A public library reading fund will give local services up to £150,000 during the National Year of Reading. At last, an overdue novel can sense that the culture has turned in its favour, although it is still pretending not to notice the reminder letter.
The government says the money will target areas with high deprivation, weak social infrastructure and low library engagement. It is intended to support skills, learning and reading for pleasure, giving the humble library card the sort of encouragement usually reserved for a dog that has finally learned to sit.
The fund is expected to support projects across 72 English library authority areas. It can pay for books, audiobooks, digital magazines and graphic novels. The person who insists that graphic novels do not count may now have to explain why their own reading list is mostly restaurant menus and appliance instructions.
Libraries already provide free books, wireless internet, digital support and shared spaces where people can learn things without first being asked to download an app. The funding will help them reach more people, although no grant can prevent a reader becoming emotionally attached to a book found on a trolley beside the radiator. That remains one of Britain’s finest civic services.
The National Year of Reading is a joint initiative involving the Department for Education and the National Literacy Trust. Its Go All In approach welcomes every format, from printed books to audiobooks, digital magazines and graphic novels. A novel can therefore make a stronger case for being opened before bedtime instead of becoming a tasteful ornament on a coffee table, where it has been gathering dust and silently judging the household.
The announcement also includes £1,000 for each of the five English regional winners of The British Book Awards Library of the Year. It is a welcome public nod to good library work, particularly in buildings where someone has spent decades whispering that they will definitely return this next week.
A library is a rare place where the government can announce an investment, the public can borrow the results and nobody has to pretend the bookshelf is an innovation hub. The receipt printer has now heard about the award money and is demanding a ceremony, a sash and the right to announce that every book was due back yesterday.
