DISCUSSION

Reading Is As Much a Creative Act as Writing



Reading Is As Much a Creative Act as Writing

Research indicates that the benefits of the reading journey can be far reaching. Reading is a source of pleasure and entertainment, a way of relieving stress, a form of escapism, a means of finding things out, of learning and improving knowledge and of self development [Reading the Situation: Book Reading, Buying and Borrowing Habits in Britain, BML and The Reading Partnership, 2000]. In building the individual it can also contribute to the building of better communities, offer common ground on which to create new reading focused partnerships and deliver on national and local policy priorities such as social inclusion and lifelong learning. (Jessica, 2007, 19-25)

Public libraries are leading the way in delivering reading and developing readers. The public library network provides an unrivalled national and local network of community sites and outreach facilities and is the well-used and popular cultural institution in this country - 58 per cent of the population has a library card and there are 324 million library visits a year [See Public Libraries and Readers, the Evidence and the Arguments at www.readingagency.org.uk]. Reader support is high on the agenda. Libraries are developing innovative ways to reach new and existing readers to make their reading experience better. They are using new approaches to display and promotional work, changing the physical lay out of the library to make it more reader friendly and using experimental reader software to help readers choose books. They are also working hard to target new groups of readers including the traditionally hard to reach - children in care, teenagers, and fathers in prison - in order to open up more reading for more people. (Jessica, 2007, 19-25)

Key policy developments reinforced by new ways of working are repositioning the reader at the heart of the twenty-first century public library vision; shaping work force development and training, changing staffing structures and generating new ways of working both within the library building and outside in the community. New partnerships are being built on the common ground offered by reading with a range of stakeholders drawn from areas as diverse as the arts funding system, education, the youth sector and business. (Jessica, 2007, 19-25)

The impetus for this focus on creative reading activity has come from an exciting relationship between the profession and external agencies working with libraries but operating outside local authority structures. These agencies have become catalysts for change with the flexibility to seize and develop national opportunities. Examples include Bookstart, delivered by Booktrust, a national programme involving close collaboration between libraries and the health sector to encourage parents to share books with children from an early age and Branching Out, a national reading focused workforce development programme delivered by Opening the Book. (Jane, 2003, 26-33)

The Reading Agency, funded by an alliance of arts, libraries and government bodies coming together in support of reading, is working to inspire and support libraries in creating the best possible access to books and ...