Opening Up Spaces Bringing new people into museums, libraries and archives by supporting self-organised learningMLA logo FC1Members of Ripping Yarns group knitting in Stoke on Trent

## The 'Open Space' Movement Offers A New Way For Museums, Libraries And Archives To Reach Out To Their Communities And Support The Many Groups Of Adults Who Wish To Organise Their Own Learning.

It was introduced in the Government's White Paper on informal adult learning, 'The Learning Revolution', which called for organisations to open their spaces to adults who want to run their own learning groups; whether they wish to learn Ancient Greek, explore their family history or knit Egyptian socks.

## Opening Up Spaces

The White Paper describes a new joined up vision for informal adult learning, suitable for the 21st century, which brings together partners across government, local authorities and the community sector to enable more people to enjoy learning throughout life. Museums, libraries and archives are inspiring spaces that naturally support individuals and families to learn together and from each other. They can support the vision outlined in The White Paper by actively inviting groups of learners to use their space, at low or no cost. This is a great way of increasing the range of learning opportunities that local people can access and enjoy. 

## What Are The Benefits?

Increasing access to your facilities for self-organised learners: 

- 
can draw new and different people into your museum, library or archive
- 
can raise your profile as group members tell friends about their project
- 
can make the wider learning community 
more aware of the valuable resources 

you have to offer
- 
can demonstrate that you offer a community space that can be used in different ways to bring people together
- 
can enhance your overall learning programme as the self-organised groups contribute more learning opportunities for local people
- 
can result in an increased number of people volunteering to work in your organisation.
Opening up your facilities and resources doesn't have to cost your organisation time or money, so why not join in and reap the rewards!

## What Do We Mean By Informal Adult Learning? What Do We Mean By Selforganised Learning Groups?

Informal adult learning is learning for its own sake rather than to gain a qualification. The term covers a wide variety of activities, from foreign language classes to local history clubs, and from reading groups to researching your family tree online.

Self-organised learning groups are groups of people, not directly funded by the public purse, who get together to pursue a shared interest or learn a new skill. They include community choirs, reading groups, local heritage groups, University of the Third Age groups and many more. 

"Informal Learning can at its best This kind of learning makes a big contribution to the health and well-being of individuals, families and communities, and learning that starts off informally, or on a small scale, may lead to other things. Many people take up a new interest or start to learn a new skill in an informal way and then find they can use that skill to move into a new career, become active in their community or start their own business. 

transform people's lives. Whether 
it's for personal fulfilment, 
keeping active and independent 
into old age, gaining increased 
confidence or opening a door 

to further opportunities, it can 
contribute hugely to the health 
and well-being of individuals and 
the wider society. Government 
fully recognises the vital 
contribution informal learning 
makes in creating the kind of 
society we want to live in." 

Taken from 'The Learning Revolution', 
page 11Woman painting

## The Mla Challenge Fund

The government has set a target to open up 7
,000 free or low cost learning spaces for self-organised learning by the end of 2010. The MLA has actively supported this target by launching the MLA Challenge Fund in May 2009. This fund offered small grants of up to £5,000 to museums, libraries and archives willing to open up their space in this way. The museums, libraries and archives who bid successfully to the fund have embraced a new way of working - to act as facilitators rather than deliverers of learning, and to allow self-organised groups to run their own activity in their own way. 

"The MLA Challenge Fund has 

demonstrated what can be done 
with a relatively small amount 

of funding and a vibrant group 

of adult learners." 

Angie Weatherhead, 

Librarian

Eighteen museums, libraries and 

archives received a grant from MLA. 

In this publication, nine projects describe 

their work and share lessons learnt to 
inspire you to open up your own spaces 
and resources. They are all at different 
stages of implementing this new way of 
working and we hope their experience 

will act as a guide to the wider museum, 
library and archive sector.Women talking in museumWomen displaying knitted socks

## Ripping Yarns Supported By The Potteries Museum And Gallery, Stoke On Trent Ripping Yarns Is A Self-Organised Group Of Learners, Passionate About Textiles, Who Have Used The Inspiring Space Provided By The Potteries Museum To Explore This Interest.

The museum facilitated Ripping Yarns by using their grant to purchase craft equipment and materials to enable the group to use the gallery's collection as inspiration to make replica textiles. Ripping Yarns has been a great success. The group enjoys using the museum as a base and has demonstrated high levels of inspiration and creativity. They have been generous with sharing and swapping their skills with new learners. Two women who had never knitted before, and spoke little English, joined the group. One of the women, Mahalakshmi, learnt how to knit her own hats and scarves and was then able to knit baby clothes when she became pregnant. The group has undertaken ambitious projects involving a lot of team work and the members are really benefiting from the shared learning environment that the museum has provided. Hosting Ripping Yarns in the gallery has generated a lot of interest amongst other museum visitors with many people stopping to chat to them about what they are doing.

