JUNE 2024  Welcome to our newsletter round up of June’s UK libraries news! ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING The Library Campaign Annual General meeting took place this month. The guest speaker, Louise Candlish, is shortlisted for this year’s Dagger in the Library award from the Crime Writers’ Association. She was very illuminating on her history in writing, including how she got into it and how she approaches things such as plot and personality. Her new book – ‘Our Holiday’ – will be published on 4 July. So you can go and vote, then buy it and hide from the election for the rest of the day while you read it.  Unfortunately attendance by members was not enough for a quorate meeting but we had a brief (oral) annual report and an even briefer look at the accounts, which are still healthy. A couple of potential new trustees attended. The plan is that they and the existing trustees will meet in July.Louise Candlish’s interview will be on our Youtube channel from tomorrow afternoon (Saturday 29 June.) GENERAL ELECTION – AGAIN When you read this there will be less than a week before the election. In our last newsletter we encouraged people to raise library issues on the doorstep. We thank various campaigning groups for picking this up and publicising our three questions. We have now seen all the party manifestos. Our survey reveals that if you don’t say something to candidates, they probably won’t think about libraries. • The Conservatives do at least mention libraries a couple of times. One is in the context of enabling communities to make libraries and other buildings into ‘community assets’. This means local people taking over a public asset that is under threat, so is not a great comfort. Elsewhere, the party claims: ‘We will continue to support museums and libraries across the country.’ Here, words fail us. • As far as we can see Labour does not mention libraries, in contrast to 2019 when library campaigner Alan Wylie wrote a paragraph specifically on libraries for the Labour manifesto. • The Liberal Democrats also don’t specifically mention libraries although, again, there is a section on community assets. • Green MPs will commit to ‘Keeping local sports facilities, museums, theatres, libraries and art galleries open and thriving’. • Reform makes no use of the words library or libraries in its manifesto (or “contract’ as they call it) – indeed nothing at all about culture in the sense of museums, arts, music, libraries etc. • In contrast the Workers’ Party (George Galloway) does have a couple of bits on culture, but without specifically mentioning libraries. • We haven’t looked at the SNP as our brief does not cover Scotland (or Northern Ireland.)Whatever you do, if you haven’t already done it by postal vote, please vote on 4 July. NO, NO, NOTTINGHAM!  Oh no! After last year’s brilliant and successful battle, campaigners in Nottingham are having to start all over again. The story is much the same as before. Cuts (£1.5m) again demanded. Detailed solutions include closing four much-needed local libraries, causing far more damage than any saving could justify. The root of the problem was a plan for a smart new Central Library (success – now open), with fit-out costs paid by selling the old one (failed – the developer pulled out, as commercial “partners” can always do, leaving Nottingham with a half-demolished shopping centre and big security costs). And the council is in an even worse financial mess than before.Ironically, we have had regular news of innovative work by the library service itself… and the Central Library has just won TWO top prizes in the East Midlands RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) awards.A consultation will close on 19 August.Meanwhile, Save Nottingham Libraries (and on Facebook) is hard at work (again) with a petition, survey, events and arguments that include (again) the fact that Nottingham is way down at the foot of the literacy tables…CRIME PAYS Top crime writer Ann Cleeves (Vera! Jimmy Perez!) is now the first-ever Public Library Champion for library bosses’ organisation Libraries Connected. This is a smart move by LC to get libraries out there on the popular radar. We don’t know what use will be made of her new status. It will last just a year. We do know that Ann is a vocal library supporter from way back. Also that she initiated – and part-funded – her Reading for Wellbeing project in the north east.  This links Northumberland, North Tyneside, Gateshead, Co Durham and South Tees libraries with public health departments and charities. GPs, social prescribers, community workers etc refer people to trained “reading workers” for help with problems such as chronic pain, anxiety, stress, depression or loneliness. These, in turn, get them in contact with books, enthusiastic librarians and other readers, to enjoy reading for pleasure and its proven benefits. EASY AS ABCD? Talking of partnership… it’s been quite the theme this month. LC’s annual conference was all about “The Power of Partnership”, with lots about digital inclusion, health and wellbeing – and lots about working with communities. People like you. We’ve discussed this with Isobel Hunter, LC’s chief executive. We, in particular, are working on that word “with”. We’d like libraries to think less in terms of “What can we do FOR people?” and more about “What can we do WITH people?” There is much talk of “empowering communities” and the like, which usually means “forcing them to run public services themselves”. A more fruitful – and sustainable – approach, we think, is for public service staff to relax a bit and seek out community strengths instead of weaknesses. Working with them in equal partnership. Friends groups are already showing the way. A USA library project has come up with the handy term ABCD – Asset Based Community Development. Laura Swaffield, TLC chair, spoke about all this at a national conference this month, alongside various of the great and good. She’ll be writing this up soon. Do tell us about your own experiences of real ABCD working… Meanwhile, good news about another partnership – LC has achieved the £10,000 it needed to send a mobile library to Ukraine. READ ALL ABOUT IT!  