EVERY CHILD A LIBRARY MEMBER PILOTS DETAILS OF LOCAL AUTHORITY PROJECTS

Transcription

1 EVERY CHILD A LIBRARY MEMBER PILOTS DETAILS OF LOCAL AUTHORITY PROJECTS Authority/trust Funding Library card given at Project details Aberdeen 0 (none Information to Registrars : Aberdeen City Libraries provides requested) information on library services to the registrars to be given to all parents registering a birth in the city. Gifting of packs: Aberdeen City Libraries works with health and early years partners to deliver the Bookbug programme which gifts free book packs to children from birth to Primary 1 which include information on the benefits of library membership in every Bookbug pack. Bookbug Library Challenge : encourages membership via the active promotion of Bookbug Library Challenge in all libraries in the City throughout the year. Primary 1 Pack: actively engages with local schools to support the gifting of the Bookbug Primary 1 pack through annual SBT CPD session Partnership working: Aberdeen City Libraries works in partnership with council colleagues and other agencies to engage with vulnerable families to encourage such families to access services in the community and to promote the benefits of lifelong library membership Aberdeenshire 2,000 Registration of birth Aberdeenshire libraries currently partners with registrars to manage records using the 'tell us once' (TUO) scheme. It is proposed to extend this partnership to enable parents to opt in to library membership for their baby at the time of birth registration. Library admin staff would then be informed, through the tell us once system, of babies whose parents have agreed to their library membership. Parents could then visit any library in Aberdeenshire to collect their child s library card.

2 Angus 555 Primary 6 As part of our ongoing development reaching out to our younger members and building on existing partnerships with schools and libraries, we are due to introduce a Dewey trail booklet to all Primary 6 pupils. This would start as a pilot project targeting two schools one in the burgh and one in a rural setting. Argyll & Bute 5,000 Primary 1 The ECALM project in Argyll and Bute will be targeted at children entering Primary 1 in the new school year in August 2015 (estimated to be around 800). Working with other council partners the proposals include: Running a competition for P1 children to design a new children s library membership card. This help to raise the library profile and create a brand that children can identify with Organise a programme of events and activities to promote library use to children and their families Plan a programme of Primary 1 school visits to the local library to encourage the children to use their library membership. Clacks 250 Registration of birth Provide every new born baby with a library card through registration packs and tell us once scheme (details shared across Council services). Dumfries & 5,000 Registration of birth Promote opportunities for all local children to become members of the Galloway local library service by incorporating opt in membership enrolment into the process of registering a birth. Dundee 3, Registration of birth To give every new born child a library card and information pack in conjunction with registrars. East Ayrshire 50 Primary 1 The project aims to encourage every Primary 1 pupil to become a member of the library during their first term in primary school. This joining initiative is in partnership with the roll-out of the Shout Card in East Ayrshire. The Shout Card is a membership card for children from birth to 11 year olds living or attending primary school in East Ayrshire. It is similar to the Young Scot card. Shout cards give low cost access to a wide range of services to help improve health and well-being. Children build up points that can be redeemed against free swim passes, ten-pin

3 bowling and other sport and arts related activities. East Dunbartonshire East Lothian 0 (none requested) East Renfrewshire 4,180 Nursery (age 3) May 2015: engage a small theatre company to deliver sessions in partnership with us in two nurseries in more vulnerable areas, supporting Bookbug pirate pack gifting. Library staff will join children up to the library during our 1 st visit. Two theatre company practitioners will deliver a drama activity with us, suitable for early years. Primary school ages We are progressing a number of programmes in order to encourage every child to become a library member. For example primary school children will be bussed on a magical tour to their nearest library. The practitioners will deliver a second session there, using drama techniques to create magic and excitement surrounding the library experience, but also teaching children to be considerate library users. Children will borrow books using their (new) membership. 3,100 Not specified The project will target the town of Barrhead, which includes the highest number of postcodes on the SIMD within East Renfrewshire. There is a new library recently opened within the Barrhead Foundry which is a superb resource for families in the area. Edinburgh 5,000 Early years Undertake customer focus groups and enrol every child attending council early years settings. Falkirk 2,332 Registration of birth We will engage with the local registrars to add an every child a library member promotional leaflet to the parent pack handed out to parents when registering a new-born child. The leaflet will promote the benefits of library membership for babies, have a specially-designed membership card attached and offer a welcome pack when the baby joins the library. Welcome packs will include a tote bag, a gift and promotional offers from Falkirk Community Trust s sports and leisure venues as well as material from the library service, promoting activities for parents and babies.

