Writers’ Centre Norwich & New Writing South Literature and Libraries in the South East and East Technical Annex to Report
Technical Annex Full Library Survey Results
• Our document was written in 2010 and
since then we have had a number of changes to the service – is awaiting update. • Reader development is a core part of the library offer, ranging from support to individuals and book groups (approx 700) to an annual book festival (now in its 13th year) held every March. • Reader Development is about helping people of all ages and abilities to enjoy reading and get the most out of it. Reading books, and talking about them, is something everyone can enjoy doing. As a library service we look to: build confidence for non-readers and emerging readers to enjoy reading, and improve their literacy levels; ensure customers know about the range of resources available including different formats, authors, and subjects as well as how to access them; encourage customers to try different types of reading experiences from chick lit to cosy crime to sci-fi to biographies to graphic novels; give the reader a sense of satisfaction from the whole experience, from thinking about what to read to sharing their thoughts afterwards. Types of activity we undertake to support reader development: putting together a great display; talking to customers about reading; working with partners such as
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The following survey results are the outcome of a survey sent out to all Library Services in the South East and East as part of the research for this project. With 29 out of 30 Library Services responding, the survey had a highly positive completion rate of 97%.
Reader Development Strategy Q6a Does your Library Service have a Reader Development Strategy? Yes 15 52% No 14 48% Total 29 100% Q6b If yes, please provide details: • No – but we have an outreach and partnership strategy, which includes reader development. • Document is entitled Reading Development Strategy (March 2009). It has been distributed to all libraries as part of a Stock Management Binder. • Has both a Library Service Reader Development Strategy and a PCC Literature Development Strategy. • It is in draft at the moment. • No – not as such. Reader Development is contained within the overall Library Plan summarised at http://www.southampton. gov.uk/s-leisure/libraries/plan.aspxv
skills for life tutors or Primary Care Trusts; having a well organised and suitable book stock; finding out what a customer already enjoys and making recommendations; directing customers to new reading ideas such as those on our website; organising author talks and readings; helping a customer set up or join a reading group; suggesting what a customer could read next; encouraging customers to share their thoughts on what they’ve read. • Strategy under review as 5 years old. • The Kent Approach to Literacy and Reading is our Councilwide strategy to promote literacy and encourage the enjoyment of reading by involving the whole community. • The Programme Team works on reading incentives and development for both adults and children/young people. It is not a written strategy as such (although we are working on a written reading strategy for children/young people), but is contained in our business plan. • The strategy is in development. • The strategy we have needs updating. No – we have a commissioning process and have a reader development toolkit, an evaluation toolkit and reader development delivered through a service plan
• We have a city-wide reading strategy with other local partners, which expired in 2010 but which we are still working towards and we also work with the Reading Agency Reading Strategy proposals. • No – we have an annual plan which includes reader development.
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Reader Development Staff Q7a Do you engage specialist (reader development) staff within your Library Service? Yes 15 52% No 14 48% Total 29 100% Q7b If yes, how many? •1 •2 •5 • 1 – but only part of the role is reader development. • 1 – but all community librarians are responsible for reader development. • 1 RDO part time / 10 Stock & reader development officers (FTE). • 10 as part of 2 teams. • 3 FTE however this is part of many other tasks within their job description. • 6, but all as one of a number of other roles.
• All librarians have reader development responsibility. 3FTE from April 2012. • Approx 5 – this is part of other roles as well. • For adults we have a Reading and Lending team (7 FTE) who cover stock management, ordering and reader development. For children, we have a Children and Young Adult Team (5 FTE) who undertake stock management, ordering and reader development. • We have Audience Development officers who are responsible for developing services including reader development. • In an ‘Adult Stock & Promotion’ team of 5, there are 2 who focus mainly on reader development; we also have a Children’s Team of 7, all of whom split their time between stock and reader development. • Library staff need to be multi-skilled and able to work across service priorities. • Not any more, this responsibility was shared once all staff were trained. • Our view is that reader development is the responsibility of all library staff. • Outreach & Stock Team of 5.88 FTE. • Two managers specifically direct activity in this area for adults and children. All staff have some involvement and the majority of staff have been
frontline-trained. • Up to 8 – based on a commissioning process, so varies according to level of activity. • We have community librarians who, as part of their work, cover reader development. • We have planned in the new library structure for a Library Development Officer to be appointed in Sep 2012.
