Top Ten New Librarian

Emma Sherriff

Outreach Support Officer

Plymouth Library Service

Length of Service: Under 2 years

Age: 23

Emma has initiated a range of innovative activities in the library to capture the interests of young people from karaoke sessions and anime drawing to drama and movie making workshops. She has designed creative events and developed effective partnerships with agencies in the local area.

“I have been in post for over a year now and I love it. I feel continually enthused by new opportunities to remove barriers to library usage. I am committed to bringing new, creative ideas to library events and programmes of literacy for children and young people, and also having a lot of fun whilst doing it!

“I enjoy surprising young people with innovative activities they do not expect in Libraries, such as Karaoke. Karaoke has been particularly successful for groups of young people that I work with who have a low reading ability, helping to demonstrate that you are a fun person without a big ego, and don’t want to show yourself up, especially with my poor vocal ability!

“I am passionate about the difference that libraries can make when their potential is unlocked by Outreach work. The future of libraries can only be maintained by engaging with children and young people to extend the legacy of libraries to the next generation. ”