Guille-Alles Library bounces back from a two-year lull
GUILLE-ALLES Library has bounced back from a two-year lull, with footfall higher in 2022 than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The library’s annual report, published yesterday, showed there were 152,000 visits and 247,000 loans, along with 86,000 website visits.
Recent efforts to showcase the library’s history and its collection – through the popular Boundless Curiosity exhibition – also contributed to the library acquiring 2,120 new members during 2022.
‘The library hasn’t just rebounded from the disruption of recent years, it is growing, thriving, and continuing to serve the community, just as its founders intended,’ said chief librarian Cornelia James.
More than 8,500 people visited Boundless Curiosity exhibition over the 10 weeks it took place at the library. It showcased some of the treasures of the library’s collection.
Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with three-quarters of the visitors surveyed awarding it 10 out of 10.
Among the initiatives to have been adopted at the library during the year was participation in the UK-wide Libraries of Sanctuary scheme, which is designed to help refugees and other people seeking sanctuary as they settle into a new community.
This had been planned since before the Russian invasion of Ukraine but that conflict has given rise to the library ensuring that some information leaflets – especially those which signpost readers to public services – have been made available in Ukrainian, alongside a selection of books, with the intention being to ‘build a culture of welcome’.
Joining the national scheme has enabled the library to access training in this kind of work.
Other initiatives in the last year have included making board games available for loan, and taking the library’s outreach programme into several care homes around the island.
This scheme – named Tea & Tales – has seen its instigator Jackie Burgess shortlisted for a national Libraries Connected award.
The library has also worked with the Guernsey Welfare Service and the local Hey Girls scheme to provide free period products in its public bathrooms.
Drag queen story hour returned for a fifth visit, with more than 50 children aged between three and eight years old enjoying an hour of interactive stories with drag queen Aida H Dee.
Fab Lab – which has 13 digital fabrication machines for people to use – has had its first full year, with 682 sessions taking place. During the summer the age limit was lowered, meaning that after an initial induction, children aged 12 and over could use the machines independently.
Children aged between nine and 11 can also now use the lab with parental supervision.
These changes have also boosted usage.