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Collaboration with Local Authorities
Individual Reader Development activities
Q8 Do you work together with other parts of the Local Authority to support reader development activities? Yes 27 93% No 2 7% Total 29 100%
Q10 Do you undertake reader development activities independently (i.e. without outside organisations)? Yes 26 90% No 3 10% Not yet, but we would 0 0% like to in the future Total 29 100%
Q9 If you do work together with other parts of the Local Authority to support reader development activities, in what way? Please tick all that apply Project Management 10 Fundraising 4 Delivery of an activity 24 Supporting new audiences 23 Publicity 21 Other: 3 Adult Learning, Adult Social Care, Schools, Primary Care Trust Equalities Impact contributions Use of rooms for events Total answered 27
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Q11 If you do undertake reader development activities independently, please tick all that apply: Reading/ Book Groups Writing Groups/ Classes ‘Meet the author’ events Live literature/ poetry events Book prize or specific title promotions Storytelling Early literacy activities (e.g. toddler rhyme) Reader development activities targeted specifically at children / young people Reader development activities targeted specifically at vulnerable groups eg audio reading groups Online activities (e.g. ‘Book of the month’ features or similar) Bibliotherapy sessions Other (please specify): Have previously carried out human library events Total answered
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Q12 How regularly do you engage in such activities across your service? Every week 18 69% Not every week, but 8 31% several times a month Once a month 0 0% Less than once a month 0 0% Total 26 100% Q13 How are activities generally run in your service? Libraries engage in 1 4% individual activities Libraries work 1 4% together on joint partnership activities Both of the above 24 92% Total 26 100%
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9 1
26
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Reader Development work with schools
Q16 What sort of activities do you engage in with schools? Please provide some examples and specify whether these are within a School Library Service (SLS) or not. • All reader development activity and training. All within the SLS contract. • Author events held in libraries. Comic arts master classes. Librarians visiting schools. • Author visits, Storytimes, Library skills, visits to their local Library, children’s
mobile visits 19 schools and community mobile currently visits 2, book making, readers group at secondary school, school visits to archives and local history centre for a series of specially designed workshops on Victorian crime, workhouse, WW1 and 2, Public Health, teachers visits / workshops. • Author visits, Summer Reading Challenge enrolment & reward systems linked to primary schools, class visits for information, literacy & library use / membership drives, Book award, shadowing. • Carnegie shadowing. Kids Lit Quiz. Book Club. Class visits. Book Time. • Children’s Book Award, author talks, advisory service for the school library, book recommendations, book talks, Storytelling, Parent and Children sessions. • Class visits (both SLS and PL), support for setting up and supporting school libraries (SLS), joint school public library (Marsh Farm at Lea manor School (SLS and PL). • Class visits to libraries and sometimes in the schools themselves, promotion of Summer Reading Challenge. • Class visits to the library, promoting Summer Reading Challenge with schools, specific projects (e.g. literacy
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Q14 Do you engage in reader development work with schools? Yes 26 90% No 1 4% Not yet, but we would 2 7% like to in the future Total 29 100% Q15 Do you have a School Library Service providing traded reading services to schools? Yes 15 58% No 11 42% Not yet, but we would 0 0% like to in the future Total 26 100%
strand to an Olympic project with Arts). • Enrolment of children as readers, provision of books, professional advice (SLS). • Exchange loan collections, project loans, schools mobile, training to teachers, story sessions in schools, supporting primary school staff in the promotion of reading. • Mainly Summer Reading Challenge but we will also get involved with school book related events and activities if we have the capacity to do so. • On-line resource development - not SLS School visits – not SLS Summer Reading Challenge – not SLS. • Promote Summer Reading challenge at school assemblies, ongoing programme of school visits, Young Reader’s Programme in partnership with National Literacy Trust, Oxfordshire Book Award – run some sessions each year with school aged children. School children have also been able to register their vote at libraries. • Running a reading group for boys in a local primary school – public library children’s librarian. Promoting Summer Reading Challenge to primary age children in school at school assemblies before summer holidays. • School class visits to branch libraries
(independent of SLS), Children’s Librarians visit schools. • School Library Service managed independently. Public Library Service offers class visits, assembly promotions, targeted book festivals, talks to parents, Virtual Library demos. • Schools Library service operates separately to public library Service in Essex. Within public libraries we run class visits with themed packs on offers and deliver school assemblies to promote the Summer Reading Challenge. A recent project is a reading relay with schools making recommendations to each other in the run up to the Olympics. Another recent project engaged school children in stock selection. • Schools undertake regular book exchange visits to local libraries. Some schools work on incentive-based reading schemes, encouraging pupils to use libraries. We work with Education when promoting the Summer Reading Challenge. • Regular public library promotional activity in school settings eg. assemblies / parents evenings. Not just for new members but also to increase volunteering e.g. MyVoice, SRC support. 3 Portsmouth Book Awards run by
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School Library Service for Infant, Primary, Secondary: Picture Book, Shorter and Longer Novel Prizes. Public libraries hold complementary collections of shortlisted materials. Schools Library Service run a regular programme of “Meet the Author Events” in schools. Public libraries and SLS both work together on the annual Portsmouth BookFest. • SLS have librarians who visit schools and deliver reader development activities, the public libraries link in with schools as well and are involved in the Summer Reading Challenge. • SLS provides services such as how to use a school library, layout etc. Provide themed boxes such as Victorians. School assemblies to promote annual Summer Reading Challenge. Class visits to the libraries. • Story visits, school assemblies to join Summer Reading Challenge, using the library, visits to the library, schools participating in launches and celebrations at the library, Reading Relay Reading Challenge linked to the Olympics. • These are run by our Children’s Teams so I don’t have many details, but I know that there are regular class visits to most libraries and members of the
Children’s Team regularly visit schools, particularly to promote Summer Reading Challenge. • Visits, book exchanges, reading groups, Summer Reading Challenge, author visits. • We have a book award for children and each year we have “champion” schools who engage with us. This year, we also have schools involved in short listing. Libraries also attend assemblies and other activities. Summer Reading Challenge toolkits sent out to schools. • West Sussex Children’s book award SRC.