A number of the group members have gone on to volunteer at the museum and the group will continue to meet twice monthly in its gallery.

" 
 I'm not involved at all apart from 
 making the tea and booking  
 the room."

Cathy Shingler,  
Interpretation OfficerRipping Yarns - Woman helping girl knit

"
The project has helped increase 

our experience of working with 
adult learners. Even among people 
who do not attend the group it 
seems to have 'humanised' the 
museum - an impression you get 
from the visitors who stop to chat 

to our knitters."

Cathy Shingler, 

Interpretation OfficerRipping Yarns - Women at table knittingRipping Yarns - Close up of hands knitting

## Spreading Poetry For Pleasure Supported By Torbay Library Service The Poetry For Pleasure Group In Brixham Was Set Up By A Group Of Poetry Enthusiasts Who Wanted To Share This Enthusiasm With Others.

The library service opened up its meeting room space at no cost to support this group in spreading their passion for poetry and encouraging more local people to join. The Poetry for Pleasure group has been a great success. The 25 adults involved meet monthly in the library meeting room and membership is growing at such a rate it may have to split into two groups to continue to use the space on offer. The group have organised a number of open mic poetry sessions at the library and have produced a publication as well as poetry posters for display in vacant shop windows. The posters were launched with a poetry walk around the town, and the group performed at each poster on the route over loud hailers. The Poetry for Pleasure group will continue to meet in the library and has inspired others too. Another Torbay library has been approached to host a poetry group and the original group has offered to help them get started.Spreading Poetry for Pleasure - Woman talking into megaphone
"Thanks to all in the Poetry for 

Pleasure group who have been 
lighting up café windows and 
vacant premises with their 
colourful contributions."

Peter Kellick, Brixham, 

from the Herald Express, Torquay 

March 13, 2010Spreading Poetry for Pleasure - Poem displayed in shop front windowSpreading Poetry for Pleasure - Woman talking into megaphone outside shop

## Open For Learning Supported By The Corinium Museum, Cirencester The Corinium Museum Took The Opportunity Presented By The Mla Challenge Fund To Open Up Their Space And Resources To Over 1,000 Members Of The University Of The Third Age (U3A) In The Cotswolds.

Open for Learning has led to further partnership opportunities for the Corinium. Some U3A members are also active in local history groups and have acted as ambassadors for the museum by spreading news about the learning resources on offer. However, it has also demonstrated that even established self-organised groups like the U3A may need to be offered support before they are able to use a museum, library or archive space.

The museum had no previous contact with the University of the Third Age and recognised that they could play a key role in supporting this enormous self-organised learning movement by establishing a long lasting relationship with the four U3A groups in their catchment area. 

The museum had hoped that the U3A groups would initiate how they would use the activity room themselves, but they seemed to be uncomfortable with this and wanted to be more directed.

The Corinium has national and international expertise in archaeology and offered the U3A groups a free lecture series in archaeology plus free use of their lecture theatre and activity room to support their own learning activity. Members of the U3A groups were amazed that they could access such large and varied collections - particularly some of the objects and artefacts not on public display.

An open day or briefing for self-organised learning group leaders to demonstrate use of resources, equipment or space might be enough to overcome this barrier. There are benefits that museums, libraries and archives can gain from supporting self-organised learners - for example, a number of the U3A members supported by the Corinium have joined the museum's volunteer team as a direct result. 

Many members had never met each other before so the museum offered a valuable social opportunity for new friendships to flourish, a particularly important and unexpected benefit. 

"There was a fantastic response to the tours of the museum stores. 

It has encouraged the U3A to 

use the reserve collections, and 
develop a greater awareness of 
the full potential of museums to 
support self-organised learners." 

Judy Mills, 

Collections Management OfficerOpen for Learning - Two women sitting in gallery space

## Digitise Supported By North Yorkshire Archives North Yorkshire Archives Used The Mla Grant To Purchase Specialist Equipment To Support Five Self-Organised Local Heritage Groups To Create Their Own High Quality Digitised Records.

