City launches new library service

Edinburgh's libraries are helping bring books directly to the children of the city through a new mobile library service – the book bus.

Given the opportunity, children love to read but it’s not always easy for parents or carers to get access to a wide range of books.

The book bus visits special schools, selected primary schools, nurseries and child and family centres every three weeks.

The idea is to bring library services directly to children and young people up to 18 years old and encourage wider uptake of reading outside of school hours.

On board the book bus there’s a wide selection of popular stock in different formats – from picture books and those in different languages to popular fiction and cartoons, poetry, joke and riddle books. The service offers comics, books on CD/cassette and large print, and a range of teenage interest fiction and non-fiction titles.

The interior of the book bus has been created specifically with childrens’ needs in mind – low shelving, attractive colours, and a warm and welcoming ambience.

It’s designed to be as flexible as possible, allowing library staff to change the way stock is presented to suit the particular venue and the reading interests of children.

It’s hoped that children enjoy coming to the mobile library and are inspired to continue the reading habit, as well as being encouraged to make use of local library services.

BOOK THE BUS

The new book bus has made a big impression on kids across the city.

Since its first outing in October last year, 900 children (of which two thirds did not previously belong to a library) have borrowed more than 4,000 items from the book bus.

The bus visits 27 locations over a three-week cycle and is so in demand it is not able to visit any more locations.

However, coordinator Paul McCloskey is hopeful that they can find ways to access a wider audience.

“We are visiting Dalmeny Primary soon as a one-off and hope to link into the play scheme over the school holidays which will allow us to reach more children,” he said.

“As the service develops, we hope to offer occasional storytelling sessions as part of the visit. We want children to enjoy coming to the mobile library and to be inspired to continue the reading habit.”

One of the centres the book bus currently visits is the Craigmillar Child and Family Centre, which offers group care and outreach support for children up to nursery age.

Sheila Archibald, one of the centre’s nursery officers, has noticed the impact the book bus has had.

“The children really enjoy the opportunity to pick up their own books and we read them together during circle time,” she said. “We keep the books within the unit, but it has encouraged several of the parents to take the children to join the local library so they can get books to take home.”

This was one of the objectives of the project – that the children would raise awareness of book borrowing with their parents who would in turn take them to their local library.

Between October 2006 and January 2007, 853 children and young people have joined the book bus. In this time, 4,975 items have been borrowed.

The book bus is managed by Services for Communities’ staff – a team that provides library services for those who can’t easily use building-based library services. Services include mobile libraries, library services for care homes, sheltered housing and retirement flats, reading development support for children in residential care, a resource centre with adaptive technologies for disabled people, hospital libraries, home loans of reading aids, and support for the prison library at HMP Edinburgh.