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Q17 How are these activities generally developed? Library Service 8 instigates activities Activities are instigated 0 by the schools; Library Service responds to a need expressed by the schools Both of the above 18 Total 26
31% 0%
69% 100%
Q18 Do you engage in reader development work with adult education providers? Yes 21 No 3 Not yet, but we would 2 like to in the future. Total 26 Q19 Do you engage in reader development work with adult education providers? Library Service 5 instigates activities Activities are instigated 0 by the adult education providers; Library Service responds to a need expressed by these providers Both of the above 16 Total 21
Collaboration with local literature organisations 81% 11% 8% 100%
Q20 Do you work with local literature or reader development organisations, including local literature festivals, to run reader development activities? Yes 19 66% No 3 10% Not yet, but we would 7 24% like to in the future Total 29 100%
24% 0%
76% 100%
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Q21 If yes, who do you work with? Please name the organisations / festivals you work with. • In the past we worked very closely with Wordfest (literature festival held twice a year in Cambridge), although they’ve become so well established that they’re now able to run independently (we do of course still support them!). This year we have worked with them in creating an offer for reading groups around the book of the festival, Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber. I’m sure our Children’s Team do work with other literature organisations, but I’m not familiar with details. We have within our libraries some very well established Friends Groups, and we also have 8 ‘Library Access Points’ (volunteer run libraries) who operate as literature organisations in the sense that they frequently initiate and organise their own author events. We support them as much or as little as they need – sometimes we’re asked to suggest possible authors or even make introductions, we also sometimes act as a go-between with bookshops in order to have stock available for sale, and sometimes all we’re needed for is to help with publicity. The same applies to local WI’s who often approach us for support for their literary events. We are also invited to speak at WI and other Literature and Libraries in the South East and East www.bop.co.uk
local Friendship groups – sometimes these talks focus on library services and some focus on reader development (we do a ‘Books that changed your life’ session, along the lines of Anne Robinson’s BBC 2 offer). In 2010 we organised a ‘Book of the Decade’ project, which was a collaboration between Library Services, City Council, the universities, the bookshops and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire – none ‘literature organisations’ as such, but all operating in that role for the purposes of this project. The project included a creative writing competition. We work with a local creative writing group in Wisbech to host a monthly ‘Open Floor Poetry’ session; we have something similar in Cambridge with local groups, but this is on more of an ad hoc basis. From time to time we work with local Storytelling groups to hold events in libraries. Our County Literature Development Officer regularly works closely with the Fitzwilliam Museum in hosting a season of literature events around a theme being featured in the museum; the 2009 collaboration, which was themed around the Darwin bicentenary, included an online book group featuring novels influenced by Darwin’s writing. Not sure where this fits in, but we’re
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about to repeat a very successful project carried out in 2006 in collaboration with Stage Coach and other local organisations, to promote a selection of Quick Read titles on Park and Ride buses. The project, named ‘Park & Read’ had a legacy of book swaps in 5 out of 6 Park and Ride stations in Cambridge which are still very actively used. The new project will be run during Adult Learners Week (ALW) this year, and is in partnership with Roy Brown who I think is contracted to ALW – I think there is some European funding, which will pay for the books, but I’m not sure of details. This year’s project will focus on the terminus of the new Guided Bus service. • All local festivals and Crawley Wordfest with Waterstones and a range of other partners / organisations. • Caterham Festival, Mole Valley Festival, Surrey Heath.
