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OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
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Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
Year two interim report: 2016-2017
03 May 2017
OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
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Client The Reading Agency
Company OPM Group
Title Evaluation of the Reading Hack
programme
Subtitle Year two interim report: 2016-2017
Dates last published 03/05/2017
Status Final
Classification Released
Project Code 10385
Author(s) Bethan Peach Matt Reynolds
Killian Condell
Quality Assurance by Lucy Smith / Zoe Khor
Main point of contact Bethan Peach
Telephone 0207 239 7800
Email [email protected]
If you would like a large text version of this
document, please contact us.
OPM Group
252B Gray’s Inn Road 0845 055 3900
London www.opm.co.uk
WC1X 8XG [email protected]
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Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................... 4
1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 7
Background to the Reading Hack programme ..................................................... 7
2. Evaluation: aims and activities ................................................................. 11
The evaluation .................................................................................................. 11
Research design ............................................................................................... 11
Research activities............................................................................................ 13
3. Case study library authorities ................................................................... 15
4. Findings: Outcomes for young people ..................................................... 18
Taking part in Reading Hack ............................................................................. 18
Increased employability and raised aspirations for young people ...................... 22
Long lasting enjoyment and engagement with reading ...................................... 28
Improved well-being .......................................................................................... 31
5. Findings: Outcomes for organisations ..................................................... 34
Overall success of Reading Hack programme................................................... 34
Supporting strategic priorities ............................................................................ 35
Improved networks and influence in their work with young people..................... 36
Increased ability and confidence of libraries to empower young people............. 41
Impact on staff capacity .................................................................................... 48
6. Learning and reflections............................................................................ 50
Success factors ................................................................................................ 50
Challenges and proposed solutions .................................................................. 51
7. Conclusions ............................................................................................... 57
Reading Hack in 2016-2017.............................................................................. 57
The overall impact of Reading Hack.................................................................. 58
Recommendations ............................................................................................ 59
A1. Appendix: Case study library authorities .................................................... 62
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Executive Summary
Introduction
Reading Hack is a Reading Agency programme targeted at young people aged 13-24 that
brings together reading-inspired activity, volunteering roles and peer-to-peer reading
advocacy. The programme aims to get young people enthused about reading by making it
relevant to their passions and motivations, alongside supporting their personal and skills
development.
The programme is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It builds on the Reading
Agency’s longstanding work with young people and expands the scope to include a wider
age-range and to support the development of youth-led approaches to engaging young
people in reading.
Reading Hack has developed at a time of transition for the library sector with
considerable debate about what a modern library service might look like and amidst
significant public spending cuts. Reading Hack is aligned with the Universal Reading
Offer priorities to support libraries to deliver services and initiatives in ways which are
accessible and practical. Reading Hack is also closely aligned to the government’s vision
for libraries as outlined in the 2016 ‘Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in
England 2016 to 2021’ report.
The Office for Public Management was commissioned to undertake a three-year
evaluation of Reading Hack.
This report discusses our findings from
the second year, which involved
interviews and workshops with
Reading Hack participants, library
staff and other stakeholders in
five diverse case study
locations – Croydon,
Manchester, Staffordshire,
Telford & Wrekin and
Hertfordshire.
We also discuss and
incorporate national survey
findings from young people
and libraries across 163
participating library
authorities.
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Headline figures & findings
Reading Hack has grown from year one to year two of the
programme, with over 100 libraries joining the programme in
2016-2017.
In its second year of delivery, 163 library authorities took
part in the programme, offering approximately 2,318 Reading
Hack events in 1,790 local libraries. Across the 163 library
authorities, 10,767 young people took part as volunteer
‘Reading Hackers’ (almost twice as many as year one).
23,513 other young people participated in the events offered.
This equates to an average of 66 volunteers per local
authority, with each local authority engaging an average
of 144 other young people in activities. The average
number of Reading Hack volunteers has decreased overall
since year one, however this appears to be due to many
libraries joining the scheme and still being in set-up phase.
Increased confidence is one of most prominent impacts
of Reading Hack. Young people in our case study libraries
described how being involved in Reading Hack presents
them with opportunities (through interacting with different
people and seeing their ideas come to fruition) to build their
confidence, be more independent and take initiative.
Young people identified several transferable skills they have
developed because of Reading Hack that could help them in
the future, including team work, social skills, leadership,
planning and problem solving. Through trying ideas and
dealing with both technical and interpersonal issues some
young people have learnt a lot in these areas.
The impact of Reading Hack on young people’s enjoyment of
reading and sharing that enjoyment of reading with others is
less clear. This may be a symptom of libraries having
struggled to engage harder to reach young people.
Many young people feel empowered by Reading Hack’s
emphasis on youth-led activity. They feel they are given
trust and responsibility in choosing how they volunteer, whilst
still receiving the support they need.
89% of
young
people
strongly
agreed that they have
gained new skills
through their Reading
Hack experience (76% in
year one), including skills
in planning, creativity and
leadership.
85% of
young
people
agreed
that Reading Hack had a
highly positive impact on
their confidence levels
(71% in year one).
55% of
young
people
agreed
that their
involvement in Reading
Hack had made them
want to read more (65%
in year one).
93% of
young
people
agreed
that Reading Hack had
encouraged them to
continue volunteering
(84% in year one).
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Impact on libraries
Against a backdrop of increasingly challenging financial constraints, libraries have started
exploring a wider variety of options for delivering the Reading Hack programme .
Year two of the evaluation suggests that a youth-led approach is becoming more
normalised within libraries. As libraries become more comfortable with a youth-led
approach, older young people can take on more of a leadership role and put forward or
implement suggestions, provide advice to libraries, or support their younger counterparts.
For some libraries, co-designing activities with young Reading Hackers has helped to attract
visitors to the library. Library staff are also finding that visitors start to see the young
volunteers as staff members, suggesting that the image of the library as a place where
young people are welcomed and involved is improving.
The impact of Reading Hack on libraries’ ability to build new partnerships and
networks, and to target harder to reach young people is less clear. This may be due to
a combination of capacity constraints and a lack of confidence among library staff.
The impact of Reading Hack on library staff ability and confidence to work with young
people is positive overall, with several library staff reflecting on shifts in attitudes,
knowledge and behaviours as a result of working more closely with young people.
Although the impact of Reading Hack on staff capacity may not have originally been
envisaged as a key impact area, it is becoming increasingly important given questions about
the sustainability of library services. For some libraries, Reading Hack has helped to address
this issue through giving young people more responsibility, while for others Reading Hack
has added to staff workload, depending on the local model of Reading Hack adopted.
Recommendations for the programme
Several recommendations are presented in our full report, including:
• Support libraries to embed outreach into all Reading Hack activities.
• Find a balance between new creative approaches to delivery and
maintaining the core focus of the programme.
• Work with young people and library authorities to develop the peer-to-
peer reading advocacy strand of the programme.
What’s next?
In year three of the evaluation we plan to:
• Add a sixth case study (a school case study rather than a library).
• Carry out fieldwork in two phases (summer and autumn/winter).
• Speak to a wider range of young people and staff.
• Explore the pros and cons of different models of delivery.
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1. Introduction
This chapter summarises the background to the Reading Hack programme, introduces the
evaluation, and provides contextual information about our five selected case study library
authorities.
Background to the Reading Hack programme
Reading Hack is a Reading Agency programme targeted at young people aged 13-24 that
brings together reading-inspired activity, volunteering roles and peer-to-peer reading
advocacy. The programme aims to get young people enthused about reading by making it
relevant to their passions and motivations, alongside supporting their personal and skills
development. The name, brand, concept and website were all co-created with young people
and young people are encouraged to lead the activities and programme themselves by
designing ‘hacks’. The term ‘hack’ comes from the Urban Dictionary definition:
A hack is “a clever solution to a tricky problem. To hack is to modify or change something in
an extraordinary way”.
The Anniversary Gift from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation1 gave The Reading Agency the
opportunity to create and develop Reading Hack, which expands its work on Summer
Reading Challenge volunteering and the previous Big Lottery Reading Activists programme.
In comparison to those previous programmes, Reading Hack aims to include a wider age
group and demographic of young people, to develop their love of reading, confidence and
sense of agency. The programme also aims to enhance partnership development between
libraries and other youth and cultural sector partners, and equip organisations to increase
reading opportunities for young people and foster a youth-led approach.
1 https://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/one-million-pound-gift-from-the-paul-hamlyn-foundation.html
Three strands of Reading Hack:
• Reading-inspired activity: young people come up with new and interesting
ways to get other young people involved in reading (often as part of Reading
Hack groups).
• Volunteering roles: young people take up pre-defined roles (e.g. as Reading
Hack volunteers for the Summer Reading Challenge) or self-determined year-
round roles (such as reading buddies, or social reporters).
• Peer to peer reading advocacy: young people become advocates for reading,
helping other young people who struggle with or do not enjoy reading to see
how fun and valuable it is.
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These aims fitted well within the Cabinet Office’s youth social action2 outcomes (now the
remit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) which highlight the importance of the
double benefit – to individuals and community. For Reading Hack, this means thinking about
the contribution the programme provides to the local area, not just at the level of the young
person. The aims of Reading Hack also fit closely with the Arts Council’s Quality Principles
for Work with Young People3, particularly around creating authentically youth-led and youth-
owned opportunities to engage with arts and culture.
Reading Hack is also well placed to tackle the documented challenges around literacy rates
in the UK. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development survey findings
from its Programme for International Student Assessment shows that young people’s literacy
in the UK still lags far behind most developed countries.4 The Read On. Get On. Campaign
report states that in 2013 a quarter of all children left primary education without reading well
each year, rising to two in five of those children from the poorest households.5 Further, the
reading gap between boys and girls in England is one of the widest in the developed world:
boys are twice as likely to fall below even a very basic reading level. 6
At a time when there is considerable momentum and policy focus around youth social action
and literacy, Reading Hack is an innovative programme to encourage young people to
engage with reading and gain skills for the future. The programme brings the following
strengths and opportunities:
• It has the capacity to reach into communities across the UK through local libraries;
• It has the potential to inspire new partnerships to encourage more young people to
embark on a reading journey;
• It links reading to skills development, creativity, and personal development
opportunities such as work experience or extra-curricular accreditation;
• It brings something unique and exciting to communities and organisations by offering
year-round volunteering opportunities and a route to wider community social action
for young people.
Reading Hack has developed at a time of transition for the library sector with
considerable debate about what a new, modern library service might look like. Reading
Hack must also grow in a context of constraints, where the impacts of both public
2 Step Up to Serve’s #iwill campaign aims to increase by 50% (an additional 1.5 million 10 -20 year olds) the number of 10-20 year olds taking part in youth social action by 2020. Government believes in creating a social action journey for young people, so young people will form a habit for life. Reading Hack aims to create that journey - with a year-round offer that supports young people to experience the double benefits of volunteering – by building their own skills and confidence, but also encouraging their peers and other age groups to get involved http://www.iwill.org.uk/
3 http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/quality-metrics/quality-principles 4 https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-overview.pdf 5 https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/Read_On_Get_On.pdf
6 Holden, J (2004) Creative Reading: Young people, reading and public libraries
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spending cuts and the increased use of digital tools to access knowledge (rather than
printed books and other resources) have been clearly felt across library authorities.7 In
response to this, Reading Hack is aligned with the Universal Reading Offer8 priorities to
support libraries to deliver services and initiatives in ways which are accessible and
practical. Reading Hack is also closely aligned to the government’s vision for libraries as
outlined in the 2016 ‘Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016 to
2021’ report.9
Reading Hack in year one
There were ambitious targets in year one (2015-2016), aiming to involve 50 library
authorities with 25% of activities with young people taking place in areas of social
deprivation. Reading Hack met these targets, with 53 library authorities signed up as
delivery partners, offering approximately 1,800 events in 621 local libraries. Of these
events, 26% were in areas of social deprivation.10
Across the 53 libraries, 5,686 young people took part as volunteer ‘Reading Hackers’ and
9,619 other young people participated in the events offered. This equates to an average of
107 volunteers per local authority, with each local authority engaging an average of 181
other young people in activities.
Reading Hack in year two
In the second year of Reading Hack (2016-2017), against a backdrop of increasingly
challenging financial constraints, libraries and library authorities have started exploring a
wider variety of options for delivering the Reading Hack programme. While the case study
library authorities we spoke to remain committed and enthusiastic about the programme and
the value it brings to young people and libraries, some have found it challenging to keep
momentum going due to financial and staff capacity constraints. Despite this, the data is
encouraging, with the programme successfully engaging almost double the number of
young people due to new library authorities joining the programme.
7 Macdonald, L (2012) A new chapter: Public library services in the 21st century Carnegie UK Trust
8 The Universal Offers demonstrate a commitment to young people and a need to provide relevant, ‘irresistible’ reading
opportunities for young people that can be shaped by local priority but be of a measurable national standard. http://goscl.com/universal-offers/
9 2016 Libraries Deliver: Ambition for public libraries in England 2016-2021.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/libraries-deliver-ambition-for-public-libraries-in-england-2016-to-2021
10According to the English Indices of Deprivation published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465791/English_Indices_of_Deprivation_2015_-_Statistical_Release.pdf
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In 2016-2017, 163 library authorities took part, offering approximately 2,318 events in
1,790 local libraries.
Across the 163 library authorities, 10,767 young people took part as volunteer ‘Reading
Hackers’. Of these, 7,761 were involved in Reading Hack summer volunteering and the
remaining 3,006 were young people engaged in Reading Hack activities at other times of
year across 65 authorities. 23,513 other young people participated in the events offered.
