JUNE 2025 |
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| Welcome to our newsletter round up of June’s UK libraries news! |
| BIRMINGHAM’S BIG SECRET |
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| Birmingham’s financial problems are no secret. And its drastic plans for libraries have been backed by a shedload of information. Plus not just one consultation but two-and-a-half (don’t ask). A brilliant campaign, Birmingham Loves Libraries, has united many threatened branches and shone a light through the hail of bumf. The Library Campaign has also worked hard, with detailed evidence (twice) and Freedom of Information requests. The basic bright idea was to somehow blend the advice service premises with the libraries. As we pointed out a full year ago: “The consultation implies anything up to a deliberate and complete blend of the library service into other council staff/services and even volunteer enterprises – with the loss of a large number of library buildings and reduced space and hours. There is extreme vagueness about the role and value of professional library staff. This is not acceptable as a basis for thinking.” Yet it was only this year, as detailed negotiations with UNISON began, that the full awfulness was revealed. The very word “librarian” was to be dropped. “Community connector”, anyone? It’s the advice staff who are seen as “skilled”, with the statutory role of librarians nowhere in the job descriptions. And much more. We need to ask sharp questions about this long-hidden plan. So – off goes another FoI… |
| REJOICING IN RUTLAND |
| From England’s largest local authority to its smallest – Rutland County Council (RCC). Again, we have been working on this one for months. And, just for once, a nice surprise! In the May newsletter we told the story. RCC got grants, including from Arts Council England (ACE), to upgrade its four libraries for a slightly mysterious “Living Well” project. It then found that one library, Ryhall, needed so much work that it would be better to… er, close it. Since then our Rutland file has become almost as huge as our Birmingham one. Massive correspondence. Multiple estimates of the work required. All of them seemed to show there was easily enough to maintain and revamp Ryhall – especially if the Living Well bells and whistles were junked. And local people made it clear that, if only given the choice, they would dump Living Well and keep their plain vanilla library. It does raise some questions about the enduring need to apply for fancy project funds to get any funds at all. We wrote, we sent in an FoI, we got the details of interactions with ACE. This all built on splendid work by the parish council. Inexplicably, RCC seemed determined to dig in its heels. Despite growing public anger at its stance. Then in June it suddenly gave in. Why it took so long, leading to endless hours wasted and fraught feelings in the village, we may never know. But Ryhall can keep its library, as everyone wanted. And maybe RCC has learned something useful. |
| BROWN STUDY |
 Londoner? Jessica Brown, studying for a Master’s in Library and Information Studies at UCL, wants to hear from you. She is researching “the relationship between communities and public libraries”.Her questionnaire is aimed at librarians and library users alike. She basically wants to know “how they use public libraries, how they connect with their community, whether these experiences intersect, and any suggestions for how these experiences could be improved”. Questions range from “How people interact with others (users or staff) when they visit a library” to “How people define community”. Ultimately she wants to gain “insight into how people view libraries, and whether an increased support for community building (such as holding more social events, connecting more with local organisations, collaborating with other community groups etc.) would make people more likely to use public libraries”. We reckon we all know the answer to that already! But this looks to be an exciting piece of work. It could add to our growing file of evidence about libraries’ value as “social infrastructure”. And, of course, it looks likely to highlight the huge importance of Friends groups… |
| WILL LAMBETH LISTEN? |
| You don’t often see librarians on strike – but it’s happened before in Lambeth, south London. And it’s about to happen again in July. We previously flagged up this council as the most secretive this year. It suddenly “announced” in February, deeply buried in Cabinet papers, a whacking cut of £1m to its £4.5m annual libraries budget. This was a big surprise, not least to the library service. Unfortunately the secrecy has continued. Campaigners have waited to hear how this cut could be achieved without – the council promised – any damage to the service. It remains a mystery.  |
| UNISON has spent the time negotiating over a proposed new staffing structure. It has got some improvements, but has now concluded that the structure still relies on imposing a workload that is unrealistic, downgrades the quality of service and is downright unsafe. Hence the strike. It has the support of Lambeth’s several Friends groups. Lambeth has a reputation for not listening. So what happens next is – a mystery. |
| SUMMER READING CHALLENGE – NEW MONEY |
| The Reading Agency is a UK charity that “inspires social and personal change through the proven power of reading.” They have been the driving force in the Summer Reading Challenge (SRC) – the project that has run over 20 years to encourage children to use (part of) their summer holidays to enjoy and get inspiration from reading.Now they have the welcome boost of a new grant of £1.5 million from the Julia Rausing Trust to expand the reach and impact of the SRC. The plan is to use it to work with 100 library authorities in the next three years, starting small but expanding over time. The idea is that outreach by library services will include working directly in schools, providing teachers with targeted resources and tools to deliver the SRC, and automatically enrolling children at their local library. The model will also expand the delivery of family reading events and incentivised participation, with rewards and community celebration events. This year’s SRC started on 21 June and is themed around the Story Garden. This chimes in with the other garden related library activities we featured last month. |
