NASP webinar 22 February 2022
Libraries and Social Prescribing Innovation
We heard from:
Sue Williamson, Director of Libraries, Arts Council England
Ann Cleeves, author and founder of the ‘Reading for Wellbeing’ project
Sue Ball MBE, Libraries Connected
Graham Simpson, Active Luton – Working with diverse communities and the local library to transform space use and grow the libraries offer for social prescribing
Rachel Marsden & Lisa Ford, Culture Coventry
This webinar explored some of the innovations in literary and library social prescribing practice that have been happening in 2021/22. We heard from Thriving Communities Funded projects Active Luton and Culture Coventry, and the approach they are taking with their social prescribing and libraries service provision. Sue Ball MBE of Staffordshire Libraries spoke about the Universal Offer which all libraries work to enable and the arts and health remit within this. And we were joined by author Ann Cleeves who started the innovative ‘Reading for Wellbeing’ project which involves literary social prescribers.
References
The Public Library Universal Offers https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/page/universal-library-offers
Billington, J (2015) Reading Between the Lines: The Benefits of Reading for Pleasure. University of Liverpool
Libraries Connected (2020) Libraries: An Essential Part of Local Recovery
www.librariesconnected.org.uk/resource/libraries-essential-part-local-recovery
The Reading Agency (2021) Read, Talk, Share Evaluation. Focus on: Reach and Impact https://readingagency.org.uk/resources/5664/
Reading for Pleasure
https://worldbooknight.org/news/why-is-reading-for-pleasure-important
Impact of library baby rhyme times on a mother’s maternal health
https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/publication/library-rhyme-times-and-maternal-mental-health
https://dcmslibraries.blog.gov.uk/2018/09/24/impact-rhyme-times-and-maternal-mental-health/
Moore Kingston Smith (2019) Suffolk Libraries: A Predictive Impact Analysis
The Reading Agency (2020) National Reading Group Day Survey
Also useful is a list of references focussing on the impact of reading and sourced by The Reading Agency https://readingagency.org.uk/about/impact/002-reading-facts-1/
Download the slidepack here: NASP libraries webinar 22.02.22 slidepack for sharing