CyMAL FE Reader Development Funding was used for a programme of reader development activities across a number of participating colleges between October and December 2009. The programme was developed by some of the FE college LRC managers and the Learning Resource Advisers from JISC RSC Wales.

Aims the programme set out to achieve

• Include an element of reaching new audiences: the creation of book clubs has the potential to engage new users for the LRS and can be focussed on particular groups such as reluctant readers.
• Involve libraries working in partnership: as well as sharing best practice and peer support from the FE community, the proposal can also lead to promotion of the local public library as a source of (additional) fiction material and the use of reciprocal borrowing schemes where they exist. The Regional Development Officers can also be involved to support and encourage this collaboration.
• Promoting reading: promoting reading as a fun/leisure activity, opening up reading choices, promoting literacy (reading skills) as a whole, encouraging readers to try different genres, authors etc.
• Offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences: encouraging the formation of book clubs with both physical meetings and online.

Reader development activities are an excellent way to reach new potential users of the LRS – both students and college staff – and therefore can be an excellent promotion for the service. This work can therefore link in with the Libraries for Life Marketing Action Plan.

How the funding was used

The funding was used to purchase prizes for readers taking part in the reader development initiatives. In some cases this helped to launch book clubs and projects and aided in achieving the interest and critical mass required to make them successful and long-term.

£2,500 was available (originally £2,000, but it was later increased by £500). However one FE college dropped out in the early stages (Coleg Llysfasi) so the final invoice to CyMAL was for £2263.86. The summary of the costs of the prizes distributed to readers by the participating institutions is shown in this spreadsheet.

It should be added that the sector in turn contributed their own resources:

• Staff time (running the schemes, designing publicity, post-event dissemination such as presentations).
• Some LRCs purchased materials to support their reading groups  (e.g. Coleg Morgannwg, Yale College) or donated books to swapping schemes (e.g. Neath Port Talbot College).
• The LRCs paid for their own publicity materials (posters, flyers, bookmarks etc).
• RSC Wales staff time in coordinating the proposal, management and dissemination of the project.

It is appropriate here to thank Deirdre Magoris, the Welsh Video Network Administrator, who kindly helped with the finances: ordering items, keeping track of spending, and making sense of a mass of invoices!

Summary of the participating colleges and their projects

1: Coleg Glan Hafren
A competition asking students to think about what the learning centres or libraries mean to them, then to create things to illustrate their thoughts. Creations from students were put forward for the CyMAL competition, enabling a close link with CyMAL campaigns. Evaluation and supporting material.

2: Coleg Llandrillo Cymru
Denbigh Site: Working with STEPS groups (adults with learning difficulties) to increase library usage, incorporating the 6 Book Challenge. Promoted reading activities in the classrooms with other students, and tried to do the same for ESOL students.

Rhos Site: Worked with ILS (Independent Living Skills) students made up of three groups with four to five students in a group. Tried to get them to see the library as a useful, welcoming and safe place, and to increase their usage of the resources suitable to them. Also linked with the 6 Book Challenge and encouraged book reviews.

Evaluation and supporting material.

3: Coleg Menai
Book swaps and a Reader Reviews Competition of any reading material (e.g. fiction, course texts, magazines, audio books, newspapers etc) with prizes for each of the three sites. Submissions could be by email, post, dropped off at the libraries, or submitted via the library pages on Moodle. The projects were promoted in many ways: at inductions and teaching sessions; via posters; Moodle; staff intranet; staff e-zine; postcards tucked into books and left on tables; and screensaver adverts on student machines. Evaluation and supporting material.

4: Coleg Morgannwg
The LRC built on last year’s success and further developed the Reader Development Group known as ‘Chapter2′. Using a number of technologies including blogs, the student run website, as well as Skype and face to face meetings, they continued to encourage both reluctant and active readers to develop their skills. They promoted the group through the four campuses of the college and activities led up to a final short story writing competition which they hoped would appeal to a broad range of the student population. Evaluation and supporting material.

5: Coleg Powys
A ‘Match Book’ competition during induction, hoping to encourage further reading and increase knowledge of the library and how to find resources. Evaluation and supporting material.

