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📢 Our Chief Executive Isobel Hunter MBE gave evidence this week to the Education Select Committee Inquiry, 'Reading for Pleasure'.

📚️ Isobel talked about the need for a national reading strategy, which would help bring together all the different elements of reading for pleasure heard by the committee.

❤️ Libraries would be at the heart of any national and local strategy, providing vital infrastructure for partnerships and enabling children's reading journeys to be mapped from early years through primary and secondary education.

📢 Our Chief Executive Isobel Hunter MBE gave evidence this morning to the Education Select Committee Inquiry, 'Reading for Pleasure'. She joined major organisations and individuals including The Publishers Association, @merkybooks, community libraries, @Waterstones Children's Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce, the Chief Cultural and Leisure Officers' Organisation (CLOA) and CILIP, the library and information association.

Her key points of evidence were:

📖 Libraries are proven to turn the tide against the decline in reading through innovative practice including community work, partnerships with schools, book stock and activity programmes. We know increased funding for book stock, as well as dedicated staff who go where children are, works in increasing children's reading for pleasure.

💳️ The problem is that libraries are a statutory service whose council funding is not ring-fenced. This means there is huge variability in library investment between councils.

🪙 Dedicated funding that goes straight to libraries would make a significant difference, strengthening libraries’ ability to promote reading for pleasure across the country.

In April our Chief Executive Isobel Hunter MBE attended the EBLIDA Conference in Prague.

Isobel has now shared the most important things she took away from the Conference including the importance of pan-European library collaboration.

It is easy for us to underestimate the strength of the foundations underpinning our public library system, Isobel also notes. Many countries do not have what we currently benefit from.

The challenge for our governments, however, is how to build on these assets to create the conditions in which libraries can fully contribute to a forward‑looking society.

🔗 https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/news/what-i-learnt-eblida-conference-2026

Congratulations to those who have been elected as new councillors!

This video gives you the essentials about the public library – a statutory service that plays a vital role in your community.

#LocalElections #Councillors #LocalGovernment #Libraries

Know Your Neighbourhood was a project funded by @dcmsgovuk created to increase volunteering and reduce chronic loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas of England.

We worked with @aceagrams to deliver the fund to libraries.

Here are some valuable lessons we learned from the project.

Earlier this month we published the evaluation of Black British Ballet, a partnership with @oxygenarts_ukfinanced by @heritagefunduk.

As part of the project, Marsha Lowe from Oxygen Arts helped produce 'Onisere and the Ballet Queen', a short animated film taking the viewer on a fantastical journey through the history of black British ballet.

You can watch a clip from the film here, and read the report via the link below.

🔗 https://www.librariesconnected.org.uk/news/black-british-ballet-delivers-significant-impact-libraries

A new evaluation of @aceagrams-funded library grant programmes shows that relatively modest funding can have a disproportionate impact when it is well designed and well supported.

The evaluation found that since 2022 more than half of public library services in England have led a successful application across four programmes, which included our own Microgrants.

Key learning for the sector includes:

📊 Reach and confidence – small grants have acted as a first step into external funding for many services, building skills and confidence to apply again.
🤝 Community impact – projects consistently strengthened partnerships, reached new audiences and supported libraries' role as inclusive spaces.
🛠️ Design matters – clear processes, realistic timescales and tailored support make a significant difference to who can apply and succeed.

The report also reinforces a familiar tension: project funding can unlock innovation, but it sits alongside sustained pressure on core services. Both realities need to be part of national conversations about the future of libraries.

🔗 Read the full report here: https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/research-and-data/our-research-library/evaluation-small-library-grants-programmes

Come with us to the regional conference for @librariesconnected North West! A day to celebrate libraries and explore how we can continue to evolve, grow and thrive 📚🌱

Libraries from around the region gathered at @manclib_archives where we were treated to informative, passionate and inspirational talks from author, illustrator and animator @curtis.jobling, President of @librariesconnected Ed Jewell, Director of libraries at @aceagrams Luke Barton, and head of libraries, galleries and culture for Manchester, Neil MacInnes.

We also enjoyed creative workshops, a highlight was making sauerkraut with the help of @at.the.library_!!!🥬

Thank you to everyone that made this day of creativity, learning and reflection possible 🩷

The Know Your Neighbourhood (KYN) Fund was created to increase volunteering and reduce chronic loneliness in 27 disadvantaged areas of England.

As part of the programme, £5 million was dedicated to expanding arts, culture and heritage activities, delivered through Arts Council England, The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic England.

Last week a new evaluation of the programme by ERS Research & Consultancy was published, focusing on the Arts Council England strand.

You can read more about the findings via the link in our bio and watch this video which explores some of the stories from the project.

Yesterday we were proud to take part in the launch of the Libraries Alliance, alongside organisations representing all kinds of libraries.

Speakers including Baroness Twycross, Lord Blunkett and Jeanette Winterson highlighted why libraries matter at every generational milestone – from early learning and education to research, work and later life – and why a shared voice for the sector is more important than ever.

🎬 This new animation shows how libraries support people through every stage of life. Credit: @buttercrumblecreative

We're at the stunning British Academy in London preparing for the formal launch of the Libraries Alliance later this morning. Libraries of all kinds are coming together as a unified voice, showing how libraries support people through every stage of life.

The Black British Ballet project, a partnership with @oxygenarts funded by @heritagefunduk, shed light on the hidden stories of black British ballet dancers.

A recent evaluation of the project shows that it delivered significant impact for library services - with 45,000 people engaging with the exhibition and 6,000 taking part in an event or activity.

In this clip Marie Kamara talks about coming to London as a young dancer.

#NationalLottery #HeritageFund