The Kiosk was started by Guernsey Literary Festival community outreach organiser Melissa Hardwick, in an attempt to bring the arts out into the wider community.
‘The States let the Guernsey Literary Festival basically take this space over as part of our community outreach programme,’ she said.
‘I think it’s really important to make the arts accessible to people. For some people there are cost barriers, or maybe they have time constraints or a disability that prevents them from attending artistic events, so it’s really important to me to bring the arts out into the community.’
With its community and outreach focus, the Kiosk has become the prime space for the Priaulx Library to bring its goals of conserving books and history out into a public space.
‘We’re really hopeful that we’ll help people learn more about restoring and conserving the books,’ said library assistant Elaine Le Feuvre.
‘This is something we do all the time in the library. We’ve got a lot of rare books, and we’re working on a big project to digitise a lot of the history we have, but I think have the tangible thing is something really special.
‘I think sometimes people forget about the Priaulx Library, but it’s really a community space, a place of warmth and a place of quiet.’
The Priaulx Library will be returning to conduct another workshop – also focused on caring for books – next Wednesday. The workshops are held in an informal drop-in style, allowing anyone to come and visit as the please.
‘It’s been really nice. I’ve had the chance to have some really lovely conversations with people,’ said senior librarian Judith Finnamore.
In addition to the book conservation workshop with Priaulx, the Guernsey Kiosk has also been host to everything from mini notebook-making workshops to sessions on ink printing using hedge veg as utensils.
‘We’ve had a really good response so far, and it’s so nice to interact with people who might not usually engage with the Literary Festival,’ said Ms Hardwick.
The Guernsey Kiosk is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9.30-2pm at the Town Terminus.
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