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The Vital Link is an improvement programme for building and
promoting libraries' capacity to support the Government's
Skills for Life strategy, leading ultimately to a consistent
offer for adult learners across the country and to the embedding
of reading for pleasure in the Skills for Life curriculum.
Run by The Reading Agency in partnership with the National
Literacy Trust, the Vital
Link is focusing particularly on how creative reading activity
through libraries can motivate students and engage new learners.
It takes partnership between the library and Skills for Life
sectors as its starting point.
The Vital Link has been endorsed by the Society of Chief
Librarians and forms part of the Books, Reading and Learning
strand of the Government's Framework for the Future Action
Plan for public libraries being implemented by the Museums,
Libraries and Archives Council (MLA). It has also been endorsed
by
the Skills for Life Strategy Unit in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
which is providing funding
for a reading and libraries campaign to embed the Vital Link
approach in the Skills for Life sector.
The overall aim of The Vital Link is for emergent readers
and adults with low literacy levels to benefit from a consistently
high-quality reading service offered by public libraries working
in partnership with Skills for Life providers.
Through this work it aims to achieve a set of outcomes for
the target audience that will support local authorities in
delivering the Skills for Life Strategy, the Shared Priorities
agreed between central and local government, and the reading
vision and aims agreed by the Society of Chief Librarians.
These outcomes are:
- more enjoyment of reading
- more confidence
- increased motivation and inspiration
- increased skills and employability
- more involvement in their community
- an improved quality of life
From 2003-06, The Vital Link built on its successful
pilot phase (2001-02) with several key
achievements. In autumn 2006, it entered a new phase, with
reduced funding through Framework for the Future but continuing
funding from the then Department for Education and Skills for its
reading for pleasure campaign. For the period 2006-08, its
objectives and targets are:
- To improve access to and take-up of library services in
England for emergent readers and adults with low literacy
by supporting libraires to achieve consistent level of service
(Framework for the Future Action Plan 2006-08 4.1.7).
- To promote The Vital Link as the national programme for
engaging emergent readers through libraries
- To connect emergent readers with an improved range of
library stock for reading for pleasure
- To improve the motivation and skills of adults with low
literacy by embedding reading for pleasure through library
support into curriculum delivery
- To extend these opportunities to adults with low literacy
in the workplace
- To raise funding to sustain support for libraries and
practitioners delivering the Vital Link approach
If you would like to know more about our plans, please contact
Genevieve Clarke on genevieve.clarke@readingagency.org.uk
or 0871 750 2104
Sept 2001: award of funding for a pilot programme
from the DCMS/Wolfson Public Libraries Challenge Fund.
- What the Vital Link pilot
and development projects did
- Detailed Vital Link pilot case studies from the Mapping
the Territory research carried out by MLA
Sept 2002: launch of First
Choice collection for emergent readers.
Oct 2002: publication of Making the Vital Link: a
toolkit for building successful partnerships between libraries
and basic skills providers and University of Sheffield's evaluation
of The Vital Link pilot programme.
Jan 2003: first national Vital Link conference, addressed
by Baroness Blackstone, then Minister for the Arts, and Susan
Pember, then Head of the DfES Skills for Life Strategy Unit.
Autumn 2003: new funding for The Vital Link programme
through the Government's Framework for the Future Action Plan.
Mar 2004: National Learning & Skills Council funds
partnership development seminars in London, Birmingham and
York and development of family reading work in the north west.
Winter 2004: 11 partnership development events to
bring together library staff and literacy providers in each
region and consult on draft Vital Link improvement framework.
January 2005: launch of Got
kids? Get reading! family reading collection for parents
and carers with literacy needs who have children aged 0-7.
Mar 2005: endorsement of The Vital Link programme
by the Society of Chief Librarians.
April 2005: publication of Got kids? Get reading!
Improving family literacy and
learning through reading for pleasure for practitioners and
a parents' leaflet as culmination of Get On with Got kids?
Get reading! project linking libraries and children's centres
in eight library authorities and one prison.
July 2005: launch of first elements of the Vital
Link online toolkit providing guidance and case studies
to support the Vital Link improvement framework.
Oct 2005: second
national Vital Link conference, addressed by Sue Henderson,
then Head of the Skills for Life Strategy Unit; Jane Quinn,
Project Executive for the BBC RaW adult literacy campaign
(launched Oct 2005); and Gail Rebuck, Chair and CEO of Random
House and lead on the World Book Day Quick Reads initiative
for emergent readers. The conference also launched the First
Choice Books online database and Confidence
All Round: The Impact on Emergent Readers of Reading for Pleasure
Through Libraries (Morris Hargreaves McIntyre Nov 2005).
Nov 2005: launch of Vital Link reading
for pleasure campaign at national Skills for Life conferences.
March 2006: online publication of Vital
Link learning resources to support launch of first Quick
Reads titles for emergent readers.
March and May 2006: online publication of Vital Link
learning resources to support launch of first Quick Reads
titles for emergent readers.
Oct 2006: launch of Five
Minutes collection for Dads with low literacy who have
children aged 0-10.
February 2007: national reading for pleasure partnership
events for prison education and library staff and a regional
partnership event for union learning representatives and library
staff in Yorkshire. Start of Vital Link with Parents project
activity in ten English library authorities.
March 2007: launch of learning resources to support Quick Reads 2007
September 2007: announcement of the Six Book Challenge™ in association with the Costa Book Awards
January 2008: launch of the Six Book Challenge™ in association with the Costa Book Awards
March 2008: third national Vital Link conference to be held on 12 March at the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham
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