The Independent Library as the Great Good Place
In the heart of their communities and repositories of some of the most independent cultural collections in the UK, independent libraries are social, educational, working spaces which deliver numerous personal benefits to those who use them. This year’s theme is inspired by Ray Oldenburg’s The Great Good Place (1989), in which Oldenberg discusses the desirable ‘third place’: public places where anyone can gather and interact. Unlike the first place (home) and the second place (work), third spaces offer inexpensive access to discussion, pleasure, and community, leading to social cohesion, civic engagement, and the wellbeing that comes from a sense of place. Third spaces can be cafes, main streets, coffeehouses, beer gardens…
But it is the library which is a third space par excellence. Its collections, exhibitions and spaces inform debate and encourage self-education, its membership creates and promotes social equality, while its events create and promote social vitality and community.
In 2021 The Leeds Library drew on the theory of the Great Good Place as it worked to ensure its future and so the ILA’s conference that year explored every way in which independent libraries have been, and will continue to be, Great Good Places to their local, national, and international users in the digital age.
Because of the pandemic not everyone could attend in person, and it was brilliant that in the year of The Great Good Place the conference went hybrid, live-streaming talks and events to the world.
The keynote address was The Widening Circle of a Library, given by Peter Francis. Peter’s been Warden of Gladstone's Library for 25 years, following a career in the Church, and he has penned a personal and revealing memoir. The Widening Circle of Us grapples with ideas of faith, family and personal politics, as well as the changes he’s witnessed in the independent library sector - many of which resonate with Oldenburg’s ideas in The Great Good Place.
We were also delighted to continue the tradition of creative events as part of the ILA conference, with a performance of MR James’s spookiest ghost stories, Casting the Runes. Performed by Nunkie Theatre in the heart of the Leeds Library, it was a night not easily forgotten…
Download the full programme by clicking here (valid as of 20th September 2021). You can also see the full biographies of all contributors by clicking here (tbc).
