A tour of Newcastle City Library was an optional extra after the main programme of the day.
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| View from above looking down to ground floor |
Partnerships
One of the things that struck me most about this particular tour was the sheer level of partnership working, externally and internally. Externally e.g. with the British Library on specific initiatives, from the exhibition on Dickens and the North East on level six to the preparations for an IP Centre further down. Internally with shared services (e.g. job centre) and using the library to promote and facilitate other local government initiatives (e.g. lending electricity monitors).
Accessibility
The other thing that struck me was just how inclusive and accessible it was – from staff positioned on the main door to help guide people where they wanted to go through to open-plan spaces with a lot of fairly low height and very open shelving and displays, lots of colour zoning, and visibility throughlines from wall to wall. Clear sightlines and passages through to everywhere interconnected by staff on the floor or pods rather than behind desks.
The passes the staff wore around their necks that allowed them to communicate directly with each other were also interesting, no phones going off, phonecalls directed to backoffice staff not in the main space. That really reminded me of a corporate sector approach.
Above all everything about the library is very visible, and that makes it easy to navigate.
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