Shortlist for the 2008 CILIP / LiS Libraries Change Lives Award Announced
A local community TV scheme to provide training, equipment for media projects, from photography, journalism and film making, a local volunteer scheme which supports the work of library staff giving additional and enriched services to customers in a wider community, a project providing courses to enable adults with learning disabilities to make use of mainstream services are all in the running for the 2008 CILIP/LiS Libraries Change Lives Award.
The winner of the award will be announced by Phil Beadle on 23 April 2008 at the Library + information Show (LiS), Hall 11, NEC, Birmingham.
The three shortlisted library projects are:
• Nunny TV - North East Lincolnshire Library Service
• Time2Give – Kent Libraries & Archives: Community and Cultural Services
• Bradford/CareTrust Libraries Partnership Project – Bradford Libraries and Archive Information Service
Linda Constable, Chair of the judges comments on this year’s shortlist, “all the judges felt that the entries were of a very high standard and showed the wide range of innovative and inclusive work that is going on in libraries across the UK. The three shortlisted entries demonstrate best practice, the benefits of partnership working and the impact that libraries and their staff can have on individuals.”
This is the 17th year of the national award that recognises innovative and exciting work in libraries and their communities. The award was established in 1992 to acknowledge and reward libraries and information services working with disadvantaged groups to combat inequality, including the unemployed, homeless, persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities
Since its inception, the award has had a significant impact on the world of libraries and their local communities across the UK. Previous winners include Bookstart, the Government-backed scheme that was first piloted by Birmingham Libraries and now reaches 3 million babies and their parents across the UK and has been recognised as making a significant difference to literacy and numeracy levels in primary schools.
Another scheme, the Big Book Share, winner of the Libraries Change Lives Award in 2002 has been successful in helping fathers in prison to keep contact with their children through reading to them on tapes.
Helen Carpenter, leader of Welcome to Your Library project, the winner in 2007 says of winning the award,
“Winning the 2007 Libraries Change Lives award was a real vote of confidence giving added credibility to the innovative approach and success of the Welcome To Your Library project.”
37 library-based projects were entered for the 2008 award. These were shortlisted in January; the winner will be announced at the Library + information Show (LiS) in Birmingham on 23 April. The winning project receives a trophy and £5,000 prize money. The two runners-up both receive a cheque for £2,000.
This year’s judges are: Linda Constable (Chair), Katherine Allen (Event Director for LiS), Carole Wolstenholme and Simon Parker.
The award is sponsored by the Library + information Show. The event is organised and administered by CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals and its Community Service Group.
The Library + information Show (LiS) takes place at the NEC Birmingham on 23-24 April 2007. Now in its 19th year, it caters for all sectors of the library profession, bringing the library and information world together to share key industry developments, the latest technology, exchange ideas and debate current issues. For more information please visit: www.lishow.co.uk
Contacts:
Tatti de Jersey
Tel: 01256381741 Email: tatti@dejersey.co.uk
Mark Taylor at CILIP
Tel: 0207 255 0650 Email: mark.taylor@cilip.org.uk
For case studies or to speak to any of the people involved in the projects, please contact: Tatti de Jersey (details above)
Notes to Editors
1. Details of the shortlisted projects:
Nunny TV
James Radcliffe
North East Lincolnshire Library Service
James.radcliffe@neclincs.gov.uk
Tel 01472 323636
Nunsthorpe library serves a community with high levels of unemployment, low literary and education achievement, health problems and high teenage pregnancies.
Working with Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education, Channel 7 and local businesses Nunsthorpe Library offers free training in the use of the latest digital stills and video cameras and digital editing facilities. The aim of the project was to provide people with tools and the training to say what they want to whom they want giving the local community a “visual voice”. In addition the library produces a monthly half hour TV show broadcast on Virgin Media Channel 879. Volunteers of all ages from 11-70 yrs work together to record stories from virtual councillor’s surgeries to reports on community activities and events.
The scheme has given local people a whole range of new skills. Teamwork, research, planning, timekeeping, presentation and communication skills, IT and use of new technologies have boosted self esteem and employability, a fact supported by the number of work placements arranged with Nunny TV through local employment services. The scheme has encouraged people to take an interest in their community.
Time2Give
Diane J Chilmaid
Business Support Manger
Kent Libraries & Archives
Diane.Chilmaid@kent.gov.uk
01622 671411
Time2Give is one of Kent Libraries and Archives volunteering programmes. It encourages local people to become actively involved in the library service by supporting the development and delivery of extra activities and services.
Time2Give changes the lives of volunteers, staff, customers and reaches into the broader community by providing opportunities for real and active community engagement, personal development, skill enhancement, asset sharing, improved health and well being, personal development skills and shared assets in an atmosphere of inclusions and diversity.
The programme offered a broad menu of volunteering activities to interest people of all ages and abilities which included Computer buddies (aka Web Wizards) helping customers with ICT queries, local studies volunteers helping staff develop additional resource and information, family and life long activities, supporting access to library services and general service support.
These programmes have impacted on the lives of a wider community with whom the library have not been previously engaged. Changes may have been small in some instances relating to better understanding or changed perception, on other occasions they have impacted on people’s life choices.
Bradford/CareTrust Libraries Partnership Project
Jane Heap
Principal Libraries Officer: Operations South
Bradford Libraries, Archive and Information Service
Jane.heap@bradford.gov.uk
01274 434681
During August 2005, the Care Trust approached the library with a proposal for a ground breaking course for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. This group are frequently excluded from educational opportunities due to their physical needs.
The Bradford Care Trust/Libraries Partnership Project aimed to integrate services users with learning disabilities into the community using the Central Library as a focus for a range of activities. Rooms in the library were adapted for use by the Care Trust for their Sign Posting Service, as a classroom and as the “Changing Places” changing and feeding facility for people with severe disabilities (the only one in the city centre.) Service users also make extensive use of the library ”Learning Zone” and café area where they would socialise with other library users. Regular visits would ensure they felt comfortable and gradually become more IT literate enabling them to access e-government services and more importantly be more fully integrated into the community. Both learners and support workers were delighted with the course and the support which they have received from library staff.
2. CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
CILIP: the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals is the leading professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers. It forms a community of around 36,000 people engaged in library and information work, of whom around 21,000 are CILIP members and around 15,000 are regular customers of CILIP Enterprises. For more information about CILIP go to www.cilip.org.uk
3. Incisive Media: is a B2B information provider specialising in producing highly focused trade exhibitions for the information technology, telecommunications and information industries.
For more information, please visit: www.incisive-events.com
For information about LiS, contact: Jane Lewis at VNU on 020 7316 9532. Email: jane.lewis@vnuexhibitions.co.uk
- Ends -
Updated: 23 July 2008