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September 5, 2007
More funny names
This is on the Bookseller website tonight. The first scheme evidently failed as one would have expected- so more money has been spent to give it another funny name.
'HeadSpace' for teens in libraries
Library-based teen reading project Book Bars is being rebranded as "HeadSpace" in a bid to get more young people involved. The scheme provides new areas in libraries designed by and for young people, with plans to operate sites in 19 libraries across the country by March 2010.
The new HeadSpace brand was developed by young people over a four-month consultation partnership with CuriousGroup, which also tackled the development of the project as a whole.
Over the next three years, HeadSpace aims to attract and train 700 young people to become involved in libraries through accredited volunteering opportunities, including training as "book waiters" to recommend new books to peers. A website will also be launched in March 2008 to support the project online.
The previous attempt cost half a million pounds-- but no one is talking about the cost of this one. Whose money?
Posted by Tim Coates at September 5, 2007 8:47 PM
Comments
HeadSpace! Isn't it becoming banal indeed to run words together? Looks a bit desperate.
Posted by: Christopher Hawtree at September 5, 2007 9:11 PM
Everyone is supposed to be very reverend about 'reader development' and 'outreach' and a host of other activities. Here's a controversial and provocative suggestion --very few of these things make any real difference to more than a handful of people. Mostly this is about paying people. It's not about reader development at all. Where did the half a million pounds on the previous 'book bars' scheme?-- it went to the same people who are about to be given another load of money. It's a scandal - not a virtue.
Where are the highly paid public arts administration management who can justify what happened to 'book bars' ?-- out to lunch on the next round of fees on salaries that we are about to pay them.
Why are we about to have a very expensive 'Year of Reading?" : to pay a load of people to feel good about what they do. It stinks, while the public library service is in collapse. Some Minister should wake up and realise that their job is not to create public sector affluence but to protect the public interest.
(PS Christopher and I are on no committees, we don't have OBE's and we never will- but we do enjoy a good read!)
Posted by: tim at September 5, 2007 9:52 PM