Read It! At Bury Libraries
It all started with World Book Day 2005 and the message 'Spread the word'
Like many libraries we handed out the postcards from the Reading Agency and encouraged people to send book recommendations to a friend. It was such a success that we decided to do our own version and make it a permanent feature in every branch. We wanted an eye-catching, simple and low maintenance way of getting our patrons to tell each other about books they had enjoyed. The perfect answer was to give out cards for people to recommend books, not to just friends, but to everyone, and display the results on a board in the library.
We settled on a title for the promotion very easily; 'Read it!' said exactly what we wanted to say. The only question was how to persuade people to contribute. After much discussion we decided on handing out, not postcards, but oversize (3 to an A4 sheet) bookmarks. On the front, under a small cartoon of a running man with a megaphone and a book under his arm, there is the wording 'I have been reading... By... What I thought', followed by a space for a short review and thumbs up/ down icons to highlight as preferred. On the reverse there is explanatory text, 'Read It! Share your reading pleasure. What have you been reading? Old friend or new discovery; whatever it is, don't keep it a secret. You can write a short review on the other side of this slip or simply give a thumbs up - or down. Hand your completed slip to any staff member and we'll add your thoughts to our Read It! Board. P.S. Don't forget to check the board to see what other people have enjoyed.' A header for the display has a similar message, 'Can you recommend a good read? Don't keep it to yourself. Pick up a review slip from the counter, fill it in, hand it back and we'll display it on this board'. We also wanted to include staff reviews, particularly to start off, so every board has a staff section with its own header, 'The staff recommend... We haven't read every book on the shelves, but we have read quite a few. This is what we thought of them.'
The boards themselves were bought from an equipment supply catalogue and were a success from the moment they went up in August, with reviews coming in regularly almost at once; one branch has so many that they've started a folder to go on the counter as well. Not only that, the launch attracted media interest; the BBC was so impressed by our press release that they featured it both on their regional web page and on Teletext and local TV station Channel M despatched a camera crew to Bury.
The next stage has just started, Recommended Reads, a page on our website at www.bury.gov.uk/libraries now includes a regularly updated selection of reviews.
