Libraries

Libraries are places of inspiration, escape and shelter for many. This Libraries Week, here are some simple ways to show your love for them.

Many have been lost to years of cutbacks, but libraries and their staff continue to play important roles for their communities, from counsellors to childminders to family tree researchers. To mark Libraries Week, one ex-librarian celebrates Britain's 'secular churches'.

Community, people-power and... robots? While the UK's libraries are in crisis, others across the world are striving to find a way forward. Here we look abroad for inspiration on how we can reimagine the future of these vital institutions.

Here's how you can benefits from your local library, even while its doors closed.

Leading authors share their memories for Libraries Week 2019.

Lowborn author Kerry Hudson is proudly working class, but she was never proudly poor. The poverty she grew up in was grinding and often dehumanising. She shares the vital role that libraries and books played in her life, and why we must do everything in our power to protect them.

For a young Billy Connolly, the library was his salvation. He discusses his love of literature and how it has accompanied him through his adult life.

Bursting with brilliant books and captivating stories, these kid-friendly libraries will spark and inspire those young imaginations.