Many Library Innovations in U.K., Reports Newspaper

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/14/2000

A conference held last week at the British Library, Reading Nation, portrayed libraries as forward-thinking deeply-rooted community institutions, according to a report in the February 10 Times of London. The National Year of Reading prompted both government investment in information infrastructure and some innovative programs: a library on the beach, discounts to basketball games with a library card, and some ad hoc methods of classification at one library, such as "books about people more miserable than me." A supermarket chain sponsored storytelling sessions run by staff trained by librarians, and set up mobile libraries in its parking lots. A Ford factory sponsored a book trolley with selections from local libraries. "As one of the conference speakers said, libraries are not only places that foster the creative industries, they constitute a creative industry themselves," the newspaper reported.