Valuing Libraries

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One-to-One Money Advice

Purpose? - Develop financial literacy in people and offer free advice about money and finances. The library offers free monthly one-to-one Money Advice Sessions with a Financial Advisor where people can get help to work through their current and future financial situations. Sessions are open to adults age 18+ and take place in a friendly environment, giving people the confidence and ease to ask questions without shame or reproach.

The Financial Advisor gives impartial Money Advice on anything from budgeting and savings to tax returns and buying property as well as:

Family Finance

Single Parent Budgeting

Self Employment

Unemployed and managing on a budget

Retirement and Life Planning

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Start2

Purpose? - Jobseekers in Staffordshire can get help and support on finding and applying for work through a service from Staffordshire County Council and Jobcentre Plus. The Start2 service is available in all libraries across the county and has trained staff offering information and signposting on all aspects of looking for and finding work. 

What are the benefits? -  Jobseekers are able to drop in without an appointment to check out the job section of local papers, use the internet for jobsearch, and use a range of online tools to match their skills with suitable jobs. Jobcentre Plus Digital Champions are also be on hand at certain times in certain libraries to offer support on using websites to help with job searching, producing effective CVs, filling in application forms, handling job interviews and  more.

With free WiFi now available at all main libraries, free computer access, IT training and meeting rooms for work clubs, groups and businesses, Staffordshire’s libraries are playing an important role in boosting the help available to local people looking for work.

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Europe Direct: Mountmellick Library, Co Laois

Purpose? - The Europe Direct Information Centre initiative in libraries was launched in 2005. The mission of the Europe Direct Information Centre library network is to distribute information and advice about the European Union’s policies, promote active citizenship through local and regional debate about the European Union, allow the European institutions to disseminate local and regional information and give the public the opportunity to send feedback to the European Union institutions.

What were the benefits? There are currently ten Europe Direct Information Centres located in public libraries across Ireland for the period 2013-2017: Blanchardstown; Ballinasloe; Dundalk; Gaoth Dobhair; Letterkenny; Mallow; Mountmellick; Tubbercurry; Waterford; Carraroe. Information on news, events and activities and contact details are updated through the central website www.europedirect.ie. Mountmellick Library participated in the Europe Direct network for the first time in 2013, acting as the regional centre for the Midlands. The library runs a series of events, talks and exhibitions for both adults and children, promoting European Union information, culture and citizenship.

How to find out more? - website www.europedirect.ie.

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Talk About It

Purpose? - Gwent Police, in partnership with local people, have established over 20 ‘Talk About It’ centres for people with learning disabilities to report hate crimes. Blaina Library is one of those centres and the library staff have been trained to support and guide users through the process of reporting incidents to the Disability Hate Team. Many of the library’s customers experience difficulties with communication and find reporting issues a challenge. However, they feel comfortable and safe within the library environment, have usually built up a good rapport with the staff and have enough confidence to speak to them about their problems. 

What were the benefits? - The help people get when they report a hate incident or crime is quick and people feel that their concerns will be taken seriously and acted upon. They are telling their friends and family about the scheme and the number of enquiries is increasing. “  I really didn’t feel like I should bother the police, but when I told Allyson she encouraged me to report it. She helped me with some forms and I couldn’t believe how since then things have been sorted out for me. Now I can go out and feel less frightened, and it is good to know I can always go to the library for help, I feel much better. “

http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/888/Wellbeing%20in%20Libraries.pdf

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Health Promotion Library - A gateway to wellbeing information

Purpose? - The Health Promotion Library works in partnership with local libraries, the NHS and the voluntary sector making health and wellbeing information accessible to all. The Health Promotion Library provides information on all aspects of health and wellbeing. People can contact the enquiry line on 0845 606 4050 or email hplibrary@wales. nhs.uk and staff will track down specific information, supply health leaflets free of charge and lend books to local libraries or send the books by post to library members. 

What were the benefits?  “  I visited my local library for books on the menopause. I took out the couple they had on the shelf. The library staff suggested the Health Promotion Library, as I wanted to read as much as possible to help with my symptoms. This was a brilliant service. I had five books delivered to me and lots of information leaflets. After reading as much as I possibly could, I was able to discuss the problem with my GP with more confidence.”

hplibrary@wales. nhs.uk

http://www.wales.nhs.uk/sitesplus/documents/888/Wellbeing%20in%20Libraries.pdf

Useful Stats ( this might include usage numbers or data around outcomes etc.)

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Library Services for local business and enterprise An annual Business Focus event delivered by South Dublin Libraries includes seminars, talks and workshops delivered across all branch libraries with topics including Business Idea Generation, Sustainable Business Opportunities and Life Coaching. This initiative, delivered in association with the local Chamber of Commerce and Innovation Enterprise (IE) Network, is hugely popular and provides an ideal platform to promote business collections and resources on enterprise support. One event Check Out a Champion offers people a chance to spend time with experts in various fields, including business planning, marketing, financial control and social media. As part of this initiative, a survey on access to business information was conducted with local firms and businesses. Local businesses voiced several concerns in relation to finding information – particularly the issue of the currency of the information they find. Many report receiving out of date or incorrect information and find that searching online can be a frustrating experience. Libraries, as curators of information, have a particular skill in the area of information provision and as a result it was decided to develop business specific book collections in all branch libraries and to further develop online resources for entrepreneurs, businesses and people seeking employment. 

