The changing shape of reading - the 21st-century challenge

Experience will have shown the readers of this book that a highly literate child is not necessarily a reading child, and similarly that not every child with reading difficulties will dislike reading. Our work to develop literacy and to encourage reading has changed in recent years, in part due to developments in the educational curricula, in part due to rapidly changing technologies.

This chapter presents six themes through which to consider the challenges facing libraries and the whole of the book trade, and makes suggestions as to how both public and school libraries can meet them head-on.