Week Notes - 18th April

What's been happening?

I'm writing this close to the end of a busy, productive week. On Monday and Tuesday, the ASCEL team met in Wolverhampton Central Library. We try to meet up in person at least on a quarterly basis, and every time we do, I'm reminded how valuable this time is. We had the benefit of the 'big office' on Monday, and the beautiful period features of the building, combined with the howling wind outside, made for an atmospheric session.

We focused on crystallising ASCEL's vision; something that's so important for all our future work. It sparked a fantastic conversation, digging deeper into what we were really all about - working with our members to ensure every child feels they belong in their library. I loved this. When we talk about what gets us out of bed in the morning, this is definitely it for me.

We also had some great conversations about our direction, our way of working in the future, and the delivery of our programmes. In short, it was a great two days and a lot of useful, thought-provoking conversation came from it.

Wednesday saw our first steering group meeting for the Arts Council-funded SLS research work. Dr Lucy Taylor and Dr Paula Clarke (Leeds University; who are leading the work) shared their plans, and the steering group offered insight, advice and some helpful provocations. This work really is invaluable. It'll give insight into the current SLS models, their reach, funding arrangements and success factors, and it'll also help us to understand where there are gaps in provision, and how we can better support our SLS members.

It feels like it's been a real 'content production' week too. I've been working on updating the ASCEL training module on Libraries Connected's Learning Pool, and feeling grateful for the input from some of our members. They've worked with me to create a framework for this, which has been so helpful. That content has now been passed along to Libraries Connected, and I'll be putting a call-out to our members to share video content to support this. Let's face it; online training is much more engaging with some visuals, especially when it's fellow ASCEL members sharing their experience and expertise.

I've also been working on our HAF 'Train the Trainer' programme. The resulting resource pack (Celebrate Reading with HAF) is designed to support local HAF providers with 'book talk', which is integral in promoting a love of reading. It'll also have lots of useful resources for library staff too, to enable them to advocate the value of libraries to HAF providers and to support them with talking about books with children.

What's on the to-do list?

I've got a busy week next week, with meetings booked in with Arts Council, The Reading Agency, Participation People and more. We've got our committee meeting too, which is always good fun. I love connection and collaboration, so this chance to hear from others is inevitably a personal highlight.

Our Youth Engagement Network pilot libraries are getting stuck into connecting with young people in their area, and I'll be going to visit some of them in person over the coming weeks. This has been such a great learning experience. My personal reflections so far?

• Any form of community-focused work is challenging, but in the most rewarding way possible.
• Doing this authentically feels far harder, but much more worthwhile.
• With this approach, it becomes less about numbers and ticking boxes, and all about the young people you're impacting. I've already heard so many stories from participating libraries that have made my heart sing; from the child made happy by a member of the library team playing Uno with him, to the children who suggested a party in the library. My brain is already having fun with imagining what a library party might look like!

What I've been up to outside of work

Those of you who know me already are no doubt aware that I'm a bit of a folk-horror obsessive. Not standard horror; that actually leaves me a bit cold. But folk horror, yes please! So, you can imagine my triumph at finally making it to Stone Henge and Avebury. Avebury is the world's largest stone circle, and bizarrely, there's a village plunked in the centre of it, which just added to that delicious sense of 'uncanniness'. While there, I could absolutely understand why film-makers had chosen it as their location.

I've been reading some fabulous crime books, in readiness for my panel appearance at CrimeFest in May. To explain; I'm also an author - not just randomly appearing at this event! Tina Baker's What We Did in the Storm is set on the Isles of Scilly and is written in such a fun, tongue-in-cheek way; I'm really enjoying it. I've also got my nose in Promethea by Alan Moore. I love graphic novels and this one doesn't disappoint. The narrative's engrossing and the illustrations are spectacular.

Ambitions

One word (or is it a word at all?) - AI. This is something that is increasingly popping up in my horizons... and I feel I really want to understand its place in our charity, its potential to support us, but also its risks.

As always, it's a matter of time. If anyone knows any good webinars / training out there, I'd be interested to hear about it.