When you need to get work done away from the office or home, let local libraries come to the rescue!
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Ah, think of the convenience, a quiet work space during the day with free internet access so long as you’re a registered member of the library or part of the network it forms.
I have been using some local library spots as stop off points on my daily walks for the past month, specifically the grand old building in Gants Hill. The architecture is rather beautiful and harks back to the Victorian era with the library itself having been at the location since 1938, this makes it the oldest in the London Borough in which it resides, namely Redbridge.
Some years ago the library went through a massive refurbishment internally, more information can be found at the ‘Ventrolla by Design’ website here. The furniture was modernised with sturdier desks and comfortable chairs giving it a contemporary feel, the technology including the public computers and printer facilities were updated making them faster and more efficient and the Wi Fi was available for use by registered library members allowing them to bring there own devices to connect to the internet.
It is this last aspect which appears to have attracted a certain type of clientele that I have observed more and more as they take up residence at a desk inside this ornate building. Certain faces have become familiar as they tap away on their laptop keyboards. And so, it occurred to me that since a library is a free public space, it is quite possible that these individuals have decided to make use of such an asset to get some serious work done as opposed to paying for a desk or private office at a co-working space.
You might have heard of the label ‘digital nomad’ which is neatly summarised by Wikipedia here. In essence, it is someone who works remotely whilst traveling. They get their work done by staying connected to the internet which is either available at the spot they’ve decided to work from, such as a library, cafe or co-working space, or, they use a smartphone as a hub or hotspot which allows them to connect their laptop to the internet almost anywhere.
It’s great to see this and I myself have sometimes pondered the use of these wonderful and historically important libraries to get work done when you’re just out and about and need a space to complement the home office setup. I have also looked into official co-working spaces but can only justify using one of these once freelance work picks up and becomes more regular.
However, unlike a library, the co-working spaces I’ve researched have lounge areas and meeting rooms for when you need to meet with clients in person. Libraries by their nature are quiet places, so conducting a conversation with a customer here is not a good idea. Additionally, it would not give a very good impression to them of your business activities if your so called office happens to be a public library! Add to this, there is no guarantee that the Wi Fi will always be available and it’s unlikely to be business grade, meaning, the speed might be okay for general web browsing and emailing but when it comes to higher date transfer rates and wider bandwidth to get things like videos uploaded to say YouTube or cloud storage services, then it’s probably not going to be up to the job. Well, it might be possible but it will take a very, very long time and if revenue and profit is associated to time, then this is not an ideal use of that precious commodity.
In closing I will say that working from a library as a freelancer or startup might be fine if you’re just getting started, yet, as your business and client base grows, then it is inevitable that a co-working space or office would make more sense sooner rather than later to show that you are committed to your entrepreneurial intentions and aspirations and are serious about growing the business and making it work long term.
