#Weeknotes - 25/11/2024

What's been happening?

It's December next week! I thought I'd start by sharing this fact, as it blew me away when I realised it this morning. The time has flown by and winter is a good time for reflecting on everything that's happened since 2024 got started.

At the start of the year, ASCEL's Celebrate Reading with HAF (Holiday Activities and Food Programme) was still in the development stages, supported by expert partners, Empathy Lab. Now, all the resources have been released on the website and are available for members to use with their teams. I talked members through the resources this morning in a webinar, with guest speakers from Sandwell Library Service sharing their experiences of working with their local HAF providers to promote a love of reading among children.

At the start of the year, the intrepid libraries taking part in the Youth Engagement Network pilot were just about ready to connect with children and young people in their area. Now, those libraries are still working with those children and young people and ASCEL are about to start the second phase, this time with 14 library services. The rich learning that we've gathered from the pilot phase has been invaluable and has really driven the direction of this work. It's shown how working co-creatively with children and young people and involving them in decision-making can really make an impact.

At the start of the year, the training programme was still a twinkle in ASCEL's eye, though the results of the member skills audit highlighted all the key areas where further support was needed. We launched the programme in May and since then, have delivered seven online training sessions for members; with some delivered by external partners and others delivered by us. We've also welcomed Participation People to our conference to lead a session on youth engagement, and had them support us with Trustee training and a youth-led hackathon for our branding.

The SLS (School Library Service) research, which began early in the year, is now complete; with the report being released soon. This has given us such a useful baseline for understanding the spread of SLS across the country, where there are gaps in provision, and the different models and reach of each service. It feels like this is just the starting point, and that we're on a journey to ensure better understanding of the significant value SLSs bring to schools.

What's next?

After all that reflection, let's look at what's next! I'm excited to welcome Katie Pekacar to ASCEL at the start of December, who will be delivering an online training session on partnership-working for libraries. I've received training from Katie in the past and can testify how knowledgeable she is in this field. I especially appreciate her practical, down-to-earth approach.

We've also got our inaugural Members' Meet-Up in December. These sessions will be shaped with members, and at this stage, we're being experimental, co-creative and very much open to suggestions. The focus is on bringing members together from libraries across the country to share ideas, discuss issues and make new connections. It's just before Christmas so I might be donning my Rudolph the Reindeer antlers, if I can locate them in the loft.

And of course, we have the first informal get-together for the new Youth Engagement Network participants. I'm so excited to get everyone together to meet each other and start making plans for connecting with children and young people; especially those who don't often come to the library and could benefit the most from what we've got to offer.

Outside of work

It was a busy weekend for me - I trekked all the way from soggy Devon to an even soggier Wiltshire to be part of an author panel at Melksham Library. I was joined by author Lynne Taylor, writer of Death in Valetta, which is such a great book. If you like Poirot / murder mysteries / exotic locations where you can practically feel the heat coming off the page, this one's for you. The audience were fab and I really appreciated them coming, given the unpleasant storm that was raging outside.

I managed to catch up with some reading too, including Pieces of Us by Stewart Foster, which was very emotional and affecting. I'm now on The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed by Nicola Morgan. She was one of our speakers at the conference and I absolutely love anything to do with child development and learning, so just HAD to buy a copy of this book.

Ambition

Support and empathy; those are the key words right now. It feels like it's been a challenging year for many people in this sector and it's through empathy that we can better support one another (and keep making positive change in libraries).