This equates to an average of 66 volunteers per local authority, with each local authority
engaging an average of 144 other young people in activities. The number of Reading
Hackers per local authority has decreased since last year overall, although in the 53 pilot
authorities, the average volunteers per local authority has gone up slightly to 109. This is due
in part to the majority of authorities being new to the programme this year, with a core offer
of Reading Hack summer volunteering. The challenges experienced by our case study
libraries go some way to explain other reasons for this (outlined in chapters 4, 5 and 6).
Reading Hack is evolving as youth-led activity becomes embedded in participating libraries
and young people re-define reading in their own terms, developing creative approaches to
engage with books, reading and libraries in their local community. In the first year, most of
the case study libraries were running Reading Hack groups and involving Reading Hackers
in summer volunteering. In the second year, libraries are approaching the programme in
different ways; some are starting to move away from running Reading Hack groups and
starting to use the Reading Hack banner as a more overarching brand name for their work
with young people. For this reason, and because of the resourcing challenges faced by
libraries, Reading Hack is starting to look quite different in each locality, and this is discussed
in more detail in chapters 4 and 5 of this report.
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2. Evaluation: aims and activities
This chapter outlines the overall evaluation approach and provides further detail about the
activities carried out in this second year of the programme.
The evaluation
OPM was commissioned by the Reading Agency to undertake an evaluation of the
programme across its first three years of delivery. The evaluation is designed to explore the
impact of Reading Hack on young people and organisations, in order to provide insight into
how to improve the programme going forward. We are also seeking to understand what
works best in engaging young people with reading. We are now at the end of the second
year of the evaluation.
The findings from year one can be found here: https://readingagency.org.uk/young-
people/Reading%20Hack%20evaluation%20interim-
report_final%20year%20one_signed%20off%20(2).pdf
This year two report shares insights and learning based on the second year of evaluation
(2016-2017). During this time, OPM undertook qualitative research with young people, library
staff and other stakeholders in five case study locations in England. The four case studies
that took part in year one continued to be case studies for year two – Staffordshire,
Croydon, Telford & Wrekin and Manchester. We added a fifth case study – Hertfordshire.
Additional background to the five case studies is provided in the next chapter to help put the
findings in context.
This report presents the findings from both the year two in-depth case study research and
the surveys completed by Reading Hack participants and library authorities in 2016-2017
(see chapters 4 and 5). This approach enables comparison and triangulation between the
qualitative and quantitative data, to help explore and understand the reach, impact and
learning from the programme. Further detail about the methods and participation rates are
provided below. In order to support programme development for year three and beyond,
several areas of challenge, success and learning are also presented in chapter 6.
Research design
The evaluation was designed to explore the impact of Reading Hack on young people
and organisations and to provide insight into how to improve the programme going
forward. At the outset, OPM co-produced a Theory of Change model with stakeholders
from the Reading Agency and libraries using a pathways to outcomes approach. This
helps to provide an overview of the programme and how it works, encourages
stakeholders to identify the outcomes that are most important, and develops a clear
framework for gathering evidence of impact, with a consistent focus on those identified
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outcomes. The agreed outcomes for young people and organisations are summarised
below in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
Alongside capturing impact, the evaluation also aims to understand what works about
Reading Hack and how it engages young people with reading. This means understanding
how local libraries and young people are approaching the programme in different areas; the
extent to which it is a high-quality opportunity for young people to get involved with; and how
library authorities can work successfully with limited resources to deliver the programme and
overcome challenges.
Figure 1. Intended outcomes for young people
Figure 2. Intended outcomes for organisations
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Research activities
In the second year of evaluation, the research in each case study location involved the
following activities:
• Reflective surveys aligned with outcomes in the Theory of Change (Fig 2.1/2.2),
collected from participating library authorities. The surveys changed from
baseline/exit surveys in year one to reflective surveys in year two, to address some
methodological challenges outlined in the year one evaluation report11. The reflective
surveys were sent to young people in autumn 2016 (after the summer volunteering
roles had ended) and after February half-term in 2017;
• Peer research with young people (upskilling young people to carry out their own
research with peers) in several libraries, to engage them with the evaluation and
provide them with the skills and opportunities to get more involved in the research;
• Guided reflection focus groups with young people taking part in Reading Hack,
using participatory activities including ranking scales, spectrum exercises, and an
‘employability wheel’ exercise;
• One to one interviews with library staff members and young people taking part in
Reading Hack to explore their experiences, attitudes and perceptions relating to the
programme.
In this second year of the Reading Hack programme, we have found that programme
delivery is diverging (as described in the previous chapter). Our case study libraries are also
at different stages in developing the offer to their young people. As a result, the evaluation
activities were applied differently at each case study location, in order to take account of
those different stages and approaches. However, the topic guides and materials that were
used to guide our discussions and observations were consistent across all locations.
It was challenging this year to speak to as many young people as planned. In some
locations, challenges within the library authority such as a pending restructure (Telford &
Wrekin) or staff illness (Manchester) made arranging our fieldwork visits very difficult.
Furthermore, in some cases the fieldwork in the first year focused on engaging with Reading
Hack group participants (rather than Reading Hackers involved in summer volunteering for
example) and the numbers of these participants in our case study library authorities are
much lower than last year. In other cases, where Reading Hackers volunteer individually
11 When analysing the quantitative data, we compared baseline and exit response in addition to analysing
reflective questions. However, most young people gave relatively high scores in their baseline responses which made it difficult to measure change between baseline and exit data. This is a well-documented challenge of surveying soft skills with young people in that they are often keen to give responses from the beginning of a programme that they feel will be pleasing. To counteract some of this bias, we drew on the reflective survey questions instead, which challenged the young people to think about the scope of their exp erience and the actual impact they felt it had had on them. See the year one report for further detail: https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/Reading%20Hack%20evaluation%20interim-report_final%20year%20one_signed%20off%20(2).pdf. We continued this approach into year two.
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rather than in groups (e.g. Staffordshire; Hertfordshire), it was difficult to find a time and
place where they could all come together for an evaluation visit. We will take this learning on
board for the final year of the evaluation, and we have outlined some ideas to address these
issues at the end of this report. Table 1 shows the number of participants involved in
evaluation activities in the first and second year.
Table 1: Total numbers of research participants
Participants Numbers year
two (2016-2017)
Numbers year
one (2015-2016)
Libraries visited 5 8
Young people interviewed one to one 10 27
Young people who received peer research training
13 0
Young people who took part in a group-based guided reflection session
8 12
Library staff interviewed one to one 12 17
Additional stakeholder interviews 2 1
Surveys completed by young people 412 497
Surveys completed by staff in local libraries and schools
89 122
Surveys completed by participating library authority representatives
167 53
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3. Case study library authorities
Year two of the Reading
Hack evaluation included in-
depth research at five case
study locations –
Staffordshire, Croydon,
Telford & Wrekin,
Manchester, and
Hertfordshire.
Of these, the first four also
took part in year one of the
evaluation, while
Hertfordshire was added as
a case study in this second
year.
Some background to each
of these locations is
provided below to place the
findings in context. Further
detail about each case study site is found in the appendix to this report.
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a large rural county in the West Midlands. There are 43 libraries in total (23
of which are community-managed) and they are split into 6 geographic clusters. 20 libraries
within the library authority are now delivering Reading Hack, with 117 young people taking
part in 2016-2017.
Staffordshire Libraries have been running summer volunteering for several years and
through Reading Hack the service has extended this summer offer to develop a year-round
volunteering offer. Implementation has been coordinated by the Stock, Services and
Activities Manager.
Staffordshire Libraries use the Reading Hack banner for all of their youth volunteering, for
traditional library volunteering, reading-inspired activity and national projects.
Croydon
Croydon is an urban London borough. Croydon Libraries are part of Carillion Managed
Services (a private sector provider of integrated services, who also manage Ealing, Harrow
& Hounslow Libraries). Reading Hack year-round activity is running in one library in Croydon,
whilst summer volunteering took place across 13 libraries. In total, 311 young people took
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part in Reading Hack in Croydon during 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the
summer.
Reading Hack activities in Croydon are centred on a) summer volunteering across the
service and b) delivering reading-inspired activity through a Reading Hack group. Peer-to-
peer reading advocacy is less evident, and although the staff and young people felt there is
sometimes a knock-on impact of their activities that encourages others to read, this is not a
key area of focus for Croydon.
Reading Hack is coordinated by one staff member who also coordinates the involvement of
young people in libraries in three other London boroughs, with support from one other
member of staff.
Telford & Wrekin
Telford & Wrekin is a unitary authority in the West Midlands, with a mixture of urban and
rural areas. Reading Hack group activities take place at Southwater Library in the centre of
Telford, falling mainly under the ‘reading-inspired activity’ strand. In previous years, summer
volunteering took place in several libraries across the authority, however, in 2016-2017 it
was only delivered at Southwater Library because of a pending restructure. Fifty-one young
people took part in Reading Hack in 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the
summer.
Evaluation activity was limited in Telford & Wrekin this year because the staff spent the year
anticipating a significant restructure and were therefore in a state of uncertainty as to their
roles, the status of each of the libraries, and the Reading Hack programme.
Manchester
Manchester has 23 libraries including the newly refurbished and reopened Central Library.
Having delivered a volunteering programme during the Summer Reading Challenge for
several years, Manchester extended this to develop a year-round offer for young people. In
2016-2017 Manchester had 80 Reading Hackers involved in summer volunteering,
contributing 749 volunteer hours. Beyond this, there have been additional volunteers in eight
libraries, including young people working towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Reading Hack was initially delivered through Reading Hack groups in two libraries
(Longsight and Withington). The aim was to set up Reading Hack groups in six libraries in
total as well as year-round volunteering roles. However, the plan has now shifted towards
having a variety of year-round Reading Hack volunteering roles in all libraries.
Reading Hack is applied flexibly in Manchester, being used alongside other brands or
schemes; in practice, it is used as a label for any young person volunteering in a library.
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Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a County Council in the Eastern region, situated north of Greater London,
with a mix of urban and rural areas. Following the success of two Reading Hack pilots in
Stevenage and Watford, the programme was rolled out across all tier one and tier two
libraries12, making up 30 of Hertfordshire’s 46 libraries.
All Reading Hack activity in Hertfordshire falls under the volunteering strand, with volunteers
managed within each individual library. To facilitate this, Reading Hack Coordinators (staff
members) are in place across the 30 libraries to mentor and support the volunteers.
By February 2017 there were over 400 Reading Hack participants in Hertfordshire, about
300 of whom volunteered during the summer, with the remaining 100 taking part in other
year-round Reading Hack activities and roles.
12 Tier 1 libraries, centrally located in large towns, offer the broadest range of stock and services, and are open for the longest hours. They are staffed by library staff, and volunteers support the delivery of some services and activities. Tier 2 libraries, located in smaller towns, provide core library services and offer a wide range of popular stock as well as other services to meet local need/demand. They are staffed during core opening hours, with extended access through volunteer supervised self-service. Tier 3 libraries (community libraries), in smaller communities and villages, offer self-service access to library services, supported by volunteers.
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4. Findings: Outcomes for young people
This section of the report covers the main findings from the five case study areas as well as
the survey data. It combines qualitative and quantitative data to understand the impact of
Reading Hack so far on young people taking part. We start by exploring the motivations and
expectations amongst the young people we spoke to. The main part of this section reports
against each of the outcomes identified in the Theory of Change model for young people:
• increased employability and raised aspirations;
• long lasting enjoyment and engagement with reading; and
• improved well-being.
The survey-based findings provide broad findings based on the responses from young
people and libraries nationally, while the case study findings provide in-depth insight into
what may be behind the patterns and trends identified in the survey responses.
Taking part in Reading Hack
10,767 young people took part in Reading Hack across 163 local authority areas
Forty-eight of the 163 participating library authorities provided data on the age and gender of
the Reading Hack participants. Out of 2,879 young people, approximately 24% were male
and 76% were female.
The chart shows the breakdown of
participants into four age categories. Most
Reading Hack participants (58%) were
between the ages of 13 and 15. One third
(33%) of Reading Hack participants are
aged 16-19. There has been a shift towards
the 13-15 age range in comparison to the
previous year and the reasons for this will
be interesting to explore in year three. In
2015-2016, 47% of participants were 13-15
and 41% were 16-19. The upper (20-24)
and lower (12) age ranges remained at low
proportions at 5% and 4% respectively (these were 6% each the previous year). The age
breakdown was similar for female and male participants (see charts below).
4%
58%
33%
5%
Age of participants
12 13-15 16-19 20-24
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5%
57%
34%
4%
Male breakdown by age
12 13-15 16-19 20-24
Of the 412 young people who completed a reflective survey, over a quarter (27%) have
been taking part in Reading Hack for one year or more, 10% have been taking part for 7-
12 months, a third (31%) have been taking part for 2-6 months, over a quarter (27%) for
one month or less, and less than 5% have not yet started taking part (see chart below).
The motivations of Reading Hack participants
The young people who responded to the reflective survey reported several motivating factors
for their involvement in Reading Hack, including skills-based, social, and altruistic factors
(see chart below).
4%
27%
31%
10%
27%
I have been taking part in Reading Hack for...
I haven't started yet 1 month or less 2 to 6 months 7 to 12 months 1 year or more
4%
58%
33%
5%
Female breakdown by age
12 13-15 16-19 20-24
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Three quarters (75%) of respondents noted that improving their CV was one of their
motivations. This high proportion may be linked to the high prevalence of volunteering
through schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE). Of the library authorities that
completed the survey, 62% of them received volunteers via the DofE. Although this may
have been an initial motivator, several of the young people we spoke have chosen to carry
on beyond the hours the scheme requires:
“I originally joined to do my Duke of Edinburgh award as part of the volunteering
section of that, but I really enjoyed it so I just carried on.” – Staffordshire Reading
Hack participant
Over two thirds (65%) of survey participants indicated that they joined Reading Hack to learn
new skills. This was also reflected in our qualitative case study research where young people
told us they wanted to gain transferrable skills including organisational skills and teamwork.
