© Opening the Book Ltd Reading groups in the UK Rachel Van Riel

© Opening the Book Ltd

Reading groups in the UK

Rachel Van Riel

www.openingthebook.com


Quick history

• Private groups have existed for many decades• First library-run group in 1994• National Year of Reading 1998 gave boost• Branching Out 1998-2001 run by Opening the Book

trained librarians as agents of change• Reading Group Toolbox, Opening the Book with

Waterstone’s 2000• The Reading Agency and Chatterbooks• The Reader Organisation and Get into Reading• Now estimated 10,000 groups


www.readingagency.org.uk



www.thereader.org.uk



Chesterfield Library

200 groups in the county borrow books including:•A listening group for visually impaired readers•A drop-in group with no preparation•A university of the third age group•A group based in the mental health unit at the hospital•A classics reading group•A library staff reading group•Several Women’s Institute groups in rural areas


Reading groups in libraries

Part of wider reader development movement which aims to:•increase people’s enjoyment and confidence in reading•open up reading choices•offer opportunities to share reading experiences•raise the status of reading as a creative activity

By 2004 libraries required by government to have a reader development strategy


The reader-centred approach

• Start from the reading experience not the text

• Keep it different from study

• Each participant is expert in their own reading experience. This gives equality across different preferences, knowledge and appetites


Ideas to get going

• Where do you read?• What do you read when you’re ill?• Display 10 book covers – which appeal to you

and which don’t?• Choose a treat, a challenge and a book you

wouldn’t read even if you were paid to• Which character in a book did you first fall in

love with?• … and lots more




Bookmarks

• Insert this bookmark at the end of the first chunk you read

• Insert this bookmark at the point where you got into the book and knew you would continue to read it

• Insert this bookmark at the point where your involvement with the book went down a bit

• Insert this bookmark on the last page you read


Wordle





Recommended by another reader









Sustainability and independence

• Reading groups are organic. Don’t struggle to keep a dying one alive. Close it and start another at a different time or place.

• Library services have developed policies on reading groups – which ones to prioritise support to, what all groups can expect, what staff time it is possible to allocate.


Benefits to the library

• Staff develop skills and confidence in talking about books

• Readers can give back – advocacy, comments and reviews, noticeboard, events, outreach

• Ready-made audience for author events• Contribution to community cohesion


Why people love reading groups

• Readers enjoy a safe way to discuss deep issues and emotions – people hunger for depth and meaning in their lives

• “The reading group is the only place in a long life where I have experienced amicable disagreement.”

• The mix of intellectual challenge, emotional depth and social networking in a reading group is hard to find anywhere else.


Why reading groups matter

• Respect for different opinions is the basis of any reading group – this is a cornerstone of participatory democracy

• Reading lets you walk in someone else’s shoes – talking about the walk adds another level

• Library-based groups are open and include many people who are otherwise isolated

• Reading groups help the wider book world - publishers and booksellers know word of mouth lifts sales


Audience development for literature

• If you are interested in the reader-centred approach, Opening the Book is looking for partners to make an application to the EU Cultural Fund.

• We wish to bring librarians in different countries together to develop reader-centred skills to promote literature in new ways.








The reading experience

• The reader-centred approach sells the reading experience and what it can do for you, rather than selling individual books or writers.

• This builds the audience for literature by moving readers beyond brand loyalty to individual writers, developing confidence and interest in trying something new.


Documents

© Opening the Book Ltd Reading groups in the UK Rachel Van Riel