The Europe Challenge

What is the role of libraries in a community?

You should be whatever that particular community needs you to be.

When I first started the job,  I thought: “OK, five libraries: whatever I do in one, I’ll just do in another.” And that’s so not true because the communities surrounding each library have different needs. We find, for example, that children’s events tend to be really popular; they’re an easy win, because children will come and enjoy the space and, to a certain degree, whatever you organise. Things are different for adults. People think: “You don’t mean me.” You can’t make assumptions.

How do you try to understand what the people in different libraries want?

A lot of it revolves around the actual relationship that they feel they have with the staff. You want them to come in and feel at home. I always encourage my colleagues to be open and curious. For example, we had a couple of libraries recently refurbished. But just because we like the result doesn’t mean librarygoers should like it, too. So we need to ask them what they think.

So, in terms of finding out what people want, we run formal surveys. In one of our libraries, we recently ran a pictorial survey. We had marble jars on a board, and we gave out colored sticky dots.  We encouraged participants to put a sticker on what they would like to see. People are more engaged when they feel heard, right?

But then, you need to make sure you deliver: you can’t ask them to tell you what they want, and ignore it.

“If someone in your community can benefit from the support you can offer, and you can work together collaboratively, that’s a beautiful thing.”

How was your experience as a TEC and BUDDIES mentor? And what is the most important thing you learned from your mentees?

The mentees were very similar to how I was as a participant. They were really engaged and open to whatever we would do. I didn’t dictate a discussion. I responded to what they needed.

And in terms of what I learned: never underestimate people’s willingness to engage. Everyone was just so open to what The Europe Challenge offered them. Everybody just wanted to do their best. And it was a great reminder that we are here for our people, for the team back at our offices and our communities. It was a really good reminder of why we do what we do, and that you can achieve real change.

What skill would be the most important for a librarian?

Listening. You have to listen, because we’re all really good at answering what we think has been asked, and then somebody’s eyes glaze over, and you can see that’s not what they really meant. Librarians need to listen and then feed into that communication. You never know what somebody’s going to want from you. We had, for example, people come in saying “somebody stole my identity, please help me.”

And the other important thing is simply having an open door. This is how you build trust. Somebody comes in for the third time, and then they’ll tell you or ask you what they wanted to know three visits ago.

What is your experience in participating in this European project?

Really positive, both as a participant and as a mentor. The support from the European Cultural Foundation was amazing. They gave us a clear structure we had to follow, but we also retained our independence. Be it as a manager, as a mentor or as a mentee, that’s such a hard balance to find.

It is so important that they are recognising the power of the people and the library space. And another important thing I learned is: do not compete with what happens in the community. You don’t always have to start from zero. If someone in your community can benefit from the support you can offer, and you can work together collaboratively, that’s a beautiful thing.