garden they have created at their home in the Norwegian mountains. 

A wonderful afternoon of knitting passed all too quickly, but before they left  Arne and Carlos were kind enough to sign the library copy of their book Knit-and-Crochet Garden - which is now available to borrow again, as Becky has bought her own copy. 

 Becky also got a photo with the superstar knitters, along with the original Magnus.  

Arne, Carlos and Magnus with a rather over excited library assistant!

Becky assures us that her own Magnus will soon be finished and ready for a photo call, however when we demanded a progress photo this is what we got:

In the meantime if anyone else has finished their Magnus please send us a photo so we can share them here and motivate Becky to get further than some disembodied legs - looks like poor Magnus has had an unfortunate accident at the paws of the library cat.

Maybe we could tempt Arne and Carlos back to visit the Yap and Yarn group when we move to the new Stromness Library?!

Under Construction

We took a stroll to the Pier Head before work today to see how the work on our new library is progressing. We thought you might like to have a look too...

Registration Office Moves In!

We are very pleased to welcome a new service to the library as the Stromness Registration Office has moved from it previous home in the Old Ferry Terminal building into one of our rooms upstairs, before building work begins on the Pier Head Regeneration Project (including the new Stromness Library!).

The Registration Office service is "by appointment only" and appointments can be made by calling Marion Ashburn on 850 854.

A warm welcome to Marion from all at Stromness Library.

Plans

We are feeling a bit excited as the revised plans for the redevelopment of the Stromness pierhead - which includes our lovely new library - go on display to the public tommorow, Wednesday 21st September.

The revised plans, by Malcolm Fraser Architects, will be on display in the Stromness cash office until October 5, when full planning permission will be sought at the Orkney Islands Council's planning and protective services committee meeting.

The original plans were revised based on input from the public following the initial presentation of the plans in March. As well as the new library the development will include the creation of two new retail units; a new office space, which will be shared with police; and formal and informal meeting areas.

For those of you who can't make it along to see the plans in person here is a wee look, courtesy of The Orcadian website.





 The new library is the building, running from street to harbour, on right of diagram.



Exciting times

So, like a child bursting to tell you what is in the parcel they've just given you, we are longing to tell you all about the plans for the lovely new Stromness Library. Luckily we will only have to contain our excitement until Tuesday 15th March, when the plans for the Pierhead Regeneration, which includes the new library, will be on public display at the Stromness Townscape Heritage Initiative offices at the Old Academy in Stromness from 6pm-9pm.  Malcolm Fraser Architects will be giving a formal presentation between 6.45pm and 7.45pm, but if you can't make it along to the public meeting and presentation  there will also be a chance to see the plans at the Stromness cash office before the evening meeting.

Having seen the plans we hope you'll be as excited as we are - we won't spoil the surprise but we will let our manager, Gary Amos, tell you a wee bit more:

" A huge amount of thought and effort has been put into the design of the new facility. Additional features such as the George Mackay Brown area of the library will help place the service at the centre of cultural and community life in Stromness."

So make a date in your diary and get along for a look - and do please let us know what you think!