Nikki Heath, who was UK school librarian of the year last year, gave an inspirational talk for her keynote speech at LILAC All the way through, folks were tweeting “I wish she worked at my kids school” and “I wish I’d gone to a school like that”, because Nikki gets the whole school involved in her initiatives to encourage children to read. She’s trying to combat attitudes like “I’d rather wrestle a croc/ babysit my sister/ eat sprouts” than read a book, so the basis of her approach is that we should start with reading for pleasure.

I loved her DEAR initiative (Drop Everything And Read) beacuase, like all good IL initiatives, it is rooted in the curriculum. Nikki has prepared information packs for teachers in all subjects, so when DEAR time comes around, no matter what class they are in, children will drop everything and participate in a reading activity. Simple and effective, as the kids get the message that all staff value reading and it’s not just a library thing.