Barbican Lending Library

The Barbican Lending Library is located in the Barbican Arts complex in the City of London borough and contains an adult library, a children's library, an arts library, and a music library. The library as a whole was really wonderful and a very well-funded library -- the librarians even admitted to that! -- which means they are able to offer an attractive, up-to-date, well-stocked facility.
We focused our visit in the children's and music libraries. The children's library, serving patrons 0-14 years, keeps a packed schedule. They have two weekly "Rhyme Times" for the general public as well as regular weekly visits from 3-4 schools. They also put together bulk loans for some area schools; in other words, the teacher contacts the librarian, requests some books on particular topics or subjects, then the library staff puts together a bag full of books for the teacher. The library staff also has a few outreaches where a staff member conducts a storytime at a nursery school. They have a regular Saturday event with special guests like puppet shows, storytellers, and once even a man who brought in snakes. I was also impressed that they have a regular reading group for older readers, right now ages 10-14; Ms. Owens, the children's librarian, said it runs at about 8 children each week.
And if all that doesn't keep the staff busy enough, they have some yearly events: Children's Book Week, World Book Day, Book Start initiatives, Reading is Fundamental, and the Summer Reading Challenge. I found it really neat that all of the children in the city who complete the Summer Reading Challenge get to participate in a special ceremony at the Lord Mayor's house.
The music library was just amazing! 16,000 cds, 15,000 scores, periodicals, books, DVDs, and even a piano that people can sign up and use. As a musician, I was really fascinated to all of the music available. They bind each piece of music they acquire so that it has a longer shelf life, and catalogue them according to a special system devised by some musicians in the 1930s. They have even indexed each song in the various anthologies that they own.
The library adds about 60-70 new music CDs a month, and consequently must also weed those CDs regularly as well, since they are not an archival library. However, Ms. Wells, the music librarian, said they take a more cautions approach with their scores, since often a score will go out of print and it's very difficult to find. She said they hold a used CD sale about once a year and the adult library holds books sales a few time a year. Unfortunately, we missed the summer sale!