Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal December 2003 Volume 1 (6)

Reader's Days

The joy of books

Rachel Williams and Sharon Woodforde describe Falkirk Libraries Readers' Day, one of the first such events in Scotland.

We have that excellent periodical, newBooksmag, to thank for inspiring us to organise our first Readers’ Day in September. We had had some success in organising author-based events in the past, supported by several flourishing writers’ and reading groups.

But we were looking for a concept that would help us to progress with our reader development programme. Every issue of newBooksmag that we read seemed to have an account of successful readers’ days. The concept seemed to embody everything that we needed as a means of bringing readers and writers together to celebrate the joys of reading, in a stimulating and enjoyable format.

In England Readers’ Days are well established but in Scotland we are one of the first authorities to hold such an event. The day involved months of planning with help and advice from Guy Pringle, publisher of newBooksmag, Robert Walters of Bradford Libraries where the whole Readers’ Day concept was invented, and Mary Wilson of Holt Jackson Library Book Suppliers.

An impressive line up of authors included Christopher Brookmyre, Jonathan Falla and Louise Welsh. We felt that it was important to have one really well known author in order to pull in the crowds and Christopher Brookmyre, author of A Big Boy Did it and Ran Away, Boiling a Frog, and most recently The Sacred Art of Stealing, more than fulfilled this function. Louise and Jonathan are less well known, but their wonderful first novels, The Cutting Room and Blue Poppies respectively have both created a tremendous amount of interest in Scotland. In addition Derek Rodger from Argyll Publishing came along not only to sell books but also participate in the afternoon discussions.

Our venue for the event was Talbot House in Grangemouth, with a capacity to hold around 100 people proving to be exactly right for an event of this scale. The final ingredient was Guy Pringle, who acted as our MC for the afternoon.

On arrival our audience were given ‘goody bags’ – an essential element of Readers’ Days. Although we were self-funding, we did manage to get together some book magazines, Falkirk Council publications, bookmarks and pens and pencils to give away. We hope that with future events we will be more successful in attracting sponsorship.

Christopher Brookmyre got us off to a great start by reading the highly entertaining Bampot Central; a fast-moving and hilarious action story set in Edinburgh. Following this, workshops offered the audience a chance to chat in smaller and more informal group settings with the author of their choice. Louise Welsh led a discussion on her best-selling book The Cutting Room. She also gave a taster reading from her new book, a novella on the death of Christopher Marlowe. Jonathan Falla’s workshop was a fascinating insight into the process of writing both fiction, drama and for the cinema.

After tea, and a chance to chat to others about books and reading, we were back with Louise Welsh talking about the Gothic novel, the subject of a Radio 4 series which was due to be broadcast, and Jonathan Falla talked about his inspiration for Blue Poppies, a novel set in Tibet during the time of the Chinese invasion. To complete the afternoon, Guy chaired a stimulating panel discussion.

The day was a success on several levels. One audience member summed up what she most liked about it as: “Meeting the authors and the atmosphere of readers and writers joining together in their enjoyment of the written word.” In our choice of speakers, we were able to attract a younger audience than normally attends library-based events including those elusive 18-30 year old males. As for the organising, staff all had something to contribute, from poster design to tea-making, and all felt valued as members of a team.

Readers’ Days are a high profile and prestigious event. They are excellent for public relations and the public responds in an overwhelmingly positive way. Many of the people who attended are already looking forward to our next Readers’ Day and we are looking forward to organising the next one.

Rachel Williams and Sharon Woodforde are Senior Librarians, Grangemouth Library. 01324 504690; www.newbooksmag.com

Information Scotland Vol.1 (6) December 2003

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