Launch of Polish book collection
Monday, December 18 2006
Galashiels Library held a special launch on Tuesday, 12 December 2006, to mark the introduction of Polish books to their collection.
The launch follows a successful bid by Scottish Borders Council’s Library Information Services (SBCLIS) to the Scottish Executive.
A grant of £15,630 was secured from the Executive, with SBCLIS providing £1,500 of match funding. This grant will fund the 'Providing Access to Language Materials' (PALM) project to build on the foreign language book provision already in place in Hawick Library to four other libraries in the region namely Duns, Peebles, Eyemouth and Galashiels.
Councillor Val Robson, Joint Portfolio Holder for Education and Lifelong Learning, attended the event and explained why launching the books was such a pleasure, "Our libraries are an essential component of active and inclusive community life - and very comfortable and friendly places to be. They are very much centres, not only for books but for additional and further learning opportunities for all ages and can offer all sorts of interesting materials and courses." She continued: "We would hope that such projects in our libraries will create improvements for all users and increase awareness of the invaluable role of public libraries within our communities. The end product, of course, is to develop fully inclusive communities where everybody gets a chance to make a difference and build a better Borders whatever their language."
John Beedle, Area Librarian for Hawick, explained how the book collection has led to many other activities enhancing communication with the Polish community: "The library staff were invited along to the Catholic Church to a Polish evening on 17th November where we met some members of the Polish community. We used the opportunity to find out what type of books they would like to see in the library language collections. We also held a Polish film night along with Duns Library where about 26 people attended. We have had very good feedback as well as several letters of gratitude. It is excellent that we are forming ties with these communities and we are now looking forward to the project further developing into the other four libraries around the Borders."
Andrezej Wendt attended the launch along with his wife, Karron. The couple, who now live in Galashiels, work closely with the Polish community both in the Borders as well as in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Andrezej said: "We endeavour to help new arrivals to settle into their new communities because it is hard, especially when they don't speak very good English. We use the library very much, particularly for the IT facilities and the internet resources and we are very pleased that these books are now available for the Polish community. I am sure they will appreciate it and it will help them to settle into the region."
Unified Solutions.