6: Deeside College
Planned work with ESOL learners, with a story/writing competition. However this project had to be postponed due to the college merger and other issues, and will now take place later.

7: Gorseinon College
Work on wider reading with students, encouraging reading in different genres and authors, and even formats, related to themes connected with Wuthering Heights. Primarily (but not limited to) English literature students. Collaborated with public libraries on book loans and promoting books related to certain themes. It was planned that students would contribute to a mind map connecting ideas and themes, as well as submitting reviews. Evaluation and supporting material.

8: Neath Port Talbot College
‘Switchabook’ book swapping scheme with plans to add reviews to a forum on Moodle, reaching out to reluctant readers and aiming to get them reading more. Staff took part too. High quality publicity material was created. Evaluation and supporting material.

9: Yale College
‘RD2’ [Reader Development 2] working with a number of groups and their tutors to encourage reading and discussion. Working with students with learning difficulties and disabilities and students who require additional support. Students selected and wrote reviews of books. The scheme was a great success and the evaluation has lots of valuable reflection and useful tips on running such schemes. Evaluation and supporting material.

Evaluation of the projects

Each of the nine participating colleges tried something different so that a wide a range of good practice could be generated and shared amongst libraries. Many of the projects built upon existing reader development initiatives, but new approaches were tried too. The core that links all the projects together is the attempt to promote reading as a fun/leisure activity by focusing on readers, opening up reading choices, promoting literacy (reading skills) as a whole, encouraging readers to try different genres and authors, and helping participants to develop the confidence to try something new. The LRCs involved all promoted CyMAL’s ‘Express Yourself’ campaign, sometimes tying it into their own initiatives.

With regard to the specific aims of the Further Education grant:

• Include an element of reaching new audiences: this was the intention of most of the projects that took place, many of which targeted reluctant readers (e.g. the projects at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, Coleg Morgannwg, Yale College).
• Involve libraries working in partnership: some of the sharing of best practice will take place later. However the public library services were involved in some cases e.g. Gorseinon College.
• Promoting reading: as mentioned above, this was a core theme of all the projects. As just one example of a success in this area, you can listen to the audio files submitted as supporting material by Coleg Llandrillo (Denbigh site) – the students state that they had enjoyed reading together in class, felt that it helped them, and as a result they were going to read more books.
• Offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences: this was a central part of many of the projects (e.g. the projects at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru, Coleg Menai, Coleg Morgannwg, Neath Port Talbot College, Yale College).

Each LRS was required to demonstrate evaluation from users, using whatever methods were appropriate e.g. interviews/discussions with participants, quotes, statistics, visitor numbers, number of books issued, comment cards, photos, video clips, surveys. The LRS also gave feedback and evaluation on how successful their projects were. Attached to this overall evaluation there should be evaluation/case study forms for each college that took part, including the details of the project, and relevant extra materials (the forms also sometimes mention further supporting material that is available on request). These are also available with additional material on the RSC Wales Moodle ‘Reader Development’ information area, which was used as a support site throughout.

The overall feedback from users and LRCs has been positive. Many LRCs are going to be continuing with the projects, or have used them as a springboard to new projects. The projects have involved a large number of students and staff across Wales.

Finally, I would like to highlight a few quotes from the evaluation forms which illustrate some of the positive things that came out of this reader development work.

“It was established that one of our finalists had never thought anyone would like her work, and that she had not been good enough to enter. Therefore being a winner had given her the confidence to experiment and take up art as a hobby. [...] Another finalist enjoyed rapping to music. He used his skills to write a poem featuring how the learning centre resources and staff had helped him turn his attendance around and can now realise his dream of attending university.” Coleg Glan Hafren evaluation

“Our prize winners were very pleased to have taken part, and felt they had gained a lot from doing so, not only in terms of reading, but also learning about what makes a good review.  Our winner (from ESOL) of the prize for the most reviews was probably the most delighted of all our winners, and was amazed at his achievement as a learner of English at also winning a second prize for his course text review.” Coleg Menai evaluation