| NORTHERN VOICES |
 Last year New Writing North, the major writing development agency (their words), launched Sounds Good Audiobooks, the northernmost audiobook recording studio in England! It aims to create new jobs and identify new talent in the region. The studio is based at Northumbria University. The university see this as “an important intervention in a South-centric sector”. It is now conducting an online survey of audiobook listeners “to explore their access and attitudes to northern voices”. This baseline data will be used to publish a state of the industry report and a journal article, exploring issues such as class, accent bias, perceived authenticity and regional identity. The research will be repeated every two to three years to see if New Writing North has any effect on experiences of listening to audiobooks. The online survey takes five minutes and can be completed by anyone who listens to audiobooks – they will be grateful for any help! The findings will be presented at an international conference in Germany in the autumn. |
| The university also says it is working broadly within the area of working class reading “with a view to a major research project in this area in the next few years”. If you think you can help let us know and we will put you in touch. |
| THE SPEAKIES Still on Audiobooks and With audiobook usage and borrowing at an all-time high, this June saw the introduction of an award for audiobook productions across various genres, including children’s books, biography, and sc-fi, etc. Also, included in the competition and up for awards will be categories for dramatic multi-cast readings. Over in the US, they already have an equivalent called colloquially The Audies… and now the UK has this award, sponsored by both The Bookseller and The Stage, to showcase the ever-growing audio storytelling format. We will keep track of when and if libraries make any displays of the audiobooks going up for nomination or indeed the winners, and may highlight in a future article, exploring how licensing can work for streaming such titles for members of UK public libraries. |
| HISTORIC ENGLANDA new service has been launched by Historic England, which includes 400 hubs across the UK where people can research their local history. Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson remarked that: “I’d encourage everyone to explore the new local heritage hub and see what they might discover about a place that means something to them.” The services that will be opening this summer are being launched to coincide with National History Month. Every UK county, city, and major town will have a hub, and this should serve as an inspiration for amateur historians as well as those more experienced local researchers. Hopefully, the fruits of such activities may be picked up by local libraries themselves for talks or displays. More here |
FACEBOOKROUND UP |
| ESSEXSave Our Libraries Essex (SOLE) posted a screenshot before their online meeting on June 17th. They were due to discuss fighting privatisation in and of libraries, how to prepare for potential book bans that could be coming to the UK, as well as the live topic of local government reorganisation, asking whether and how to keep Essex Libraries together under that banner. CHINNOROxfordshire’s Friends of Chinnor Library run a weekly LEGO building session for families to attend, as well as their weekly Wednesday coffee mornings and their rhyme time sessions for little ones A very busy friends group indeed. LANCASTERFriends of Lancaster Library have been letting people know their appreciation for the volunteers who come in each week to play piano in their cafe on Wednesdays. PORTSWOODSouthampton’s Friends of Portswood library posted that it’s just two weeks until they host their event about significant mayors of Southampton for the local history buffs and those who wish to learn more about their local history. The event is free to attend SEA MILLSBristol’s Sea Mills group of library friends were active on Facebook, showing off their collection of biographies and autobiographies. It’s nice to see friends groups showing off what their libraries have to offer for research and reading interests, alongside all their activities offered to the public. BUILTH WELLSFriends of Builth Wells Library, in Powys have posted photos which showed the attendees of their fashion show, which raised over £500 for their library and got a lot of positive feedback. Congratulations to these library friends! They also posted a photo of their raffle, which was held at an outdoor market stand where they had an inspiring banner which read ‘Our library is more than just books’, which itself raised over £100. An industrious group for sure! DEDDINGTONBack in Oxfordshire and Deddington’s friends group has been raising the profile of their Parish Calendar for 2026. A great competition idea that encourages locals to enter their photographs to be featured. Their deadline is August 4th. This group has also been putting on social media their contribution to the Summer Reading Challenge (see elsewhere in this newsletter.) A lot of happening across the country this summer at UK libraries with their friends groups’ support. Please do get in touch if you wish us to mention any activities you think may be inspiring for other friends groups to try or you wish for more people to know about. |
| AND FINALLY… |
| GOT A FAKE NEWS STORY? |
| Librarians play a crucial role in guiding us to reliable information. Sense about Science is campaigning for greater awareness of this, especially in the discussions around misinformation and AI. They want to hear how librarians have helped you find good information when you needed it – for instance fact-checking a scary headline in the news or finding out about a disease you or a loved one have been diagnosed with. If you have a story to tell, please send them to [email protected] |
| 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. |
