Refresh of Scottish Public Libraries Reading Strategy

Client:

SLIC (The Scottish Library and Information Council)

The Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) administers the Scottish Government funding for libraries. SLIC commissioned Evidence Base to analyse the existing reading strategy for Scottish public libraries and aligning it with “Ambition and Opportunity”, the national strategy for public libraries in Scotland. The project was conducted over the period of three months.

Initial desk research compared the two strategies in the context of the six aims of the National Strategy to align the reading strategy with more recent government policies. Key individuals from Scottish libraries and partnership organisations were interviewed by Skype or telephone to collect their views on the effectiveness of the reading strategy as it stood and to gather examples of best practice.

Links to project outputs

The conclusions were reached through comparing the results of the interviews, analysis of documents and reviewing the approach of other countries. The Scottish Reading Strategy was rewritten to reflect the findings and the national strategy. The Scottish Reading Strategy report with recommendations can be found at the link below:

View the Scottish Reading Strategy Report and Recommendations

Benefits

SLIC found it beneficial for Evidence Base as an independent, objective organisation to speak to individuals and for the documents for be scrutinised by a consultant with expertise in libraries and literacy.