“If I had to say which the biggest success of the group was, I would say that it is the way that the members have taken to this activity, met new people and broadened their own reading as a result of helping others broaden theirs.  … the supportive nature of the group has really helped bring people out of their shells.” Coleg Morgannwg evaluation

“A highlight of the scheme was the interest actively demonstrated by one of the students involved in the College’s enterprise scheme.  Following the launch of Switchabook, she regularly gave up her lunch breaks to distribute flyers and she also created a Switchabook profile on Facebook; which, to date, has 19 fans.” Neath Port Talbot College evaluation

“The students were so excited about getting the certificates – although I know some of them didn’t seem to want to collect them. I had to leave early so missed the end part but they came rushing up to me later to show me their certificates. For most of these students, they have never achieved anything in their life so this was quite a big thing for them.  I heard one of the girls who won a prize on her phone to her dad to tell him all about it and she was over the moon. It was wonderful to hear.” Lecturer, quoted in the Yale College evaluation

Conclusions

Colleges in Wales focus on reader development and literacy in order to engage users and improve literacy levels. Additional funding is rarely available within colleges for this kind of activity, even though it can support key aims such as improving literacy. As the Yale College evaluation said: “Like every other LRC, our day-to-day work is hectic and sometimes we feel that every learner in college has descended upon us”. With the threat of increased budget cuts impacting on staffing and books, there may be less resources (staff, time and materials) available for these important projects.

The CyMAL funding made it possible to build upon initial developments and encourage other innovative reader development initiatives in this area, sharing best practice and offering incentives to readers. The wide range of good practice is being shared with other colleges e.g. through the RSC Wales Moodle site which ensures that best practice can be disseminated and inspire in the future (as well as being used for LRS advocacy); and the ColegauCymru LRS managers’ meetings which can also used to provide peer support after the end of this project.

I’ve been out of the office a lot recently, crossing the length and breadth of Wales, hence the lack of new posts here. To justify my silence I’ll give an update on where I’ve been. I should also say that when there are no new learning resources posts here, it is worth looking at the Chrissie’s Muses blog – Chrissie Turkington is a Learning Resources E-learning Adviser for RSC North West, so writes great posts on a lot of relevant topics, e.g. her recent post on using the Nintendo DSi to read e-books.

Another reason for my lack of time for blogs is that I only work for RSC Wales on Mondays and Tuesdays (for the rest of the week I work as a librarian for Aberystwyth University), normally job-sharing with Sam who covers the RSC role Wednesdays to Fridays. Sam is on maternity leave (and is doing really well!), so I’ve been on my own for a while, but now there is now extra learning resources support because Owen Phillips is providing maternity cover until Sam returns. LRC staff will no doubt be hearing from him soon!

Newport, Tuesday 13th – Wednesday 14th October

Ironically (considering I hadn’t had time to blog here for a while), I was in Newport on these days, teaching librarians how to blog! I ran a number of workshops which gave the background on Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and blogging, before looking at examples of library blogs from Wales. The librarians who came to the sessions were all great, and we had some thought-provoking discussions about how and why blogs can be used, as well as a hands-on where many trial blogs were created.

Getting to the fun part of the workshop...

Cardiff, Thursday 15th October

I was in Cardiff to visit Coleg Glan-Hafren with other RSC Wales staff. We discussed a range of e-learning topics, including technologies like voting systems, and ways of assessing the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Then I got to do my favourite thing – have a tour of the LRC! Carolyn Howe, the LRC Manager, showed me round. I enjoyed their Online Book Club displays, and took samples of the colourful leaflets and bookmarks that go with them. Students are encouraged to read the books, post reviews, read other students’ reviews and discuss them online via Moodle. This is a good way of encouraging reader development even when a group is unable to meet at regular times. Students can even write short reviews on the bookmark, and the data will be uploaded by LRC staff – a good example of making things easier for students! Another example of LRC staff going out of their way to be helpful is that some of the most relevant journal articles are indexed and records are added to the OPAC. This increases the use of the valuable print journals and aids resource discovery for students.

