A year of changes and challenges lies behind the team at the Au library. There was not only a change in personnel, but also some innovations. What is still missing is reinforcement for the committed group.
Au/Hallertau – “We love books and we love our readers”: The team at the Au community library chose this motto after the new beginning last year. And you can also feel the passion for books and other media when you talk to Heidrun Hee, who took over from Astrid Hötte in January 2023, about the innovations in the past few months and the plans for this year.
In keeping with the new start a good year ago, over 4,000 books were sorted out due to the “oversized and largely outdated media inventory,” as the annual report states - and new media were added in return. “Last year we concentrated on the children,” says Heidrun Hee – with success. Loans have increased thanks to many new media (see box), the 27 events for children were well attended, and special events, for example for those starting school, at Easter or at Carnival, were well received by people.
This year the focus will be on young people. “The young people were already falling off significantly before Corona – not just in our library,” reports Heidrun Hee. The interest of young people was and is now very strong in electronic media. “This is a general trend,” says Hee. “It is difficult to bring young people to the library.” But the library team from Au wants to leave no stone unturned: in the future there will be contemporary offerings from the “Manga” comic area, for example, as well as events for young people. The library, together with the secondary school, is planning a larger event in the Hopfenlandhalle for November with a band, possibly a poetry slam and an art section. Details have not yet been determined. And Heidrun Hee's team also wants to expand the offerings for adults.
“We have so many ideas and would like to do more if there were more people,” says the director. The team currently has eleven volunteers. In addition to Heidrun Hee, Susanne Altmann, Vera Hahn, Monika Hanrieder, Katharina Köhler, Marion Köhler, Verena Maier, Melanie Moormann, Melanie Roche, Marina Rüsse and Elisabeth Schöpf are involved. In addition, and the director is very pleased, there has been a youth advisory board for about a year. The four girls who are part of the team are supposed to come up with ideas about what could be popular with the teenagers. “They know what the young people want,” says Heidrun Hee. The first manga workshop was already a complete success.
Of course, the library will also be there when the Au community celebrates its 675th anniversary this year. For example, the popular summer holiday reading club will be back, with a target of 675 loans, announces Hee. There will also be a “Hallertau game” day and an entertaining lecture on the topic “Stories of Au”.
In order to be able to implement all the ideas, the team is hoping for volunteers. They should have an interest in books, be sociable, have PC skills and be willing to get involved on a regular basis - “two hours a week would be good,” says Hee.
Good to know
If you would like to know more about the Au community library and what it offers, you can find out more on the Internet at www.buecherei-au.bibliotheca-open.de. Anyone who would like to become a member of the library team can send an email to buecherei@markt-au.de or stop by during opening hours. The library is open on Tuesdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.