Extraordinary keynote from an extraordinary woman - and received a well deserved standing ovation!

Great to see all the winners here - but really special to see such a great showing from the north west - including two awards for Bolton libraries!

Next up at #LCSeminar2026 Embracing responsible AI with @reemtalhouk.bsky.social Dr Talhouj is based at @northumbriauni.bsky.social and has worked with libraries across the North East

I am so very honored to be learning and speaking at the @librariesconnected.org.uk Annual Seminar in Kenilworth! #LCSeminar2026 #publiclibraries #librarylife

Excellent framework for ‘servant leadership’ from @nspcc.bsky.social Really highlights and reinforces the way that leadership is in service to the needs of children through the teams they lead. #LCSeminar2026

“The success of the library sector and the way it supports society is dependent on the health of this literary mycelial network we’ve created over the past century” Ed Jewell out outgoing president at #LCSeminar2026 #MushroomMetaphors

One of the world's most famous Librarians has checked out Feels like we need the Library version of a 21 gun salute

So proud for our organisation and sector to be represented by @ih1968.bsky.social yesterday - really powerful session and some excellent points by all contributors.

I love this metaphor - especially when we extend it to the risks of misinformation etc to boiling a kettle or frying an egg on a bouncy castle. We'll still try to do the same stuff with google no matter how radically it changes.

The UK must embrace its libraries in the age of AI ft.trib.al/qXd4JYk | opinion

The theme of this year's Dying Matters Awareness Week is 'Let’s talk about Death and Dying'. Public library services like Redbridge and Newcastle have been central to promoting these conversations through the 'Death Positive Libraries' initiative. www.librariesconnected.org.uk/projects/dea...

Possibly the best thing in Moma's current Duchamp show is this 1913 newspaper cartoon poking fun at his "Nude Descending a Staircase"

As ever a great episode and a brilliant shout out to libraries, librarians and The Librarians. @sturdyalex.bsky.social we launched the Libraries Alliance yesterday with a strong rallying cry from Jeanette Winterson: "libraries are the antidote to garbage" Much needed and a great source of hope

The excitement mounting here at @britishacademy.bsky.social for the Libraries Alliance launch - a few minutes to go with a brilliant line up including Jeanette Winterson, Lord Blunkett and more But more importantly a chance to hear from those delivering and using library services.

Libraries are vital - libraries under threat - libraries educate and connect which is why some see them as a threat

Librarians at the Bangor Public Library changed my life. They let me take out books from the adult section and read there for hours. It was nearly across the street from where I grew up. Amazing and beautiful place, and wonderful librarians.

My local libraries gave me a space to escape the chaos and emotional dramas that ensued in my home. It also gave me a space to study. I Just love the calmness and the huge amount of things you can now do in libraries.

I had the standard immigrant family childhood. My mum taught me to read at 3 and after that the local library was my second home. I then got a Saturday job in the library & met my oldest friend. Without the library I would be nothing. #LibrariesChangeLives

Sister-in-law is a writer and she still talks about the library her mum took her to as THE most magical place. By coincidence we live nearby, and it's the same library my kids go to about 4 days a week. Councils trying to balance their budgets is a very, very scary thing

I grew up on a council estate in SE London back in the 50s no money for books barely enough for food and warmth but a mobile library every week was a key to other worlds and my imagination I joined the forces and lived abroad, taught for a while, but always my love of reading came with me such a joy

#libraries My mum was a librarian for 40 years. When my future dad was divorced by a woman who took everything & living in a damp lonely bedsit- he would sit in the library every night for warmth, company and he was obsessed with reading, like her, so they met. 10 yrs later when they had me...

Great hashtag @stuhennigan.bsky.social - #LibrariesChangeLives is def true for me too. The learning place, the safe space for the scared-other me. (Yes I was an early ‘70s queer kid with no role models, no stories, no way of knowing what my otherness meant.)

My mum died a few days ago. One of the last texts I sent to her included these pics Leicester Libraries shared on World Book Day. That’s it. It’s true.

In 2012/13 I was legally homeless, eating out of skips, and having a teeny tiny psychotic break. The library in Worcester was a literal life saver: a warm, safe space where I could just exist without pressure or fear. I wrote, I read, I figured shit out, and I survived. #LibrariesChangeLives

#LibrariesChangeLives yes indeed, thanks to me mam helping me read early, I was into the local library like a small sherbert-lemon propelled missile, reading everything I could get my hands on. Squeaky polished floors, spacious, quiet, everlasting time. PhD & poet now. Thanks, Seacroft!

