Pair of Wiltshire library staff up for national recognition
They've been boosting the lives of library users in the county
Last updated 2nd Apr 2024
A pair of Wiltshire library staff have been shortlisted for a prestigious award.
Basil Nankivell and Peter Waterman have been nominated for prizes at the Libraries Connected Awards - a national award celebrating the achievements of people working in public libraries, commemorating the variety of support library services deliver for their communities.
Mr Nankivell has been shortlisted for the Vision and Print Impaired People Award.
He's been regularly going the extra mile and created a reading group for people with impaired vision (Visually Impaired Person’s Reading Group). The group meets each month to discuss the audiobooks they've been reading.
It's said to have given those attending a massive boost, providing a chance to socialise on a regular basis they may not have had before.
Peter Waterman has been shortlisted for the Health and Wellbeing Award.
His work developing and launching the Warm and Welcome Libraries offer has provided warm spaces for people as well as safe environment where they can find support helping them with the cost-of-living, warm up or read a book.
Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Libraries, said: “I’d like to congratulate both Basil and Peter for the outstanding achievement of being shortlisted in these prestigious awards, which demonstrates their dedication and hard work. It is well deserved and I wish them the very best of luck.
“Our libraries are well-connected with our communities and provide the opportunity to meet and engage with each other. This is a key aim of our business plan and its thanks to innovative schemes such as these, developed by our hard working and caring staff and volunteers, that we’re making this a reality.”
The winners will be announced in June 2024 at a ceremony during the Libraries Connected annual seminar in Warwickshire.