  Youth
and Schools Libraries 2001 Onwards!
One of the key tasks of the newly elected Youth Libraries Committee
— is to gaze into the bottom of its tea cups, jiggle the
leaves around and tell the fortune of children’s and schools’
libraries in the coming year. They do this by setting priorities
for action for the coming year. This year the committee identified
twelve areas (enough to keep me busily out of mischief). They
were all headline issues, and will help us to build on the significant
successes of the children’s library sector over the past
years, but a few do stand out.
Reader development work with children was a key issue. Reader
development projects were being boosted with additional DCMS/Wolfson
funding in 2001 — great news for all public librarians. But
what is the relative status of children’s reader development
work in all the activity? We are working with Launchpad, YLG and
ASCEL in 2001 to raise the profile, quality and appreciation of
this area of activity through "Their Reading Futures"
project. This innovative project has attracted DCMS/Wolfson funding
of over £160,000.
The Reading Futures project will:
- promote our reader development work with children by telling
our heads of service and councillors about it, by recognising
it as developing lifelong readers and supporting the National
Literacy Strategy
- improve its quality by reading and talking about books ourselves;
by encouraging innovation in this area in libraries and by enthusing
all who work with children in libraries with a love of young
people’s books.
Spring 2001 saw the publication of a Sure Start target which
will require all Sure Start projects to include libraries as a
partner. This was the result of hard campaigning of the DfES by
the Library Association and is a demonstration of libraries’
significance in the early years agenda. Throughout 2001 we are
seeking to maximise this, by participating in new national early
years projects with private and public sector partners (we have
launched with the National Literacy Trust an exciting programme
with Starbucks) and by encouraging all libraries to become key
players in local early years partnerships. If you visit the Library
Association website (www.la-hq.org.uk)
you can read the results of a survey of English libraries’
involvement in the early years agenda.
One of the main challenges facing school libraries is how to
successfully engage with school inspection. Many school librarians
feel marginalized and neglected by an inspection schedule which
fails to understand their contribution or register their achievements.
But inspection is changing, increasingly schools will be encouraged
to follow programmes of self evaluation. We will begin working
on a self-evaluation schedule (inspired by the excellent Scottish
"Taking a Closer Look at The School Library Resource Centre")
with Ofsted and DfEE which will form a framework for an accredited
programme of self evaluation for school libraries. A key achievement
has been the recent publication by Ofsted of new guidance notes
for inspection of school libraries. You can read them as part
of "Update 36" on the Ofsted website — www.ofsted.gov.uk
We are revisiting the Library Association’s Guidelines for
Unsupervised Children, originally published in 1992. Much has
changed since then and we need to take account of new media, new
awareness in society and new activities which children take part
in, in libraries.
One of the most significant new activities is Study Support.
A working group has been convened to look at the writing and publication
(scheduled for November 2001) of the full Code of Practice for
Study Support in Public Libraries, the first part of which was
published in1999.
I could go on… we’ve just put in a successful bid for
£33,000 to the DfES for funding to run a library programme for
Science Year, the continuing concerns over the impact of Fair
Funding are currently being evaluated in a new national survey,
September marks the beginning of the piloting of last year’s
Guidelines for Primary School Libraries and so many other areas
of concern and activity are emerging as high priority issues for
2001.
The celebrations of "Under the Covers" and the millennium
offered many of us the opportunity to recover our enthusiasm and
identity as children’s and schools’ librarians. The
enthusiasm which the conference engendered will be a key strategy
as we address the myriad of themes which face us this year.
Jonathan Douglas
LA Professional Adviser Youth & Schools Libraries
Tel: 020 72550500
Jonathan.Douglas@la-hq.org.uk
More articles from News From The LA
Building for the Future
Bob McKee, Chief Exectutive, Library Association
Early Years Report
What is LaunchPad? Anne
Sarrang
LaunchPad: Carnival of Reading
Catherine Blanchard
ChatterBooks Talking
about the books you want to read – Tricia Kings
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