Written by Paul Doyle, Senior Officer, Literacy and Library Support at Neath Port Talbot Libraries
The job description may say Senior Officer, Literacy and Library Support, but the reality is the job varies depending on who I am working with.
To the children I work with, I am often ‘the storyman’ or ‘the poetry guy’. For the bookclubbers in Neath Port Talbot, I’m ‘the one who does the books’. To others I’m ‘the social media person’, or ‘the one who does the stats’, or ‘the one who goes into the community’. And this is what I love about the role, it’s never routine or predictable – each week brings something new. This does sometimes mean my days can be spent bouncing around like a ping-pong ball, but for me this is also where creativity can thrive and new opportunities can be forged.
In January, I was invited to speak on a BBC Radio Wales phone-in about my work, specifically around the topic of children’s reading. This is an area of work that I am particularly passionate about and have spent most of my time with the Neath Port Talbot Library Service working on. During the phone-in, there was a question around access to books and libraries.
Immediately I drew on my own experience as a young boy who didn’t fancy reading too much as it looked like hard work. But once I found that first book with nothing but words from start to finish, First and Ten by Laurence James, my reading journey began.
For me this journey took place from the library shelves, and this is what I tell children now. There is no better place to find out what you like to read, what books work best for you, than the library. It takes time for some, like it did for me, but if all we can do is keep showing children the range of books and introducing them to as many different types of book as we can then we will turn more children into readers. Lifelong readers.
Since 2009, I have worked very closely with schools, children and children’s authors. It has given me the opportunity to also become a poetry performer, a storyteller and a creative writing leader for children. It has also given me the opportunity to deliver a range of projects for the library Service, most notably two Children’s Book Festivals in 2024 and 2025.
When doing this work, nothing beats the feedback of children and parents who say “You helped me.” As long as this is the reward I will keep on doing what I do and continue to tell people that it all happened because of the reading journey I took at the library over forty years ago.
If you are looking for books to read to children, then try short story collections. These stories will quickly come off the page and into your head and become sure favourites.
PS My book recommendations are (for adults) The Fugitives by Jamal Mahjoub – a book that features in our Book Club collection, Hooked on Books. This was such a joy to read, I was surprised by it, just a delight ; & (for children) Silver Unicorns and Golden Birds by Duncan Williamson.