Coleg Glan-Hafren uses a PC booking system to ensure fair use of the PCs (which had the pleasant side-effect of  improving LRC staff and student relationships!). The LRC takes the innovative (and successful) line of not having fines for overdue books – instead they use the PC booking system to block the offending student’s access to the workstations until the items are returned, which ensures that the books do get returned – quickly! The system is also used for room bookings. There is a kiosk for students to book things themselves which frees up staff time for more valuable work, as well as encouraging student independence in the allocation of their own time.

Coleg Glan-Hafren is promoting the E-books for FE project, and even has a search box on every PC desktop that takes users straight through to relevant books. Currently Coleg Glan-Hafren uses OpenAthens and IP to provide students with access, but the college is considering moving to Federated Access Management in the future.

Aberystwyth, Friday 16th October

I made one of my rare appearances at CyMAL on that date, for a Libraries for Life meeting. I made suggestions concerning improving information dissemination about regional courses in Wales, and the importance of documenting library refurbishments funded by CyMAL in order to benefit other libraries. The truth is that the notion of new build as a cure-all is flawed, partly due to: the expense; the all or nothing nature and dangers when things go wrong (see here, here, here and here); and the environment/resource issues. However renovation and innovation are much more interesting, and there are a huge number of libraries in the position of being based in a building that they consider to be unsuitable, and looking for ideas. So what is needed is more imaginative focus on what can be done with existing estate. Refurbishments can have a stepped approach e.g. lower level funding for furniture, wi-fi, flexible learning and teaching spaces; but with more ambitious plans for if funding is available (restucturing, replace walls, moving entrances and staircases etc.) which avoids the ‘all or nothing’ danger inherent in new build projects. Fully documenting and promoting this kind of work is important for making people aware of the options.

Deeside, Tuesday 20th October

A visit to Deeside College with other RSC Wales staff (Owen Phillips, Helen Hodges, and Christine Davies). Deeside College has now merged with the Welsh College of Horticulture, so it was interesting to discuss the ways in which the best practices of both institutions can be combined. We also discussed a topic dear to many librarians’ hearts – the blocking of Web 2.0 resources. YouTube and other video sites have now been unblocked at Deeside College, since they are relevant to teaching (e.g. the catering courses use lots of clips from professional chefs). However some social networking sites such as FaceBook remain blocked. The debate about the educational utility of Web 2.0 continues! Where do you stand? Frivolous use of resources and time, or invaluable tools for education? I imagine most people fall between the two extremes, which is why the debate is so important so that policies can achieve the best balance.

The Learning Zone (LRC) is a two-floor open space which acts as a one-stop shop for many services. Patrick Cox (the LRC and E-learning Manager) told us that the Learning Zone is wi-fi enabled and students can bring their own laptops, or borrow a laptop from LRC bank of laptops. LRCs lead the way in providing flexible options like this, catering for different student learning styles and needs.

Wrexham, Wednesday 21st October

While in the North we visited Yale College, as the final leg of our tour! Owen and I spent time with Joanne Stewart and Maria Lewis, finding out more about the LRC.  The multi-floor LRC is heavily used, spacious and welcoming, with great use of exhibition space and displays of student art. There was also an interactive whiteboard in an open teaching area of the library, used during induction and information skills sessions – a great way of taking information out of closed rooms and into the relevant spaces and showing the teaching that LRC staff do.

There is also wi-fi in the Yale College LRC – users register their MAC addresses and can then use laptops, iPod Touches etc. There are more access points being added around the college, and also a trolley of rechargeable laptops for flexible access.

The LRC promotes reader development in many ways, from displays expanding on topics near the relevant book stock, to an ‘LRC Book of the Week’ on the staff intranet. The LRC is also hoping to embed resources within the relevant course areas on the VLE, which can be a great way to increase the visibility of quality resources and weaken the grip of Google! The LRC is keen on using Web 2.0 tools to communicate with users – there ia a blog and accounts for Twitter, Flickr and Netvibes (I’ll add links here once I have them).

Visiting all three college LRCs (Glan-Hafren Deeside, Yale) was great, you can see how popular and central to the college they all are by the buzz of use. If I was an FE student again I’d love to use any of them for my research.

Swansea, Friday 23rd – Monday 26th October

Across Wales again – but not for work this time! A long weekend in Swansea to enjoy one of my favourite eating places, my new hobby of kayaking, and a chance to do a bit of creative writing.