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FG Library has completed the refurbishment of Sandal Library in Wakefield, West Yorks as a dementia-friendly library.

Purpose? - the library includes a number of features that will help people who are living with dementia. A colour scheme which is deep red making it warm, friendly and calming; furniture such as chairs and sofas which have a plain design and are easy to get in and out of; a reduction of reflective surfaces; grey skirting boards and door frames making it easier for people to recognise them against the magnolia coloured walls; as well as signage and guiding to help people recognise symbols and words.

The centrepiece of the new facility is the lounge which is situated in the old entrance. It has been refurbished to create a reminiscence room, with sofas and a flat screen TV which will play a slideshow of digitised images from the local history collection. This will help to stimulate dementia patients' long term memory. The library will also hold regular reminiscence sessions, which will be advertised locally.

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Time To Read is a unique partnership of 21 Library Authorities in North West England, working together to promote reading through author visits.

Purpose? - Time To Read’s purpose is to develop the adult reading audience (16 years+) .It does this by coordinating shared projects and promotions. Practitioners share good practice and ideas with each other, face to face and via this website. The role of the coordinator is also to source additional funding and partnerships and to advocate for North WEst Libraries' reading offer.

This Reading Business runs in 21 authorities.

http://www.time-to-read.co.uk/

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iPad lending service to customers.

Purpose? - The iPad lending scheme offers people the chance to borrow an iPad for three weeks. The library will be lending four iPads to start with. It’s an ideal opportunity for anyone thinking of buying one and to showcase the range of apps available. It can also be a great way to explore the range of online services available from Suffolk Libraries such as eBooks and free weekly music downloads. Halesworth Library is already running popular laptop and iPad sessions on Wednesday afternoons for people who need help with their devices.

How to find out more? - [email protected]

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Library Of Things

Purpose? - The Library of Things is a new service from the Sacramento Public Library that offers “things” for checkout—such as sewing machines, musical instruments and video games—just like the library offers books. The items in the Library of Things were chosen in a voting process by Sacramento Public Library patrons and funded by a Library Services and Technology Act grant administered through the California State Library.

People can borrow:

 Video games. 

Sewing machines. 

Musical instruments. 

Board games.

In-Library use only:

Dero Fixit bike repair station

3D Scanner

How else could this be used, changed or extended? - A UK version is launching soon - http://www.libraryofthings.co.uk/

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The C Word, run by Macmillan Cancer Support, offers activities from 36 libraries and aims to let 13 to 24-year-olds with a friend, parent, brother or sister with the disease -or who have it themself - to be themselves.

Purpose? - They are offered a range of free activities from film-making to occupational therapy, with people on hand to answer any question they may have about cancer. Part of the reason for the need is that NHS cancer care is firmly split into adult and child care, with nothing in between. Macmillan and Northamptonshire County Council saw there were gaps in both support and information, which often led to behaviour problems.Often, the parents of teenagers try to shield them from information if their sibling has cancer but teens are actually of an age where knowing as much possible is helpful. 

The scheme can also help young people who have found themselves as carers for a relative or who find themselves split from the family for long periods (a recurring theme in Northamptonshire which has no principal cancer treatment centre for the immediate period after diagnosis).

The help offered by The C Word is varied. It can also include:

emotional support

help with school, university or work,

advice on finances,

information from the unique experience of Macmillan Cancer Support about a relation or friend’s condition,

or just an opportunity to escape for a while.

 How to find out more? [email protected], visit www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/thecword or look up @TheCWord_2015 on [email protected], visit www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/thecword or look up @TheCWord_2015 on Twitter.

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Derbyshire County Council is opening up credit union collection points in its libraries to encourage residents to use them to start saving and as a source of safe, affordable loans.

Purpose? - The council recently approved £360,000 to help credit unions provide loans to more residents on low incomes who may be tempted by payday loan companies and other high risk borrowing.And it has now opened up collection points for Bolsover-based 2 Shires Credit Union at its libraries in Clowne, Creswell and Shirebrook making it easier for people to visit. Collection points are locations where people can save a small amount each week and for those with credit union loans to make repayments.

How to find out more? - For more information visit www.derbyshire.gov.uk/debtandbenefits and www.derbyshire.gov.uk/welfarerights

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Dundee Central Library is the first Public Library in Scotland to incorporate 3D printing into their library services for groups with additional support needs.

Purpose? - These groups, who already use the library for IT, storytelling and creative writing sessions, are now using 3D printing to produce resources to help the library and its users. Characters are being printed from a children’s book that, once constructed, are used in storytelling sessions in the Children’s Library to help enhance the experience for children who are blind, or partially sighted.