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Q21 Do you organise any of the following activities with them? Please tick all that apply. Reading / Book Groups Writing Groups / Classes ‘Meet the author’ events Live literature / poetry events Book Prize or specific title promotions Early literacy activities e.g. toddler rhyme Reader development activities targeted specifically at children / young people Reader development activities targeted specifically at vulnerablegroups e.g. audio reading groups Providing venue space, but not involved in activities Other: Esol Readers’ Day Total answered
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11 8 16 15 7 7 8
10
14 2
19
Q23 How often do you engage in such activities? Every week 2 Less than once a month 10 Not every week, but 3 several times a month Once a month 4 Total 19 Q24 How are these activities generally developed? The Library Service 4 instigates these activities Activities are instigated 0 by outside partners Both of the above 15 Total 19
Collaboration with local arts organisations 10% 53% 16% 21% 100
21%
Q25 Do you work with other local arts organisations (e.g. arts festivals, venues such as theatres, museums) to engage in reader development or any other activities? Yes 23 79% Not yet, but we would like to in the future 5 17% No 1 4% Total 29 100%
0% 79% 100%
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Q26 If yes, who do you work with? Please name the organisations / festivals you work with. • The main ones would be Wordfest and the collaboration with Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for their ‘Writing Lives’ seasons. We also have close contact with theatres both in and on the borders of our county (I’m including the Theatre Royal in Bury St Edmunds) whereby they send me details of any events they’re holding of a literary interest so that I can promote in libraries and to reading groups. We’re about to start a creative writing project in which we’ll be working with the Fitzwilliam as well as museums in
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Wisbech and St Neots. Every year we hold a literature event at Central Library as part of the LGBT History Month celebrations – we organise this in conjunction with History Month Steering Group and members of ‘SisterAct’. • The Essex Book Festival is an example of this type of work, and is supported by the BBC, University of Essex, district councils, Arts Council etc but we also support elements of other local festivals/events as appropriate. • As previous answer. • Ashmolean Museum (1), Abingdon Arts Festival 2010 (2). • Aylesbury Vale District Council. • Brighton and Hove Museums. • Cecil Higgens Art Gallery and Bedford Museum Full House Theatre Company, Bedford Refugee and Asylum Seekers Support, Bedford Race Equality Council, Magic Dave. • Fuse Will Adams, Medway arts and events team. • HCC museums and arts departments. • Hexagon theatre (local gov run). • Island Heritage service. • local museums, schools and art organisations. • Luton Arts, Museums Luton, Luton Hoo walled garden project (Children’s Book Festival).
• Luton Museum, local history societies. • Marlowe Theatre, East Kent Live Lit, The Quarterhouse, Folkestone Mick Jagger Centre, The Orchard Theatre, Dartford. • Peterborough Museum, Vivacity Culture & Leisure – Arts (NB libraries are now part of Vivacity Culture & Leisure – a charitable Trust), Peterborough Arts Festival, Peterborough Heritage Festival. • Regular activities in partnership with Museum and Records Service, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth University, Highbury College, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, Royal Marines Museum and New Theatre Royal. • This kind of activity is generally undertaken at branch level. • We work with Slough Museum who are housed within the Slough Central Library. We also work with Creative Delivery Team within SBC and are currently progressing a project with them, partners and Artreach as part of Creative Places. • Windsor Festival, Arts Centres, Windsor Fringe Festival. • Wokingham Cultural Partnership. • Work with the Lightbox in Woking.
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Q27 What kind of activities do you engage in? Please provide some examples. • Promotion to reading group / specific reading group offer – collaborative creative writing project (centred around upcoming BBC ‘The Great British Story’ series, due to be aired in May and June) – ‘Big Pink Read’ – keeps the same title, but the format / programme changes from year to year; this year we had a panel discussion featuring three LGBT authors, discussing whether LGBT literature is being side-lined by the major literature prizes. This was followed by the viewing of a selection of British Film Institute clips of films of LGBT interest, from the Mediatheque in Central Library. • (1) “Hands on...” sessions for adults, various activities using museum objects e.g. Egypt (2) Graphic Novel Workshop. • Art and Craft projects for adults and children, shared themes and different approach delivery, e.g. Romans, Victorians; play and sensory sessions with adults and children and using garden space at one of our libraries. • Artefact sessions and storytimes. • Author events. • Book Festival, themed and seasonal events e.g. Dickensian Fayre; Love Luton Festival, Flash Festival. • Christmas Rhyme Time Celebration.
• Dahl Festival. • Family Learning activities, author visits sponsored by other organisations, celebration events e.g. Round the World in Bedford. • General cultural activities. • Informative sessions where the organisation brings artefacts for people to touch and feel. Local history groups. • Joint author promotions, One Read, Stock promotion. • Meet author talks, Book Swaps, author conversations. • Museum – combined author and history events (e.g. Dickens – we had readings alongside a talk about his life and links to local history). Heritage festival organised by museum – we have a historical novelist and a nonfiction history writer doing author events. Arts – author events as part of Peterborough Festival, joint projects e.g. Olympic Arts project – children work with artists to decorate sculptures for the Olympic torch route; libraries are doing storymaking in schools to engage the children’s imagination for their sculptures and provide a literacy element. • Shared events. • Storytelling, exhibitions, children’s events. • Storytelling sessions, writer /
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illustrator events. • Story times, use of shared space for exhibitions, working together to get ideas for exhibitions and reminiscence work. • Undertaken at local level and varies depending on the area, audience and activity. On a service wide-basis, museum services were involved in a recent Roman themed activity that was run in 12 libraries during a half term. • We have a shared website with the local arts forum. We work together to deliver events at local festival e.g. heritage days, May Fayre, Wokingham and Woodley Winter carnivals.