Nearly two thirds of survey respondents (59%) said they joined Reading Hack to gain
confidence and this was also frequently described as a motivator among young people in the
case study libraries.
Around half of all survey respondents said they joined Reading Hack to meet new people or
have fun. In our research with young people at the case study libraries, some young people
told us they enjoy having an opportunity to get together and work with other young people
outside of school or home:
“It gives me something to do after school instead of watching TV waiting for
family to come home. Ever since going to Reading Hack it gives me something to
75%
65%63%
59% 58% 58%
50%48%
23%
6%
I decided to take part in Reading Hack to...
Survey respondents could choose more than one
answer. The % figures show the percentage of
respondents that chose each option.
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do and I get to socialise with other people.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack
participant
Over half of survey respondents (58%) said they joined Reading Hack to encourage others
to read more or to make a positive difference in their local area. Some of the young people
we spoke to described similar motivations, including the enjoyment they get from making a
positive difference for young children:
“I like playing with kids and coming up with activities for them.” – Croydon
Reading Hack participant
One Reading Hacker noted that although they did not join Reading Hack for altruistic
reasons, the contribution they felt they were making to the community was one reason why
they decided to continue to stay involved.
“Originally, I was looking for volunteering opportunities for my Duke of Edinburgh
Award. I then enjoyed it and signed up for subsequent volunteering, to feel I was
contributing to the community as well as finishing my Duke of Edinburgh
volunteering.” – Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant
Although almost all the motivating factors listed in the survey question gained a high level of
positive responses from respondents, less than a quarter (23%) joined Reading Hack to read
more. Based on what we heard through our qualitative research, this is not surprising since
many Reading Hackers were already avid readers before joining the programme.
These findings may help library authorities to publicise the Reading Hack opportunities, by
linking to the most popular motivating factors in order to encourage young people to take
part, or highlighting a range of reasons why young people might want to join the programme.
How young people found out about Reading Hack
Survey results from young people showed that 62% found out about Reading Hack through
their local library and 25% learnt about it through their school. This continues the trend
identified in year one of this evaluation that most young people find out about Reading
Hack through a library or their school.
The young people we spoke to found out about Reading Hack through several channels,
which echo the survey findings:
• Previous involvement with activities in the library such as summer volunteering;
• Through schools and schemes including the Duke of Edinburgh Award;
• Direct enquiries with the library about volunteering opportunities; or
• Online through the Reading Hack website.
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35%
50%
1% 0%
13%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has increased my confidence
38%
51%
1% 0%
10%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has increased my skills
Increased employability and raised aspirations for young people
Skills development overall
The case study research
reveals that both the young
people themselves and the
library staff who work with them
believe that Reading Hack is
helping young people develop
transferable skills in teamwork,
leadership, and confidence. As
shown in the chart, survey
findings strongly support this
finding; the vast majority (89%)
of young people agree or strongly agree that Reading Hack has increased their skills. We
explore the reasons behind these findings below.
Increased confidence, independence and taking initiative
Increased
confidence is one of most
prominent impacts of Reading
Hack, both across the case
studies and survey results. This
can be seen in the chart; 85%
either agree or strongly agree
that Reading Hack has
increased their confidence.
Some of the factors that lead to
this increased confidence
include:
• Opportunities to engage with people they wouldn’t normally meet
“Talking to people you do not know always boosts your confidence.” –
Staffordshire Reading Hack participant
• Experience of approaching people e.g. to welcome people to events
“Like asking people to complete the questionnaires. Being friendly and
approachable helps with this. You have to act the part – if you want people to talk
to you, you have to look friendly.” – Croydon Reading Hack participant
• Seeing ideas come to fruition
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Related to the above, Reading Hack participants also felt they had more confidence in
building relationships and running events for people of different ages. This was both in terms
of planning events for children, and working with adults in a different way from other adults in
their lives e.g. parents and teachers.
One young person described the benefits of taking on a leadership role, supporting younger
group members, and developing independence and confidence at the same time:
“I’ve taken on a leadership role in terms of listening to what everyone’s got to
say, and making sure everyone is ok, and checking how they’re feeling. It’s
happened quite naturally – because I’m the oldest anyway, you naturally want to
look out for the younger ones and see that they’re ok and noticing if they’re
worrying about something.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack participant
Young people also described a general increase in their self-esteem and personal
confidence because of taking part in a social and interpersonal activity:
“The more you do, the more confident you become.” – Manchester Reading Hack
participant
“I learnt to use small talk. Small talk is the most difficult form of conversation on
the planet! The weather, what people are doing over the weekend.” –
Staffordshire Reading Hack participant
Future plans and aspirations
While most of the young people we spoke to did not see Reading Hack as
directly relevant to their potential career path (i.e. preparing them for a career in the library
service) they could see that aspects of the volunteering would equip them with relevant skills
for the future:
“It’s not necessarily exactly what I want to do, but the skills I’ve learnt could
probably be put towards a job in the future” – Staffordshire Reading Hack
participant
A few young people found specific aspects of Reading Hack useful for their potential
careers. These include filming events preparing them for a media career, or coding classes
for an IT career. Library staff also commented that learning the Dewey-Decimal system could
be useful for young people going on to study at university. One young person described how
their involvement had helped them learn how a workplace environment operates and the
skills this requires:
“I have learnt about how an organisation like the library is run, as well as enjoying
my time there.” – Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant
With three quarters (75%) of young people stating that they joined Reading Hack to improve
their CV, it was reassuring to hear from the young people at case study sites that this
aspiration was realised. Young people felt that volunteering allowed them to get around the
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‘catch 22’ of requiring work experience on their CV to get a first job. Others thought that
Reading Hack had already had a noticeable impact on their career prospects:
“Volunteering at the Summer Reading Challenge helped me a lot. I went to a
careers thing at my school and they asked me if I’d done anything and I said ‘I’ve
actually volunteered at the library during the summer’. So that made a good
impression of me. They thought I was like a role model student.” – Telford &
Wrekin Reading Hack participant
Several young people talked about Reading Hack alongside other schemes such as the Arts
Award and the Duke of Edinburgh Award in terms of improving their CVs.
Hertfordshire library staff noted that they offer a range of ways for young people who want to
complete volunteering hours to spend their time, with project work and events experience
available so they can learn skills that will be useful for employment and study. Volunteers
who help to plan an event receive a reference letter afterwards to say that they did so, which
they can use in applications for university or employment.
Team working
Some young people talked about their positive experience of working in teams
and the cooperative skills developed through teamworking. This was most noticeable in
libraries where Reading Hack groups had set up and arranged reading-inspired activities for
other young people. In some examples, participants had ‘teething problems’ when working
together in groups; by working through these issues they felt that if a similar situation came
up in the future they would feel better equipped to deal with it:
“If you’re in a group you’ve got to learn to cooperate. Team work. If two people
want to be the same character, then you should compromise like in sharing the
role between you.” – Croydon Reading Hack participant
As shown in the chart below, most volunteers (two thirds) reported that since taking part in
Reading Hack their enjoyment of working with other people and ability to listen to other
people had increased. However, the rest (a third) felt that these traits remained ‘about the
same’. This could be due to some libraries having more individual volunteers than youth-led
groups. It is inevitable that in these cases there would be less impact on team working skills.
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Planning and problem solving
Young people commented on how Reading Hack had given them an
opportunity to improve their planning skills, by preparing for events or workshops. This
includes the leadership and problem-solving requirements that come with event planning.
Young people’s development in this respect was most noticeable where library staff gave the
participants a budget and timescale to work to. Some young people and staff reported
specific examples of problems which arose, how they overcame these and the
troubleshooting skills they learnt along the way:
“The talent show taught me about thinking on the spot, and it made me learn
about decision making – for some of the acts that cancelled, we didn’t know until
the day of the show, so we had to change the rotas and let the audience know,
and let the other acts know that the schedule had changed. So it was thinking on
the spot, and dealing with unexpected things.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack
participant
These young people felt they would be better equipped to manage similar situations in the
future. They also believed that they would be better able to deal with problems as a team
and manage the planning of an event from scratch. This is reflected in the survey results; as
shown in the chart below most participants stated that they were a bit or a lot better at
managing their time, planning ahead and finding a way to fix something that has gone
wrong. Again, notable proportions remarked that these skills had remained ‘about the same’
– this might be due to some young people already feeling they were able to do these things
before Reading Hack, or that the particular types of activities they have been involved in did
not lend themselves to developing these skills.
35%33%35% 33%
30%33%
0% 0%0% 0%0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
I enjoy working with other young people as part of ateam
I'm good at listening to other people
Since taking part in Reading Hack...
A lot more A bit more About the same A bit less A lot less
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Communication
Many of the young people we spoke to described an improvement in their
communication skills, especially when talking to people in other age groups.
Some staff members described the reluctance of some volunteers to engage with children at
first. However, as the programme progressed the volunteers came to enjoy working with
children and found that young children were happy to talk to them. As the chart below
shows, it is clear that Reading Hack participants across the country (75%) enjoy working with
children more since taking part in the programme.
Young people also described a change in their attitudes to adults as a result of working with
library staff and adult service users. This includes increased confidence talking to people
older than themselves:
26%24% 25%
30%32%
39%42% 43%
36%
1% 0% 0%0% 0% 0%0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
I'm good at managing my time I'm organised and plan ahead If something goes wrong, I likefinding a way to fix it
Since taking part in Reading Hack...
A lot more A bit more About the same A bit less A lot less
31%
46%45%
29%
23% 22%
0%3%
0% 0%0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
I feel confident speaking to people who are olderthan me
I enjoy working with children
Since taking part in Reading Hack...
A lot more A bit more About the same A bit less A lot less
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“I’m always really nervous talking to adults. I feel like they’re going to judge me,
but the staff are so supportive and nice and that’s really helped.” – Staffordshire
Reading Hack participant
Library staff identified the potential customer service skills young people gain through talking
to members of the public and recommending books. Again, as the chart shows, more than
three quarters (76%) of survey respondents felt more confident talking to older people.
Improved communication between the Reading Hack participants themselves was also
noticeable in the case studies. Socialising outside the school environment enabled them to
‘come out of their shells’:
“People have always judged me, and I think ‘do they think I’m weird’, or ‘oh no,
I’m not one of the popular girls, therefore they don’t like me’. At Reading Hack,
you get to socialise and interact and then you can take some of that confidence
away with you to help you talk to other people more often outside of the group.” –
Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack participant
While some libraries were able to facilitate interaction between participants of different ages,
others struggled to bring young people together outside of their own friendship groups.
However, several of these libraries are keen to find ways to address this challenge.
Creativity
Some young people noted Reading Hack’s effect on their ability to come up
with and develop new ideas:
“Reading Hack has showed me how to look in different places to find inspiration
for good ideas.” – Croydon Reading Hack participant
This is reflected in the survey data, with nearly two thirds (64%) noting an increase in their
ability to both come up with and explain ideas:
25% 25%
39% 39%36% 36%
1% 1%0% 0%0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
I'm good at coming up with new ways of doing things I can explain my ideas clearly
Since taking part in Reading Hack...
A lot more A bit more About the same A bit less A lot less
OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
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Activities that Reading Hack groups have undertaken are very varied, with examples ranging
from creative (such as poetry competitions and reading-inspired arts and crafts) to
community-based (such as interviewing town planners about local development and
planning events that promote mental wellbeing) activities. Library staff also mentioned
partnering Reading Hack with the Arts Award to encourage young people’s creativity.
Some library staff described the benefit of Reading Hack being a supportive environment
where young people are working with their peers and adults in a very different relationship
compared to at school or home:
“I think it pushes the boundaries, it puts them outside their comfort zone but in a
way that they still feel secure. It empowers them to try new things and feel
confident about it, and then they have that rewarding feeling once they’ve done it.
It’s different from what they’d do at school – it’s more independent. With the Arts
Award in particular, it looks to them to come up with a creative idea and then they
kind of run with it as far as they can, and as far as resources allow. They don’t
get that kind of freedom, creatively, with the projects they’re doing at school.” –
Telford & Wrekin Library staff
Long lasting enjoyment and engagement with reading
Attitudes to reading
Amongst young people we spoke to, attitudes to reading were mixed. Some
commented that Reading Hack gave them more opportunities to read than
they had before, simply due to being in the library environment:
“I find I have more time to look through books whereas sometimes I’d only have
five minutes at the library and you don’t have time to pick a book, but now I think
I’ve been borrowing books from the library. I didn’t really come to the library that
often before I started volunteering.” – Staffordshire Reading Hack participant
Others stated that they were already keen readers before they joined the group, and that
their involvement had provided them with a social outlet for that interest, rather than
changing how they feel about reading. Similarly, some who were not active readers before
said that although they had enjoyed taking part in the activities, their reading habits had not
changed. Exploring what factors might lead to Reading Hackers reading more or enjoying
reading more would be valuable in year three of the evaluation.
These themes are reflected in the survey results shown below. While many young people
stated that they are reading more, enjoy reading more and used the library more since taking
part in Reading Hack (54-58%), many others reported that their habits had remained ‘about
the same’ (41-45%):
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Young people reflected on changes in their reading activity over time – generally, they read
more in primary school, and once in secondary school they spend more time being in touch
with their friends on social media, or reading only the books assigned in their classes.
