Hey everyone
We now have a new website & Twitter account for FH Library!
@LibrarySE23 on Twitter & the website is www.fhlibrary.co.uk
We’re more than happy for any input or feedback guys & we’re all on this forum 
@V22_Louise_House @Michael @Simon @JohnRussell
ETA
You can all join our “friends of here” to support our library & get 2 months FHLibrary friends membership FREE! Right here
Great idea, and well done for getting so many businesses onboard to provide discounts to members. Have ordered my card. 
Oh. Better than the Lewisham Card for FH licals. Will oder tomorrow
Yay! We need to replace leading in the roof that has been stolen and so much more #EveryLittleHelps All “Friends of” will make a massive difference
Thanks guys
This is my baby, so will be pushing it to the hilt xx
Fantastic idea @Pauline , have ordered mine!
Will the participating shops have anything up in the windows to remind me to use it, or will it be on a hush-hush basis 
Thank you, we will be advertising it so it won’t be hush hush, probably with window stickers 
Window signs are so helpful. I am always forgetting to use my Lewisham Card… then finding out I could’ve saved money.
Anyways… FH Library thingy bought.
Cheers guys
The support we’ve had for the library on here has been amazing 
Superb Pauline. Just ordered my card!!
Cards will roll out at some time in October - they should be accompanied by a more comprehensive leaflet containing details on who is offering what. We should also have window stickers for shops taking part.
Cards will then be valid until the end of 2017 - at which point we’ll start badgering you to sign up for another year!
Thank you to those who have already ordered, hopefully at the equivalent of £2.50 per month you will all consider it well worth while from the money you can save, and even if you don’t - you’re helping the library, and that is, after all, the point!
Great stuff John @Londondrz & couldn’t have said that better @Simon
We’ve had quite a few join “friends of FH Library” since last night so thanks for the support guys 
Limited Edition prints of Forest Hill Library will soon be available too. Our brilliant illustration @AlexFosterillo (on Twitter) has won an award for the best illustrator in the world #NoJoke & we’re all very proud of this. He’s not even charging us (not the norm) for using the image on our social media, paper headings etc
Here it is exclusive for you all to see after the first tweet showing it today on @LibrarySE23 
The Philosophy Foundation will be anchor tenants at #FHLibrary right from the start
http://us12.campaign-archive1.com/?u=2849064262760c7fc17ce90d2&id=35fc8cf4d7&e=847cf732e0
Cheers for the like @Michael as you know we are doing our best for our library. But it scares me at the same time too . I hope everyone is on our side. High five dude 
Delivery for the kids library!
http://www.openingthebook.com have donated a Picturebook Tunnel for the kids library 
One of my customers Aunt is the director of the company and kindly put me in touch with her - she has also shared a lot of information with us about running a library and offered to donate a piece of furniture - this is what we chose and it even has mirrors in the tunnel for the kids to have fun
We will be hosting two meet and greets events for our volunteers to come have cake and tea with us & share their visions and thoughts with us for our library.
If anyone has volunteered or is thinking about it please come and join us.
All info here
http://us5.campaign-archive1.com/?u=4b5de14f9cdfba7a55ab59f1a&id=03ca80e20b&e=ae5062baf6
Does the library need kids’ books? We are having a clear out and have some in relatively good nick.
Yes please Rachael, Any book donations we take will either be added to the stock or saved to do book fairs outside the library which will probably be quarterly to raise extra funds
Excellent - will drop them in to you at the shop on Wednesdsy if that suits?
Cheers Rachael, that’s much appreciated:-)
How about cook books? I might do a cull.
If you have any spare Jason that would be great x
I have an assortment of books you are very welcome to.
If anybody would like to volunteer at the library starting from October, we are having a meeting of volunteers tomorrow evening (Thursday) at Louise House at 7.30pm and again on Saturday morning at 11am.
so far we have just over 100 volunteers on our list, which is incredible, but we really would still like more, so that we are able to run a totally awesome community library.
We would particularly welcome a couple of people with IT hardware and network skills to help ensure all those cogs are moving in the machines 
come along tomorrow or saturday or get in touch by PM or email michael@fhsoc.com
Yes please
Lewisham Council will be closing the library on Monday 10th October.
There will be a two week transition period before we can reopen on Monday 24th!