Q29 How are these activities generally developed? Library Service 3 instigates activities Activities instigated 0 by outside partners Both of the above 19 Total 22
Q28 How regularly do you engage in such activities? Every week 1 4% Less than once a month 16 73% Not every week, but 2 9% several times a month Once a month 3 14% Total 22 100%
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14% 0% 86% 100%
National programmes and opportunities Q30 Do you tap into national reader development opportunities / programmes? Yes 28 100% No 0 0% Total 28 100%
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Q31 If you do tap into national reader development opportunities / programmes, please tick all that apply: World Book Day / World Book Night 28 National Libraries Day 23 The Reading Agency activities 27 (i.e. Chatterbooks, Summer Reading Challenge, Six Book Challenge, Reading Partners) National Literacy Trust initiatives 18 and programmes Opening the Book programmes 14 Booktrust events and initiatives 24 NIACE programmes 10 BBC Learning promotions 26 ACE’s Libraries’ Development Initiative 12 Other: Not always able to carry forward because of high costs and lack of resources. National Libraries Day is not an SCL activity but run independently. It is timed to affect Local Authorities budget setting and so participation is very problematic for local authority library services. Opportunities to engage with authors. Six steps to library services for blind and partially sighted people (RNIB). Make a noise in libraries week. Universal Reading Offer. Total answered 28
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Funding Q32 Have you been able to access any funding opportunities to support libraries’ reader development activities? Yes 13 44% No 8 28% Not yet, but we hope 8 28% to in the future Total 29 100% Q33 If yes, which funding opportunities have you been able to access to support your libraries’ reader development activities? Please tick all that apply. European funding opportunities 1 (please specify in the ‘other’ box below) National funding opportunities 7 please specify in the ‘other’ box below) Local business support 5 Support from local trusts / funds 4 Other: ACE’s LDI – part of regional group awarded funding for BoP NHS Kent and Medway – funding to buy stock for people living with dementia and their carers. Bids as part of national initiative i.e. health bid with Reading agency Aiming high. DCMS, National Year of Reading etc. Funding from within Vivacity culture & Leisure Trust for events is provided. Individual groups and organisations. New partnership with Transworld Literature and Libraries in the South East and East www.bop.co.uk
Publishers. We are starting with an event on World Book Night and hope to develop a rolling programme of events on a quarterly basis. Reading Agency “MyVoice” and also ACE Libraries Development Initiative funding. Regional SCL se funding. We’ve recently been successful in an application under the LDI initiative for a project in four Fenland Libraries; a few years ago we successfully bid for funding for a ‘Poet in Residence’ under the ‘Dignity in Care’ initiative. Total answered 13 Q34 Do you think it is easier to obtain funding for: Activities undertaken 9 75% in partnership with other local organisations / festivals Activities undertaken 0 0% on your own There is no difference 3 25% Total 12 100%
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Target Groups Q35 Across all your reader development activities, do you target certain groups in particular? Yes 18 62% No 11 38% Total 29 100%
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Q36 If yes, which? Please tick all that apply: Early Years 16 Children 18 Young people 13 Families 16 Adults 15 Older people 12 Other: Adults with learning disabilities; prisoners; home bound people; visually impaired people; travellers. Disabled – e.g. visually impaired reading group. Adult literacy groups – six book challenge – with local colleges, English as a second language groups – e.g. Gladstone Community Association brings Asian women who are learning English and / or literacy to the library for special sessions at least once a year. e.g. signed events for deaf people, 6 book challenge in prisons etc. ESOL; Visually impaired. Groups with mental health issues. Currently working with outreach workers in the domestic abuse field. Job seekers, English Speakers of Other Languages, people with poor basic skills. Job seekers, prisoners, basic skills. Looked After Children, prisoners, disability groups, BME groups. prisoners, emergent readers, males, females, readers who do not have English as a first language. Individual libraries will target audiences specific to their location.
