‘Shoe Lane Library is for everyone’: We talk to the Toast Finalist

As the Toast the City Awards party nears, we have spoken to some of our favourite nominees – this week we chatted to Shoe Lane Library manager Sona Kalenderian. Introduce yourself and Shoe Lane Library My name is Ovssanna Kalenderian but I’m known as Sona by everyone including our customers. I the manager of Shoe Lane Library, which is part of Barbican Community Libraries. I’ve been with Shoe Lane Library for 25 of its 44 years. What makes Shoe Lane Library stand out? We’ve had customers describe our library as a “hidden gem” and a “family hub”. People often tell us how friendly, welcoming and caring we are, and that coming to the library makes them feel at home. One Japanese family became particularly close to us while they were living in London for two years, while the husband was studying for his master’s degree. They told us they thought of us as family. Before returning to Japan, they came in especially to say goodbye and take a photo with us as a memory. That was