evaluation of the reading hack programme hack year 2 report... · opm group evaluation of the...

OPM Group Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme

Released Final – Version: 3.0 of 66

Evaluation of the Reading Hack programme

Year two interim report: 2016-2017

03 May 2017



Client The Reading Agency

Company OPM Group

Title Evaluation of the Reading Hack

programme

Subtitle Year two interim report: 2016-2017

Dates last published 03/05/2017

Status Final

Classification Released

Project Code 10385

Author(s) Bethan Peach Matt Reynolds

Killian Condell

Quality Assurance by Lucy Smith / Zoe Khor

Main point of contact Bethan Peach

Telephone 0207 239 7800

Email [email protected]

If you would like a large text version of this

document, please contact us.

OPM Group

252B Gray’s Inn Road 0845 055 3900

London www.opm.co.uk

WC1X 8XG [email protected]



Contents

Executive Summary............................................................................................... 4

1. Introduction .................................................................................................. 7

Background to the Reading Hack programme ..................................................... 7

2. Evaluation: aims and activities ................................................................. 11

The evaluation .................................................................................................. 11

Research design ............................................................................................... 11

Research activities............................................................................................ 13

3. Case study library authorities ................................................................... 15

4. Findings: Outcomes for young people ..................................................... 18

Taking part in Reading Hack ............................................................................. 18

Increased employability and raised aspirations for young people ...................... 22

Long lasting enjoyment and engagement with reading ...................................... 28

Improved well-being .......................................................................................... 31

5. Findings: Outcomes for organisations ..................................................... 34

Overall success of Reading Hack programme................................................... 34

Supporting strategic priorities ............................................................................ 35

Improved networks and influence in their work with young people..................... 36

Increased ability and confidence of libraries to empower young people............. 41

Impact on staff capacity .................................................................................... 48

6. Learning and reflections............................................................................ 50

Success factors ................................................................................................ 50

Challenges and proposed solutions .................................................................. 51

7. Conclusions ............................................................................................... 57

Reading Hack in 2016-2017.............................................................................. 57

The overall impact of Reading Hack.................................................................. 58

Recommendations ............................................................................................ 59

A1. Appendix: Case study library authorities .................................................... 62



Executive Summary

Introduction

Reading Hack is a Reading Agency programme targeted at young people aged 13-24 that

brings together reading-inspired activity, volunteering roles and peer-to-peer reading

advocacy. The programme aims to get young people enthused about reading by making it

relevant to their passions and motivations, alongside supporting their personal and skills

development.

The programme is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. It builds on the Reading

Agency’s longstanding work with young people and expands the scope to include a wider

age-range and to support the development of youth-led approaches to engaging young

people in reading.

Reading Hack has developed at a time of transition for the library sector with

considerable debate about what a modern library service might look like and amidst

significant public spending cuts. Reading Hack is aligned with the Universal Reading

Offer priorities to support libraries to deliver services and initiatives in ways which are

accessible and practical. Reading Hack is also closely aligned to the government’s vision

for libraries as outlined in the 2016 ‘Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in

England 2016 to 2021’ report.

The Office for Public Management was commissioned to undertake a three-year

evaluation of Reading Hack.

This report discusses our findings from

the second year, which involved

interviews and workshops with

Reading Hack participants, library

staff and other stakeholders in

five diverse case study

locations – Croydon,

Manchester, Staffordshire,

Telford & Wrekin and

Hertfordshire.

We also discuss and

incorporate national survey

findings from young people

and libraries across 163

participating library

authorities.



Headline figures & findings

Reading Hack has grown from year one to year two of the

programme, with over 100 libraries joining the programme in

2016-2017.

In its second year of delivery, 163 library authorities took

part in the programme, offering approximately 2,318 Reading

Hack events in 1,790 local libraries. Across the 163 library

authorities, 10,767 young people took part as volunteer

‘Reading Hackers’ (almost twice as many as year one).

23,513 other young people participated in the events offered.

This equates to an average of 66 volunteers per local

authority, with each local authority engaging an average

of 144 other young people in activities. The average

number of Reading Hack volunteers has decreased overall

since year one, however this appears to be due to many

libraries joining the scheme and still being in set-up phase.

Increased confidence is one of most prominent impacts

of Reading Hack. Young people in our case study libraries

described how being involved in Reading Hack presents

them with opportunities (through interacting with different

people and seeing their ideas come to fruition) to build their

confidence, be more independent and take initiative.

Young people identified several transferable skills they have

developed because of Reading Hack that could help them in

the future, including team work, social skills, leadership,

planning and problem solving. Through trying ideas and

dealing with both technical and interpersonal issues some

young people have learnt a lot in these areas.

The impact of Reading Hack on young people’s enjoyment of

reading and sharing that enjoyment of reading with others is

less clear. This may be a symptom of libraries having

struggled to engage harder to reach young people.

Many young people feel empowered by Reading Hack’s

emphasis on youth-led activity. They feel they are given

trust and responsibility in choosing how they volunteer, whilst

still receiving the support they need.

89% of

young

people

strongly

agreed that they have

gained new skills

through their Reading

Hack experience (76% in

year one), including skills

in planning, creativity and

leadership.

85% of

young

people

agreed

that Reading Hack had a

highly positive impact on

their confidence levels

(71% in year one).

55% of

young

people

agreed

that their

involvement in Reading

Hack had made them

want to read more (65%

in year one).

93% of

young

people

agreed

that Reading Hack had

encouraged them to

continue volunteering

(84% in year one).



Impact on libraries

Against a backdrop of increasingly challenging financial constraints, libraries have started

exploring a wider variety of options for delivering the Reading Hack programme .

Year two of the evaluation suggests that a youth-led approach is becoming more

normalised within libraries. As libraries become more comfortable with a youth-led

approach, older young people can take on more of a leadership role and put forward or

implement suggestions, provide advice to libraries, or support their younger counterparts.

For some libraries, co-designing activities with young Reading Hackers has helped to attract

visitors to the library. Library staff are also finding that visitors start to see the young

volunteers as staff members, suggesting that the image of the library as a place where

young people are welcomed and involved is improving.

The impact of Reading Hack on libraries’ ability to build new partnerships and

networks, and to target harder to reach young people is less clear. This may be due to

a combination of capacity constraints and a lack of confidence among library staff.

The impact of Reading Hack on library staff ability and confidence to work with young

people is positive overall, with several library staff reflecting on shifts in attitudes,

knowledge and behaviours as a result of working more closely with young people.

Although the impact of Reading Hack on staff capacity may not have originally been

envisaged as a key impact area, it is becoming increasingly important given questions about

the sustainability of library services. For some libraries, Reading Hack has helped to address

this issue through giving young people more responsibility, while for others Reading Hack

has added to staff workload, depending on the local model of Reading Hack adopted.

Recommendations for the programme

Several recommendations are presented in our full report, including:

• Support libraries to embed outreach into all Reading Hack activities.

• Find a balance between new creative approaches to delivery and

maintaining the core focus of the programme.

• Work with young people and library authorities to develop the peer-to-

peer reading advocacy strand of the programme.

What’s next?

In year three of the evaluation we plan to:

• Add a sixth case study (a school case study rather than a library).

• Carry out fieldwork in two phases (summer and autumn/winter).

• Speak to a wider range of young people and staff.

• Explore the pros and cons of different models of delivery.



1. Introduction

This chapter summarises the background to the Reading Hack programme, introduces the

evaluation, and provides contextual information about our five selected case study library

authorities.

Background to the Reading Hack programme

Reading Hack is a Reading Agency programme targeted at young people aged 13-24 that

brings together reading-inspired activity, volunteering roles and peer-to-peer reading

advocacy. The programme aims to get young people enthused about reading by making it

relevant to their passions and motivations, alongside supporting their personal and skills

development. The name, brand, concept and website were all co-created with young people

and young people are encouraged to lead the activities and programme themselves by

designing ‘hacks’. The term ‘hack’ comes from the Urban Dictionary definition:

A hack is “a clever solution to a tricky problem. To hack is to modify or change something in

an extraordinary way”.

The Anniversary Gift from the Paul Hamlyn Foundation1 gave The Reading Agency the

opportunity to create and develop Reading Hack, which expands its work on Summer

Reading Challenge volunteering and the previous Big Lottery Reading Activists programme.

In comparison to those previous programmes, Reading Hack aims to include a wider age

group and demographic of young people, to develop their love of reading, confidence and

sense of agency. The programme also aims to enhance partnership development between

libraries and other youth and cultural sector partners, and equip organisations to increase

reading opportunities for young people and foster a youth-led approach.

1 https://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/one-million-pound-gift-from-the-paul-hamlyn-foundation.html

Three strands of Reading Hack:

• Reading-inspired activity: young people come up with new and interesting

ways to get other young people involved in reading (often as part of Reading

Hack groups).

• Volunteering roles: young people take up pre-defined roles (e.g. as Reading

Hack volunteers for the Summer Reading Challenge) or self-determined year-

round roles (such as reading buddies, or social reporters).

• Peer to peer reading advocacy: young people become advocates for reading,

helping other young people who struggle with or do not enjoy reading to see

how fun and valuable it is.

https://readingagency.org.uk/news/media/one-million-pound-gift-from-the-paul-hamlyn-foundation.html



These aims fitted well within the Cabinet Office’s youth social action2 outcomes (now the

remit of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport) which highlight the importance of the

double benefit – to individuals and community. For Reading Hack, this means thinking about

the contribution the programme provides to the local area, not just at the level of the young

person. The aims of Reading Hack also fit closely with the Arts Council’s Quality Principles

for Work with Young People3, particularly around creating authentically youth-led and youth-

owned opportunities to engage with arts and culture.

Reading Hack is also well placed to tackle the documented challenges around literacy rates

in the UK. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development survey findings

from its Programme for International Student Assessment shows that young people’s literacy

in the UK still lags far behind most developed countries.4 The Read On. Get On. Campaign

report states that in 2013 a quarter of all children left primary education without reading well

each year, rising to two in five of those children from the poorest households.5 Further, the

reading gap between boys and girls in England is one of the widest in the developed world:

boys are twice as likely to fall below even a very basic reading level. 6

At a time when there is considerable momentum and policy focus around youth social action

and literacy, Reading Hack is an innovative programme to encourage young people to

engage with reading and gain skills for the future. The programme brings the following

strengths and opportunities:

• It has the capacity to reach into communities across the UK through local libraries;

• It has the potential to inspire new partnerships to encourage more young people to

embark on a reading journey;

• It links reading to skills development, creativity, and personal development

opportunities such as work experience or extra-curricular accreditation;

• It brings something unique and exciting to communities and organisations by offering

year-round volunteering opportunities and a route to wider community social action

for young people.

Reading Hack has developed at a time of transition for the library sector with

considerable debate about what a new, modern library service might look like. Reading

Hack must also grow in a context of constraints, where the impacts of both public

2 Step Up to Serve’s #iwill campaign aims to increase by 50% (an additional 1.5 million 10 -20 year olds) the number of 10-20 year olds taking part in youth social action by 2020. Government believes in creating a social action journey for young people, so young people will form a habit for life. Reading Hack aims to create that journey - with a year-round offer that supports young people to experience the double benefits of volunteering – by building their own skills and confidence, but also encouraging their peers and other age groups to get involved http://www.iwill.org.uk/

3 http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/quality-metrics/quality-principles 4 https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-overview.pdf 5 https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/Read_On_Get_On.pdf

6 Holden, J (2004) Creative Reading: Young people, reading and public libraries

http://www.iwill.org.uk/

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/quality-metrics/quality-principles

https://www.oecd.org/pisa/keyfindings/pisa-2012-results-overview.pdf

https://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/Read_On_Get_On.pdf



spending cuts and the increased use of digital tools to access knowledge (rather than

printed books and other resources) have been clearly felt across library authorities.7 In

response to this, Reading Hack is aligned with the Universal Reading Offer8 priorities to

support libraries to deliver services and initiatives in ways which are accessible and

practical. Reading Hack is also closely aligned to the government’s vision for libraries as

outlined in the 2016 ‘Libraries Deliver: Ambition for Public Libraries in England 2016 to

2021’ report.9

Reading Hack in year one

There were ambitious targets in year one (2015-2016), aiming to involve 50 library

authorities with 25% of activities with young people taking place in areas of social

deprivation. Reading Hack met these targets, with 53 library authorities signed up as

delivery partners, offering approximately 1,800 events in 621 local libraries. Of these

events, 26% were in areas of social deprivation.10

Across the 53 libraries, 5,686 young people took part as volunteer ‘Reading Hackers’ and

9,619 other young people participated in the events offered. This equates to an average of

107 volunteers per local authority, with each local authority engaging an average of 181

other young people in activities.

Reading Hack in year two

In the second year of Reading Hack (2016-2017), against a backdrop of increasingly

challenging financial constraints, libraries and library authorities have started exploring a

wider variety of options for delivering the Reading Hack programme. While the case study

library authorities we spoke to remain committed and enthusiastic about the programme and

the value it brings to young people and libraries, some have found it challenging to keep

momentum going due to financial and staff capacity constraints. Despite this, the data is

encouraging, with the programme successfully engaging almost double the number of

young people due to new library authorities joining the programme.

7 Macdonald, L (2012) A new chapter: Public library services in the 21st century Carnegie UK Trust

8 The Universal Offers demonstrate a commitment to young people and a need to provide relevant, ‘irresistible’ reading

opportunities for young people that can be shaped by local priority but be of a measurable national standard. http://goscl.com/universal-offers/

9 2016 Libraries Deliver: Ambition for public libraries in England 2016-2021.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/libraries-deliver-ambition-for-public-libraries-in-england-2016-to-2021

10According to the English Indices of Deprivation published by the Department for Communities and Local Government, see https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465791/English_Indices_of_Deprivation_2015_-_Statistical_Release.pdf

http://goscl.com/universal-offers/



https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465791/English_Indices_of_Deprivation_2015_-_Statistical_Release.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/465791/English_Indices_of_Deprivation_2015_-_Statistical_Release.pdf



In 2016-2017, 163 library authorities took part, offering approximately 2,318 events in

1,790 local libraries.

