1996-1997 Impact of the National Lottery

A new stream of funding which operated outside the established funding systems transformed the UK cultural scene in the late 1990s. Libraries, as a statutory service, could not bid directly for any capital projects and were in danger of missing out. Miranda McKearney and Rachel Van Riel initiated a meeting of strategic players in the library world to discuss possibilities for a major library bid.

This was the first time that professional bodies (The Library Association (now CILIP), The Society of Chief Librarians), heads of service from authorities active in reader development, regional arts board literature officers and independent agencies Well Worth Reading and Opening the Book planned strategic work together.

Two main priorities emerged – the need for a national training programme in reader development for librarians and the need for a national agency to market the role of libraries and reading promotion. Both were recognised as important but it was unlikely that a funding stream which emphasised end-user benefit and increasing opportunities for participation would support a marketing agency so that priority had to wait. (It was eventually realised in a small way with support of The Reading Partnership in 1998 and then substantially with the creation of The Reading Agency in 2002.)

The priority then became planning a national reader development training programme which would have an impact on reading opportunities for a wide audience of participants. The philosophy and practice of reader development fitted very well with the criteria of National Lottery funding which emphasised encouraging new audiences, developing participation, supporting new work and building creative potential through training. The Library Association funded the writing of a major bid under the chairmanship of Tom Forrest, head of service in Oxfordshire. The Library Association did not wish to be the applicant as it was involved in another possible bid so the Society of Chief Librarians stepped into that role. SCL was newly formed from a merger of the previously separate county, metropolitan and London borough chiefs' organisations and Branching Out became its first major project.