Libraries: Shhh... it's a Book Bar

At the moment, many young people consider libraries uncool places to hang out. As a result, they are losing out on a potential source of enjoyment and a valuable source of information.

Cafe culture

It is something charity The Reading Agency is trying to address. Earlier this year, it was granted 575,000 of Big Lottery Fund money to set up the pilot Book Bars in libraries across four regions in England (see boxout). These will fulfil that familiar need young people express for having somewhere to go while making use of existing facilities.

Ciara Eastell, senior adviser at The Reading Agency, says it talked to about 1,000 young people from around England, and found that they wanted pretty much the same thing: a space to hang out with their friends where they felt welcome. "The library isn't school and it isn't home," she says. "It's a place where they should be able to be themselves and try out new things, like reading graphic novels."