Calls To Give Children Free Library Access

All children should be automatically given library cards - that's according to the Scottish Book Trust as its annual celebration of reading gets underway.

Hundreds of free events will take place across the country over the next seven days.

Book Week Scotland will also include the results of a poll to find out favourite character.

Marc Lambert, Director of Scottish Book Trust, said:
“Every child when they start nursery, primary and secondary school should be introduced to their local library and receive automatic membership. If children and young people learn early on to love their library, they will become library users for the rest of their lives. This relationship, between the individual and their local library, is one of the most important there is, benefitting the individual in many different and wonderful ways throughout the whole of their life."
 
“At the same time, libraries must be enabled to advertise and communicate with their customers and potential customers better. In order to survive the local authority cuts that are coming and prosper in the 21st Century, libraries need to reach out to their local communities in more evident and assertive ways. Survival for libraries is not just a matter of meeting the technological changes of the digital age. Like any business, it’s about the relationship one has and the services one delivers to one’s customers."
 
“Book Week Scotland, the national celebration of reading, wants to celebrate the hard work of librarians and shout about how fantastic libraries are. Over the next week, library users across the country will be invited to write a love letter to their local library explaining how much they mean to them, and libraries will display the letters they have received.”