Public Libraries have signed a three-year strategic partnership deal with BBC Learning. This was agreed in spring 2005 and is coordinated by The Reading Agency. This innovative agreement will involve Public Libraries in a number of new BBC campaigns. The current campaigns are RaW and Breathing Places.
RaW – Read and Write 
In October 2005, the BBC launched its biggest adult literacy campaign ever – RaW (Read and Write). This is a partnership project with The Reading Agency. The main drive is to remove stigmas around adult literacy, and to encourage adults who are bored by reading and writing into engaging in accessible informal activity.
An exciting range of activities will be on offer - reading groups, storytelling activities, special online resources and a coaching phoneline - enabling adults to take small, personalised steps toward reading more and writing better.
RaW is aimed at intermediate readers in the UK, aged between 25-54. They are life's doers, practical people who left school at 16 with limited qualifications. They tend to be bored by reading and writing, but want help in specific areas from filling in forms to reading with their children.
For more information about the campaign please visit the Reading Agency's website.
Breathing Places 
Breathing Places is a three-year campaign which aims to get 1 million people involved in nature and their local environment. It encompasses the popular Springwatch and Autumnwatch programmes in 2006 and further high-profile programming in 2007 including Nature of Britain with Alan Titchmarsh. The campaign defines a ‘breathing place’ as a space that people care for, for the benefit of wildlife and people – anything from a small community space to a major landscape project. Working with a range of national, regional and local partners, the BBC will be encouraging the public to engage in Breathing Places projects across the UK and to apply for special Breathing Places Big Lottery funding to support their activity.
For more information about the campaign please visit the Reading Agency's website.
