Libraries 4 Schools is run by Lynda Britnell.
Once upon a time, Lynda volunteered to help her daughter’s junior school set up their library. She had no idea that this simple act would lead her down a path to helping schools all over the country!
After helping with the set up, Lynda stayed on as a librarian – by then, she knew the books and the school inside out, so was the obvious choice for the role. She built the library from the ground up; managing the loan system, making book displays, and planning book events for the school. After 14 years at one school, she realised that she could be helping so many more, and so Libraries 4 Schools was born.
Since then, Lynda has helped numerous schools either revamp or completely build their library spaces, from culling their old books and ordering new ones to helping design their displays, from advising on furniture and computer systems to drawing up topic book lists for teachers. In some cases, she has even stayed on to run their libraries part-time, training up other staff and showing them how to stay on top of the day-to-day running.
Lynda has a passion for books and for learning, and feels that every child deserves the opportunity to read, no matter their circumstances. This is why she started Libraries 4 Schools – so that she could help junior schools manage, build, and maintain their libraries, for the benefit of all children.
Want to know more about what she can do for your school?
Lynda’s daughter, Kim, is a freelance copywriter and copyeditor. She manages the L4S website and supports Lynda on the social media accounts, as well as writing and editing the book reviews and articles.
Kim has a Master’s degree in Astrophysics and a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Studies, and at some point decided that what she really wanted to do was help other people with their writing. You can see more of her work at her LinkedIn page.
Like Lynda, Kim is a voracious reader, and has been since childhood. Although she tends to read a larger number of adult books, she is constantly impressed and awed by how amazing children’s fiction is nowadays. She often handles the young adult book reviews for the website.
She loves this picture Chris Riddell drew of her, although sadly her hair is not currently blue.