Some young people like reading some types of books more than others, so, for example,
while they may not enjoy books on the school curriculum, they may nonetheless like popular
fantasy and young adult fiction series. Reading Hack, young people stated, helps maintain
their motivation to read for pleasure. For example, in one case study site, the Reading Hack
coordinator brings them proofs of new books to take home and read:
“I used to read a lot when I was younger. I don’t read as much now because of
exams and schoolwork – I don’t really have much time. But [our coordinator] gets
proofs of books that haven’t come out yet and she always brings them to the
meetings. She wants us to read more, and so there’s that encouragement to read
that’s still part of the group, I take books home and try to read when I have time.”
– Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack participant
Some library staff, for example in Hertfordshire and Croydon, mentioned that they often talk
to Reading Hack participants about books. They ask them which books they enjoy and what
they are interested in. The staff find young people to be very engaged with these
conversations and see this kind of interaction as an important way to engage with them
about reading.
Sharing the enjoyment of reading
The majority of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Reading
Hack had increased interest (82%) and confidence (77%) in reading for the
children taking part in Reading Hack events and activities. In contrast, a much smaller
proportion thought that Reading Hack had increased their friends’ interest (37%) or
confidence (35%) in reading:
24%
32%
20%
31%
26%
34%
44%41%
45%
1% 0% 0%0% 0% 1%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
I read… I enjoy reading I use the library…
Since taking part in Reading Hack...
A lot more A bit more About the same A bit less A lot less
OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
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Our conversations with young people confirmed the positive impact of sharing the enjoyment
of reading with children. They described the pleasure of seeing children and young people
taking part in reading-inspired activities. Some also described the potential educational
benefits of reading for children:
“The great books have great descriptions but your brain has to make the world
work. It actively engages your mind. I already thought a bit about this, but
Reading Hack consolidated it…It’s really good for younger people because they
learn vocabulary without having to actually sit down and learn it.” – Staffordshire
Reading Hack participant
Other young people noted that events and activities might have a side effect of encouraging
people to read, since they are generally on a theme related to reading or a specific book, but
that it wasn’t their primary motivation. It was seen as a good idea for Reading Hack to tie in
with something current, such as an app or a book-to-film adaptation They believed that this
would encourage young people to come to the library and engage with books.
While the survey results show that relatively few Reading Hack participants feel they have
had an impact on their friends’ interest in or confidence about reading, some young people in
case study sites confirmed that a little peer-to-peer advocacy is happening, albeit in an
organic and unstructured way. For example, having Reading Hack participants visible
around the libraries (using lanyards and T-shirts) provided the opportunity for other young
people to casually talk to others about which books they may enjoy:
“People stop and ask questions about what is happening, and it attracts people
to reading.” – Manchester Reading Hack participant
Some young people advocated reading in a formal way, by ordering teen fiction stock or
taking a role as ‘head librarian’ at school.
Some were involved with recruiting new members to their group of volunteers, telling their
friends about it through word of mouth, posters and social media. Survey data shows that
91% agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend Reading Hack to a friend.
34%29%
11% 9%
48% 48%
27% 25%
1% 2%
16% 15%
0% 0% 1% 2%
16%21%
45%48%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Children's interest inreading
Children's confidenceabout reading
My friends' interest inreading
My friends' confidenceabout reading
Reading Hack has increased...
Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Not sure
OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
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49%44%
1% 0%5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
It's encouraged me to continue volunteering
One of the ways young people said they have got others involved in Reading Hack is by
emphasising that there is more to reading than just ‘reading a book’.
However, some library staff highlighted difficulties with getting young people to promote
reading openly to their peers, because of negative perceptions around reading:
“I’ve asked them a few times if they’d be willing to stand up in assembly or in
their tutor group and promote Reading Hack or an event that we’re doing. But
they always say no – ‘I can’t do that, no-one would be interested, none of my
friends read’. So it’s almost like they feel embarrassed to share it with their
friends in school.” – Croydon library staff
Improved well-being
Increased sense of citizenship
Most of the young
people we spoke to
were enthusiastic about
volunteering and wanted to
continue it. This is confirmed by the
survey data, showing that 93%
agreed or strongly agreed that
Reading Hack has encouraged
them to continue volunteering.
Reasons for continuing to volunteer
were their increased overall
confidence around interacting with
a variety of different people, and the
satisfaction derived from helping others to read:
“[During summer volunteering] you have to remember that people are going to
come and want to sign up so you have to be on the look-out for people who need
some help. It makes me feel good inside because I know I’ve done something
really good – it’s a wonderful feeling because it’s helping people.” – Telford &
Wrekin Reading Hack participant
As stated above, several young people described going beyond the hours they had to do for
an official extracurricular scheme such as DofE, due to their newfound passion for
volunteering. Other participants described their volunteer journey through several strands of
Reading Hack activity, for example from supporting the Summer Reading Challenge to roles
supporting Chatterbooks groups, Reading Well for Young People and other activities:
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“I have tried to be involved as much as I can over the last year. [Since the
Reading Hack pilot] I have volunteered every Tuesday afternoon for one hour.” –
Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant
Increased feeling of agency and empowerment
Many young people felt empowered by Reading Hack’s emphasis on youth-
led activity. They felt they were given a great deal of trust and responsibility in choosing how
they volunteer, whilst still being given the support they need:
“If they ask me to revamp a display they’ll simply show me the supplies and tell
me to do my thing. That’s really nice. We get some independence.” –
Staffordshire Reading Hack participant
Young people also felt that they contributed to decisions about what to do as a group and
that they could take on important roles, regardless of their age or experience. As already
noted, Reading Hack also felt empowering to young people as it provided the opportunity for
them to have a different type of relationship with adults (this compared to young people’s
perceptions of being ‘talked down to’ by parents or teachers). Library staff were seen to treat
Reading Hack volunteers with respect, for example:
“If we can’t make it to a meeting it’s not a big thing because the group
understands that we’ve got other things going on and we can’t always make it –
it’s not a strict group, it’s very understanding.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack
participant
However, some younger participants said they preferred more direction from library staff,
before they gain enough confidence to take control of planning and delivering activities
independently.
Increased community awareness and involvement
As shown in the chart below, most survey respondents either agreed or
strongly agreed that Reading Hack helped them feel more part of their community. The
young people we spoke to had varying degrees of community awareness and involvement.
Some talked positively about engaging with a wide variety of different people who come to
their libraries:
“I have felt much more involved in the local community. I am meeting more
people and helping to organise the kind of event I wouldn’t know was happening
2 years ago. I also feel much more involved because I am allowed behind the
scenes. I have met the library managers and worked in areas closed to the
public, this has a big impact as I feel I am part of something greater.” –
Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant
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34%
47%
2%0%
16%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
It's helped me feel more part of my community
Several young people described
specific outreach activities they
had carried out including social
events at care homes, poetry
inspired by local museums,
celebrations of local authors and
talent shows. Although they
weren’t always able to articulate
the impact of Reading Hack on
their sense of connection to the
local community, this list of
activities they chose to do
suggests that they have an interest
in engaging with their community.
Geography and types of activity also play a part. Some library staff suggested that
community engagement was easier for rural libraries compared to urban ones, because they
believe rural communities tend to be more tight-knit in general. One library staff member felt
that it was easier for Reading Hack summer volunteering to inspire a sense of connection to
the community compared to the Reading Hack group activities:
“I think the Summer Reading Challenge volunteers become a bit more aware of
their local community, because they’re spending time engaging with families and
young children, and I think it makes them more aware of how they can impact on
the community through their volunteering. I don’t think it’s so much the case with
the Reading Hack group though, they’re more interested in creating an activity, it
being a success, and then moving on to the next thing.” – Croydon Library staff
OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme
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16%
45%
8%
1%
30%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has been a successful programme for us
5. Findings: Outcomes for organisations
This section covers the main findings about the impact of Reading Hack so far on the
organisations involved. We start by summarising the overall success of the Reading Hack
programme from the perspective of library and school practitioners, and exploring the ways
in which Reading Hack supports wider strategic priorities for library.
The main part of this section reports against each of the outcomes identified in the Theory of
Change model for organisations – improved networks and influence in their work with young
people, and increased ability and confidence to empower young people through reading-
based activity.
The survey-based findings provide broad findings based on the responses from young
people and libraries nationally, while the case study findings provide in-depth insight into
what may be behind the patterns and trends identified in the survey responses.
Overall success of Reading Hack programme
A majority of the 89 library and
school practitioners who
responded to the survey (61%)
agree or strongly agree that
Reading Hack has been a
successful programme (see
chart). One third (30%) were
unsure, while only 9%
disagreed or strongly
disagreed.
Broadly, we found that
Reading Hack can be an
effective way to support strategic priorities; and our case study research shows the
programme is helping to develop a stronger youth-led culture within some libraries.
There is currently mixed evidence as to whether Reading Hack is enabling libraries to
engage harder to reach groups or enabling partnership development. The most significant
challenge in delivering a successful Reading Hack programme appears to be a reduction in
funding and staff capacity.
The rest of this chapter explores specific aspects of the reading Hack programme using both
national survey data and qualitative insights to identify what elements are proving most
successful and what things are more challenging from the perspective of the libraries
involved.
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Supporting strategic priorities
In the context of increasing budget constraints, some library authorities reflected on the role
of Reading Hack in their wider strategies for engaging with young people.
In Hertfordshire, the Reading Hack programme is aligned with some key County Council
strategic priorities, namely promoting volunteering, encouraging the local community to
participate in their libraries, providing opportunities for local residents to thrive, developing
digital services, and libraries being seen as a community asset. They also see a clear benefit
in delivering their work with young people under the national brand of Reading Hack, as it
brings credibility and professionalism to the programme as well as providing libraries with
resources and advice about good practice:
“Well thought-out national schemes are pivotal for library services when there
has been a decrease in budget and staff time. Having something packaged that
can be tailored to local corporate priorities is unbelievably helpful.” – Strategic
stakeholder, Hertfordshire
In Manchester, Reading Hack supports libraries to embed young people as volunteers,
aiming to move to a point where library staff and service users alike are fully accepting of
young people volunteering or running events themselves as part of the community. The
library authority has a vision of Reading Hack volunteers becoming role models for other
children and young people, encouraging them to use libraries and making library spaces
vibrant and relevant in the future.
“If we can get children and young people into buildings (which even with all the
changes in recent years will ultimately always be places for books and learning),
then maybe we can change the life paths of many children and young people and
build on it for many others.” – Manchester Library staff
In Telford & Wrekin, a particularly challenging time in 2016 left library staff feeling unable to
reflect in detail on the impact Reading Hack has had on them. However, now they are
planning the programme alongside other activities for 2017 and beyond, they noted that
Reading Hack provides a nationally-recognised brand under which to deliver their offer to
young people in line with their statutory obligations. They are using the Reading Hack brand
for their Reading Hack group and for volunteering roles, but there might be potential for other
offers to young people to come under the same branding, such as one-off events and
expanding their ‘poetry on loan’ programme to include young people.
These experiences and reflections from our case studies suggest that the close alignment of
Reading Hack with national priorities for libraries supports library authorities to address those
priorities and obligations more effectively.
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Improved networks and influence in their work with young
people
A wider reach and audience
One way in which Reading Hack has enabled libraries to develop and widen
reach and audience is through the events that Reading Hack participants
have organised. Library staff noted that events that are designed and delivered by young
people for their peers are an effective way of attracting more people to the library. In
Croydon and Manchester, staff reflected that these events have attracted a much larger
number of attendees than others that did not involve Reading Hack.
“We had 70 people take part in the last event which is probably the biggest
number that came to any event last summer. That was quite huge, especially for
something that wasn’t about having an author or a storyteller coming in, it was
just an event we put together, so that’s had a good impact on the library.” –
Croydon Library staff
In Manchester, one of the events staff referred to took place in an area of low library
attendance, and had double the turn-out they had previously experienced.
Having young people involved as Reading Hack volunteers during the Summer Reading
Challenge also makes a difference to the reach of this initiative. For example, library staff in
Staffordshire observed that children and young people visiting the library feel more
comfortable approaching other young people rather than adults, and so they think that
having young people as volunteers may increase children’s participation in reading
activities:
“Smaller children go the desk when there are Reading Hackers there, whereas
when there’s an adult they’ll stay away.” – Staffordshire Library staff
“The nine/ten-year-olds really enjoy coming to things which are run by other
young people […] Sometimes I’ll come downstairs and [a young person] is
helping an eight-year-old choose a book and they really enjoy talking to them. I
know the same things as them but I can’t talk to them on the same level. You’re
breaking down that massive barrier.” – Staffordshire Library staff
In Hertfordshire, a stakeholder noted that the Reading Hack brand attracts young people
because it suggests creative and digital approaches to reading, rather than the traditional
role of libraries. In this way, they feel the programme helps to extend the reach and audience
of libraries and supporting a culture shift towards libraries as modern and inspiring spaces:
“The Reading Hack influence is very pertinent as libraries work digital culture into
their delivery model.” – Strategic stakeholder, Hertfordshire
The extent to which Reading Hack supports this culture shift more widely will be an
interesting avenue to explore further in year three of the evaluation.
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Improved local image of the organisation as a place where young people are taking the lead
As Reading Hack becomes more embedded in libraries, some library staff
have noticed that library users start to see Reading Hack volunteers as staff
members. In this way, Reading Hack is seen as an important way for mainstreaming the
involvement of young people in libraries. These observations were particularly evident in
Hertfordshire and Staffordshire:
“The volunteers wear a Reading Hack t-shirt or lanyard, parents who come in
love the sound of it.” – Hertfordshire Library staff
“If you’re wearing a lanyard, they don’t differentiate by age. They treat them
[Reading Hack volunteers] like members of staff.” – Staffordshire Library staff
In some libraries, Reading
Hack participants are helping
with other initiatives, and this
is helping to embed the
involvement of young people
more widely in the organisation.
