THE LIBRARY CAMPAIGN AGM – AND MORE!
Our AGM will take place - online only - on Saturday 3 October at 2pm. The link to join the meeting will be in next month’s newsletter. This year, there…
PUBLIC LIBRARIES NEWS IS COMING BACK!
Public Libraries News (PLN) is coming back! The Library Campaign has stepped up to revive this unique online resource for the public library world. PLN was set up by Cheshire…
BURNHAM WOULD …
Much is being demanded of the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. We’re not expecting the planned national strategy for libraries to come top of his list all that soon. But…
REFORMING LIBRARIES
We have printed articles over the last year as Reform UK took control of Councils with library services. Last month we had a positive story from Essex about removing reservation…
GET CHILDREN READING – BE OPTIMISTIC
Frank Cottrell Boyce has just stepped down as Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate. In his last few days in the role he addressed two important events. One was the House of Commons…
LAMBETH WALK!
Lambeth has 10 libraries, all staffed by professionals - not volunteers. But it is a truth universally acknowledged that this would not be the case without regular protests by Friends,…
PRISON READING LAUREATE
There will finally be a Prison Reading Laureate, the Ministry of Justice has announced. This move comes as part of the National Year of Reading 2026. Author Lee Child, known for…
BIRMINGHAM BOTCH
We continue to pursue the appalling reorganisation (if that’s the word) of Birmingham’s libraries. After sending plenty of evidence and Freedom of Information requests, we have now made an official…
LIBRARIES’ PREVENTION POWER
Yet another study has shown that public libraries pay back the money spent on them - many times over. For the first time this study, The Power of Prevention, uses…
£4,000 COMPETITION FOR FRIENDS GROUPS
Could your Friends group use a £400 grant? We are celebrating our 40th birthday, and a recent bequest, by setting aside £4,000 to award to 10 groups that have good…
DISTRESS AND THE DCMS
We have just written our fifth letter in a month to the DCMS about the impending disaster in Croydon. As we said in the last newsletter, this cash-strapped borough is…
FINE AND NANDY?
That’s politics… the shadow libraries minister we met and liked, Lillian Greenwood, has been transported to transport. Now, after a nail-bitingly long wait, just as this newsletter was finalised, we…
JOIN US IN JUNE : MINI-CONFERENCE AND AGM
Take a short break on Saturday afternoon, 15 June, to swap notes with other library supporters and chat to a best-selling author - in London, or online. It’s TLC’s mini-conference…
UKRAINE LIBRARY VENTURE
We have covered in the past the appalling damage being done to Ukraine's libraries. It appears to be a deliberate ploy to destroy not just human lives, but the country's very identity. …
CILIP BLASTS SHORT-TERMISM
As more and more local councils slash vital services, librarians’ association CILIP continues to speak up. As it should. Last week it was quick to point out the truth behind…
CILIP JOINS THE FIGHT
We continue to be inundated with dreadful stories about library plans. The sheer size of Birmingham shows up the insanity of cuts (essential social services! 25 libraries! almost all cultural…
HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY TO US
We were alerted to the fact that The Library Campaign reached the ripe old age of 40 on Sunday 4 February. The conference which led to the founding of the…
NEW YEAR, NEW NATIONAL STRATEGY?
The Library Campaign is seldom super-excited by government reviews of libraries. More money would solve a lot of their problems. However, it's better that they appear somewhere on the national…
SATURDAY 25 NOVEMBER – FOR ALL CARNEGIE LIBRARY LOVERS!
Love the libraries, love the buildings! Meet conservation architect Dr Oriel Prizeman from Cardiff University’s ‘Shelf-Life’ project on revitalising these stunning buildings.She will talk about their past, present and future: …
PUBLIC LIBRARIES NEWS IS BACK!
PUBLIC LIBRARIES NEWS IS BACK! Welcome back, PLN! If you are not a fan of this unique website, now is the time to become one - there's a permanent link…