A NEW digital and performance suite is now open at one of the city’s most iconic libraries.
Visitors to the Grade II listed St Barnabas Library, on French Road, can now make, edit and share their own video content, thanks to new cutting-edge facilities that have been created as part of an £85,000 project.
Twelve new PCs have also been provided for library members to use, along with a new performance area, projector and viewing screen. New bi-fold doors will allow the area to be separated off or opened up to the wider library for large performances
The new space was officially opened on Friday (17 March), with a performance from the St Barnabas CofE Primary School choir.
The project has been made possible thanks to a £65,000 funding award from Arts Council England’s Libraries Improvement Fund, with Leicester City Council providing an additional £20,000 of funding.
Among the plans for workshops in the new space are coding clubs, basic IT courses and introductions to video creation and social media skills, and well as informal learning opportunities. Private groups and organisations will also be able to hire the space and equipment.
For more information on the new facilities at St Barnabas, please call the library on 0116 299 5450.
For general information on all of Leicester’s library services, visit www.leicester.gov.uk/libraries
Background notes: Arts Council England’s £5m Libraries Improvement Fund for 2022/23 is helping to transform library services up and down the country by helping them to upgrade their buildings and digital infrastructure so they can respond to the changing ways people are using them.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport funds the Libraries Improvement Fund, which is administered by Arts Council England.