Amazing turnout and feedback from lots of locals at our first meet & greet volunteers event tonight!
We’ll be taking all on board & loved the amount of community input!
Thanks to all that joined us & sorry we couldn’t make the SE23.Life Meet Up tonight because of this, but sure we’ll all make the next one
What on earth are they doing for 2 weeks??? Reading the electricity meter? Taking down the council services posters? Nicking the light bulbs and all the 50 Shades books??? Cleaning the staff room fridge??
The main library floor is in a good state of repair, but the upstairs rooms have not been able to be used for years and so are largely full of stored items. They will take a fair amount of emptying, and there is only one narrow staircase to get things out. There are fixed units that will need removing as well as just stored furniture, paperwork and err… junk. There will need to be electrical work and plumbing in at least one room (the former staff room that will no longer be). The emptied rooms will then need decorating and re-filling with new fixtures and fittings for the new users. The council also need to strip out the old IT and either wipe or replace it. The council will also be providing some vital training during the closed period. And although you were joking about the meters, I learned today that after one previous handover, the gas transfer was not done properly and the new team running the library had their gas supply cut off and meter removed, because the council had not paid their final bill. Everyone has hopefully learned from past mistakes and we’re hoping to make sure the transfer goes smoothly. I’m going to count the light bulbs first though, just in case.
Don’t know what the hell is happening in the first week Andy, but think it’s taking out stuff storred in the upstairs rooms etc,
We will be taking it on from the 17th & will be going full out on painting the upstairs for new tenants & so much more on a shoestring to open on 24th as us.
Our crowdfundier will be live soon!
All help in anyway is more than welcome.
And we would love feedback from all!
Best as always
So I guess it would be good to return our books before the 10th?!
I’ll be raising this next week, but I can’t see how anyone can possibly be fined for returning books late if the library is closed. Will have an answer by Tuesday evening and be posting it here, on social media etc
This is a really scary time for us as we need to prove ourselves now!
We want to deliver the best service we can & want too.
We’ve never done this before but know we can,
TBH I personally am scared shitless because we will be judged by our friends and neighbours, but know we can deliver xx
Please give us a chance before judging us.
I know we can do it
P x
That makes me feel really sad that peeps have to return books early xx
Pauline it’s fine, I wasn’t complaining at all, I was just thinking it might be helpful to the new staff if the books are returned now, we’ve had them long enough anyway! I for one really appreciate everything you guys are doing. X
Thanks Jane xx
Just to confirm, I have had a written notification from Lewisham Council to say that all books will have their time extended by two weeks, so no one will be fined for a late return unless they are at least two weeks past their due return date.
Our library press release is being worked on now, there was a meeting today with Colman Getty who are working on this with us for free!
If anyone on here would like our press release or knows any direct useful contacts we could share this with then please let us know
The library is now closed for the time being!
Lewisham Council will be using the next week to clear out their belongings we don’t need and we will be in from Monday 17th to prepare for reopening on Monday 24th October.
if anyone would like to rent office or studio space please get in contact, we have a waiting list but we are giving locals first refusal and there is a viewing next week www.fhlibrary.co.uk
Please support us either by our crowdfunder or becoming a “Friend Of Forest Hill Library” all info for both is on our website above.
We want to deliver the most awesome community library we possibly can and have massive ambitions for this so all help is much appreciated. The more we have the more we can do AND we want to do a lot!
In the meantime if anyone wants to talk to us in person you can find me at my shop anytime or ask for @Simon @TheArchieParker or email @Michael michael@fhsoc.com or simply reply here with anything you want to ask us.
I’m honestly super excited because I can’t wait to try and make our new library amazing, but I’m also super scared because I know we will be judged so please tell us any concerns you may have so we can address them.
We have a meeting tomorrow evening so all feedback is much appreciated
Our management board meeting was very productive tonight & our next meeting will be next Monday at the library which we will then be the guardians of from then on.
I won’t bore you with stuff we are up against (Though we are determined this will not be an issue when we open on the 24th )but wanted to share this.
We want the whole community to have a say so in how we run the library so we will be setting up two advisory boards.
The first will be adults and we have already started getting in contact with local Schools (Heads & Heads of literacy) to say we would welcome them to sit on this board, The Philosophy Foundation will also sit on this board and we will be asking local Cllr’s to sit on this too alongside a couple of our volunteers and a few local residents that feel passionate about our library, so if anyone feels as passionate about our library as we do please get in touch with us if you think you would like to sit on this board!
