Lib Dem councillor gets community library going in Rose Hill

11.18.47am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 3rd Sep 2009

Cllr Ruth Wilkinson

As reported in the Oxford Mail, a community library, designed to offer a warm welcome and encourage people to pick up a book, is opening on an Oxford estate. The Rose Hill Read/Swap Library is set to open its doors twice a week at the community centre in The Oval. The project has already secured £5,000 from housing developers' contributions to Oxfordshire County Council, and donations of books are piling up.

Organiser and Thames View Road resident Ruth Wilkinson, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Headington, said: "The Read/Swap library is set to open initially on Monday afternoons and Wednesday mornings each week, as soon as we have got enough money together to pay for shelving. We have enough books to open, but need more children's materials before we can host visits from Rose Hill Primary School classes. We are setting up a bank account and are starting to make funding applications to local and national trusts and local companies.

"The Read/Swap library is a very different sort of place to what most people expect. It's in the Norman Brown Hall at the Rose Hill Community Centre on The Oval, and you don't need to knock or ring a bell to go in."

Modern Art Oxford and Demco Interiors have donated materials, while cash donations have been made by the Prince of Wales pub in Iffley, the Rose Hill Tenants and Residents' Association and Rose Hill Community Association.

However, the library needs one final push to get going. Cllr Wilkinson said: "It's a safe and welcoming place to sit down, and have a chat and a coffee with others on the estate. It's also a place where you can look through the books, magazines or comics just for the pictures if you're not confident about reading. You don't have to sign forms or go to a desk if you want to take something home with you. You can read the paper and look for jobs if you want to."

The library still needs someone to set up a website, people to write fund-raising letters and a quarterly newsletter, and a carpenter to put up shelves and lockable doors. Donations of good-quality books, comics and magazines for children, storage bins and laptops are also being sought. Cllr Wilkinson added: "Once we've got that shelving up and bought some book trolleys, we'll be ready to roll."

Cash donations should be made payable to Rose Hill Read/Swap Library, addressed to the Treasurer, Rose Hill Read/Swap Library, c/o Rose Hill Community Centre, The Oval, Rose Hill, Oxford OX4 4UY.