The local heritage groups responded with great enthusiasm to the opportunity to use the space and resources in the Record Office. They are all proud of what they have achieved and are developing public exhibitions that will be displayed in their local communities. The groups have supported each other and shared their learning. The West Burton Village group, for example, has created a guide to pass on the skills and knowledge they have gained in using the specialist equipment to other groups. One of the group members even travelled to the Northallerton Record Office to help another group get started. The archives will continue to extend access to the new digitisation equipment, not only to the five self-organised groups involved so far, but to others who are interested in developing similar activity in future. The digitisation equipment is now a permanent part of their community engagement offer.

"
A striking aspect of this project 

was the extent to which groups 
had ownership of the planning 
and delivery of activities. By 
providing them with the necessary 
equipment and work space they 
have been allowed to develop 

at their own pace, and according 

to their own priorities. Our staff 
are now much more open to the 
possibilities of working in this new 
way with self-organised heritage 
groups as a result of the challenge 
fund project."

Keith Sweetmore, 

Archives Development Manager

## Green Bananas Supported By The Working Class Movement Library, Salford

The Working Class Movement 
Library contains a huge collection 
of rare, unique artefacts which 
document the lives of ordinary 
people over the last 200 years. 

An unexpected outcome was the 
introduction of a group of young people 

to the library. They were creating artwork 
for the performance and were unsure 
about coming into the library at all ("ugh, 

a library, do we have to go, sssh") but 

once the group brought them through the 
doors they were amazed by the range of 
artefacts in the collection and used the 

old photographs to inspire their work.

Well used by academics and students, the 
library took advantage of the opportunity 
that the Challenge Fund presented to 
inspire a broader cross-section of local 
people to use its facilities. A local group 
involved in the annual 'Lighting the Legend' 
community celebration at Salford Docks 
were invited to use the rich resources in the 
library to inspire their performance which 
they called 'Green Bananas'.

The main group performed their song in 
front of 2,000 people and the sense of pride 
from developing, recording and performing 
their song live was enormous. For an inner 
city area with little self-organised community 
activism, this was hugely important. 

The group researched stories about the 
dockers who worked at the Quays and 
used them to compose songs to celebrate 
their working lives which were performed 

at the 'Lighting the Legend' event.

The group continues to meet and use the 
library resources to inspire them and library 
staff have acknowledged that this approach 
has widened community access to the 
Working Class Movement Library.

"This project has opened up the 

library to local people who have 
never used it before." 

Lynette Cawthra, 

Library Manager

## Sock It! Supported By The Petrie Museum Of Egyptian Archaeology, Ucl, London The Petrie Museum Developed Sock It! - Making Ancient Egyptian Socks From Scratch - To Open Up Its Space For Self-Organised Learning Groups In Partnership With The University Of The Third Age. Sock It! Was Also Advertised On Knitting Blogs And Through Twitter.

The museum had to think differently to create an open space for learning that they themselves weren't involved in organising. The group knitted socks in ancient Egyptian style using the two-toed Egyptian socks on display in the museum as inspiration. The group recorded the progress of Sock It! on a blog and posted the Egyptian sock pattern card they developed on the internet for others to share. The Petrie intends to sustain its support for self-organised learners. Their relationship with the University of the Third Age has progressed well and they are working with them to further promote their facilities to older learners. The museum will continue to promote its space and resources through social networking to reach out to a wider range of self-organised learning groups and encourage them to develop similar exciting activities to Sock It!.Sock it! - Women showing teenager how to make Egyptian socks
"We examined the Petrie socks in the museum by torchlight which was fascinating. Can't wait to start."Sock it! - Teenager pulling string from knitted sockSock it! - Woman demonstrating knitting deviceSock it! - Close up of hands knitting

## Make And Mend Supported By Leeds Museums And Galleries Leeds Museums And Galleries Used The Grant They Received From The Mla To Build Up A Bank Of Equipment To Encourage Greater Use Of Their Museum Spaces And Collections By The Local Craft Community.

Make and Mend has led to a real shift in the relationship between Leeds Museums and the local craft community. They intend to continue supporting the self-organised groups to take full advantage of their resources and space. A craft celebration day at Leeds City Museum in October 2010 will showcase the range of self-organised learning opportunities offered by the craft community to a wider audience.Make and Mend - Woman and man examine shoe A number of successful workshops have since been run by self-organised groups at Leeds Museum Discovery Centre, which stores the costume and textile collections. 

Many of those taking part had no idea the Discovery Centre existed or that they could make use of the collection. An online portal, 'Craftsville', has been set up by the craft community using the MLA grant to advertise relevant local events and create an online community where self-organised learners can share ideas and tips. The museum intends to use the portal to directly advertise their open space and resources to the local craft community and encourage them to make more use of it. They also plan to offer opportunities for more informal craft activities in their galleries and café spaces as well as at the Discovery Centre.