The second advisory board will be made up by local kids which myself & Tara (from @V22_Louise_House & me got super excited about discussing a couple of days ago and sprung on the guys tonight) discussed with the others tonight. They all loved the idea of the kids having a say as much as us adults. So we are working on this now.
We will also be creating a young adult section in the main library for the older kids that don’t think it’s cool to hang out in the kids library, but they can also advise the younger kids on future Authors etc to follow.
So if anyone has kids that use the library frequently from year 5 upwards get in touch if the would like to get involved www.fhlibrary.co.uk
I’m creating a list of books and Authors kids of all ages want to see at the library so please parents and kids come and add to this so we can get this updated with what the kids want & not what they have to have
It is worth pointing out that the children’s advisory panel is directly inspired by Janusz Korczak, who felt that children had a right to have a say in their institutions and had a ‘parliament’ in the orphanage in Warsaw.
Yep Michael, it is inspired by this BUT I don’t want this to be politico in anyway as it’s all about our amazing local kids & their creative talents xx
My daughter tells me that schools generate reading lists for pupils, which go beyond the curriculum and are designed to broaden pupils’ reading horizons or, for the less enthusiastic reader, to entice them into the world of books.
It would be worth asking SE23 school librarians if they have such lists and could they share them with you. I believe these lists are sometimes generated with suggestions from the pupils, so you’d be getting a good mix of what teachers recommend and what pupils want.
Thanks for that Andy, we’ll ask this when we have our meetings with the Schools which we’re arranging soon to discuss what they would like to do on Library visits
A quick question; I had a look around the new library website and couldn’t find the answer.
Will the library be open to book donations?
Yes, we will be adding books that are appropriate to the stock & saving all other donations for book fairs to raise funds. All are very much appreciated
As I understood from the volunteers’ meeting the other Saturday, in practice donated books can only be reference material or will be sold. This is apparently because regulations require all books for loan (other than supplied new through normal channels) to be inspected for missing or defaced pages, improper additions, etc. This can be done only by Lewisham Libraries, who are unlikely to have the resources to do it.
I would have liked to donate many attractive and loanable books myself – and anyone who knows me will know that irrespective of age they are hardly distinguishable from new. They include many very accessible science & maths books which I hoped might inspire local GCSE / A Level students. I’d sooner seek a more appropriate home for them than the vagaries of a used book sale.
This is not to knock the new library setup – as this matter is outside their control – but to dispel any illusions potential donors may have regarding where their books will go.
@DickWynne we do hope that Lewisham will review the way of dealing with donated books as some will be perfect for the lending library, if there is a way to add them to the collection.
I, for one, would rather see good donated books lent out than sold. But that is something that we will need to continue to review until I get my way
Dick we can add books that are donated, but it is a long process for us at the moment.
This is also something else we are trying to fast track, but nothing will be unused.
Any books unused will be for sale at our monthly or quarterly book sales 
Completely agree with Michael on this - We are trying our best to do the right thing for the community BUT we are coming up against some obstacles that both of us disagree with!
I’ll buzz you tomorrow @Michael xx
The kids are loving being involved in the new library, their enthusiasm is just brilliant!
Naobi, the head girl at Holy Trinity School has took the initiative and is organising a fundraiser for the library & is having meetings with her head teacher to arrange this.
Chi-Chi from Eliot Bank School has also took the initiative and has started collecting thoughts and ideas from her classmates for the library.
These kids are pretty inspiring
They’ve all been giving me input at the shop too, some amazing suggestions from them all especially from the kids at Sydenham Girls School.
We have the keys 
Hi all, newbie to the forum - wanted to express how excited I am about the new (old?) library relaunch. I’m so happy it’s being brought back by the support of the community. I’ve signed up as a friend and am really looking forward to getting lost in there once the doors are opened again.
Fx
Welcome to the forum, @Fran_487 and thanks for supporting the community library. There’s a great buzz about the whole venture here on the forum
Thanks so much Fran for becoming a friend of FHL we all really appreciate the amazing support we’ve been getting from the community, and welcome to the forum
Library update from us here!
http://us14.campaign-archive1.com/?u=b9e3183d3b8c312753b8b3277&id=d56943705e&e=654aa7c797
@Michael @V22_Louise_House @Simon @JohnRussell
We had our first (we’ve had lots elsewhere) management board meeting in our library tonight!
