The 'Bristol Art Library' opens for business in Blaenau Ffestiniog
Saturday 31 May 2003

On Saturday 31 May the Head Librarian of The Bristol Art library, Annabel Other, opened her portable mini public lending library to the people of Bleanau Ffestiniog as the first of many events taking place as part of ROADSHOW presented by Real Institute and Grizedale Arts.
After arriving in Blaenau Ffestiniog in style on the Ffestiniog Railway, along with her Welsh speaking library assistant, The Bristol Art Library set up in the Lakeside Café. The Library was open to the public for one day only from 2pm until 5pm, Saturday 31 May.



The Bristol Art Library is a fully functioning public library housed in a wooden cabinet the size of a small suitcase. Annabel Other the artist who created the library in 1998 is the Head Librarian. The library's volumes cover a wide range of subjects, from astronomy to palaeontology, with 170 books (all 5 in x 4 in) made by artists and practitioners from all areas of the arts and sciences.
Membership of Bristol Art Library is free, and once you have joined and received your manilla reader’s ticket you may visit the library and peruse its volumes anywhere in the world. The library now has 4,500 members, a gift shop and a friends’ organisation FOTBAL (Friends of The Bristol Art Library).

Being portable, the library can travel to almost any location in the world, and this year alone it has visited over 40 different locations. Although the library often appears at museums, galleries and arts centres, it is equally at home in venues such as private houses, hotel lobbies and the waiting area of a hairdresser's.

In 2000, The Bristol Art Library completed a tour of five hotels in English Seaside towns including Cromer, Eastbourne, Morecambe and Margate. It has also toured Poland and New York. Next year it will make its debut in Tokyo.
The Bristol Art Library was selected to make a short film as part of Channel 4's Slot Art series, which was broadcast in June 2002 and the head Librarian is currently making a record entitled 'my place' to be released on vinyl at the end of the year.