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.