We’re almost ready, but still have lots to do - Little Rufus kept us all stocked up on biscuits & made us laugh a lot when we were going over serious stuff
It was lovely to hear books being dropped in the drop box and we all agree we can’t wait to update and increase the stock.
We have also started work on the new “Young Adults” section.
Love the fact our meetings are always seriously down to what we have to do, but we always end up laughing at one thing or another.
We really couldn’t do this without any one of us, I really appreciate the rest of the team as I could never do what they do & to me they do most of the serious stuff.
Very chuffed for them all to select me as the kids library coordinator tonight which was a role we hadn’t filled yet. I’ll take this on with pride & do my best for the kids.
@JohnRussell was also appointed as our official Vice Chair with @Michael being our chair tonight.
All our roles are filled now & we are completely committed to making our library amazing.
We know this is no easy task but are willing to grab it with both hands and do the best we can.
Please stick by us for the first couple of months to find our feet, then after that we want to make our library completely awesome in so many ways 
Myself @Michael @Simon @JohnRussell @V22_Louise_House are all on here so all feedback is much more than welcome
Now the fun stuff begins 
Time to start making a list of the requests from local kids so we can start ordering new stock for our library 
Don’t panic adults, this is being done for the main adults section too. So feel free to post lists right here or via our website www.fhlibrary.co.uk and @Simon or @Michael can pick these up.
Please state if books titles, book series, author, or genre - I let the kids just jot down all so will be having fun on Google tonight 
ETA
All suggestions from the kids.
This is gonna take time!
Bean bags requested - gaming chairs (without games) will be in place for the YA new section on opening - they are even more excited about this now
Fairy lights requested - we can’t do because of health and safety.
whiteboards to draw in the kids library - we are looking into this & shouldn’t be a problem - if anyone has any to donate great stuff!
Quiet space for homework- yes that’s doable.
Other that has been requested and we will address
I think all of these are doable and easy to create!
Easy first page done 
I’ll follow up with Authors tomorrow and aim to get titles & series done by Friday.
All kids book input is very much appreciated here.
Thanks
Excellent work everyone, you are making us proud.
Thank you Tim, we are all really proud of the community support we’ve had and we couldn’t do this without it
Our press release has been sent out today by Link removed by request Embargoed until 00.01 Monday 24th October.
And we will be reopening the library on Monday
Thanks so much Caz for the offer. We now have access to a London library database with over 5 million books so we should be able to get everything from there
We are busy 
at the mo 
But Charlie (age 13) and Rufus (18 months) have been busy creating the kids library tonight with us while we were busy cleaning it tonight
We will keep all up to date on all, but we are a tad busy
Roll up, roll up!!!
If anyone wants to come along to the library today, tonight, tomorrow, or tomorrow night to help us prepare for opening on Monday please just rock up.
If the lights are on some of us are there, just ring the bell on the side door & we’ll let you in
Simon, Tara & Michael are there now, I’ll be there from 6pm so come and join us if you can
Just popped in and it looks really good. Clean, tidy and library like. Well done to you all, you are a credit to FH!!
although we have 100 volunteers we still need a few more volunteers next week to keep the library open in the evenings and weekends.
if you do want to help out, and do you bit to make Forest Hill Community Library a massive success, please email volunteers@fhlibrary.co.uk and do it soon!
“Friends of Forest Hill Libary” cards are on their way!
Thanks so much to everyone that has become a friend so far, and if anyone else wants to become a friend you can do here
http://fhlibrary.co.uk/friends-of-forest-hill-library/
10% discount in lots of FH shops, restaurants, bars & more with these. So well worth the money if you shop local
No more help needed to prepare for opening on Monday now, it’s all done & we are ready to open the doors on Monday morning
Thanks to all that came today
BUT as next week is half term and a lot of people are on holiday, we need a few extra volunteers for the first week of opening especially Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings.
So as @Michael has pointed out above please get in touch as soon as possible if you can help HERE volunteers@fhlibrary.co.uk
Also there has been a bit of a buzz since our press release has been sent out, so hopefully our crowdfunder gets shared far and wide.
