£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…
Sanderson, so far… what we told her
Public libraries need lots of things. A new government strategy may not be the first that comes to mind. But the hope is that it will keep public libraries on…
The Value of Libraries
Libraries Connected East has conducted extensive research that happily reveals that England’s public libraries generate a value of £3.4 billion a year and we at The Library Campaign think that…
Lewisham – Save Grove Park Library
Grove Park Library is one that has been run by a social enterprise organisation for some years after Lewisham Council in South London decided they couldn't or wouldn't afford it.…
What do you think – twice!
If you have some thinking time over the weekend, the library world would like to know two things.First, what do you think of the very first beta version of the…
Unhappy in Redditch
As Tolstoy didn’t quite say: ‘All happy libraries are alike; each unhappy library is unhappy in its own way.’ So, when TLC compiles evidence for a consultation, we make sure…
25 MARCH, 2pm – BE THERE!
We’re having an OPEN MEETING for everyone interested in public libraries, whether or not they are Library Campaign members, at UNISON CENTRE, 130 EUSTON ROAD, LONDON, NW1 2AY.GUEST SPEAKER: Isobel…
GREAT RESOURCES FOR MARCH!
One of our gripes is that there are wonderful national "weeks" or "days" where Friends could lay on some exciting events - but details of available resources come out rather…
MAKE YOUR LIBRARY FAMOUS!
The project to give England's libraries a much-needed "digital presence" is gradually making progress. It now has a name - LibraryOn. We hope 2023 will show visible results. And you…
STOP PRESS! Awards for your library?
Late, but not too late? We apologise for being slow to realise that Friends groups can nominate their library services for a prestigious national award! But time is short...The Libraries…