Information Bulletin
01 March 2005
Shetland Library takes part in Ground Breaking Book Recommending Scheme
The Shetland library is taking part in Borrowers Recommend , a promotion that draws on the reading experience of book borrowers from across the nation, and promotes a selection of 21 books that have been enjoyed by readers in libraries in the UK last year.
The books represent some of the best issuing titles by emerging writers, as highlighted by the Public Lending Right's figures for 2003-2004. All of the 21 books (listed below) have been borrowed in their thousands and are available from Shetland Library. They offer a broad range of reading: from the SAS thriller, to current affairs and love affairs; from mystery to history, from chick lit to lad lit and lit fic, Borrowers Recommend aims to suit all tastes - and perhaps challenge some preconceptions.
Morag Nicolson of Shetland Library says: " We are delighted to be running Borrowers Recommend in our library. It will help us show off the vast range of fiction and non-fiction available and highlights books that real readers have loved."
Borrowers Recommend complements an informal scheme that has been running in the library for some time: readers are invited to leave a favourite book on a display, with a short note recommending it to other readers. It has proved very popular with borrowers, though some users tend to be a bit shy about recommending! The theme of readers recommending has also been taken up by World Book Day this year: from the 3 rd of March, free Spread the Word postcards are available in the library, for readers to send to friends, suggesting a book they might enjoy. And if anyone's still stuck for choice, the Shetland Library is also promoting Channel 4's Richard and Judy Book Club, and Page Turners - a BBC daytime TV book club being launched in April. Also, a list of the ' Top 100 Scottish Books of All Time', is being launched on World Book Day: if you fancy reading your way through that list, most if the titles will be available at the library.
There's lots happening in the book world, and Borrowers Recommend puts Shetland library at the centre of what's going on, giving real readers the chance to recommend and be recommended to, without the usual commercial imperatives at work.
Ends
Media contacts - for further information please call :
Karen Fraser at Shetland Library on 01595 693868
Rebecca Wyatt on 01403 780383 email: rebecca.wyatt@virgin.net
Caroline Sanderson on 020 8672 5486 email: carosande@aol.com
Editors' Notes
1. Borrowers Recommend includes the following titles and authors:
The Future Homemakers of America ..................... Laurie Graham
After Ever After ............................................................Rowan Coleman
Don't Look Back ......................................................... Karin Fossum
Rumours of War ......................................................... Allan Mallinson
The Soul Catcher ........................................................Alex Kava
City Cinderella .............................................................Catherine George
A Very Unusual Governess ...................................... Sylvia Andrew
The Hostage ................................................................ Duncan Falconer
Don't Even Think About It .......................................... Lauren Henderson
Lazy Ways to Make A Living ..................................... Abigail Bosanko
Story of My Father ........................................................Sue Miller
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things ............... Jon McGregor
Aberystwyth Mon Amour ............................................ Malcolm Pryce
Rifles ............................................................................. Mark Urban
A Married Woman ....................................................... Manju Kapur
Bunker 13 ..................................................................... Aniruddha Bahal
Spencer's List .............................................................. Lissa Evans
Little Green Man ......................................................... Simon Armitage
Revolution Day ........................................................... Rageh Omaar
The Speckled People ................................................ Hugo Hamilton
One Last Breath .......................................................... Stephen Booth
2. Reading Partners is a two-year pilot, led by the Reading Agency, and involving seven leading UK publishers: Bloomsbury, Faber, HarperCollins, Harlequin Mills & Boon, Penguin, Random House and Time Warner.
3. The Reading Agency is a development agency working to revolutionise the way libraries work with readers and partners. It has created the Reading Partners consortium as part of a drive to create a more vibrant reading scene in libraries. Some of the funding for the work has come from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, as part of the action plan to drive forward the government's new library strategy, Framework for the Future.
4. Public Lending Right announces the nation's most borrowed authors and books on Friday, 11 February. Media contact: for further information please call Becca Wyatt or Caroline Sanderson (contact details above). Details are also available at www.plr.uk.com . PLR was established by an Act of Parliament in 1979. It gives authors the legal right to receive remuneration from government for the public's use of their work through the public library service. Since 1979 PLR has distributed £89 million to the nation's authors and rights-holders. In 2005 (relating to book loans between July 2003 & June 2004) PLR will distribute £6.55 million to 18,686 authors at a record rate per loan of 5.26 pence.