@Simon didn’t want his mug shown, but couldn’t get out of it 
& him and Tara @V22_Louise_House were at the library yesterday when “London Live” came to film.
They both done a smashing job for us so watch out for them on the telly from 8am on Monday morning
Also please post any articles you find on Monday about our library as we might miss some
Are you still looking for people with IT hardware/Networking skills?
The library is now open
As seen on TV:
What a rollercoaster of a ride we have been on since December of last year to get to this point today!
I’m so proud to be part of this team with @JohnRussell @Michael @Simon @V22_Louise_House especially Tara from V22.
From early meetings to see if we could manage to do this for the community, to submitting our community partnership bid and worrying we might not be the preferred bid and may lose our library.
To getting to this today after a hairy couple of weeks.
We won’t take our foot off the gas for the next 25 years and we could never do this without the community support we’ve had.
So a massive thanks to everyone who has helped us to achieve this in so many ways & especially to everyone on this forum that have got behind us so much
We’re all on here and want your feedback good or bad to make our library amazing. You can do this via the website www.fhlibrary.co.uk or here.
And can help us do more via our crowdfunder
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/forest-hill-library-launch-fund/?
Today has been a very emotional & amazing day, and I’m very proud to live in FH 
️️:heart:️️
Another great meeting tonight with our managements board. We are having these weekly right now & will carry on having these until we iron out all problems we need too.
We’ve been let down by LC on many aspects, but the library staff we have been given have done an amazing job working with us so we can’t fault the staff members at all & our volunteers have been amazing!
We will be pushing for things we were promised, but most haven’t happened including taking fines!
We are quite furious about some things & are NOT taking it lightly at all!
Please stick with us we are probably more frustrated than you are & will most definitely keep chasing stuff.
Thanks everyone for the support xxx
I will add myself @Michael & @JohnRussell are up for exposing & speaking about LC if they don’t deliver the service they promised us and Tara (who I love) from @V22_Louise_House will back us up too!
It’s frustrating to take on a service & not get what is promised to us.
We are of a mindset we just have to do this ourselves now going forward.
Hi Pauline,
I am sure that any new project has some problems to overcome in its first stages. I would also expect that if there are aspects that you have been let down by LC that you would have spoken or emailed one of us Councillors first to help you. I will be awaiting the specifics in my Council email box.
This sounds like a threat. Is the idea to make things better for the library users or make political points?
@MajaHilton I have responded by email.
Despite some frustrations, we are really pleased to have the library open this week. We are continuing to work with Lewisham to deal with a number of outstanding issues and, working together, we are making progress.
Not at all Maja, I’m just frustrated that some things that should have been in place for the handover aren’t,
@Michael has emailed you our list now.
Can I suggest these internal matters be split off into a new thread? Really sours the joy of the occasion.
Happy for them to be removed @MajaHilton & the other Cllrs have all been very supportive.
At the end of the first working week, I can tell you that it has been inspiring, exciting, frustrating and eye-opening in equal measure, with a whole dollop of ‘exhausting’ on top of that. We have some great support staff from Lewisham Libraries, a wide range of very capable and enthusiastic volunteers and a host of supportive and, at times, very patient patrons.
Now to see what it is like at the weekends…
We’ve had an amazing week @Simon & all hats off to you for gunning & looking after our library on behalf of us all library guardians.
We’ve all been there randomly day in and day out , but you have been there every day for us to keep it running smoothly.
You are a diamond & a credit to our FHL team xx
You make me feel I can sleep
happily at night xxxxxx
Don’t miss Fearsome Philosophy Tales at the library today with The Philosophy Foundation 5-6pm 
The “Friends of FH Library” cards have arrived
We’re just double checking to see if any other traders want to add a discount, then a leaflet will be done with all discounts & this along with the cards will get sent out in about a week’s time to everyone that’s joined so far
@Mylene_RT & @PiazzaCucina both of you probably aren’t aware of this, a lot of FH traders are giving 10% discount to “Friends of FH Library” please let me know if you want added to the list which is here 
Popped by our library just as it was about to close today & boy I can’t thank our volunteers enough, they are doing an amazing job!
