Parents who want to encourage their children to read more will be relieved to hear that it needn't cost them a penny.

In a Reading Agency survey of 1,110 children aged 4-11 over a fifth (22%) selected visiting the library as the action most likely to make them want to read, compared to less than 2% saying that reading a book on an ipad or kindle was the thing most likely to make them want to read.

The Reading Agency is delighted that bestselling novelist and former SAS soldier Andy McNab will lead its 2013 Six Book Challenge to help get even more adults reading more.

The Reading Agency has today announced that it is working with local authority library services across the UK to create a "Youth Innovation Network" of librarians who together will generate thousands of new volunteering opportunities in public libraries for young people aged 11-25 years.