What's new

ASCEL is inviting expressions of interest for an individual or organisation to produce a toolkit of resources focussing on activities in libraries to help combat childhood obesity as part of the Universal Health Offer.   

The closing date for expressions of interest in this work is 5pm 12 January 2018. 

All details in the link.

Developing a Library Toolkit of Resources to Promote Good Health and Wellbeing in Children Aged 5-11 Years

The Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians (ASCEL) Launch Bump Booster

Bump Booster is a new online resource developed for ASCEL to help library staff support parents-to-be. It includes guidance for library staff, ideas for parents-to-be and great rhymes to sing to a bump.

Babies in the womb can hear their parents and the world around them. Parents can give their child an early start by singing and talking to them before they are born.

Bump Booster focuses on three simple messages that can make a huge difference to a baby’s development:

    - Talk to your bump - your baby can hear you from 18 weeks

     - Read to your bump - your baby remembers noises from the womb,

     - Bond with your bump - reading and singing to your baby helps you to bond with your them

Bump Booster is the latest in a series of initiatives designed to help parents and children and to encourage them to become more active users of libraries.

A key finding of the report into the Automatic Library Membership Pilots evaluation (Siddall 2014) presented by Arts Council England (ACE), was that “the principle of having a library card is an important first step. But issuing a library card in itself does not create active library members. The accompanying outreach activities and library events were important factors in making membership real.”

ASCEL was commissioned on behalf of ACE and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) to undertake research to identify what those interactions should be and to present recommendations for a deliverable but innovative library offer.

This work consisted of:

    - ASCEL commissioning a freelance Cultural and Audience Development Consultant to identify key interactions in a child’s library/reading life that are delivered in libraries across the country

    - A national seminar

A key recommendation from both the research and the seminar was to develop the library offer at the pre-natal to birth stage – promoting the benefits of reading and library use to parents-to-be and supporting and promoting parental and children’s reading journeys.

Following a tender process Diane Dixon Associates was awarded the contract to research and create the tool kit

In addition the following library services successfully bid for small amounts of funding to carry out pilot work with parents-to-be to supplement the tool kit content:

 - Dudley

 - Leicestershire

 - Gateshead

 - Hertfordshire

The learning from the pilot projects in Dudley, Leicestershire and Hertfordshire are now available in the toolkit. 

Neil MacInnes, President of the Society of Chief Librarians comments, “Work around the children’s library journey highlighted a clear need for library staff to engage with parents-to-be so that they can understand how libraries can help them with their child’s early learning. We welcome this new resource and the opportunities it will create for library staff to engage with this audience.”

Sue Ball, Chair of ASCEL says, “We are delighted with the production of Bump Booster. This new toolkit provides library staff with a range of resources to develop their work with parents-to-be in local communities. Parents-to-be can also access the toolkit and sing and read to their bump in the comfort of their own homes. ASCEL would like to thank Arts Council England and The Society of Chief Librarians for funding this work and Diane Dixon Associates for creating the toolkit.”

Notes:

The Bump Booster toolkit can be found on the ASCEL website http://www.ascel.org.uk/bump-booster

ASCEL is the national network of senior managers in Children’s Public and Schools’ Library Services leading on excellence in library services for children and young people

The Society of Chief Librarians leads and manages public libraries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. SCL is made up of the head of service of every library authority, and advocates for continuous improvement of the public library service on behalf of local people. www.goscl.com

Developing a Children and Young People’s strand of the Universal Health Offer

A report by The Reading Agency on behalf of ASCEL (the Association of Senior Children’s & Education Librarians) & launched today (26/05/2017).

The Universal Health Offer is a strategy which expresses the public library contribution to the positive health and wellbeing of local communities.  It is delivered by the Society of Chief Librarians, in partnership with The Reading Agency and is funded by Arts Council England as one of the five Universal Offers available in English public libraries.

Research for the report looked at the key priorities of leading health bodies, including Public Health England, NHS England, The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Royal College of GPs, the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal Society of Public Health and included interviews with representatives from health organisations.

The report states that there is clear potential for public libraries to support the health and wellbeing of children and young people in their local communities and recommends areas of focus for public libraries divided by age category, early years (pre-birth/0-4 years), children (5-11 years) and young people (11-18 years).

Sue Ball, national Chair of ASCEL said, “We are delighted with this report as going forward the recommendations will help to shape local public library health offers for children & young people & their families.”

