Encouraging Reading
The Connecting Learners Experience
Background We all like stories and most of us like to read. The Reading Agency—a national charity formed with the aim of encouraging adults to read conducted a study and found that adults in Britain read books for 4.6 hours every week - that's 39 minutes a day. They also found that we are influenced by what our friends and colleagues are reading. One in five adults read books recommended to them, one in six recommend books to others and one in seven discusses the books they are reading. No surprise then that the number of reading groups has exploded. But we also know that not all adults find reading easy or enjoy it and there are approximately 12 million people in the UK who find reading a struggle. With 25% of adults in Wales admitting to problems with literacy—it is estimated that this impacts on the Welsh business economy—costing £588million a year in wastage, mistakes, etc . So for any organisation to succeed it needs to play it’s part and perform well. This guide will look at simple work place practices designed to encourage reading—and in turn support the improvement of literacy skills.
“Research has proven time and time again that if you improve the skills of your people your business will be more successful” Welsh Government
Book Swaps Why not set up a Swap a Book scheme in your workplace? If you’ve read a good book lately, pass it on for others to enjoy. It’s simple to set up and easy to run. Everyone wins from it, as staff get to find out more about each other and enjoy their time at work, whilst employers get a boost from having a more literate workforce.
How to do it:
Source a book case or storage box. This may be provided by the employer, Wales Union Learning Fund Projects (WULF) or Union Learning Representatives (ULRs). Ideally this should be housed in a staff room, canteen area where staff are likely to meet.
You may wish to develop some “swap rules” and display these alongside the books.
Invite staff to donate any unwanted books (both fiction and nonfiction). You will be surprised at how quickly these populate! A wide range of books will encourage more participants. For example: male readers may enjoy sports biographies, etc
Ask your WULF Project or ULRs to purchase a set of Quick Reads (see page 5)
Make up some Book Plates (see Page 4) to encourage participants to record how they felt about the book, record further recommendations etc.
Organise an official launch. Promote the new Book Swap facility in the workplace and invite a senior member of staff to officially “open” the scheme.
Recycle stock. Everyone so often you will need to replenish and recycle your stock in order to stimulate interest. Old stock can be shared with other departments or organisations—or alternatively donated to charity.
Book Plates Book Swap ————————————————————————————————————— This book is from the Book Swap shelf at: You are welcome to take it away, but please return it to the shelf when you have read it , so someone else can Book Swap after you. Book Title:
Author:
What did you think of the book?
What did you like....
What did you dislike....
Would you recommend this book to others? Yes No What “star rating” would you give this book?
Quick Reads If you’re too busy for long books, want a quick read for the train, tube or bus, or think reading is difficult or dull, Quick Reads are for you.
Brilliant, bite-sized books written by big name authors and celebrities Fast paced and easy to read A great range of fiction and non-fiction titles Available at bookshops, libraries, supermarkets and online (also available as e-readers) At £1.99 each—they cost less than a DVD
Further information can be found at: http://www.quickreads.org.uk
Six Book Reading Challenge Launched by the Reading Agency in 2008, the Six Book Reading Challenge invites less confident readers to read six books over an agreed period of time and record their achievements in a reading diary in order to receive incentives, a certificate and the chance to enter a national prize draw. Connecting Learners challenged employees at Community Lives Consortium in Swansea to take part last year, This resulted in approximately 50 staff joining and completing the challenge. A similar scheme was also offered to RCT Homes in Pontypridd. The scheme ran along a similar model to the Book Swap Scheme (Page 3) where donations of books were accepted. These were complimented by a selection of Quick Reads to ensure the challenge was as inclusive as possible. Readers attended monthly swap sessions over a period of six months. In other words, we encouraged participants to read a book per month. We recognised that ULRs were helpful in supporting this activity—by promoting the event and managing resources. We acknowledged achievement by hosting a celebration event and invited local author Catrin Collier to speak. We were also pleased to host delegates from the Reading Agency who also spoke about the benefits of reading. Again this is a relatively easy way of engaging readers. There was some associated costs involving the purchase of promotional items and reading diaries. Full support is offered by the Reading Agency Project Officers if required. We are now half way through our second “Challenge” prompted by staff demand. For further information: http://www.sixbookchallenge.org.uk
World Book Day World Book Day is a celebration! It’s a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK is to encourage people to explore the pleasure of books. World Book Day is a great platform for launching reading schemes. For further information: http://www.worldbookday.com
World Book Night Similar to World Book Day—World Book Night provides thousands of readers across the UK with an opportunity to receive free reading books. By registering at the World Book Night website—you can become a “Book Giver”. You will then receive around 25 free novels of the same title to distribute as you wish. Each book comes with a unique ID code—which allows World Book Night to track the journey of the books.
For further information: http://www.worldbooknight.org
Reading Groups
Reading Groups encourage like minded people to meet to discuss books they have read, to express their opinions, likes and dislikes. You can get advice from your local libraries on how to set up a reading group—and they will also be able to help with sourcing books—rather than having to purchase set of books each time. As a trade union, UNISON believes a good public library service is at the heart of the community and has launched a campaign to ensure it stays that way. As well as saving you money in purchasing books etc— by using your local libraries you are supporting local services. You may wish to organise a group to meet in the workplace over a lunch break —or you may prefer to attend a local group in your community. As well as face-to-face contact—some reading groups may have an online discussion facility or may use social media like Facebook or Twitter to share views and publicise events.
For further information: http://www.readinggroups.org http://www.unison.org.uk/localgov/loveyourlibraries.asp
Connecting Learners in the Third Sector in South Wales, proud to work in partnership with: