Reading Partners

Reading Partners was set up in April 2004 to explore ways that libraries and publishers can co-operate. The Reading Agency brought together senior publishers from nine leading London publishing houses:

• Bloomsbury
• Faber
• Hachette Livre
• HarperCollins
• Harlequin Mills & Boon
• Pan Macmillan
• Penguin
• Random House
• Time Warner

and a library worker from each of the English regions, Ireland, Scotland and Wales to steer the project. The East Midlands' representative on Reading Partners is LIEM's Regional Librarian.

Library staff across the country have been actively engaged in Reading Partners activities.   Reading Partners has enabled author events, book promotions and ways of working with reading groups. It has created a number of databases to allow publishers and libraries to co-operate more widely and more immediately. It has worked with 48 reading groups from across the UK to make sure readers' voices were heard and it has carried out research, helped develop book supply from publishers to libraries and trialled innovative new models of libraries working with communities.

Reaching Readers is a new black and minority ethnic readers and writers initiative from Reading Partners.   It aims to help the consortium's library and publisher partners to understand how their offers to readers can better reflect the diverse world around us.

Reading Partners publishers have teamed up with public libraries on six projects in Birmingham, Leeds, Lewisham, Manchester, Newham and Norfolk. Together they are working on innovative projects to promote books and the joys of reading to a culturally diverse audience.   Activities include work with reading groups, exciting book promotions to introduce more readers to books by British Black and Asian writers, and engaging author events.

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