Branching Out is a highly participative action learning and research project.  It starts from the recognition that public librarians have a key role to play in developing audiences for contemporary literature. 

A national network of committed, confident staff who will champion the importance of this literature in the library sector and work creatively with regional arts boards and other agencies has the potential to generate a strong new dynamic in this field.  Branching Out seeks to invest in these librarians as agents of that change, to recognise their under-developed creative potential and to harness their wide social and cultural client base to benefit writers, publishers and readers.

The key elements in Branching Out's three year programme of achieving change are:

• Bringing 33 authorities to work together on common issues
• Working with senior managers and activists at the same time
• Long-term investment in individual librarians as agents of change
• External partnerships built in from the start