"I haven't done anything like this since attending art school a long time ago and it has fired up my creative interests again."Make and Mend - Two women looking at waistcoastMake and Mend - Woman displaying artifacts to group

## Creative Arts Supported By Bruce Castle Museum, Haringey Bruce Castle Museum Tried A Different Approach To Encourage Local Adults To Use Their Space In A Self-Organised Way.

Instead of working with an existing group, they invited local residents, interested in the creative arts, to a range of taster sessions in the hope that they would continue to use the space and resources available to develop their own arts activity. 

Opportunities to explore behind the scenes were again popular, with many of those taking part commenting on feeling privileged to be able to use the wider collection not on display. The group soon got to know each other. They reminisced whilst they learnt, talking about their mothers and grandmothers making rag rugs in Jamaica using coffee bean sacks, for example. Some of the group's work will be displayed at Bruce Castle Museum during Adult Learners' Week and it was a successful programme. However, the group was not functioning in a self-organised way by the end of the programme as planned. Museums, libraries and archives that want to open up their spaces to adults who are not part of an existing group need to consider what support they may need to provide in order to enable them to become self-sufficient in the future.

"Working with others with similar interests alleviates my loneliness."Creative Arts - Woman making paper crafts

## Birtley Heritage Group Supported By Gateshead Libraries Birtley Heritage Group Is A Collection Of Local People Who Came Together To Find Out About The Influx Of Belgian Refugees Into Birtley During World War 2.

They had already approached the library service for support in establishing themselves as a heritage group, so the Challenge Fund provided the service with an ideal opportunity to help and to develop their role as a facilitator rather than a deliverer of learning activity. The group has now collected unrecorded stories about the Belgian refugees and created an extensive database which is being added to the local history resource in the library. It has developed into a cohesive self-organised learning group. At first the group relied on the library for support but they are now confidently making independent decisions. An unexpected outcome for this group was meeting and getting to know a group of young people who also used the library as their base. They got on so well that the young people have developed a brand and identity for the heritage group and this intergenerational spin-off has been a source of great pleasure for all concerned. 

Supporting a self-organised group has been a learning curve for the library staff but they recognise that this approach has meant that what is being delivered is what the group is truly interested in. The Birtley Heritage Group will continue to meet in the library once a fortnight to use the resources to support their research. Most of the members have talked about the benefits of getting out and about and sharing interests and experiences. 

"It has been a very valuable learning 

experience for Gateshead Libraries. 
We are now much more confident 
about responding positively to 
self-organised groups of learners 
who wish to use the library to 
develop their own learning activity." 

Stephen Walters,  
Principal Library Manager

- 
There is real value in offering more 
opportunities for adult learners to use the resources not usually on public display.
- 
Supporting self-organised learning groups has enhanced the overall 

learning programme offered by each of the participating museums, libraries and archives. 
- 
Many of the members of the 
self-organised groups have gone on to become volunteers at the museum, library or archive that supported them. 
- 
You may attract wider and more diverse audiences. The young people introduced to the Working Class Movement Library, for example, were won over by what was on offer but would never have walked 
through the door by themselves. 
- 
Some self-organised groups may need 
support to be able to make use of your space and resources. An introductory 
tour to show groups what is available 

and how it could be used is a positive invitation to do so. 
- 
Working in this way can raise your profile in the local community. The Ripping Yarns group in the Potteries Museum, for example, is a visible sign 

to others that this is a community space that can be used in a variety of ways.
19Group of people standing in storage area of museum

## Opening Up Spaces Out Of Hours

The Challenge Fund focused on opening up spaces in museums, libraries and archives during existing opening hours. Leicestershire Library Service, as a partner in a successful Authority-wide bid to the Learning Revolution Transformation Fund, has taken this initiative even further by offering self-organised groups of learners access to 10 library buildings out of hours. The overall vision was to establish a network of multi-access learning spaces to directly benefit self-organised learners in Leicestershire.

Keypad technology is enabling self-organised groups, who enter into an agreement with the County Council, to use these spaces out of hours and without the need for a member of staff to be present. The agreement is important as it ensures that the group is covered by public liability insurance and health and safety guidelines are adhered to. This example provides real inspiration for how technology can increasingly enable the open space movement to go from strength to strength.Museum spaceGallery space

## Help With Joining The Open Space Movement 2. The School Of Everything

There are a number of resources to support organisations, including museums, libraries and archives, to open up their spaces to self-organised learners.

