The agency will be charged with raising awareness about the Government’s ‘Framework for the Future’, its long-term vision for the role of libraries.
The framework stresses the importance of involving young people in the work of libraries. The move follows a speech last month by Libraries Minister Andrew McIntosh in which he stressed that ‘reports of the death of the printed word are widely exaggerated’.
The decision to revamp the way libraries approach their users follows a report by the Audit Commission in 2002, which pointed to a decline in library visits and book loans.
