Libraries Week 2025: changing lives and inspiring communities

Manchester Libraries wins Library of the Year 2025

Manchester Libraries were recently crowned Library of the Year at the prestigious British Book Awards 2025. The award was given in recognition of their city-wide Blue Peter Book Club Live programme, which used the Blue Peter brand to encouragemore children and families to explore the joy of reading and local libraries.

Manchester Libraries launched the programme in May 2024, hosting a free, day-long event with Blue Peter presenters, author Eve Ainsworth and Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho. Attended by more than 7,500 people, the day also included a badge trail around the city. The takeover doubled the library’s average Saturday’s visitor numbers and more than 4,600 children became new members over the course of the campaign.

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Creative conversations at Smethwick Library

Smethwick Library have joined up with local Bearwood Community Hub to create the Urban Room – a space for residents and community members to participate in exciting activities that will spark creativity and inspire collaboration, designed to bring the community together to think, create, and contribute to shaping the future of Smethwick.

They've also hosted renowned urban designer Laura Alvarez, with a focus on the idea of a Child Friendly City, aiming to secure the prestigious UNICEF Child Friendly City award. Through these activities, they are exploring how to make Smethwick a more inclusive, welcoming, and child-friendly place for all.

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The Big Malarkey Festival (Hull Libraries)

The Big Malarkey Festival is Hull's first ever children's literature festival, brought to the city by Hull Libraries (and funded by the James Reckitt Library Trust and Arts Council England). 

The festival is a unique resource for the city, visited by over 900,000 people each year, providing an inspiring service to children and young people, schools and families. They offer a wide programme of events for schools, which are free to all members of Hull School Library Service, and the festival is one of just many initiatives run by Hull Libraries to promote reading for pleasure and encourage curiosity, learning and creativity across the city. 

Launched for the first time in 2017, the festival returns this year on 28 and 29 June 2025, with a host of fabulous authors, dancers, illustrators, actors and musicians!

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Norfolk Libraries opens "The Place", Great Yarmouth

Great Yarmouth Libraries' new branch at "The Place" opened last month for library users in the heart of Great Yarmouth, part of a larger £17m regeneration project that transforms the historic former Palmers department store into a community hub.

This marks a new chapter for the area, not only preserving a beloved historic building but also revitalizing it as a modern centre for education and community services. The vibrant community hub will host a variety of services, including the new library, adult learning services, the Registry Office. Additionally, 'The Place' will feature a new university and learning centre through a partnership with East Coast College and the University of Suffolk.

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