Youth Access

Using leaflets effectively with the FRILLS leaflets service

26 November, 2007

Leaflets Galore by Michael Stuart of the FRILLS leaflet service

28 June 06

There’s a leaflet or booklet on almost every problem life throws up: from jobseeking to redundancy, sex to bereavement. Think of an information and advice service and what comes to my mind is a reception area full of leaflets.

Yet leaflets divide the world. Like marmite, people either love or hate these underdogs of the information world. I’ve met staff who enthuse how much the public appreciate being given a leaflet to take away. Yet in other agencies, leaflets are an under-used resource. They lie around dog eared and neglected.

Even their fans concede leaflets are hard to control. They’re difficult to find out about and to get hold of, refuse to stay in one place, change from one day to the next and then simply disappear.

But like many rogues, there are plenty of reasons to love leaflets. Enquirers like leaflets because they’re good looking, short, easy to understand and can be picked up and taken home. They’re good for embarrassing subjects – people can help themselves without mumbling about embarrassing medical or financial worries. It’s usually quicker to put your hands on a leaflet than search the internet and print out the results.

And they’re often more up-to-date and multi-lingual than books or web-sites.

Are leaflets worth having in advice agencies?

Many leaflets are free so the answer appears obvious. In practice there are hidden costs in staff time.

A good leaflet collection is one that is up-to-date, well organised and used frequently. Conversely, you can get a vicious cycle where not enough staff time is invested in a collection, it becomes gradually less used and useful and its status descends. I’ve also seen huge differences where the management and individual organising leaflets feel enthusiastic about their capacity to change people’s lives.

From talking with advice agencies, the main issues are finding space to display leaflets and the time to manage leaflets. Display is important if leaflets are to be used and not just filed.

Updating leaflets

This is the most time-consuming and basic aspect of keeping a good collection.

Updating information annually is a typical standard for information and advice workers. But with an average lifespan of 18 months, it’s easy to find out about a leaflet edition when it’s near its use-by date and constantly chase your tail. One solution is to update a few key publishers, such as the Department of Health twice a year. Another is smart timing: Benefits Agency leaflets are best checked around April and October to catch new rates promptly.

An organised approach is needed with a good system for recording information on what leaflets you have, where they are, when they were ordered , which have arrived and when and how to next update them.

Managing a leaflet collection

It might typically take 10 hours a month to keep a varied collection of 100 leaflet titles. It’s important to have a named person responsible for maintaining the collection.

Equally important is that all staff are aware and confident at finding leaflets quickly. Strangely, despite working full-time on leaflets, even I don’t always think of them when faced with an information request. One way to increase usage is to train staff in finding leaflets through practical exercises to get their hands dirty.

Management should also exercise quality control - checking leaflets are up-to-date, in the right place and that at least once a year the whole collection is thoroughly weeded.

The internet – widening or restricting access to information?

A few organisations have withdrawn printed leaflets in favour of publishing on the internet, for example the Department for Trade and Industry. But this restricts access to information. Not everyone is confident or knowledgeable enough to know what information they need and to ask or search for it on the internet. It’s a retrograde step and an injustice when information is made less available particularly as information in leaflets is often aimed for people who are disadvantaged

How the FRILLS leaflet service helps

FRILLS researches and tracks 800 leaflets sourced from 400 publishers, mostly government departments and national charities. All are free in multiple copies. They cover a huge range of issues including benefits, health, young people, housing, health, law and money.

Subscribers receive a monthly list of new, updated and withdrawn leaflets and contact details for ordering bulk copies. There is also an option to receive a hard copy of every leaflet. This summer FRILLS launches an internet site which will provide subscribers with a database to manage their own leaflet collection including ordering leaflets with an Amazon-style shopping basket.

As well as information and advice agencies, a third of UK library authorities subscribe to FRILLS, which is part of the library service at the London Borough of Camden.

Conclusions

Leaflets can be a significant and popular resource – they’re up-to-date, easy to understand and popular with the public. But to succeed they need significant dedicated time to keep them current and well organised and to encourage staff to use them regularly. It’s a cliché but as with so much in life, the more you put into leaflets the more you get out of them.

To find out more about the FRILLS leaflet service contact Michael Stuart on 020 7974 4007 or send an email...

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