I'm Vicky. I'm 19 years old. I've lived in Birmingham the whole of my life.
I left school with not many qualifications.
I haven't had a job for about a year and a half,
and I've heard that they're building this new library
where it's going to cost up to £193 million.
And I'm not really a reader or writer.
So what's in it for me and young people like me?
The library is about half built.
Today is the topping out ceremony,
and I don't really know what that's about,
but what we have been told is that the builders have reached the very top.
This is Mike Whitby, and he is putting the last cement down in a home.
We're going to see if we can interview some people
about what the library is going to do for young people.
In what ways is this library going to engage young people like me?
Well, first and foremost, we've got this open amphitheater,
which will be free to everybody,
and it gives an opportunity if you happen to want to dance,
or if you want to recite, or if you want to sing.
However you want to perform, the public amphitheater is open to you.
There's going to be a facility for people to think out
what their futures might be their career,
and so you'll have a whole range of research books.
They have people here to advise.
You'll have all the modern technology of computing,
and so you'll be able to come, and we already do in the old library,
have young people set up their own work and their own businesses.
But it's not only just going to be for sitting down and staying quiet
within the theatre.
There will be a new auditorium there,
and we're hoping then to have folk, jazz, modern music,
music that perhaps might not be played elsewhere,
and young people can drive the agenda.
Whatever young people want to happen here,
we will respond to that.
I'm Matt Windall, I'm a spoken word artist,
and I was born and come young poet laureate in 2007 and 2008.
Now I'm just trying to make libraries and knowledge a bit cooler for kids,
because English kids have this thing where being clever isn't cool,
and I hope they use the library for anything they feel comfortable for,
whether it's books, reading, or even just chilling out.
It's better for them to be in the library than on a street corner somewhere.
The big thing is that the library belongs to the whole city,
and Birmingham's got the youngest profile of any city in Europe.
So one of the most important things we're doing is trying to actually find lots of different ways
of talking to young people and actually finding out what they actually want.
I think there's a big marketing job to do.
I really do think there is a big sort of thing that we've got to do to get out there
and let people know about the kind of work that goes on in libraries,
that library isn't just like a static place.
The issues that you raise to our attention are really important,
because we need to be talking to yourselves about what you want and what you need,
and it's important to build that relationship.
Talk to a lot of people today about the library
and what impact it's going to have on young people,
but we've come to the conclusion that it's the millions of pounds they're spending reasonable.
If they're spending this much money on it,
are they going to be able to afford staff after the library's built to get more people in it?
The councillor said 10,000 people are going to be visiting it a day,
so if that actually comes about and actually does happen,
it'd be very good for Birmingham.
I feel very positive about the library,
but do we really need a massive library like that for us today?
What about the community libraries? Are they going to suffer?
Maybe they can interact with you,
but don't feel part of the community and bring them together.
They're going to try and do it, that's what I've come across,
they're going to try their best to get our opinion about what we want in the library.
This morning I was nervous and really nervous,
but as the days progressed, I felt really good.
I feel more confident in myself because I spoke to people,
but I wouldn't normally speak to people in a farathe who I wouldn't,
like a bigger farathe, like the councillor.
I would never speak to a person like that,
and for him to listen was a great deal and actually spend four or five minutes
just listening to me and me listening back, I think that's a very positive thing for young people.
Y Llywodraeth Cymru