For example, in Staffordshire,
Reading Hack volunteers are
helping to promote the Reading
Well for Young People book
list.
In response to the survey
question asking whether
“Reading Hack has improved the image of the library amongst young people”, half (49%) of
respondents (library staff and school practitioners) either agreed or strongly agreed that it
has. Only 9% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 42% were not sure (see chart above).
Strengthened and new partnerships and networks in the local area
Several new partnerships have developed through the Reading Hack programme. For our
case study library authorities, links with local schools have been strengthened, as library
staff and existing Reading Hack participants contact them to encourage participation and to
raise awareness about events they are planning. Some libraries have also developed
partnerships with charities and community groups, including mental health charities,
museums, and reading and literacy initiatives in the local area. In Hertfordshire, they are
actively working with young people to explore potential new partnerships for the future,
further embedding youth-led initiatives in how they work.
9%
40%
8%
1%
42%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has improved the image of our library amongst young people
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Reading Hack activities can sometimes lead to new ideas for future events involving
members of the community. For example, in Staffordshire Reading Hack volunteers
publicised their activities with posters in the local area and this led to a local library hosting a
fringe festival including a reading group and musicians. These examples suggest that
Reading Hack can help to facilitate partnership development, especially as libraries start to
think more creatively about how they engage with young people.
In contrast, some case study sites have not seen a correlation between delivering Reading
Hack and the strengthening and development of partnerships. In Croydon, this was due to
the interpersonal challenges within the Reading Hack group and lack of staff capacity. Staff
capacity is a challenge that arises frequently in our case study authorities however these
difficulties have also helped to generate learning and new ideas as outlined in chapter 6.
In response to the survey
question, “Reading Hack has
encouraged you to work in
partnership with more
organisations”, over a third
(37%) of respondents (library
staff and school practitioners)
either agreed or strongly agreed.
However, similar proportions
disagreed (30%), or were not
sure (32%) (see chart). This
suggests that different
organisations have quite
different experiences in terms of the impact of Reading Hack on the formation of new
partnerships.
Although several library staff and school practitioners agreed that Reading Hack has
encouraged them to work in partnership with more organisations, survey data from library
authorities shows that the number of existing and new partnerships has decreased overall
since the previous year (see charts below). However, it should be noted that the 2015-2016
data was from 53 library authority respondents, while the 2016-2017 data was from 167
library authority respondents (some of whom did not complete the partnership section of the
survey), so the figures are not directly comparable.
While Reading Hack has the potential to open up new avenues for partnerships and
networks, contextual factors relating to the local area and the capacity and enthusiasm of
library staff are likely to affect the extent to which this is realised. The Reading Agency may
be able to play a role here in providing ideas and support or sharing examples of successful
partnership development for library authorities to learn from. Partnership development may
have benefits in relation to reaching harder to reach young people (as one example in the
following section illustrates), so this is an area that could be prioritised further.
6%
31%29%
1%
32%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has encouraged us to work in partnership with more
organisations
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Percentage of library authority survey respondents that worked with existing partnerships in the
following organisations in 2017 compared to 2016.
Percentage of library authority survey respondents that developed new partnerships with the following
organisations in 2017 compared to 2016
53%
17%
17%
17%
23%
9%
4%
11%
2%
4%
13%
31%
16%
7%
4%
8%
2%
0%
1%
2%
2%
4%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
School
College
University
Arts organisation
Youth group
Leisure centre
Job centre
Care home/foster organisation
Travellers education
Pupil referral unit or youth offending institution
Other (please specify)
Existing partnerships
2017 (167 respondents) 2016 (53 respondents)
15%
5%
5%
2%
3%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
2%
2%
1%
3%
3%
1%
0%
1%
0%
1%
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16%
School
College
University
Arts organisation
Youth group
Leisure centre
Job centre
Care home/foster organisation
Travellers education
Pupil referral unit or youth offending institution
New partnerships
2017 (167 respondents) 2016 (53 respondents)
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Reaching groups of young people who have not been involved in the organisation before
Although many Reading Hack participants would have used libraries
anyway, several case study library authorities have been proactive in aiming
to reach other young people, using a variety of approaches.
In Staffordshire, they have been particularly successful in their recruitment of young people
to take part in Reading Hack. They have participants whose ages range from mid-teens to
early twenties, as well as an even split in terms of gender. Library staff described how
Reading Hack appeals to young people who would not have traditionally been
involved with activity linked to reading or libraries:
“There’s a perception that if you volunteer in the library you like books and you’re
a nerd. That’s not who we get. We get people who don’t like reading. We get
people who haven’t used the library before.” – Staffordshire Library staff
They reflected that this is partly due to the range of opportunities on offer for young people,
and partly due to the youth-led and non-prescriptive approach. In comparison, some other
case study library authorities have maintained the model of delivering Reading Hack through
year-round groups and summer volunteering, which may not be providing the diversity of
opportunities that would attract other young people.
In Hertfordshire, they have taken an issue-based approach to engaging harder to reach
groups. They decided to focus on the mental health, and used activities based on this issue,
such as the ‘Shelf Help’ initiative, to engage with different young people. They are still fairly
new to the Reading Hack programme so for now they are focused on rolling the programme
out, with plans to engage with specific harder to reach groups in the future. They already
have several young people with disabilities who are part of the Reading Hack programme
although it is not clear whether this was a result of a targeted approach.
In Croydon, the Reading Hack coordinator is also working in other boroughs and has been
doing successful outreach work in Ealing, running Reading Hack activities with young
people who are in care, or who are preparing to leave care13. There is potential to use a
similar model in Croydon, with a local centre for refugees, so it will be interesting to learn
how this partnership develops in the third year of the Reading Hack evaluation.
The library authority surveys showed that a fairly low percentage of respondents have
targeted specific groups of harder to reach young people with Reading Hack. The most
commonly targeted group is young people who do not use the library often, who have been
targeted by about one in ten (9%) respondents (see chart below). Encouraging libraries to
embed outreach to harder to reach groups from the start of a programme as well as
13 https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/002-showcase/case-study-ealing-libraries-work-with-disadvantaged-young-people-from-horizons-education-and-achieve.html
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providing support and advice about how to do this could help to address this issue, as some
library staff lacked confidence and knowledge about how to reach different groups.
Increased ability and confidence of libraries to empower young
people
Youth led activity becoming the norm and young people's ideas and feedback are fully integrated into the organisation
At several of the case study libraries, youth-led activity is becoming more
normalised. Some library authorities described a culture shift in the extent to which youth-
led activity is the norm in their libraries. Staff have started to share ideas with young people
and ask them about their ideas too. Staff are starting to think of different ways to involve
young people and give them more responsibility such as leading activities and developing
new year-round volunteer roles.
In Hertfordshire, the involvement of young people in the refurbishment of the Teenage Area
at Watford Central Library had a significant impact on young people and staff alike. Visitors
to the library are often struck by the design of the space, including its digitally printed
wallpaper, and the initiative is being used as a model of young people’s involvement in the
design of library spaces elsewhere in the county:
“Young people could not believe that they had an influence. No one would have
thought of doing what they suggested.” – Hertfordshire Library staff
0%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
4%
4%
4%
7%
9%
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10%
Young mothers/fathers
Refugees and asylum seekers
Young offenders
Young people with English as an additional…
Travellers
Young people excluded from school
Other
Young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds
Looked after children
Young people who grew up in care
Young people from economically disadvantaged…
Young people who don’t use the library often
Percentage of library authority respondents that targeted the following groups
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In response to the survey question asking whether “Reading Hack has encouraged you to
give young people ownership of the reading activities they do in the library”, nearly three
quarters (72%) of respondents (library authorities, library staff and school practitioners)
either agreed or strongly agreed (see chart below). This is a highly positive finding,
suggesting that the Reading Hack programme is having a direct impact on the extent to
which activities are youth-led.
Library staff members identified several
benefits of a youth-led approach through
Reading Hack. These benefits included
practical, skills-based support from
young people, such as planning and
delivering events; and giving the libraries
advice on using social media or choosing
promotional materials that are more
likely to attract other young people. The
energy and enthusiasm the young
people bring to the space and the ability
for young people to attract their peers
to the libraries is also a benefit. In
Staffordshire and Hertfordshire, young people are also getting involved in routine library
activities such as taking responsibility for displays, or helping to choose new young adult
fiction stock.
Youth-led activity can work particularly well with older Reading Hack participants (aged
15+), and where there is a wide spectrum of ages enabling older participants to take on a
mentoring role with younger participants. For example, at Telford & Wrekin, the Reading
Hack group is a mix of ages, with some participants aged 15-16 and others aged 12-13. The
young people and library staff alike described how the older participants have taken on a
mentoring role with younger Reading Hackers, bringing benefits to the former in terms of
increased responsibility and leadership skills, and to the latter in terms of being supported to
try new things and develop their own ideas.
Individual staff members noted that their approach to working with young people has
changed, because handing over some responsibility has shown them what the young people
are capable of:
“She [Reading Hack volunteer] came in and delivered all the events with me,
one event every week for the summer. For the last event, I couldn’t make it and
she did the activity, she prepared the crafts. The whole process was definitely led
by her and I was just there to check that nothing went wrong.” – Staffordshire
Library staff
A youth-led approach in Croydon has proved to be very challenging in 2016-2017 due to the
young age of the Reading Hack group participants. As a result, the library staff have taken
back some control over activities to find a balance that works for a group of 13 year olds.
16%
56%
1% 1%
26%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has encouraged us to give young people
ownership of the reading activities they do in the library
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There were several challenges in giving control to this younger Reading Hack group. The
scale of their ideas and ambitions was not always achievable. Participants lacked the
maturity to work together as a team to deliver activities:
“I think we ended up giving too much control to the group, before they were really
ready to take that on. We overestimated their leadership capabilities. We learnt
from that and took more control in the second event, giving more direction to the
group. I don’t really like to do that too much as I like to give them control and
ownership over the activities but when they are at this younger end of the
spectrum it’s hard to do that, they need more support and direction.” – Croydon
Library staff
The Reading Hack group participants in Croydon also required a lot of coaching in order to
focus on coming up with ideas; library staff found if they didn’t do this, the group would
struggle to pay attention to the task:
“On the youth-led side of things, we’ve had to take back more control because of
their age. They come up with their own ideas, but we have to coax the ideas out
of them and we have to create a purpose for the event too, we’re coaching them
through it all the way.” – Croydon Library staff
The main learning for Croydon library staff from this experience is that the extent to which
responsibility can be given to the young people involved in Reading Hack is dependent upon
their age and level of maturity and that there is a need to find a balance to ensure that their
youth-led approach is age-appropriate. This is discussed in further detail in the following
section.
Improved ability to work with young people
Through working towards a more youth-led approach, library staff tried new
approaches and ideas, and learnt from them. Their learning journey has involved a shift in
attitude and confidence as well as development of the skills to work effectively with
young people in this way.
For example, in Hertfordshire, in the
recent past library managers were
concerned that staff were not able to
work well with young people, especially
staff in smaller libraries, or in libraries
with an older staff profile. A survey
confirmed this by showing that
customer service with teenagers
needed to be improved. Reading Hack
is viewed as a way to help address this
problem and some of the success
factors that have helped Hertfordshire
18%
55%
7%
0%
21%27%
53%
4%0%
16%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Staff feel confident about working with young people
2016 2017
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to address this issue are outlined in chapter 6. One strategic stakeholder noted that Reading
Hack is playing an important role in developing staff skills for working with young
people, and because the remit of Reading Hack is wider than the Summer Reading
Challenge, it is more effective at doing so.
In response to the survey question in 2017 asking whether staff “feel confident about working
with young people”, 80% of local library staff respondents either agreed or strongly agreed
(compared to 73% in 2016), only 4% disagreed or strongly disagreed (7% in 2016), and 16%
were not sure (21% in 2016) (see chart).
The percentage of staff who feel confident about working with young people has increased
since 2016 (although the sample size is slightly different – 122 respondents in 2016 and 89
in 2017 – so they are not directly comparable). Although the survey data does not tell us
whether Reading Hack has led to this increase, the qualitative findings help to explain the
ways in which Reading Hack may be supporting this increase in confidence among staff.
Several of our case study library authorities have experienced challenges of different kinds
this year and they are just beginning to explore and test out solutions. Despite some
encouraging evidence from the surveys and from the qualitative research, library staff in
some case study sites have struggled to identify their work as best practice. This could be
because the difficulties they have experienced in resourcing, staff capacity, and uncertainty
have loomed large in their minds this year, or perhaps because they are focused on how to
make improvements rather than what has gone well.
Library authorities are trying to build on what they think works well in working with young
people, but they are also in the process of learning from challenges and difficulties. For
example, in Croydon, there were lessons around adapting the extent to which young people
are given control and responsibility based on their levels of maturity; and aiming for a group
that has more of a mix of young people from different backgrounds:
“I think the main thing I’ve learnt is not expecting too much of the young people.
At the start, I think we gave too much responsibility and had too high
expectations of what they could achieve as a group and as a team. It not only
gave us more work, to make sure the events actually took place, it also meant
that we alienated a few people as well, and ended up losing some of them from
the group. We’ve learnt a lot about how young people work together too and how
important it is to have a mix of young people rather than just running with what
we’ve got currently which is one small group of friends. I feel it would work better
with a group of young people who didn’t know each other, coming together and
collaborating. How it evolves is going to be interesting.” - Croydon Library staff
This learning has been a difficult process for the staff involved, initially having a negative
impact on their confidence about how they work with young people. But they are reflective
and open to taking the learning forward to the next year’s Reading Hack programme, with
several ideas about ways of working:
“I’ve gained a lot of learning from it all, I’ve been doing this kind of thing for years
but this is the first time I’ve experienced anything like this. It’s had quite an
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impact on us as staff, really knocked our confidence and made us question how
we do things.” – Croydon Library staff
These kinds of challenges are likely to arise in other libraries and library authorities too, and
there would be value in libraries being able to share these experiences and ideas for how to
overcome them.
