Get Islington Reading: A Place Based Programme Putting Reading on the Map
Get Islington Reading was a three-year campaign to develop a community of happy, confident young readers aged 9 to 14 across the London Borough of Islington. From 2020-23, Get Islington Reading was funded by the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington through The Mercers’ Company and delivered by The National Literacy Trust and The Reading Agency in collaboration with Islington Council Library Service and Islington School Improvement Service.
The key aims of the programme were to build a reading community by inspiring young people and their families to develop and sustain a love of reading and connecting schools and public libraries to share best practice.
We spoke to Michelle Gannon, Head of Library Services at London Borough Of Islington, to find out more about her experience taking part in the programme.
Project highlights
From the very beginning of Get Islington Reading in 2020, we worked collaboratively with The Reading Agency and National Literacy Trust. We were all actively engaged with the design and development of the project and all partners really wanted to ensure that the project had maximum impact and really make a difference to Islington children and young people. We had regular meetings with the whole project team, which enabled us to gel as a team and develop strong relationships across all the organisations.
The whole project is a career highlight for me – but a particularly memorable moment was the Earth Day event in April 2023 when a panel of authors and activists worked with young people from secondary schools to empower them to become activists through reading and writing. The young people wrote their own pledges for the local environment and Islington Council. These pledges were well thought out and really showed that young people are concerned about the environment and their role in our planet’s future.
The factories and the way they’re run damage people’s lives and also the environment, as they allow so much pollution, which has an impact on the people living there too.
A student at the Get Islington Reading Earth Day Panel
To see where they’re at and hear their worries and insights is important. Reading and creativity are important as they can help us to see ourselves as a part of a global community who are acting, who care and who have a voice. The more you can read and share and talk, the more your sense of reality is supported.
Anouchka Grose, a panellist at the Get Islington Reading Earth Day Panel
Forging new partnerships
Get Islington Reading really helped us to strengthen our relationship with local schools. Over the past 10 years or so, many of our schools have been finding it very difficult to visit their local library, and consequently our relationship with some of them was limited. This project allowed us to re-engage with schools and for them to see the role local libraries can play alongside schools in encouraging children and young people to read for pleasure. This relationship with schools is vital as they have much greater access to parents and carers and can help influence them to visit their local library.
If you get the opportunity to work with The Reading Agency or National Literacy Trust, jump at the chance. They are both amazing organisations and they made the whole project so easy and found ways around the many challenges that we faced – not least a national lockdown that meant schools were closed for many months. We need to think about how we can make it easier for schools and families to engage with their local libraries and how we can help them to promote the benefits of reading and all their local library has to offer.
To find out more, read our full evaluation report here.
