Who'd have known?

The promotion of activities in Croydon libraries is sporadic, leaving some residents unaware of what our libraries have to offer.

 Where it works well it is often excellent.

Where it doesn't work it's poor indeed.

That's why we are encouraging residents to pass on information about any items of interest, as a group of Bradmore Green residents did regarding the Croydon History Talks in May, in order that we can promote them.

Here's just another example of a poorly advertised activity in a Croydon Library, on today, but not advertised on the council website....

 and only posted on a facebook page, a page liked by only 49 followers, late morning today.

Even those with access to the internet do not all have access to a Facebook account, as a Croydon resident reminded us, only last week.

Had we known of this activity we would have promoted it in good time.

Chris Cyrus and LoveLife 6958 do some amazing work. You can find details here of a previous event, along with clips of their work, here. This event was held as part of The Reading Agency's MyVoice Project, now renamed Reading Activists.

What a shame many who would be interested will not even know it is on. Do go along if you can.

Chris Cyrus and LoveLife6958

Thornton Heath Library

TODAY

3.30 - 5.30pm

Suitable for 12+

No need to book, just turn up!

And do keep sending us details of any activities you spot so we can promote them!

MyVoice in Croydon Libraries!

The MyVoiceUK project, led by young people aged 11-19, has been running in Croydon for a little over a year now.  We only found out about it recently, but regularly attend the monthly meeting at Ashburton Library to organise library events, promote the use of local libraries and… eat pizza!

Last month we hosted a celebration of all the MyVoice UK work in Croydon so far, with a guest appearance of the Rap Poet Chris Syrus and LoveLife6958, who had worked with the MyVoice group in Croydon before we joined.

We also showed a video to summarise the work and events that had been organised by the MyVoice group in the last year, and interviewed some of the young people who participated in the running of the events. 






The Mayor of Croydon was unable to attend but the Deputy Mayor and his wife attended to show their support for the project. 

Unfortunately Liz Rose, the librarian who organises the MyVoice group, was ill on the day and unable to attend. I think she will be proud of what we achieved and we look forward to sharing our photos and videos with her.

Although the MyVoice project is not well advertised in Croydon, full details are on the Reading Agency site (where we discovered it!).


It is certainly a great opportunity for young people to get more involved in their libraries, and we personally feel that it is just a nice thing to do with your time. Hopefully the MyVoice group at Ashburton will soon be able to set up what some other MyVoice groups have done by setting up our own Twitter account, Tumblr site and Facebook page to better advertise what we do and what is on offer in our great Croydon Libraries!  Liz Rose, the librarian in charge of this project at Ashburton, is currently looking into this.

We would highly recommend trying it out at Ashburton Library. The next planning session will be held on Saturday 21^st April from 2.00pm to approximately 3.00pm, although it can run on much longer.  It is good fun and a great constructive thing to be doing with spare time!

To find out more or to get involved, get in touch with Ashburton Library’s Liz Rose by calling her on 020 8726 6900 or emailing her at Liz.H.Rose@croydon.gov.uk

We hope to see you there!


Amber and Poppy

You can find Croydon MyVoice on the Reading Agency site at http://www.myvoice.org.uk/croydon/ 
You can follow the Reading Agency MyVoice project on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/myvoiceuk
and on Twitter @myvoiceUK and @readingagency