A Day in the Life of Bootle Library

Following an open call, we commissioned illustrator Jesse Warby to capture a ‘Day in the Life’ of Bootle Library. Jesse visited Bootle (all the way from Stroud!) to immerse herself in the goings on and record all the parts of the programme that you might catch on any given day in the library. The illustration, like the library, is bright, fun, full of good chaos, life and art and we think she captures it absolutely perfectly. There's snapshots from each part of the programme here including play, painting, gardening, cooking, conversation and even one of our regulars taking his nap. 

Writer and creative producer Niamh Riordan, who is the steward and host of Bootle's Kitchen Library has written a ‘Day in the Life’ of Bootle Library, detailing all of the conversations, workshops, creative play activities and everything in between. This beautiful piece of writing contains the same good chaos of Jesse's illustration and the warmth of what we overhear in Bootle every day as well as the creative practices happening around the daily activity of the library service itself. Read and look through below.
 

There’s a loosely organised queue outside the library doors. At 10am sharp, these swing open and people head for shelves and computers. They settle down with newspapers, return books, scan noticeboards. The printer begins to churn out important documents. 

Someone comes in with a clanking bag of empty jars which they hand to a librarian: “for the kitchen,” they say. They find a seat amongst a group who have gathered around a table to read aloud together. They’ve been reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café. There is a lot to discuss. 

The prams start arriving at 10.15am. Toddlers wobble towards, get their hands into, squeeze things. They crawl through and under, have a taste, prod or look intently. They fall and pick themselves up and shout and babble.  They clamber on a beautiful piece of furniture, made just for them, pointing to painted worms which wriggle across it. Their grownups take a breath, have a chat, a hand massage or a brew. 

The smell of cooking begins to make its way from the back of the library to the front door.  People sniff the air as they come in: “jam?” “soup?”

On the L-shaped strip of land which wraps around the library, a librarian has his hands in soil. The group around him holding trowels are planting up L-shaped raised beds with spring bulbs and herbs for the kitchen. The artwork on the billboards has changed, someone notices, and everyone stands back to take a look. 

The toddlers have been hoisted into prams and away for naps and lunch, their parents promising to come back next week: there’ll be a live jazz band for the babies. For the parents too. For the whole library, really.  The front of the library is peaceful for a while. The reading group are passing round biscuits and figuring out what they make of the novel’s structure.

At the back of the library, the sound of chopping: onions, garlic, wild things and something from a large jar are being sliced by many hands into many different shapes and sizes. This table is full and loud. Someone tells of a delicious way to cook such-and-such. Someone mentions a dish they loved in childhood. A few people mmm in agreement. Someone spots an ingredient which they “cannot stand”, and there’s a story in that too. 

More books are borrowed, returned, things printed. Librarians give out advice on job searches, computer problems, a great book to try, a group to join.  Someone has a meeting with a support worker, someone is writing an essay, someone is emailing their mate. A school group troupes through the doors and the library is extremely loud for a while.  

When the gardeners come in to get warm someone asks “what’s cooking?” and they are invited to “sit, eat!” Tables are cleared and set with pink tablecloths “dyed with red cabbage”, someone says. Bowls, each inlaid with a different pattern, are taken from a cabinet which has curved edges and green ceramic handles. Soup is ladled out and passed round the table, brought to the librarians, and offered to people at the computers. “Think I made this bowl,” someone says, amidst the clanking of spoons and the thank yous. 

A group of women and children gather in the front of the library. Another big table, set this time with pieces of fabric and embroidery hoops. Most of the people round the table know the woman who shows them how to draw flowers with thread, but today she’s sharing her skill. Last week, they all read together in the garden, practicing the occasional unfamiliar word in the early spring sunshine. Next week, Sharmin will run a Kurdish dancing workshop. Whilst the grown-ups chat in several languages and sew, the kids build cardboard box constructions, flick through books and race around.

Five people are trying to wash up in the kitchen. The last books of the day change hands. Someone asks “what’s on tomorrow?” The librarians are handed a thank you card. Someone pops in at the last minute to water the plants which sit on top of the library shelves, before the doors are closed for the night.