Leeds Library Service has won national recognition for its work with families who have children autism and related disorders.
MLA chair Sir Andrew Motion announced the winner of the 2009 CILIP Libraries Change Lives Award at the Umbrella Conference in July.
The project Across the Board: Autism support for families involves library staff working with autism and speech and language specialists to give information, advice and guidance at monthly sessions.
The project began after a parent requested the Boardmaker software, a picture and communication tool that enables parents and autistic children to communicate with each other.
The staff offer practical help, in partnership with the specialist team, and the system is now available at 16 of Leeds’s 53 libraries.
Speaking about the Boardmaker software Jason Tutin, learning co-ordinator for Leeds libraries, said: “We realised how useful this could be, how in keeping it was with a library’s place in the community.”
The CILIP award highlights and rewards good practice in any innovative library and information projects.
Also among the finalists was the Reading Agency’s Six Book Challenge, an annual scheme designed to encourage adults to read for pleasure.
It invites them to read six books and record their reading in a diary so that they can be rewarded with incentives and a certificate.
Library services featured in the application included Sheffield, Staffordshire, West Sussex and Warrington.
July 2009