In Staffordshire, library staff reflected that by taking a more youth-led approach they are
learning about what interests young people and how best to communicate and engage
with them. For example, one library staff member describes the benefit of consulting
Reading Hack volunteers on ordering young adults’ fiction, in terms of better understanding
what young people want to read:
“They choose things that I wouldn’t choose. Some of the things they choose are
really strange. They go and choose things on the virtual bookshelf. There will be
some major author and they won’t put them on and they’ll say ‘that’s boring’ or
they’ve read it and said ‘it’s not that good’. I would have thought that’s what we
should be buying but they’ll say ‘none of my mates will read that’. I’m very up to
date with stock, but them doing it, you find a slightly different perception.” –
Staffordshire Library staff
Library staff in Staffordshire have also experimented with their own form of peer research,
getting Reading Hack volunteers to develop surveys for other young people:
“They had sheets asking other young people what would make them use the
library more, was there anything we didn’t have that they wanted. That’s been
really good to inform where I’m going to develop things. They designed all the
sheets for that and designed the questions.” – Staffordshire Library staff
Improved staff attitudes to young people
Library staff members in case study sites said that working with young people
as part of Reading Hack has started to improve staff attitudes towards young people.
In response to the survey question asking whether staff “enjoy engaging young people in
reading-related activities”, in 2017 91% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed
(compared with 89% in 2016), only 1% disagreed (3% in 2016), and 8% were not sure (the
same in 2016) (see chart below). The enjoyment of engaging young people in reading-
related activities was already very high in 2016, and has increased slightly in 2017 (although
this could be due to the different sample sizes in each year).
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In Staffordshire and Hertfordshire
staff felt that there had previously
been some fear or uncertainty
about working with teenagers.
One staff member said that other
library staff did not know what to do
with the young volunteers at first,
and were nervous, but this feeling
is now changing and staff are
appreciating young people’s role:
“Young people bring in a
different dimension to a
library, they add a social
element and staff look at
themselves differently.” – Hertfordshire Library staff
Library staff are starting to see teenagers differently, noticing that teenagers today can
take on responsibility and can be quite mature as a result:
“It’s opened my eyes to the fact that teenagers now aren’t like teenagers when I
was young. They’re really responsible. They’ve got achievements. They’re not
just bumbling on.” Staffordshire Library staff
The impact of young people on the library spaces is also changing how library staff see
young people. For example, in Hertfordshire, staff found that having young people in the
libraries made the space more vibrant, and changed the dynamic between staff and
young people.
Staff willingness to try new ideas and approaches to reading related activities
Through Reading Hack, some library staff members are thinking more
creatively and broadly about what constitutes reading and recognise that engaging young
people requires them to have an open mind and a flexible approach.
Several libraries are working with young people on digital activities, arts, crafts, and
drama, to engage young people in different ways with books, libraries and reading. At
Telford & Wrekin, the Reading Hack group participants have been working towards their
Silver Arts Award, putting on a talent show, writing poetry, and making a video based on
their poems. At Croydon, the Reading Hack group enjoys putting on plays, and designing
events and activities to engage young children in reading and books.
At Manchester, one staff member said that they are starting to realise how activities that
are not obviously connected to reading can be linked to storytelling, books and
literacy. For example, young people are using ‘Raspberry Pi’ to learn about programming,
30%
59%
3%0%
8%
39%
52%
1% 0%
8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Staff enjoy engaging young people in reading-related activities
2016 2017
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and they have found that they can use programming to ‘hack’ games such as Minecraft, but
also to ‘hack’ stories. Because of this experience, the library is keen to develop the digital
element of Reading Hack. They also reflected that young people engage with the term ‘hack’
and use it to think creatively about books. For example, during the summer, volunteers
hacked books to rearrange the text. They enjoyed changing the story or creating an
illustration of their ideal version of the book and engaging with reading in a creative and
different way:
“Hacking a book gives a feeling of ‘breaking the rules’ – young people totally
understand the ‘hack’ element.” – Manchester Library staff
Finally, in Staffordshire, library staff noted that Reading Hack has fitted in well with their
ethos of making libraries into community hubs and ‘more than just books’. Many of the
activities run by Reading Hack volunteers go beyond reading or reading-inspired activity,
such as coding and stop-motion
animation clubs, drama
workshops, Pokémon Go
activities and a wide variety of
arts and crafts.
The survey responses support
these findings (see charts).
In response to the survey
question in 2017 asking whether
“Staff know how to encourage
young people to enjoy reading in
lots of different ways”, 80% of
respondents either agreed or strongly agreed (73% in 2016), only 5% disagreed or strongly
disagreed (6% in 2016), and 15% were not sure (21% in 2016).
In response to the survey
question in 2017 asking whether
“Staff enjoy using new ideas to
encourage young people to read”,
85% of respondents either agreed
or strongly agreed (81% in 2016),
4% disagreed or strongly
disagreed (3% in 2016), and 11%
were not sure (17% in 2016).
Note that the sample sizes for the
survey responses are slightly
different in 2016 and 2017 which
may account for some of the
changes identified.
17%
56%
6%0%
21%24%
56%
4% 1%
15%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Staff know how to encourage young people to enjoy reading in lots of
different ways
2016 2017
21%
60%
3%0%
17%
27%
58%
3% 1%
11%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Staff enjoy using new ideas to encourage young people to read
2016 2017
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Impact on staff capacity
Staff capacity is a significant challenge in the current financial climate in libraries, and was at
the forefront of the minds of staff members we spoke to. Although the impact of Reading
Hack on staff capacity may not have originally been envisaged as a key impact area, it is
becoming increasingly important given questions about the sustainability of library services.
Library staff identified several benefits of the Reading Hack programme for the libraries, one
of which was the provision of valuable capacity for over-stretched library staff during busy
times. Library authorities are supporting young people to take on more responsibility which in
turn is freeing up limited staff capacity.
In Staffordshire, staff have been very supportive of young people, partly because they have
become more dependent upon young people due to decreased staff numbers. For
example, they thought that delivering the Summer Reading Challenge may not be possible
without the contribution of the young Reading Hack volunteers.
In relation to this, a strategic stakeholder in Staffordshire noted that Reading Hack provides
a good stepping stone to formal volunteering at the community-managed libraries,
which in turn will support the sustainability of these libraries. They believe that the young
people volunteering in libraries now will be more likely to do so as adults, and support the
community-managed libraries in the future:
“People have grown up with the library. As they move into these more adult roles,
it’s natural, it’s not a shock, and we don’t have to train them up to do everything.”
– Strategic stakeholder, Staffordshire
The survey asked two questions about how Reading Hack has affected staff capacity (see
charts). In response to the question asking whether “Reading Hack has helped increase
library capacity”, 37% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed, 20% disagreed or strongly
disagreed, and 42% were not sure.
In response to the question asking
whether “Reading Hack has created
extra work”, 46% agreed or strongly
agreed, 38% disagreed, and 17%
were not sure.
These responses suggest there are
different experiences across libraries
in terms of whether Reading Hack has
helped increase staff capacity through
additional resource, or whether it has
increased pressure on capacity by
creating extra work.
8%
29%
16%
4%
42%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has helped increase library capacity
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Our qualitative research with case
study sites suggests the impact on staff
capacity may be affected by how
libraries choose to deliver Reading
Hack. Running Reading Hack groups
seems to take up more staff capacity,
while having a variety of volunteer roles
seems to help relieve the pressure on
staff time (although it is important to
note this is not the experience in every
case). We will explore this further in
year three as libraries continue to
develop and embed their different
models of delivering Reading Hack.
7%
39% 38%
0%
17%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Stronglyagree
Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree
Not sure
Reading Hack has created extra work for us
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6. Learning and reflections
This chapter summarises the key success factors and challenges experienced by the library
staff members we spoke to about Reading Hack. For four out of five of our case study sites,
the programme has now been established for at least a year. The challenges these library
sites are experiencing now are related to developing and maintaining the programme within
a difficult context of budget cuts and uncertainty. As such, these library sites had less to
share with us around the specific success factors they have experienced in the past year. In
contrast, Hertfordshire, our new case study site for this second year of the evaluation, has
only recently started rolling out the Reading Hack programme after a successful pilot. This
site had more success factors to share with us because of this structured approach to
implementation.
Success factors
The libraries were keen to emphasise the successes they had had during the year in
recruiting young people and delivering activities, including large events that attracted
families and may have raised the profile of Reading Hack locally. One consistent feature
of the programme at our case study libraries is the link that libraries make between Reading
Hack and other strands of activities with young people. Library staff also noted that linking
Reading Hack with an existing programme is effective (for example, DofE, or Arts Award).
By establishing this link, libraries can add a young people’s strand of activities to existing
projects, such as those usually targeted at adults. Linking Reading Hack activities to reading-
inspired events such as World Book Night or the BBC #LoveToRead campaign seems to
be an effective way to engage young people. These events provide a ‘hook’ for young
people to build their ideas around and provide library staff with a focus for the activities.
While some library authorities struggle with recruiting young people due to a perceived
lack of staff capacity to do so, Staffordshire library staff have described having no problem
with recruitment, gaining young volunteers through the Summer Reading Challenge, Duke of
Edinburgh Award, local schools, colleges and universities. They have Reading Hack
participants from across the whole age range, with an even split across genders, and with
some success in attracting young people who would not have traditionally been involved with
libraries or reading-related activities. They put this success down to having a wide and
effective network of feeder organisations, a variety of different roles for young people to take
on, and an informal, friendly approach to their interactions with young people.
While four of the five case studies are in the second year of Reading Hack, Hertfordshire has
more recently rolled out the programme beyond summer volunteering. The recent roll-out
meant that the success factors relating to setting up the programme were at the forefront of
their minds, while for some of the other case study sites, the challenges they have
experienced in maintaining momentum under difficult circumstances meant that we heard
less about success factors.
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The introduction of Reading Hack Coordinator roles in each of the libraries delivering
Reading Hack has been a key success factor in Hertfordshire. The librarian with
responsibility for Service Development and Projects works with the Reading Hack
Coordinators and Library Managers at participating libraries to ensure understanding of how
the programme fits into libraries and to build confidence in its delivery. One important aspect
of the Reading Hack Coordinator role is to be a mentor, with a high level of interaction with
the Reading Hackers. This is especially the case in libraries where staff are not used to
having young volunteers and therefore are unsure how to relate to them and what guidance
they need. The Coordinator role can bridge this gap between library staff and young people
through proactive communication with the Reading Hackers, asking them what they are
enjoying and what challenges they are experiencing, and being on hand to answer any
questions. However, as the programme progresses it will be important for the Reading Hack
Coordinators to include other library staff in this more interactive approach to working with
the young people in their libraries, otherwise there will be little shift in general attitudes
among library staff towards the young people.
Hertfordshire has set up a Reading Hack Coordinators email group to support effective
communication and learning, as well as local meet-ups, and the members of the group are
all proactive and communicative. In order to foster the attitude that all staff are
responsible for the development of Reading Hack, the Service Development Librarian
includes Library Managers in her emails to Reading Hack Coordinators so that they are
aware of what is going on. Hertfordshire libraries have ownership of their own Reading Hack
delivery and are encouraged to develop the programme locally based on the context of the
individual library.
Challenges and proposed solutions
Addressing a reduction in staff capacity
In a period when many libraries are restructuring services in response to a reduction in
funding, most libraries we spoke to identified resourcing as a challenge in the delivery of
Reading Hack. Library staff often said that a single staff member may already be working
more than one role. Finding the staff time to support Reading Hack is often difficult in this
context.
There are several aspects to the challenge of resourcing the programme. In the first place,
uncertainty around staff capacity or continuity can impact upon the offer locally, as those
overseeing Reading Hack may be not be able to provide clarity on how the programme will
be delivered. This may limit their ability to attract or retain participants, and can also prevent
the expansion or embedding of Reading Hack in a library.
Staff are aware that growth of the programme beyond their capacity to support it would
also impact on the experience of the participants involved:
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“I feel so bad, I’ve had more [young people] ask [to join the group] this week,
about four or five a week. I’d like to grow it but it’s capacity to support. I don’t
want them to have a bad experience. I want it to be growing and positive and
benefiting them and benefiting us. If there’s too many their individuality is lost.
They feel like they’re one of many.” – Library staff
Several of the case study libraries are moving out of the challenging state of flux they
experienced this year so these challenges may ease as things become more settled.
However, it is unlikely that these challenges will disappear completely and addressing staff
capacity will continue to be needed. One way in which some libraries are beginning to
address this issue is through giving more responsibility to older Reading Hackers, as they
embed a youth-led approach into their way of working. This suggests that capacity may
improve with time as libraries find ways to build and sustain this momentum.
Selecting appropriate activities
There are also learnings associated with selecting Reading Hack activities that will both
attract and engage young people, and not drain staff capacity. Some library authorities have
found that running an ongoing Reading Hack group is the most time-consuming activity
under the Reading Hack programme. This is due to the need to ensure that there are
enough participants who can attend regularly, and also the need to navigate interpersonal
dynamics within a peer group setting. Croydon and Manchester, for example, are moving
away from running groups and towards other options such as one-off events or year-
round volunteering roles.
