For Book Lovers’ Day and International Literacy Day, we check in with Leeds Libraries and its important role in the community.
Get ready to celebrate our relationship to the written word with two upcoming events. National Book Lovers’ Day (9th August) encourages us to engage with the joy of reading – to finish the novel gathering dust on your bedside table or pick up something new and different. It’s a day we can observe in whatever way suits, whether that’s with a battered paperback, an audiobook on the commute, or a picture book shared with a child at bedtime.
A few weeks later, International Literacy Day (8th September) marks its 60th anniversary with the theme ‘literacy for people, the planet, and prosperity’, with UNESCO convening the global celebration in Mexico. The day exists to promote literacy around the globe. At least 739 million adults and young people worldwide still lack basic literacy skills, and millions of children are out of school altogether. Where Book Lovers’ Day celebrates reading as one of life’s pleasures, Literacy Day asserts that it’s also a human right which many of us take for granted.
In light of this, it’s worth remembering and appreciating the vital role of libraries in our society. Leeds’ library service spans 37 libraries and community hubs, and recent years have seen that network given a new lease of life. The most striking recent addition is a new music library on-site, complete with walk-in recording studios, pianos, and podcasting facilities – a reminder that today’s library is about much more than just books.
Many sites are now co-located with community hubs, offering book loans alongside housing advice, banking, the post office, and local police contact point under one roof. For places without a branch nearby, a fleet of story buses and mobile community hubs brings books, ICT access, and support services directly to the community.
In the first quarter of this year alone, Leeds libraries loaned 310,253 books, gifted 1,202 SIM cards, and ran 53 digital drop-in sessions alongside 304 tablet loans. A programme of 157 cultural and learning events drew 2,549 attendees in the same period, showing that demand for shared reading and learning in Leeds is very much alive and well.
Councillor Asghar Khan, the council’s executive member for housing and hubs, remarked on the shift: “Our library service has changed with the times, moving away from the idea of libraries as quiet spaces and focusing more on creating places where people of all ages can attend events, access important services, and have fun.” Though services and facilities may have evolved, the heart of the institution still adheres to the fundamentals: “The absolute core principle of our libraries remains the love of reading, storytelling, and exploring the world of imagination and possibilities that books can open up.”
Between Book Lovers’ Day and Literacy Day, there’s a period in late summer that makes a fitting moment to put that principle into practice. Finish the book you’ve neglected, start a new one in a genre you wouldn’t normally try, or take the kids to a local branch and let them choose for themselves. As Councillor Khan puts it: “Libraries are magical places, with a unique power to expand young minds and bring different generations and cultures together.”
In Leeds, that magic is just a library card away. Libraries.leeds.gov.uk
