Introduction

One thing I love about the libraries of Hull is their individual characters.

 As part of the Larkin festival, building on the theme of Larkin’s career as a librarian, I set myself the challenge of creating sixteen poems to capture the ‘essence’ of each library.

This project took place across the sixteen libraries of Hull City Council: Anlaby Park Library, Avenues Library, Bransholme Library, Central Library, Fred Moore Library, Freedom Centre Library, Gipsyville Library, Greenwood Avenue Library, Holderness Road Customer Services, Hull History Centre, Ings Library, Longhill Library, Marfleet Library, Western Library, and the Mobile Library. The Brynmor Jones Library at the Hull University campus is also included as it was Larkin’s workplace.

I spent time at each of the libraries, finding out what the library means to the visitors and staff, building up a sense of place and character, creating a piece of writing for each place that attempts to sum up its ‘character’, through conversations, stories and descriptions collected during the visit.

I asked people to describe their library in three words: ‘friendly, welcoming, helpful’ were words that came up again and again, no matter which library I was in. ‘If these shelves could speak,’ I asked, ‘what do you think they’d say?’ ‘Pick me… read me… come back soon,’ they answered, and other surprising, funny, insightful ideas, many of which you will find woven into the poems.

The photographs in the exhibition convey the individual characteristics of each library. Quirky, evocative, invoking a strong sense of place, they reflect observations captured in the poems.

Enjoy the poems and photographs. Go visit those libraries, and I guarantee that inside each you will find a warm, welcoming treasure-trove and people pleased to see you.

Poems: Amanda Lowe              

Amanda Lowe is a recent MA graduate of Creative Writing from Hull University. Amanda specialises in creative thinking and writing, has written two books and has spent the last twenty years encouraging schools and organisations to think more creatively.  A native of Hull, Amanda was introduced to its libraries at a very early age, and has loved them ever since.

                                                       

 Photographs: Quentin Budworth    

Quentin Budworth is an award-winning filmmaker and photographer, working with local, authorities, schools, museums and colleges. His most recent exhibition was at Hull Maritime Museum. Quentin produced ‘Tequila Toad’ for the ‘Larkin with Toads Celebrations’. He works with digital photography to create images that are engaging, challenging, evoking mood, time, space and communicating a sense of life, vitality and spirit.

Sponsored by:

The James Reckitt Library Trust

Contacts:

amandalowe1@btinternet.com        quentinbudworth@btinternet.com

Anlaby Park Library

Anlaby Park Library

Unique in its setting, little cottage
Urban oasis, hidden home
Children play on grassy green, dogwalker throws ball
Tall trees, small trees, bushes dotted round
Garden scruffy enough to be homely,
Neat enough to look cared for
Leave us as we are
Heart of the community
We all think it’s a very precious place
To sit and read
Friendly, private, safe
Mince pies at Christmas
Kids know the staff
Come in with an empty head,
Fill with travel books, people, cook books, computers
Come out with ideas for tea.
They never stand and not choose anything
Do not change us – Preserve us.
New desk where assistants greet with smiles
Smells like a library, looks like a fairytale cottage with books
Children’s corner: beanbags and a corner to curl, toybox beckoning
We like being in the order we are. We’re quite happy.
Proper old-fashioned shelving. Everything in its proper place. And look at the beautiful parquet flooring
Pop in and say hi. Welcome.

Avenues Library

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avenues Library

Down Chants Ave where the Co-op used to be
With windows stuffed with info – it’s the library
It still looks like a shop, a shop where things are free
And a hub of information for the Avenues

Just before it opens, they form their eager queues
Ready to bag computers, bring their books back, pick and choose
Dive into the kid’s room, or catch up with the news
There’s nowhere to sit, but you can stand and have a chat

With the ladies at the desk who can tell you this and that
Old men bring them chocolate bars and they’re worried about getting fat,
And there’s never enough time, there isn’t space to swing a cat
But if we had more money – have you seen the room upstairs?

We could get it done up lovely, have a computer suite up there
Then we could rearrange the shelves, have a coffee machine, and chairs
But we don’t want to get too posh, or look like we’re putting on airs
But we want to deliver the best service we can provide

If there’s a book you’re looking for, you’ve hunted far and wide
We have a ‘specials’ database, and we search nationwide
We get lots of local lecturers and teachers come inside
And we take great pride in hunting the old and the obscure

Come in, come in and use the place, we’ll give you a quick tour
It might look rather dated, but it has its own allure
It has everything a library should have, of that we can assure
And we keep the noises down to a tolerable degree

 

Bransholme Library

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bransholme Library

9.30 am already busy, bustling, books
‘What do you recommend?’ ‘lovely, thank-you very much’
Blue plaque on the wall outside informs
This was built on an RAF base
Welcome to your library

A community centre, a meeting place,
Somewhere to see a friendly face
Customers love our new books displays
Pick me, I’ve been waiting for days

Teen zone: coffee-bar style computer station
Middle-sized kids on middle-sized creations
Tiny computer stations in toddlers’ gated enclosure
Little desks – middle desks – big desks
Who’s been sitting at MY computer?We’re that busy, sometimes the books get out of order.
We try and do a section a day, but you never quite get on top of it.
Supermarket baskets you can fill with books,
Reminders that the new Valerie Wood can be ordered
Read me. I’d like to throw these books at you so you don’t miss them

This library kept me going through my illness.
Gave me something to look forward to.
Finishing this book and onto the next. I’m still here, still alive.
We’ll be pleased to see you back again soonWhen I met the wife, she was a big reader.
I’d never read a book in my life. She turned me on.
Third generation of readers in our family now.
And to think that grandma started us all off.

