This year, Libraries Week allows all of us who cherish libraries to celebrate their growing role in the digital world. 

Libraries engage communities through technology, libraries build digital skills and confidence in communities, libraries develop digital participation and tackle exclusion, and libraries support health, well-being and learning. Libraries Week gives us all the opportunity to recognise and thank library staff for their knowledge, dedication and expertise, without which none of this work would be possible.

As chair of the Universal Digital Offer for Libraries Connected, I know first-hand that libraries are committed to delivering the best possible digital experience to their local communities and to ensuring that everyone has access to the information and skills they need. This ranges from promoting digital collections, 24/7 access to e-books, audiobooks, e-magazines and e-newspapers, access to open data or the different ways libraries are finding to tackle digital exclusion

As the recent success of the BBC’s VR library tour demonstrates, digital creativity sessions are also growing in libraries and range from code clubs (including those that are autism friendly), coder dojo’s, lego labs, raspberry Pi Jams, 3D modelling and printing to film creation spaces.

As we transition into the new Information and Digital Offer next year, libraries will continue to enable individuals and communities to develop their learning skills to find answers and to inform their life choices. The new offer will also help children and adults to engage and feel safe online.

If you haven’t already, have a look at www.librariesweek.org.uk and follow #LibrariesWeek to see what other libraries are doing and of course to share your activities. One of the best parts of Libraries Week for me is always sitting down with my team at the end of the week to talk about what happened in libraries around the country and to see if we can steal any of their ideas!

David Lloyd
Service Development Manager, Coventry Libraries and Information Service
Libraries Connected Digital Offer Lead

Find out more about the range of digital activity happening in libraries across the UK by viewing the resources below: