People feel strongly about libraries, and we're no different.
Google and
Wikipedia have usurped many aspects of the reference library, and fiction has been made available in supermarkets for less than the price a bottle of wine, so it's hardly suprising that library usage is declining. But whether people use them or not, try and close one, and there's an outcry.
However, libraries are changing.
We've worked with
Gloucestershire and
Wiltshire Library Authorities on a wide range of projects-strategies, research, income generation and new branch openings. We've even hooked them up with
amazon via a
white box solution ( painted in their corporate colours).
Gloucestershire has a 39 branch network, and
David Paynter has done an excellent job of contemporising many of them ( as funding has allowed).
Visit
Bishops Cleeve,
Dursley,
Longlevens or the new library soon to be opened in
Cirencester, and you'll see how dusty, dowdy and quiet libraries have been brought into today, with lots of colour, noise, activity and new content and media formats.
You'll find:
- Plasma screens highlighting the latest DVD rentals, or showing sport on Sunday
- Music playing-everything from Handel to Hendrix
- Internet Cafe's with free web access for all for a couple of hours
- Baby changing facilities and childrens events
- Free wireless usage for all those with a laptop or
itouch-
RFID ( so staff can help customers, not just stamp books)
- The latest best-sellers, and not an old dog eared romance novel in sight
..and consequently the number of visitors to the libraries increasing dramatically
Head First is delighted to be involved with the
new Cirencester Library opening this autumn, and be working with Wiltshire on their development plans for 2009 and beyond.
The new Dursley Library, Glos.
Distinctive branding for Gloucestershire Libraries
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