Across the 163 library authorities, 10,767 young people took part as volunteer ‘Reading

Hackers’. Of these, 7,761 were involved in Reading Hack summer volunteering and the

remaining 3,006 were young people engaged in Reading Hack activities at other times of

year across 65 authorities. 23,513 other young people participated in the events offered.

This equates to an average of 66 volunteers per local authority, with each local authority

engaging an average of 144 other young people in activities. The number of Reading

Hackers per local authority has decreased since last year overall, although in the 53 pilot

authorities, the average volunteers per local authority has gone up slightly to 109. This is due

in part to the majority of authorities being new to the programme this year, with a core offer

of Reading Hack summer volunteering. The challenges experienced by our case study

libraries go some way to explain other reasons for this (outlined in chapters 4, 5 and 6).

Reading Hack is evolving as youth-led activity becomes embedded in participating libraries

and young people re-define reading in their own terms, developing creative approaches to

engage with books, reading and libraries in their local community. In the first year, most of

the case study libraries were running Reading Hack groups and involving Reading Hackers

in summer volunteering. In the second year, libraries are approaching the programme in

different ways; some are starting to move away from running Reading Hack groups and

starting to use the Reading Hack banner as a more overarching brand name for their work

with young people. For this reason, and because of the resourcing challenges faced by

libraries, Reading Hack is starting to look quite different in each locality, and this is discussed

in more detail in chapters 4 and 5 of this report.



2. Evaluation: aims and activities

This chapter outlines the overall evaluation approach and provides further detail about the

activities carried out in this second year of the programme.

The evaluation

OPM was commissioned by the Reading Agency to undertake an evaluation of the

programme across its first three years of delivery. The evaluation is designed to explore the

impact of Reading Hack on young people and organisations, in order to provide insight into

how to improve the programme going forward. We are also seeking to understand what

works best in engaging young people with reading. We are now at the end of the second

year of the evaluation.

The findings from year one can be found here: https://readingagency.org.uk/young-

people/Reading%20Hack%20evaluation%20interim-

report_final%20year%20one_signed%20off%20(2).pdf

This year two report shares insights and learning based on the second year of evaluation

(2016-2017). During this time, OPM undertook qualitative research with young people, library

staff and other stakeholders in five case study locations in England. The four case studies

that took part in year one continued to be case studies for year two – Staffordshire,

Croydon, Telford & Wrekin and Manchester. We added a fifth case study – Hertfordshire.

Additional background to the five case studies is provided in the next chapter to help put the

findings in context.

This report presents the findings from both the year two in-depth case study research and

the surveys completed by Reading Hack participants and library authorities in 2016-2017

(see chapters 4 and 5). This approach enables comparison and triangulation between the

qualitative and quantitative data, to help explore and understand the reach, impact and

learning from the programme. Further detail about the methods and participation rates are

provided below. In order to support programme development for year three and beyond,

several areas of challenge, success and learning are also presented in chapter 6.

Research design

The evaluation was designed to explore the impact of Reading Hack on young people

and organisations and to provide insight into how to improve the programme going

forward. At the outset, OPM co-produced a Theory of Change model with stakeholders

from the Reading Agency and libraries using a pathways to outcomes approach. This

helps to provide an overview of the programme and how it works, encourages

stakeholders to identify the outcomes that are most important, and develops a clear

framework for gathering evidence of impact, with a consistent focus on those identified

https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/Reading%20Hack%20evaluation%20interim-report_final%20year%20one_signed%20off%20(2).pdf





outcomes. The agreed outcomes for young people and organisations are summarised

below in Figure 1 and Figure 2.

Alongside capturing impact, the evaluation also aims to understand what works about

Reading Hack and how it engages young people with reading. This means understanding

how local libraries and young people are approaching the programme in different areas; the

extent to which it is a high-quality opportunity for young people to get involved with; and how

library authorities can work successfully with limited resources to deliver the programme and

overcome challenges.

Figure 1. Intended outcomes for young people

Figure 2. Intended outcomes for organisations



Research activities

In the second year of evaluation, the research in each case study location involved the

following activities:

• Reflective surveys aligned with outcomes in the Theory of Change (Fig 2.1/2.2),

collected from participating library authorities. The surveys changed from

baseline/exit surveys in year one to reflective surveys in year two, to address some

methodological challenges outlined in the year one evaluation report11. The reflective

surveys were sent to young people in autumn 2016 (after the summer volunteering

roles had ended) and after February half-term in 2017;

• Peer research with young people (upskilling young people to carry out their own

research with peers) in several libraries, to engage them with the evaluation and

provide them with the skills and opportunities to get more involved in the research;

• Guided reflection focus groups with young people taking part in Reading Hack,

using participatory activities including ranking scales, spectrum exercises, and an

‘employability wheel’ exercise;

• One to one interviews with library staff members and young people taking part in

Reading Hack to explore their experiences, attitudes and perceptions relating to the

programme.

In this second year of the Reading Hack programme, we have found that programme

delivery is diverging (as described in the previous chapter). Our case study libraries are also

at different stages in developing the offer to their young people. As a result, the evaluation

activities were applied differently at each case study location, in order to take account of

those different stages and approaches. However, the topic guides and materials that were

used to guide our discussions and observations were consistent across all locations.

It was challenging this year to speak to as many young people as planned. In some

locations, challenges within the library authority such as a pending restructure (Telford &

Wrekin) or staff illness (Manchester) made arranging our fieldwork visits very difficult.

Furthermore, in some cases the fieldwork in the first year focused on engaging with Reading

Hack group participants (rather than Reading Hackers involved in summer volunteering for

example) and the numbers of these participants in our case study library authorities are

much lower than last year. In other cases, where Reading Hackers volunteer individually

11 When analysing the quantitative data, we compared baseline and exit response in addition to analysing

reflective questions. However, most young people gave relatively high scores in their baseline responses which made it difficult to measure change between baseline and exit data. This is a well-documented challenge of surveying soft skills with young people in that they are often keen to give responses from the beginning of a programme that they feel will be pleasing. To counteract some of this bias, we drew on the reflective survey questions instead, which challenged the young people to think about the scope of their exp erience and the actual impact they felt it had had on them. See the year one report for further detail: https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/Reading%20Hack%20evaluation%20interim-report_final%20year%20one_signed%20off%20(2).pdf. We continued this approach into year two.





rather than in groups (e.g. Staffordshire; Hertfordshire), it was difficult to find a time and

place where they could all come together for an evaluation visit. We will take this learning on

board for the final year of the evaluation, and we have outlined some ideas to address these

issues at the end of this report. Table 1 shows the number of participants involved in

evaluation activities in the first and second year.

Table 1: Total numbers of research participants

Participants Numbers year

two (2016-2017)

Numbers year

one (2015-2016)

Libraries visited 5 8

Young people interviewed one to one 10 27

Young people who received peer research training

13 0

Young people who took part in a group-based guided reflection session

8 12

Library staff interviewed one to one 12 17

Additional stakeholder interviews 2 1

Surveys completed by young people 412 497

Surveys completed by staff in local libraries and schools

89 122

Surveys completed by participating library authority representatives

167 53



3. Case study library authorities

Year two of the Reading

Hack evaluation included in-

depth research at five case

study locations –

Staffordshire, Croydon,

Telford & Wrekin,

Manchester, and

Hertfordshire.

Of these, the first four also

took part in year one of the

evaluation, while

Hertfordshire was added as

a case study in this second

year.

Some background to each

of these locations is

provided below to place the

findings in context. Further

detail about each case study site is found in the appendix to this report.

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a large rural county in the West Midlands. There are 43 libraries in total (23

of which are community-managed) and they are split into 6 geographic clusters. 20 libraries

within the library authority are now delivering Reading Hack, with 117 young people taking

part in 2016-2017.

Staffordshire Libraries have been running summer volunteering for several years and

through Reading Hack the service has extended this summer offer to develop a year-round

volunteering offer. Implementation has been coordinated by the Stock, Services and

Activities Manager.

Staffordshire Libraries use the Reading Hack banner for all of their youth volunteering, for

traditional library volunteering, reading-inspired activity and national projects.

Croydon

Croydon is an urban London borough. Croydon Libraries are part of Carillion Managed

Services (a private sector provider of integrated services, who also manage Ealing, Harrow

& Hounslow Libraries). Reading Hack year-round activity is running in one library in Croydon,

whilst summer volunteering took place across 13 libraries. In total, 311 young people took



part in Reading Hack in Croydon during 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the

summer.

Reading Hack activities in Croydon are centred on a) summer volunteering across the

service and b) delivering reading-inspired activity through a Reading Hack group. Peer-to-

peer reading advocacy is less evident, and although the staff and young people felt there is

sometimes a knock-on impact of their activities that encourages others to read, this is not a

key area of focus for Croydon.

Reading Hack is coordinated by one staff member who also coordinates the involvement of

young people in libraries in three other London boroughs, with support from one other

member of staff.

Telford & Wrekin

Telford & Wrekin is a unitary authority in the West Midlands, with a mixture of urban and

rural areas. Reading Hack group activities take place at Southwater Library in the centre of

Telford, falling mainly under the ‘reading-inspired activity’ strand. In previous years, summer

volunteering took place in several libraries across the authority, however, in 2016-2017 it

was only delivered at Southwater Library because of a pending restructure. Fifty-one young

people took part in Reading Hack in 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the

summer.

Evaluation activity was limited in Telford & Wrekin this year because the staff spent the year

anticipating a significant restructure and were therefore in a state of uncertainty as to their

roles, the status of each of the libraries, and the Reading Hack programme.

Manchester

Manchester has 23 libraries including the newly refurbished and reopened Central Library.

Having delivered a volunteering programme during the Summer Reading Challenge for

several years, Manchester extended this to develop a year-round offer for young people. In

2016-2017 Manchester had 80 Reading Hackers involved in summer volunteering,

contributing 749 volunteer hours. Beyond this, there have been additional volunteers in eight

libraries, including young people working towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Reading Hack was initially delivered through Reading Hack groups in two libraries

(Longsight and Withington). The aim was to set up Reading Hack groups in six libraries in

total as well as year-round volunteering roles. However, the plan has now shifted towards

having a variety of year-round Reading Hack volunteering roles in all libraries.

Reading Hack is applied flexibly in Manchester, being used alongside other brands or

schemes; in practice, it is used as a label for any young person volunteering in a library.



Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is a County Council in the Eastern region, situated north of Greater London,

with a mix of urban and rural areas. Following the success of two Reading Hack pilots in

Stevenage and Watford, the programme was rolled out across all tier one and tier two

libraries12, making up 30 of Hertfordshire’s 46 libraries.

All Reading Hack activity in Hertfordshire falls under the volunteering strand, with volunteers

managed within each individual library. To facilitate this, Reading Hack Coordinators (staff

members) are in place across the 30 libraries to mentor and support the volunteers.

By February 2017 there were over 400 Reading Hack participants in Hertfordshire, about

300 of whom volunteered during the summer, with the remaining 100 taking part in other

year-round Reading Hack activities and roles.

12 Tier 1 libraries, centrally located in large towns, offer the broadest range of stock and services, and are open for the longest hours. They are staffed by library staff, and volunteers support the delivery of some services and activities. Tier 2 libraries, located in smaller towns, provide core library services and offer a wide range of popular stock as well as other services to meet local need/demand. They are staffed during core opening hours, with extended access through volunteer supervised self-service. Tier 3 libraries (community libraries), in smaller communities and villages, offer self-service access to library services, supported by volunteers.



4. Findings: Outcomes for young people

This section of the report covers the main findings from the five case study areas as well as

the survey data. It combines qualitative and quantitative data to understand the impact of

Reading Hack so far on young people taking part. We start by exploring the motivations and

expectations amongst the young people we spoke to. The main part of this section reports

against each of the outcomes identified in the Theory of Change model for young people:

• increased employability and raised aspirations;

• long lasting enjoyment and engagement with reading; and

• improved well-being.

The survey-based findings provide broad findings based on the responses from young

people and libraries nationally, while the case study findings provide in-depth insight into

what may be behind the patterns and trends identified in the survey responses.

Taking part in Reading Hack

10,767 young people took part in Reading Hack across 163 local authority areas

Forty-eight of the 163 participating library authorities provided data on the age and gender of

the Reading Hack participants. Out of 2,879 young people, approximately 24% were male

and 76% were female.

The chart shows the breakdown of

participants into four age categories. Most

Reading Hack participants (58%) were

between the ages of 13 and 15. One third

(33%) of Reading Hack participants are

aged 16-19. There has been a shift towards

the 13-15 age range in comparison to the

previous year and the reasons for this will

be interesting to explore in year three. In

2015-2016, 47% of participants were 13-15

and 41% were 16-19. The upper (20-24)

and lower (12) age ranges remained at low

proportions at 5% and 4% respectively (these were 6% each the previous year). The age

breakdown was similar for female and male participants (see charts below).

4%

58%

33%

5%

Age of participants

12 13-15 16-19 20-24



5%

57%

34%

4%

Male breakdown by age

12 13-15 16-19 20-24

Of the 412 young people who completed a reflective survey, over a quarter (27%) have

been taking part in Reading Hack for one year or more, 10% have been taking part for 7-

12 months, a third (31%) have been taking part for 2-6 months, over a quarter (27%) for

one month or less, and less than 5% have not yet started taking part (see chart below).

The motivations of Reading Hack participants

The young people who responded to the reflective survey reported several motivating factors

for their involvement in Reading Hack, including skills-based, social, and altruistic factors

(see chart below).

