The project began with meetings and workshops involving library staff members who would be responsible for disseminating the concept. These allowed us to personally introduce the project, discuss and evaluate a number of issues and gather feedback. We introduced the staff members to some visual diaries produced by students and asked for their ideas for possible themes, and then asked them to use a sketchbook. The workshops enabled library staff to engage more fully with the project, experiencing how it feels to produce creative ideas to a theme, which it was hoped would encourage them to promote the initiative to library users.

Initial responses to the sketchbooks were cautious and to some extent sceptical, with an immediate divide into the ‘arty’, who were keen to give it a go, and the ‘non-arty’, who were reluctant to engage and showed less optimism about the potential of the project. The group who defined themselves as non-arty (“I was hopeless at art at school and haven’t touched it since”) were supported to have a go with the reassurance that the project was about leaving your mark, having an input through a piece of writing, a collection of objects, sewing or knitting, lists or even a collection of ephemera. An empty diary was a daunting prospect, so ‘fear of white space and empty pages’ was overcome by students and staff members from the School of Art filling the first few pages when running workshops in the library. In the future it may be possible to use existing contributors to ‘make the first marks’. Reflection reveals that staff members who had the opportunity to attend a workshop, however they initially defined their own skills, were more likely to continue to contribute personally and be more effective advocates for the project.

During initial consultation with library staff members, it was decided that a thematic approach would support the users and provide a concept for people to react to creatively. It has become clear that the themes for the sketchbooks are a major factor in encouraging participation in the project and some themes have proved more popular than others.

Selecting the themes helps to give contributors a sense of ownership and should be part of any introductory workshop for a new set of contributors or potential contributors. Theme suggestions included: A good night/day out; My library; Disability; Portsmouth; My city; Age; My family; Memories; I am beautiful; Visions of the future; Obsessions; Tomorrow; My mode of transport; Senses; My day; When I open my eyes; I dream; On the seashore.

Our project suggested that the thematic route was a successful model that we would wish to pursue in the future. However, the Visual Diary format has the potential to be used as a tool for eliciting feedback in an informal and non-directed way. It could be used to evaluate The Visual Libraries Project by providing a sketchbook in which individuals could give their views on the project in words, sketches or using a choice of medium, providing a more engaging and open-ended opportunity that could succeed where formal survey or evaluation can fail.