Some extraordinary stories in reply to @stuhennigan.bsky.social about how #LibrariesChangeLives Take a look at the replies and also the quotes - and do share your own experience too if you would like to

“AI is here, it’s happening and libraries are here to help people navigate what it means for them” Really powerful message from the Innovating in Trusted Spaces project we’ve been running with @goodthingsfdn.bsky.social with funding from DSIT

At @librariesconnected.bsky.social Innovation Gathering today hearing about @librariesunlimited.bsky.social Champions for Change project - supporting children with SEND through creative outdoor activities - really impactful video from one of the participants

Awesome day with @whitewateractive.bsky.social gorge scrambling and leaping into waterfalls - bit hairy at times with the volume of water (and tbh it was bloody cold!) but a great day - 8 year old loved it too. Would highly recommend if you’re in Llangollen - a town that’s definitely worth a visit.

Brilliant - really highlights the value of creating communities and connections. Libraries do a lot of work in this area and if we measure it we can see big impacts: "A 2.4-point increase in life satisfaction is worth around £39,000 per participant, assuming the improvement lasts for just one year"

Reading Well, developed by us, #Libraries and @readingagency.bsky.social, provides a cost-effective, preventative programme embedded in public #Libraries. Reading Well for Children books are available to borrow for free from your local #Library. www.local.gov.uk/case-studies... #CMHW26

Listening to @artscouncilengland.bsky.social and @biblioluke.bsky.social on work toward public library data / insight platform Some great principles: * data is messy - need to use new tech & AI to make sense * libraries keen to share data but needs to be easy! * needs to be live - not a snapshot

Lovely to see Macclesfield Silk museum reminding us of gay & trans stories from the mid 1800s. We went with our 8 year old’s class last year and they were fascinated by how sexuality was criminalised in the past. Inclusive history so important in helping us learn from - and not repeat - the past.

Libraries aren’t a panacea for early years, but they form a core part of an integrated approach - and one that greatly extends the reach of support. Great to see this from @local.gov.uk

This 👇 Authors get paid each time you borrow their books - so you’re still supporting your favourite authors directly by using the library. For some this can be similar or even more than they get from sales. So obviously do buy books but do borrow too and know that makes a difference for authors.

Tomorrow is Holocaust Memorial Day. As guardians of truth and centres of their diverse communities, public #Libraries have a vital role to play in helping us continue to remember and learn from the atrocities of history. Here is how libraries can get involved. hmd.org.uk/resource/you...

They know what they say is untrue, they do not care it is untrue. The media know that what they repeat is untrue, they do not care it is untrue. Their supporters know what they are told is untrue, they do not care it is untrue. Telling the truth is not enough, unless people care about the truth.

The New Year is a good time for making changes, and we’ve decided the time is right to use BlueSky and LinkedIn as our main social media platforms, and to no longer post on X. Do give us a follow and please do share this post.

As a journalist you’re always looking for ways to sum up the now, but the story is really often more incremental. This is from a Derbyshire county council paper. I was, inevitably, looking for “library to close” or “doge identified £Xm”, but the starting point is at least as important

This is great - only 2/3 thru but this lost 93 yr old novel has more to say about AI than recent fiction. A tale of an ape raised as human shows we just can’t translate meaning and motive across such different beings - even (especially) when outward expectations appear to align @neglectedbooks.com

Big run done for the week! I'm running the Athens Marathon this year to raise money to support LGBTQIA+ youth. If you can help, every pound can make a world of difference: www.justgiving.com/page/jack-sh...

At London libraries conference - hearing from @lewisham.gov.uk libraries about the impact of one of @librariesconnected.bsky.social and @artscouncilengland.bsky.social microgrants. Great initiative to develop reading for pleasure through screen free audio readers - really child first approach.

this is just fab - the power of archives!

This from @cwarzel.bsky.social is one of the best articles I’ve read on AI since the bullshit machine one link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Please enjoy how hilariously this is not Lionel Shriver: bsky.app/profile/lion... I usually just block these things but this one is so Not Lionel Shriver that it’s actively comedy.

This morning’s working music is Xenakis - music generated with the help of an 1960s IBM computer. But the capacity to intrigue and surprise by generating new forms, patterns and sounds sets it miles apart from anything today’s AIs create.

A Podyssey-themed politics discussion! Do join us. It's online, Thursday 17th July at 6:00 PM, and it's free. But you do need to register. So, do it. x

👀 (very excited)