Artist hopes library mural will get people reading

Artist Nicole White is working on the mural at Ecclesall Library in Sheffield

An artist who is creating a mural outside a library in Sheffield says she hopes it will will help attract more people to take out books from there and get into reading.

The design – chosen following a public consultation – is being painted by Nicole White on the shutters of Ecclesall Library.

Ms White said the mural would celebrate reading as well as highlighting wildlife from the nearby Ecclesall Woods

She said: “I’d like people to be able to celebrate the local area, the nature around here and connect to the wildlife more. Also, it would be nice to increase the visibility of the library, encouraging people to come in and read books.”

Ms White said the mural, part of which is shown above, was inspired by books and wildlife in nearby Ecclesall Woods

Ms White told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she grew up in the area and was pleased to be involved in the project.

She said the design was made up of four different pieces and included scenes of local nature as well as stairs made of books.

Ms White said the mural was already taking shape: “I’ve started working on it and I’m going to work on it in the next couple of months."

Barbara Masters, an Ecclesall councillor, said she welcomed the creation of the mural.

“We asked [council] officers to come and find out about street artists and get some quotes and we’re very lucky Nicole responded," she said.

“She respected that it would give a nod to nature and the environment it was in."

Ms Masters said she also hoped the mural might help reduce graffiti "tagging" on the library's shutters.

“Often graffiti taggers tend to respect the work," she said.

Ms Masters added that the library mural was also part of a longer term project aiming to "improve the street scene" from the library to Hunter's Bar.

Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.