4 Fife 3,157 Registration of birth A mock library card will be placed in every birth registration pack explaining the benefits of engaging with reading and library membership from the earliest age. This will be the first stage in an all ages approach to promotion of library membership that is then followed up by Bookbug sessions marketing through Bookbug packs and in-house marketing; through to primary school class visits and the school library service project kit support. In addition, a project to engage better with teens and young adults is underway through Fife s youth arts hub. Most of the funding has gone to replicating the Welsh model with Primary 4 pupils across 140 primary schools in Fife on an opt-out model. Through the Superstar Readers Challenge we have gifted over 4000 specially designed library cards and linked it to the Summer Reading Challenge. In addition children who take part in the 6 visit Superstar Readers Challenge enter a special prize-draw to win a bike and Chris Hoy s height in books. The books are being donated by Scotia Books. From the 4000 children gifted we have seen a 25% usage rate since June with a proportion of these being children who have never used us before or were lapsed borrowers Glasgow 3,540 Primary 1 The project will focus on targeting primary 1 pupils in key communities in the city, where usage/membership is lower than average in the city. The project will commence in March 2015 and deliver: pre-entrant talks in May/June; a refreshed suite of promotional materials for birth registration sign up building on existing framework; volunteer/reading ambassador recruitment to support targeted Primary 1 engagement; start of term class induction to library visits in August; Book Week Scotland celebration surrounding the gifting of the Primary 1 Bookbug pack. The communities targeted will be derived from areas of lower literacy, poverty and deprivation and be defined with pupil school roll details supported by education services. The Glasgow campaign is also covering library card provision for every birth registered in the City IRO 7, 000 7, 500 as well as the 2, 000 Primary 1 s in scope for the purpose of our pilot. The

5 registrar element goes live on 7th September. Highland 5,000 Primary 1 Every P1 child in the Highlands is gifted a P1 Bookbug family pack of books designed to encourage shared reading at home. At present this happens in schools independent of any library involvement. This project will bridge the gap and for the very first time systematically bring together network librarians and classroom practitioners (supported by specialists language and speech therapists), to jointly deliver the Bookbug P1 family packs in the classroom during Book Week Scotland (15 November) while at the same time promoting literacy and library membership. Inverclyde 5,000 Early years We will work with staff, children and families from two early years centres (both in areas of multiple deprivation), staff from two libraries (both in areas of multiple deprivation) and one charity. Work will focus on taking library services directly to children and families attending the two early years centres, providing families with library membership cards in an environment they trust and accept and speaking directly to parents about library services. We will monitor the number of families who then make return visits to branch libraries as a result of this membership drive. Families will be rewarded with a library welcome pack and some events to further encourage them to visit libraries. We will also work with action for children to provide library services using the above methods and will involve vulnerable families involved with action for children to take a more active role in the development of library services egg involvement in stock selection; library membership peer advocacy; providing advice for library staff working with hard to reach families. This project will develop existing assertive approaches to library membership already being used in Inverclyde (namely our work with early year centres and

6 primary schools and to encourage family library membership Midlothian 0 (none requested) 3 year olds To enrol 3 year olds to become library members. We will target the three most deprived areas in Midlothian; Mayfield, Gorebridge and Woodburn. Pre-activated library membership cards will be inserted in Bookbug Pirate Packs and we will work in partnership with Early Years and Education staff in nurseries to make sure that parents are aware of the cards and how to use them to join the library. We envisage using the mobile library to visit the school nursery furthest from their local library and invite nursery staff and parents to bring the children. Gifting of the Pirate Packs is a good intervention point as we are able to target all 3 year olds in local authority or partnership nurseries. This will also give us further opportunities to develop work with nurseries in encouraging library use. When parents bring their 3 year old to the library, staff will be able to encourage them to take out membership for themselves and other children if they have not already done so. Moray 1,500 Registration of birth The basic objective of this project is to see every child born in Moray automatically become a member of the library. It is also intended that the need for an application form to be completed for the child and signed by a guarantor be discontinued. It is our intention to work with registrars and for library membership to be offered at the time a birth is registered. We would intend this to work as an opt-out system and for name, address and date of birth details to be passed to the library service to be

