About HeadSpace

 

HeadSpace™ is a laid-back social environment where young people aged 11-19 can read, listen, surf and chill. It is a place where the experience of enjoying reading can be shared, where young people can meet others, feed their minds and passions, seek information and inspiration, develop their ideas or simply pick up a book and enjoy a drink and a snack. 

You’ll find a HeadSpace in a library but you might equally find one in youth café or youth club. What unites them is that they are run in equal partnership between young volunteers and their local libraries. Young people make a vital contribution to deciding how the HeadSpace looks and developing and delivering the activities that happen there.

The HeadSpace project is building a model of excellence for young people’s library services and demonstrating successful models of partnership between libraries and their communities. It is meeting significant local need for free, accessible and safe spaces for young people with activities on offer and giving a clear message that young people are welcomed and their participation is valued.

Young people’s participation through volunteering is a key part of the project which is especially aimed at working with socially excluded groups of young people. HeadSpace enables young people to feel part of their wider community and gain key skills and experiences that will help them to develop as individuals, putting them in a better position for future employment or training. HeadSpace offers all young volunteers the opportunity to gain accreditation for their involvement.

Where did the HeadSpace idea come from?

The original idea came from a group of young people in Derbyshire known as the Book Pushers. They had a vision for ‘Book Bars’ in all libraries, a place where young people could come together to socialize and enjoy a drink and a snack with their reading choices, all served up by other young people working in the library.

During the summer of 2006, The Reading Agency presented the idea to over 700 young people. This consultation showed that all over the country young people wanted to be more actively involved in their library services and would  strongly support a project that would bring the ‘Book Bar’ concept to life.

Where did the HeadSpace brand come from?

All aspects of the HeadSpace™ brand were shaped by young people contributing their ideas and working in partnership with The Reading Agency and design professionals. The HeadSpace name came from a suggestion made by a group of young people involved in the project in Folkestone, Kent and was supported through national consultation in which over 400 young people took part.

How is HeadSpace funded and supported?

An award of £575,000 from the Big Lottery’s Young People’s Fund has enabled The Reading Agency to work with library services in 4 regions to establish 20 HeadSpace sites between 2007 and 2010.  Participating library services and their local partners have also contributed significant matched funding, making the total budget for the project in excess of £1 million. 

The HeadSpace project is also supported by partners at national level including: 

• The National Youth Agency
• Museums Libraries and Archives Council (MLA)
• Association of Senior Children’s and Education Librarians (ASCEL)
• Society of Chief Librarians (SCL)

How have young people been involved in HeadSpace?

Young people are at the heart of shaping every aspect of the project at national and local level which has enabled them  to become significant ‘change agents’ within the project. Young people sit in equal partnership on the National HeadSpace steering group and every local HeadSpace steering group, they are in place as decision makers, developers and deliverers of services through HeadSpace. In the first year of the project this has meant over 700 young people have already taken part in roles such as creating the brand, designing HeadSpace sites, assessing library services, running events and recruiting and training library staff. Of this number, 65 young people have gone on to take up accredited volunteer roles in their local library, and 2 have gained paid employment, supporting others to find a place to go, something to do and to learn new skills.

Where will HeadSpace sites be located?

Between 2007- 2010 HeadSpace sites will be established in:

East Midlands

• *Buxton Library, Derbyshire* Launched May 2008!
• Corby Library, Northamptonshire
• Worksop Library, Nottinghamshire

North West

• Halewood Library, Knowsley
• Halton Lea Library, Halton
  Haslingden Library, Lancashire* Launched June 2008!
• *High Street Library, Bolton* Launched August 2007!
• Longsight Library, Manchester

South East

• Burgess Road Library, Southampton
• *Café IT, Folkestone, Kent* Launched September 2007!
• Crawley Library, West Sussex
• High Wycombe Library, Buckinghamshire
• Lordswood Library, Medway

South West

• Barcode Youth Café, North Somerset
• Central Library, Swindon
• *Efford Library, Plymouth* Launched January 2008!
• Hartcliffe Library, Bristol
• *Lyme Regis Library, Dorset* Launched October 2007!
• *Melksham Library, Wiltshire* Launched April 2008!
• Padstow Library, Cornwall* Launched July 2008!