Library Access Norfolk: Forced Migration, (Mis)information, and Public Libraries

In Norfolk, as with the rest of the UK, asylum seekers face exclusion and isolation from the wider community. They are housed in emergency accommodation on the outskirts of the city, with little contact with the urban centre. Opportunities for social integration are thus severely limited. As the burning of the Spellow Hub Library and the recent demonstrations by the far right underline, at the same time, there is an increasing hostility towards this already marginalised group.

Library Access Norfolk provided a bridge between asylum seekers and public libraries in the region, encouraging and enabling access to free services hosted at the library, as well as creating opportunities for interaction among diverse communities in this shared public space.

With the support of Development Network’s Flexible Creative Fund and in partnership with Norfolk Library and Information Services, we delivered 20 events hosted at public libraries over three months. These aimed to increase familiarity with the library space and its services, and included multilingual poetry workshops, library tours, open-heritage events, as well as a Creative Writing Programme. The plus funding allowed us to take on three project assistants with relevant language skills, enabling us to communicate effectively with our key audiences and respond to queries and challenges as they arose.

The project has already begun to change the way displaced peoples access libraries in Norfolk, with over 200 participants reached thus far, an uptick of 40 new regular users, and the co-design of multilingual information packs and welcome posters. The programme has also had an immediate impact on the everyday well-being of participants. As a member of the Creative Writing programme put it,

“The winter was lonely. I was desperate to be with my family again. I was just in my room with nothing to do. Thank you for making this all happen. I love coming to these events, seeing all the people, I have something to do with my day.”

For other participants, these events were an important opportunity to share their own expertise, from Ukrainian book historians who were visiting a UK archive for the first time, to Iranian journalists who guided the group through the richness of classical Persian poetry. In a similar vein, engaging with these events allowed people an opportunity to engage again with their own cultural identities. As one participant from Afghanistan put it, “I haven’t written in Pashto since I came here over a year ago; this is the first time I have been able to write in my language since I arrived here.”

For other participants, this was an opportunity to get hands on with the past:

“There are ancient books in Ukraine. I have also seen them in different countries, but always behind glass. But it was only in Norwich, thanks to you, that I was able to turn the pages of a 16th-century book for the first time in my life. And this experience was incredible. It felt like a direct touch of the past.”

In November, we will be launching Library Access Glasgow, building on the methods we have to honed with the support of the Flexible Creative Fund. For anyone who is considering applying for the FCF, go for it: when they say flexible, they mean it, and the advice and support we have received from the Development Network has had a positive impact well beyond the programme itself.