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Visually Impaired People with mental health issues, carers. VIP, BME, LGBT, changes yearly. Visually impaired, prisoners, people with learning difficulties, skills for life, LGBT, BME. Visually impaired and housebound readers groups, disabled children, children in care, older people, prisoners. We engage with most groups, including VIP, Alzheimer’s and children with disabilities but would also like to set up a community language reading group to encourage isolated women. We try to reach people who are not library users, including homeless people, residents of the women’s refuge etc. We work with all sorts of groups, but events such as our Hard of Hearing Readers Group and 2 Visually Impaired Readers Groups target specific groups. Looked After Children, prisoners, disability groups, BME groups. Total answered 18
Objectives for pursuing RD activities
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Q37 What are your objectives for pursuing reader development activities? • Audience Development and to build library use in a strategic way. • Broaden readers’ choices, introduce non-readers to reading for enjoyment, improve reading and writing skills – adults and children, bring new members to the library via author events and similar, engage families in reading from birth of their babies, bringing writers and readers together, social inclusion – including disabled (e.g. visually impaired, Alzheimer’s sufferers etc). • Each potential activity would be assessed against the service plan and also what reader and stakeholders’ expectations might be; possible cost, impact, sustainability, and time scale. • Education and Lifelong Learning, Social and Community Cohesion, culture and creativity, quality of life, health and well-being, economic development and regeneration. • Encourage more people to visit libraries and use library services. • Encourage reading, increase library usage, widen reading choice, encourage community participation in cultural activities.
• Engage with those who use us and those who don’t and encourage and support the enjoyment of reading and use of local spaces, and encourage and support use of libraries. • Getting readers together, promoting literacy, promoting health, improving mental health, making people feel part of the community. • I have answered ‘no’ to the previous question because, while some of our reader development activities are targeted, not all are, and not all the same target audience. Our primary objective is to promote reading, although a strong secondary objective is to open our services to a wider audience whilst still providing a stimulating programme of reader development for our regular users. • Increase visitors, increase issues of books, raise profile of the service, support preventative agenda, support reading achievement & literacy. • In no particular order: to increase use of libraries; raise literacy attainment across the city, increase participation by residents in cultural services; to inspire by putting residents in contact with creative people. • Increase number of people accessing reading materials, including on-line access.
• Promote literacy and encourage reading to: help people develop vital skills for work; enjoy life; enhance their wellbeing and engage with their communities. Support economic recovery by helping people develop a key life skill that employers describe as essential for employees in 95% of UK based jobs. Give children the best possible start in life by helping to tackle low literacy (which is a significant factor that prevents people from helping themselves out of disadvantage). By supporting increased literacy levels, help to raise their skills, confidence and aspirations. Putting people in control of their own lives by helping them make links in their communities through shared reading experiences; helping them broaden their knowledge base through reading; and supporting their learning. • Promote reading, promote library use. • Promote reading as a positive leisure pursuit, gain readers as members, engage with those less obvious elements of communities. • Support literacy and the love of reading • To embrace all formats and to ensure the widest possible involvement, making every form of reading vital to every person of every age in every part of the community.
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• To encourage diverse groups of customers to come into the library. To promote enjoyment of books and reading and the use of library facilities. • To encourage more people to use their local library. To help with economic growth, help upskill people in order for them to find work, help people within their community to enable them to communicate, read and write. • To extend readers’ experience and pleasure in reading new genres, to increase the use of libraries and online presence to raise the profile of the library service in supporting reading for pleasure. • To increase library use and reach new library users and to encourage, support and enthuse existing users. • To increase the number of readers, to encourage people to read more. • To increase use of library facilities and to increase the number of visitors to our branches. To encourage local residents to see libraries as the hub of their community where a wide range of activities take place. To improve the well-being and quality of life for local residents through participation in library activities. To increase leisure and informal learning opportunities for local residents. • To offer a wide range of reader-focused
stock and activities reflecting the needs of the whole community; readerfocused sessions in libraries, reading groups, outreach activities for children & families, life-long learning, local studies courses, skills for life, health and well being service. • To promote Bedford libraries and encourage library use, create a buzz about reading and support reading development, encourage and support local partnerships. • To promote reading, and to enable readers to always have an answer to the question, ‘What can I read next?’ • To support the public health and well being agenda, local inclusion, literacy development, engagement of local community, raising awareness of the public library, increasing issues and footfall for the library service, increasing awareness amongst other SCC departments and outside organisations, partnership working. • With few staff and no budgets, our objective is to provide as much reader development as possible.
