The County Library blog has come to an end but we’ll leave it here for a while for you to stumble across. The blog was written by a librarian and records the setting up of the new library at Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan. The story starts when the building was handed over to the library service for the fit out on the 29th September 2006. Although there have been other entries, the majority of entries come to an end soon after the library opened to the public on the 4th January 2007.

The library occupies the restored Edwardian Barry Town Hall and a contemporary steel, glass and brick extension. This makes the library an interesting landmark rooted in the landscape and the history of the town, while still providing a modern and forward looking library service.

The library has been a great success. Visitors to the building have increased greatly, our computer facilities are in full time use, the number of books and other issues have risen markedly and there is a queue of partners waiting for their chance to use the building. Most important of all, the people of Barry like it, young and old alike.

Public Library Building Awards

The library has been nominated for the Public Library Building Awards. We are on the long list with 15 other library buildings. We'll have to wait a while before we know if we've made it to the short list. The building was entered in the "architecture meets practicality" category.

Radio Wales Broadcast

The Richard Evans phone in show was broadcast live from the library between 12 and 2 today. This was the day that Tony Blair left office as Prime Minister and handed over to Gordon Brown. It was also the day that Labour and Plaid Cymru decided to work in coalition to govern Wales. Library customers, phone-in listeners and political pundits all had an opportunity to give their opinions on air.

Welsh Language Day

The library hosted a Welsh language day last Saturday which attracted a large number of people. Information about courses was available and some taster sessions were run. There was also a competition, and the winner won a flight to North Wales and 3 nights at Nant Gwrtheryn. See the post for 30th May.

Awards

The Town Hall regeneration project only narrowly missed out on a couple of awards recently. The building finished joint second, behind the Newport footbridge scheme, in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Wales award. The Library and Town Hall had a commended award for the quality of the building by the Local Authority Building Control, the winner being a building in Llanelli.

The art work for the youth wall was unveiled today and an official photographer was on hand to record the occassion. Seen here is the photographer, the artists (in blue) from Ysgol Bro Morgannwg, along with their teachers, Sian Jones from Libraries, and councillor Nigel Gibbs, cabinet member for Education and Lifelong Learning.

Blues

We've received the official photos of Gary Powell and Taufaaso Filise of the Blues. Here are a couple of photos of them with staff. The vist gave press coverage to the Something to Shout About campaign and the Cardiff Blues included a photo on their own website.

Something to Shout About

Gary Powell and Taufaaso Filise of the Cardiff Blues visited the library today as part of the month long Something to Shout About campaign across libraries in Wales. The library was packed with children on their half term holiday and also with a good number of parents and olther adults waiting to see which rugby players would show up. The crowd were not disappointed and it took the best part of an hour for the players to sign autographs and answer questions before they could get a look at the building and speak to staff. We'll add some professional photos of the players to the blog when we received them.

The library has now been open 7 weeks and during this time we've attracted almost 50,000 visitors and enroled 1300 new library members. We issued 21,801 books in our first month and this works out as over 350 more per day than the same period last year. Staff don't need statistics to tell them we've been very busy and I think we can rightly claim the building and the service to be a hit.

As well as the Blues we also had Zoolabs in the library today with their hissing coackroaches and other less than cuddly creatures. This was one of many activities running in the County library and across all our libraries in the Vale during half term.

Staff photo

We have started to receive copies of some of the official photographs taken on open day. Seen above are some of the staff just before the library opened. In the front row, from left to right are Chris Edwards, Sian Jones, Sandra Wildsmith and Alison Singleton along with Margaret, Jill, Andrea, Paula, Therese, June, Alison, Yvonne, Collette, Donna, Zoe, Clare, Angela, Katherine, Marie, Julian, Gillian, Danielle, Janine, Tina, Gavin and Dylan.

Group photo on steps

The photo above was taken on the steps of the Town Hall building just before the library opened. The mayor takes centre stage, along with Vale councillors and chief officers. The photo also includes the architects David Caird and Martin Taylor. Most of the staff who worked on opening day are here too.

Architects

Architects Martin Taylor and David Caird on opening day.

Alun Pugh

The minister forCulture and Sport, Alun Pugh, visited the library and exhibition area today and was given a tour by Sian Jones and Margaret Alexander.

Art wall

This is the first sight of the art work produced by pupils at Ysgol Bro Morgannwg. The graffiti board is still at the school but we will be arranging for it to be collected and brought to the library and installed in the next few days. Seen above are Bryce and the pupils who have produced the work.

Visit by the First Minister

Rhodri Morgan and Jane Hutt visited the library today and were greeted by Margaret Alexander the council leader, and the mayor Nic Hodges. Sian led a tour of the library, pointed out all the new facilities and interesting design features, and explained all the new services we are able to provide in the building. The visitors seemed impressed and took time to chat to staff and customers. One of the visitors was overheard to say that this was the best library in Wales but we are far too modest to attribute such a quote. We'll add a few official photographs when we get them.

Noddy and Snow White

Our special visitors, Snow White and Noddy, led a Clap Tap party for our smallest customers today. They were a little surprised at their own popularity, not quite expecting nearly 50 babies and toddlers to show up with their parents. Maggie and Gillian enjoyed their costumes so much they did a tour of the library and stopped to wave to people at the bus stop.

Clap Tap

First children's event

The honour of being the first writer to visit the library and talk to children goes to Cat Weatherill. Cat is a storyteller and author who has written two children’s books called Barkbelly and Snowbone. She came for the day and preformed and number of traditional Welsh tales for the children of Barry. Some of the children appear in the photo with Cat Weatherill above, along with Gillian Southby, Children's Librarian.

First through the door....

Inside the library it was more like the January sales as the first visitors streamed through the doors. Over 3000 people visited in the first few hours and many of them stayed all afternoon. We welcomed many of our most dedicated customers who returned the piles of books they took out in November. Over 100 new customers joined. Other visitors used the computer facilities or sat down with a newspaper. The children's and youth areas were heaving with children and young people looking at the books, using computers and watching t.v.

The Lolfa

The newpaper area proved popular

Computer users

61 library members logged on to internet in the first few hours of opening. The library now has a wireless network and we know of at least one customers who brought his laptop to try this out.

Press coverage

The press were in attendance. The BBC filmed a t.v. news report which was broadcast on the main evening news on S4C. The Barry and District News reported on the event and the South Wales Echo sent Peter Collins and a photographer. The Barry Gem had the best coverage of photographs but these are not available online.

The Big Day

The library opened at 2 pm following a speech by the Mayor of the Vale of Glamorgan, Cllr Nic Hodges. The speech was given at the exhibition entrance on the square to avoid any congestion on Ty-Newydd road. This was a wise decision given the number of people that gathered to wait for the doors to open.

Philip John Community Room

The Philip John Community Room was opened by Councillor Neil Gibbs and Sue Rushton. Sue is the daughter of Philip John, a previous Barry librarian who spent 45 years working to develop the service at Barry.

Red ribbon

Councillors and officers were invited to view the library before the main doors were open to the public. A speech was given by the mayor and the chief executive. The mayor then cut the ribbon between the exhibition centre and the library to declare the library open.

Final touches

The final day before we opened was hectic. Vale carpenters completed work in the staff room and hung framed photographs in the old part of the building. Staff received final training throughout the day and tidied posters and leaflets put out for display. Gavin checked the set-up on the print kiosks. Rivermeade arrived to erect directional signs, including signs next to the lift and at the foot of the stairs. Plescon switched on the book security units and tested the self-issue machine. The day was not complete until Blackboxav arrived to installed one of two information screens at 7pm. The second screen will be installed at the library entrance window sometime in the next few weeks.