Youth Offer

Welcome to the Young People's Library Offer

The National Youth Libraries Board has developed an offer which identifies what young people should be able to expect from their local library service.

The Library Offer to Young People (pdf, 29kb) is based on extensive research and consultation with young people and is underpinned by the principles of Fulfilling their Potential. It represents a national aspiration for work with young people. It aims to challenge libraries to look again at the services they offer to young people and demonstrate libraries’ role in achieving better outcomes for them. 

Using the Library Offer to Young People

Resources

For more information about how to use these resources, see below.

Use the Library Offer to young people (pdf, 29kb) to:

  • service planning
  • advocacy work with other local authority partners
  • to support new projects
  • to support wider projects and service development, for example with the Cultural Offer Find Your Talent programme or with the Community
  • Libraries Lottery programme

The National Youth Libraries Board has developed some resources to support library services in using the Library Offer to Young People.

These resources include a Youth Offer presentation for local authorities (ppt, 739kb) to use with your Director or Children’s service and other strategic partners. There are also Youth Offer presentation guidance notes (Word, 37kb) to use with the presentation.

Download What do young people want from libraries? Evidence review (Word, 107kb) on young people’s views, which inspired the offer. It includes useful background data for making the case for developing services for and with young people.  

National Youth Libraries Board

Resources

Framework for the Future identified a need to invest in a major change programme around public libraries and young people. This investment resulted in the Fulfilling their Potential programme, launched in 2004 and led by The Reading Agency (TRA) and the Society of Chief Librarians (SCL)

Since Fulfilling their Potential was launched there have been major new policy developments around children and young people.  Therefore in spring 2006 the National Youth Libraries Board was established to champion the role of libraries in delivering against these key government agendas particularly Every Child Matters, Youth Matters and the new Department for Children, Schools and Families 10 Year Youth strategy, Aiming High.

Membership of the National Youth Libraries Board

This Board is chaired by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and is managed by The Reading Agency. Other member organisations represented on the Board are:

  • Society of Chief Librarians
  • MLA partnership representative
  • Local Government Association
  • Department for Children, Schools and Families
  • Department for Culture, Media and Sport
  • National Youth Agency
  • Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians;
  • Children’s Services representative

The National Youth Libraries Board has also consulted the UK Youth Parliament in the English regions. For more information about the Board, see the background paper (Word, 58kb).

For further information, please contact Claire.Styles@readingagency.org.uk.