What were/are the benefits? Children are now able to engage more in the storytelling process by having the actual characters to touch and hold as the story unfolds. The groups of adults and young people who have learning or physical disabilities, mental health issues or challenging behaviour will also work on projects that will help the library and enhance services for other users.

How else could this be used, changed or extended? - Plans are in place for these groups to produce book stands that will be used throughout the library to display stock, make accessibility aids for digital devices to help people with arthritis better grip devices such eBook readers. Additionally, there will be an opportunity to reproduce objects from the past for reminiscence packs. This will help elderly members of the community connect to items that hold a significant meaning to them.

How to find out more? - For more info contact [email protected]

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Dundee's Central Library has become the country's first public library to provide a Dementia Information Service.

Purpose? - Having received £10,000 in funding from the Scottish Library and Information Council, the library's new service allows users access relevant information, alongside a programme of reminiscence and reading related activities. The service has been tailored to suit people with dementia and resources will help stimulate memories. As part of the service, library staff across the city have been given guidance on how to address dementia-related issues. There are plans to continue growing these resources as a permanent part of the libraries’ service, with suggestions and requests from users are encouraged.

What were the benefits? "It will promote an increased understanding and self-management of the condition. The aim is to provide a useful and enjoyable library experience that contributes to building a dementia friendly community by helping local people connect with the information and activities they need.”

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FryskLab is Europe's first mobile Library-powered fab lab. We have a team with a very diverse background. FryskLab is initiated by a public library service organization, in close collaboration with team members with a scientific-, educational- and technological background. 

Purpose? - FryskLab uses the FabLab environment to bring 21st century skills to primary and secondary education. We tackle specific local challenges with our dedicated educational program. For instance, the FryskLab Elements course focuses on digital fabrication in relation to water technology, sustainable energy, and new craftmanship: themes that are locally important. Often we see examples of libraries setting up labs which are little more than a display for 3D printers and other similar machines. That's perfectly fine, but we think the potential for digital fabrication in relation to libraries is much higher than that. To quote David Lankes, "The mission of librarians is to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities."

What were the benefits? - This turns fab labs into a networked structure for global collaborative design and production, for the sharing of knowledge and economic growth. In our educational program students learn use how to use these tools for digital fabrication and open design principles, for the purposes of coming up with solutions for local issues.

How else could this be used, changed or extended? - Besides FryskLab Elements, we're also collaborating with the Mozillariancommunity, a group of librarians and technologists who explore the intersection between the Mozilla community and the library world. We got in touch with them through Wim Benes, a Dutch and Frisian translator for Mozilla products. He visited FryskLab and mentioned the beautiful Webmaker project. We're very interested in incorporating Webmaker in our educational offerings. Their Web Literacy Map, a map of competencies and skills that Mozilla and its community of stakeholders believe are important in reading, writing and participating on the web, is extremely interesting from a library standpoint, We want to make this available in Dutch and we're thinking about how to set it up.

We also want to give something back to the fab lab community, so we'll develop a Linked Open Data framework and Knowledge Base to make fab lab projects available for interested users. The starting point is the notion that a fab lab as a physical makerspace is always connected to the fab lab as an information space. We're working with Dr. Peter Troxler of the University of Rotterdam, semantic technologist Roland Cornelissen of MetaMatter, and another small Dutch FabLab,Rotslab.

How to find out more?

http://opensource.com/users/jeroendeboer

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LibrariesWest Library App

Purpose? - As well as providing information about individual libraries, the app allows members to search the library catalogue and reserve items, and to check and renew their loans, as well as acting as a gateway to a range of other online resources such as e books and online reference tools. In the first 5 months, 3003 library members used the app to renew or reserve 26,678 individual items.

Useful Stats  - A new library app was launched in November 2014 for devices running on Android and iOS. By March 2015 the app had been downloaded by library members to over 15,000 individual devices.

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LibrariesWest is one of the leading public library consortia in the UK, and is a partnership between Bath & North East Somerset, Bristol, North Somerset, Somerset and South Gloucestershire library services.

Purpose? - It is seen as an example of good practice where authorities work together to achieve significant economies of scale and deliver better services for customers. Customers can use their membership card in any one of the 100 + libraries across the consortium to borrow, return and reserve items, and use the computers to access the internet and office programmes. They also have access to a joint catalogue, which has the facility to interlend all stock, including DVDs, CDs and computer games.

How to find out more? - Jon Scown LibrariesWest Development Officer,  Tel: [phone] [email protected]

Useful Stats:

LibrariesWest serves a resident population in excess of 1.6 million across an area of 1,847 sq miles, through a network of more than 100 static and mobile libraries

In 2014/15 218,287 people – around 1 in 7 of the resident population – borrowed items from our libraries

Our shared catalogue contains around 1.8 million items

There were around 1.5 million visits to our shared website which customers use to search the library catalogue and reserve items, and check and renew their loans. The website also provides access to a range of online resources including reference materials and e books

Around 7.2 million items were loaned from our libraries last year

128,042 items were lent between libraries to satisfy reservations, reducing the burden on inter library loans