Promoting reading 1
the establishment of the laundry room library, a
book representative was also trained. Lectures and author visits have also been held as part of this activity. Another method for increasing the availability of books is the cloakroom library at preschools. Cloakroom libraries have been used in reading promotion efforts to foster reading aloud among parents, as in the project Läs för mig (Read to me) in the province of Halland. The idea is to offer parents books to borrow in connection with dropping off and picking up their children, by means of an easily managed lending system. Some libraries such as the public library in Mönsterås have offered cloth library bags in the cloakroom filled with a selection of books to read aloud. These book bags, which may be the size of a shopping bag or a larger sports bag, are a very common feature of the public library’s efforts to make literature available and have sometimes been shown to have a significant impact on the children’s reading. In the evaluation of the Norwegian project Idrett og lesing (Sport and reading), for example, book bags stood out as the most important element of the project. Yet another example of making literature available at new and surprising places is the Gotland County Library’s project, in collaboration with the local KFF after-school recreation centre, to establish mini libraries in Gotland’s public baths. Public baths libraries should have reading corners and media for all ages. The combination of library and swimming also occurs in various forms of library outreach activities at bathing beaches. This kind of “Biblio Playa” activity, inspired by similar activities in Spain, has been used at a number of bathing beaches in Sweden, such as in Södertälje. Book reps and reading reps Book representatives, or book reps, have an important function in workplace libraries. They are responsible for the workplace library and may be assigned the task of handling the lending, providing a reading advisory service to their workmates, and providing information about the library. Almerud’s report on workplace libraries states that an engaged book rep at a workplace probably has a better chance of promoting reading than a librarian, whose presence at the workplace is usually limited to a few times each month. To provide training and a source of inspiration for book reps at workplaces, the seminar Boken på arbetsplatsen (The Book in the Workplace) has been conducted for many years at Brunnsvik Folk High School outside Ludvika. This is a seminar involving a mutual exchange between the members of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and writers with working class roots as well as social commentators. The seminar is aimed at book reps and others who work with workplace libraries and reading promotion projects, and to all those who plan activities involving books and reading. Ombud i läsningens tjänst (Reps in the service of reading) is another project aimed at training reading reps with the aim of increasing access to literature and participation in the digital society within care for the elderly and the disabled. The reading rep course is delivered in the form of a study circle and is primarily about reading aloud and finding easy-to-read texts. After completing the study circle, participants are registered as reading reps at the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media (MTM), which regularly informs reading reps about new easy-to-read books, and also sends the magazines Läsombudet (The Reading Rep) and Boktidningen Lättläst (Easy to Read Books Magazine) to the reading rep’s workplace (Nygren 2014). The Ombud i läsningens tjänst project was a collaboration 95