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Q38 We are planning to include some best practice case studies in our report. Have you undertaken any reader development projects that went particularly well / that you are particularly proud of? Please provide up to 2 examples, including whether these projects were run alone or in partnership with an outside partner and why you consider these projects as examples of best practice. (Please provide links if more information is available online). • City Reads – providing audio books and pairing with paperbacks. • The Little Explorers Book Club for Under 5s (http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/ libraries/events/littleexplorers/). This initiative is designed to encourage parents to bring their young children along to join the library. It is a Reading Challenge for the under 5s with rewards and incentives. • Currently at the end of the first year of MyVoice project and about to begin Libraries Development Initiative. Hopefully these will be examples of best practice! Annual book festival began in 2010. We also have a City Poet Laureate / Young Poet Laureate. • We worked with the publisher of Deborah Harkness’ A Discovery of Witches to provide a venue and audience for this debut author. We had about 35 people. We publicised through
our reading groups and local media. At Henley Literary Festival, we had a writing workshop with Miranda Glover. About 40 people turned up. Again we publicised this through our reading group network and the local media. • Carnegie Shadowing – we work with our secondary schools following the shortlist. Each school sends a group of students to our “Carnegie Day” in the Thameside Theatre. Students are split into groups (mixing schools) and there they discuss their favourites and why. Each group then selects the group’s favourite and then presents it to the audience (other groups) with their reasons for choosing it. After all the groups have presented, there is an individual vote to find out Thurrock’s Carnegie favourite! Sometimes we are able to arrange on the same day as the winner is announced, which adds to the excitement, as we have our vote first then reveal the national vote! BookFest: Working in Partnership with Local Schools, we hold, as part of the Schools’ Book Fest, a silent read. Schools are invited to bring classes to their local library at 1.30pm on World Book Day. Children spend 30 minutes looking at books and finding one / some they like then at 2pm all the children settle down and read quietly until 2.30pm.
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• Health and Well-being Summer Reading Challenge. • Wessex Bookfair, Regular Rhyme times in libraries. • Human Library event, working with organisations at Epsom Mental Health Week. Health and Well-being events – range working with various health and third sector organisations. • Our Dignity in Care project, working with a poet in residence, John Killick, was very successful – John has many years experience in working with dementia patients, and the project involved working in residential homes and Day Care Centres with dementia patients, the outcome of which was a book of poetry using the patients’ words, and also a calendar featuring some of the poems created out of the project and art work created by some of the patients. There was also a programme of training for care workers, which was very well received. An individual project which worked well more recently was a ‘Sales & Signings’ event, which we held at Wisbech Library just before Christmas last year. We invited local authors, both well-known and lessknown, to a book fair at the library, where they had the opportunity to chat to the public and sell signed copies of their work. Refreshments, including
mince pies, were sponsored by a local business. The event was well attended and every author made sales – many fed back that one of the unexpected outcomes of the day had been the opportunity to network with other authors during the quieter periods, which they clearly valued highly. We had ten authors in all, as well as a book sale of second hand books (weeded stock and unwanted donations). • Bookstart and Baby Rhyme Time. We have extra funding for Bookstart and Baby Rhyme time activities in libraries, children’s centre and the community, including a Bookstart Officer and Baby Rhyme Time Assistant. Banned Books. First attempt at book promotion integrated online and in libraries. High public interest including newspaper reports and radio interview. Increase in borrowing of promoted books and number of feedback comments from the public. • Folkestone Reads ‘Framed’ project with partners, joint ‘Great Expectations’ project with Medway Guildhall and Medway Library service. • No, not in recent years due to lack of staff availability. • Kempston Library Children’s Book Festival in partnership with local schools. An exciting programme of
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library-based activities and events, including high profile author visits. Readers’ Day – in partnership with the Reading Agency and publishers including Hodder and Alma Books. One day book festival in partnership with Central Bedfordshire Libraries including Simon Brett, Sophie Hannah, Anna Stothard and Morag Joss etc. • Reading Festival of Crime Writing www.readingfestivalofcrimewriting.org.uk, Run alone, Hexagon, Christmas Rhymetime celebration (700 people attending). • Essex Book Festival www.essexbookfestival.org (now run by an independent trust), Summer Reading Challenge – Essex usually supports around 45,000 children each year. Support to BookTalk Groups. • Read Vitalise to support mental health – partnership with PCT. • 1 “Pictures to Share” dementia project – working with 15 care homes, we trained the staff about the Pictures to Share books and how they could share books and reading with dementia patients, and encourage families / carers to do the same. We provided sets of the books on long-term loan to each care home. The feedback has been extremely positive. Run in partnership with all the care homes. 2 “Six Book Challenge” – working with 2 adult education colleges. One college in
particular has now made this part of their curriculum with all new adult literacy classes visiting the library and joining the Six Book Challenge. Positive feedback from tutors and students. We hold a special presentation ceremony each year with a guest speaker, where the Six Book certificates are given out alongside the rest of the learners’ qualifications. • Setting up and extending VIP (Visually impaired) readers and hard of hearing groups http://www.medway.gov.uk/leisureand
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culture/libraries/lovetoread/medwayreaders groups.aspx; “Customers Own” – space on our library website for local authors to publish their work, plus a Creative Medway page on library web pages that lists links to local creative arts groups. http://www.medway.gov.uk/leisureandculture/ libraries/customersown/creativemedway.aspx
• Festival of Crime Writing 2012: http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/libraries_events. htm#crime_festival, Books
on Prescription in East Berks PCT area:
http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/libraries_books_on_ prescription.htm, Summer
Reading Challenge increasing percentage of sign up and finishers, Reading Groups & Book Doctor Advisory Service: http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/libraries_books.htm, Creative writing http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/ libraries_events.htm#creative_writing_group
Future plans
Q40 What barriers do you feel you are facing to developing future reader development activities? • Financial climate, less specialist staff resource. • Funding / staffing reductions. • Funding staffing cuts. • Funding and capacity to organise and deliver events. • Funding and staff capacity. • Funding and staff in times of budget reductions. • Lack of funding (internal and external), lack of staff time, lack of staff expertise if cuts are made.
