Do you have an inspirational library story? Then write for us!
Do you have a compelling story to tell about public libraries that will inspire those working in the sector?
If so, we want you to write for us! We are now accepting guest articles for the News section of the Libraries Connected website. We would like to publish one or two a month, alongside our usual news items and press releases.
We are particularly interested in examples of successful projects or partnerships that could be adapted elsewhere. These should fit broadly into the areas of our current focus: health and wellbeing, neighbourhoods, community cohesion, digital inclusion and economic growth.
The first thing to do is to send a short summary of your idea to media@librariesconnected.org.uk. We will let you know if it is suitable for the website.
Contributor Guideline FAQs
Who can write guest articles?
Anyone who works or volunteers for a public library service in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or the Crown Dependencies.
What topics are we interested in?
Our main audience is library leaders and frontline library workers. We want to publish articles and opinion pieces that inspire others working in public libraries.
We are particularly looking for examples of successful projects or partnerships that could be adapted elsewhere.
Of course we want to hear about your achievements, but it can be just as useful to know what hasn’t gone so well.
We also want personal views: How did it feel to be involved in a particular project or initiative? What did you learn? How has it affected you personally or professionally?
Ideally your article will give a new perspective on a current debate, policy area or news story.
We are particularly interested in guest articles that explore the role of public libraries in these policy areas:
- Preventative health
- Digital inclusion
- Neighbourhoods
- Community cohesion
- Economic growth
We are also looking for practical examples and case studies that focus on:
- Universal Library Offers and Promises
- Marketing, comms and audience development
- Data, evidence and research
- Local advocacy and influencing
If you’ve got a story to tell or an experience to share – and you think other library workers could learn from it – please get in touch.
How to submit your idea
First, send a short summary of your idea to media@librariesconnected.org.uk. We’ll let you know if it’s suitable for the website.
What we need
Length
Your article should be 400-700 words.
Format
Please submit it as Word document attached to an email.
Links
If you want to include links in your piece, please provide the full URLs in [square brackets] where you want them to appear.
Images
Please attach (or link to) a high-resolution image. This will be used as the main image on the piece, as a thumbnail on our News page and on social media.
You can also send other images for inclusion in the post. These can be either landscape or portrait format .jpg files.
Please make sure that you have permission to use the images you send us. Let us know if we need to credit the photographer or provide copyright information.
Important info
We may decide to edit your article slightly. For example, we might add headings or restructure some of the paragraphs to make it clearer and easier to read.
We publish guest articles under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license – please keep this in mind when submitting a piece.
After publication
Once your article is published we will usually share it on our social media channels, primarily LinkedIn and Bluesky. If you are on these platforms please let us know your handle so we can tag you.