Independent charity the Reading Agency is co-ordinating World Book Day activity in libraries, aiming to get every library authority involved in this major reading event.
As a key moment in the reading calendar, World Book Day will help to put libraries at centre stage, through offering a range of exciting activities and positive PR about libraries. This will show that libraries provide an irreplaceable hub for community reading experiences. World Book Day have also put a library joining message in the backs of most of the £1 books, helping to get children joining the library on and around World Book Day.
World Book Day in Libraries
There are all sorts of exciting things that libraries can get involved with on World Book Day. There will be a library membership drive, with library joining forms included in the schools packs to nurseries, primary and secondary schools. Or you can download one here.
If you work in a library, you can:
- Stream The Biggest Book Show on Earth: an online festival, showcasing the cream of children’s publishing talent, on World Book Day – or watch it on-demand afterwards.
- Promote the World Book Day App, featuring exclusive new short stories by bestselling authors Patrick Ness, Chris Ryan, Josephine Angelini, Will Hill, Alex Scarrow, Sarah Alderson, Dave Cousins, Dawn O’Porter and Sarah J. Maas to enhance your work with young people – and encourage them to JOIN THE WORD HERD where they can talk to their friends about books they love to read.
- Link to the Storycraft videos from computer terminals, and promote the storywriting competition to library users.
- Use the momentum of World Book Day to showcase the library reading service. There will be World Book Day library events around the country, and we’re hoping every single library will have something happening, even if that means simply badging existing children’s/family activity on Thursday 7 March. This way, everyone can host a World Book Day linked activity, without using extra capacity.
Working with Schools
Use World Book Day as an opportunity to build stronger partnerships with your local schools. A call for schools to take part in the ‘first time challenge’ of working with their local library has been included in the schools packs. The ‘first time challenge’ suggests that schools:
- Ensure that every single child is a member of their local library
- Take their groups on a library visit
- Set up a Chatterbooks reading group
- Book a librarian to talk about 2013′s Summer Reading Challenge
- Encourage secondary school students to find out about volunteering opportunities at libraries, such as supporting younger children doing 2013′s Summer Reading Challenge
- Get young people with literacy needs to complete the Six Book Challenge
Resources
Free World Book Day posters (Generic, £1 books and teen) have been sent to every library authority thanks to Bertrams and Askews and Holts. Not only can you use the World Book Day materials to promote the day itself, but you can harness the momentum of World Book Day to promote your library in general.
The World Book Day toolkit contains lots of information about World Book Day for libraries. There is also a PR toolkit, with press release templates, tips on how to get and maximize press coverage, and loads more. You can also download the Reading Agency’s Chatterpack to use with Chatterbooks groups and these World Book Day POS items:
