LIBRARY LIFE

Gladstone's Library, Hawarden

By Rhian Waller - Gladstone's Library PR and marketing

This week's column begins with a request: please do not read this and come away thinking that library staff spend their whole working days reading. We do not.

Everyone, from the Director of Collections to the Reading Room Assistants are on the go from the moment they arrive to when they leave, categorising, tidying, assisting guests and Readers, putting information out, caring for the collections, working with volunteers, organising events and more.

Over in marketing, I rarely have time to glance at a book, although I'm surrounded by them every day. My job is to bring other people in to read and write - this does not leave much time for reading and writing of my own.

Having said all that, there is one exception to this: I have been asked to help whittle down the Writers in Residence entries for the 2023 programme. Our internal panel reads all the entries in a cycle, passing the books on to the next panel member once we've finished our current category.

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Many eyes are cast over each book sent in as part of the scheme, and once we have come up with the 2023 shortlist, the external judges, who are usually authors and Trustees, will read the shortlisted books again before they decide on the final four or so who will be granted residencies.

So, I find myself reading on the bus on the way in and back from work, on my lunch break, in the evening when everyone else is watching TV and last thing at night before I sleep. So far, I have read Young Adult books, gritty psychological dramas, dark and intriguing historical novels, far-flung fantasies and intimate portraits of ordinary families. I'm on to the non-fiction set now, and that is just as varied.

Of course, we all must stay tight-lipped about the shortlist until it is officially unveiled, but it's fair to say there are already some front-runners. It's a privilege to be involved, and I can already tell you that next year's Writers in Residence - whoever is chosen - will be talented authors.