Our latest glossy magazine is out – in print on members’ doorsteps, or retrieve it online: While we wait to see what government we’ll get, catch up here on what’s been issued so far on the way (we still hope) to a proper national strategy – the Sanderson report. It has good and not-so-good ideas… but what happens next is anyone’s guess. Definitely due to be actioned is our own report on you – our members and Friends groups. We’d love to know what you think of it, and how best to use its many insights.Plus – how adults put children off reading, food for thought on libraries’ IT offer, a map of Digital UK, good news, bad news and a thought-provoking piece from a librarian who has seen it all. And a look back to how TLC began 40 years ago, and what has happened (or not) since the 1964 Act made libraries a statutory requirement. So – all eyes on the new government… BLUE PETER & BOOKS  More partnering… it’s always good to see public services working together to make the best of what they offer. Now, long-established BBC TV children’s programme Blue Peter is teaming up with CBBC, BBC Bitesize, BBC Arts – and, of course, public libraries – to run a book club. All organised via ever-inventive The Reading Agency (funded by Arts Council England).It was launched at a big event at Manchester Central Library. But it’s for the whole country. There’s a core booklist, chosen by librarians, booksellers and – hooray! – children. Each will have its own programme on Blue Peter, with all the BBC entities contributing reviews, games, animations, activity ideas, posters, “social media assets” and more. Plus, as always, the chance to get a badge!Find out more in this webinar.BANKS IN LIBRARIES We’ve been meaning to write about this for a while. We have seen a small but steady growth of banks occupying spaces in libraries, offering services that would otherwise not be available locally as more and more branches close. Barclays seem to be in the lead with this. They have offered financial and digital training services for a while. Now they are partnering with Essex in at least two places, with more promised, and one in Gloucestershire, all offering financial advice and other services – though presumably not the ability to take out (or deposit) cash. Handing or even hiring library space to commercial organisations like this will mean less room for books and other conventional library services. On the other hand it may bring in more people who would not otherwise use the library. We also know of moves to allow local post offices to do something similar. If you have experience of this phenomenon, we’d like to hear from you. FACEBOOK ROUND UP  Friends of Lord Louis Library on the Isle of Wight have been making it known that their space is a spot to have a lifestyle checkover including routine checks such as blood pressure and an open place for discussing COVID vaccinations and healthy lifestyle choices. Friends of Lancaster Library who note that they mainly prefer email contact (see their Facebook page) were recently publicising their upcoming event which focuses on gay and lesbian graffiti in the 18th and 19th C. The talk is by Dr Colin Penny and explores the ways in which gays and lesbians were persecuted and hunted down at the time by local authorities and the stories behind these historical graffito. Friends of Northfield Library (Birmingham) recently held a petition signing event – which sounds like a great idea to us and we would encourage more people to get together to extend beyond the online community – which is to raise awareness of any threats to the library and to support keeping the library open. Save Nottingham Libraries (see article above) posted a useful list to get their group thinking about the role of libraries in the community including · What do libraries mean to you?· Why do you love your library?· What do you use your library for?· When did you first use a library? What do you remember of that visit?· Who helps you in the library? What does that help look like? And Friends of Lowestoft Library has been spreading the word that every Tuesday they hold a social for the over 50’s to attend with as they explain “Films, documentaries, board games, speakers, events. Free to attend. Tea & coffee £1.” Please let us know if your Friends Group have a regular or one-off event that you’d like us to publicise here in the newsletter. And check our website pages with details of Friends Group Facebook groups – if yours is not there or incorrect let us know.AND FINALLY… A nice poster from Bollington (East Cheshire)  Please get in touch with us if your local library is under threat, you have a Friends group that you wish to promote or you would like advice about how to start a Friends group for your local library – currently under threat or not. Feel free to ask any questions about what Friends groups get up to. We have now created an archive of our previous newsletters, which you can view here – check it out if you haven’t already and share the link as it’s also a place for new subscribers to sign up. If you are new to getting our monthly newsletter this is a way to see what we’ve been getting across since we started this newsletter in Autumn 2022. 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