Promoting reading is, or ought to be, fundamental to the work of public libraries. As funds for public libraries have declined and, in parallel, morale among library staff has also declined, too much of what librarians took for granted as a core part of their work has ceased. The promotion of reading is among the most significant of these very real losses in the quality of librarianship and library provision. There have been many initiatives relating to the enhancement of basic literacy and numeracy skills ‐‐ “family literacy projects” and the like. But it seems a long time since librarians addressed or even discussed the promotion of reading among adults ‐‐ programmes that could develop reading within the community to the potential benefit of the individual and to extended families and the wider community. This study, a British Library research and innovation report, addressed these circumstances and carried out research on the topic between June 1996 and June 1997. It is particularly timely as public librarianship struggles to address its traditional roles, and their relevance to the ICT‐driven knowledge society of the next century.
This is the first major study of its kind in the UK. It is to be hoped that it will stimulate Britain′s public libraries to prioritise the promotion of reading among adults, which has lain dormant for quite some time. Although in recent years there has been a strong emphasis in public libraries on the promotion of the reading habit among children, the words and the intentions of the LISC (England) report Investing in Children (1995),
The promotion of books and the enjoyment of reading is an integral and vital part of the public libraries′ service to children and young people,
should apply to everyone, not only the children, and no matter how important the children are.
Kinnell and Shepherd structure their research into five areas:
- 1
the service environment and the public library′s role in reading promotion;
- 2
reading, literature and the bookworld;
- 3
public library responses;
- 4
marketing and promoting reading; and
- 5
conclusions and recommendations.
Their general conclusions come as no surprise, but are of even more concern for just that reason, namely that the promotion of reading for adults has been largely neglected, with many librarians making an assumption that readers prefer to help themselves without influence or interference from library staff. The prevailing attitude smacks of the same attitude to the debate about the provision of information or advice. Neutrality appears increasingly like an excuse to do nothing, not to get involved. The researchers also find, in more general terms, a lack of focus between librarians and the need to market and develop the service, and develop an overall strategy to drive forward the propagation of these services. A further conclusion was that literature was synonymous with fiction, and that view had much to do with the Arts Council of England, and also that of many librarians who were reluctant to promote non‐fiction for leisure reading. Perhaps the problem is the word “leisure” and what it represents.
These conclusions also highlight the need to improve and re‐position staff training, and the relationship between schools of information and library studies and public libraries, while these findings also highlighted the need for a coherent marketing strategy to promote reading. Most important of all, however, will be the attitude of staff. If they can see the value of again promoting reading, then public libraries will have re‐discovered one of the foundations on which the original public library was built. This is essential for the future well‐being of public libraries, if they are to maintain a key role as a leading provider of the nation′s reading environment.