Debbie Hicks, Creative Director at The Reading Agency said, “We’re really excited to be working with ASCEL and SCL on a children and young people’s strand of the Public Library Health Offer.  The report shows there is enormous potential to extend the health work of libraries in this area building on the success of the Reading Well for young people scheme, which is already supporting young people’s wellbeing through expert endorsed reading available in public libraries.”

Julie Spencer MBE, Head of Library and Museum Services, Bolton, said, “On behalf of the Society of Chief Librarians I would like to endorse the importance of this report.  It identifies priorities which will help to extend and shape a coordinated approach to delivering children’s and young people’s health and well-being activity across public libraries. These recommendations will give a welcome extra dimension to the Public Library Health Offer reflecting current health policy and commissioning concerns and underlining the benefits our work brings to local communities.”

***UPDATE****

To support library staff in conversations with stakeholders and partners about how libraries support the health and wellbeing of children and young people ASCEL have developed these Ten Key Messages

Health & Wellbeing  - Examples of good practice, June 2017 Spreadsheet compiled by Emma Fisher  of South Gloucestershire Libraries for ASCEL

Additional information:

The Society of Chief Librarians leads and manages public libraries in England, Wales & Northern Ireland.  It is made up of the head of every library authority and advocates for continuous improvement of the public library service on behalf of local people.  www.goscl.com  

ASCEL is the national network of senior managers in Children’s Public and Schools Library Services. Their aim is to lead excellence in library services for children and young people and schools so that every child and young person visiting a public library should be inspired by an exciting environment which makes reading for pleasure irresistible and every school has access to a high quality school library service.  www.ascel.org.uk 

The Reading Agency is the leading charity inspiring people of all ages and all backgrounds to read for pleasure and empowerment.  Working with partners, their aim is to make reading accessible to everyone.  The Reading Agency is funded by Arts Council. www.readingagency.org.uk 

The Universal Offers for Public Libraries were launched in 2013 by The Society of Chief Librarians.  They cover five key areas which library customers and partners see as essential to a 21st century library service.  They are Health, Reading, Digital, Information and Learning.

ASCEL (The Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians) welcomes Ambition and the recognition of libraries in the lives of children and young people.

The document provides advice and support, a direction of travel for public libraries, ideas and good case studies.

It is good to see recognition of the many children and young people’s programmes we are involved in and recognition of the work ASCEL is doing.

The report identifies that The Children’s Promise, alongside the Six Steps Promise underpins the Universal Offers and we would urge the Taskforce to ensure that children’s interests are also strongly recognised in Ambition’s 7 outcomes.

We are delighted that ASCEL’s Autism Friendly Libraries initiative is highlighted in the report. ASCEL is also currently working on the following initiatives that support the universal offers and the Ambition outcomes - Children’s Library Journeys – developing a national  library framework for parents-to-be, working with The Reading Agency (TRA) and the Universal Health offer to develop an articulation and evidence base for the impact of libraries on children’s health and well-being, working on an outcomes framework based on the Arts Council  7 Quality Principles to demonstrate the powerful  impact  of library rhyme times and working with Bridge Organisations to develop a national strategy  for libraries’ role within local  Cultural  Education Partnerships.   ASCEL, working in partnership with the Society of Chief Librarians, BookTrust, TRA and the Publishers Association are also driving ahead the  reading for pleasure strand of the new National Reading Strategy launched in November 2016 as part of Read On Get on ensuring that the fundamental role libraries play in reading for pleasure is centre staged.

ASCEL supports the Libraries First approach and the advocacy alongside this.  We believe libraries can be central to the lives of local communities and are particularly essential for families who may otherwise be isolated and unable to access services and cultural experiences.  Libraries are beginning strong and exciting shared and integrated offers with other children’s services providers, for example Children’s Centres and children and family health providers.

ASCEL welcomes the 7 design principals.  It is really helpful to have those made explicit and particularly the recognition that there is value in integrating national initiatives and programmes with the flexibility to respond to local need.

ASCEL also welcomes the opportunity for libraries to test pilot innovative and exciting projects by applying to the new Libraries: Opportunities for Everyone innovation fund.

We are encouraged by a focus on improved data and evidence gathering. This is desperately needed and needs to reflect the transforming role of libraries – not just the traditional roles.  We would also like to ensure there is a focus on impact and outcomes measurements to support articulation of the work we do and the value of libraries in people’s lives.

 Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016-2021 (1/12/2016)  Read the full report