The Big Book Share
Tricia Kings

Tricia Kings, Big Book Share coordinator for LaunchPad, describes a family reading project currently running at HMP Nottingham with the active support of the prison governor.  

The Big Book Share is a library project which aims to enable fathers, grandfathers, uncles and godfathers in prison to contribute to their children's reading development and to do so with increased confidence and skills. The local children's librarians run sessions for prisoners helping them to choose books and tape stories to send to their children as well as sessions for prison library staff to raise awareness about children's books and libraries.

The Big Book Share has been running for eight months now and the difference it is making is starting to show. Sessions for inmates happen every two weeks. For three hours, six or seven men meet up with children's librarians and a table full of books. HMP Nottingham is a local prison and most inmates are from neighbouring towns and counties. Their stay in the prison is often brief; they may have just one Big Book Share session so it needs to make an impression. Almost immediately they are attracted by the bright books on the table and start rummaging through them. The librarians encourage them to share their memories of stories as a child, and of using libraries. These are mixed memories - some good, often bad, sometimes nothing at all.

The men are clearly anxious to make the most of this opportunity to make a contribution to family life which they hope will be valuable and valued. They ask advice and choose the books to give to their children - and to read on tape so that their voice can be heard at home, at storytime and at bedtime. Some are happy to do their tape with all listening, others are anxious and prefer a separate room, with the help of a librarian. (Having taped a story and 'got on the bike' they are then happy and exhilarated and ready to read more!) Those who cannot read send a message, telling their child about the story, while the librarian reads the text.

They may be able to give the gift bag of book and tape to their children at a special family visit session - an 'extra', separate from the regular visit programme and dedicated to sharing books and stories with the children who come. The session includes parents sharing books with their children, librarians and creche workers storytelling, and a chance for story games on the computer. In the holidays, a family storytelling event in the prison is open to inmates and their families, and to all prison staff.

If a father cannot get to one of these sessions permission is obtained for the gift bag to be posted to his partner to give to the child. An even more effective handover happened recently, showing a promising development for the project; one of the prisoners, with release date near, made a date with the librarian to bring his family along to the local library so that they could collect their gift bags there. He kept the date, and has been bringing the children regularly to the library ever since.

The project is monitored through questionnaires and 'diary' records and plans are under way for case studies with staff as well as with prisoners, and possibly their families.

The Big Book Share is coordinated by LaunchPad, a development agency for children's library services. It is part of their Reaching Parents programme which supports and coordinates library projects reaching children and families outside libraries, in venues such as supermarkets, factories, hospitals - and prisons. The project is delivered through a partnership made up of LaunchPad, Marks and Spencer (the major funder), East Midlands Arts, Nottingham Library Service and HMP Nottingham, while 22 children's publishers donated books.

Foundations are being laid for future sustainability by getting the project included in public libraries' and prisons' mainstream activity. Several Marks and Spencer staff have also volunteered to help by signing up for storytelling training so they may join in the visit sessions.

HMP Nottingham is enthusiastic about the project. The governor sees it as linked to recreational activities as much as to education and a bridge for inmates to get involved in family activity while still in prison. The hope is that this commitment will continue when they leave prison and thus reduce the likelihood of their re-offending.
 

At the end of the pilot year, The Big Book Share will be producing a 'toolkit' of good practice for library services and prison libraries to help support family reading activity in prisons and encourage networking. In July 2002, LaunchPad became part of The Reading Agency: www.readingagency.org.uk.

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