Partners for Change
This has been one of our successes clocked up under the Fulfilling their Potential umbrella. It has helped us shape the work we are continuing to do through Fulfilling their Potential.
Partners for Change had a particularly difficult brief. Not only were library services in the south west encouraged to get young people involved in their local library but we were interested in young people who traditionally don’t see a library as a place for them – young mums, young travellers, looked-after young people and young people at risk.
Our partners in this venture were the South West Museums Libraries and Archives Council (SWMLA) The National Youth Agency and library authorities in Dorset, Gloucestershire and Swindon. And we are thrilled by what we managed to achieve together.
Some of the highlights are the fact there is going to be a much larger space for young people in the new Swindon Central Library when it opens in 2008 thanks to the input of our young people. While library staff in Dorset were able to help travellers to get more support because they got to know the traveller community by running projects for young travellers. And young people in Cheltenham secured £10,000 for improvements and new furniture for the music library.
Some very valuable lessons were learnt from Partners for Change. It has shown that libraries have much to offer socially excluded young people. It has shown that with the right training and a commitment to outreach work to build the trust of young people, library staff can achieve great things. And it has shown that young people from socially excluded backgrounds are willing to get involved in shaping the services that local libraries provide for their age group.
The work in the region goes on. A HeadSpace has opened in Lyme Regis. Young people will be involved in Swindon’s new Central Library and in Gloucestershire young people are having their say through focus groups at Cheltenham, Matson and Cirencester libraries.