Windblown sand on Swansea beach

Morning view on holiday

CyMAL FE Reader Development Funding was used for a programme of Reader Development activities across a number of participating colleges between Oct-Dec 2008. The programme was developed by the steering group of the fforwm LRS Managers Network in consultation with the Learning Resource Advisers from JISC RSC Wales.

Aims the programme set out to achieve

• Promote reading: promoting reading as a fun/leisure activity by focusing on readers, opening up reading choices, promoting literacy (reading skills) as a whole, encouraging readers to try different genres and authors, and helping participants to develop the confidence to try something new.
• Offering people the opportunity to share their reading experiences: encouraging the formation of book clubs with both physical meetings and online.
• To reach new audiences in colleges: via book clubs to engage new users for the LRS, sometimes focussed on particular groups such as reluctant readers.
• Libraries working in partnership: as well as sharing best practice (case studies) and peer support from the FE community, the proposal could also lead to promotion of the local public library as a source of (additional) fiction material and the use of reciprocal borrowing schemes where they exist.
• Complement the ‘National Year of Reading’ and CyMAL’s ‘Happy Days’ campaigns.
• To build upon existing reader development activities in the sector and encourage other LRSs to try something similar.

How the funding was used

The funding was used for prizes for readers taking part in the reader development initiatives, to help launch the book clubs and projects and help to achieve the interest and critical mass required to make them successful and long-term. It should be added that many of the colleges also put up other prizes from their own funds.

Each of the seven participating colleges tried something different so that a wide a range of good practice could be generated and shared amongst libraries. However there was a central ‘FE Wales – Get Reading!’ logo uniting the initiatives, the result of a competition (the logo was created by Swansea College).

Summary of the participating colleges and their projects

Each LRS was required to demonstrate evaluation from users, using whatever methods were appropriate e.g. interviews/discussions with participants, or surveys. The LRS also gave feedback and evaluation on how successful their projects were, using a standard form. Full summaries of each project can be found on our Reader Development Moodle area here.

The overall feedback from users and LRCs has been extremely positive. Many LRCs are going to be continuing with the projects, or have used them as a springboard to new projects, e.g.:

• Coleg Llandrillo are now working with the STEPS (adults with learning difficulties) tutors to develop a fully accredited AQA module for use with STEPS students which will teach them how to use a library.
• Neath Port Talbot College plan to develop an online and face-to-face book club.
• Swansea College look forward to more partnership activity with the City & County of Swansea Libraries, as well as running the Book Review activity in the second term of each year with ESOL students and continuing the Book Swap.
• Yale college have held a ‘Quick Reads 6 book challenge’, and have also been invited to work on another project which addresses family learning in the community.

The projects have involved a large number of students and staff across Wales. The individual college evaluations give further figures, but a quick summing up is that well over 600 people across Wales were involved with the book clubs and initiatives, or entered competitions, or submitted book reviews.

Finally, quotes from two of the students involved at Yale College act as a great example of the positive value of this reader development work:

“I’ll never forget the feeling I had when I come to class and said I’d read my first book. I wouldn’t have done it if Janet hadn’t gone on at me to do it. Then when you asked everyone what we’d read that week I was able to say – I felt like crying, but I didn’t.”

“The thing that really makes me take a book is so that I can join in the discussion when you ask us what we read the week before. I like to say something about the book I’m reading, instead of the TV page of the newspaper. That makes me feel good, like part of what’s going on instead of being on the outside. I know you don’t make a fuss if we don’t read, it just makes me feel better if I do. I’ve really got into the Quick Reads.”

Conclusions

Colleges in Wales had been starting to focus on reader development and literacy in order to engage users and improve literacy levels. Work had included setting up book clubs for students and staff, as well as classroom visits and ‘sneaky reading’. Additional funding is rarely available within colleges for this kind of activity, even though it can support key aims such as improving literacy.

These innovative reader development initiatives built upon initial developments in this area – and now the best practice can be shared. The RSC Wales Moodle site has further information on reader development in FE, and the Fforwm LRS managers meetings will continue to provide peer support in this area.