“It’s great to be seen as a radical; it’s so easy to take books and reading for granted.”

The Reader Organisation, founded by Jane Davis, has been announced as one of Britain’s New Radicals.

In December 2011, NESTA and The Observer, launched an open call to find Britain’s New Radicals: people creating radical new solutions to the challenges our society faces, whose vision is improving the lives of people and communities across the country.

Jane’s vision, to create a world where everyone has the opportunity to develop a love of reading and to share their experiences, has seen her build up this charity and social enterprise, which now employs 60 staff members across the UK and offers a lifeline for hundreds of people, simply by reading aloud together.

Our team of interns made a short film to support the entry for the award, which you can see over on our blog by clicking here.

‘I don’t normally read out like that in class. I can hear it in my head you know, it’s just hard to say it when people are looking’.

In our usual group settings which have ranged between three and seven children B has often remained quiet, allowing others to read, before offering his opinion in the discussions. However, there was one week, when six people were present that B began reading aloud without any prompting. The person next to him had just read a passage and before I could ask if anybody else wanted to have a go B began reading out loud. He only read four lines but it was such a big leap for B and he celebrated at the end of his turn as if he’d scored a goal in the F.A. Cup final. Whilst he was hesitant with some of the words there was a determination in his voice that all the others picked up on and everyone was really supportive. This gave the others confidence to have a go and by the end we were all cheering for each other, be it one line or a whole page, after each child had had their go reading. B’s development so far from somebody who outwardly hated books to someone who is prepared to read in front of others and embrace stories is remarkable and really encouraging for the rest of the group.

Patrick Fisher, Get Into Reading project worker

Walsall Central Library houses adult and children’s sections with comfortable places to sit and unwind as you explore its exciting and diverse collection of books. It also has a dedicated learning centre and a reference library that offer computer classes, adult discussion groups and information sections allowing you to keep up to date with what is going on in the local area. With an open feedback policy and friendly, specialist staff always on hand, the library works hard to ensure they can meet all your needs, whatever they may be.

Reading groups are also valued highly with over 15 reading groups running every month. These range from new born baby groups in Cradle Clubs to weekly shared reading sessions for adults in ‘Feel Better with a Book’ each Friday. The success of the latter has seen a second shared reading group start in the neighbouring Brownhills Library that meets every Tuesday. For the children and teenagers of Walsall there are also plenty of ‘Chatterbooks’ groups held both during the school week and at the weekend across the library service and the opening hours mean that there are even groups after working hours. It’s great to see how active the library staff are and how our training has enabled others to share their love of reading with their local communities.

The new Health and Wellbeing Group in Brownhills Library

Services for young people are excellent with dedicated events in the school holidays as well as those throughout the year. The ‘Circus Stars’ Summer Reading Challenge saw volunteers aged 16-25 encourage and support children aged 4-11 to read six books in six weeks throughout the holidays. The success of this event shows how much the community values its library.

Yvonne Archer at Walsall Central Library 17th August

Live events are frequent and varied at the library. To celebrate National Poetry Day, renowned comic poet Matt Harvey spent the afternoon at the library reading his work and answering questions to a packed out room of visitors. The event was organised by the entire staff at the library and is one of four author visits in October alone.

Matt Harvey in Walsall Central Library

Not just about private reading and solitary study, Walsall Central Library is committed to showing libraries can be the focal point of vibrant community events with books at its centre. Their work and events stretch out into to community and beyond. It’s an excellent example of how lives can be enriched through shared reading and that’s why we love it.

In March 2010 the library gathered together eager volunteers from different walks of life – from retired teachers, to mental health professionals and service users, to mentors for young people, to a Health Coach at Stoke City football club! They were all trained by us to become shared reading facilitators, and after that the volunteers have established groups throughout the city – in Longton Library, Stoke Library in two mental health settings, a day care centre, and the stroke unit of Haywood Hospital – all coordinated by the library service.

The group in Longton Library is going strong, and comments from the readers include:

‘It’s the only thing I do for me and I really love it.’

‘I’d never have thought I’d have had the confidence to read aloud’.

‘Coming here has changed my life.’

Principal Librarian Anne Mackey describes Stoke Reads as ‘small but perfect’ and has just secured NHS funding to expand the project by training more volunteers to run more groups.

‘Stoke-on-Trent Libraries has successfully extended its reader development services through
this project. It’s been a real investment in library staff and volunteers, and we’re continuing to build a
culture of shared reading throughout the city.’

Here’s C’s story:

C had suffered a lot of neglect in his early life and was falling badly behind at school. His carers were also very concerned about his possible autism and behavioural problems, they read with him but felt more help was desperately needed. C was losing much of the enjoyment of reading.

C obviously found it very difficult to concentrate and was quite unstable within the sessions at first. Although he immediately responded to being given a book to hold and flick through, once he opened it his confidence seemed to dwindle and he would give up because he could not find his way around the book or recognise the words. As we were reading it was clear when C was beginning to drift, and his carer would pop in to tell him to concentrate.