Ghosts of the RAF whisper ‘Fly!’
‘Reach for the sky!’

Brynmor Jones Library

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brynmor Jones Library

We knew Larkin. East Wing King. Lord of the Library. Bard of the Books.
Saw him scurrying away from meetings he didn’t want to have.
Sandals and socks, and those glasses. What a card.
He never heard half the words
People muttered. Hard of hearing, as he was, preferred the shared
Utterings of books – and what books we were, are still, in the silent library.
And what a library – testament to Academia. No fancy paraphernalia here
We’re not the bling and glamour stock of the public hockbooks
We be noble treasures, mind stock, food for thought books
Smug in the knowledge that one day, one day, we will be rediscovered
A scholar’s soundless uncovering, tracking our marking
Along well-worn carpeting between miles of aisles of information
A tower block for books. High rise inspiration, aspiration
Looking down on Hull, laid out like a living map below.
Silence staid here, expected, quietly preferred
Perturbed faces quell aural intrusions amongst
Distinct smell of books, not bookshop new, library old.
A room, bigger than most libraries, holds magazines, newspapers,
Periodicals, electronic journals, ebooks.
Secret stores of rarities, woodwormed and leather unbinding
Vast areas of space alive with contemplation and study
Don’t need fancy chairs, spanky and flash
They’d sit in the mud to read this information, them students.

 

Fred Moore Library

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Fred Moore Library

I remember you, arrived on your bike
In 1962, you were 23, as I am now
Back then I was a green Nissan hut, you were
Stamping the books, smiling, but
Saving dirty books under the counter for the
Old guy at the allotment. I was old, crinkly, rusty
Tucked behind Wold road, draughty, dusty.
Now I look like a brick pagoda, breeze-blocked, bright, primary coloured
Come in, come in and sail my sea-blue carpet to other worlds
I’ve classes and social clubs, tea and biscuits
Computers, newspapers, magazines. All kinds of things
You don’t expect if you’re only thinking books. Take a look.
borrow me, take me home, read me, look after me, take care of me, love me.
We all need looking after.
take me home with you.

 I’m different now, though books will always be books:
My cookery books will only ever see kitchens.
Kids’ books still get lost under beds.
My holiday reads go where? I wonder.
A thousand visitors a week come through
My tiny door to a tall, tall building.
I’m impressively big but hidden away.
High, high windows – not to look out of,
To catch the light, make me bright, welcome you in.
Inside, burble, chatter, laughter.
‘We only eat in the living room, I vac up regular, I do.’
‘He said I’ve got little soldiers in my pocket. I can
play with them at work when I’m bored.’
‘His wife doesn’t like him to read in bed,
so he gets his headphones on and listens to the books.’
A muted phone rings. ‘Yes, you can order the audio books on mp3s.’
Smiley faces, cheery voices, helpful, kind
Staff just as lovely as you were –
Back then, when I was old and you were young.

Freedom Centre Library

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom Centre Library 

There’s a phoenix rising from the ashes of the Boot Triangle
There’s the curving designer multipurpose centre
It’s beautiful, big, bright
With circles and spotlights
Plastic plants stand to attention guarding the doors
Look again – there’s a library.

There’s the café, where plastic chairs
Congregate round slabs of wooden-edged marblesque tables
There’s chef’s special board announcing ‘cake of the day’;
Deep fried battered haddock, chips and mushy peas
Look again – there’s a library.

If you’ve sprains, strains, lacerations cuts and grazes, headache
Bruises, broken bones, bites and stings, burns and scalds, eye-ache
They’ll fix it at the treatment centre Monday to Friday, nine to five
And there’s loads of fitness classes when you’re feeling more alive
Run on clean green electricity generated by the sun

There’s Pilates, martial arts, drama, Adult Ed
Women’s groups, Boxercise, dancing, hairdressing,
Bingo and a gym with lockers and showers.
Mind, body and soul catered for,
And a fine cuppa tea at the café
Look again – there’s a library.

There’s rooms for conferences, meetings, weddings
A bar and a stage with full lighting rig
You’ll find the best sprung dance floor in Hull here
Plenty of parking – when you come here for functions
Look again. It always has words here.

Night time shutters pull like window blinds
Tuck the books in for the night
Sleep tight watch the bookworms don’t bite.