National Year of Reading 2008

Generic.PNGWe are working with the National Literacy Trust on the 2008 National Year of Reading, having been appointed by the government's Department for Children, Schools and Families to lead a consortium of organisations to promote reading. Everywhere we look, we all want to see more people reading more.

Our role is to mobilise the power of libraries and to bring our experience of forging partnerships between libraries and creative partners like the BBC and publishers to make the National Year of Reading 2008 fabulous. To find out more about what we can offer libraries in the 2008 National Year of Reading, download The Reading Agency Offer document from Resources.

Every library authority in England has committed to the National Year of Reading and are planning events and activities to promote reading in all its forms. April 2008 saw the first ever national library membership campaign which will run throughout the Year. Early reports show that this has been a success - a 100 per cent success in some cases. The results from May show that many library authorities have achieved impressive results so far with West Sussex and Derbyshire (amongst others) reporting increases of over 100 per cent compared to April 2007. But we can't rest on our laurels. The campaign target is to get 350,000 new people joining their library.

We've produced special welcome packs for new members which tell them about all the new reading activities that libraries are running. These packs are available from libraries and the National Year of Reading website - the link is in Resources.

We want the impact of the National Year of Reading to remain long after the official 'year' has ended have thought about how its legacy could fit in with key local and national government initiatives. You can read about the legacies we believe the National Year of Reading will leave and our suggestions for how libraries can campaign to ensure that they happen in the powerpoint presentations available from Resources.

We are really delighted to be leading this venture with The National Literacy Trust. The other organisations in the consortium are:

Arts Council England
Booktrust
The Campaign for Learning
The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education
ContinYou
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
The National Youth Agency
NIACE
Society of Chief Librarians
Volunteer Reading Help

We will continue to post updates and information about how libraries can get involved in the National Year of Reading 2008 on these pages so keep checking back.