4%

27%

31%

10%

27%

I have been taking part in Reading Hack for...

I haven't started yet 1 month or less 2 to 6 months 7 to 12 months 1 year or more

4%

58%

33%

5%

Female breakdown by age

12 13-15 16-19 20-24



Three quarters (75%) of respondents noted that improving their CV was one of their

motivations. This high proportion may be linked to the high prevalence of volunteering

through schemes such as the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE). Of the library authorities that

completed the survey, 62% of them received volunteers via the DofE. Although this may

have been an initial motivator, several of the young people we spoke have chosen to carry

on beyond the hours the scheme requires:

“I originally joined to do my Duke of Edinburgh award as part of the volunteering

section of that, but I really enjoyed it so I just carried on.” – Staffordshire Reading

Hack participant

Over two thirds (65%) of survey participants indicated that they joined Reading Hack to learn

new skills. This was also reflected in our qualitative case study research where young people

told us they wanted to gain transferrable skills including organisational skills and teamwork.

Nearly two thirds of survey respondents (59%) said they joined Reading Hack to gain

confidence and this was also frequently described as a motivator among young people in the

case study libraries.

Around half of all survey respondents said they joined Reading Hack to meet new people or

have fun. In our research with young people at the case study libraries, some young people

told us they enjoy having an opportunity to get together and work with other young people

outside of school or home:

“It gives me something to do after school instead of watching TV waiting for

family to come home. Ever since going to Reading Hack it gives me something to

75%

65%63%

59% 58% 58%

50%48%

23%

6%

I decided to take part in Reading Hack to...

Survey respondents could choose more than one

answer. The % figures show the percentage of

respondents that chose each option.



do and I get to socialise with other people.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack

participant

Over half of survey respondents (58%) said they joined Reading Hack to encourage others

to read more or to make a positive difference in their local area. Some of the young people

we spoke to described similar motivations, including the enjoyment they get from making a

positive difference for young children:

“I like playing with kids and coming up with activities for them.” – Croydon

Reading Hack participant

One Reading Hacker noted that although they did not join Reading Hack for altruistic

reasons, the contribution they felt they were making to the community was one reason why

they decided to continue to stay involved.

“Originally, I was looking for volunteering opportunities for my Duke of Edinburgh

Award. I then enjoyed it and signed up for subsequent volunteering, to feel I was

contributing to the community as well as finishing my Duke of Edinburgh

volunteering.” – Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant

Although almost all the motivating factors listed in the survey question gained a high level of

positive responses from respondents, less than a quarter (23%) joined Reading Hack to read

more. Based on what we heard through our qualitative research, this is not surprising since

many Reading Hackers were already avid readers before joining the programme.

These findings may help library authorities to publicise the Reading Hack opportunities, by

linking to the most popular motivating factors in order to encourage young people to take

part, or highlighting a range of reasons why young people might want to join the programme.

How young people found out about Reading Hack

Survey results from young people showed that 62% found out about Reading Hack through

their local library and 25% learnt about it through their school. This continues the trend

identified in year one of this evaluation that most young people find out about Reading

Hack through a library or their school.

The young people we spoke to found out about Reading Hack through several channels,

which echo the survey findings:

• Previous involvement with activities in the library such as summer volunteering;

• Through schools and schemes including the Duke of Edinburgh Award;

• Direct enquiries with the library about volunteering opportunities; or

• Online through the Reading Hack website.



35%

50%

1% 0%

13%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Stronglyagree

Agree Disagree Stronglydisagree

Not sure

Reading Hack has increased my confidence

38%

51%

1% 0%

10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has increased my skills

Increased employability and raised aspirations for young people

Skills development overall

The case study research

reveals that both the young

people themselves and the

library staff who work with them

believe that Reading Hack is

helping young people develop

transferable skills in teamwork,

leadership, and confidence. As

shown in the chart, survey

findings strongly support this

finding; the vast majority (89%)

of young people agree or strongly agree that Reading Hack has increased their skills. We

explore the reasons behind these findings below.

Increased confidence, independence and taking initiative

Increased

confidence is one of most

prominent impacts of Reading

Hack, both across the case

studies and survey results. This

can be seen in the chart; 85%

either agree or strongly agree

that Reading Hack has

increased their confidence.

Some of the factors that lead to

this increased confidence

include:

• Opportunities to engage with people they wouldn’t normally meet

“Talking to people you do not know always boosts your confidence.” –

Staffordshire Reading Hack participant

• Experience of approaching people e.g. to welcome people to events

“Like asking people to complete the questionnaires. Being friendly and

approachable helps with this. You have to act the part – if you want people to talk

to you, you have to look friendly.” – Croydon Reading Hack participant

• Seeing ideas come to fruition



Related to the above, Reading Hack participants also felt they had more confidence in

building relationships and running events for people of different ages. This was both in terms

of planning events for children, and working with adults in a different way from other adults in

their lives e.g. parents and teachers.

One young person described the benefits of taking on a leadership role, supporting younger

group members, and developing independence and confidence at the same time:

“I’ve taken on a leadership role in terms of listening to what everyone’s got to

say, and making sure everyone is ok, and checking how they’re feeling. It’s

happened quite naturally – because I’m the oldest anyway, you naturally want to

look out for the younger ones and see that they’re ok and noticing if they’re

worrying about something.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack participant

Young people also described a general increase in their self-esteem and personal

confidence because of taking part in a social and interpersonal activity:

“The more you do, the more confident you become.” – Manchester Reading Hack

participant

“I learnt to use small talk. Small talk is the most difficult form of conversation on

the planet! The weather, what people are doing over the weekend.” –


Future plans and aspirations

While most of the young people we spoke to did not see Reading Hack as

directly relevant to their potential career path (i.e. preparing them for a career in the library

service) they could see that aspects of the volunteering would equip them with relevant skills

for the future:

“It’s not necessarily exactly what I want to do, but the skills I’ve learnt could

probably be put towards a job in the future” – Staffordshire Reading Hack

participant

A few young people found specific aspects of Reading Hack useful for their potential

careers. These include filming events preparing them for a media career, or coding classes

for an IT career. Library staff also commented that learning the Dewey-Decimal system could

be useful for young people going on to study at university. One young person described how

their involvement had helped them learn how a workplace environment operates and the

skills this requires:

“I have learnt about how an organisation like the library is run, as well as enjoying

my time there.” – Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant

With three quarters (75%) of young people stating that they joined Reading Hack to improve

their CV, it was reassuring to hear from the young people at case study sites that this

aspiration was realised. Young people felt that volunteering allowed them to get around the



‘catch 22’ of requiring work experience on their CV to get a first job. Others thought that

Reading Hack had already had a noticeable impact on their career prospects:

“Volunteering at the Summer Reading Challenge helped me a lot. I went to a

careers thing at my school and they asked me if I’d done anything and I said ‘I’ve

actually volunteered at the library during the summer’. So that made a good

impression of me. They thought I was like a role model student.” – Telford &

Wrekin Reading Hack participant

Several young people talked about Reading Hack alongside other schemes such as the Arts

Award and the Duke of Edinburgh Award in terms of improving their CVs.

Hertfordshire library staff noted that they offer a range of ways for young people who want to

complete volunteering hours to spend their time, with project work and events experience

available so they can learn skills that will be useful for employment and study. Volunteers

who help to plan an event receive a reference letter afterwards to say that they did so, which

they can use in applications for university or employment.

Team working

Some young people talked about their positive experience of working in teams

and the cooperative skills developed through teamworking. This was most noticeable in

libraries where Reading Hack groups had set up and arranged reading-inspired activities for

other young people. In some examples, participants had ‘teething problems’ when working

together in groups; by working through these issues they felt that if a similar situation came

up in the future they would feel better equipped to deal with it:

“If you’re in a group you’ve got to learn to cooperate. Team work. If two people

want to be the same character, then you should compromise like in sharing the

role between you.” – Croydon Reading Hack participant

As shown in the chart below, most volunteers (two thirds) reported that since taking part in

Reading Hack their enjoyment of working with other people and ability to listen to other

people had increased. However, the rest (a third) felt that these traits remained ‘about the

same’. This could be due to some libraries having more individual volunteers than youth-led

groups. It is inevitable that in these cases there would be less impact on team working skills.



Planning and problem solving

Young people commented on how Reading Hack had given them an

opportunity to improve their planning skills, by preparing for events or workshops. This

includes the leadership and problem-solving requirements that come with event planning.

Young people’s development in this respect was most noticeable where library staff gave the

participants a budget and timescale to work to. Some young people and staff reported

specific examples of problems which arose, how they overcame these and the

troubleshooting skills they learnt along the way:

“The talent show taught me about thinking on the spot, and it made me learn

about decision making – for some of the acts that cancelled, we didn’t know until

the day of the show, so we had to change the rotas and let the audience know,

and let the other acts know that the schedule had changed. So it was thinking on

the spot, and dealing with unexpected things.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack

participant

These young people felt they would be better equipped to manage similar situations in the

future. They also believed that they would be better able to deal with problems as a team

and manage the planning of an event from scratch. This is reflected in the survey results; as

shown in the chart below most participants stated that they were a bit or a lot better at

managing their time, planning ahead and finding a way to fix something that has gone

wrong. Again, notable proportions remarked that these skills had remained ‘about the same’

– this might be due to some young people already feeling they were able to do these things

before Reading Hack, or that the particular types of activities they have been involved in did

not lend themselves to developing these skills.

35%33%35% 33%

30%33%

0% 0%0% 0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

I enjoy working with other young people as part of ateam

I'm good at listening to other people

Since taking part in Reading Hack...

A lot more A bit more About the same A bit less A lot less



Communication

Many of the young people we spoke to described an improvement in their

communication skills, especially when talking to people in other age groups.

Some staff members described the reluctance of some volunteers to engage with children at

first. However, as the programme progressed the volunteers came to enjoy working with

children and found that young children were happy to talk to them. As the chart below

shows, it is clear that Reading Hack participants across the country (75%) enjoy working with

children more since taking part in the programme.

Young people also described a change in their attitudes to adults as a result of working with

library staff and adult service users. This includes increased confidence talking to people

older than themselves:

26%24% 25%

30%32%

39%42% 43%

36%

1% 0% 0%0% 0% 0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

I'm good at managing my time I'm organised and plan ahead If something goes wrong, I likefinding a way to fix it



31%

46%45%

29%

23% 22%

0%3%

0% 0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

I feel confident speaking to people who are olderthan me

I enjoy working with children





“I’m always really nervous talking to adults. I feel like they’re going to judge me,

but the staff are so supportive and nice and that’s really helped.” – Staffordshire


Library staff identified the potential customer service skills young people gain through talking

to members of the public and recommending books. Again, as the chart shows, more than

three quarters (76%) of survey respondents felt more confident talking to older people.

Improved communication between the Reading Hack participants themselves was also

noticeable in the case studies. Socialising outside the school environment enabled them to

‘come out of their shells’:

“People have always judged me, and I think ‘do they think I’m weird’, or ‘oh no,

I’m not one of the popular girls, therefore they don’t like me’. At Reading Hack,

you get to socialise and interact and then you can take some of that confidence

away with you to help you talk to other people more often outside of the group.” –

Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack participant

While some libraries were able to facilitate interaction between participants of different ages,

others struggled to bring young people together outside of their own friendship groups.

However, several of these libraries are keen to find ways to address this challenge.

Creativity

Some young people noted Reading Hack’s effect on their ability to come up

with and develop new ideas:

“Reading Hack has showed me how to look in different places to find inspiration

for good ideas.” – Croydon Reading Hack participant

This is reflected in the survey data, with nearly two thirds (64%) noting an increase in their

ability to both come up with and explain ideas:

25% 25%

39% 39%36% 36%

1% 1%0% 0%0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

I'm good at coming up with new ways of doing things I can explain my ideas clearly





Activities that Reading Hack groups have undertaken are very varied, with examples ranging

from creative (such as poetry competitions and reading-inspired arts and crafts) to

community-based (such as interviewing town planners about local development and

planning events that promote mental wellbeing) activities. Library staff also mentioned

partnering Reading Hack with the Arts Award to encourage young people’s creativity.

Some library staff described the benefit of Reading Hack being a supportive environment

where young people are working with their peers and adults in a very different relationship

compared to at school or home:

“I think it pushes the boundaries, it puts them outside their comfort zone but in a

way that they still feel secure. It empowers them to try new things and feel

confident about it, and then they have that rewarding feeling once they’ve done it.

It’s different from what they’d do at school – it’s more independent. With the Arts

Award in particular, it looks to them to come up with a creative idea and then they

kind of run with it as far as they can, and as far as resources allow. They don’t

get that kind of freedom, creatively, with the projects they’re doing at school.” –

Telford & Wrekin Library staff

Long lasting enjoyment and engagement with reading

Attitudes to reading

Amongst young people we spoke to, attitudes to reading were mixed. Some

commented that Reading Hack gave them more opportunities to read than

they had before, simply due to being in the library environment:

“I find I have more time to look through books whereas sometimes I’d only have

five minutes at the library and you don’t have time to pick a book, but now I think

I’ve been borrowing books from the library. I didn’t really come to the library that

often before I started volunteering.” – Staffordshire Reading Hack participant

Others stated that they were already keen readers before they joined the group, and that

their involvement had provided them with a social outlet for that interest, rather than

changing how they feel about reading. Similarly, some who were not active readers before

said that although they had enjoyed taking part in the activities, their reading habits had not

changed. Exploring what factors might lead to Reading Hackers reading more or enjoying

reading more would be valuable in year three of the evaluation.

