AN ISLE of Wight librarian’s “raw” talent has resulted in her being named star of the month in a BBC literacy campaign.
Sam Ward who works as a librarian in Camp Hill Prison is being featured on the BBC “RaW” website from December 17 – a national initiative by the broadcaster to boost adult literacy.
Sam’s attention grabbing work with the prisoners includes dazzling them with a range of displays at the prison library, involving them with current news issues such as the anniversary of the tragic ‘Titanic’ sinking, and the recent “seven ages of rock” TV series.
With the help of Colin Craven, the Head of Learning and Skills at Camp Hill Prison, Sam has developed a number of initiatives to help improve the literacy levels of prisoners. Colin said that a considerable number of prisoners lack the necessary literacy skills that will support their future employment prospects. The work that Sam does in the Library is an important part of the overall prison strategy to improve literacy levels.
Sam also runs monthly competitions for the prisoners. Some examples of the competitions include making up limericks, drawing cartoons, a love poetry competition to tie in with Valentine’s Day and a rap competition to tie in with Black History Month.
Sam also runs a monthly book group at the library where prisoners are asked to rate books out of ten. The books were then marked so that other inmates knew that they had been recommended by other prisoners.
Sam said: “Being able to make a difference, even in a small way, is inspiration enough. RaW is a brilliant campaign that is associated with the BBC, which gives it street cred amongst our emergent readers.
“The RaW materials and workshops have enabled me to further my own creativity, developing ideas for the library which ultimately has a positive effect on prisoner’s lives.”
