The Great Reading Takeaway - Norfolk's Library and Information Service

Background

• Countywide reading promotion for adults

every March

• To encourage people to read and borrow

when it’s still cold and dark and to boost

the issue figures at a quiet time of year

• More critical this year because we had

reduced opening hours and staffing

• Norfolk’s big - 47 libraries and 13 mobiles

The takeaway

• Aim - help customers to borrow a book and get reading

• Target - increase issues by 1 book extra every opening hour at each library

• 4 takeaway reading menus were promoted 1st March to 15th April 2012

The target group

• People who visit the library but do not

actually borrow anything to read

• Busy mums, dads, carers and people who

come to the libraries accompanying

someone else or to use PCs

What we did

• Food takeaway menu style used -recognisable and accessible style

• Printed 4 colourful, glossy, reading menus themed around China, Italy, India and Britain

• Chose “Specials”, “Chef Recommends” and menu numbers

Great Reading Takeaway Menus

The books

• Targeted a proportion of new stock at the promotion from existing budgets

• Included all formats and concentrated these in libraries with reading groups for people with visual impairments

• Included ebooks and eaudio in the offer

What communities did

• Author events in Norwich in partnership with Waterstone’s

• Bollywood dancing children’s event in Cromer organised by the local volunteers

• Town Read in Wymondham involving the community

• Dragon dancing in Gaywood organised by the West Norfolk & District Chinese Association

The reach

• Menus featured on facebook, twitter and

blogs, as well as being on the Norfolk

County Council and library service

websites

• Extended through posters and headers at

every library, plasma screens at 20

libraries and pull ups at the 2 biggest

libraries

How we did

• Exceeded the target - issued 3.25 more books per opening hour than in the comparable period in 2011

• 6 titles issued over 200 times each during March. The Italian Wedding by Nicky Pellegrino came top

• Author visits averaged 40 people at each event

• Blog - 1,179 views, facebook landing page -848 views and 57 posts, twitter feed - 55 re-tweets

The impact

• Reading groups at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library loved being asked for their choice of titles

• "I've never been to an author event before but I loved the television adaptation of the book and wanted to meet the brains behind it”

• “I would absolutely hate to lose this service as it means so much to them”

• “This was so much fun and it counts towards my Children's University passport“

• "He's usually quite shy so didn't think he'd join in but he's gone straight to have a go on the dragon“

• “What a clever idea. I like the mix of books with DVDs”

• “This is imaginative. Makes me feel hungry too!”

The cost

• £ 4,576 Design, art work, printing

• £ 2,000 Marketing and media officer time

• £ 4,777 Staff on the organising team as part of their day job

• £ 100 Events

• £11,453.00

• Funds from existing materials budgets to purchase new books and ebook/eaudio titles

Thank you to Waterstone’s for providing author visits at no charge to us, to the Eastern Daily Press for giving consent to use editorial and to all the local

sponsors

Insert Yarmouth poster