7 input to the library management system. Library membership cards would, however, be handed out by the registrar at the time. North Ayrshire 1,840 Primary school ages To devise promotional materials to encourage primary-aged children to join their local library and to provide story carousels for pre-school nursery children. The focus will be on Bourtreehill library which is a medium-sized library in the middle of a local authority housing estate in Irvine, accessible to young people and their families. A new primary school, amalgamating three previous schools, opened in August Around 50% of the school-age population are members of the local library, and this project would give an opportunity to increase this membership and forge and improve existing links with the library. A programme of events and visits to the library should increase the attendance at homework clubs, which has decreased by 50% since as well as increasing attendance at library activities which has decreased by 15% over the same time period. Class visits have been sustained, with only a 5% decrease since The head teacher at Elderbank is fully supportive and welcomes the support for improving literacy and raising attainment North Lanarkshire (Culture NL) 0 (none requested) Various ages from new born Culture NL are progressing a number of programmes in order to encourage every child across North Lanarkshire to become a library member. These include information on library membership and the benefits of library membership in every Bookbug baby pack; working with the Registrar to gift a birthday card to the family of every new born child who has their name registered in North Lanarkshire; conducting Pirate Pack visits to nurseries across the authority to promote the benefits of library membership; encouraging library membership via our Bookbug Library challenge programme; running a pilot P1 reading club initiative in certain areas of multiple deprivation across North Lanarkshire, designed to engage children in the library concept and get them to join the library.

8 We participate in the North Lanarkshire Kidz Kard programme that offers discounts to members and encourages library membership from 6 years old onwards and we participate in the Young Scot card scheme for 12 year olds. Orkney 0 (none requested) Not specified various ages This project will develop existing assertive approaches to library membership already being used in Orkney (namely our work with Bookbug, early years centres and primary schools, and to encourage family library membership). Perth & Kinross 3,200 Registration of birth, 6 months; 3 years and 5 years We will use existing activities as a starting point and work closely with education services and local schools. The project will be promoted with registrars through tell us once targeting new born babies, through Bookbug activity involving health visitors, nursery and Primary 1 teachers, targeting 6 month, 3 year and 5 year olds and through our annual summer reading challenge which targets 4 to 11 year olds. Awareness raising sessions will be offered for nursery staff, community link workers and other partners. Schools in targeted areas will be encouraged to join the campaign and will receive incentives such as author visits for taking part. Using existing frameworks to reach children & families provides an efficient starting point. A key part of our project will be to ensure that every child who joins the library borrows at least one

9 book or item and that whole families are encouraged to become library members and users. Renfrewshire 5,000 various ages Renfrewshire libraries has launched a new promotion in October called the Skoobs to increase library membership among children. The Skoobs are library mascots, friendly monsters, who love different things about the libraries e.g. Reading comic books, using online homework resources, taking part in activities. As an incentive to join the library children now receive a Skoobs library ticket and passport and each time they visit they collect stickers and other Skoob related incentives. Our new children and families mobile library service will be launched in late March and will visit educational establishments and community venues to promote library membership it will also work with literacy programme schools, schools in areas of deprivation which are not near a static library, to work with all the children at that school, and also their parents, and try to ensure that all children become library members. We would like to appoint someone to evaluate our current initiatives to promote library membership to see how effective they are, and to write a report highlighting good practice, lessons to be learned on current approaches, and make recommendations on any improvements that could be made. Scottish Borders 0 (none requested) Not specified various ages Scottish Borders are progressing a number of programmes in order to encourage every child to become a library member. These include working with NHS Borders and Early Years services to encourage a lifelong love of books via Bookbug.

