Category: News and Views

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…

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…

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…

In our spring magazine we reported on a rather mysterious nationwide project. The one thing we knew was that libraries would be involved. It had begun as Theresa May’s idea…

Sighs of relief all round this week when the government announced - it is not changing the libraries minister! It’s still Lord Parkinson. [Apologies to those who caught up with…

Busy taking notes, here’s Baroness Sanderson on a fact-finding tour. She is, you’ll remember, chair of a panel working on “a new public libraries strategy”, as we reported on this…

A cultural festival to go with the Rugby League tournament? Why not?The ever-ingenious Libraries Connected is partnering with the confusingly-named Rugby League World Cup 2021 to deliver arts events as…

This Thursday, October 13, 4-5pm at Bethnal Green Library - all welcome. Make a (small) mark in history! The library service will be taking a photo of library lovers at…

It’s back - the annual celebration of all that libraries offer, run by librarians’ association CILIP. This time (3-9 October) the theme is lifelong learning. And that, says CILIP’s enterprising…

The Library Campaign is very sad to report the death of Guy Daines. Most recently the Policy officer for CILIP, Guy was briefly the Campaign Secretary (before we were a…

Well! There is to be ‘a new public libraries strategy due in 2023… to make sure [they] are providing the best possible service for their communities’.Whatever that means, it will…

Does your library’s name or location in the UK (village, town or city, but not street) begin with the letters E, F, G or Welsh Ff or Ng? If so,…

Of all the book prizes, the Booker remains the most prestigious media magnet. If you fancy a taste of this high life - and belong to a book group -…

On the ball as always, libraries have a load of resources to help the nation celebrate the lionesses' football triumph.Libraries Connected has been working with The Football Association and UEFA…

Libraries were acknowledged to be essential venues for this nationwide "festival" of arts and tech. That's good. What it means in practice is yet to be seen. The idea is…

After the beer and the bunting, there's still a jubilee feast for book-lovers. The Reading Agency (TRA) has compiled a book list for each of the seven decades since 1952.Each…