Oldham Libraries
READERS & WEBSITE
September 9th saw the launch of the new Readers and Writers website for Oldham Libraries. It is the brainchild of Keith Snape, Publications Officer, Colin Brown, former Literature Development Officer and Nigel Rainford, Systems Librarian who together developed a resource that will be of use to both staff and public alike. Helen Eastwood, Literature Development Officer, will regularly update pages and answer queries online.
The website provides a permanent platform from which to promote contemporary literature and provides a means to support reading promotions taking place throughout the Borough. Every library is encouraged to submit details of special events taking place, in order to maintain a feeling of ownership by library staff and users alike.
Information given out on the website has been quality assured and links have been given a short overview with details of content, country of origin and a description of accessibility features that can be used with the site.
The site is divided into two sections – for writers and readers.
Writers
Budding writers can look at information that may help them to get started, such as information about writers groups or competitions they may like to enter. Once the literary juices start to flow, they then have the opportunity to submit their piece of work to the website. This is an extremely useful tool, which helps the writer to expose their work to a wider audience, and will, hopefully, encourage tentative writers to get stuck in! Any questions or comments they have can also be submitted to an online message board.
Readers
The readers section begins with details of readers groups running in the area and will shortly contain information and tips on setting up readers groups. Oldham libraries are happy to supply books for reading groups run outside of libraries themselves. A link will be provided to the list of books that Oldham libraries have multiple copies of and which may be of interest to readers groups.
People stuck in a reading rut may like to visit "Recommended Reading" which highlights reading from around the world and for special interests. It is hoped that this will be extended over time. Each category holds a list of 25 contemporary titles with an opportunity to find out more information about the book. The idea was to give an enhanced virtual book jacket to enable readers to browse sections that may be previously unfamiliar to them.
Literary links allows people to peruse sites that may be of interest to them through special interest sites. Followers of horror, for example can look at www.buried.com or www.litgothic.com to enhance their enjoyment and knowledge of the genre. It is hoped that these links will prove as useful for staff as they will for the public as they contain popular material such as Shakespeare online, literary award lists and general literary information.
We invite your comments, good or not so good, so that we can continually improve what is on offer through the site. Have a browse and let us know what you think:
