Librarian celebrates 25 years

It was 25 years ago when librarian Diane Wright started working at the library at Ashwell Prison.

Diane, who is now children’s librarian at Oakham Library, celebrated a quarter of a century with the service with a special presentation of flowers from Robert Clayton, head of culture and registration at Rutland County Council, surrounded by colleagues, to mark her dedication and loyalty.

“To be honest with you, the last 25 years have flown by in a flash but I’ve not been doing the same job for all these years,” said the 60 year-old who lives in East Northamptonshire.

“I was working at the prison library in Ashwell and there were a lot of men who were quite avid readers but I found out quite a lot of things about pubs in Birmingham and Coventry and places like that!

“I wanted to be a journalist but then I took a temporary job in a library and enjoyed it so much, I decided it was something I wanted to do.”

Diane, a mother of three with two grandchildren, said although the biggest change since she started was the technology used in the libraries, other changes had taken place.

The Browne Issue system, where the librarian took one of the reader’s cards and the book’s own card before storing them together in a file, was still being used.

“We put on a lot of activities such as children’s crafts so it’s not just story times,” she said.

“It’s about other things, not just the books but the books are still important.

“We still get children interested in stories and books which has not changed.

“I’ve been reading some stories to children and the best thing about the job is seeing the children’s faces when they are enjoying a story.

“It’s a very rewarding job.”

As well as the Ashwell Prison Library and Oakham, Diane has also worked at libraries in her hometown of Wellingborough, Weston Favell and Belgrave.