It's Libraries Week, an annual showcase and celebration of the best that libraries have to offer!
This year’s theme is Taking Action, Changing Lives and today we are highlighting just a few of the great projects we are running; that in some cases are literally changing lives.
- Our Storytime Dads programme gives selected prisoners the chance to read stories to their children and reconnect with them whilst inside HMP Nottingham
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Local Studies have digitalised much of their collection, making it more accessible than ever before to the people of Nottingham.
- BICP will be opening up four new sites across Nottinghamshire, enabling us to support more business owners, investors and start-ups!
But first...did you know that we are over 150 years old!
 Our first Nottingham Public Lending Library opened in 1868 and was on Thurland Street.
- It contained almost 10,000 books
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400 members signed up on the first day
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70,512 books were issued in the first year
In celebration of Nottingham City Libraries we have curated some of our favourite images of our libraries over the years for you to enjoy.
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Around 60% of the current prison population has a literacy level no higher than primary school level. The provision of libraries within prisons is an important tool in improving literacy in inmates and supporting with their wellbeing.
Read on to find out more about the HMP Nottingham library and some of the exciting projects staff are working on, including the Storytime Dads programme.
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Linking into the theme of Libraries Week this year, Nottingham City and Inspire libraries, and the British Library’s National Network of Business & IP Centres (BIPC) supports aspiring business owners, entrepreneurs and inventors to start or develop their business.
We are opening new sites throughout October at Bulwell Riverside, Mansfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield and Beeston libraries, providing insights and access to free resources, training and events for businesses. At these locations people can meet with BIPC Advisors to discuss their business and access online reports and resources including COBRA, Market IQ, Kompass and Local Data Online.
The expansion of new sites beyond the Nottingham City area has been made possible due to funding from the British Library and Department of Culture, Media and Sport.
- Our Fit for Business programme will start in October, featuring webinars, one-to-ones and a Business Club to bring business inspiration and showcase practical advice.
- Businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs can also access free online accountancy support and advice on how to protect their intellectual property.
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BorrowBox are working with our libraries to help #ShareTheChange, curating a collection of inspiring titles that are available to all BorrowBox library users. This month's selection includes,
How to Cope by Dr Claire Hayes: In this remarkable audiobook, Dr Claire Hayes demonstrates how we can all use cognitive behavioural principles to cope with the pressures of daily life.
In clear and practical terms, she shows us how to make sense of distressing feelings, become aware of our unhelpful thoughts and, most of all, to focus on tangible steps that will improve our mental well-being.
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Why I'm No Longer Talk to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge: This is a searing and illuminating exploration of what it means to be a person of colour in Britain today, covering issues from eradicated black history to white privilege, the fallacy of ‘meritocracy’ to whitewashing feminism, and the inextricable link between class and race.
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The Future We Choose by Christiana Figueres, Tom Rivett-Carnac: A passionate call to arms from former UN Executive Secretary for Climate Change, Christiana Figueres, and Tom Rivett-Carnac, senior political strategist for the Paris Agreement.
We are still able to stave off the worst and manage the long-term effects of climate change, but we have to act now. We know what we need to do, and we have everything we need to do it.
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If there is one area of libraries we think of as full of dusty tomes it's often Local Studies. Well not our Local Studies!
Our team have been working tirelessly to make the collections accessible to everyone and these are just some of the projects they have been working on.
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Digitising oral histories - Over 100 of our oral histories will be digitised and available to listen to as part of the British Library ‘Unlocking our sounds’ project.
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Card Subject Index - Over 300,000 cards from the Nottingham Local Studies Library ‘Doubleday Index’ are being sorted and scanned, with plans to make the scans available to browse in all our libraries.
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Mapping Nottingham - We are digitising thousands of Nottingham Local Studies maps so they will be freely available online to browse and search.
Have you completed this month’s jigsaw yet? Started during lockdown as a reminder of the places we love around Nottingham, our online jigsaws have proved so popular that we’ve decided to carry on creating them.
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Share the change that libraries have made to your lives or within your community by posting your photos and library stories with the hashtags #ShareTheChange and #LibrariesWeek.
Head over to the Libraries Week website to find out more and download an editable graphic where you can insert your photos into the frame!
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