Pandemic impacts schools' book stock

50 schools across the country received an emergency £1k bundle of comics and a selection of reading books from the charity Read for Good, after it received reports of school library stock decimated by the pandemic.  Book donations from a variety of publishers, as well as a partnership with Phoenix Comics and a grant from the Siobhan Dowd Trust, enabled the donation with each box containing £350 of books and £650 RRP of comics.

The charity hopes to deliver a longer-term programme, piloted pre-pandemic, that fills the reading for pleasure stock gap in schools. Read for Good’s chief executive, Justine Daniels, said that 71% of the teachers and librarians they surveyed are citing stock lost during lockdown as a major issue.

"We are worried that this generation - more than any other - will struggle to access the brilliant books and comics that could hook them into reading - even during this golden age of children's literature. And even though focusing on reading for fun is a proven way of narrowing the attainment gap as schools recover from lost teaching time, our research evidences a lack of appealing books to support that mission," she added.

The charity received 227 responses to request for data regarding the pandemic's impact on reading for pleasure library stock in UK schools, including 169 primary schools and 34 secondary schools.

Of those:

• 71% reported missing/non-returned books


• 74% had to divert library resources during pandemic to support the school in general


• 61% said their book budget had shrunk in recent years

Schools were also asked in what way has the pandemic affected their school library/book provision? Most (85%) agreed that classroom bubbles had reduced access to school library/books and that quarantining of stock meant less choice; 71% (162 schools) had experienced missing/non-returned books; and 25% (57 schools) had seen their library budgets diverted to replace lost reading scheme/core text books.

Read for Good supports schools to read for fun via campaigns and its sponsored 'Readathon'. Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell, one of the charity's patrons, said, "Millions of our children are missing out on the vital benefits of reading for pleasure because of stark book poverty so I applaud anything that gets books into the hands of children."

Norfolk-based primary teacher, Jon Biddle added: "I moderate a forum for teachers and librarians on social media based around Reading for Pleasure and have been struck by how many of us are trawling charity shops and bookshops to buy books out of our own pockets. We all know how important and life-changing it is for kids to get hold of books that they'll want to read and it really hit home during lockdown how many of them have limited access to reading material outside of school.

"We lost a huge amount of stock because we lent out books before each lockdown and, until libraries are a statutory requirement in schools, replacing and replenishing stock is going to become increasingly challenging. It's heartening that charities like Read for Good are listening to schools about what they need to rebuild."

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