Support for recent arrivals from conflict-torn countries like Ukraine and Afghanistan is at the heart of a new European-backed Storyhouse library initiative.
Chester’s cultural centre is taking part in the Europe Challenge – organised by the European Cultural Foundation and supported by the Brussels-based Democratic Society – to work with a community to come up with solutions for a problem it is facing.
The challenge, which was launched in 2020, is open to every library in Europe, from public to school to mobile to prison libraries, and aims to harness collaboration to create positive change and inspire others.
Organisers say libraries are
Safe spaces where people can come together and build understanding which provide access to trusted information and knowledge that is needed now more than ever.
Storyhouse won funding from the foundation after deciding to look at the accessibility of the library service for migrants from other cultures, those for whom English was not their first language but who needed to seek help, advice and support.
Storyhouse communities manager George West explains:
We’re particularly focussing on people from Ukraine and Afghanistan, because there are quite a lot of people from both of those countries who have settled in Chester quite suddenly and in larger numbers.
It’s people who really have need of library services because they will need the information that’s available, but they might not have their own technology, they might have come potentially with very few belongings. So, they’d benefit a lot from library services, but it’s difficult to access when you don’t know what’s there or you’ve got a language barrier or a cultural barrier.
There are believed to be several hundred Ukrainians who have settled in the city and surrounding area, many through the Homes for Ukraine scheme in which local residents are acting as hosts.
The Storyhouse team is working in collaboration with CHAWREC (Cheshire Halton and Warrington Race and Equality Centre) which manages the multicultural Unity Centre in Cuppin Street, an initial point of contact for people arriving in the area from other countries and needing assistance with everything from paperwork and jobs to English lessons.
The libraries project is looking at several areas of support.
George says:
What we’re trying to do is to get a huge amount of information translated into multiple languages. We’re focussing on Ukrainian, Russian, Dari and Pashto as the key languages spoken by those communities. We’ll also be translating more information into Arabic, and we’ve got plans for looking at the other languages which are widely spoken in the area.
So, the information about the library service, how it works, what you need in order to join, what services are available to you as part of that, will be available in people’s first language.
Storyhouse is also asking for input from people from those recently arrived communities about what they would like to see added to the library’s collection in the way of favourite books in their mother tongue.
There are also plans to start new Rhyme Time sessions for youngsters in their own language, led by people from their own communities, as well as focussed English language sessions for both children and adults.
The project has been adapted since Storyhouse first applied to the funded scheme last spring, due to a number of Afghan families subsequently settling in the area.
George says:
That particular community wasn’t in Chester in such large numbers when we first applied for this funding. That happened a couple of months later, and we looked at the project at that point and went – the need has changed slightly, the way we look at this has changed slightly – and this is part of the whole idea that you’re prototyping solutions, so you don’t just come up with something in the first place and then run with it.
So originally, we were going to be focussing mainly on Ukraine, because there was that immediate need. And we were looking at other languages; we know there’s a Syrian community, we know there’s quite a big Polish community, so we were going to look at other languages in general.
And then suddenly that need changed. So that made us look and adapt in another way.
Along with implementing the changes here in Chester, the team will present its work to the challenge organisers on 9 May – Europe Day.
George adds:
The real bonus of this is whatever we do at Storyhouse can apply to the whole of the Cheshire West library network. Wherever people end up settling more long term, that information will be available in their local library as well.
For more information about the Europe Challenge visit https://theeuropechallenge.eu/