• Lack of resources. • Lack of resources (low staffing levels and funds). • Lack of resources for regional partners. • Lack of staff and budgets. We are a small authority and many of the bids that Reading partners’ offers ask for large audiences that we know a) we will not hit and b) don’t have the space at such short notice! Until we get some big authors / events going, we can’t prove that we can get an audience, but to get a big event / author we won’t get an audience! Chicken and egg!! • Lack of staff resources, funding, promotion. • Lack of staffing resource. • Mainly time! There is so much more we could do if we had the time to do it. Funding is also sometimes a problem, although there are often funding streams available – one just has to have the time to write a good pitch, and then, if successful, the time to do it! • Money, reduced staffing, perception that reader development is add-on, rather than part of the core service. • Public apathy, having problems attracting audiences for author events, funding & staffing – with cuts fewer staff trying to do more. • Reduced funding and capacity. We will no longer have a Bookstart officer from
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Q39a If you have not so far engaged in any reader development activities, do you have any current plans to develop such activities in the future? Yes 7 100% No 0 0% Total 7 100% Q39b If not, are there any particular reasons why not? N/A We have planned for a Library Development Officer to be appointed in the new library structure for Sep 2012.
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April 2012 and our professional librarian capacity will be just 3FTE from April compared to 6.5 just 18 months ago. • Reducing budget means reduced staff capacity and a concentration on delivering a library service to the public. • Staff availability and funding. • Staff capacity – we are down to 2 librarians in Peterborough, both covering adults and children’s roles. We are lucky enough to have a budget for reader development, but there is always a possibility of this being reduced in the future. I expect many other authorities don’t have much budget for this sort of activity. • Staff capacity is a concern; once again public perceptions of the library service have to be overcome. • Sustainability is always an issue. In a large service like Essex, offering activities across a service can be an issue. With the pressure to keep libraries open in the most efficient manner, delivering training is challenging. • We are currently training and developing all staff to further increase reader development activities and see no barriers to this at the moment. • We have a budget to support RD activities, but lack of staffing support can be a problem, particularly when events
Q41 What kind of future support do you feel would be useful to you in order to develop future reader development activities? • Affordable coordination of range of activities and shared marketing. • Continuation of national support from the Reading Agency, Book Trust etc. • Continuation of Reading Partners – this has been invaluable for author events and reading group activities, continued relationships with publishers, schemes like the Summer Reading Challenge becoming a recognised core part of libraries’ offer – so protecting their continuation. • Continue to create national and regional activities that small authorities such as ourselves can tap into. • Examples of successful activities, database of support and funding organisations would be very useful. • Funding, help finding authors, realistic audience figures from publishers / publicists for author events. • Funding, national initiative,
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are out of hours. There are 2 RD librarians, one for adults and one for children, and we have to plan, publicise and execute all activities ourselves – including moving furniture and making tea!
national promotion. • Funding, support with digital content and marketing resources for staff training. • Funding support; with Reading Partners we are often unable to meet the criteria to bid for an author due to venue size, so would like other offers more suitable to smaller venues; a fairer spread of authors, events, activities amongst library authorities. • Funds and external staff support. • In our experience, working with partners does help, in that the workload is shared – and sometimes one organisation will have easy / cheap access to a resource or contact that for someone else would be difficult / expensive. Perhaps access to contacts, and information about funding streams. • Increased investment in public services, more sustainable funding opportunities. • It will be important to use partners, friends groups and volunteers to support staff in the delivery of reader development. • Marketing on a regional and national basis, closer links between ACE, SCL and authorities. • Money, raised perception of its importance. • Offers that will appeal to our community that can be put together
quickly and easily. If IT or Comms departments are going to need to be involved, that enough time is built in for things to happen. We are generally willing and have loads of ideas but often stumble when other departments need to be involved! • Publicity, resources. • Sharing good practice, the sort of joint initiative that we have in England with the Library Development Initiative bid on Books on Prescription, access to easy and cheap promotional material. • Staff and funding. • We have high hopes for the Universal Reading Offer.
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Notes
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Writers’ Centre Norwich 14 Princes Street Norwich NR3 1AE
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