 
Talk given at UmbrelLA6 on July 6th 2001
In Derbyshire in January 1997 a unique literacy initiative was
launched called Read On-Write Away! This multi agency partnership
of public bodies and local and national agencies has developed
a whole new way of engaging local communities in improving their
basic skills, especially literacy. By operating a strategic approach
in partnership with other agencies and organisations; families,
communities and individuals are supported and encouraged to take
up opportunities offered, for themselves and their children.
The aims of Read On — Write Away! are:
- To make significant improvements to the levels of literacy,
especially of those most disadvantaged by their literacy skills
- To promote a culture celebrating literacy in all its forms
The Partners, who form the Board of Read On-Write Away! include
two LEAs, the Learning and Skills Council, the Basic Skills Agency,
the National Literacy Trust and the Derbyshire Libraries and Heritage
Department. Up until March 2001 it also included three TECs (Training
and Enterprise Councils), who were exceptionally supportive. This
mix of national and local organisations, including those with
a specific educational focus and those with a wider brief, makes
an interesting and challenging Partnership, and has enabled us
to extend beyond the ‘traditional’ settings and routes
for improving basic skills.
  One
of our major Partners, both locally and at Board level, has been
the Derbyshire Library Service. The establishment of ROWA! has
developed and strengthened the links between libraries and other
organisations, giving both the chance to explore and develop new
ways of working, making connections that might not have been made
before, for example with children in public care, with Travellers,
with early years settings. Working with libraries has also enabled
Read On - Write Away! to extend its work with families and communities,
encouraging people of all ages to see libraries as comfortable,
stimulating and accessible places to be.
Two themes underpin everything that we do - celebration and evaluation.
We believe that everything should be celebrated, and a joke doing
the rounds is that if you stand still for more than 5 minutes
you will get given a certificate and have your photo taken! For
example, a big celebration at Chesterfield Library brought together
500 adults and children from local communities to receive awards,
with tea and buns afterwards. For many people, this was the first
time they had set foot in the library, and the occasion got rid
of some of the old prejudices about ‘what libraries are like’.
 I
am going to describe a couple of ways in which we have worked
in and with libraries in Derbyshire and Derby City, and latterly,
North Nottinghamshire. None of these will be new to people I am
sure — library staff may have tried out any or all of these
in some way or another. What I think is different about what we
are doing in Derbyshire is the strategic way in which we work.
All the schemes link to each other, in order that people can progress
from one opportunity to another; all the schemes are piloted and
evaluated and, if successful, are rolled out across the county.
Often funding is sought for particularly successful schemes. Links
are made between organisations, partnerships are formed, and things
get done. But this is much more than ‘projects in libraries’
— we think libraries at every new development, and expect
those involved with us to do the same.
 One
absolutely integral aspect of our work is Books for Babies, which
we manage in partnership with the Library Services. SRB (Single
Regeneration Budget) funding enabled us to develop this scheme
before national funding was available, and to develop Books for
Babies 2, and, for example, work with Traveller families and with
teenage mums. We see Books for Babies as part of the lifelong
learning spectrum, with staff particularly alert for adults with
difficulties with literacy.
We accessed one source of external funding in 1999 to develop
our work with children in public care and with Care Leavers, responding
to the statistics which showed the very poor educational experience
of children in care. The award-winning Buddy Reading Scheme gradually
developed to include work with foster carers and children in residential
care, and libraries have been central to this. The Book Swap Project,
where boxes of books are left with the children for a month, will
gradually introduce children (and their carers) to libraries and,
very importantly, introduce librarians to this group of potential
customers in the communities which they serve.
There are many other way in which the relationship with the Library
service has strengthened and developed community basic skills
provision in Derbyshire and the region — from changing Mobile
Library timetables to fit with family literacy projects to Book
groups for teenagers, from storytimes in schools to joint competitions.
All of it is about making books and reading, and therefore libraries,
one of the cornerstones of work with local communities.
For more information about Read On-Write Away! please:
More YLG News
Meet the Commitee On being
an Eastern Branch Rep!
Bookstart and Beyond
YLG SW training day
Libraries and Learning
London and SE training day
Yorkshire and Humber YLG
Chair's Report
UmbrelLA6 YLG Rep's
report
Banquet of Reading
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