WHEN a National Year of Reading (NYR) was announced by the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson in July its press release mentioned libraries as one of the key elements.

“Bringing together parents, schools, libraries, businesses and literacy experts, the campaign aims to foster a love of reading for pleasure in children and young people, ensuring all children get the best start in life.” 

The campaign is jointly led by the government and the National Literacy Trust, whose CEO, Jonathan Douglas, made a similar point: “The National Year of Reading 2026 presents an opportunity to join forces across sectors and redefine reading as a powerful, contemporary activity for a generation. Working closely with schools, families, libraries, communities and partners across the country, we will make reading a shared national mission.”

Support

There is currently little formal detail for libraries and library bodies, but the sector is ready to put its weight behind the campaign – CILIP has publicly supported it. It is seen as a chance to highlight the capabilities of libraries and make connections in a complex literacy ecosystem.

Jake Hope, Reading Development and Children’s Book consultant, said: “We have a lot of organisations and groups in the UK committed to promoting reading and literacy. The flip side is that lots of people are pulling in slightly different directions. The National Year of Reading offers an opportunity to showcase the importance of this skill. Through it we can try to unite a range of different perspectives and a range of expertise. It is absolutely crucial – I mean, obviously not biased! – that libraries are a part of that. There’s a real opportunity for the libraries here to profile our resources and our skills. We’ve just got to make sure that we are part of that conversation.”

Culture

The Government press release focused on parents, “calling on parents to lead by example and make reading a daily habit”. Jake said: “Research shows that reading for pleasure levels are at the lowest they’ve ever been for children and young people, but my suspicion is that reading for pleasure levels are very low among adults as well. We need to think about ways to build robust cultures for reading.”

He said: “Actively modelling reading is one way to do this. Parents and carers are among the people that children spend most time with so they warrant particular focus.”

Partly because we’re seeing a generation of adults who have grown up with a focus on reading for purpose – and the more you make something a chore, the less people are likely to want to continue with it as a leisure pursuit.”

Infectious culture

Viv Hill, chair of CILIP’s Public and Mobile Libraries Group (PMLG) emphasised this point, that public libraries cater “for all ages – from cradle to grave”, but adds that they naturally encourage community, communication and trying new things.

She gave public library book clubs as an example of adult reading for pleasure, saying: “Even if you are quite affluent, buying all the books you read, you probably go for a safe bet, you go for an author you know. It isn’t expanding, it’s tunnel vision.”

Public libraries and their book clubs (or any book club) whether physical or online are places where “you start talking to people, start challenging what you’ve got out of it and you’re pulled in when somebody else has really enjoyed it and expressed that enjoyment,” Viv explains. “People realise ‘I’ve been missing out and thousands of books I could have been testing, trying and discarding’. I think that’s crucial for adults.”

Another infectious culture

The NYR also has a commercial aspect, with most of its partners being publishers. And the public library sector already has deep roots with commercial stakeholders. One such area is the CILIP-run Carnegies Awards for children’s books.

Stella Hine, the current chair of judges (all of whom are librarians), said the main awards and particularly the shadowing scheme are great tools for building reading culture and communities for young people.

She said: “As a judge, I have visited several secondary schools shadowing the Carnegies and I have been impressed by the passion and dedication of the library professionals and teaching staff who facilitate this. I have been even more impressed by the shadowers themselves, often mixed-age groups of students who come together for the shared experience of discussing books.”

Like Viv and Jake, Stella values the communication and culture that meeting and talking provide. She said: “Their discussions have been informed, respectful, sophisticated, challenging and insightful. Witnessing this gives hope for a bright future for all. I think the Carnegies have been ‘reimagining reading’ for a long while, fundamentally reshaping the canon of children’s classics to reflect our changing society. The Carnegies have also long championed visual literacy which profoundly informs the lives of all of us in our digital/media-driven world. Shadowing sparks creativity in the broadest sense. The foundation is solid. Now is the time to promote reading for everyone everywhere.”

History

Jake pointed out that this will be the third National Year of Reading, saying: “ We’ve had two years of reading previously, the first was in 1998 and then another one in 2008.”

He expects there to be some similarities, stating: “With past years of reading, there hasn’t really been much that’s been new, it’s been more badging up what’s going on so that there’s greater awareness of that.”

But is also expecting some differences, as he explains: “In the past there’s been some allotted funding. There was government funding for target areas of Early Years and narrowing gender gaps in 2008. It would be surprising to see that this time, given the changed economic climate.” Although the government press release did mention £27m “to support the teaching of reading and writing”, it made it clear this was already in place.

Umbrella

Jake said: “The National Year of Reading is a bit like an umbrella, encouraging grass roots activity from a number of different organisations which is then profiled under the National Year of Reading banner. This could show the range and diversity of reading that’s going on, creating a valuable critical mass. I’ve been pushing for this for a long time because the reading ecosystem in the UK has felt increasingly fragmented. There are lots of people in the same space and that can make a cohesive approach or message complex.”

But he said this is an opportunity to build relationships, especially if organisations are “given sufficient input and involvement further down the line,” adding that “the National Year of Reading is a soft touch way of trying to achieve more synergies of partnership working.”

Library light

Asked if this was an opportunity to get librarians to think politically, he says: “Yes, for me this would be the key thing because we are the biggest network of reading providers across the whole of the UK. With this relatively new administration it is an opportunity to showcase our presence, relevance and impact.

“A huge amount of what we do is around reading for pleasure. So it’s more about drawing focus to that and making sure that whatever opportunities there are for promoting that, or pulling that together, are used. So that we’re seen as key deliverers of this.”

And as a former Chair of Judges for the Carnegies and an active member of CILIP’S YLG he re-emphasised Stella’s point: “From a Carnegie’s viewpoint the most important thing is going to be the shadowing and making sure that shadowing is badged up as part of a national year of reading offer. The success of the year will be dependent on our abilities to bring offerings to the table that showcase reading as creative, social and a contemporary activity.”