UNDER THE SKIN

Under the Skin…

A manifesto for reader-centred activity in the British Council

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has to build that mirror image of the other side, to complete the process.’ Peter Dickinson

This manifesto sets out the case for supporting reading – reading for pleasure; reading for information; reading to learn – within the British Council. It outlines the huge benefits of what educationalist Frank Smith called ‘growing up in the company of authors’; what it is to feel oneself among a community of readers and how the British Council can help its users along their reading journeys.

The document is wholly inclusive of all forms of reading: books, for children and adults; magazines, printed information in whatever form and reading from the computer screen. It encompasses fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. It makes no value judgements about what is read, embracing both classic and contemporary –  ‘literature with a lower case l’. It recognises the value of any media that enhances or encourages reading – audio books, videos, websites and other formats. It recognises the role of performance in bringing words to people – from storytelling to slam poetry. It defines and advocates ‘reader-centred activity’, the process of assisting readers with their choices; creating opportunities for them to talk or write to each other about their reading and raising the status of the reader as a vital link in the creative chain from the author’s creativity to each new reader’s interpretation. Above all, it demonstrates how reading for pleasure powerfully supports the work of the British Council in so many ways: in language teaching, training, governance, information, arts activity and uniting cultures. Reading is a supreme bridge-builder, a valuable tool for international understanding.

with our contacts and customers. Read on!’ Terry Toney, Director Educational Enterprises, British Council

think and feel simultaneously’ Ford Madox Ford

As a tool for building international understanding, reading might at first seem lacking. Partly because reading is – usually – such a private activity, it is easy to overlook the fact that readers are the largest audience of any artform. However, reading brings many benefits, and reader-centred activity has much to offer the British Council. Reading reaches across borders of caste, religion, gender and politics. Reading can provide a safe space in which to explore themes and issues relevant to any society and enables readers to speak more powerfully of the concerns and aspirations of the present. By putting the reader at the centre of the reading process, reader-centred activity acknowledges the value of reading and raises the status of the reader from a ‘consumer’ to artist - the essential link between writer and book. This approach empowers the reader, informs the author and creates a community of readers. Reading the novels and poetry of another country, another time and another world from the reader’s own can get ‘under the skin’ of peoples and cultures, and promoting reading presents the British Council with significant opportunities to achieve lasting impact on generations of readers. Reading, and reader-centred activity, is a social phenomenon.

managed to get such a wide response".’ Isabel Fernandez, Arts Project Manager, British Council Spain

The UK is currently at the forefront of an international movement promoting reading and reading culture. The importance of reading and its wider benefits in promoting literacy, learning and communication skills, and dialogue between cultures and generations, has been recognised by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and been awarded significant public funding. UK organisations such as Opening the Book, Branching Out, the Reading Agency and the National Literacy Trust have international and national reputations and are leading change at policy and practitioner level. In 2002 the Audit Commission included ‘evidence of reader development’ among its best practice criteria for local authority library services. In the private sector, schemes to promote reading have been set up by companies such as Orange, Asda and Sainsbury’s as a way of contributing to communities and building brand recognition.

Reader-centred initiatives have grown exponentially across all UK libraries since the mid-1990s. For example, public libraries in Essex exceeded their 2000 target of establishing one reading group in each of the county’s 71 libraries: by 2003 there were over 240 reading groups across the county.

Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.’ Groucho Marx

As its name implies, reader-centred activity – sometimes called ‘reader development’ – puts the reader at the centre of the reading process, and UK reading and literacy movements are built around three simple but powerful behavioural traits:

The UK reading movement has its origins in reader endorsement. Librarians noticed that library users borrowed more books from the returned books section (which was usually prominently on display by the books issue counter) than other sections of the library. The simple fact that these books were borrowed by other readers proved compelling to others. Even now librarians will describe how simple schemes – such as prominent labelling of shelves with ‘Loved it’ and ‘Hated it’ – can prompt astonishingly powerful reactions in readers. From here it’s only a short step to opportunities to talk about books, bringing readers together in reading groups, developing book chains and other reader recommendations and feedback devices and through the use of ICT.

It should be thrown with great force’ Dorothy Parker

Library reading schemes have been significantly successful in targeting and involving diverse, non-traditional audiences including house-bound or disabled people and in building reader communities even in socially deprived areas. Reading schemes with a particular focus have proved especially successful. In Essex libraries the ‘Quick Reads’ promotion has been very successful in getting non-readers to read a selection of popular, very accessible novels. In Derbyshire libraries, a local authority initiative, ‘Book Pushers’, has had outstanding success in attracting that most elusive readership, teenagers. Book Pushers is a word-of-mouth reading advocacy and promotion scheme run by and for teenagers in partnership with library staff. At national level, the ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ aimed at children and young people, is an annual initiative now run in over 80 per cent of the UK’s public libraries every year. The National Library for the Blind (NLB) has developed a pioneering website (www.nlbuk.org/readon ) for readers with sight problems. NLB’s reading promotion schemes include chat rooms and review pages, Fiction Café (an online book club for young people) and downloadable electronic books.

