Promoting reading 1
Aleman & Ögland (2013). In the UK, they have been
working for a long period of time with football stars as reading role models, called Reading Stars. That sport can provide reading motivation is the starting point for Reading The Game, an activity under the auspices of the British reading promotion organisation National Literacy Trust. Other notable activities are Premier League Reading Stars (PLRS), a reading promotion programme in cooperation with football clubs. Incidentally, football is a very common sport in this context. In Sweden, there are project-based collaborations between libraries and football clubs with names such as Sparka igång läsningen! (Kick-start reading!) (Huddinge), Kom in i matchen (Get into the game) (Örebro), and Kom till skott med läsningen (Get moving with reading) (Gävle). Literacy bags, author visits, or filmed book tips by famous football players are among the most frequently used methods in such projects. PLRS has been going on in England since 2003, and is a collaboration between the Premier League, National Literacy Trust and Arts Council England. Since 2009, this activity also exists in Scotland. The project targets weak readers with a strong interest in football. According to a report from 2010, PLRS have five stated objectives: (1) To increase access to public libraries, books and professional football clubs; (2) To improve the attitude to all forms of literacy; (3) To increase self-confidence in reading, enjoy reading and interact socially; (4) To provide motivation to learn more and increase reading ability; (5) To alter the perception of reading and the stereotypically negative image of the reader. PLRS activities are carried out as follows: Each of the 20 teams from the Premier League nominate a player – a Reading Star – to recommend their favourite book. Each team then collaborates with a maximum of three public libraries, which host a reading club based on the recommended books. Both children and parents participate in the reading club, and together also visit a bookshop, and participate in an event with a published author on the theme of football. A few selected individuals also get to meet their favourite football club’s Reading Star. In 2013, 34,000 students took part in the programme. The final report from 2013 shows a “dramatic increase” in reading ability, improved reading habits, and an improvement of self-confidence as a reader. The number of children who like “very much” to read is reported as having tripled as a result of participation in the programme. For a more detailed description of the project and the documentation of the results, there are a number of reports available to download from the National Literacy Trust’s website. For a journal article related to the project, see Palmer (2008). This article discusses how libraries can use sport in their reading promotion work and how the notion of “respectable reading” can be expanded to include biographies about sport, so as to strengthen the self-image of boys and men as enthusiastic readers. In Motion I Rörelse (In Motion) was a three-year collaborative project between SISU Idrottsutbildarna (a sports education organisation) the Västerbotten County Library, the Swedish State Inheritance Fund, the Swedish Arts Council, and publisher En Bok För Alla, which ran from 2005 to 2007. The objective of the project was to increase reading among children and young people who actively engage in sport. The objectives of the project included 58