The School of Everything is an online portal that supports self-organised groups of learners to find spaces in their local area where they can meet and learn together.

## 1. The 'Making Space For Learning' Guide, Niace

It is easy to use and provides museums, libraries and archives with a free facility to market resources, activities and space to a wide audience. 

NIACE was commissioned by the government to produce the 'Making Space for Learning' guide. It provides organisations with information and support to make their facilities available to self-organised groups, including: 
To make use of this opportunity simply register on the website and you can then add:

 - 
relevant legislation and what you need 

to do to comply with it
 -  
information about the free or low-cost spaces that self-organised groups of learners could use in your museum, library or archive 
 - 
advice on practical issues such as costs, 
charging and security
 - 
checklists, templates and top tips to 
download, use and adapt
 -  
information about informal adult 
learning activities and events you offer, to promote them to a wider audience - the site is searchable by postcode 
 -  
learning resources (word documents, 
PDFs, images, videos) that support informal adult learning. 
 - 
case studies with practical examples 

of how a wide range of organisations have opened up their spaces for informal adult learning and what they have gained from it. 
A free, customisable 'search widget' is also available that you can add to your own museum, library or archive website.

The 'Making Space for Learning' guide is available on the School of Everything site at www.schoolofeverything.com www.schoolofeverything.com
 
3.  
Learning Clubs and Groups toolkit The Learning Clubs and Groups toolkit is an online resource that supports groups who want to organise their own learning. It has been developed by NIACE in collaboration with the University of the Third Age and provides information, advice and materials on all aspects of setting up, running and keeping a group going. www.selforganisedlearning.com
22The Horniman Museum - Women in group talkingThe Horniman Museum - Woman in head dress looking at maskThe Horniman Museum - Woman explaining various objects to group

## 4. Community Learning Champions Support Programme 5. Community Leaders Training Programme - The Horniman Museum

Community Learning Champions promote the value of learning to friends, relatives and workmates and encourage them to get involved. The Champions are volunteers who are active in their communities and can signpost learning opportunities to others. 

The Horniman Museum offers a training programme, 'Community Projects with Our Objects', to help community leaders learn how to best use their spaces and collections (see pictures opposite). Whilst not specifically designed to support the open space movement, it is an excellent example of an existing programme that could be adapted by other museums, libraries and archives to open up their space.

A Community Learning Champion support programme has been developed to help use the community learning champion approach to open up more opportunities for informal learning. The support programme is developing a toolkit and regional networks to support the Champions to flourish, and MLA is exploring opportunities to link the extensive volunteer workforce in museums, libraries and archives to these networks and broker mutually beneficial partnerships. 

The museum has a unique learning space, the 'Hands on Base', with over 3,000 objects linked to its diverse collection. The one day training programme was developed nearly three years ago to ensure the space was used effectively by the local community and it has been successful in widening the range of local groups who now use this space. 

Find out more at the Community Learning Champion website www.communitylearningchampions.org.uk More information about the 

'Hands On Base' is available at http://research.mla.gov.uk/case-studies/ 

## How You Can Get Involved

If you already open up your space to support self-organised learning or intend to do so, we'd love to hear about your experiences and future plans.

Local Authorities will be exploring how they can make the most of all available resources, including spaces, as they become Lead Accountable Bodies for Informal Adult Learning.

To find out more contact:
The MLA Challenge Fund has kick-started thinking on how museums, libraries and archives could open up their spaces in new ways to support self-organised learners.

Natasha Innocent  
Senior Policy Adviser Learning and Skills MLA natasha.innocent@mla.gov.uk There are other partnerships you could build to bring in new audiences to your spaces. Many employers now support a network of union learning representatives and learning centres, for example. Why not use this network to widen use? We hope we have inspired you to consider how you could support self-organised learners to run their own activities in your space. With a bit of imagination, you too could liberate your space and resource to create more and different demand. 

## Image Credits:

Cover: Alan Fletcher/A Shot in the Dark Page 1: iStockphoto Page 2 and 16: Bruce Castle Museum Page 3, 12 and 13: Dan Salter Page 4, 5, 9, 14, 15, 19 and 20: Alan Fletcher/A Shot in the Dark Page 6-7: Torbay Library Services Page 11: Working Class Movement Library Page 22: The Horniman Museum Copies of this publication can be provided in alternative formats. Please contact the Editorial Team on

0121 345 7365 A CIP catalogue record of this publication is available from the British Library Printed on 100% recycled paper ISBN 978-1-905867-41-7 © MLA 2010–05–06 Registered Charity No: 1079666
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