Issuing new library cards, booking in computer slots, keeping the shelves tidy & so much more. They are so enthusiastic, and their customer skills are just brilliant with both adults and kids
The community support we have is absolutely awesome @Michael @Simon @V22_Louise_House @JohnRussell
I’m opening up at 8.45am tomorrow for opening at 9am.
I’ll be around until just before 10am before I open my shop if anyone wants to pop in for a chat or just to say hi.
Hope to see some of you there
Opening up tomorrow & @Michael will be closing, pop in anytime for a chat
I’m opening our library tomorrow at 9am come say hello 
If you pass my shop you can help carry some books up too.
We love extending our library collection
Do book donations still wind up going into the London-wide collection (and possibly back to FHL) or do they now stay within FHL?
Hi Andy,
Any donations that are given to FHL are assessed by Senior Library Assistants, who will either issue them to the library system, with FHL as their ‘Home’ library, or they will be rejected (for a whole number of reasons). Any that we get that are not added to the collection will be sold to raise money for the library. Even those that are unsaleable, due to too much damage for example, will be collected, pulped and recycled, for which the library also gets a small fee.
Any books that end up in the FHL collection are the property of Lewisham Libraries and so, unless they are reference, can be requested by any other library in Lewisham or the consortium, however, their home library will remain FHL, so once they have been issued and returned in Newham, Bromley, Luton or wherever, they then come home to Forest Hill again within a couple of days.
Any other questions, or if anything is unclear, please do ask.
Couldn’t have answered that question any better than @Simon
That, @Simon, is the best of both worlds, as far as I’m concerned. I like the idea of books being donated to one library then having that as their ‘home’ library, but being available more widely than that.
My (mis?)understanding previously was that books donated to FHL could wind up in Deptford, for example. Nothing against Deptford, but it’s not quite as dear to my heart!
Glad to know FHL will benefit one way or another from anything donated, especially if it’s of value to the community readership.
Thanks for the fulsome explanation!
That is useful to know as a lot of charity shops are turning down book donations at the moment - I think a lot of people have been doing post-Christmas clear outs! I was in the Aldlife charity shop yesterday and they weren’t taking books or any donations. Lately I have taken to leaving unwanted books outside my house for people to help themselves. I was worried about giving them to the library in case they weren’t suitable, as didn’t want to feel I had ‘dumped’ them.
What a shame that that’s their approach. They might be better off taking your books and dumping the ones they currently have on the shelves.
I had a conversation yesterday with one of the local charities and they have over 12,000 books (after they have filtered out the duff ones) that are just sitting waiting for shelf space, so it is no wonder they are turning them away now.
We are going to try and work with them going forward to reduce their stock and put the books to good use.
Is there any way that, say, us locals could offer some storage space for books? I really hate to think that even one brilliant, life-changing book could end up being binned because of lack of space to store it.
I would happily store a couple of boxes of books, until they are needed on the shelves.
That is very kind of you, and it may yet come to that, but at the moment we still have some capacity to take some of their books at the library and store them in the basement area. We hope to avoid any having to be destroyed! We’re working on a permanent solution.
Hey Simon
Okie dokie, that is great and understandable.
The offer is there that, should you need “a couple of boxes of books” looked after, then, I could help.
Regards
Sue
PS also whilst here, are you desperate for anyone to help out in the library either later on Saturday or Sunday? They would be my best availability times 
Thanks Sue, that would be brilliant!
We have a group that would probably be interested in an NHS talk/discussion, would you be up for that work permitting? Xx
Hi Pauline,
OMG do not get me started on Jeremy Jackal and the black and white Zebra show and “THE ZOO” … his stories of “IT” NOT being true to life! (how many thousands a year would be saved without having to “feed HIM” for example?!
Will look into legalities regarding a talk. If that would not be permissible, then, me spending a few hours helping the library would, Sat & Sun being my options, as I work Mon through Friday full time
Pop in for a chat Mrs please when you can xx
Hi Sue, thanks for the offer of help. We are still quite desperate for volunteers on some days. We don’t open very late on the weekend, closing at 5pm on Saturday and 4pm on Sunday, but we do tend to need people, especially on Saturdays between 1pm and 5pm. If that suits then by all means drop me an email at rota@FHLibrary.co.uk
That goes for anyone else who ever feels like volunteering - especially evening shifts between 5pm and 7.30pm Tuesday to Friday, when we have regular problems getting enough reliable people!