Similarly, in Manchester, staff capacity was stretched by having too many different
formal volunteer roles. The Service Development Officer noted that this model
necessitates a lot of training time, as staff must ensure that volunteers are matched to
appropriate roles. She noted that the authority would be moving away from this model, which
placed a lot of responsibilities for recruitment and training on Library Managers, towards a
more flexible youth-led approach based on participants volunteering for something they
want to do.
In 2016/17, the national Reading Hack programme ran a number of competitions for young
people’s groups to take part in national activity, often linked to publisher promotions. They
also offered opportunities for young people to apply for small activity budgets for group
events through the monthly Reading Hack Project Fund. The Reading Agency also launched
an annual Call for Ideas for groups of young people to come up with a big idea to get their
peers reading. One staff member felt that there could be more effective ways to apply for
funding from The Reading Agency. They felt that submitting applications took a lot of time
and resources, as well as encouraging the development of ideas for delivery that may be
larger than appropriate for the local context. One approach would be to have smaller pots of
money available, perhaps for materials.
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Retaining Reading Hack participants
Another significant challenge identified by those we spoke to was the difficulty in
sustaining the commitment of participants. One authority area found that the opportunity
for young people and libraries to learn from each other was hampered by a lack of
engagement from participants who were there ‘just to do their hours’. Staff noted the
importance of understanding what volunteers want and will give, and matching the role to the
participant. They emphasised that this is important because training young people is a
significant use of resources, and there is a risk that a participant will leave shortly after they
have been trained. Library staff elsewhere also noted that young people may prefer
volunteering on a short-term basis, and will often have schoolwork or exams that limit their
capacity to take part in Reading Hack; at one pilot site, for example, no volunteers from the
pilot continued their involvement, as they had all moved on to university. This points to the
importance of having a variety of opportunities for short and longer-term involvement,
according to the needs of young people. It also suggests that there could be a role for
libraries to signpost young people to different ways of engaging with libraries once they
move on, for example to start college, university or employment.
Young people and staff alike observed that where volunteers function as individuals,
rather than as participants in dedicated Reading Hack groups, this limits the opportunities
for them to work together and develop leadership skills in a peer group context:
“Mainly it’s by myself just because of the time that others come…we only overlap
slightly so we don’t tend to work together” – Reading Hack participant
If lack of staff resources means that individual volunteering roles become more popular in
comparison to Reading Hack groups, it will be important to address this issue. One Reading
Hack participant offered some suggestions:
“I also think there should be more connection between the volunteers. If you
volunteer on your own, it can feel very isolated, as if there is no one else involved
in the scheme, when there is. It should be that Reading Hack volunteers have
meetings together, where they can discuss ideas, their experiences and what
they want from their involvement.” – Reading Hack participant
Providing age-based support for young people
Staff noted that younger volunteers require more instruction and support, or need to be
allocated further tasks regularly. They may not be willing to share their thoughts in a group
context, compromising the effectiveness of working as a team:
“Sometimes people don’t have the courage to lead it themselves and take control
so having someone to ask to give them something to do is better.” – Library staff
This has been part of the learning journey as libraries move to become more youth-led. In
doing so, library staff are recognising that younger people need more support to work
together and cannot be expected to take leadership roles. This suggests it is important for
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libraries to have realistic expectations and provide appropriate levels of support
according to age group.
Managing conflict and expectations
The sense of teamwork within a group can also be affected if there is any interpersonal
conflict within a group. Libraries could benefit from support or guidance about how to
manage conflicts within Reading Hack activities, and shared learning about how different
age groups might work differently together and with staff.
There can also be a disparity between staff and participant expectations. While staff
describe the need to guide and supervise participants, some young people expressed a
willingness to have further input or to move more quickly to the delivery stage of a project,
with less developmental time.
Participants within a group may have different expectations too: while one staff member
describes the value of having a mixture of ages and personality types in a group, as those
who are more confident can lead the others, staff at another library described the difficulty of
integrating potential new participants into a group that functions as a clique.
Linking to the national programme
The last challenge identified across the libraries we spoke to was finding the best way to link
local activity to Reading Hack at the national level. Some staff and participants described
a difficulty in grasping Reading Hack as a wider programme beyond what is happening
locally. Some of this difficulty may be because an authority area may deliver activities within
only a single strand of the Reading Hack programme (volunteering, reading-inspired activity
or peer-to-peer reading advocacy). Such an area might not be able to make use of all of the
promotional material provided by the Reading Agency or feel unsure as to whether they were
delivering Reading Hack if they only choose to develop one strand of the programme. There
could therefore be clearer signposting to clarify what constitutes Reading Hack and how
library authorities can adapt their offer to young people in different ways under the banner of
the national programme. The Reading Agency is already working on this through, for
example, a seminar with interested library authorities to showcase different models and
examples of delivering the programme.
We heard that there was some interest in developing links between participants across
different libraries, and also between library staff who are responsible for Reading
Hack. It appears to be difficult to make these links systematically due to limited staff capacity
and the fact that young people may be volunteering individually rather than as part of a
group. There are the additional complications as young people’s ability to travel to other
libraries is limited, particularly in rural areas, and some participants have suggested an
online forum could be a solution.
There are other specific challenges presented by the material that the Reading Agency
offers to libraries: a library may be restricted on colour printing, for example, and the
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branded materials for Reading Hack may need to be refreshed and reissued to libraries in
order to maintain participant interest in the offer. Some staff mentioned that they encourage
participants to look at or sign up to the Reading Hack website, but that it was sometimes
difficult to get the young people to do so. The Reading Hack website has been designed in
collaboration with young people but perhaps there is some more work to be done here to find
out what changes might encourage people to engage with the website more often:
“They’re used to big websites which constantly change, so they think because it’s
not looking different, they think there’s no new information.” – Library staff
Maintaining a focus on reading in a digital age
The libraries we spoke to offered a range of opinions on the digital strand of the programme,
and its relation to books and the general perception of libraries as places for reading. While
there were many positive comments on the principle of using technology as part of the
programme, staff expressed concerns about maintaining social media, especially in the
light of the movement towards newer platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram:
“When you try and make books modern they have to try and compete with video
games and with a child the book’s never going to really win. You have to appeal
to a different nature. It should stick to the grass-roots. Books will always be old-
fashioned, but that doesn’t mean they’re outdated.” – Library staff
There is a challenge for libraries in maintaining a balance between the digital side of the
Reading Hack programme and the explicitly book-based or literacy side. Some library
staff told us that activities that are more loosely inspired by reading are more effective at
maintaining young people’s interest than those with a specific focus on reading:
“The monthly Reading Hack group meetings will be similar – mainly reading-
inspired activities to do with arts and literacy, and depending on whatever funding
streams we can tap into. As much as we’d like to focus on reading, which we do
try to do, there’s an element of the interest drying up if what you’re offering is
what the library offers anyway. They’re not going to come and sit for two hours if
all we’re doing is what they can do in the library anyway. We have to make it a
little bit different, it has to be more fun and interesting than school, and the way
we’ve been able to maintain that so far is by tapping into other service areas and
piggybacking on what they’re doing.” – Library staff
In addition to the range of opinions we heard on the use of digital tools as part of Reading
Hack, there are also varying levels of capacity across libraries in using technology.
Libraries therefore integrate technology and reading activities into the programme in different
ways depending on local context, which may lead to inconsistency or confusion about how to
define Reading Hack. As described above, libraries bring Reading Hack together with
other strands of activity to make best use of the funding available. While this has
several positive effects, it can also lead to uncertainty over the exact nature of Reading Hack
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in relation to other strands of activity, as it may be difficult to define it as a specific
programme.
Summary
Overall, the biggest challenge libraries are facing is how to deliver Reading Hack in a way
that is effective and meaningful for the young people and for the libraries involved, while
coping with reduced budgets and staff capacity. In this second year of the programme these
challenges have been very evident in our case study areas and library authorities are trying
different approaches to find the best solution for their own context. As we look ahead to the
final year of the evaluation we will be working closely with The Reading Agency and with our
case study areas to monitor how the programme develops and what solutions libraries find
most effective.
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7. Conclusions
Reading Hack in 2016-2017
In a context of budget cuts, library closures, and restructuring, library authorities have
experienced some challenges in delivering Reading Hack in 2016-2017. Nevertheless,
library staff are enthusiastic and committed to providing offers for young people and for
embedding change in their organisations for a future where young people are welcomed as
volunteers as well as visitors to libraries. While staff capacity and resourcing have been
challenging, due to new library authorities joining the programme, the number of young
people involved in Reading Hack has almost doubled.
As Reading Hack has evolved, library authorities and The Reading Agency have
experienced a shift in perception about what Reading Hack means. Increasingly, it is
becoming a flexible programme brand or umbrella banner under which many types of young
people’s involvement can sit, with a youth-led or co-production approach at the heart.
Libraries benefit from the recognition of Reading Hack as a national brand, while having the
flexibility to implement the programme in way that works for their specific context. And young
people are encouraged to take the lead in coming up with ideas and making Reading Hack
their own.
Although Reading Hack brings together three different strands of activity: volunteering;
reading-inspired activity; and peer-to-peer reading advocacy, the latter is less evident in our
case study libraries than the former two strands. Summer volunteering involves the largest
number of young people, but Reading Hack groups and year-round volunteering roles are
becoming more prominent in libraries’ offers to young people, accounting for almost a third
(28%) of Reading Hackers. Peer-to-peer reading advocacy is harder for libraries to
articulate, and more challenging for some young people who feel self-conscious about their
enjoyment of reading. While the programme can still have a positive impact on the young
people involved and on libraries based on the first two strands, without peer-to-peer
advocacy, the reach of the programme may be more limited.
As a result of the shifting way that Reading Hack is being defined and understood, it may be
that the original three strands become less distinct as time goes by and young people
continue to shape Reading Hack in ways that work for them. The Reading Agency
emphasises that as long as the Reading Hack principles, approach, and materials are used
by young people and libraries, then the exact nature of the activities that come under the
brand can evolve according to need and interest. In the year 3 evaluation we will explore
whether this divergence from the original intention has helped or hindered Reading Hack in
achieving its intended impacts.
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The overall impact of Reading Hack
The impacts on young people and libraries are becoming both clearer and more nuanced as
the Reading Hack programme develops. Like last year, the biggest impact on young people
is an increase in their confidence and self-esteem, demonstrated by their ability to take
initiative, and to work and socialise together with their peers, adults, younger children and
people they would not normally interact with. There are also some encouraging impacts on
the skills that will promote their employability in the future, including planning, problem
solving, team-working and creativity. Reading Hack is providing young people with valuable
experience to add to their CVs.
As libraries become more comfortable with a youth-led approach, older young people
can take on more of a leadership role and put forward or implement suggestions, provide
advice to libraries, or support their younger counterparts.
The impact of Reading Hack on young people’s enjoyment of reading and sharing that
enjoyment of reading with others, like last year, continues to be less clear. There is a positive
impact for some young people, but for others there has been no change, often due to them
already having a strong enjoyment of reading before taking part. However, through
increasing the presence of young people in the libraries as volunteers, and in attracting more
people to visit libraries through events where young people are visibly present and involved,
Reading Hack may have a knock-on effect in encouraging young people to engage with
libraries into the future.
For libraries, co-designing and delivering events and activities with young Reading Hackers
has been a successful way of attracting visitors to the library and widening their reach in the
local community. Library staff are also finding that visitors start to see the young volunteers
as staff members, suggesting that the image of the library as a place where young
people are welcomed and involved is improving. Although some library staff feel Reading
Hack has enabled them to build new partnerships and networks, several libraries have not
had this experience, although this may be due to capacity constraints rather than related to
Reading Hack specifically. Similarly, there has been little work to target harder to reach
groups of young people. This may be due to a lack of confidence or knowledge on the part of
library staff and/or capacity challenges that lead staff to stick with what they know.
The impact of Reading Hack on library staff ability and confidence to work with young
people is positive overall, with several library staff in our case study sites reflecting on
shifts in attitudes, knowledge and behaviours as a result of working more closely with, and
giving responsibility to, young people.
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Recommendations
Key points for programme improvement
• Encourage libraries to embed outreach, through The Reading Agency providing
ideas, guidance and support to the libraries. The national survey shows very few
library authorities have targeted harder to reach groups and the case study library
staff often lacked confidence or knowledge about how to go about this. The Reading
Agency could share more learning about successful outreach initiatives to help
develop capacity to do this work in more libraries. There are few successful examples
from our case study sites to date but this can be further explored in year three of the
evaluation to support this aim.
• Find a balance between encouraging libraries to try different creative approaches
to delivering Reading Hack while also maintaining the core focus of the programme.
While it is a positive sign that libraries are finding different ways to deliver the
programme amidst reductions in staff resource and funding, there is a risk that the
core purpose and focus of Reading Hack could be diluted and the programme could
start to lack coherence.
• Work with young people and library authorities to explore different ideas for peer-
to-peer reading advocacy. This is one area where there is less explicit focus in the
case study libraries. Developing this strand of the programme and providing further
resources and guidance could also support outreach to young people who would not
normally use libraries. However, one of the barriers to this work is that some young
people described feeling ‘embarrassed’ by the idea of encouraging their peers to read
more. Therefore, one approach might be to encourage Reading Hackers to reach out
to their peers on the basis of the creative projects and activities they take part in,
rather than asking them to emphasise the connection to books and reading, and the
to monitor whether this has a knock-on effect on their reading habits.
• Develop guidance on the pros and cons of different models of delivering Reading
Hack so that libraries have a starting point to make decisions based on their local
context. Year three of the evaluation can support this process by drawing this out
through our research.