These themes are reflected in the survey results shown below. While many young people

stated that they are reading more, enjoy reading more and used the library more since taking

part in Reading Hack (54-58%), many others reported that their habits had remained ‘about

the same’ (41-45%):



Young people reflected on changes in their reading activity over time – generally, they read

more in primary school, and once in secondary school they spend more time being in touch

with their friends on social media, or reading only the books assigned in their classes.

Some young people like reading some types of books more than others, so, for example,

while they may not enjoy books on the school curriculum, they may nonetheless like popular

fantasy and young adult fiction series. Reading Hack, young people stated, helps maintain

their motivation to read for pleasure. For example, in one case study site, the Reading Hack

coordinator brings them proofs of new books to take home and read:

“I used to read a lot when I was younger. I don’t read as much now because of

exams and schoolwork – I don’t really have much time. But [our coordinator] gets

proofs of books that haven’t come out yet and she always brings them to the

meetings. She wants us to read more, and so there’s that encouragement to read

that’s still part of the group, I take books home and try to read when I have time.”

– Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack participant

Some library staff, for example in Hertfordshire and Croydon, mentioned that they often talk

to Reading Hack participants about books. They ask them which books they enjoy and what

they are interested in. The staff find young people to be very engaged with these

conversations and see this kind of interaction as an important way to engage with them

about reading.

Sharing the enjoyment of reading

The majority of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Reading

Hack had increased interest (82%) and confidence (77%) in reading for the

children taking part in Reading Hack events and activities. In contrast, a much smaller

proportion thought that Reading Hack had increased their friends’ interest (37%) or

confidence (35%) in reading:

24%

32%

20%

31%

26%

34%

44%41%

45%

1% 0% 0%0% 0% 1%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

I read… I enjoy reading I use the library…





Our conversations with young people confirmed the positive impact of sharing the enjoyment

of reading with children. They described the pleasure of seeing children and young people

taking part in reading-inspired activities. Some also described the potential educational

benefits of reading for children:

“The great books have great descriptions but your brain has to make the world

work. It actively engages your mind. I already thought a bit about this, but

Reading Hack consolidated it…It’s really good for younger people because they

learn vocabulary without having to actually sit down and learn it.” – Staffordshire


Other young people noted that events and activities might have a side effect of encouraging

people to read, since they are generally on a theme related to reading or a specific book, but

that it wasn’t their primary motivation. It was seen as a good idea for Reading Hack to tie in

with something current, such as an app or a book-to-film adaptation They believed that this

would encourage young people to come to the library and engage with books.

While the survey results show that relatively few Reading Hack participants feel they have

had an impact on their friends’ interest in or confidence about reading, some young people in

case study sites confirmed that a little peer-to-peer advocacy is happening, albeit in an

organic and unstructured way. For example, having Reading Hack participants visible

around the libraries (using lanyards and T-shirts) provided the opportunity for other young

people to casually talk to others about which books they may enjoy:

“People stop and ask questions about what is happening, and it attracts people

to reading.” – Manchester Reading Hack participant

Some young people advocated reading in a formal way, by ordering teen fiction stock or

taking a role as ‘head librarian’ at school.

Some were involved with recruiting new members to their group of volunteers, telling their

friends about it through word of mouth, posters and social media. Survey data shows that

91% agreed or strongly agreed that they would recommend Reading Hack to a friend.

34%29%

11% 9%

48% 48%

27% 25%

1% 2%

16% 15%

0% 0% 1% 2%

16%21%

45%48%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Children's interest inreading

Children's confidenceabout reading

My friends' interest inreading

My friends' confidenceabout reading

Reading Hack has increased...

Strongly agree Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Not sure



49%44%

1% 0%5%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

It's encouraged me to continue volunteering

One of the ways young people said they have got others involved in Reading Hack is by

emphasising that there is more to reading than just ‘reading a book’.

However, some library staff highlighted difficulties with getting young people to promote

reading openly to their peers, because of negative perceptions around reading:

“I’ve asked them a few times if they’d be willing to stand up in assembly or in

their tutor group and promote Reading Hack or an event that we’re doing. But

they always say no – ‘I can’t do that, no-one would be interested, none of my

friends read’. So it’s almost like they feel embarrassed to share it with their

friends in school.” – Croydon library staff

Improved well-being

Increased sense of citizenship

Most of the young

people we spoke to

were enthusiastic about

volunteering and wanted to

continue it. This is confirmed by the

survey data, showing that 93%

agreed or strongly agreed that

Reading Hack has encouraged

them to continue volunteering.

Reasons for continuing to volunteer

were their increased overall

confidence around interacting with

a variety of different people, and the

satisfaction derived from helping others to read:

“[During summer volunteering] you have to remember that people are going to

come and want to sign up so you have to be on the look-out for people who need

some help. It makes me feel good inside because I know I’ve done something

really good – it’s a wonderful feeling because it’s helping people.” – Telford &

Wrekin Reading Hack participant

As stated above, several young people described going beyond the hours they had to do for

an official extracurricular scheme such as DofE, due to their newfound passion for

volunteering. Other participants described their volunteer journey through several strands of

Reading Hack activity, for example from supporting the Summer Reading Challenge to roles

supporting Chatterbooks groups, Reading Well for Young People and other activities:



“I have tried to be involved as much as I can over the last year. [Since the

Reading Hack pilot] I have volunteered every Tuesday afternoon for one hour.” –

Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant

Increased feeling of agency and empowerment

Many young people felt empowered by Reading Hack’s emphasis on youth-

led activity. They felt they were given a great deal of trust and responsibility in choosing how

they volunteer, whilst still being given the support they need:

“If they ask me to revamp a display they’ll simply show me the supplies and tell

me to do my thing. That’s really nice. We get some independence.” –


Young people also felt that they contributed to decisions about what to do as a group and

that they could take on important roles, regardless of their age or experience. As already

noted, Reading Hack also felt empowering to young people as it provided the opportunity for

them to have a different type of relationship with adults (this compared to young people’s

perceptions of being ‘talked down to’ by parents or teachers). Library staff were seen to treat

Reading Hack volunteers with respect, for example:

“If we can’t make it to a meeting it’s not a big thing because the group

understands that we’ve got other things going on and we can’t always make it –

it’s not a strict group, it’s very understanding.” – Telford & Wrekin Reading Hack

participant

However, some younger participants said they preferred more direction from library staff,

before they gain enough confidence to take control of planning and delivering activities

independently.

Increased community awareness and involvement

As shown in the chart below, most survey respondents either agreed or

strongly agreed that Reading Hack helped them feel more part of their community. The

young people we spoke to had varying degrees of community awareness and involvement.

Some talked positively about engaging with a wide variety of different people who come to

their libraries:

“I have felt much more involved in the local community. I am meeting more

people and helping to organise the kind of event I wouldn’t know was happening

2 years ago. I also feel much more involved because I am allowed behind the

scenes. I have met the library managers and worked in areas closed to the

public, this has a big impact as I feel I am part of something greater.” –

Hertfordshire Reading Hack participant



34%

47%

2%0%

16%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

It's helped me feel more part of my community

Several young people described

specific outreach activities they

had carried out including social

events at care homes, poetry

inspired by local museums,

celebrations of local authors and

talent shows. Although they

weren’t always able to articulate

the impact of Reading Hack on

their sense of connection to the

local community, this list of

activities they chose to do

suggests that they have an interest

in engaging with their community.

Geography and types of activity also play a part. Some library staff suggested that

community engagement was easier for rural libraries compared to urban ones, because they

believe rural communities tend to be more tight-knit in general. One library staff member felt

that it was easier for Reading Hack summer volunteering to inspire a sense of connection to

the community compared to the Reading Hack group activities:

“I think the Summer Reading Challenge volunteers become a bit more aware of

their local community, because they’re spending time engaging with families and

young children, and I think it makes them more aware of how they can impact on

the community through their volunteering. I don’t think it’s so much the case with

the Reading Hack group though, they’re more interested in creating an activity, it

being a success, and then moving on to the next thing.” – Croydon Library staff



16%

45%

8%

1%

30%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has been a successful programme for us

5. Findings: Outcomes for organisations

This section covers the main findings about the impact of Reading Hack so far on the

organisations involved. We start by summarising the overall success of the Reading Hack

programme from the perspective of library and school practitioners, and exploring the ways

in which Reading Hack supports wider strategic priorities for library.

The main part of this section reports against each of the outcomes identified in the Theory of

Change model for organisations – improved networks and influence in their work with young

people, and increased ability and confidence to empower young people through reading-

based activity.

The survey-based findings provide broad findings based on the responses from young

people and libraries nationally, while the case study findings provide in-depth insight into

what may be behind the patterns and trends identified in the survey responses.

Overall success of Reading Hack programme

A majority of the 89 library and

school practitioners who

responded to the survey (61%)

agree or strongly agree that

Reading Hack has been a

successful programme (see

chart). One third (30%) were

unsure, while only 9%

disagreed or strongly

disagreed.

Broadly, we found that

Reading Hack can be an

effective way to support strategic priorities; and our case study research shows the

programme is helping to develop a stronger youth-led culture within some libraries.

There is currently mixed evidence as to whether Reading Hack is enabling libraries to

engage harder to reach groups or enabling partnership development. The most significant

challenge in delivering a successful Reading Hack programme appears to be a reduction in

funding and staff capacity.

The rest of this chapter explores specific aspects of the reading Hack programme using both

national survey data and qualitative insights to identify what elements are proving most

successful and what things are more challenging from the perspective of the libraries

involved.



Supporting strategic priorities

In the context of increasing budget constraints, some library authorities reflected on the role

of Reading Hack in their wider strategies for engaging with young people.

In Hertfordshire, the Reading Hack programme is aligned with some key County Council

strategic priorities, namely promoting volunteering, encouraging the local community to

participate in their libraries, providing opportunities for local residents to thrive, developing

digital services, and libraries being seen as a community asset. They also see a clear benefit

in delivering their work with young people under the national brand of Reading Hack, as it

brings credibility and professionalism to the programme as well as providing libraries with

resources and advice about good practice:

“Well thought-out national schemes are pivotal for library services when there

has been a decrease in budget and staff time. Having something packaged that

can be tailored to local corporate priorities is unbelievably helpful.” – Strategic

stakeholder, Hertfordshire

In Manchester, Reading Hack supports libraries to embed young people as volunteers,

aiming to move to a point where library staff and service users alike are fully accepting of

young people volunteering or running events themselves as part of the community. The

library authority has a vision of Reading Hack volunteers becoming role models for other

children and young people, encouraging them to use libraries and making library spaces

vibrant and relevant in the future.

“If we can get children and young people into buildings (which even with all the

changes in recent years will ultimately always be places for books and learning),

then maybe we can change the life paths of many children and young people and

build on it for many others.” – Manchester Library staff

In Telford & Wrekin, a particularly challenging time in 2016 left library staff feeling unable to

reflect in detail on the impact Reading Hack has had on them. However, now they are

planning the programme alongside other activities for 2017 and beyond, they noted that

Reading Hack provides a nationally-recognised brand under which to deliver their offer to

young people in line with their statutory obligations. They are using the Reading Hack brand

for their Reading Hack group and for volunteering roles, but there might be potential for other

offers to young people to come under the same branding, such as one-off events and

expanding their ‘poetry on loan’ programme to include young people.

These experiences and reflections from our case studies suggest that the close alignment of

Reading Hack with national priorities for libraries supports library authorities to address those

priorities and obligations more effectively.



Improved networks and influence in their work with young

people

A wider reach and audience

One way in which Reading Hack has enabled libraries to develop and widen

reach and audience is through the events that Reading Hack participants

have organised. Library staff noted that events that are designed and delivered by young

people for their peers are an effective way of attracting more people to the library. In

Croydon and Manchester, staff reflected that these events have attracted a much larger

number of attendees than others that did not involve Reading Hack.

“We had 70 people take part in the last event which is probably the biggest

number that came to any event last summer. That was quite huge, especially for

something that wasn’t about having an author or a storyteller coming in, it was

just an event we put together, so that’s had a good impact on the library.” –

Croydon Library staff

In Manchester, one of the events staff referred to took place in an area of low library

attendance, and had double the turn-out they had previously experienced.

Having young people involved as Reading Hack volunteers during the Summer Reading

Challenge also makes a difference to the reach of this initiative. For example, library staff in

Staffordshire observed that children and young people visiting the library feel more

comfortable approaching other young people rather than adults, and so they think that

having young people as volunteers may increase children’s participation in reading

activities:

“Smaller children go the desk when there are Reading Hackers there, whereas

when there’s an adult they’ll stay away.” – Staffordshire Library staff

“The nine/ten-year-olds really enjoy coming to things which are run by other

young people […] Sometimes I’ll come downstairs and [a young person] is

helping an eight-year-old choose a book and they really enjoy talking to them. I

know the same things as them but I can’t talk to them on the same level. You’re

breaking down that massive barrier.” – Staffordshire Library staff

In Hertfordshire, a stakeholder noted that the Reading Hack brand attracts young people

because it suggests creative and digital approaches to reading, rather than the traditional

role of libraries. In this way, they feel the programme helps to extend the reach and audience

of libraries and supporting a culture shift towards libraries as modern and inspiring spaces:

“The Reading Hack influence is very pertinent as libraries work digital culture into

their delivery model.” – Strategic stakeholder, Hertfordshire

The extent to which Reading Hack supports this culture shift more widely will be an

interesting avenue to explore further in year three of the evaluation.



Improved local image of the organisation as a place where young people are taking the lead

As Reading Hack becomes more embedded in libraries, some library staff

have noticed that library users start to see Reading Hack volunteers as staff

members. In this way, Reading Hack is seen as an important way for mainstreaming the

involvement of young people in libraries. These observations were particularly evident in

Hertfordshire and Staffordshire:

“The volunteers wear a Reading Hack t-shirt or lanyard, parents who come in

love the sound of it.” – Hertfordshire Library staff

“If you’re wearing a lanyard, they don’t differentiate by age. They treat them

[Reading Hack volunteers] like members of staff.” – Staffordshire Library staff

In some libraries, Reading

Hack participants are helping

with other initiatives, and this

is helping to embed the

involvement of young people

more widely in the organisation.