10 Shetland 500 Primary 1 We intend to focus on signing up all P1s (80 pupils) at the two big Lerwick primaries. This will be done by help from teachers; class visits by public library staff; stalls at parent evenings and extended class visits during Book Week Scotland. Class visits to the public library will also be arranged to ensure all children who join are able to visit the library soon after getting their membership card. South Ayrshire 600 Age 4 The 'ready for reading' project will target library membership for all four year olds and their parents/carers in South Ayrshire. We will work closely with early years and nurseries in delivering an 'activity booklet' highlighting various appropriate books, and easy activities that parents and children can share together, the last page will have a tear-off library membership form unique to this project. South Lanarkshire 1,000 Various ages The project objective is to make sure that every child is an active member of the library. The pilot will focus on the Rutherglen/Cambuslang area, an area of multiple deprivation in South Lanarkshire. The target market comprises two groups - children whose parents will be easily encouraged to ensure their children become library members and those more vulnerable families who are more difficult to engage. Stirling 5,000 Registration of birth Arrangements will be put in place to grant library management system access to registrars; so that babies can be registered for library membership at the point the birth is registered, on an opt-out basis. Specific library cards and welcome packs will be produced to better highlight the role libraries play in the early years of a child s life. This approach will ensure blanket coverage of all newly registered births (it is anticipated only a small number will refuse the library membership). Following this initial implementation, we will then seek to retrospectively register every pupil in Stirling s schools and nurseries. In addition, we will map out the intervention stages at which we will record whether the new memberships have been actively used, and re-engage with those children & families which have not used libraries. The funding requested will pay for the children s library cards and welcome packs, so that stronger messaging can be provided to the families with new library memberships for their children.

11 West Dunbartonshire 4,160 Various ages The project is designed to increase public library membership and use by pre-school and school pupils of all ages within West Dunbartonshire by ensuring that: all Bookbug participants are supported in enrolling in their local library on registration. As part of enrolling at primary all P1 pupils are enrolled in the public library service (if they are not already members). This will be accomplished via a bag drop of leaflets administered by every primary school within which is a specially designed children s library card. Added incentives include promotional giveaways such as pencils and rubbers on using their library card for the first time. The third strand of the initiative is aimed at addressing the marked drop-off in public library membership and use amongst teenagers once they commence high school. In doing this we will take advantage of the recent school and public library services amalgamation by enrolling every high school pupil and issuing a specially designed library card which is valid in both school and public libraries. This would be incentivised via a bag drop leaflet and library card campaign and a competition amongst pupils of each of the five high schools to design a library card for their school. West Lothian 5,000 Birth, nursery and Primary 1 The project will target three specific age groups (birth, nursery age and P1) to encourage children to use and engage with the library service. Birth children will be signed up to the library at registration and given a library card and new children s information leaflet. They will be given a library Bookbug challenge card after six Bookbug visits they will receive a Bookbug toy. Nursery age and P1 all children will be registered to the library and given their library card in an envelope addressed to their parents. The envelope will also contain a children s leaflet and library challenge card after the sixth visit to the library they will receive an incentive. To encourage children to visit the library three author visits will be held, one of which will launch the initiative. A Lego club will also be set up in two branches. The initiative will be launched in June and will tie in with our 40 th anniversary young writer of the year celebrations.

12 Eilean Siar/Western Isles 5,000 Registration of birth We aim to work with Registrars and the Tell Us Once scheme. We will liaise with Registrars and ask them to notify libraries when a birth is registered. We will then send the family a library membership card with details and encourage them to visit their local or mobile library and borrow books for their new baby. We hope that learning about libraries early, will help encourage them to become lifelong library users, and that parents will also choose to take out membership as well (if they don t already have). The leaflet will also include information on Bookbug and encourage the take-up of Bookbug s Library Challenge and attendance at Bookbug sessions. To support this project, we will create a special library card for children and a children s library information leaflet. Together these will form a pack sent to new parents. The pack will also help us promote the library to children of all ages and can be used when visiting schools to promote the Summer Reading Challenge and other events. Total - 80, granted