MLA

Many library services across the country see the value of contemporary music as a way of promoting creativity and literacy in young people and the Get It Loud In Libraries team in Lancashire Libraries is one of the best at encouraging new young visitors into libraries through popular music events.

This toolkit gives a step-by-step guide to staging live music events in public libraries.

It has been produced by Stewart Parsons, of the Lancashire Library Service, who has run the Get It Loud in Libraries (GILIL) project since 2005 and welcomed many new acts that have gone on to chart success. Adele played Lancaster Library a year before her debut album came out while recent acts include Florence and the Machine and Bat For Lashes.

The aim of the shows is to give young people a great time in a library and re-set their perceptions about what libraries do and what they stand for. It's a route back in for those people who have lost the library habit, or never had it to begin with.

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council chair Sir Andrew Motion added his support: "It's great to see libraries reach out to engage with young people and show them the riches that lie in their local libraries. This project in Lancashire will undoubtedly encourage them to try a wide range of services from books, to reference materials, to the internet."

Photo credit: Frances Ross