For example, in Staffordshire,

Reading Hack volunteers are

helping to promote the Reading

Well for Young People book

list.

In response to the survey

question asking whether

“Reading Hack has improved the image of the library amongst young people”, half (49%) of

respondents (library staff and school practitioners) either agreed or strongly agreed that it

has. Only 9% disagreed or strongly disagreed, and 42% were not sure (see chart above).

Strengthened and new partnerships and networks in the local area

Several new partnerships have developed through the Reading Hack programme. For our

case study library authorities, links with local schools have been strengthened, as library

staff and existing Reading Hack participants contact them to encourage participation and to

raise awareness about events they are planning. Some libraries have also developed

partnerships with charities and community groups, including mental health charities,

museums, and reading and literacy initiatives in the local area. In Hertfordshire, they are

actively working with young people to explore potential new partnerships for the future,

further embedding youth-led initiatives in how they work.

9%

40%

8%

1%

42%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has improved the image of our library amongst young people



Reading Hack activities can sometimes lead to new ideas for future events involving

members of the community. For example, in Staffordshire Reading Hack volunteers

publicised their activities with posters in the local area and this led to a local library hosting a

fringe festival including a reading group and musicians. These examples suggest that

Reading Hack can help to facilitate partnership development, especially as libraries start to

think more creatively about how they engage with young people.

In contrast, some case study sites have not seen a correlation between delivering Reading

Hack and the strengthening and development of partnerships. In Croydon, this was due to

the interpersonal challenges within the Reading Hack group and lack of staff capacity. Staff

capacity is a challenge that arises frequently in our case study authorities however these

difficulties have also helped to generate learning and new ideas as outlined in chapter 6.


question, “Reading Hack has

encouraged you to work in

partnership with more

organisations”, over a third

(37%) of respondents (library

staff and school practitioners)

either agreed or strongly agreed.

However, similar proportions

disagreed (30%), or were not

sure (32%) (see chart). This

suggests that different

organisations have quite

different experiences in terms of the impact of Reading Hack on the formation of new

partnerships.

Although several library staff and school practitioners agreed that Reading Hack has

encouraged them to work in partnership with more organisations, survey data from library

authorities shows that the number of existing and new partnerships has decreased overall

since the previous year (see charts below). However, it should be noted that the 2015-2016

data was from 53 library authority respondents, while the 2016-2017 data was from 167

library authority respondents (some of whom did not complete the partnership section of the

survey), so the figures are not directly comparable.

While Reading Hack has the potential to open up new avenues for partnerships and

networks, contextual factors relating to the local area and the capacity and enthusiasm of

library staff are likely to affect the extent to which this is realised. The Reading Agency may

be able to play a role here in providing ideas and support or sharing examples of successful

partnership development for library authorities to learn from. Partnership development may

have benefits in relation to reaching harder to reach young people (as one example in the

following section illustrates), so this is an area that could be prioritised further.

6%

31%29%

1%

32%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has encouraged us to work in partnership with more

organisations



Percentage of library authority survey respondents that worked with existing partnerships in the

following organisations in 2017 compared to 2016.

Percentage of library authority survey respondents that developed new partnerships with the following

organisations in 2017 compared to 2016

53%

17%

17%

17%

23%

9%

4%

11%

2%

4%

13%

31%

16%

7%

4%

8%

2%

0%

1%

2%

2%

4%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

School

College

University

Arts organisation

Youth group

Leisure centre

Job centre

Care home/foster organisation

Travellers education

Pupil referral unit or youth offending institution

Other (please specify)

Existing partnerships

2017 (167 respondents) 2016 (53 respondents)

15%

5%

5%

2%

3%

2%

1%

1%

1%

1%

2%

2%

1%

3%

3%

1%

0%

1%

0%

1%

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16%

School

College

University

Arts organisation

Youth group

Leisure centre

Job centre

Care home/foster organisation

Travellers education

Pupil referral unit or youth offending institution

New partnerships

2017 (167 respondents) 2016 (53 respondents)



Reaching groups of young people who have not been involved in the organisation before

Although many Reading Hack participants would have used libraries

anyway, several case study library authorities have been proactive in aiming

to reach other young people, using a variety of approaches.

In Staffordshire, they have been particularly successful in their recruitment of young people

to take part in Reading Hack. They have participants whose ages range from mid-teens to

early twenties, as well as an even split in terms of gender. Library staff described how

Reading Hack appeals to young people who would not have traditionally been

involved with activity linked to reading or libraries:

“There’s a perception that if you volunteer in the library you like books and you’re

a nerd. That’s not who we get. We get people who don’t like reading. We get

people who haven’t used the library before.” – Staffordshire Library staff

They reflected that this is partly due to the range of opportunities on offer for young people,

and partly due to the youth-led and non-prescriptive approach. In comparison, some other

case study library authorities have maintained the model of delivering Reading Hack through

year-round groups and summer volunteering, which may not be providing the diversity of

opportunities that would attract other young people.

In Hertfordshire, they have taken an issue-based approach to engaging harder to reach

groups. They decided to focus on the mental health, and used activities based on this issue,

such as the ‘Shelf Help’ initiative, to engage with different young people. They are still fairly

new to the Reading Hack programme so for now they are focused on rolling the programme

out, with plans to engage with specific harder to reach groups in the future. They already

have several young people with disabilities who are part of the Reading Hack programme

although it is not clear whether this was a result of a targeted approach.

In Croydon, the Reading Hack coordinator is also working in other boroughs and has been

doing successful outreach work in Ealing, running Reading Hack activities with young

people who are in care, or who are preparing to leave care13. There is potential to use a

similar model in Croydon, with a local centre for refugees, so it will be interesting to learn

how this partnership develops in the third year of the Reading Hack evaluation.

The library authority surveys showed that a fairly low percentage of respondents have

targeted specific groups of harder to reach young people with Reading Hack. The most

commonly targeted group is young people who do not use the library often, who have been

targeted by about one in ten (9%) respondents (see chart below). Encouraging libraries to

embed outreach to harder to reach groups from the start of a programme as well as

13 https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/002-showcase/case-study-ealing-libraries-work-with-disadvantaged-young-people-from-horizons-education-and-achieve.html

https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/002-showcase/case-study-ealing-libraries-work-with-disadvantaged-young-people-from-horizons-education-and-achieve.html

https://readingagency.org.uk/young-people/002-showcase/case-study-ealing-libraries-work-with-disadvantaged-young-people-from-horizons-education-and-achieve.html



providing support and advice about how to do this could help to address this issue, as some

library staff lacked confidence and knowledge about how to reach different groups.

Increased ability and confidence of libraries to empower young

people

Youth led activity becoming the norm and young people's ideas and feedback are fully integrated into the organisation

At several of the case study libraries, youth-led activity is becoming more

normalised. Some library authorities described a culture shift in the extent to which youth-

led activity is the norm in their libraries. Staff have started to share ideas with young people

and ask them about their ideas too. Staff are starting to think of different ways to involve

young people and give them more responsibility such as leading activities and developing

new year-round volunteer roles.

In Hertfordshire, the involvement of young people in the refurbishment of the Teenage Area

at Watford Central Library had a significant impact on young people and staff alike. Visitors

to the library are often struck by the design of the space, including its digitally printed

wallpaper, and the initiative is being used as a model of young people’s involvement in the

design of library spaces elsewhere in the county:

“Young people could not believe that they had an influence. No one would have

thought of doing what they suggested.” – Hertfordshire Library staff

0%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

1%

4%

4%

4%

7%

9%

0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7% 8% 9% 10%

Young mothers/fathers

Refugees and asylum seekers

Young offenders

Young people with English as an additional…

Travellers

Young people excluded from school

Other

Young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds

Looked after children

Young people who grew up in care

Young people from economically disadvantaged…

Young people who don’t use the library often

Percentage of library authority respondents that targeted the following groups



In response to the survey question asking whether “Reading Hack has encouraged you to

give young people ownership of the reading activities they do in the library”, nearly three

quarters (72%) of respondents (library authorities, library staff and school practitioners)

either agreed or strongly agreed (see chart below). This is a highly positive finding,

suggesting that the Reading Hack programme is having a direct impact on the extent to

which activities are youth-led.

Library staff members identified several

benefits of a youth-led approach through

Reading Hack. These benefits included

practical, skills-based support from

young people, such as planning and

delivering events; and giving the libraries

advice on using social media or choosing

promotional materials that are more

likely to attract other young people. The

energy and enthusiasm the young

people bring to the space and the ability

for young people to attract their peers

to the libraries is also a benefit. In

Staffordshire and Hertfordshire, young people are also getting involved in routine library

activities such as taking responsibility for displays, or helping to choose new young adult

fiction stock.

Youth-led activity can work particularly well with older Reading Hack participants (aged

15+), and where there is a wide spectrum of ages enabling older participants to take on a

mentoring role with younger participants. For example, at Telford & Wrekin, the Reading

Hack group is a mix of ages, with some participants aged 15-16 and others aged 12-13. The

young people and library staff alike described how the older participants have taken on a

mentoring role with younger Reading Hackers, bringing benefits to the former in terms of

increased responsibility and leadership skills, and to the latter in terms of being supported to

try new things and develop their own ideas.

Individual staff members noted that their approach to working with young people has

changed, because handing over some responsibility has shown them what the young people

are capable of:

“She [Reading Hack volunteer] came in and delivered all the events with me,

one event every week for the summer. For the last event, I couldn’t make it and

she did the activity, she prepared the crafts. The whole process was definitely led

by her and I was just there to check that nothing went wrong.” – Staffordshire

Library staff

A youth-led approach in Croydon has proved to be very challenging in 2016-2017 due to the

young age of the Reading Hack group participants. As a result, the library staff have taken

back some control over activities to find a balance that works for a group of 13 year olds.

16%

56%

1% 1%

26%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has encouraged us to give young people

ownership of the reading activities they do in the library



There were several challenges in giving control to this younger Reading Hack group. The

scale of their ideas and ambitions was not always achievable. Participants lacked the

maturity to work together as a team to deliver activities:

“I think we ended up giving too much control to the group, before they were really

ready to take that on. We overestimated their leadership capabilities. We learnt

from that and took more control in the second event, giving more direction to the

group. I don’t really like to do that too much as I like to give them control and

ownership over the activities but when they are at this younger end of the

spectrum it’s hard to do that, they need more support and direction.” – Croydon

Library staff

The Reading Hack group participants in Croydon also required a lot of coaching in order to

focus on coming up with ideas; library staff found if they didn’t do this, the group would

struggle to pay attention to the task:

“On the youth-led side of things, we’ve had to take back more control because of

their age. They come up with their own ideas, but we have to coax the ideas out

of them and we have to create a purpose for the event too, we’re coaching them

through it all the way.” – Croydon Library staff

The main learning for Croydon library staff from this experience is that the extent to which

responsibility can be given to the young people involved in Reading Hack is dependent upon

their age and level of maturity and that there is a need to find a balance to ensure that their

youth-led approach is age-appropriate. This is discussed in further detail in the following

section.

Improved ability to work with young people

Through working towards a more youth-led approach, library staff tried new

approaches and ideas, and learnt from them. Their learning journey has involved a shift in

attitude and confidence as well as development of the skills to work effectively with

young people in this way.

For example, in Hertfordshire, in the

recent past library managers were

concerned that staff were not able to

work well with young people, especially

staff in smaller libraries, or in libraries

with an older staff profile. A survey

confirmed this by showing that

customer service with teenagers

needed to be improved. Reading Hack

is viewed as a way to help address this

problem and some of the success

factors that have helped Hertfordshire

18%

55%

7%

0%

21%27%

53%

4%0%

16%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Staff feel confident about working with young people

2016 2017



to address this issue are outlined in chapter 6. One strategic stakeholder noted that Reading

Hack is playing an important role in developing staff skills for working with young

people, and because the remit of Reading Hack is wider than the Summer Reading

Challenge, it is more effective at doing so.

In response to the survey question in 2017 asking whether staff “feel confident about working

with young people”, 80% of local library staff respondents either agreed or strongly agreed

(compared to 73% in 2016), only 4% disagreed or strongly disagreed (7% in 2016), and 16%

were not sure (21% in 2016) (see chart).

The percentage of staff who feel confident about working with young people has increased

since 2016 (although the sample size is slightly different – 122 respondents in 2016 and 89

in 2017 – so they are not directly comparable). Although the survey data does not tell us

whether Reading Hack has led to this increase, the qualitative findings help to explain the

ways in which Reading Hack may be supporting this increase in confidence among staff.

Several of our case study library authorities have experienced challenges of different kinds

this year and they are just beginning to explore and test out solutions. Despite some

encouraging evidence from the surveys and from the qualitative research, library staff in

some case study sites have struggled to identify their work as best practice. This could be

because the difficulties they have experienced in resourcing, staff capacity, and uncertainty

have loomed large in their minds this year, or perhaps because they are focused on how to

make improvements rather than what has gone well.

Library authorities are trying to build on what they think works well in working with young

people, but they are also in the process of learning from challenges and difficulties. For

example, in Croydon, there were lessons around adapting the extent to which young people

are given control and responsibility based on their levels of maturity; and aiming for a group

that has more of a mix of young people from different backgrounds:

“I think the main thing I’ve learnt is not expecting too much of the young people.

