Library members are being encouraged by to get creative and turn old books into works of art.
Every year, the Council’s library service has books that have reached the end of their life; either through the amount of times they have been issued or due to an updated version becoming available.
Most find new homes in the annual book sale; with the proceeds invested back into the service. But the small number of books that are left are being used in a competition designed to bring out people’s creative sides for a chance to win an e-book reader.
Councillor David Dixon (Lib-Dem, Oldfield), Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, said: “The idea is for members to pick up one of the old books from their local library and ‘recycle’ it as a piece of art. We’ve have already had some members of staff attempt some quick pieces of their own to inspire people.
“We hope it will encourage more people to pop back into Bath & North East Somerset Council’s libraries to discover what else we have available for them to enjoy – including an amazing range of books, CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray discs.”
The idea for the competition came from Katie Whelan-Jones, a Stock Assistant in Bath Central Library.
Katie, who has a degree in Illustration, added: “Art and reading are two of my biggest passions, so it seemed a wonderful opportunity to combine them both and get the whole community involved as well!”
The competition will run until Saturday 1 September 2012, the only rules that apply are that you must pick up your book and application form from one of Bath & North East Somerset Council’s libraries between Saturday 10 March and Saturday 28 April 2012. You must be a member of the Council’s Library Service to enter and be in one of the three age groups: 11 and under; 12-17 and 18 and over.
A full exhibition will run at Bath Central Library and on its Facebook page in September; featuring all the entries and offering the public the chance to vote for their favourite, with the overall winner receiving an e-book reader.
Spoken word supplier AudioGo is also supporting the initiative with some prizes for the winners of the different age group categories.
Visit this page for more information.
