Time For A Change Toolkit
PROJECT CONLCUSIONS
Most outreach workers were full of enthusiasm and keen to develop as much activity as possible in the time available. Funding only allowed for part-time work, and taking time out for meetings as a team and training (vital for individual development) meant that the time they had available on the ground was limited. This was frustrating for many of them.
Non-fiction is as important as fiction. Most reader development promotions have focused on fiction. Some nationally available ones e.g. Minds Eye [15] more recently have included a mix of fiction and non-fiction. A very strong lesson for our projects was that many young people who have not developed a reading habit, find fiction difficult. A far easier way of hooking their interest is to find non-fiction material that relates to their knowledge and interest, is well illustrated and written in easily digested 'chunks'. In Manchester a group of young people taken to a bookshop to select their own stock chose exclusively non-fiction.
Deposit collections are vital when young people are not regular library users. Only by taking books to where the young people are, e.g. youth centres, sports centres, hostels, colleges, will many reluctant readers take time to look at reading material. Halton Libraries extended their deposit collection service to include a Women's Refuge which houses up to 25 women and their children. This ensured that a group of young mothers and their children was given easy access to books which they would not have sought out otherwise.
Consultation with the target users to give them ownership of library services is also essential. For example in both Stockport and Wirral libraries groups of young people worked with outreach workers to design areas within libraries, selecting furnishings and art work as well as stock. Similarly, feedback from consultation work with the target group in Blackburn informed plans for the refurbishment of the Central Library.
It is important to try to reduce borrowing restrictions, as library bureaucracy is a definite deterrent to membership. Some young people are unable to get their parents or carers to act as guarantor to enable them to join the library and many are deterred by library fines. Some authorities such as Wigan and Trafford have now reduced joining restrictions for this age group in terms of proof of address and guarantor requirements.
Time To Read currently has a full time paid co-ordinator, supported by Arts Coucil of England and Museums, Libraries and Archives, North West.