At the start, I think we gave too much responsibility and had too high

expectations of what they could achieve as a group and as a team. It not only

gave us more work, to make sure the events actually took place, it also meant

that we alienated a few people as well, and ended up losing some of them from

the group. We’ve learnt a lot about how young people work together too and how

important it is to have a mix of young people rather than just running with what

we’ve got currently which is one small group of friends. I feel it would work better

with a group of young people who didn’t know each other, coming together and

collaborating. How it evolves is going to be interesting.” - Croydon Library staff

This learning has been a difficult process for the staff involved, initially having a negative

impact on their confidence about how they work with young people. But they are reflective

and open to taking the learning forward to the next year’s Reading Hack programme, with

several ideas about ways of working:

“I’ve gained a lot of learning from it all, I’ve been doing this kind of thing for years

but this is the first time I’ve experienced anything like this. It’s had quite an



impact on us as staff, really knocked our confidence and made us question how

we do things.” – Croydon Library staff

These kinds of challenges are likely to arise in other libraries and library authorities too, and

there would be value in libraries being able to share these experiences and ideas for how to

overcome them.

In Staffordshire, library staff reflected that by taking a more youth-led approach they are

learning about what interests young people and how best to communicate and engage

with them. For example, one library staff member describes the benefit of consulting

Reading Hack volunteers on ordering young adults’ fiction, in terms of better understanding

what young people want to read:

“They choose things that I wouldn’t choose. Some of the things they choose are

really strange. They go and choose things on the virtual bookshelf. There will be

some major author and they won’t put them on and they’ll say ‘that’s boring’ or

they’ve read it and said ‘it’s not that good’. I would have thought that’s what we

should be buying but they’ll say ‘none of my mates will read that’. I’m very up to

date with stock, but them doing it, you find a slightly different perception.” –

Staffordshire Library staff

Library staff in Staffordshire have also experimented with their own form of peer research,

getting Reading Hack volunteers to develop surveys for other young people:

“They had sheets asking other young people what would make them use the

library more, was there anything we didn’t have that they wanted. That’s been

really good to inform where I’m going to develop things. They designed all the

sheets for that and designed the questions.” – Staffordshire Library staff

Improved staff attitudes to young people

Library staff members in case study sites said that working with young people

as part of Reading Hack has started to improve staff attitudes towards young people.

In response to the survey question asking whether staff “enjoy engaging young people in

reading-related activities”, in 2017 91% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed

(compared with 89% in 2016), only 1% disagreed (3% in 2016), and 8% were not sure (the

same in 2016) (see chart below). The enjoyment of engaging young people in reading-

related activities was already very high in 2016, and has increased slightly in 2017 (although

this could be due to the different sample sizes in each year).



In Staffordshire and Hertfordshire

staff felt that there had previously

been some fear or uncertainty

about working with teenagers.

One staff member said that other

library staff did not know what to do

with the young volunteers at first,

and were nervous, but this feeling

is now changing and staff are

appreciating young people’s role:

“Young people bring in a

different dimension to a

library, they add a social

element and staff look at

themselves differently.” – Hertfordshire Library staff

Library staff are starting to see teenagers differently, noticing that teenagers today can

take on responsibility and can be quite mature as a result:

“It’s opened my eyes to the fact that teenagers now aren’t like teenagers when I

was young. They’re really responsible. They’ve got achievements. They’re not

just bumbling on.” Staffordshire Library staff

The impact of young people on the library spaces is also changing how library staff see

young people. For example, in Hertfordshire, staff found that having young people in the

libraries made the space more vibrant, and changed the dynamic between staff and

young people.

Staff willingness to try new ideas and approaches to reading related activities

Through Reading Hack, some library staff members are thinking more

creatively and broadly about what constitutes reading and recognise that engaging young

people requires them to have an open mind and a flexible approach.

Several libraries are working with young people on digital activities, arts, crafts, and

drama, to engage young people in different ways with books, libraries and reading. At

Telford & Wrekin, the Reading Hack group participants have been working towards their

Silver Arts Award, putting on a talent show, writing poetry, and making a video based on

their poems. At Croydon, the Reading Hack group enjoys putting on plays, and designing

events and activities to engage young children in reading and books.

At Manchester, one staff member said that they are starting to realise how activities that

are not obviously connected to reading can be linked to storytelling, books and

literacy. For example, young people are using ‘Raspberry Pi’ to learn about programming,

30%

59%

3%0%

8%

39%

52%

1% 0%

8%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Staff enjoy engaging young people in reading-related activities

2016 2017



and they have found that they can use programming to ‘hack’ games such as Minecraft, but

also to ‘hack’ stories. Because of this experience, the library is keen to develop the digital

element of Reading Hack. They also reflected that young people engage with the term ‘hack’

and use it to think creatively about books. For example, during the summer, volunteers

hacked books to rearrange the text. They enjoyed changing the story or creating an

illustration of their ideal version of the book and engaging with reading in a creative and

different way:

“Hacking a book gives a feeling of ‘breaking the rules’ – young people totally

understand the ‘hack’ element.” – Manchester Library staff

Finally, in Staffordshire, library staff noted that Reading Hack has fitted in well with their

ethos of making libraries into community hubs and ‘more than just books’. Many of the

activities run by Reading Hack volunteers go beyond reading or reading-inspired activity,

such as coding and stop-motion

animation clubs, drama

workshops, Pokémon Go

activities and a wide variety of

arts and crafts.

The survey responses support

these findings (see charts).


question in 2017 asking whether

“Staff know how to encourage

young people to enjoy reading in

lots of different ways”, 80% of

respondents either agreed or strongly agreed (73% in 2016), only 5% disagreed or strongly

disagreed (6% in 2016), and 15% were not sure (21% in 2016).


question in 2017 asking whether

“Staff enjoy using new ideas to

encourage young people to read”,

85% of respondents either agreed

or strongly agreed (81% in 2016),

4% disagreed or strongly

disagreed (3% in 2016), and 11%

were not sure (17% in 2016).

Note that the sample sizes for the

survey responses are slightly

different in 2016 and 2017 which

may account for some of the

changes identified.

17%

56%

6%0%

21%24%

56%

4% 1%

15%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Staff know how to encourage young people to enjoy reading in lots of

different ways

2016 2017

21%

60%

3%0%

17%

27%

58%

3% 1%

11%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Staff enjoy using new ideas to encourage young people to read

2016 2017



Impact on staff capacity

Staff capacity is a significant challenge in the current financial climate in libraries, and was at

the forefront of the minds of staff members we spoke to. Although the impact of Reading

Hack on staff capacity may not have originally been envisaged as a key impact area, it is

becoming increasingly important given questions about the sustainability of library services.

Library staff identified several benefits of the Reading Hack programme for the libraries, one

of which was the provision of valuable capacity for over-stretched library staff during busy

times. Library authorities are supporting young people to take on more responsibility which in

turn is freeing up limited staff capacity.

In Staffordshire, staff have been very supportive of young people, partly because they have

become more dependent upon young people due to decreased staff numbers. For

example, they thought that delivering the Summer Reading Challenge may not be possible

without the contribution of the young Reading Hack volunteers.

In relation to this, a strategic stakeholder in Staffordshire noted that Reading Hack provides

a good stepping stone to formal volunteering at the community-managed libraries,

which in turn will support the sustainability of these libraries. They believe that the young

people volunteering in libraries now will be more likely to do so as adults, and support the

community-managed libraries in the future:

“People have grown up with the library. As they move into these more adult roles,

it’s natural, it’s not a shock, and we don’t have to train them up to do everything.”

– Strategic stakeholder, Staffordshire

The survey asked two questions about how Reading Hack has affected staff capacity (see

charts). In response to the question asking whether “Reading Hack has helped increase

library capacity”, 37% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed, 20% disagreed or strongly

disagreed, and 42% were not sure.

In response to the question asking

whether “Reading Hack has created

extra work”, 46% agreed or strongly

agreed, 38% disagreed, and 17%

were not sure.

These responses suggest there are

different experiences across libraries

in terms of whether Reading Hack has

helped increase staff capacity through

additional resource, or whether it has

increased pressure on capacity by

creating extra work.

8%

29%

16%

4%

42%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has helped increase library capacity



Our qualitative research with case

study sites suggests the impact on staff

capacity may be affected by how

libraries choose to deliver Reading

Hack. Running Reading Hack groups

seems to take up more staff capacity,

while having a variety of volunteer roles

seems to help relieve the pressure on

staff time (although it is important to

note this is not the experience in every

case). We will explore this further in

year three as libraries continue to

develop and embed their different

models of delivering Reading Hack.

7%

39% 38%

0%

17%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Stronglyagree


Not sure

Reading Hack has created extra work for us



6. Learning and reflections

This chapter summarises the key success factors and challenges experienced by the library

staff members we spoke to about Reading Hack. For four out of five of our case study sites,

the programme has now been established for at least a year. The challenges these library

sites are experiencing now are related to developing and maintaining the programme within

a difficult context of budget cuts and uncertainty. As such, these library sites had less to

share with us around the specific success factors they have experienced in the past year. In

contrast, Hertfordshire, our new case study site for this second year of the evaluation, has

only recently started rolling out the Reading Hack programme after a successful pilot. This

site had more success factors to share with us because of this structured approach to

implementation.

Success factors

The libraries were keen to emphasise the successes they had had during the year in

recruiting young people and delivering activities, including large events that attracted

families and may have raised the profile of Reading Hack locally. One consistent feature

of the programme at our case study libraries is the link that libraries make between Reading

Hack and other strands of activities with young people. Library staff also noted that linking

Reading Hack with an existing programme is effective (for example, DofE, or Arts Award).

By establishing this link, libraries can add a young people’s strand of activities to existing

projects, such as those usually targeted at adults. Linking Reading Hack activities to reading-

inspired events such as World Book Night or the BBC #LoveToRead campaign seems to

be an effective way to engage young people. These events provide a ‘hook’ for young

people to build their ideas around and provide library staff with a focus for the activities.

While some library authorities struggle with recruiting young people due to a perceived

lack of staff capacity to do so, Staffordshire library staff have described having no problem

with recruitment, gaining young volunteers through the Summer Reading Challenge, Duke of

Edinburgh Award, local schools, colleges and universities. They have Reading Hack

participants from across the whole age range, with an even split across genders, and with

some success in attracting young people who would not have traditionally been involved with

libraries or reading-related activities. They put this success down to having a wide and

effective network of feeder organisations, a variety of different roles for young people to take

on, and an informal, friendly approach to their interactions with young people.

While four of the five case studies are in the second year of Reading Hack, Hertfordshire has

more recently rolled out the programme beyond summer volunteering. The recent roll-out

meant that the success factors relating to setting up the programme were at the forefront of

their minds, while for some of the other case study sites, the challenges they have

experienced in maintaining momentum under difficult circumstances meant that we heard

less about success factors.



The introduction of Reading Hack Coordinator roles in each of the libraries delivering

Reading Hack has been a key success factor in Hertfordshire. The librarian with

responsibility for Service Development and Projects works with the Reading Hack

Coordinators and Library Managers at participating libraries to ensure understanding of how

the programme fits into libraries and to build confidence in its delivery. One important aspect

of the Reading Hack Coordinator role is to be a mentor, with a high level of interaction with

the Reading Hackers. This is especially the case in libraries where staff are not used to

having young volunteers and therefore are unsure how to relate to them and what guidance

they need. The Coordinator role can bridge this gap between library staff and young people

through proactive communication with the Reading Hackers, asking them what they are

enjoying and what challenges they are experiencing, and being on hand to answer any

questions. However, as the programme progresses it will be important for the Reading Hack

Coordinators to include other library staff in this more interactive approach to working with

the young people in their libraries, otherwise there will be little shift in general attitudes

among library staff towards the young people.

Hertfordshire has set up a Reading Hack Coordinators email group to support effective

communication and learning, as well as local meet-ups, and the members of the group are

all proactive and communicative. In order to foster the attitude that all staff are

responsible for the development of Reading Hack, the Service Development Librarian

includes Library Managers in her emails to Reading Hack Coordinators so that they are

aware of what is going on. Hertfordshire libraries have ownership of their own Reading Hack

delivery and are encouraged to develop the programme locally based on the context of the

individual library.

Challenges and proposed solutions

Addressing a reduction in staff capacity

In a period when many libraries are restructuring services in response to a reduction in

funding, most libraries we spoke to identified resourcing as a challenge in the delivery of

Reading Hack. Library staff often said that a single staff member may already be working

more than one role. Finding the staff time to support Reading Hack is often difficult in this

context.

There are several aspects to the challenge of resourcing the programme. In the first place,

uncertainty around staff capacity or continuity can impact upon the offer locally, as those

overseeing Reading Hack may be not be able to provide clarity on how the programme will

be delivered. This may limit their ability to attract or retain participants, and can also prevent

the expansion or embedding of Reading Hack in a library.

Staff are aware that growth of the programme beyond their capacity to support it would

also impact on the experience of the participants involved:



“I feel so bad, I’ve had more [young people] ask [to join the group] this week,

about four or five a week. I’d like to grow it but it’s capacity to support. I don’t

want them to have a bad experience. I want it to be growing and positive and

benefiting them and benefiting us. If there’s too many their individuality is lost.

They feel like they’re one of many.” – Library staff

Several of the case study libraries are moving out of the challenging state of flux they

experienced this year so these challenges may ease as things become more settled.

However, it is unlikely that these challenges will disappear completely and addressing staff

capacity will continue to be needed. One way in which some libraries are beginning to

address this issue is through giving more responsibility to older Reading Hackers, as they

embed a youth-led approach into their way of working. This suggests that capacity may

improve with time as libraries find ways to build and sustain this momentum.

Selecting appropriate activities

There are also learnings associated with selecting Reading Hack activities that will both

attract and engage young people, and not drain staff capacity. Some library authorities have

found that running an ongoing Reading Hack group is the most time-consuming activity

under the Reading Hack programme. This is due to the need to ensure that there are

enough participants who can attend regularly, and also the need to navigate interpersonal

dynamics within a peer group setting. Croydon and Manchester, for example, are moving

away from running groups and towards other options such as one-off events or year-

round volunteering roles.