During the next few sessions we made our way through a Goosebumps book and C wanted to predict what was going to happen, he asked questions about what certain phrases meant. C read aloud to me but found it difficult, getting words mixed up and not recognising the names of the characters.

A couple of funny poems about food really got C laughing. Reading mixed with being allowed to talk, chat and laugh, seemed to allow C to relax into a routine of reading and talking, and going back to reading.

C read each poem aloud and then asked me to read it again, listening carefully and laughing at the rhymes. After reading poems C was also very keen to carry on with the story book and we were able to stop and chat about what might happen without losing the flow of the book. C talked about the characters in a personal and sensitive way, saying:

“Those sisters don’t hug each other very much, I always give my sister a hug before bed.”

C has connected particularly well with poetry as he can read a whole poem aloud with help and gets immediate pleasure from this achievement and the satisfying humour and silliness of children’s poetry. C now enjoys looking through the poetry book and choosing bits to read in a confident way and C has settled into a routine of reading a story book and concentrates much more easily. C has also mentioned reading and laughing with his carer about the poems in the Spike Milligan book that I gave to him. C’s social worker told me how much he enjoys the reading sessions and is planning to get him a bookshelf and some books so that his enjoyment of literature can be properly fostered.

The library has a brand new youth space, The Crib, where teenagers can jam on electric guitars, enjoy gaming, music, consoles, surf the web on netbooks, and enjoy workshops. They also recently staged a ’Teenage Gig’ featuring a local live band, which attracted over 100 people, and it’s this open-mindedness about what a library can provide that impresses us.

It’s not just young people that the library is keen to reach out to, however – they also hold various regular activities for adults such as work clubs, computer classes, local history surgeries and welfare rights, and they are involved in a lot of partnership work with organisations in the community, including Burnley Football Club and even the local cinema!

They provide weekly shared reading sessions both inside and outside the library, including a group at a mental health project and one in nearby Nelson Library for people with learning difficulties - it’s great to see how our training has enabled others to share their love of reading with their local communities.

The Children’s Library has weekly story time and baby bounce and rhyme sessions, holiday activities, monthly reading groups for primary aged and teenage children, and staff also do a lot of reader development work with children with special needs, including multi-sensory storytimes for families and classes of children from local special schools.

It’s brilliant to find a library with such a strong presence in its community and a willingness to meet the changing needs of its users, and which takes a flexible and innovative approach to doing so. That’s why we love this library!

A different angle on Libraries We Love this time: a library project.  This wonderful project starts off in the USA at grassroots level, getting together a team of volunteers who spend their time creating book drives and forming partnerships between African libraries and American schools/organisations.  By shipping books over to partner libraries in Africa, the project aims to increase literacy levels and in turn, provide a way out of poverty (according to a new study, sixty-five million West African adults – 40% of the adult population – cannot read or write). These libraries then receive support and training from the African Library Project, who to date have given 748,000 books to 701 African libraries (no mean feat). This is a Library We Love because, in their giving, training and support, this project provides so many people, who may not otherwise have access to them, the things that we’re so lucky to benefit from everyday – books.

To donate just visit www.charitygiving.co.uk/janedavis or send a cheque marked 5k sponsorship made payable to The Reader Organisation to us at: The Friary Centre, Bute Street, Liverpool, L5 3LE. Many thanks!

Never in my 18 years of teaching have I attended a course which was so purposefully planned and managed. Each activity was relevant, meaningful and interesting.

Geraldine Keenan, Teacher
Hydebank Wood Prison, Belfast

Download more information and our application form. Please note that the deadline for applications has been extended till 31st August.

We love Lancaster Library because it’s at the heart of the community and is always bustling with activity. From the hullabaloo accompanying Baby Bounce and Rhyme on a Friday morning  to the peace and tranquillity of The Sanctuary, Lancaster Library is a real community centre, providing a space where people of all ages can get together.

After winning funding from the Big Lottery, Lancaster Library underwent a refurbishment in 2009, re-opening fully in 2010. The refurbishment aimed to create bright, appealing and flexible community spaces, which, as these photographs illustrate, have been enjoyed by the whole community.

Alongside its regular weekly events, which include English conversation classes and a dedicated Youth Space on a Thursday evening, where young people can hang out with their friends in a safe and friendly environment, Lancaster Library is also involved with Lancaster community events, such as the Lancaster Children’s Film Festival. Set to become an annual Lancaster event, the festival makes use of a number of local spaces, and is well supported by Lancaster Library, which, in 2010, was the setting for the Opening Gala and a number of film-making workshops.

In addition to all this, Lancaster Library runs the fantastic Get It Loud In Libraries program, which uses the library to host 8-12 high-profile all-ages rock and pop concerts each year. So  far, the likes of Florence & The Machine, Los Campesinos, The Wombats, Noah & The Whale and Bat For Lashes have featured, brining over 3,500 people into the library. In providing an accessible, safe and welcoming environment, the scheme shows how libraries can extend their reach into the community and capture the imagination of new generations.