Promoting reading, and reader-centred activity, should not be seen as a single discrete element of the British Council’s work. It has the potential to be all-pervasive, and to affect staff and users alike. There are few, if any, areas of the British Council’s work where reading of some kind cannot make a contribution, and when integrated into other sector programmes, it becomes even more powerful. This manifesto argues for the ‘reading dimension’ to be considered in all stages of strategy and project planning.

Reader-centred approaches have huge potential for linking reading activity into English language teaching, governance and science projects, information and KLC resources, and wider arts programmes. Reading activity that is complemented by ‘live’ events is especially powerful, and many British Council offices have had considerable success with initiatives of this kind. Below are just a few examples of how reading can be used.

Literature and reading are collaborative activities that link easily to other sectors, promote mutual working, and achieve lasting impact at a reasonable cost.

Reading is a valuable tool in two key areas. The first is in exploring personal identity:

‘We read to know that we are not alone’ C. S. Lewis

The second area is the way reading connects us to each other:

By engaging with ‘the mass of readers’ and industries related to them, reader-centred activity deals with potentially huge audiences – much larger than those who could attend British Council events and exhibitions.

The effects of reading go beyond British Council premises:

Reading promotion projects can bring together not only one target group but their ‘feeders’ and ‘gatekeepers’ as well. This approach is especially effective for young learners, where reading schemes can involve families, carers and teachers.

Expertise in literature isn’t a pre-requisite for reader-centred activity – but an inclusive approach is. A key principle in developing reader-centred activity is that it harnesses the reading experiences and enthusiasm of British Council staff in any sector. Using ICT widens the scope of reader-centred activity and brings access to an international community of readers. Online reading diaries, book chains, reading residencies and links to book groups in other countries don’t simply widen reading experiences - they are vehicles for cultural exchange. 

Some day I intend reading it’ Groucho Marx

Seven success factors are:

Animating Literature is a reader-focused literature strategy for the British Council. This strategy has created more than 20 innovative projects across Europe. The strategy is supported by Literature Department, who provide advice, training and (limited) funding. Although funding is currently restricted to European countries, the strategy has much to offer directorates around the world.

Animating Literature strategy is now complemented by a purpose-built British Council online reading resource, www.enCompassCulture.com. EnCompass has been created with British Council audiences in mind and enables project managers to use reading to reach new audiences. The site features more than 2,500 titles, including non-fiction, selected and updated by a team of readers including staff in the Film and Literature Department.

EnCompass’s extensive search options -‘compasses’  – enable users to navigate around the very best titles of the UK and Commonwealth. It supports reader-centred activity by:

The British Council already has a strong tradition of reading. This work follows on naturally from what has been done before, and potentially involves all staff.

Reader-centred activity reaches all of the current British Council target audiences, and has the ability to reach millions more.

Reader-centred activity is not necessarily expensive. Much can be done on a very small budget and by small displays, activities, redesigns and staff ‘intervention’ with visitors and readers.

People who read are active citizens. From the outset, it is a mark of one’s part in society  – joining a local library as a child, for example, is one of the first acts of citizenship we make. To be active and informed citizens, people need reading skills, and they retain those best by being habitual readers.

People who read are people who are successful. They are key members of the next generation, astute consumers, and thoughtful users of mass media, through their ability and desire to read.

Families who grow up as readers develop bonds, they share the same reading references and cultural connections and they involve extended family members in the process. They are much more likely to stay in touch with children in their teenage years.

Young people in the future need reading too. Whether it is web-based reading, downloaded reading files in portable players, or interactive reading technologies, the experience of story and poetry is a deep and deeply-satisfying human need.

Reader-centred activity is one of the supreme bridge-builders:

- between learning English, and learning to enjoy it

- between reading for information and reading for pleasure

- between cultures who share the same reading experience

- between ‘silent readers’ who now talk about their reading

- between children and adults, as they share books together.

By building a generation who wants to read, and by sustaining that desire throughout adult life, we bring huge benefits to the people who are our future customers. And through playing a role in this, the British Council will in turn reap sustained and enduring relationships worldwide.

Alec Williams, December 2003