Similarly, in Manchester, staff capacity was stretched by having too many different

formal volunteer roles. The Service Development Officer noted that this model

necessitates a lot of training time, as staff must ensure that volunteers are matched to

appropriate roles. She noted that the authority would be moving away from this model, which

placed a lot of responsibilities for recruitment and training on Library Managers, towards a

more flexible youth-led approach based on participants volunteering for something they

want to do.

In 2016/17, the national Reading Hack programme ran a number of competitions for young

people’s groups to take part in national activity, often linked to publisher promotions. They

also offered opportunities for young people to apply for small activity budgets for group

events through the monthly Reading Hack Project Fund. The Reading Agency also launched

an annual Call for Ideas for groups of young people to come up with a big idea to get their

peers reading. One staff member felt that there could be more effective ways to apply for

funding from The Reading Agency. They felt that submitting applications took a lot of time

and resources, as well as encouraging the development of ideas for delivery that may be

larger than appropriate for the local context. One approach would be to have smaller pots of

money available, perhaps for materials.



Retaining Reading Hack participants

Another significant challenge identified by those we spoke to was the difficulty in

sustaining the commitment of participants. One authority area found that the opportunity

for young people and libraries to learn from each other was hampered by a lack of

engagement from participants who were there ‘just to do their hours’. Staff noted the

importance of understanding what volunteers want and will give, and matching the role to the

participant. They emphasised that this is important because training young people is a

significant use of resources, and there is a risk that a participant will leave shortly after they

have been trained. Library staff elsewhere also noted that young people may prefer

volunteering on a short-term basis, and will often have schoolwork or exams that limit their

capacity to take part in Reading Hack; at one pilot site, for example, no volunteers from the

pilot continued their involvement, as they had all moved on to university. This points to the

importance of having a variety of opportunities for short and longer-term involvement,

according to the needs of young people. It also suggests that there could be a role for

libraries to signpost young people to different ways of engaging with libraries once they

move on, for example to start college, university or employment.

Young people and staff alike observed that where volunteers function as individuals,

rather than as participants in dedicated Reading Hack groups, this limits the opportunities

for them to work together and develop leadership skills in a peer group context:

“Mainly it’s by myself just because of the time that others come…we only overlap

slightly so we don’t tend to work together” – Reading Hack participant

If lack of staff resources means that individual volunteering roles become more popular in

comparison to Reading Hack groups, it will be important to address this issue. One Reading

Hack participant offered some suggestions:

“I also think there should be more connection between the volunteers. If you

volunteer on your own, it can feel very isolated, as if there is no one else involved

in the scheme, when there is. It should be that Reading Hack volunteers have

meetings together, where they can discuss ideas, their experiences and what

they want from their involvement.” – Reading Hack participant

Providing age-based support for young people

Staff noted that younger volunteers require more instruction and support, or need to be

allocated further tasks regularly. They may not be willing to share their thoughts in a group

context, compromising the effectiveness of working as a team:

“Sometimes people don’t have the courage to lead it themselves and take control

so having someone to ask to give them something to do is better.” – Library staff

This has been part of the learning journey as libraries move to become more youth-led. In

doing so, library staff are recognising that younger people need more support to work

together and cannot be expected to take leadership roles. This suggests it is important for



libraries to have realistic expectations and provide appropriate levels of support

according to age group.

Managing conflict and expectations

The sense of teamwork within a group can also be affected if there is any interpersonal

conflict within a group. Libraries could benefit from support or guidance about how to

manage conflicts within Reading Hack activities, and shared learning about how different

age groups might work differently together and with staff.

There can also be a disparity between staff and participant expectations. While staff

describe the need to guide and supervise participants, some young people expressed a

willingness to have further input or to move more quickly to the delivery stage of a project,

with less developmental time.

Participants within a group may have different expectations too: while one staff member

describes the value of having a mixture of ages and personality types in a group, as those

who are more confident can lead the others, staff at another library described the difficulty of

integrating potential new participants into a group that functions as a clique.

Linking to the national programme

The last challenge identified across the libraries we spoke to was finding the best way to link

local activity to Reading Hack at the national level. Some staff and participants described

a difficulty in grasping Reading Hack as a wider programme beyond what is happening

locally. Some of this difficulty may be because an authority area may deliver activities within

only a single strand of the Reading Hack programme (volunteering, reading-inspired activity

or peer-to-peer reading advocacy). Such an area might not be able to make use of all of the

promotional material provided by the Reading Agency or feel unsure as to whether they were

delivering Reading Hack if they only choose to develop one strand of the programme. There

could therefore be clearer signposting to clarify what constitutes Reading Hack and how

library authorities can adapt their offer to young people in different ways under the banner of

the national programme. The Reading Agency is already working on this through, for

example, a seminar with interested library authorities to showcase different models and

examples of delivering the programme.

We heard that there was some interest in developing links between participants across

different libraries, and also between library staff who are responsible for Reading

Hack. It appears to be difficult to make these links systematically due to limited staff capacity

and the fact that young people may be volunteering individually rather than as part of a

group. There are the additional complications as young people’s ability to travel to other

libraries is limited, particularly in rural areas, and some participants have suggested an

online forum could be a solution.

There are other specific challenges presented by the material that the Reading Agency

offers to libraries: a library may be restricted on colour printing, for example, and the



branded materials for Reading Hack may need to be refreshed and reissued to libraries in

order to maintain participant interest in the offer. Some staff mentioned that they encourage

participants to look at or sign up to the Reading Hack website, but that it was sometimes

difficult to get the young people to do so. The Reading Hack website has been designed in

collaboration with young people but perhaps there is some more work to be done here to find

out what changes might encourage people to engage with the website more often:

“They’re used to big websites which constantly change, so they think because it’s

not looking different, they think there’s no new information.” – Library staff

Maintaining a focus on reading in a digital age

The libraries we spoke to offered a range of opinions on the digital strand of the programme,

and its relation to books and the general perception of libraries as places for reading. While

there were many positive comments on the principle of using technology as part of the

programme, staff expressed concerns about maintaining social media, especially in the

light of the movement towards newer platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram:

“When you try and make books modern they have to try and compete with video

games and with a child the book’s never going to really win. You have to appeal

to a different nature. It should stick to the grass-roots. Books will always be old-

fashioned, but that doesn’t mean they’re outdated.” – Library staff

There is a challenge for libraries in maintaining a balance between the digital side of the

Reading Hack programme and the explicitly book-based or literacy side. Some library

staff told us that activities that are more loosely inspired by reading are more effective at

maintaining young people’s interest than those with a specific focus on reading:

“The monthly Reading Hack group meetings will be similar – mainly reading-

inspired activities to do with arts and literacy, and depending on whatever funding

streams we can tap into. As much as we’d like to focus on reading, which we do

try to do, there’s an element of the interest drying up if what you’re offering is

what the library offers anyway. They’re not going to come and sit for two hours if

all we’re doing is what they can do in the library anyway. We have to make it a

little bit different, it has to be more fun and interesting than school, and the way

we’ve been able to maintain that so far is by tapping into other service areas and

piggybacking on what they’re doing.” – Library staff

In addition to the range of opinions we heard on the use of digital tools as part of Reading

Hack, there are also varying levels of capacity across libraries in using technology.

Libraries therefore integrate technology and reading activities into the programme in different

ways depending on local context, which may lead to inconsistency or confusion about how to

define Reading Hack. As described above, libraries bring Reading Hack together with

other strands of activity to make best use of the funding available. While this has

several positive effects, it can also lead to uncertainty over the exact nature of Reading Hack



in relation to other strands of activity, as it may be difficult to define it as a specific

programme.

Summary

Overall, the biggest challenge libraries are facing is how to deliver Reading Hack in a way

that is effective and meaningful for the young people and for the libraries involved, while

coping with reduced budgets and staff capacity. In this second year of the programme these

challenges have been very evident in our case study areas and library authorities are trying

different approaches to find the best solution for their own context. As we look ahead to the

final year of the evaluation we will be working closely with The Reading Agency and with our

case study areas to monitor how the programme develops and what solutions libraries find

most effective.



7. Conclusions

Reading Hack in 2016-2017

In a context of budget cuts, library closures, and restructuring, library authorities have

experienced some challenges in delivering Reading Hack in 2016-2017. Nevertheless,

library staff are enthusiastic and committed to providing offers for young people and for

embedding change in their organisations for a future where young people are welcomed as

volunteers as well as visitors to libraries. While staff capacity and resourcing have been

challenging, due to new library authorities joining the programme, the number of young

people involved in Reading Hack has almost doubled.

As Reading Hack has evolved, library authorities and The Reading Agency have

experienced a shift in perception about what Reading Hack means. Increasingly, it is

becoming a flexible programme brand or umbrella banner under which many types of young

people’s involvement can sit, with a youth-led or co-production approach at the heart.

Libraries benefit from the recognition of Reading Hack as a national brand, while having the

flexibility to implement the programme in way that works for their specific context. And young

people are encouraged to take the lead in coming up with ideas and making Reading Hack

their own.

Although Reading Hack brings together three different strands of activity: volunteering;

reading-inspired activity; and peer-to-peer reading advocacy, the latter is less evident in our

case study libraries than the former two strands. Summer volunteering involves the largest

number of young people, but Reading Hack groups and year-round volunteering roles are

becoming more prominent in libraries’ offers to young people, accounting for almost a third

(28%) of Reading Hackers. Peer-to-peer reading advocacy is harder for libraries to

articulate, and more challenging for some young people who feel self-conscious about their

enjoyment of reading. While the programme can still have a positive impact on the young

people involved and on libraries based on the first two strands, without peer-to-peer

advocacy, the reach of the programme may be more limited.

As a result of the shifting way that Reading Hack is being defined and understood, it may be

that the original three strands become less distinct as time goes by and young people

continue to shape Reading Hack in ways that work for them. The Reading Agency

emphasises that as long as the Reading Hack principles, approach, and materials are used

by young people and libraries, then the exact nature of the activities that come under the

brand can evolve according to need and interest. In the year 3 evaluation we will explore

whether this divergence from the original intention has helped or hindered Reading Hack in

achieving its intended impacts.



The overall impact of Reading Hack

The impacts on young people and libraries are becoming both clearer and more nuanced as

the Reading Hack programme develops. Like last year, the biggest impact on young people

is an increase in their confidence and self-esteem, demonstrated by their ability to take

initiative, and to work and socialise together with their peers, adults, younger children and

people they would not normally interact with. There are also some encouraging impacts on

the skills that will promote their employability in the future, including planning, problem

solving, team-working and creativity. Reading Hack is providing young people with valuable

experience to add to their CVs.

As libraries become more comfortable with a youth-led approach, older young people

can take on more of a leadership role and put forward or implement suggestions, provide

advice to libraries, or support their younger counterparts.

The impact of Reading Hack on young people’s enjoyment of reading and sharing that

enjoyment of reading with others, like last year, continues to be less clear. There is a positive

impact for some young people, but for others there has been no change, often due to them

already having a strong enjoyment of reading before taking part. However, through

increasing the presence of young people in the libraries as volunteers, and in attracting more

people to visit libraries through events where young people are visibly present and involved,

Reading Hack may have a knock-on effect in encouraging young people to engage with

libraries into the future.

For libraries, co-designing and delivering events and activities with young Reading Hackers

has been a successful way of attracting visitors to the library and widening their reach in the

local community. Library staff are also finding that visitors start to see the young volunteers

as staff members, suggesting that the image of the library as a place where young

people are welcomed and involved is improving. Although some library staff feel Reading

Hack has enabled them to build new partnerships and networks, several libraries have not

had this experience, although this may be due to capacity constraints rather than related to

Reading Hack specifically. Similarly, there has been little work to target harder to reach

groups of young people. This may be due to a lack of confidence or knowledge on the part of

library staff and/or capacity challenges that lead staff to stick with what they know.

The impact of Reading Hack on library staff ability and confidence to work with young

people is positive overall, with several library staff in our case study sites reflecting on

shifts in attitudes, knowledge and behaviours as a result of working more closely with, and

giving responsibility to, young people.



Recommendations

Key points for programme improvement

• Encourage libraries to embed outreach, through The Reading Agency providing

ideas, guidance and support to the libraries. The national survey shows very few

library authorities have targeted harder to reach groups and the case study library

staff often lacked confidence or knowledge about how to go about this. The Reading

Agency could share more learning about successful outreach initiatives to help

develop capacity to do this work in more libraries. There are few successful examples

from our case study sites to date but this can be further explored in year three of the

evaluation to support this aim.

• Find a balance between encouraging libraries to try different creative approaches

to delivering Reading Hack while also maintaining the core focus of the programme.

While it is a positive sign that libraries are finding different ways to deliver the

programme amidst reductions in staff resource and funding, there is a risk that the

core purpose and focus of Reading Hack could be diluted and the programme could

start to lack coherence.

• Work with young people and library authorities to explore different ideas for peer-

to-peer reading advocacy. This is one area where there is less explicit focus in the

case study libraries. Developing this strand of the programme and providing further

resources and guidance could also support outreach to young people who would not

normally use libraries. However, one of the barriers to this work is that some young

people described feeling ‘embarrassed’ by the idea of encouraging their peers to read

more. Therefore, one approach might be to encourage Reading Hackers to reach out

to their peers on the basis of the creative projects and activities they take part in,

rather than asking them to emphasise the connection to books and reading, and the

to monitor whether this has a knock-on effect on their reading habits.

• Develop guidance on the pros and cons of different models of delivering Reading

Hack so that libraries have a starting point to make decisions based on their local

context. Year three of the evaluation can support this process by drawing this out

through our research.

