Manchester Libraries’ Blue Peter Book Club Live Programme

Manchester Libraries has been named the overall winner of the Library of the Year Award! Sponsored by publisher DK and run in partnership with The Reading Agency, the award recognised Manchester Libraries for its successful city-wide Blue Peter Book Club Live programme. As the winner for North England, it triumphed over nine other regional and national finalists, selected from 36 entries across the UK and Ireland.

They tell us more about their project in this blog.

How did your library project/campaign impact the local community?  

The opportunity to work with a national brand like the BBC and launch the Blue Peter Book Club Live campaign was very exciting. We were very keen that the key focus of the programme was to reach families across Manchester, especially those who weren’t regular readers or library users.   

We achieved this through a range of promotional activities in many non-traditional reading venues.  Families could enjoy the Book Club in parks through our Book Hunt activities, or discover books and exciting cultural venues through our city-wide badge trail.    

We also worked with a brilliant community artist to develop a Reading Bird project on the premise that reading ‘sets us free’.  Ten thousand school pupils created their own artwork which was displayed at Central Library as part of the launch event.         

The launch event at Central Library was attended by over 7,500 people, including many of the school pupils coming to view their artwork!  Many of the families attending the launch were visiting Central Library for the first time to find their Reading Bird on display.  

Who did you work with to deliver or plan your project/campaign?  

We worked in partnership with both national and local partners.  The BBC and Blue Peter were fantastic in working with us to deliver an amazing launch event with their presenters and Henry, the Blue Peter dog!  Community artist Emma Martin was brilliant in developing the art project which enabled us to engage so many children and families.  Six museums and two parks hosted the Badge trail, alongside four of our libraries across the city.    

Tell us a secret about your library few visitors know about.  

The philanthropist Andrew Carnegie asked to view the plans for a library in the Chorlton area of Manchester for his approval. They were sent to him in America. On a ship called Titanic, and we all know what happened next!      

How did you get people involved in your project/campaign? Were there any barriers that you had to overcome?  

We designed the programme with a number of engagement strands so that we would reach a large number of families.   Central Library is an amazing venue in the centre of the city, but of course, not everyone feels confident to visit, or knows that it’s there and completely free.   The pull of the Blue Peter presenters combined with the reach of the art project meant that we attracted families from across the spectrum of regular library users to non-library users.  

Communication is always a challenge with multi-strand city-wide programming, as is keeping the momentum going following a glitzy launch.  We worked hard to communicate that the launch with the Blue Peter presenters was the start of a whole summer of Blue Peter Book Club Live activities. Producing a short video to promote the city-wide trail in July (with the launch in May) helped to keep the trail visible throughout the school holidays.  

Can you see a difference in your team since running your project/campaign?  

Manchester Libraries have always been an ambitious library service!  As a team we’re keen to challenge the traditional role of a library and discover new ways to encourage reading for pleasure.  The success of this project has given us even more confidence to promote the importance of libraries and the unique offer of free access to books for all.  It has also shown other cultural partners in the city that Libraries can offer them a platform to reach communities that they might themselves struggle to reach.  

How did your project bring together the community/campaign?  

We developed Blue Peter Book Club Live as a programme with multiple touchpoints and opportunities for children to get involved. The 10,000 children involved in the art project were all invited to the launch at Central Library with an ‘Artist Pass’.  Children received the pass at school, but then shared the information with parents/carers so they could be part of the launch event.  This helped break down some of the barriers to participation and activate new interest in taking part in cultural and library activities.   

We also held Blue Peter Book Badge workshop sessions in libraries as part of our free Summer Reading Challenge activities.  The city-wide trail offered families the opportunity to enjoy a day out, discovering new parks, libraries or museums and their free family offers.  

Would you encourage other libraries around the country to do similar projects/campaigns? If so, why?  

We have developed brilliant partnerships during the project. The positive impact on the library service and the confidence and pride of the many children involved has been brilliant. Our councillors and heads of service have always been very supportive of their library service, but evidence like this is very powerful and proof that libraries really do change lives.                                                                     

Tell us a fun fact about the building.  

The singer Morrissey was banned from the library for defacing books!