A new library has opened at the restored former Cardiff Royal Infirmary (CRI) chapel. Following its official opening, Lorensbergs talked to James Gorwill, Digital Officer, and Helen Cleal, Senior Hub Officer at Cardiff Libraries, to hear more about this exciting new project.
The former chapel, named Capel I Bawb, has been sensitively restored to offer modern facilities in an historic, listed building. The rooms are suspended within the structure so that the shape and original characteristics of the chapel are still experienced. The result is one of historic architecture neatly encasing a 21st century modern service. Customers browse books and rest on the original ornate wooden pews to read, use their devices or simply enjoy the setting. Light spills through the beautiful stained-glass windows into the library’s IT suite, where computer users access the latest technology.
Self-service PC booking and printing options are coming soon, adding further to the modern experience with the installation of new kiosks. Users will also be able to print from their own devices with the launch of netloan Wi-Fi printing. Library staff are excited by these important changes, anticipating the satisfaction it will bring to their users.
“Users will be able to print from whatever device they have, at any point that suits them. So we’re really looking forward to that. It’s going to massively enhance our services.” says James.
“Sometimes users just want to print. They may not have thought in advance about how they will do it, but having the convenience of simply printing from their own device is really appealing,” comments Helen. “Capel I Bawb offers access outside of times library staff are on site, so the new self-service options will make everything much easier. It really meets our needs and there’ll be a lot of interest from our customers.”
Residents from the surrounding areas of Roath and Adamsdown have warmly received the new library. A mile or two to the south and east of Cardiff city centre, the neighbourhoods feature diverse communities with some pockets of deprivation. Residents are embracing all it has to offer, and with a café and meeting rooms, it has wide appeal. The library is already holding events, providing space for MPs and the police service to meet with and advise local residents.
There’s a wide array of needs to meet, from jobseekers and benefit claimants to local business owners. Hospital patients and visitors are dropping in to use the new café while taking the opportunity to use the computers to check email and browse the Reading Well book stock. Library memberships are increasing and new events will soon be launching including story times and a book club.
A community hub approach is used throughout Cardiff’s library sites. It has helped to modernise the buildings and enabled libraries to retain their central locations. While the libraries now share floorspace with other council services, they have gained footfall and offered their users greater convenience in all that’s possible to achieve when visiting. Particularly, the library computers facilitate other public services, including immigration and visa services, adult learning and money advice. Jobseekers use library PCs to make job applications while attending the council-run Into Work job club.
Good computer provision has long been a priority for Cardiff’s library service and they are committed to meeting user demand for modern workstations and fast internet. Across their 22 sites, they offer over 400 computers, a number which will soon increase by 20% thanks to new Adult Learning funding. This funding has allowed for the modernising of equipment across the city, including at Cardiff’s original Community Hub in Ely which has seen the computers updated in its training rooms, job club and computer suite.
Across Cardiff’s libraries PC sessions are managed by netloan PC booking software and support the different ways needed to manage PC time for users. Cardiff has configured their netloan settings to encourage users to stay longer and to use their PCs more often. Halfway through 2022 and with all Covid restrictions lifted, users can enjoy up to three hours’ PC time daily on the majority of PCs. Where more time can be accommodated that day, automated extensions in netloan are a convenient way to offer users the opportunity to stay longer online, tapping into a total weekly allowance of 18 hours.
Across the authority, library events are in full swing, with attendee volumes multiplying by 10 times since the darker days of the pandemic in Spring 2021. Events that had to move online are now back to being in-person. New author events are planned for the months ahead as part of the library’s Open Space series, including one with local writer John Wake.
Meanwhile the plans for new computers offer up a realm of opportunities in what the library can offer next, including potential for multimedia PCs to start providing video editing and photoshop software. It’s an exciting time for Cardiff Libraries and we look forward to seeing how services continue to develop both at the new Capel I Bawb site and across the wider city.
With thanks to James Gorwill and Helen Cleal at Cardiff Libraries for telling us all about their new library.
