Readers for life: a reader development strategy for public library services in North West England.

• Author: Mathieson, Jane
• Position: Report

A review of the development, implementation and future of a major and very successful public libraries reader development strategy for 22 public libraries in the North West Region of the UK, with reference to the UK Year of Reading 2008. The strategy, which is included as an appendix to the paper, has served as a model for working across local government boundaries. Edited version of a paper presented at the Reading Critical conference, State Library of Victoria 11-12 April 2008.

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Working through a partnership Time To Read (TTR), north west England's public libraries have been at the forefront of reader development since the first National Year of Reading was held in 1998. These have demonstrated a collective will to work together, to offer imaginative reader centred activities in partnership with each other, as well as with external organisations. This paper outlines the growth of Time To Read, demonstrating that it has grown organically out of experience and success. It describes some of the development of Time To Read, leading to how and why a regional strategy (see appendix) was developed, as well as the impact this has had on library managers, library staff and ultimately readers. Finally it looks to a future in which the legacy of the National Year of Reading 2008 will ensure the continuation of strong partnership working in the region.

Background to the region

The NW of England is the largest of the English regions outside London. It comprises three large shire counties of Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, and the two major conurbations of Greater Manchester and Greater Merseyside, centred on the important cities of Manchester and Liverpool. Two additional authorities, Blackpool and Warrington do not fall neatly within these boundaries and are also included.

The region has a population of 6.8 million. It is an extremely diverse region, with large groups of people originating from outside the UK in the big cities of Liverpool and Manchester, but also in parts of Cheshire and Lancashire. Cumbria, although the largest geographically, is the most sparsely populated area.

Library services are delivered through 22 separately administered library services. The smallest of these, Halton, has just 4 libraries, the largest is Lancashire with 79 branches.

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The region's library services are managed by chief library officers who meet as the Society of Chief Librarians NW. Library budgets in the UK are devolved from central government (the Department of Culture Media and Sport) to local government. Local council officers in turn are also answerable to elected members, whose political agendas influence council spending priorities. The percentage of local authority funding spent on libraries can therefore vary hugely, but generally libraries receive a very small percentage of a local authority's funds.

Other stakeholders in the region's library services include the regional Museums, Libraries and Archives agency and the regional arts council. The libraries network with schools and other education providers, social services, prisons, arts organisations, museums and galleries and a whole host of local organisations.

Development of Time To Read

The growth of Time To Read as a reader development network goes back to 1996, when Opening the Book--a pioneering company led by Rachel van Riel and specialising in reader development training and materials--piloted a cross authority, intensive training course delivered over six months for 10 librarians from NW services. At that time most library services were under severe financial pressure and were having to allocate scarce resources to new computer based services. There was a real tension for many managers about how to maintain a good bookstock and lively reading service, as well as providing new IT services for nontraditional users. In some services there was a real danger that bookbased services would lose out.

The message from Opening the Book was that librarians had to work more creatively to retain their existing readers, as well as continually strive to reach potential new ones. With the support of the arts council in the region a training course was piloted which encouraged 10 librarians to take on board the reader development message of putting the reader first, to find new ways of promoting the stock we have, such as through readers groups and reader to reader recommendations, and importantly to take the lessons learned back to services and cascade it to more staff. This training course went on to be developed and offered nationally, through a scheme delivered by Opening the Book called Branching Out.

The course was stimulating. It opened the eyes of participants to new ways of working, one of which was that by sharing ideas and experience as well as resources with colleagues in other services, more could be achieved than by working in isolation. The 10 participants continued to meet and a year later the team was joined by more librarians from the Branching Out project and collective work began to be developed.

The Time To Read partnership was endorsed by the Society of Chief Librarians NW and between 1999 and 2002 worked on a number of successful cross regional projects. The major step change took place in 2000 when the UK government made grant funding called the Public Libraries Challenge Fund available. Library services could apply specifically to develop new reading projects. Time To Read took full advantage of this and applied as a partnership for a large fund to enable it to recruit outreach workers to deliver outreach projects to 16-25 year olds across first 14, then 18, services. An important use of some of this funding was to pay a coordinator to ensure the project's success by

* providing training for outreach workers

* designing and producing high quality print materials with economies of scale, which could be used collectively

* monitoring progress

* ensuring that everyone involved felt part of the team that was working towards agreed aims.

That government funding ended in 2002, but the librarians involved, as well as library managers in the region, had realised the benefits of a cross authority position focused on reading. A coordinator could continue to look for extra funding, broaden the scope of work across the region, and provide consultancy and support for those services that needed it. It was agreed that library services would continue to find an amount of money each to retain a position for the region, paying a salary and some providing a budget to work with. This development was unique to the NW and was recognition at a senior level of the value of library work with readers. The position was also strongly supported with funding by the Arts Council England NW, which continues to provide grant funding on a regular basis for specific projects.

The role of coordinator

The position of regional reader development coordinator was created with a wide brief- to sustain and develop cross regional working. Specifically the role of TTR and its coordinator is to

* share good practice and innovation in reader development work with adults

* provide practical benefits in terms of shared costs

* bring in new funding and partnerships

* raise the profile of libraries and reading.

The position is managed by a steering group of stakeholders, currently consisting of three SCL NW members and representatives of Arts Council England NW and The Reading Agency.

The first two years of funding required the coordinator to demonstrate that the aims were achievable, that there was a useful role to be developed, and that NW libraries were willing to cooperate and work together, sharing ideas and priorities. In the initial two years the coordinator worked hard at building the TTR network of practitioners and ensuring that all 22 services were participating as fully as possible. Bimonthly meetings, with occasional visiting speakers, were established as a vital and useful forum for exchanging ideas and information. A new website was established to showcase up to date work from around the region, training courses were organised, and the network worked on collective projects, which included specifically promoting poetry and trialing new models of readers days.

Developing the strategy

When the position was renewed for 2004-2006 one of the tasks the coordinator was then specifically given by the steering group, was to develop a regional reader development strategy. At that time, in 2004, chief library officers everywhere were being required by government to contribute to corporate cultural strategies. Some services were developing their own library and reading strategies; others were struggling to demonstrate how reading services contributed to wider cultural agendas.

The purpose of the strategy required by chief library officers was to demonstrate that reading services and reader development could generally support the wider context and agendas within which local library services were being provided. As stated previously there was, and still is...