Dear All,
We hope you are all enjoying the summer and hope you won’t mind this post, but we have updates to share!
Firstly, we’d like to thank everyone who cared, commented, shared, and showed support following my post almost 4 weeks ago about The Language Hub having to vacate its premises and the loss of our library’s home. It has meant a lot, especially receiving good wishes from people and organisations we have never been in touch with before. When experiencing difficult and stressful times, it can sometimes feel like a very lonely place. It can seem like life around you just goes on, as if nothing has happened, that people just cannot see what is going on, or maybe simply do not care. So, it has been very heartwarming and reassuring that there is a community out there that did stop, did listen, and has had our back as best as it can since our announcement.
As you can probably imagine, the last few weeks have been extremely stressful with moments of despair, thoughts of just running away from it all, and tears of anger about the whole situation. Our biggest worry was what to do with our precious library. As our community asset, it reflects our work and our community as a whole, the sense of togetherness and equality that we have been creating and developing for so long. The thought that this would have to stop or even totally disappear was awful. But wow! Have we been lucky. We will be eternally grateful to #glasgowlife for storing all our books now for 3 months with a review option of a further 3 months. We are so happy about #collectivecommunities storing our precious bespoke bookshelves and very pleased about #schoolofeducation at Glasgow University for giving some of our resources a place to live for the time being. We are also very thankful for #gsen offering all their support and making connections and arranging additional talks with our local Police Scotland office. Thank you to #patrickharvie, #irisduane, #anthonycarroll and #bobdoris for checking in personally to get an update on what has been happening. A big shout-out goes to #scilt, who would have loved to offer storage without hesitation, but sadly, they did not have sufficient space. Special thanks also go out #callumguthrie, #katrinabrodin, #fionabaker, #ruthhunter, #markarmstrong, #robbiekirk #pinaraksu, #fhionamackay, #annettechristie and #jenniferrobertson . You have been stars!
To all of you who sent good wishes from near and far, shared our situation and their own experiences, and made constructive suggestions on all channels, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! We hope we will have the chance one day to meet you in person, online or in Glasgow. All your comments helped getting through the last few weeks leading to where we are today.
Where is this exactly, you ask? Our online sessions will continue as of next week, and our face-to-face sessions have been moved to more public spaces. And our library? Well… We are trying to find some funding streams so we can bring the library back into a public space; it needs to be accessible, and it needs to be used. The aim is to secure sufficient funding for this to happen, find suitable premises, and continue as a library which offers language services rather than being a language centre which operates a library. As the only publicly accessible multilingual lending library, it is unique, special, and needs to progress. We want to secure its long-term future, and I am sure we will! Watch this space… And if you have any ideas, let us know. 😊
The Language Hub.