• Continue to be led by young people in terms of deciding how to deliver Reading
Hack, according to their needs and interests.
• Provide support to libraries to help them work differently with different age groups,
so that older young people are given more independence and responsibility, and
younger people are given more support while they are still developing in confidence
and maturity.
• Encourage libraries to involve young people in decision-making and ask them for
advice about how to attract other young people to libraries. In some of the case study
libraries staff are beginning to work in this way with young people but it is quite a
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culture shift in some cases and requires library staff to let go of some control and of
preconceived ideas about whether young people have the maturity needed for this
approach to be effective.
• Facilitate networking, whether virtual or in person, between libraries and young
people to help to share learning.
• Encourage Reading Hack leads in each library to involve other library staff in
activities for young people, to embed a youth-led approach throughout libraries rather
than through individual roles.
Key points to inform the next stage of evaluation
• Through the evaluation so far, the fieldwork has taken place in Autumn/Winter of
each year, which means the qualitative research has not been able to directly engage
with the Reading Hack summer volunteers. This was partly due to the summer
volunteering programme having been previously evaluated, but in the final year of this
evaluation it will be helpful to incorporate learning from this aspect of the Reading
Hack programme. Therefore, in the final year of the evaluation (2017-2018) we would
recommend carrying out fieldwork in two phases:
Summer 2017 (to engage with Reading Hack summer volunteers)
Autumn/Winter 2017 (to engage with other Reading Hack activities)
• Year one of the evaluation involved four case studies. In year two a fifth was
added, and in year three we are due to add a sixth case study. Reading Hack is now
becoming embedded in schools as well as libraries, and therefore we suggest
including a school or group of schools as our sixth case study. This will enable us to
explore the delivery and impact of the programme in a different context.
• In the final year of the evaluation we would like to hear more from strategic
stakeholders about how Reading Hack fits in with wider priorities. We have begun to
do this in year two, and will explore this further across all case studies in year three.
• We will work with case study sites in year three to arrange to speak to more
young people than was possible in year two. A field visit in the summer will support
this approach, as will a flexible approach towards carrying out face to face and
telephone interviews with young people.
• It would also be interesting to speak with a wider variety of library staff, to help
determine any shifts in attitudes and approach among library staff who do not have a
direct role in working with the young people. We could incorporate this into the
summer fieldwork phase.
• In year three, we anticipate that the programme delivery in our case study library
authorities will stabilise. If this is the case, we will be more able to explore different
models of delivering Reading Hack and to compare the pros and cons of different
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approaches. We could consider adding in some survey questions to gather some of
this evidence in addition to the case study research.
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A1. Appendix: Case study library authorities
Year two of the Reading Hack evaluation included in-depth research at five case study
locations – Staffordshire, Croydon, Telford & Wrekin, Manchester, and Hertfordshire.
Of these, the first four also took part in year one of the evaluation, while Hertfordshire was
added as a case study in this second year.
Some background to each of these locations is provided below to place the findings in
context. Further detail about the ways in which each case study is delivering Reading Hack,
and the learning and insights emerging from them is provided in the main body of this report,
in chapters 4 and 5.
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a large rural county in the West Midlands. There are 43 libraries in total (23
of which are community-managed) and they are split into 6 geographic clusters. Twenty
libraries within the authority are now delivering Reading Hack, with 117 young people taking
part in 2016-2017.
Staffordshire Libraries have been running summer volunteering for several years and
through Reading Hack the service has extended this summer offer to develop a year-round
volunteering offer. Implementation has been coordinated by the Stock, Services and
Activities Manager.
In Staffordshire, the Reading Hack brand is used as an overarching banner for their work
with young people. Several different types of activity and volunteering roles come under the
Reading Hack banner. Many of the activities in the libraries focus on traditional volunteering
(e.g. shelf tidying, making displays) as well as reading-inspired activity including crafts, and
themed activities (e.g. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Harry Potter Night). They have also taken
part in national initiatives including Shakespeare Week, celebrating the Midlands playwright
through activities and performances, as well as the BBC’s #LoveToRead campaign to
highlight the joy of reading. There is an ambition to include Reading Hack more in
community outreach and large projects. Some existing projects that Reading Hack has been
linked with include:
• A Place Free of Judgement, a youth-led storytelling event where young people
took control of their local libraries and performed to a worldwide audience via an
interactive live stream.
• Fun Palaces, an annual weekend of arts, science, craft, technology, digital and
sports events and activities – run by and for local communities
• National Libraries Week
• Staffordshire Snap, a county-wide poetry and photography competition run by the
Staffordshire Poet Laureate.
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Some libraries use formal volunteering roles, while others take a more informal approach
where volunteers choose what they would like to do.
Reading Hack provides Staffordshire libraries with a structure through which to support one
of Staffordshire County Council's priority outcomes for the people of Staffordshire; ‘to be able
to access more good jobs and feel the benefits of economic growth.’ The library authority
believes Reading Hack fulfils this through giving young people opportunities to take part in
work experience, improve their CVs and gain or develop a wide variety of transferable skills,
including confidence, communication and teamwork. Evidence these aspirations are being
met is illustrated in the evaluation findings outlined in chapter 4.
Croydon
Croydon is an urban London borough. Croydon Libraries are part of Carillion Managed
Services (a private sector provider of integrated services, who also manage Ealing, Harrow
& Hounslow Libraries). Reading Hack year-round activity is running in one library in Croydon,
whilst summer volunteering took place across 13 libraries. In total, 311 young people took
part in Reading Hack in Croydon during 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the
summer.
Reading Hack activities in Croydon are centred on a) summer volunteering across all
libraries and b) delivering reading-inspired activity through a Reading Hack group. Peer-to-
peer reading advocacy is less evident, and although the staff and young people felt there is
sometimes a knock-on impact of their activities that encourages others to read, this is not a
key area of focus for Croydon.
A Reading Hack group was set up in Croydon Central Library in January 2016. Staff worked
closely with a local high school to recruit young Hackers, and started with a group of 14
young people aged 12-15. Due to some personality clashes among group members in the
spring, the group now has just 4 young people. Managing the falling-out between members
has presented some challenges to the library staff who coordinate Reading Hack, with lots of
learning emerging for both staff and the young people about how Reading Hack could evolve
in the coming year. This learning is discussed in more detail in chapter 5 of this report. In
addition to the Reading Hack group, Croydon Libraries also engaged 181 young people in
summer volunteering, 48 young people through work experience opportunities, and 82
young people in Duke of Edinburgh related roles.
Reading Hack is coordinated by one staff member who also coordinates the involvement of
young people in libraries in three other London boroughs, with support from one other
member of staff.
The Reading Hack group designed and ran two main events in 2016. The first was a mini
play of Alice in Wonderland for World Book Night. They ran a drama and prop making
workshop and 15 other young people came to help. On the day of the event they also held a
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with sandwiches and drinks for the children who attended, and a
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craft stall. The event was aimed at children aged 5 and over, and around 25 parents and
children came along.
The second event was a Roald Dahl Extravaganza, to tie in with the Roald Dahl themed
Summer Reading Challenge in 2016. The group designed a number of activities aimed at
young children. For every activity they completed, each child received a stamp in a
‘passport’. After completing them all, they got to pick a prize from a lucky dip. Over 100
people attended this event. There were also some activities in October half term for the BBC
#LovetoRead campaign, including a visit from an author, getting local schools involved in
running activities and a Reading Hack group led activity. This example shows how even a
very small group of young people can arrange an event that increases footfall in the library
and engages a significant number of people in their local community.
Telford & Wrekin
Telford & Wrekin is a unitary authority in the West Midlands, with a mixture of urban and
rural areas. Reading Hack group activities take place at Southwater Library in the centre of
Telford, falling mainly under the ‘reading-inspired activity’ strand. In previous years, summer
volunteering took place in several libraries across the authority, however, in 2016-2017 it
was only delivered at Southwater Library because of a pending restructure. Fifty-one young
people took part in Reading Hack in 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the
summer.
Evaluation activity was limited in Telford & Wrekin this year because the staff spent the year
anticipating a significant restructure and were therefore in a state of uncertainty as to their
roles, the status of each of the libraries, and the Reading Hack programme.
The Reading Hack group has developed from a history of running similar groups for young
people over the last 8-10 years. The Reading Hack group began with 12 young people aged
between 11 and 15 years, but this gradually reduced to eight young people and now four,
because the library has felt unable to recruit proactively in the context of uncertainty in 2016.
Up until the end of 2016 the group met three times a month.
In April 2016, the Reading Hack group put on a talent showcase as part of their Arts Award
accreditation, which involved inviting other young people and members of the community to
apply to take part. The Reading Hack participants were involved in coming up with the idea,
publicising, planning and hosting the event, and technical aspects of the show. The group
also participated in trips to the theatre, writing reviews of what they had seen. They worked
with a spoken word poet to write a poem about being a schoolchild in the Victorian age. They
performed the poem and produced a film. From September to December 2016, the group
worked on their Arts Award portfolios, as library staff were keen to enable them to complete
this before the restructure took place.
Thirty-two Reading Hackers volunteered during the summer. A new progression role was
introduced this year, for young people aged 15+ who had volunteered previously. These
young people helped with planning and delivering activities for children. This approach
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released library staff capacity and provided the young people with an opportunity to gain
additional experience and skills through taking on greater responsibility. The library authority
plans to continue this approach next year, demonstrating how the Reading Hack programme
is supporting change and development within libraries in how they work with young people.
At the end of 2016 the decision was announced to offer five libraries out to community
management. The role of coordinating the Reading Hack group has moved to a new staff
member as of 2017, and the funding available from the library authority to deliver the
programme has been reduced so the group meetings will reduce to once a month. Library
staff will also no longer be able to run Arts Award with young people, which had previously
been a component of the Reading Hack group activities.
However, library staff are positive about the potential for working with young people using
Reading Hack now that the restructure has passed, and they have already started
implementing ideas for the coming year. The first Reading Hack group meeting of 2017 was
held in January and the young people developed an idea for a funding bid to promote
reading for pleasure to their peers.
Manchester
Manchester has 23 libraries including the newly refurbished and reopened Central Library.
Having delivered a volunteering programme during the Summer Reading Challenge for
several years, Manchester extended this to develop a year-round offer for young people. In
2016-2017 Manchester had 80 Reading Hackers involved in summer volunteering,
contributing 749 volunteer hours. Beyond this, there have been additional volunteers in eight
libraries, including young people working towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
Reading Hack was initially delivered through Reading Hack groups in two libraries
(Longsight and Withington). The aim was to set up Reading Hack groups in six libraries in
total as well as year-round volunteering roles. However, Manchester found that a high level
of staff capacity was required to run Reading Hack groups the way staff and young people
wanted to, and the plan has now shifted towards having a variety of year-round Reading
Hack volunteering roles in all libraries.
This year Reading Hack opportunities in Manchester have included: running a board game
club, running book-themed arts and crafts activities for children and young people,
completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, helping with library events, using technology to
review books, and supporting library staff more generally. Manchester Central Library also
hosted the flagship Reading Hack does #LovetoRead event in October 2016, with a range of
activities on offer, including an author talk, stop-motion animation, 3D printing and doodle
pens, screen-printing, hacking of covers and scenes from books, and augmented reality.
Although not all of these activities are directly related to reading, the ethos in Manchester is
that young people should be given opportunities in libraries (whether reading-related or
otherwise), to help develop life skills such as confidence, social skills and organisational
skills in a place they feel comfortable. The library authority therefore uses the Reading Hack
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programme to work towards these aims. Reading Hack volunteers are seen as role models
for younger children coming into the city’s libraries. The aim is that this will lead to a model
where youth volunteering is fully established in Manchester’s libraries, with library staff and
service users being accepting of young people running events or activities.
Reading Hack is applied flexibly in Manchester, being used alongside other brands or
schemes; in practice, it is used as a label for any young person volunteering in a library.
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is an Eastern region County Council north of Greater London with a mix of
urban and rural areas. Following the success of two Reading Hack pilots in Stevenage and
Watford, the programme was rolled out across all tier one and tier two libraries14, making up
30 of Hertfordshire’s 46 libraries.
All Reading Hack activity in Hertfordshire falls under the volunteering strand, with volunteers
managed within each individual library. To facilitate this, Reading Hack Coordinators (staff
members) are in place across the 30 libraries to mentor and support the volunteers.
Reading Hack roles vary across the county, from Duke of Edinburgh volunteers in some
sites to large groups planning events in others. Activities delivered by Reading Hack
volunteers include:
• Baby Rhyme Time (reading to infants)
• Design and launch of a creative space
• Launch event for the Reading Well for Young People list.
• Chatterbooks reading groups
• Library refurbishment design
• Other localised group and individual activity.
By February 2017 there were over 400 Reading Hack participants in Hertfordshire, about
300 of whom volunteered during the summer, with the remaining 100 taking part in other
year-round Reading Hack activities and roles.
The roll-out of Reading Hack across Hertfordshire took place in November 2016, therefore
the evaluation findings (in chapters 4 and 5) for this case study are emerging insights at this
stage. The evaluation will capture further learning from Hertfordshire as they embed Reading
Hack further during year three.
14 Tier 1 libraries, centrally located in large towns, offer the broadest range of stock and services, and are open for the longest hours. They are staffed by library staff, and volunteers support the delivery of some services and activities. Tier 2 libraries, located in smaller towns, provide core library services and offer a wide range of popular stock as well as other services to meet local need/demand. They are staffed during core opening hours, with extended access through volunteer supervised self-service. Tier 3 libraries (community libraries), in smaller communities and villages, offer self-service access to library services, supported by volunteers.