The National Year of Reading has recruited 12,506 new borrowers to Bournemouth libraries since its official public launch in April this year.
This adds to the existing number of active borrowers, which is 53,835 – around a third of Bournemouth population. Ms. Gerardine Bodey – Area Manager of Bournemouth Libraries said the increase was significant. In the same period of time last year, only 8,653 people took up library membership.
The National Year of Reading, led by the National Literacy Trust and the Reading Agency, is a government-backed scheme with the slogan “Everything starts with reading”. There are a number of monthly themes all embracing the core values of promoting reading in wider communities.
In Bournemouth, as part of the initiative, the Frankenstein novel written in 1817 by Mary Shelley was picked for ‘The Big Bournemouth Read’. The aim is to encourage everyone in the borough to engage in reading and discussing about the book. This latest theme, chosen for the connections between the author and Bournemouth, was set to take place from October to December. The writer - Mary Shelley - was buried at St Peter’s Church, Bournemouth in 1851. Her son was living in Boscombe Manor not far from there at the time.
The book stock in Bournemouth libraries up to April this year was 313,308. If aligned by length, the books would form a line of around 42 miles, that is 6 times the length of Bournemouth‘s golden sands. Last year, the average number of visitors to Bournemouth libraries each day was 2,890.
No comments:
Post a Comment