• Continue to be led by young people in terms of deciding how to deliver Reading

Hack, according to their needs and interests.

• Provide support to libraries to help them work differently with different age groups,

so that older young people are given more independence and responsibility, and

younger people are given more support while they are still developing in confidence

and maturity.

• Encourage libraries to involve young people in decision-making and ask them for

advice about how to attract other young people to libraries. In some of the case study

libraries staff are beginning to work in this way with young people but it is quite a



culture shift in some cases and requires library staff to let go of some control and of

preconceived ideas about whether young people have the maturity needed for this

approach to be effective.

• Facilitate networking, whether virtual or in person, between libraries and young

people to help to share learning.

• Encourage Reading Hack leads in each library to involve other library staff in

activities for young people, to embed a youth-led approach throughout libraries rather

than through individual roles.

Key points to inform the next stage of evaluation

• Through the evaluation so far, the fieldwork has taken place in Autumn/Winter of

each year, which means the qualitative research has not been able to directly engage

with the Reading Hack summer volunteers. This was partly due to the summer

volunteering programme having been previously evaluated, but in the final year of this

evaluation it will be helpful to incorporate learning from this aspect of the Reading

Hack programme. Therefore, in the final year of the evaluation (2017-2018) we would

recommend carrying out fieldwork in two phases:

Summer 2017 (to engage with Reading Hack summer volunteers)

Autumn/Winter 2017 (to engage with other Reading Hack activities)

• Year one of the evaluation involved four case studies. In year two a fifth was

added, and in year three we are due to add a sixth case study. Reading Hack is now

becoming embedded in schools as well as libraries, and therefore we suggest

including a school or group of schools as our sixth case study. This will enable us to

explore the delivery and impact of the programme in a different context.

• In the final year of the evaluation we would like to hear more from strategic

stakeholders about how Reading Hack fits in with wider priorities. We have begun to

do this in year two, and will explore this further across all case studies in year three.

• We will work with case study sites in year three to arrange to speak to more

young people than was possible in year two. A field visit in the summer will support

this approach, as will a flexible approach towards carrying out face to face and

telephone interviews with young people.

• It would also be interesting to speak with a wider variety of library staff, to help

determine any shifts in attitudes and approach among library staff who do not have a

direct role in working with the young people. We could incorporate this into the

summer fieldwork phase.

• In year three, we anticipate that the programme delivery in our case study library

authorities will stabilise. If this is the case, we will be more able to explore different

models of delivering Reading Hack and to compare the pros and cons of different



approaches. We could consider adding in some survey questions to gather some of

this evidence in addition to the case study research.



A1. Appendix: Case study library authorities

Year two of the Reading Hack evaluation included in-depth research at five case study

locations – Staffordshire, Croydon, Telford & Wrekin, Manchester, and Hertfordshire.

Of these, the first four also took part in year one of the evaluation, while Hertfordshire was

added as a case study in this second year.

Some background to each of these locations is provided below to place the findings in

context. Further detail about the ways in which each case study is delivering Reading Hack,

and the learning and insights emerging from them is provided in the main body of this report,

in chapters 4 and 5.

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a large rural county in the West Midlands. There are 43 libraries in total (23

of which are community-managed) and they are split into 6 geographic clusters. Twenty

libraries within the authority are now delivering Reading Hack, with 117 young people taking

part in 2016-2017.

Staffordshire Libraries have been running summer volunteering for several years and

through Reading Hack the service has extended this summer offer to develop a year-round

volunteering offer. Implementation has been coordinated by the Stock, Services and

Activities Manager.

In Staffordshire, the Reading Hack brand is used as an overarching banner for their work

with young people. Several different types of activity and volunteering roles come under the

Reading Hack banner. Many of the activities in the libraries focus on traditional volunteering

(e.g. shelf tidying, making displays) as well as reading-inspired activity including crafts, and

themed activities (e.g. Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Harry Potter Night). They have also taken

part in national initiatives including Shakespeare Week, celebrating the Midlands playwright

through activities and performances, as well as the BBC’s #LoveToRead campaign to

highlight the joy of reading. There is an ambition to include Reading Hack more in

community outreach and large projects. Some existing projects that Reading Hack has been

linked with include:

• A Place Free of Judgement, a youth-led storytelling event where young people

took control of their local libraries and performed to a worldwide audience via an

interactive live stream.

• Fun Palaces, an annual weekend of arts, science, craft, technology, digital and

sports events and activities – run by and for local communities

• National Libraries Week

• Staffordshire Snap, a county-wide poetry and photography competition run by the

Staffordshire Poet Laureate.



Some libraries use formal volunteering roles, while others take a more informal approach

where volunteers choose what they would like to do.

Reading Hack provides Staffordshire libraries with a structure through which to support one

of Staffordshire County Council's priority outcomes for the people of Staffordshire; ‘to be able

to access more good jobs and feel the benefits of economic growth.’ The library authority

believes Reading Hack fulfils this through giving young people opportunities to take part in

work experience, improve their CVs and gain or develop a wide variety of transferable skills,

including confidence, communication and teamwork. Evidence these aspirations are being

met is illustrated in the evaluation findings outlined in chapter 4.

Croydon

Croydon is an urban London borough. Croydon Libraries are part of Carillion Managed

Services (a private sector provider of integrated services, who also manage Ealing, Harrow

& Hounslow Libraries). Reading Hack year-round activity is running in one library in Croydon,

whilst summer volunteering took place across 13 libraries. In total, 311 young people took

part in Reading Hack in Croydon during 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the

summer.

Reading Hack activities in Croydon are centred on a) summer volunteering across all

libraries and b) delivering reading-inspired activity through a Reading Hack group. Peer-to-

peer reading advocacy is less evident, and although the staff and young people felt there is

sometimes a knock-on impact of their activities that encourages others to read, this is not a

key area of focus for Croydon.

A Reading Hack group was set up in Croydon Central Library in January 2016. Staff worked

closely with a local high school to recruit young Hackers, and started with a group of 14

young people aged 12-15. Due to some personality clashes among group members in the

spring, the group now has just 4 young people. Managing the falling-out between members

has presented some challenges to the library staff who coordinate Reading Hack, with lots of

learning emerging for both staff and the young people about how Reading Hack could evolve

in the coming year. This learning is discussed in more detail in chapter 5 of this report. In

addition to the Reading Hack group, Croydon Libraries also engaged 181 young people in

summer volunteering, 48 young people through work experience opportunities, and 82

young people in Duke of Edinburgh related roles.

Reading Hack is coordinated by one staff member who also coordinates the involvement of

young people in libraries in three other London boroughs, with support from one other

member of staff.

The Reading Hack group designed and ran two main events in 2016. The first was a mini

play of Alice in Wonderland for World Book Night. They ran a drama and prop making

workshop and 15 other young people came to help. On the day of the event they also held a

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party with sandwiches and drinks for the children who attended, and a



craft stall. The event was aimed at children aged 5 and over, and around 25 parents and

children came along.

The second event was a Roald Dahl Extravaganza, to tie in with the Roald Dahl themed

Summer Reading Challenge in 2016. The group designed a number of activities aimed at

young children. For every activity they completed, each child received a stamp in a

‘passport’. After completing them all, they got to pick a prize from a lucky dip. Over 100

people attended this event. There were also some activities in October half term for the BBC

#LovetoRead campaign, including a visit from an author, getting local schools involved in

running activities and a Reading Hack group led activity. This example shows how even a

very small group of young people can arrange an event that increases footfall in the library

and engages a significant number of people in their local community.

Telford & Wrekin

Telford & Wrekin is a unitary authority in the West Midlands, with a mixture of urban and

rural areas. Reading Hack group activities take place at Southwater Library in the centre of

Telford, falling mainly under the ‘reading-inspired activity’ strand. In previous years, summer

volunteering took place in several libraries across the authority, however, in 2016-2017 it

was only delivered at Southwater Library because of a pending restructure. Fifty-one young

people took part in Reading Hack in 2016-2017, most of whom volunteered during the

summer.

Evaluation activity was limited in Telford & Wrekin this year because the staff spent the year

anticipating a significant restructure and were therefore in a state of uncertainty as to their

roles, the status of each of the libraries, and the Reading Hack programme.

The Reading Hack group has developed from a history of running similar groups for young

people over the last 8-10 years. The Reading Hack group began with 12 young people aged

between 11 and 15 years, but this gradually reduced to eight young people and now four,

because the library has felt unable to recruit proactively in the context of uncertainty in 2016.

Up until the end of 2016 the group met three times a month.

In April 2016, the Reading Hack group put on a talent showcase as part of their Arts Award

accreditation, which involved inviting other young people and members of the community to

apply to take part. The Reading Hack participants were involved in coming up with the idea,

publicising, planning and hosting the event, and technical aspects of the show. The group

also participated in trips to the theatre, writing reviews of what they had seen. They worked

with a spoken word poet to write a poem about being a schoolchild in the Victorian age. They

performed the poem and produced a film. From September to December 2016, the group

worked on their Arts Award portfolios, as library staff were keen to enable them to complete

this before the restructure took place.

Thirty-two Reading Hackers volunteered during the summer. A new progression role was

introduced this year, for young people aged 15+ who had volunteered previously. These

young people helped with planning and delivering activities for children. This approach



released library staff capacity and provided the young people with an opportunity to gain

additional experience and skills through taking on greater responsibility. The library authority

plans to continue this approach next year, demonstrating how the Reading Hack programme

is supporting change and development within libraries in how they work with young people.

At the end of 2016 the decision was announced to offer five libraries out to community

management. The role of coordinating the Reading Hack group has moved to a new staff

member as of 2017, and the funding available from the library authority to deliver the

programme has been reduced so the group meetings will reduce to once a month. Library

staff will also no longer be able to run Arts Award with young people, which had previously

been a component of the Reading Hack group activities.

However, library staff are positive about the potential for working with young people using

Reading Hack now that the restructure has passed, and they have already started

implementing ideas for the coming year. The first Reading Hack group meeting of 2017 was

held in January and the young people developed an idea for a funding bid to promote

reading for pleasure to their peers.

Manchester

Manchester has 23 libraries including the newly refurbished and reopened Central Library.

Having delivered a volunteering programme during the Summer Reading Challenge for

several years, Manchester extended this to develop a year-round offer for young people. In

2016-2017 Manchester had 80 Reading Hackers involved in summer volunteering,

contributing 749 volunteer hours. Beyond this, there have been additional volunteers in eight

libraries, including young people working towards the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Reading Hack was initially delivered through Reading Hack groups in two libraries

(Longsight and Withington). The aim was to set up Reading Hack groups in six libraries in

total as well as year-round volunteering roles. However, Manchester found that a high level

of staff capacity was required to run Reading Hack groups the way staff and young people

wanted to, and the plan has now shifted towards having a variety of year-round Reading

Hack volunteering roles in all libraries.

This year Reading Hack opportunities in Manchester have included: running a board game

club, running book-themed arts and crafts activities for children and young people,

completing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, helping with library events, using technology to

review books, and supporting library staff more generally. Manchester Central Library also

hosted the flagship Reading Hack does #LovetoRead event in October 2016, with a range of

activities on offer, including an author talk, stop-motion animation, 3D printing and doodle

pens, screen-printing, hacking of covers and scenes from books, and augmented reality.

Although not all of these activities are directly related to reading, the ethos in Manchester is

that young people should be given opportunities in libraries (whether reading-related or

otherwise), to help develop life skills such as confidence, social skills and organisational

skills in a place they feel comfortable. The library authority therefore uses the Reading Hack



programme to work towards these aims. Reading Hack volunteers are seen as role models

for younger children coming into the city’s libraries. The aim is that this will lead to a model

where youth volunteering is fully established in Manchester’s libraries, with library staff and

service users being accepting of young people running events or activities.

Reading Hack is applied flexibly in Manchester, being used alongside other brands or

schemes; in practice, it is used as a label for any young person volunteering in a library.

Hertfordshire

Hertfordshire is an Eastern region County Council north of Greater London with a mix of

urban and rural areas. Following the success of two Reading Hack pilots in Stevenage and

Watford, the programme was rolled out across all tier one and tier two libraries14, making up

30 of Hertfordshire’s 46 libraries.

All Reading Hack activity in Hertfordshire falls under the volunteering strand, with volunteers

managed within each individual library. To facilitate this, Reading Hack Coordinators (staff

members) are in place across the 30 libraries to mentor and support the volunteers.

Reading Hack roles vary across the county, from Duke of Edinburgh volunteers in some

sites to large groups planning events in others. Activities delivered by Reading Hack

volunteers include:

• Baby Rhyme Time (reading to infants)

• Design and launch of a creative space

• Launch event for the Reading Well for Young People list.

• Chatterbooks reading groups

• Library refurbishment design

• Other localised group and individual activity.

By February 2017 there were over 400 Reading Hack participants in Hertfordshire, about

300 of whom volunteered during the summer, with the remaining 100 taking part in other

year-round Reading Hack activities and roles.

The roll-out of Reading Hack across Hertfordshire took place in November 2016, therefore

the evaluation findings (in chapters 4 and 5) for this case study are emerging insights at this

stage. The evaluation will capture further learning from Hertfordshire as they embed Reading

Hack further during year three.

14 Tier 1 libraries, centrally located in large towns, offer the broadest range of stock and services, and are open for the longest hours. They are staffed by library staff, and volunteers support the delivery of some services and activities. Tier 2 libraries, located in smaller towns, provide core library services and offer a wide range of popular stock as well as other services to meet local need/demand. They are staffed during core opening hours, with extended access through volunteer supervised self-service. Tier 3 libraries (community libraries), in smaller communities and villages, offer self-service access to library services, supported by volunteers.

evaluation of the reading hack programme hack year 2 report... · opm group evaluation of the...

Documents