22 August 2026

Our public libraries have been under threat for some time. As a result, library staff have had to work quite hard to recruit new readers to safeguard the service. They have been working with young children and their parents and have transformed the library.

Consider these two initiatives. The one is called 'Rhyme Time'. It’s a session for under five year olds and their parents. The children sing and dance, learn new rhymes and meet other families in the process. This is a social occasion as well as an introduction to books.

The other is called the ‘Summer Reading Challenge’. This is for older children. It involves them in determining how many books they are going to read in the summer holidays. Their progress is mapped out with stickers and certificates. But they are competing against themselves.

It’s not just young people who have been made welcome in the library. There are groups for older people too. And as well as computers, you can borrow equipment like blood pressure monitors and activity tracking watches!

The library is no longer a place dominated by a stifling silence but a haven where people can come and indulge their reading habit or be nurtured into enjoying books. It has become a community resource where engaging with the public has been a crucial element in this new development.

You have got to admire their work with children. It puts the Kirk to shame. They have been intentional about recruiting children and their families and we should be too. The ‘Church Without Walls’ report encouraged us to go out of our comfort zone. We have a story to tell too. Some say ‘the greatest story ever told’.